Archbishop Auza: Not all circumstances offer an equal opportunity for human flourishing

(Vatican Radio) The Holy See urged the international community on Thursday to learn from the experience of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) when discussing the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals.

“Even though the dignity of the human person is not defined by the development circumstances in which they live, not all circumstances offer an equal opportunity for human flourishing,” said Archbishop Bernardito Auza, the Permanent Observer of the Holy See.

“It is our responsibility during these discussions to work for a post-2015 agenda in which all have the possibility to reach their full potential,” he said.

 

The full text of the intervention by Archbishop Auza is below

 

Statement by H.E. Archbishop Bernardito Auza

Apostolic Nuncio, Permanent Observer of the Holy See

Intergovernmental Negotiations on the post-2015 development agenda

Relationship between Financing for Development

and the Post-2015 Development Agenda

New York, April 23, 2015

 

Distinguished Co-facilitators,

My delegation would like to thank you for convening this intergovernmental negotiation (IGN) session, and we would also like to thank Ambassadors Talbot and Pedersen for their briefings earlier this week on the current stage of the Financing for Development (FfD) process, and Ambassadors Seger and Patriota for their briefings on the possible arrangements for a technology facilitation mechanism.

My delegation welcomes the opportunity today to address the SDGs, the challenges surrounding their means of implementation, and the relationship between the FfD and Post-2015 processes.

While we are encouraged by the progress made throughout the last two decades in lifting 660 million people from around the world out of poverty, the latest World Bank figures on poverty provide a sobering reminder of the magnitude of the task that still lies ahead in eradicating extreme poverty: 1.2 billion people still lack access to electricity, 870 million are malnourished, and 780 million are still without access to clean, safe drinking water.

We all recognize that sustainable development is a shared goal. As such, the issue is no longer whether to commit to the SDGs but rather on how to achieve the SDGs for all countries, and for all members of the human race.

Mr. Co-facilitator,

My delegation expresses confidence that the SDGs can be transformative and that building on the legacy of the MDGs these goals have the potential to continue to improve all of our lives and especially those of the poorest and most vulnerable.

For that reason, my delegation cannot emphasize enough the need to learn from the experience with the MDGs, especially in the promotion of effective means of implementation, which are essential for carrying out the entire post-2015 agenda and achieving sustainable development.

In considering this, the FfD and Post-2015 processes are the two primary fora that will address the means of implementation of the SDGs, and they must work together to support and enrich one and other. The importance of the coordination between the work of the IFIs and the UN can hardly be overemphasized. Each institution and stakeholder has its own strengths, and everyone’s strength must be harnessed and enhanced in collaboration of others.

Evidently, the two processes exist outside of each other and that they have different mandates and scopes. While the FfD process should consider specific means of implementation for the SDGs, it should primarily focus on the means of implementation goal (#17) and its targets, without pre-judging the discussions on means of implementation under the post-2015 process. Nevertheless, the post-2015 process can, and should, draw from and build on the means of implementation considered in the FfD discussions and its outcome document, although this process goes above and beyond all others.

Distinguished Co-facilitators,

Throughout the FfD and post-2015 processes and their discussions on the means of implementation, it is important to recognize that all countries are starting from different levels of development and different levels of development capabilities. Therefore, it is important that each country, in line with its own priorities and capacities, exerts the greatest efforts to fulfill and implement the SDGs while helping to support other countries with the same achievement.

In order to do this, my delegation attaches great attention to the need to create an enabling environment for development through the strengthening of a global partnership. This improved global partnership should provide increased and adequate means of implementation, above and beyond the priorities in the SDGs, especially to help developing countries, that would include restructuring debt and reforming the international trade system. The Holy See has been concerned for some time on the inequities governing the current international financial system, as we already expressed in Doha in 2008.

In addition, my delegation concurs that every attempt must be made to mobilize financial resources for implementing the post-2015 agenda from a variety of sources, both public and private, and at national and international levels. Increased investments, even in the smallest amounts, will help provide additional capacities to deliver basic services to the poorest and most vulnerable communities. At the same time, it is important to understand and to replicate, where feasible, new and innovative development mechanisms, in both developed and developing countries, that have been successful. All this must be done while paying careful attention to the needs of LDCs, LLDCs, and SIDS, and to assist them regarding their special situations and to continue and sustain their ODA requirements.

In conclusion, even though the dignity of the human person is not defined by the development circumstances in which they live, not all circumstances offer an equal opportunity for human flourishing. It is our responsibility during these discussions to work for a post-2015 agenda in which all have the possibility to reach their full potential. It is my delegation’s opinion that the means of implementation for the SDGs are crucial in this regard, having the possibility to generate the circumstances necessary to achieve the SDGs and thus affirm the dignity of every individual.

Thank you.