Italy, Spain and Turkey

EIGHTH SESSION OF THE OPEN WORKING GROUP OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS

New York, 3– 7 February 2014

Statement of Mr. Kemal Madenoğlu
Undersecretary
Ministry of Development

Interactive exchange of views on Conflict Prevention, Post-Conflict Peacebuilding and the Promotion of Durable Peace, Rule of Law and Governance

Distinguished co-Chairs,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

I have the pleasure to deliver these remarks on behalf of the group of Italy, Spain and Turkey. First of all, we would like to thank the UN Technical Support Team for preparation of issue briefs and I also would like to thank panelists for their valuable contributions to our discussions.
1. We all agree that development is for the people and people should be at the center of all development efforts. Without peace, rule of law and good governance, we cannot ensure the well-being of people which ultimately what really matters. Peace, rule of law and good governance are inter-related and critical foundations and pre-conditions of sustainable development. It is argued that progress towards achieving the MDGs has been hampered by violence, conflict, lack of rule of law and weak public institutions. Preventing conflict, ensuring peaceful societies and promoting good governance must be considered as parts and enablers of sustainable development agenda.
2. “Among individuals, as among nations, respect for the rights of others is peace”. These were the words of Benito Juarez, pronounced in the second half of the 19th century, almost hundred years before the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the UN General Assembly. Much later, the 1992 Rio Declaration asserted in Principle 25 that "Peace, development and environmental protection are indivisible", thereby tightly connecting the respect of individual rights with the wellbeing of individuals and societies. Rio + 20 has emphasized that “people are at the centre of sustainable development”, that a “just, equitable and inclusive” world is what we must pursue, and that in a just world we are committed to ensure freedom, peace, respect for all human rights.
3. Peace, security and development are interlinked and positively reinforce each other. The peace-development nexus should always be taken into consideration in our efforts.
4. Poverty, disease, famine, oppression and despair are both sources and consequences of conflicts. The evidence for this is overwhelming. Conflicts cause deaths and victims, lost opportunities and poor investment climate, create violence and instability, and risk to destabilise neighbours. Large portions of the world’s poor are mainly concentrated in conflict-affected and fragile states.
5. Achieving sustainable development paves the way for the construction and maintenance of peace, while a peaceful environment also sets the stage for sustainable development. The sources of conflict and war are pervasive and deep, and touch upon the social core of community architecture. Social and cultural divisions, social and economic marginalization, lawlessness, inequitable access to services and natural resources, persisting lack of voice and opportunity, and enduring poverty are the ills that respect of human rights would treat and heal.
6. A look at the world today unequivocally tells us that we are nowhere near a just, equitable, and inclusive world. Conflicts affect about 20 per cent of the world population largely in the poorest countries. Peace is eluding us, so is the foundation of our quest for sustainable development. It is not therefore surprising that the global community feels compelled to define a post-2015 framework that concretize – not only recognize - the link between peace and development and take into account the profound and multi-layered relationship among them.
7. As the outcome document of the Special Event of the General Assembly on the post-2015 framework held in New York last September advocates, the promotion of peace and security must be an integral part of the sustainable development agenda. It is a moral imperative to incorporate peace into the post-2015 agenda.
8. Conflict prevention, post-conflict peacebuilding and the promotion of durable peace have to be tackled through a comprehensive and integrated approach.
9. Preventive diplomacy should constitute one of the major pillars in our efforts, together with peacemaking, peacekeeping and peacebuilding. The role and capacities of United Nations (UN) should be strengthened in that regard and for better global governance, representativeness in UN decision-making mechanisms should be reinforced.
10. Mediation is a cross-cutting tool that can be utilized in all stages of the conflict cycle. Mediation efforts should be more integrated into our overall efforts. There is also a need to raise awareness and build capacity for coordinated mediation at global, regional and local levels in order to achieve durable peace.
11. Conflict dynamics around the world tend to be interconnected at the local, regional and international level involving many actors. Conflict in one country is likely to affect other countries, even the ones that are far away.
The effective and sustainable realization of durable peace requires the engagement of all stakeholders. Involvement of regional stakeholders is of particular importance, as it will increase the chances of success and sustainability of peacekeeping, peacebuilding and peacemaking efforts.
On the other hand, wish to underline the importance of mainstreaming women's participation in peacemaking and peacebuilding efforts, as well as increasing opportunities for women to engage in decision-making and economic recovery.
12. The international humanitarian aids for providing basic needs and services to the people living under conflict-affected areas should be coordinated by the UN.
13. Turkey and UNDP will jointly organize a high level international conference in Turkey on international development cooperation in the months to come which will address building civilian capacities in post conflict countries as well.
14. Promoting good governance and accountable justice systems are the musts for empowering society in that regard.
Honorable Co-Chairs,
15. There is a close and strong relation among rule of law, good governance and sustainable development. It is widely understood that poor governance undermines economic performance, weakens democratic institutions and rule of law, disrupts social order and destroys public trust. It is, therefore, a major obstacle to successful social and economic development. New economic, social, environmental and political challenges could result in even greater problems than in the past. This new era of increased expectations calls for the development of new ways of thinking and doing things. This tendency encompasses both the management functions of government agencies and rules of democratic governance. The new way of thinking must take into account the fact that people and countries around the world are increasingly interconnected and mutually affect each other. Therefore mutual solutions with flexible approaches and international cooperation should be at the core of governance agenda.
16. Despite the availability of natural resources, human capital, and international aid in addition to the will and demand of people, poverty continues to burden families and communities all around the world. At the same time, conflicts and violence persist in many countries, and they are usually nourished by poor governance. In many cases, poor governance contributes to financial and economic collapse, public alienation, and even violence and failed states with disastrous consequences for people. Thus, establishing peace and rule of law, improving governance are crucial for poverty eradication and to help countries to achieve development goals. Successful reforms and changes in the governance structures over the past decade have helped some countries to achieve better results.
17. An efficient, effective, transparent and accountable public administration is accepted as a critical element of democratic governance as well as economic and social development. Any development agenda should consider sustainability and equity together. If the growth is to be sustainable, it needs to be inclusive and accompanied by social justice, respect for human rights and environment.
Distinguished Participants,
18. Good governance is essential to achieve any set of sustainable development goals and to realize post-2015 development agenda. Peace, rule of law and good governance are core elements of people’s well-being.
19. Responsive and legitimate institutions should encourage the rule of law, property rights, freedom of speech and the media, open political choice, access to justice, accountability. The rule of law is a key instrument for fostering social justice and equality to ensure all voices heard in full respect of social, economic and cultural rights. As the Report of High Level Panel on Post-2015 Development Agenda suggests “ensuring stable and peaceful societies and establishing good governance and effective institutions” should be considered among sustainable development goals.

20. New development agenda must cover good governance at all levels. Governance capacities will depend on political commitments to the rule of law. Empowerment of vulnerable and marginalized people, to participate in decision-making processes is also a critical element of the new agenda. This agenda should give special priority to women’s empowerment and to provide basic services for children, as well as to protect them against violence and abuse. Ensuring an inclusive approach and good institutions provide violence reduction, safety, participation, accountability, equitable social service delivery and access to justice for all.
21. State capacity, at national and local levels, remains essential for national ownership and for the effective steering of the future sustainable development agenda. Sustainable development will also require significantly improved policy coherence across government to endure the three dimensions of sustainable development.
22. Transparency is a prerequisite for genuine accountability and reinforces predictability. Disseminating reliable information to the public; developing a climate of trust between the government and the citizens through openness and honesty are key components of good governance. In all countries, citizens must have right to access government information and data about themselves.
23. Development efforts are often hampered by lack of basic data. Information and communication technologies offer new opportunities for the promotion and measurement of peace rule of law and good governance. The new technologies make collecting and accessing the information easier and allow people to participate directly in public decision making processes. On the other hand, privacy of personal information should be secured.
24. Highly performing, independent and impartial justice system is essential for ensuring good governance. Access to justice can be enhanced by institutional reforms that address efficiency and integrity. It also requires empowering people to realize their rights and remedies and to have access to services such as legal aid, legal awareness and literacy.
25. Supreme audit institutions and anti-corruption commissions have proven to be of the utmost importance in promoting integrity and good governance. Strong anti-corruption agencies can play an important role for prevention of corruption and raising public awareness and trust in government agencies. Civil society along with a responsible and independent media must step up to their role as watchdog. An informed population can better hold their governments to account and become more active participants.
26. Looking forward, the key challenge ahead of us is to concretize our objectives into specific goals for peace, rule of law and good governance. We believe that we must commit ourselves to elaborate on the work done so far to develop meaningful and measurable targets associated to some indicators, which will help tracking the progresses achieved in terms of peace, rule of law and good governance. At the same time, we should recognize the key role of civil societies in promoting the issues of peace, development and good governance.
Before concluding I would like to remind that the full text is available on the website.
I thank you.