Saturday October 27, 2007 By IANS
New Delhi, Oct 27 (IANS) The crackdown by the Myanmar regime on the Buddhist monks-led pro-democracy protests may adversely impede the Southeast Asian nation's ability to meets its developmental aims, says senior UN envoy Erna Witoelar.
Witoelar, UN special ambassador for Millennium Development Goals in Asia and Pacific, pointed out that in development projects the role of intermediaries between the people and deliveries of services, like the government and voluntary groups, was crucial.
'In Myanmar, the main intermediaries were the Buddhist monks. Unfortunately, they have become the victims (of the crackdown)... that will naturally lead to a decline in the implementation of developmental projects,' Witoelar told IANS.
In New Delhi to take part in celebrations for United Nations Day, the former Indonesian minister said she was also worried that too much pressure on the Myanmar regime could cause it to further isolate itself.
'In Asia, we do not like to lose face. The more the West will impose sanctions, there is likely to be equivalent backlash by the regime,' she said, urging an 'Asian solution' that could persuade the regime in a 'friendly way'.
Witoelar, 60, had earlier travelled extensively in Myanmar as a representative of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and remembers having to rely on the largesse of Asean, India and China to act as donors for development projects, with the rest of the world boycotting that nation.
Appointed to her current position in 2003, Witoelar has been travelling around Asia to ensure that governments remain on track to achieve eight MDGs for reducing poverty, spreading good health and education, gender equality, child mortality, maternal health, environmental protection and equitable development. The MDGs were agreed upon by 192 countries at the UN Millennium summit in 2000.
Talking about the situation in India, Witoelar was concerned that while India would be able to achieve some MDG goals, it would be left behind in others. 'We are satisfied that India will be able to bring safe drinking water to more and more of its people, but we are worried that provision of sanitation may not be moving at the same pace,' she said.
Similarly, the goal of reducing the number of people living on less than one dollar a day may be met by India, as poverty levels drop with rising prosperity. But, Witoelar was concerned that combating malnutrition was a different ball game, in which India was getting left behind.
Further, while poverty levels were reducing, there was greater inequality in wealth distribution. 'In India, Fortune says that it has got the highest number of millionaires... There is large disparity in China between its eastern and western parts,' she pointed out.
One of the areas that she has been urging stakeholders to look at is the inter-linkage between the various issues, rather than looking at the sectors in an isolated way. 'Due to countries not looking at the linkages, there is a lot of waste of resources,' she said.
Corruption was also another area that she feels could impede achieving MDGs. 'While I cannot comment on India, in my own country Indonesia it is a major issue, as well as in Philippines and Cambodia,' said Witoelar.
But, at the same time, she is energised by the fact that poverty can become history within the next few years. 'There is a UN study which says if all countries meet their goals by 2015, then poverty could be eliminated by 2020,' she said, adding, 'This is an exciting thing'.
Witoelar, UN special ambassador for Millennium Development Goals in Asia and Pacific, pointed out that in development projects the role of intermediaries between the people and deliveries of services, like the government and voluntary groups, was crucial.
'In Myanmar, the main intermediaries were the Buddhist monks. Unfortunately, they have become the victims (of the crackdown)... that will naturally lead to a decline in the implementation of developmental projects,' Witoelar told IANS.
In New Delhi to take part in celebrations for United Nations Day, the former Indonesian minister said she was also worried that too much pressure on the Myanmar regime could cause it to further isolate itself.
'In Asia, we do not like to lose face. The more the West will impose sanctions, there is likely to be equivalent backlash by the regime,' she said, urging an 'Asian solution' that could persuade the regime in a 'friendly way'.
Witoelar, 60, had earlier travelled extensively in Myanmar as a representative of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and remembers having to rely on the largesse of Asean, India and China to act as donors for development projects, with the rest of the world boycotting that nation.
Appointed to her current position in 2003, Witoelar has been travelling around Asia to ensure that governments remain on track to achieve eight MDGs for reducing poverty, spreading good health and education, gender equality, child mortality, maternal health, environmental protection and equitable development. The MDGs were agreed upon by 192 countries at the UN Millennium summit in 2000.
Talking about the situation in India, Witoelar was concerned that while India would be able to achieve some MDG goals, it would be left behind in others. 'We are satisfied that India will be able to bring safe drinking water to more and more of its people, but we are worried that provision of sanitation may not be moving at the same pace,' she said.
Similarly, the goal of reducing the number of people living on less than one dollar a day may be met by India, as poverty levels drop with rising prosperity. But, Witoelar was concerned that combating malnutrition was a different ball game, in which India was getting left behind.
Further, while poverty levels were reducing, there was greater inequality in wealth distribution. 'In India, Fortune says that it has got the highest number of millionaires... There is large disparity in China between its eastern and western parts,' she pointed out.
One of the areas that she has been urging stakeholders to look at is the inter-linkage between the various issues, rather than looking at the sectors in an isolated way. 'Due to countries not looking at the linkages, there is a lot of waste of resources,' she said.
Corruption was also another area that she feels could impede achieving MDGs. 'While I cannot comment on India, in my own country Indonesia it is a major issue, as well as in Philippines and Cambodia,' said Witoelar.
But, at the same time, she is energised by the fact that poverty can become history within the next few years. 'There is a UN study which says if all countries meet their goals by 2015, then poverty could be eliminated by 2020,' she said, adding, 'This is an exciting thing'.
5 comments:
Yes, cracking down on political monks is a must for Burma to have a chance to break out of poverty.
I have covered myself all up and those thugs can't hurt me!
Yes, and I hope you're smart a enough to use at least 15cm thick iron to cover yourself instead of the stupid saffron robe.
A matter of time, good will win over evil. If Mandela can achived in Africa, Ann San can do it in Burma.
Yeah, but what good is it? By the time she win, it is time to hit the grave. If she smart, she can set herself free by not interfering with the ruler. Maybe she can come Cambodia and help to unite the democracy alliances or whatever. What good is it to stay home and get old for nothing?
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