A world where money is more important than people

I was in Strasbourg this week, accompanying a group of young people from across Europe to meet Ban Ki-moon, the UN Secretary General. Some of the guys who made up the delegation continue to have a difficult life, struggling to find work or their place on a worthwhile training course. And struggling to find their place in a society that tends to value people's worth in economic more often than human terms. Others have had more opportunities but are committed to creating a society which gives those same chances to everyone whatever their background.

It was uplifting to join them as they delivered their Appeal for a fairer world to Ban Ki-moon and the European Parliament President. This Appeal is the fruit of a process that has brought European young people together over the past year, in which each person was listened to and each point of view was respected. The Appeal asks Europeans of all ages and backgrounds to express their solidarity with young people who are among the over 80 million who live in poverty across the continent. 


"As young people from across Europe and in solidarity with young people the world over, we live in a world where money is more important than people. This world excludes some of us and breaks others. It leaves us feeling disgusted and angry. (…) We are of all ages and from across Europe. We dream of a fairer world. We must come together to make it possible."


The high that the young people were on after the event was infectious. As one of them put it, "When we began the process of writing this Appeal, I could never have imagined that we would end up reading it to the UN Secretary-General!"


It is easy to be cynical about such encounters between dignitaries and "ordinary citizens". I honesty got the feeling that Ban Ki-moon was genuinely touched and impressed by the commitment of this group of young people. In his very spontaneous response, he congratulated them on their leadership in tackling questions of poverty and encouraged their expression of solidarity to build a world free from poverty.


Those of us accompanying the delegation must now ensure that the Appeal's strong message of a dream for a fairer world is reinforced by reminding world leaders and decision makers of the expectations young people have for them to stand by the commitments they have made to make that dream a reality.


European youth appeal to the UN Secretary-General for a fairer world from ATDFRA on Vimeo.

Gross national happiness

As world leaders come away from the UN in New York following this week's MDG summit and opening of the General Assembly, is anything likely to change for the people whose lives the MDGs are intended to improve? Let's be honest, given that the community of nations pledged 10 years ago to, "spare no effort to free our fellow men, women and children from the abject and dehumanizing conditions of extreme poverty," they were hardly likely to shrug their shoulders and back away from such promises. But are we any closer now to delivery on these promises?

What positives can we take away from the summit to reassure people across the world whose lives have gone unchanged, or become more difficult, since 2000? Aside the usual rhetoric of "must do better", there were some departures from the standard script. Presidents Sarkozy and Zapatero spoke passionately about the need to introduce a tax on international financial transactions to fund progress towards the MDGs. But with the continued lukewarm response from the US in particular, this is unlikely to see the light of day any time soon. The Swiss government's representative focussed on the need for a human rights approach to achieving the MDGs, a tool woefully absent from the framework to date. And there is finally some mention in the summit's outcome document of the need to respect, protect and promote human rights in order to reach the Goals. But no mention of how this will be fulfuilled.

My highlight though was the speech from the Prime Minister of Bhutan. He called on the voluntary adoption of a ninth MDG: happiness. Bhutan has long rejected mainstream development paradigms, opting to meaure its country's progress not by improvements in Gross National Product, but Growth National Happiness. Interestingly, the Bhutanese rightly point out that the MDG framework does nothing to tackle poverty and inequality in the developed world. Goals towards achieving happiness, they point out, would be equally relevant and valuable for the global north.

Below you can view the Bhutan Prime Minister's address. This concept is not to be dismissed out of hand. The wonders of economic growth, even before the crisis, have been unable to eradicate poverty and achieve full enjoyment of all human rights for all. Despite the laughter in the General Assembly from some quarters that accompanied Bhutan's idea, there is surely something to gain from taking a closer look at Gross National Happiness.