Guyana is still to decide on its position on the late Dr Cheddi Jagan’s New Global Human Order (NGHO), which comes up at next month’s United Nations General Assembly, as according to the Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Greenidge many of its elements that could garner international support have been incorporated in other initiatives.
He also stated that the initiative, which was described as the most prominent one Guyana advanced at the UN in the last 20 years, remained without the capacity to sustain itself separately in spite of 20-odd years within a party (the PPP/C) that initiated it.
The minister was at the time responding to the opposition’s Chief Whip Gail Teixeira who stated that the 71st United Nations General Assembly would be discussing the NGHO, which was initiated by Guyana in the mid-1990s by late Dr Cheddi Jagan, and asked whether Guyana will continue its support of the resolution at the upcoming assembly.
Greenidge said that since the international conference on the NGHO in Georgetown in 1996 and the introduction of it into the agenda of the United Nations there have been some developments that have to be taken into consideration to understand where Guyana can go in the future.
He pointed out that since the 2002 introduction the General Assembly considered the issue consistently and had debates on it several times. The minister said it has become an established item on the UN’s agenda but it was not taken in the sessions in the last two assemblies. During that time he said there were several major agreements which will shape the development of the landscape up to the year 2030 and those were able to garner wide support.
According to the minister there is need to re-examine or update the NGHO initiative because the new developments at the assembly have incorporated parts of those raised by Dr Jagan.
He said the relevance of the item is now questionable adding that in looking at it one would discover that it does not fit neatly into the prevailing global developmental preoccupation.
There is a lack of any clearly delineated ideas in well-developed proportions in support of the initiative and there is limited space for competing proposals in context of the new development agenda; there is an absence of clear political support or champions in the international arenas.
While there is tacit support from many friendly countries this is without any buy-in and these are issues that would have to be taken into consideration. He also pointed out that the NGHO has not been benefiting from sustained and robust intellectual consideration over the years but he said that consideration can be given to consolidate the gains from the NGHO.
Further pressed by Teixeira, the minister pointed out that the previous government for years has been unable to mobilise international support for some elements of the initiative and those for which international support can be mobilized have already been incorporated into other initiatives.
“When we see the report of the Secretary General of the UN we will determine what additionally needs to be done but there is no question of the government pursuing a separate and independent initiative as per the resolution that was passed in 1994,” he said.
Teixeira pointed out that the other initiatives the minister mentioned are not on the agenda for the upcoming assembly but the NGHO is on and she again pressed for the government’s position on the initiative which has been the property of the Secretary General of the UN.
“It is item 15 on the agenda we will deal with in in that context…,” the minister responded.
The resolution states, “The role of the United Nations in promoting a New Global Human Order” was initiated by the late President Dr Cheddi Jagan “as a passionate plea to world leaders to create a new approach to international relations in order to deal with the growing problems of social inequality, poverty, hunger, social insecurity and disorder.” It was co-sponsored by 54 countries. The concept was previously discussed at the UN General Assembly through resolutions approved in 2000, 2002 and 2007. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in his report on the implementation of the 2007 Resolution, highlighted its link to key UN initiatives. The Guyana government first made the proposal at the World Summit for Social Development held in Copenhagen in 1995. Since then, it has been supported at a number of international forums, including the Caribbean Community, the Non-Aligned Movement, the South Summit, the Organisation of the Islamic Conference and the Group of 77.
It is intended to promote multilateral approaches to the solution of global problems through the adoption of a holistic framework of development that focuses on integrating the economic, environmental, social, cultural and political aspects of development experience and to identify critical gaps that need to be addressed in the fashioning of this holistic approach.
