This is the fifth LDC Conference, but since the LDC bloc was created in 1971, only six countries have graduated from the LDC category and the number of LDCs has grown from 25 to 46. The record is poor: the IPoA target of a 7% sustained growth rate has been achieved in very few LDCs, and has recently been exacerbated by the pandemic, with a very slow pace of structural transformation. We, therefore, have the following demands to be included in the Doha Political Programme of Action.
Firstly, in terms of the environmental crisis, LDCs are already suffering from climate change, which they have not caused, so it is vital that the Global North polluting countries make a clear, unequivocal commitment to a rapid transition out of fossil fuels. They must acknowledge their historical responsibility, but most of the financial mechanisms like the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) have failed miserably to provide the promised finance. There must be new, additional, finance to enable LDCs to cope with and adapt to climate change and finance a transition to clean energy and a specific Loss and Damage (L&D) fund for LDCs.
The COVID pandemic and its dismal Global Response highlighted the inequality of global health provision. Only 2% of the population in LDCs were vaccinated compared to 41% in developed countries. Why? unavailability of cheap vaccines, because the existing TRIPS agreement protects first world pharmaceutical companies’ intellectual property rights. We urge that a TRIPS waiver should exist in perpetuity for all LDCs, and for at least 12 years after LDC graduation.
LDC debts are increasing. While LDCs rely on ODA, FDI, and remittances to push development forward, increasingly development finance is in the form of loans, so LDCs external debt servicing has
tripled in the last 10 years. LDC’s dependency on aid must be reduced and domestic revenue increased by broadening the tax base, introducing wealth taxation, and curbing illicit financial flows.
To get rid of the endemic gender inequality in LDCs, governments, civil society organisations and development partners must work towards removing inequalities in paid and unpaid work; ensure social protection across the lifecycle and equal access to all assets, and promote education
To achieve food security, LDC governments must support, smallholder food producers to create local markets and link rural and urban areas. In international terms, developed countries should reduce the farming subsidies which threaten farmers’ livelihoods.
To support trade exports, focus on Special and Differential Treatment (S&DT), and enable LDCs to invoke the Special Safeguard Mechanism (SSM), to curb surges in agricultural imports from heavily subsidised northern countries. Ensure 100% duty-free quota-free (DFQF) market access for LDCs, and relax ‘rules of origin’ to enable LDCs to find new types of exports. As most of LDCs exports are of primary commodities, LDC governments must overcome their supply-side constraints and build productive capacity to enhance exports.
Several LDCs are approaching graduation, which can be a shock as they lose special support measures. Instead, measures should be phased out gradually and predictably to ensure a smooth transition.
Jane Nalunga, LDC Watch Board Member, emphasizes the unfulfilled promises of the Doha Development Agenda at the Civil Society Forum High-Level Official Opening
I’m with Lidy Nacpil. Perhaps you can explain who you are, what you’re from, and what your organization does.
I’m Lidy Nacpil, the coordinator of Asia’s People’s Movement on Debt and Development, We’re a regional alliance covering mostly Southeast Asia and South Asia, but also partners in East Asia. Our work is campaigning. and advocacy work on the economic climate, gender, and other social justice issues.
So what will you be doing at the conference?
Well, first we’re joining other civil society organizations in raising what we believe are very urgent and critical issues, especially for LDCS, and hoping that we can have an exchange with delegates here and other actors on what should be the immediate policy agendas on these issues. Of course, some of them are already reflected in the Doha work program. And many of these advocacies we share with several governments, who are strong champions on these issues.
We hope that our collective civil society voices can help strengthen and produce sharper positioning on these issues and policy alternatives, especially demand being issued by developing countries like the LDCS to the world’s wealthy countries.
And we’re also here to support a number of members of Parliament from all over the different LDC countries who are one with us in calling for a fossil fuel-free future. And we’re helping to organise their meetings and events.
Now, you’re an old hand at these conferences. You’ve been here for many conferences like this. Are you optimistic about the outcome of LDC5?.
Often the collective outcome of these UN meetings disappoints, right? Because unfortunately, collective outcomes also involve the very large and strong influence of wealthy countries who don’t always have the interest of the people of the Global South in mind. So they often disappoint because they prevent the outcomes from being more strongly aligned with the interests of people of the Global South.
We still come because on the one hand, if we’re not here, then who knows? They might have worse outcomes if we just allow them to just do what they want to do. And the second thing is we come because there are also many other things that we can achieve in this arena. We meet here with strong allies from developing country governments, also some allies in even the northern governments, and we work together with them in order to strengthen the political will of governments so that they can be more responsive to these issues.
Doha – Civil Society leaders have called upon the developed governments to keep their past promises and extend urgent support to some of the poorest countries of the world that are passing through multiple crises.
Addressing the Parliamentary Forum organised jointly by the LDC 5 Secretariat, The Shura Council of Qatar, and the Inter-Parliamentary Union at the Qatar National Convention Center on Saturday, Rabab Fatima, Under Secretary General of the United Nations and Secretary General of the LDC 5, said that last 10 years had been a difficult journey for LDCs due to pandemic, climate crisis and conflict around the world. ‘There are deep-rooted problems in the LDCs including low human development, limited financial resources and unsustainable debt,’ said Fatima adding, ‘First, we must secure good and effective governance. Second, we must work together to develop the potential of science and technology and extend stronger support for LDCs for their capacity building. Third, LDCs should effectively mobilise domestic resources and these must be supported by the international community.’
Dr. Arjun Karki Global Coordinator of LDC Watch, a global alliance of civil society organisations, think tanks, and academics based in the LDCs, said that the LDCs are suffering from the COVID pandemic, the impact of climate change and debt crisis, among others.
‘Covid pandemic created 40 new billionaires, while more than half a billion people were pushed into extreme poverty. The Global Hunger Index 2022 indicates that 21 LDCs in Africa have ‘serious’ hunger, seven are facing an ‘alarming’ rate of hunger, while one country is facing ‘extremely alarming’ hunger,’ said Dr. Karki adding, ‘Official Development Assistance (ODA) to LDCs did not meet the threshold of at least 0.15-0.20 per cent of OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) countries
GNI contribution, despite the Istanbul Programme of Action (IPoA). Dr. Karki further said that the LDCs’ total external debt servicing has more than tripled in the last ten years. ‘We strongly call upon our development partners to follow the principle of country ownership, transparency and untied aid to
improve aid effectiveness. It is equally crucial, that LDCs’ dependency on aid should be reduced. Instead, domestic revenue should be raised by broadening the tax base and enhancing compliance and transparency, introducing wealth taxation, and curbing illicit financial flows. While we welcome the UN resolution to take on a global tax leadership role paving the way for a UN convention on taxation, we insist that a new UN-led global tax body be quickly instituted,’ Dr Karki added.
Duarte Pacheco, President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), said that LDCs are suffering from climate change, Covid, and the ongoing food and energy crisis. ‘Advancing LDCs can make big difference in achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
LDCs have to cover a long journey toward sustainable development. We are not allowed to give up. One day we will achieve our goal,’ he added. Speaker of the Shura Council of Qatar, Hasan Bin Abdulla Al Ghanim, expressed hope that LDCV will come up with a new vision to improve productivity in the LDCs including promoting investment in infrastructure and facing climate change. He said development aid should be provided in such a way that helps LDCs for their social and environmental development.
Taffere Tesfachew, a Member of, the UN Committee for Development Policy, said that LDC countries are suffering from low income, low human development, environmental shocks, and structural impediments. ‘There is the need for an integrated approach and need for coherence.
Internal support measures provided by the internal community should complement LDCs’ efforts,’ he added. Saber Chowdhury Member of Parliament from Bangladesh, said that LDCs are facing three major challenges – Climate Change, Covid, and Conflict.
‘Our very existence is challenged by climate change. Water stress, drought, biodiversity loss, food security. LDCs are at the receiving end,’ said Mr Chowdhury adding, ‘LDCs account for only 1.1 percent of global Green House Gas emissions but are affected the most. External shocks are going to challenge us like never before. We have to think differently, and we have to work differently.
Governments will have to do that, and we will exercise our oversight of how govts are acting.’
Jitendra Dev, a parliamentarian from Nepal, said the LDCs are marginalised due to the biased global economic system. These potentials can be tapped only when significant investment is made to improve human capabilities. There is an urgent need to make a global system to support them. IFIs need to adopt – Climate Finance goals must be met. Adequate financing and technologies must be available, and preferential market access within a rule-based multilateral trading system. We need to change the current model of eco progress -switching to green and circular. We need to work collectively. LDCs have untapped potential in terms of human and natural potential.
Civil society activists from around the world have gathered in Doha to take part in the 5th UN LDC Summit. They are calling upon a fundamental shift in the internal system so as to address the poverty and underdevelopment of some of the poorest countries of the world.
The Doha Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the decade 2022-2031 (DPoA) was endorsed by the UN General Assembly on 1 April 2022. The second part of the conference in Doha focuses on the political declaration to accompany the DPoA.
The DPoA has six focus areas:
- investing in people in Least Developed Countries; eradicating poverty and building capacity to leave no one behind;
- leveraging the power of science, technology, and innovation to fight against multidimensional vulnerabilities and to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs);
- supporting structural transformation as a driver of prosperity;
- enhancing international trade of Least Developed Countries and regional integration;
- addressing climate change, environmental degradation, recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, and building resilience against future shocks for risk-informed sustainable development;
- mobilizing international solidarity, reinvigorating global partnerships, and innovative tools: a march towards sustainable
The two prominent objectives of the DPoA include an annual growth of a rate 7 per cent in LDCs and the graduation of 15 more LDCs between 2022 and 2031.
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and we’ll be in touch.
LDC Watch Internation Secretariat