WUNRN
LATIN AMERICA & CARIBBEAN
In the process towards Accra Caribbean and Latin
American feminist networks met to discuss the implementation of the Paris
Declaration and Aid Effectiveness.
SANTA MARTA STATEMENT
Colombia, Bogotá, Santa Marta
June 3, 2008
In September 2008, member countries of the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and some
developing countries will meet in the Third High-Level Forum in Accra, Ghana,
to assess progress in implementation of the Paris Declaration on Aid
Effectiveness signed in 2005 and to agree on a new ‘agenda for action’. In this
context a parallel meeting was held in Bogota on June 3rd called by the Popular
Education among Women Network (REPEM), International Gender and Trade Network
(IGTN-Latin American Chapter) and the National Confluence Network of Colombia,
supported by ActionAid International, AWID, WIDE and UNIFEM.
The networks that attended the meeting recognized
that at the present Latin America is looking for alternatives entrenchment of
democratic and regional integration. They also acknowledged progress on
equality between women and men: the passage of private sphere to the public,
access of Latin American women to health, education and increasing their
participation in the labour market and in public life. However, these gains do
not translate into better income opportunities or access to high levels of
political power and exercise their rights.
In Latin America, the so-called middle-income
countries, are losing access to international cooperation and are virtually out
of major decisions of the OECD countries in terms of allocations of Official
Development Assistance (ODA). These allocations are based on macroeconomic
indicators such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP), that is unaware of the
inequalities inherent in Latin American societies, which particularly affect
women by the multiplying effect of inequality, gender discrimination that
accumulates race, ethnicity, age, social class and sexual orientation, among
others.
The development model in Latin America is
characterized by a subordinate insertion in the context of globalization, which
implies an increase in inequality based on the exploitation of commodities,
natural resources and labour force, with high levels of concentration of
wealth; leaving populations, social groups and territories in extreme poverty
without access to the resources of international cooperation.
In addition to the foregoing, economic and trade
agreements that ignore gaps in various areas (technology, economic development
and income, among others) are still boosting, increasing the vulnerability of
economies because of the liberalization of financial flows and speculation. The
Doha Round of WTO negotiations has failed to progress on their commitments to
development and large parts of the world are struggling with the lack of food,
while developed countries maintain unfair trade conditions in agriculture,
criminalizing among others the small and medium food producers in our region.
The themes of equity and redistribution from a rights
approach have remained as pillars of the agenda of women's organizations and
their development proposals. Within this framework items as the feminization of
poverty and migration in conditions of insecurity, alongside the defence of
sexual and reproductive rights, the fight against gender violence and
feminicide are relevant issues on the agenda . Notwithstanding the importance
and impact of the work of women's organizations, they have increasingly less
resources.
This analysis of Latin America situation should feed
the ongoing debate on aid effectiveness and development effectiveness. If the
Accra process tries to be an inclusive and participatory process, it should
recognize the outlined particularities of the region and the agenda of women’s
organizations.
Therefore, we urge the participants of the meeting in
Santa Marta to consider the following recommendations:
1. To integrate discussions on aid effectiveness in
the framework of UN Financing for Development process -following the Monterrey
Consensus-
2. Donor governments and those of America Latina and
the Caribbean must comply with the commitments made through international
frameworks on human rights and on the rights of women and development
agreements (such as the Beijing Platform for Action And the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women-CEDAW, among others)
that are governments commitments on the rights of women but not conditionalities
for cooperation.
3. In Accra, governments need to reaffirm the
equality between men and women as a target of development and recognize that
financing for development cannot be neutral in terms of gender.
4. Promoting democratic and inclusive ownership of
development policies, ensuring the citizen and universal participation of civil
society organizations particularly of women, in the process of formulation,
implementation and evaluation. This means an appropriation of development on
countries level and not of governments, ensuring a sustained and substantive
citizen participation, with clear mechanisms and adequate funding.
5. Integrate citizenship in mutual accountability
through clear mechanisms and instruments, as well as indicators that include social
equity and gender, ensuring access to information and transparency in the
evaluation of results.
6. For Latin America policies of wealth
redistribution and not just poverty reduction are a priority, hence, it would
be essential to include indicators of inequality such as the Gini coefficient,
among others, on defining attributions of ODA and evaluating the impact of
financing for development and aid effectiveness.
Signatures (preliminary list)
Afrolider, AWID, Campaña Mis Derechos NO se Negocian,
Católicas por el Derecho a Decidir, Centrap, Codacop, Confluencia de Redes de
Mujeres de Colombia, Escuela de Estudios Gènero Universidad Nacional de
Colombia, Fundac, Fundeìn, GAP, LIMPAL, Red Nacional de Mujeres, Red
Internacional de Género y Comercio Capitulo América Latina, Red Mujer y
Habitat, REPEM, Isis International