| Date 11-Jun-2010 to 11-Jun-2010 |
Location Ottowa, Canada |
Format International |
This post arises from my role as Chair, FIM-Forum for Democratic Global Governance
Twenty civil society leaders from around the world engaged Canadian host Sherpa*Leonard Edwards and Sous Sherpa Graham Flack on 11 June 2010 in Ottawa around the issues of accountability of the G20 to the citizens of the world (in preparation for the forthcoming G20 Summit in Toronto to be held on 26 and 27 June 2010). Since the beginning of the financial crisis in 2008, G20 summits of leaders of the world (in Washington, November 2008; in London, April 2009; and in Pittsburgh, February 2010) have taken a number of important decisions related to global financial governance.
The G20 summit in Toronto follows on the heels of the G8 summit in Canada (on 25 and 26 June 2010), and is being co-hosted by the Prime Minister of Canada and the President of South Korea (who will host the next G20 summit in Seoul in November 2010).
Organized by FIM-Forum for Democratising Global Governance, this was the first ever structured civil society dialogue with the G20. As G20 begins to acquire a growing influence in shaping decisions related to global governance, it is of utmost importance that civil society voices from around the world are heard by G20 leaders so that G20 and its leaders continue to conduct themselves in ways that deepen democratizing of global governance institutions, processes and decision-making.
Over the past two years, G20 has focused its attention primarily on issues related to rescuing and repairing the global economy. Hence, the Toronto summit is primarily focusing on furthering the operationalisation of the framework for strong, sustainable and balanced growth of the world economy. The engagement of civil society leaders in Ottawa thus focused on specific issues related to macroeconomic policies.
It was pointed out that various bailout and rescue packages in different countries have angered citizens as taxpayers’ funds have been seen to be utilized to ‘bail out’ those institutions (banks and others) which have been responsible for causing the financial crises in the first place. Civil society asked G20 to utilize stimulus packages to focus on the transformation of national and global economies into ‘green economies that eradicate poverty’. The design of the future architecture of global economic institutions should be such that it primarily supports food security, employment and social economy (which provides livelihood to more than a billion people around the world). This will require clear and transparent regulation of global financial flows.
One of the major decisions of G20 in its London meeting of 2009 was reform of the World Bank and IMF, including greater capital infusion and broader mandates to them to support the global economy. While incremental improvements in voting rights have been made in the World Bank, reforms in the IMF are still being resisted. G20 had announced that strengthening of the capital base and new roles of these International Financial Institutions (IFIs) was conditional on key governance reforms of the IFIs. Civil society demands G20 leaders ensure that full reform of governance structures and mechanisms of IFIs be completed latest by the end of 2010 (including procedures for recruitment of heads of these institutions on an open, transparent, global, professional and competitive basis).
Democratic accountability of the G20 as an institution of global governance was at the centre of civil society’s engagement in last week’s dialogue. The first concern in accountability is to ensure that G20 doesn’t marginalise and undermine other multilateral institutions like the UN system. G20 leaders should, therefore, commit themselves to supporting and energizing multilateral institutions and the UN system to follow through and deliver on such commitments as Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). G20 leaders should publicly signal their support for agreements on climate change and human rights, specially the rights of women and indigenous peoples.
After years of civil society engagement with G8, various models and forms of effective dialogue and constructive engagements with civil society globally have evolved. Civil society leaders asked Sherpa Leonard Edwards to negotiate ways in which such practices can be carried forward to G20 as well. In particular, the forthcoming Accountability Report of G8 was seen as a mechanism that G20 could also adopt in reporting outcomes of its decisions and their consequences to the citizens of the world.
The Canadian host promised to take these issues, concerns and demands of civil society to his fellow G20 sherpas, and to explore ways in which future G20 engagements with global civil society can be institutionalized for transparent and accountable functioning of G20 as an institution of global governance.
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) of 14 June 2010 has more on this.
Watch an interview of Nigel Martin, president and CEO, Forum for Democratic Global Governance in which he talks about G20 and accountability
http://watch.bnn.ca/#clip318566
Dr Rajesh Tandon
June 13, 2010