By Dikeledi Molobela
New York, USA — South Africa will use the 81st United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to seek international backing for the establishment of an International Panel on inequality, with the country identifying the fight against inequality as one of its key diplomatic priorities for the week.
South Africa, together with Brazil, Norway and Spain, will host a high-level event on the margins of UNGA81 to launch the proposed International Panel on Inequality and build support for the initiative.
South Africa’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Mxolisi Sizo Nkosi, told SAnews that the initiative builds on the country’s work during its G20 Presidency and seeks to place inequality at the centre of the international development debate.
“One of the key issues that we were able to secure agreement on at the G20 Summit is the issue of fighting Inequality,” Nkosi said.
He said the proposed panel would seek to bring all 193 UN Member States into discussions on measures to address inequality both within and between countries, while examining the forces driving those disparities.
“Here at UNGA81, we will be hosting an event together with Norway, Spain, and Brazil, where we will be launching the international panel on inequality, which will be a major achievement, in that it will bring together all the 193 Member States of the UN to agree on measures to take in order to fight inequality between and within States, and we see what are the drivers of this inequality,” he told SANews.
The event is scheduled for 23 September and is intended to generate support for a proposed International Panel on Inequality. The United Nations lists the event among the high-level activities taking place during UNGA81.
Nkosi said the urgency of the initiative had been underscored by a series of global shocks that have disproportionately affected economies and communities.
He pointed to the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and disruptions to food and energy supplies as examples of crises that have deepened economic vulnerabilities.
“COVID-19 was one of the unforeseen events that had a major impact on many countries. Businesses closed, economies contracted and the pandemic created several inflationary pressures,” he said.
He also pointed to the impact of the war in Ukraine on grain and fertiliser supplies and the consequences of energy price increases.
“We also saw the war in in Ukraine, how it also impacted on the supply of grains of fertilisers, which are very essential for food production, putting a number of countries in a perilous position in terms of food security,” Nkosi said.
The proposed panel will examine inequality not only as a domestic economic issue, but also through the lens of the global system and the shocks that can widen the gap between countries.
“All these external shocks have had a major impact on countries, accelerating inequality in many countries and also accelerating inequality between the Global South and Global North,” Nkosi said.
South Africa hopes the UNGA event will result in an endorsement of the initiative’s vision statement.
That, Nkosi said, would pave the way for the next phase of the process seeking a General Assembly resolution formally establishing the International Panel on Inequality.
“We think that this is a very pertinent agenda to place here at the UN, and we hope that at the event that we'll be hosting, we'll be able to get an endorsement of our vision statement, and then beyond that, we will be socialising a discussion in the General Assembly, with a view to having a resolution adopted by the General Assembly establishing the International Panel on Inequality,” he said.
For South Africa, securing that endorsement would represent a significant outcome from UNGA81.
“Our big priority here is to is to get support for our vision statement on the international panel on inequality.
“If we can get endorsement of our vision statement, that will be a big achievement for South Africa because then it will launch us into the next phase, which will be to get a resolution of the General Assembly, and that will be a very big achievement for South Africa's foreign policy,” Nkosi said.
The General Assembly’s 81st session is taking place under the theme: “Restoring trust, managing transformation: A United Nations that delivers for all”, with the General Debate beginning on 22 September.
For South Africa, the test will be whether that call for a UN that delivers can translate into concrete multilateral action, beginning with international support for its inequality initiative. – SAnews.gov.za
