By Otto Spijkers

Some States are in such desperate condition that it constitutes an immediate emergency. The United Nations has tried in various ways to encoureage the international community to assist these States. Such calls are important, now that many developed States are thinking of limiting their official development assistance to the absolute minimum.

               One of the earlier declarations specifically devoted to the development of a specific region or group of countries, adopted by the General Assembly itself, was the Declaration on the Critical Economic Situation in Africa, of 1984. ^[1] In that Declaration, the Assembly expressed its ‘deep concern at the profound economic and social crisis that Africa is experiencing,’ and noted that ‘the situation ha[d] assumed alarming proportions, seriously jeopardizing not only the development process but, more ominously, the very survival of millions of people.’^[2] This Declaration did emphasize the ‘primary responsibility [of the African countries themselves] for their development and for addressing the present crisis.’^[3] At the same time, the Assembly acknowledged that ‘the international economic environment continue[d] to affect developing countries adversely and, particularly, it had a devastating impact on the already fragile African economies.’^[4] The remainder of the declaration primarily dealt with the urgent need for international (financial) assistance to Africa, both in the form of ‘emergency relief aid on a massive scale,’ i.e. aid to meet the immediate needs of Africa and essentially save lives, and more structural assistance such as official development assistance.^[5]

                In 1986, the General Assembly organized a special session on Africa. There, the United Nations Programme of Action for African Economic Recovery and Development was adopted.^[6] In that Programme, the Assembly first attempted to find an explanation for Africa’s ‘pervasive and structural economic problems.’^[7] This is interesting, because the Assembly had not made such a serious and comprehensive attempt at defining the problem before. The Assembly referred to Africa’s ‘colonial past,’ without going into detail, but also to the ‘post-independence era.’^[8] It praised African initiatives at reform, aimed at ‘breaking the vicious cycle of poverty and underdevelopment’ in which Africa was trapped.^[9] As reasons why Africa found itself trapped in this way, the Assembly listed a number of ‘exogenous,’ i.e. external, and ‘endogenous,’ i.e. internal, factors. The latter included deficiencies in institutional and physical infrastructures; economic strategies and policies that had fallen short, in some cases, of achieving their objectives; disparities in urban and rural development and income distribution; inadequate human resource development; and political instability manifested, inter alia, in a large and growing population of refugees.^[10] The exogenous factors included the international economic recession; the decline in commodity prices; adverse terms of trade; the decline in financial flows; increased protectionism and high interest rates; and the heavy burden of debt and debt servicing obligations. ^[11]

                The Programme included many obligations for the African nations themselves, and reaffirmed the African nations’ ‘primary responsibility for the development of their continent.’ ^[12] The obligations of the international community as a whole were essentially those of assistance, especially financial assistance. ^[13] In that sense, the critical need for assistance had not dramatically changed the allocation of responsibilities.

                In 1991, the results of the Programme of Action were assessed.^[14] The Assembly noted that the Programme ‘did not quite become a focal point for economic policy or for resource mobilization on behalf of Africa.’^[15] It thus suggested a new strategy for the future, the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990’s.^[16] In this New Agenda, the Assembly once more emphasized that ‘Africa’s development [was] primarily the responsibility of Africans,’ and that ‘the international community accept[ed] the principle of shared responsibility and full partnership with Africa and therefore commit[ted]  itself to giving full and tangible support to the African efforts.’^[17] Pursuant to this approach, the New Agenda thus contained a section on Africa’s own responsibilities and commitments, and a section on the responsibilities and commitments – primarily obligations to assist Africa – of the international community as a whole.^[18] The New Agenda does not appear to be so drastically different from the Programme of Action adopted earlier.

                The Millennium Declaration also urged States to pay special attention to Africa.^[19] Through that Declaration, States resolved, inter alia, ‘to take special measures to address the challenges of poverty eradication and sustainable development in Africa, including debt cancellation, improved market access, enhanced Official Development Assistance and increased flows of Foreign Direct Investment, as well as transfers of technology.’^[20] The Declaration also referred to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa, which had been adopted in 1994.^[21]

In 2002, the General Assembly adopted the United Nations Declaration on the New Partnership for Africa’s Development.^[22] This was essentially a reaffirmation of the Millennium Development Goals and certain other commitments made in more general declarations, to the extent that they were applicable to Africa.

                And in 2008, the General Assembly adopted the Political Declaration on Africa’s Development Needs.^[23] The Declaration aimed to reaffirm a ‘belief in a prosperous future for Africa in which core human values of dignity and peace are fully enshrined.’^[24] In that Declaration, the Assembly ‘stress[ed] that eradicating poverty, particularly in Africa, [was] the greatest global challenge facing the world today,’^[25] and that ‘Africa face[d] a number of serious challenges, including poverty, hunger, climate change, land degradation and desertification, rapid urbanization, lack of adequate water supplies and energy supply and HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and other endemic diseases.’^[26] To meet all these formidable challenges, the Members of the General Assembly committed themselves to ‘assisting African countries in their struggle for lasting peace, economic growth, poverty eradication and sustainable development.’^[27] One of the essentials for achieving all these goals was, in view of the Assembly, ‘good governance at all levels’ in Africa.^[28] To assist Africa in this field, the States of the Assembly recommitted themselves to ‘actively protecting and promoting all human rights, the rule of law and democracy.’ ^[29] The Assembly also called upon developed States to honor previous commitments relating to official development assistance to Africa, and stressed the importance of attracting foreign direct investment.^[30] Once again, the recommended measures and the urgency of the situation did not correspond.

          Of course, the relevance of all these declarations can be disputed, since few of them contain binding commitments, and most of the pledges made in those declarations have only partially been honored, or not at all. In a time when European States and the USA are dealing with their own problems, it is imperative that the UN General Assembly keeps reminding States of the situation elsewhere in the world.

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