ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL HOLDS PANEL DEBATE ON "CHARTER FOR PUBLIC SERVICE IN AFRICA"

ECOSOC
19 July 2001




Begins Discussion of Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS



The Economic and Social Council held a panel discussion this morning on the recently adopted Charter for Public Service in Africa, with participants contending that the true challenge was to put the Charter into effect and noting that a key difficulty was lack of resources to pay sufficient salaries to civil servants.

The Charter was adopted in February by the Third Biennial Pan-African Conference of Civil Service Ministers, held in Windhoek, Namibia, the result of an exercise initiated by African civil service ministers and supported by the African Training and Research Centre in Administration for Development (CAFRAD) and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA).

The panel consisted of Ousmane Batoko, Minister of Civil Service and Administrative Reform of Benin; M'hammed El Khalifa, Minister of Civil Service and Administrative Reform of Morocco; and Hage G. Geingob, Prime Minister of Namibia.

The moderator, Guido Bertucci, Director of the Division for Public Economics and Public Administration of DESA, opened the event by saying that economic globalization meant that more than ever nations, including African nations, needed efficient, well-prepared, ethical civil services if they were to develop effectively.

Mr. Batoko said, among other things, that everything that happened in Africa proved the importance of the civil service and that steps needed to be taken to reverse declines in the salaries of such employees and to end the overly politicized nature of much African civil service work.

Mr. El Khalifa told the meeting that the topic was of concern not just to African countries but to the international community, as the effectiveness and professionalism of the civil services in Africa had global ramifications. He added that adoption of the Charter was of little use if it was not implemented.

And Prime Minister Geingob said the civil service should be regarded as the Fifth Estate and that the Charter could lead to unity in Africa but would have to be popularized among key Government institutions.

National delegations offering remarks from the floor said, among other things, that the decentralization of public services -- something often called for -- required that local civil servants be sufficiently trained to handle their increased responsibilities; and that major development projects under way or planned for Africa clearly required effective action by national public services.

Following conclusion of the panel discussion, the Council dealt with an outstanding item related to adoption of its agenda, approving by consensus a resolution on developments concerning the question of the observance by the Government of Myanmar of the International Labour Office (ILO) Forced Labour Convention. The Council took note of the outcome of the discussion that had taken place in the Committee on the Application of Standards during the eighty-ninth session of the International Labour Conference; took note of the understanding concluded between the ILO and the authorities of Myanmar regarding an objective assessment to be carried out by an ILO high-level mission to the country; and requested the Secretary-General to keep the Council informed of further developments in this matter.

The Council also opened its general segment and began discussion of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS. Peter Piot, Executive Director of UNAIDS, introduced the topic by noting that ten years or more had been stripped from life expectancy in the worst-affected countries and that a 10 per cent HIV rate caused an annual loss of around 1 per cent of a country's GDP. Furthermore, he said, such effects were cumulative -- for example it had been estimated that by the beginning of the next decade South Africa's GDP would be 17 per cent less than it would have been without AIDS.

Also speaking were representatives of Belgium (on behalf of the European Union), Ukraine, Norway, the United States, the Russian Federation, Nigeria, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Sudan, and the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions.

The Council will reconvene at 3 p.m. to continue its general debate on HIV/AIDS and to act on proposals contained in the reports of various subsidiary bodies.


Action on resolution

In a consensus resolution under agenda item 14b on developments concerning the question of the observance by the Government of Myanmar of the ILO Forced Labour Convention, the Council took note of the outcome of the discussion that had taken place in the Committee on the Application of Standards during the eighty-ninth session of the International Labour Conference; took note of the understanding concluded between the ILO and the authorities of Myanmar regarding an objective assessment to be carried out by an ILO high-level mission with respect to the practical implementation and actual impact of the framework of legislative, executive and administrative measures reported by Myanmar within the overall objective of the complete elimination of forced labour in law and practice; took note of the fact that the ILO Governing Body would examine the report of this mission at its 282nd session; and requested the Secretary-General to keep ECOSOC informed of further developments in this matter.


Panel Discussion on “Charter for Public Service in Africa”

MARTIN BELINGA-EBOUTOU, President of the Economic and Social Council, said this panel was the result of the Third Biennial Pan-African Conference last February, when African ministers adopted the "Charter for Public Service in Africa." The Charter reaffirmed the ethics that should govern public service. The debate was directly related to the subject of this year's high-level segment, namely, development in Africa. Public service needed good management, transparency, and the absence of corruption. All of this depended on the civil servants. If they had not been trained in public service, all efforts would have no effect.

GUIDO BERTUCCI, Director of the Division for Public Economics and Public Administration of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), who served as moderator of the debate, said the role of the State had been redefined in recent years, requiring also redefinition of the role and responsibility of the public sector, especially when that sector was called upon to face new tasks and challenges related to globalization and to meeting the goals set at world conferences. An efficient, well-prepared, ethical civil service had to come to the fore for effective development to succeed. The Charter for Public Services in Africa would set very useful standards in that regard, and the adoption of the Charter was just a first step -- now it had to be put into effect. African countries had to make the commitment to do so.

OUSMANE BATOKO, Minister of Civil Service and Administrative Reform of Benin, said everything that happened today in Africa proved the importance of the civil service. The civil service was made up of men and women who lived their daily lives in the very community in which they were serving. It was difficult to speak of a standard African civil servant, because a civil servant lived in a particular environment which could differ politically or socially from others. However, there were common points that bound all civil servants. Civil servants had a privileged position in society -- whether they were at the top or the bottom of the bureaucratic hierarchy. Their position gave them privileges not enjoyed by other members of society. There was the traditional solidarity connected to his or her society, region, or ethnic background. This solidarity, added to the political reality, conferred upon civil servants a role that was complex.

Mr. Batoko continued that civil servants were at the forefront of the State's concerns. In all countries, the State was the main employer, and the money put aside by the State to pay the civil servants, in some cases, affected more than half of the budget. The State, in the eyes of some civil servants, had become a sort of social protection system. In a sense, civil servants belonged to a caste, one that served the State. In Africa, there was a private sector that was just now emerging. The State was the main recruiter for civil servants, and paid them what resources were available. In Benin, there was a cut in family benefits for civil servants in 1972 Only six children per civil servant could be covered. In Togo, from 1971 to 1990, salaries had fallen 255 per cent, as compared to the cost of living. In the same time in Nigeria, they fell 211 per cent, and in Cote d'Ivoire, there was a 370 per cent drop. Between 1965 and 1974 in Benin, salaries fell 300 per cent, as compared to the cost of living. This caused a problem with motivation of civil servants, and that obviously affected their behaviour and their performance. Another demotivating factor was the over-centralization of structures. That did not allow civil servants to take initiative. There was also political demotivation. Most African administrations were highly politicized. Benin had about 120 political parties, and out those, at least 80 were led by civil servants or former civil servants. Their behaviour was influenced by political concerns.

M'HAMMED EL KHALIFA, Minister of Civil Service and Administrative Reform of Morocco, said the topic was of concern not just to African countries but to the international community -- the effectiveness and professionalism of the civil services in Africa needed to be strengthened considering the challenges facing the continent. New challenges had emerged, including a high level of international economic competition. Civil services had to be improved to enable African countries to compete and to set an example for African people and the African private sector. On 20 and 21 June 1994, on the invitation of the Kingdom of Morocco, African civil service ministers had met for the first time with the cooperation of CAFRAD and DESA to adopt the Tangier Declaration declaring that any economic and social development should be based on an effective and competent civil administration. African ministers had decided to institutionalize that conference, and it had been held every three years since.

Subsequent actions had led to negotiation and adoption of the Charter, which included among other things a code of conduct for civil servants and encapsulated an African approach to civil service reform, Mr. Khalifa said. Now the challenge was for the Charter to be put into effect by African countries so that a neutral, stable environment for civil service could be established. Governments had to show the will and commitment to rationalize services provided to the public and to assure sufficient resources for those services. Adoption of the Charter did not suffice in the absence of implementation.

HAGE GEINGOB, Prime Minister of Namibia, said in Namibia, the basic problem was the lack of implementation of dutiful policies and dutiful solutions. Sometimes human beings paid attention to less important things and left out the important ones. The same thing could be said about civil service. Civil service should be regarded as the Fifth Estate. There was talk about legislative, executive, and judiciary sectors, plus the media, and then there was the civil service. Attention should be paid to the civil service, and they should be given the thanks they deserve. Civil service should be involved in the policy-making process. If the Organization of African Unity was going to be transformed into the African Union, who would be actually doing that? It was the civil servants. Their role should not be underestimated. Would this Charter now be filed in libraries to gather dust? No, there should be steps taken to implement this Charter. This Charter could lead to unity in Africa. The Charter would have to be popularized among key government institutions. Namibia had presented the Charter to the Cabinet because the ministers would have to know about it and accept it. Then the Charter had been taken to Parliament, which was the most democratic forum in Namibia. It had been discussed and debated for four days, and thereafter, it had been adopted. It could now be said that the Charter had been accepted by Namibian institutions of governance. All African countries should do this.

Prime Minister Geingob continued that African nations should establish a core group of scholars to examine national laws and practices, to see the degree of harmony between them and the Charter. Universities should be involved. The Charter also had to be widely disseminated and widely-popularized all over the continent. June 23 should be considered African Civil Service Day. There should also be regional conferences convened to discuss elements of the Charter. Some of these elements were not exciting, and were actually mundane, but they were important and necessary. Training programmes for schools and other public programmes had to be strengthened. There was a need to support the training of the public administration realm in information technology. After these were undertaken, practical applications would have to take place. Some countries would need technical help. Donor nations and non-governmental organizations would need information on how to support African countries implement the Charter. And finally, there had to be a monitoring mechanism on the implementation of the Charter. Progress would have to be charted. The first step had been taken -- Africa was embarking on an exciting journey.


Discussion

Among the remarks offered from the floor were that in many cases there was not enough money in African Government budgets to pay adequate civil service salaries and that with increased debt relief for Africa there might be sufficient resources to resolve that problem; that challenges confronting the public-service system in Africa included decentralization of services and training local civil servants to handle the increased responsibilities that would entail; that major projects had to be carried out in Africa through public services to ensure that large development initiatives could succeed; and that there was a dilemma in terms of how to increase the effectiveness of civil employees without the funds to pay them better salaries.

Among the questions asked of the panel were what the role of justice systems was in the implementation of the Charter and what could judicial systems do to make the terms of the Charter effective; and if public services might "borrow" managers from the private sector as a way of improving their performance.

Responding to the debate, Mr. Batoko of Benin said, among other things, that one objective of the Charter was to permit the African civil servant to have a compass, a lodestone, a guidebook to enable him to know how better to serve the "user" of public administration, to foster the development of business, to cut red tape, and to do such things as collect and maintain reliable statistics. Delays in processing paperwork needed by citizens certainly could and should be reduced.

Mr. El Khalifa remarked among other things that adoption of the Charter at the beginning of the new century was a good omen for Africa -- perhaps it would be part of making this century a century of excellence for Africa; that it was imperative that new mechanisms be found for implementation of the Charter; that an article of the Charter related to pan-African mechanisms to aid civil-service performance; and that the judiciary was independent from legislative and executive powers but would have a very free hand to do up the laws that would allow all countries to enact and observe the Charter.

And Prime Minister Geingob of Namibia said that in his country there was a law on advertisement of public-service posts, and the court recently had announced that even some posts deemed "sensitive" and reserved for appointments without advertisement had to be advertised; that in his opinion the public sector should in some cases be able to "borrow" from the private sector where that might improve efficiency; and that another problem was that Africa was losing PhD's to Europe and the United States because salaries were not high enough in the African public sector, and clearly pay had to be increase to attract and keep highly effective personnel.

MARTIN BELINGA-EBOUTOU, Council President, said in summary that the Charter was a way of dealing with a very important chapter in African development. Without an effective civil service there could be no economic development and no true social advancement. A civil servant was someone who came out of a given environment to transform it and improve it; he was a member of an elite, or should be; and good civil service not only required knowledge, but ethics. Civil servants had to have their conditions improved so that they could do this important work. There had to be better funding of the civil service and better training for civil servants.


Discussion on Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS

PATRIZIO CIVILI, Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Inter-Agency Affairs, said what distinguished the general segment from the others was that it comprised many different -- and apparently somewhat disparate -- items, and did not have a specific theme of its own, like three of the four segments that preceded it. Beyond the specific themes chosen for the coordinated, operational activities and the high-level segments, an overarching policy concern that clearly emerged during the past weeks, and had provided a unifying framework for the Council's discussions thus far, had clearly been how best to engender a sustained follow-up to the Millennium Declaration: the new instrumentalities that information and communications technology (ICT) offered for accelerating progress towards the targets of the Declaration, for Member States and for the supportive work of the system. The general segment was where the Council reviewed the work of its subsidiary bodies, and of the United Nations system at large in the economic and social fields. The overriding concern of the Council in reviewing the work of its subsidiary machinery should be indeed to maintain the focus on the implementation of international goals agreed at the Millennium Summit and earlier conferences and summits, and to strive to guide the work of its commissions and committees towards these goals and ensure that their efforts reinforced one another.

Helping keep the system focused on key summit goals, Mr. Civili said, should be a main concern of the Council in guiding the activities of the United Nations system as a whole. A main tool for the Council's dialogue with the system on these issues were the annual overview reports. An effort was made to restructure the report so that it provided a bird's eye view of the state of inter-agency cooperation and highlighted how central intergovernmental outcomes, particularly conference outcomes and the Summit Declaration goals, impacted on the system's activities. In 2000, executive heads engaged in an extensive process of reflection on how the United Nations system could best tackle the challenges of globalization and help to address its consequences. This reflection had now been integrated into a broader discussion on how the system could maximize its contribution to the follow-up to the Millennium Summit. The Council had shown in recent years that it could play an important role to stimulate conference implementation and to launch innovative policy approaches and broad-based programmes. The general segment that was opening today provided an excellent opportunity to both give impulse to better efforts by the United Nations system to implement the Millennium Summit and conferences, and to search for ways to strengthen the impact of the Council's work.

PETER PIOT, Executive Director of UNAIDS, said AIDS was uniquely devastating because young adults were most affected -- ten years or more had been stripped from life expectancy in the worst-affected countries, and within two decades some of those countries would have more surviving adults in their sixties and seventies than in their forties and fifties. Further, as HIV prevalence increased, economic production dropped -- a 10 per cent HIV rate caused an annual loss of around 1 per cent of GDP, and the effect was cumulative; for example it had been estimated that by the beginning of the next decade South Africa's GDP would be 17 per cent less than it would have been without AIDS.

UNAIDS was focusing on putting AIDS on top of the world's agenda, Dr. Piot said; it was changing the focus of the global response to the epidemic to attack underlying causes of vulnerability; it was broadening "best country" responses to involve both health and other sectors, such as building partnerships between Government, private and civil society efforts; it was extending access to care -- benchmark prices for combination antiretroviral therapy in development countries were now less than 10 per cent of the prices paid in high-income countries; and UNAIDS was coordinating the response of the UN system itself. Challenges to be faced included creating integrated work plans for UN theme groups on AIDS; improving United Nations support of national responses to the disease; expanding the range of players involved in combatting the pandemic, and keeping their activities transparent and accountable; and addressing AIDS as a multi-sectoral issue, taking into account the important influence of such matters as debt relief and poverty reduction.

BRUNO VAN DER PLUIJM (Belgium), on behalf of the European Union (EU), said the EU underscored the need to strengthen the United Nations System Strategic Plan on HIV/AIDS for 2001-2005, and stressed in this regard the importance of further refining the objectives in light of the goals of the United Nations General Assembly’s Special Session, and of clarifying the implementing roles and commitments of individual organizations and ensuring greater relevance and responsiveness of global and regional efforts to country-specific needs. The European Union was satisfied with the outcomes of the Special Session of the General Assembly on HIV/AIDS. It would actively participate in the various activities flowing from the Special Session. It was in the common interest that those activities address the outstanding issues in a manner both coherent and diversified. Given the complexity of the HIV/AIDS crisis, there was room for focused approaches of specific topics, in all appropriate fora both within and outside the United Nations. The European Union remembered the various interests of both donor and recipient countries, and of all other stakeholders.

It should also be remembered, he continued, that the epidemic, however challenging, was not the only health problem facing the world. The fact that the proposed global HIV/AIDS and health fund would also deal with tuberculosis and malaria was very significant. The Secretary-General's report on the roll back malaria partnership was welcomed -- malaria continued to have a serious impact, both on public health and development in many developing countries. In the final analysis, the common challenge related to all these diseases was the better delivery of health services. The Secretary-General's report cited encouraging instances of incorporating the combat against malaria in overall development plans and strategies. Those examples deserved recognition and wider acceptance. The European Union fully subscribed to the incorporation of the fight against malaria and other diseases in national poverty reduction strategies.

IHOR SAGACH (Ukraine) said the battle against HIV/AIDS could only be won with the concerted efforts of the international community. Dissemination of knowledge, experience and best practice was crucial in the fight. Governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), scientific circles and business circles all needed to be involved. There was a shift going from a simple health approach to a broader, multi-sectoral one. Ukraine appreciated the activities of UNAIDS in Ukraine. It was an active and efficient operation. The programme there closely cooperated with governmental bodies and NGOs. It was hoped that these activities would continue and intensify.

Ukraine was an initiator of the creation of the General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS. The Special Session had ensured proper organization of the UN system in battling the pandemic. The Session had become an important event with sound and tangible results. Ukraine fully endorsed the statement of UNAIDS’ Mr. Piot about the need for full engagement from top political leaders to mobilize the fight against AIDS. Fighting AIDS was a top political priority of the President of Ukraine, who had already issued two decrees on measures to help slow the spread of the disease. And the President had declared that 2002 was the year of combatting AIDS in Ukraine. It was extremely important that the decisions of the Special Session be rapidly translated into action. Just last week, the Ukrainian Government had adopted the programme for the period of 2001-2003 endorsed by the Special Session.


ARMAN AARDAL (Norway) said for his country, the HIV/AIDS epidemic was today at the top of the list of development challenges. The Norwegian statement to the United Nations Special Session on HIV/AIDS in New York had talked about how essential it was in the fight against HIV/AIDS to break down the wall of silence and denial erected by the natural shyness about talking about sex and condoms. Norway felt that prevention should remain the mainstay of the responses to the spread of AIDS. A massive effort to prevent the further spread of the virus, through political leadership and willingness to address sensitive issues related to sexual relations, inclusiveness towards vulnerable groups, the mobilization of religious groups, trade unions, employers, youth, women's organizations and non-governmental organizations -- as had been done in Uganda, Norway and other countries -- would be necessary. Tailoring responses to the realities in countries had to be country-led and country-owned, based on the best possible information on options, and supported by the international community.

Norway, he continued, believed that the pharmaceutical industry had to be held morally responsible for making drugs affordable. But this alone was not enough. Even inexpensive drugs had to be paid for. Drugs had to be delivered and administered. Patients had to receive treatment and care. Even in situations where drugs were free or inexpensive, and easy to administer, they still needed to be administered within a public health system that was able to reach even the poorest of the poor in ways that safeguarded the rights both of individual patients and of society as a whole. A new infusion of additional resources was clearly necessary.

DAVID HOHMAN (the United States) said his country was pleased that the United Nations system was paying increasing attention to HIV/AIDS and would be looking for tangible results from these increased commitments. All the co-sponsoring agencies, by working together at global and country level and with bilateral partners, were making a difference. There should be continued focus on making UN theme groups work effectively in all countries, and there needed to be increased accountability at country level on achieving results from theme group efforts.

It was necessary to move ahead quickly at the national, regional, and global levels, and with near-term actions. At the global level, the United States hoped that all countries and other donors, including foundations, the private sector and even individuals, would step forward to support the Global AIDS and Health Fund, which the United States hoped would be operational on 1 January 2002.

MR. FETISOV (the Russian Federation) said UNAIDS had an important coordinating role to play; the priority of the programme in supporting national programmes and the development of this role through theme groups was well-conceived and corresponded fully to the current stage of the fight against the epidemic. The spread of the disease was very unfavourable and greater efforts at prevention were needed; the Russian Federation was increasing its participation in the international battle against AIDS in coordination with the United Nations.

One major factor in the spread of the disease was drug-taking, and the Russian Federation was interested in studies on treating drug addiction in Russia and elsewhere. The country at this point had experience and methodology and a network of centres dealing with HIV/AIDS, and was willing to share its expertise. The Russian Federation hoped the Global AIDS and Health Fund would be set up as soon as possible.

SEGUN APATA (Nigeria) said his country was pleased that the Global AIDS and Health Fund had topped the billion dollar mark. The commitment of Nigeria was demonstrated by the donation of $10 million to the fund. All Member States, particularly the co-conveners, needed to work on the modalities of the fund itself. What was required was urgent sustained action. Concerning the fund, it was very necessary for the body that was in charge of the fund to be composed in a way that was balanced and was representative of both developed and developing countries. There should not be a donor/recipient format, because it was not that type of situation. This was designed to tackle a devastating epidemic that affected everywhere. The role of ECOSOC was to continue placing the matter on the front burner.

MURAT WAHPA, of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), said combat against AIDS was vital not only for reasons of health but because of the devastating impact of the disease on development; UNDP looked at HIV/AIDS in depth as it related to development. It was an issue of poverty. UNDP supported strategic interventions that involved all groups, including at the local level, in combatting the epidemic -- and such groups involved donors. It was important, furthermore, not to coordinate just for the sake of coordination -- it was necessary to keep the focus on results.

OMAR MANIS (Sudan) said his country was content that ECOSOC had taken charge of this important topic. It was necessary to link the international efforts on HIV/AIDS with meeting the needs of malaria and tuberculosis as well. These diseases also had negative effects on many parts of the world. The resources of the HIV/AIDS fund should be linked with malaria and tuberculosis.

M. T. BELLAMY, of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), said there was a need for contributions from all parts of society to combat AIDS; that was why the project to prepare an evaluation report on progress over the next five years should involve non-governmental organizations integrally. The workplace was deeply affected by AIDS, which hit young adults disproportionately and whose victims suffered discrimination in the workplace. The global response to HIV/AIDS should place emphasis on prevention, education, respect for the human rights of those who had the disease, and on behaviour modification.

The ICFTU was prepared to promote a sharing of information and material among trade unions and to be the link between the trade union movement and other organizations on issues relevant to HIV/AIDS. The ICFTU was dedicated to protecting the safety and rights of those in the workplace and that included protecting the rights of AIDS victims -- including ensuring the confidentiality of those in the workplace who had AIDS. The ICFTU also felt it was necessary to pay attention to the links between AIDS and climate change. As for the management of the world fund being set up for combatting AIDS, it was necessary that its operations be transparent.




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