WeeklySA_AdminRights: Humanity cannot advance in a world where most people cannot exercise their fundamental rights…
By Monk Nkomo
Inequality was one of greatest threats of human progress, it retarded human development and literally entrenched poverty across generations, according to President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Speaking at the Consultative Council of the Founding Committee of the International panel on inequality at the Wits School of governance in Johannesburg,
Ramaphosa also said humanity could not advance in a world that was deeply unjust and where so many people were unable to exercise the fundamental human rights that were their due.
‘’ Humanity cannot advance when the talents , capabilities, creativity and energy of billions of people remain untapped and their potential remain unrealised. Human cannot advance for as long as vast swathes of humankind people are denied the fundamental requirements of a decent life – water, food, shelter, education , employment and security.’’
Where inequality exists, opportunity is scarce… progress is not just
slowed — it is stopped
Ramaphosa added that inequality resulted in one’s starting point in life being a handicap and resulted in inferior schooling, nutrition, lack of networks and made upward mobility difficult or impossible. This prevented humanity’s progress.
‘’ Inequality threatens the stability of societies and the sustainability of economies. Where inequality exists, opportunity is scarce. Where opportunity is scarce, potential is wasted and where potential is wasted, progress is not just slowed – it is stopped’’.
The decision to establish the Panel was one of the most consequential outcomes of the G20 Leaders’ Summit held in Johannesburg in November last year.
The President said it was due to the global crisis that he established the Extraordinary Committee of Independent Experts on Global Inequality as part of South Africa’s G20 Presidency.
Under the leadership of Prof. Joseph Stiglitz, the Extraordinary Committee did extraordinary work. It produced a seminal report that would form the cornerstone of the global fight for equality into the future.
Drawing on extensive evidence and a broad range of views, the report outlined in clear and precise terms the scale, drivers and consequences of rising inequality.
It was astounding, Ramaphosa added, that between 2000 and 2024, the richest one percent of people in the world captured 41 percent of all new wealth. The poorer half of humanity captured just one percent of new wealth.
‘’The committee’s report provided evidence that inequality was a threat to democratic freedoms, to economic growth and to general well-being. It would be a mistake to think that inequality is bad only for the poor’’.
Inequality also worsened the effects of climate disasters and steadily made the planet less inhabitable for all people. The Extraordinary Committee was correct when it said that the world was facing an inequality emergency.
The International Panel on Inequality represented a concrete opportunity to confront this emergency. It was an opportunity to bring together governments and peoples from different countries to help the world to understand and address inequality.
‘’No nation could overcome inequality alone. We need coordinated multilateral action, rooted in solidarity and shared responsibility. We need a collective architecture of reform, credible monitoring and actionable insights to guide governments, multilateral agencies, academia and civil society’’.
Since the publication of the G20 Inequality report last year, the principles set out in the report had been endorsed by the African Union, several world leaders, more than 700 economists and inequality experts and over 30 former world leaders.
The Panel is expected to begin its work amid a gathering groundswell of global activism for a more inclusive, equal and just world. It would provide the rigorous analysis and credible evidence that was needed to ensure that this sentiment was translated into actions that fundamentally and sustainably reduced inequality within and between countries.
The Consultative Council is expected to identify the critical areas for focus within four key themes taken from the original report: the scale and dimensions of inequality, drivers of inequality, consequences of inequality and finally policy options.
‘’As communities, as social formations, as governments and as multilateral institutions, it is up to us to take forward the struggle for more equal societies and for a just and inclusive global order.
The International Panel on Inequality can provide the evidence we need. It can develop the analysis and make the policy recommendations. But it is up to all of us to act, to act together and to act with great urgency. We need to advance on all fronts’’.
Ramaphosa said to overcome global inequality, developing economies needed to have the space, the means and the capability to undertake just energy transitions appropriate to their national development paths. Just as inequality fuelled conflict, so did conflict deepened inequality.
‘’It is therefore of the utmost importance that the global community rallies around efforts to resolve the conflicts that are today afflicting the world and to put in place credible mechanisms to prevent conflict into the future. We are convinced that through our collective efforts we are firmly on the path towards a better, more just and more equal world’’.
