France – South Africa

What partnerships for Peace and Development

20-21 June 2005
Institute for Security Studies

 

Issues on development and sustainable development on the African continent are eminently linked to peace and security problems. The millennium goals adopted in the resolution of the United Nations General Assembly of the 8th of September 2000, known as the ‘Millennium Declaration’ underlined the extent to which peace, security and development were inseparable.

Laid out in the following manner, these objectives are reminiscent of some of the principles adopted by African regional organisations such as NEPAD (The New Partnership for Africa’s Development) and the African Union:

 

  • Promotion of peace, security and disarmament by, in particular, implementing UN measures to ensure conflict prevention, dispute settlement, the fight against international terrorism, the fight against transnational crime, the elimination of weapons of mass destruction?
  • Development and eradication of poverty by implementing a fair commercial and financial system, taking into account the particular needs of less advanced countries, taking into account the issue of the indebtedness of poor countries, reducing by half the world population ratio living on less than one dollar per day, ensuring the systematic schooling of children in a complete cycle of primary education, reducing by three-quarters the maternal mortality rate and stopping the propagation of HIV/AIDS.
    Protection of our shared environment     by enforcing the Kyoto Protocol and reducing greenhouse gas emission, conserving forests, formulating water management strategies or giving free access to information relating to the human genome.
  • Protection of Human Rights, promotion of democracy and good governance by applying the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, protecting civil, political, economic, cultural and social rights, reinforcing the capacities needed to protect these rights, fighting against any form of violence against women, protecting public right to information.
  • Protection of vulnerable groups by reinforcing the protection of civilians in emergency situations, sharing the burden of welcoming refugees, co-ordinating humanitarian action, fully implementing the Convention on the Rights of Children.

 

This symposium is organised by the French Embassy in South Africa, the French Institute of South Africa, Dibuka-French Information Centre and the Institute for Security Studies a few months away from the sixtieth session of the United Nations General Assembly during which an assessment of the progress accomplished since the Millennium Declaration is expected, and at a time of its history when South Africa stands out as a major geopolitical and economic actor on the continent. The symposium deliberately used a mixed approach, i.e. conceptual as well as operational. It questioned the globalisation process in the following manner:

 

  • how does a country of the South position itself in this process?
  • in opposition, how does a country of the North think of and act upon globalisation?
  • how can national policies associated to African interventionism carry weight in continental destiny?
  • where to situate national policies in relation to international and/or regional policies?
  • are French and South African policies converging?