Online Reporter
We reproduce below a full text of President Mnangagwa’s address to the UN Right to Development Plenary Session in New York yesterday
Mr President;
Excellencies;
Distinguished Delegates,
DEVELOPMENT acquires its fullest meaning when every person and nation have a genuine opportunity to shape its course and share in its benefits.
The Declaration on the Right to Development, established forty years ago, reaffirms that development is a basic human right for all, not just a privilege for a few within and among nations.
Four decades later, the importance of people-centred development and fundamental principles of equality, participation, international cooperation, remains both critical and compelling.
We commend the remarkable advances in science, technology, health and education. However, skewed global development, inequality, unsustainable debt, unfair trade conditions and inadequate development financing are still prevalent. Likewise, climate change and a widening technological divide, continue to constrain prospects of many peoples, particularly in the Global South.
These challenges, for countries like Zimbabwe, are further compounded by unilateral coercive measures, that undermine international cooperation upon which the realisation of the right to development depends.
This Anniversary, therefore, is an opportune moment for renewal and action. To achieve this, conducive macroeconomic environments and enabling conditions for inclusive, equitable and sustainable development are essential for the realisation of the Right to Development.
Furthermore, the sovereign preserve of our countries to pursue development pathways that are responsive to our unique circumstances, priorities and aspirations should be protected.
To date, Zimbabwe has made significant progress towards entrenching development that ensures the dignity of ordinary people, beginning with household and national food security. The quality of social services, including innovative education and wider access to portable water and sanitation are priority areas for my Government.
Excellencies;
Development and climate-finance commitments should be honoured. The Global South deserves greater access to concessional climate finance and technological support to strengthen resilience to climate-related shocks and accelerate sustainable development.
Further, in this technology driven era, the right to development must be appropriately guided.
Leveraging Artificial Intelligence, digitalisation and the energy transition to narrow inequalities, and not deepen them, is an area deserving our attention. Developing countries have a responsibility to humanity to actively help create, govern and benefit from new and emerging technologies.
As we celebrate this 40-year milestone, a legally binding international instrument on the Right to Development should be intentionally pursued towards translating our shared principles into more effective international cooperation and meaningful accountability. The measure of our commitment can no longer be the declarations we adopt, but the lives we transform.
The next 40 years should see us move from aspiration to implementation; and from the idealistic promises of inclusion, to the lived experience of dignity, opportunities and a higher quality of life for all
Be assured of Zimbabwe’s unwavering commitment to a development paradigm that leaves no country or people behind; one that is founded-on equality, solidarity and mutual respect.
I thank you for your kind attention.
His Excellency, The President was speaking at the UN Right to Development plenary session held New York, United States to commemorate the Declaration on the Right to Development that was adopted in 1987.
