Former President Jerry John Rawlings has called for a culture of global political accountability to stem the tide of impunity being exhibited by some states…
Former President Jerry John Rawlings has called for a culture of global
political accountability to stem the tide of impunity being exhibited by
some states.
He said the keys to any disparaged group rallying together for honest
shared existence is through the transparency of leadership and
accountability for all.
Flt Lt Rawlings made the call when he delivered a keynote address at the
World Summit of the Universal Peace Federation (UPF) in Seoul, South
Korea last Saturday.
The former President also called on the United States to find a better
way of propagating the cause of justice or democracy, stating there was a
time when America had the image of a liberator country, but recently
her approach is undoing that positive image and portraying her as an
aggressor.
Citing goals 16 and 17 of the United Nations Sustainable Development
Goals, the former President said the goals urge the promotion of
sustainable development, provision of access to justice and the building
of effective accountable institutions.
Building the partnership goals, the former President noted, will be
impossible if “we do not confront the challenges of the current global
political climate and the dearth of international political morality”.
POLITICAL MORALITY
“How do we engender peace and security when
some of the very forces that seek to impose their moral compass on us
are suffering a serious decline in international political morality?”
former President Rawlings questioned.
Former President Rawlings said Israel’s
actions in Palestine, against Iran and Syria as well as Saudi Arabia’s
brazen actions against the Shites and in Yemen is a clear misuse and
abuse of the relationship with the United States.
“The cruelty that the Yemenis are being subjected to would have been
characterised as ethnic cleansing if it had been perpetrated by other
war-mongering parties,” the former president stated.
Flt Lt Rawlings said when the Cold War ended the world was made to
believe the tensions prior to the thaw will give way to genuine piece,
global prosperity and a shared vision for humanity, but never-ending
conflicts, many involving the same players we assumed would be leaders
of conscience, have rather characterised the period.
The role of the United Nations also came under scrutiny when the former
President stated that the body formed as a direct response to the most
violent conflict in human history has been incapable of stopping even
the most basic negatives of key member states.
The time, the former President said, had come for the interest of the
voiceless, beat-upon and pillaged nations to be heard. “It is time we
draw a hard line in the sand and make our numbers count,” he said.
LAURENT GBAGBO
Touching on the recent decisions by the
International Criminal Court (ICC) on Ivory Coast’s Laurent Gbagbo, the
former Ghanaian leader described as bizarre and shameless the decision
by the prosecutor to appeal the case after “no credible evidence” had
been found.
“Bizarrely, the ICC prosecutor who clearly is operating on the dictates
of the embarrassed powers-that-be decides to shamelessly appeal and once
again curtail Gbagbo’s freedom. How can you package him to another
country on some twisted bail terms that effectively makes him prisoner
and prevents his freedom of international travel, including going back
to his own country?” Mr Rawlings asked.
Former President Rawlings also drew attention to the situation in
Cameroun and wondered why France, the United States, the United Kingdom
and other allies seemed oblivious to the horrendous situation unfolding
in the African country.
The world will see peace “if we learn to speak up as a people. The time
to stop hiding behind economic and political vulnerabilities is now. A
select few cannot afford to cower the majority into submission if they
rise up to speak to the truth and defend the ideals of true
accountability to all the peoples of the world,” the former President
stated.
Find the full text below.
KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY H. E. JERRY JOHN RAWLINGS
FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF GHANA
UNIVERSAL PEACE FEDERATION WORLD SUMMIT 2019
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2019
Our host Dr Hak Ja Han Moon, Dr Thomas Walsh, Chairman of the Universal
Peace Federation, Excellencies Heads of State and Former Heads of State,
Distinguished Guests and Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen;
It is an honour to join you here again for the Universal Peace
Federation World Peace Summit, six years after I last joined you in
Seoul.
The theme of this World Summit 2019 is one that has preoccupied me most
of my adult life, both in my capacity as a young officer in the Ghana
Air Force and Head of State of Ghana for close to two decades.
As a young flight lieutenant in the Ghana Air Force during the period of
military interventions of the 1970s, I understood that peace could
never prevail while corruption and injustice were destroying the fabric
of our society.
Since that eventful decade, often known as the “lost decade” in
development terms, the world has become more interconnected, more open
and more committed to democratic values.
Ladies and gentlemen; As part of our quest to build a world of mutual
understanding, sustainable peace and prosperity for all, part of our
framework for achieving these laudable goals can be found in the UN
Sustainable Development Goals 16 and 17, the last two of the SDGs. Goal
16 urges us to “Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for
sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build
effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.”
Thus, Goal 16 recognises that without justice and accountability for all
in our society, there can be no peace. And, as I have always said,
there should be no peace when the values that bind us together as a
society worthy of emulation, are corrupted by unworthy leaders. This was
the principle that governed our actions in Ghana in 1979 and again in
1982.
But Ladies and Gentlemen; How do we implement global partnership for
sustainable development if we do not confront the challenges of the
current global political climate and the dearth of international
morality of some of the world’s leading nations? How do we engender
peace and security when some of the very forces that seek to impose
their moral compass on us are suffering a serious decline in
international political morality?
Madam Moon was sharing with us a suggestion
she made to some Chinese about investing a tiny proportion of their
military or security budget into providing initiatives that will bring
comfort especially into the lives of the underprivileged.
Distinguished ladies and gentlemen; I am glad that we have a number of
high powered American citizens with us and I hope my comments will be
taken in good faith. Even though we were colonized by an English
speaking country my children did not go to China or Russia for their
education. None of us or none of them speak Chinese or Russian. We are
still allies living and working together. The United States needs to do
some readjustment in order to restore the image of a liberating country.
The United States will have to find a better way of taking the cause of
justice or democracy to needy areas. There was a time when America had
the image of a liberator country. But her approach of late is undoing
the image and making her look like an aggressor.
If America is trying to undo the socialist or communist economic
philosophy; capitalism has replaced communism in Russia and
significantly in China, so why is there a persistent antagonist policy
especially against those two countries? An impression is created that
the United States wants to control the world.
Mahatma Gandhi once said he was in search for the truth in God when it
dawned on him that God actually lay in the truth. Without the sanctity
of truth, without the sanctity of freedom and without the sanctity of
justice the quality of democracy we want to espouse will lose its value.
Some years back when I was in office and President Zuma was in charge of
the intelligence machinery under Nelson Mandela’s presidency, he came
to Ghana on a visit and I implored him to do everything possible to
ensure Mandela’s health and security. Mandela had become the conscience
of the world. The quality of his truthfulness and candour was very
liberating and refreshing and the savagery of capitalism, using Pope
John Paul’s words, would not be too happy with the power and authority
of Mandela’s truth.
A few years later when I left office and Mandela was also out of office
and had become such a great icon I called on him and suggested a way to
preserve his voice and conscience through other outstanding and noble
personalities, for the benefit of the world when he passes on.
The United States, the old ally, needs help to see that her liberating
image is becoming the image of a unipolar power bent on controlling the
world. If her economic and moral might cannot do it there is no reason
why she cannot do so by military means. This thrust is not only creating
stress and discomfort but is contributing to insecurity and meanwhile,
some very serious human rights violations are also contributing to the
undermining of international political morality.
The persecution that the Palestinians have been subjected to all these
years does not only affect Israel but the United States as well. If
Israel can ride on America’s shoulders and continue provoking other
countries like Iran and Syria why wouldn’t Saudi Arabia also enjoy the
same privilege? The persecution of Shites is the misuse and abuse of the
relationship with the United States.
The cruelty that the Yemenis are being subjected to would have been
characterised as ethnic cleansing if it had been perpetrated by other
war-mongering parties.
From the collapse of the Soviet bloc, the world falsely assumed the
tensions of the Cold War would give way to a period of genuine peace,
global prosperity, collaboration and a shared vision for humanity.
Instead, the post-Cold War period has been defined by a never-ending
series of global conflicts, many involving the same players who we all
had assumed would be leaders of conscience. Their exploitation of the
trust, the vulnerability and indeed divisions across the world is
unprecedented, both in their ability to resort to barbarity and the
naked use of force.
The most prominent are, of course, the Syrian conflict and the situation
in Yemen. Conflicts that, though tragic in themselves, are made
significantly worse by outside players who seem more concerned with
their interests than in a peaceful resolution. These have not only
played out in military terms or in the ever-polarizing media whose role
it seems is as much to inform about conflict as it is to fan the flames
that ensure such conflicts perpetuate themselves. These conflicts have
also played out behind the scenes in the form of clandestine, often
barely concealed partnerships of deadly convenience between so-called
champions of democracy, sovereignty, rule of law and some of the most
vicious factions and personalities of our time.
How can we speak of true democracy when the conditions for peace are
entirely dependent on the interests of a single foreign nation or
external interest parties that often directly contradict both the will
of a nation’s people or indeed that of the wider international
community?
Ladies and gentlemen; Is this what it means to live in a unipolar world?
That nations no longer have the right of their own destiny, choice of
leadership, system of government or economic partnership for fear of
facing retribution by their Western ‘masters’ for whom such sovereign
decisions are an inconvenience? In spite of the interests of otherwise
sovereign countries and the wider international community, are we all so
powerless to speak up?
There was a time the United Nations was seen as the single most
important arbiter between equals. A way for us as equal people of this
planet to fairly engage and settle our differences. It is with irony
that such a governing body, formed as a direct response to the most
violent conflict in human history is incapable of stopping even the most
basic whims and caprices of some of its key member states.
Now, it seems the UN is a place where vulnerable nations amongst others
go to beg in vain to an international community held hostage by a few
belligerent nations seeking their own ends at the expense of everyone
else. Perhaps it is time we revisited what the term ‘United Nations’
means. Perhaps it’s time the premise of such bodies is made to count in
the interest of the voiceless, the beat-upon and the pillaged nations
for whom it is failing so badly. It is time we drew a hard line in the
sand and made our numbers count.
But this is not meant to be all about gloom and doom. But about hope and
the possibility of change in international security for all.
In my time as Head of State of Ghana, I have seen great suffering and an
equal measure of incredible human kindness and solidarity in the face
of extreme difficulties. Even in the darkest of times, there was always a
chance for hope, change and renewal for people. We captured this need
for continuous change and development both in words and in deeds by a
simple, yet fundamental philosophy: Probity and Accountability.
After more than a decade spent working with ordinary Ghanaians to nudge
the country bit by bit with great difficulty and sometimes interference,
both foreign and domestic, back from the brink of economic and social
collapse, we came to understand a little something about the nature of
humanity. Big or small, rich or poor, powerful or less powerful, the key
to any disparaged group rallying together for an honest shared
existence is simply – Probity and Accountability – Transparency of
leadership, accounting for actions and fairness to all.
Ladies and gentlemen; Are these not the principles that all nations of
the world demand and strive for in their dealings with others?
Principles, laid down with checks and balances? This simple, yet
fundamental principle, now more than ever, is ripe for rediscovery in
the face of these challenging times.
Today, as leaders in the international community stand by, either mute
or offering declarations of condemnation, with each successively more
blatant abuse of power by one nation or the other, we see the problem
escalate and sadly, perpetuate itself.
Today, we sit by watching as the Yemen situation escalates beyond a
human disaster; the most appalling human catastrophe in our time.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs, two-thirds of Yemen’s population is food insecure,
making the country the world’s largest food security crisis. Millions
are suffering from extreme hunger, malnutrition and dire health
challenges.
We have become de-sensitised to the ongoing proxy war waged in the Congo
and in Syria at the expense of millions of people that have already
died there.
Ladies and gentlemen, it is sad to note that hundreds are being killed
in Cameroon in West and Central Africa, all because they seek parity in
their basic livelihood.
Interestingly France, the United States,
the United Kingdom and her allies seem oblivious to the horrendous
situation in that country.
Although the UN, the AU and other international organisations, and even
the citizens of the two Cameroons have asked for “an all-inclusive
dialogue, without pre-conditions,” to rapidly curb the massacre that’s
carried out on almost a daily basis on the English-speaking people,
there is no real concerted diplomatic pressure to stem the tide of
violence against a vulnerable group. We have seen no move taken by the
government of Cameroon or the international community to bring the two
sides onto a negotiating table. For how long shall the world stay still
and watch a government in one part of the globe, rob her people of their
dignity, and their humanity?
The UN talks of more than 140 villages burnt down; and almost half a
million people who are internally displaced. There is another forty
thousand who have sought refuge in Nigeria; while thousands are
languishing in jails under very harsh conditions. I have previously
called on France to actively play a pivotal role to end the crisis.
Southern Cameroon’s marriage of convenience with the French Cameroun
since 1961 has got to be reviewed by the UN and the AU if these people
should live together peacefully as one people anytime soon.
Must we wait to see an entire world in perpetual conflict – Conflict
that swallows up entire populations, splits families and becomes the
problem of all in the form of refugees, aid needed for reconstruction,
terrorism and global poverty?
Ivory Coast’s Laurent Gbagbo, a true patriot by every stretch was yanked
out of his country and delivered to the ICC by France and its allies.
After eight good years, the court finds no credible evidence against him
and discharges him. Bizarrely, the ICC prosecutor who clearly is
operating on the dictates of the embarrassed powers-that-be decides to
shamelessly appeal and once again curtail Gbagbo’s freedom. How can you
package him to another country on some twisted bail terms that
effectively makes him prisoner and prevents his freedom of international
travel, including going back to his own country?
Once upon a time, the League of Nations became defunct for its failings
to perceive and extinguish what became an unprecedented global conflict.
If the United Nations and the International Criminal Court today is
complacent or crippled by its own internal structure and conflicted
interest so that it is incapable of preventing any of these abuses from
plunging the region and the wider world into anarchy, it might be time
for the international community to demand accountability and reform by
such global organizations for the interest of all, rather than a few. Or
face up to the hard truth about their inadequacy.
Peace will happen if we learn to speak up as a people. The time to stop
hiding behind economic and political vulnerabilities is now. A select
few cannot afford to cower the majority into submission if they rise up
to speak to the truth and defend the ideals of true accountability to
all the peoples of the world.
Before I conclude, Ladies and Gentlemen, let me commend UPF’s Dr Moon,
for taking steps to recognise, commend and award individuals who are
making great strides in the protection of our planet.
I take this opportunity to congratulate Dr Akinwumi Adesina and Ms Waris
Dirie for devoting their lives to protecting the vulnerable. Dr
Adesina’s role in promoting innovative agricultural policies across
Africa and Ms Waris’ campaign to eliminate female genital mutilation
deserve the recognition accorded them earlier today and I wish them
continued success in their endeavours.
The environment like never before is in danger of losing its various
species of creatures; from the tiniest ones in the air; those deep in
the soil; some of those on the ground; and various varieties in the
waters. In my country, I have witnessed several water bodies drying up
or heavily polluted at an alarming rate. These developments on the
environment are intrinsically linked to the immoral political theatrics
exhibited on the global stage. Many innocent people are dying of the
effects of these environmental threats. It is shocking but true to know
that, in sub-Saharan Africa, more than 40 per cent of the populations
still do not have access to potable water, while the Sanitation index is
also less than 40 per cent. Certainly, we need to double our efforts to
save the human race and I believe meetings like these can offer an
opportunity for serious discourse on the way forward.
I am hopeful that this conference in exploring security, peace and
development, will seek to pursue initiatives that will help to empower
us all to stand up for what is right, truthful and progressive for all
the peoples of the world.
Thank you.
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