The Blair African Commission

Seble Demeke, UNOG

On 27 February 2004, Prime Minster Tony Blair launched the Commission for Africa, with the task “to take a fresh look at Africa’s past, present and future” with the aim of “finding new solutions to the continent’s problems”. He pledged to make the fight against poverty an “absolute priority” during the UK’s presidencies of G8 Summit and European Union in 2005.

In one of his speeches last year on G-8 Summit, the British Prime Minister told the House of Commons that, “the wealthy nations of this world simply cannot any longer ask the developing world to stand on its own feet but shut out the very access to our markets necessary for them to do so. Reform of the Common Agricultural Policies will be vital in this regard”. (UN Special No. 620 of July/August 2003). It is not clear how far such an appeal will help advance the current impasse in multilateral trade negotiations, in particular, in view of the recent failure of the WTO Ministerial Conference in Cancun, Mexico, to arrive at concrete outcome and move forward the work on development round that was agreed at Doha.

The ‘Blair’ Commission, however, is an original initiative set up with all the good intentions to bring a real change to the daily lives of millions of Africans. Despite Africa’s abundant natural resources, the continent is continuously suffering from perpetual poverty, conflicts and diseases. Under these circum- stances, one cannot simply wait to see whether globalization and liberalization will bring changes that will make a difference to the lives of the masses in Africa. There is enough evidence to show that although globalization has benefited only a few countries that were in a position to take advantage of the opportunities offered, for the majority of developing countries, in particular Africa, the promises of liberalization and globalization remain unfulfilled The need for a cautious approach in assessing the impact of globalization is highlighted in a recent ILO report entitled “A Fair Globalization - Creating opportunities for all” which sums the impact of Globalization by stating that “The cur- rent process of globalization is generating unbalanced outcomes, both between and within countries. Wealth is being created, but too many countries and people are not sharing in its benefits. They also have little or no voice in shaping the process. Seen through the eyes of the vast majority of women and men, globalization has not met their simple and legitimate aspirations for decent jobs and a better future for their children”. The report further states, “These global imbalances are morally unacceptable and politically unsustainable”. These observations based on evidence from a broad spectrum of countries must be borne in mind in advancing the work of the new Commission.