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[b e s ty - // u p d a t e s]
Dr Jose Ramos-Horta @ UNSW
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

“I do not trust the powers that be to change the world. Just look at the recent G8 summit in Italy… I trust in you, individuals, to pressure governments and to empower humanity to change the world.”

Jose Ramos-Horta

Today, I had the opportunity to see the President of Timor-Leste, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Jose Ramos-Horta, speak at a public lecture at UNSW. The lecture was in celebration of the 20th birthday of the Diplomacy Training Program, and independent NGO set up by Dr Jose Ramos-Horta to train those in the Asia-Pacific region actively involved as human rights advocates. The presentation, scheduled for an hour (but extending for almost and hour and a half), was one that was inspiring for everyone in the room.

If I had to sum up Dr. Ramos-Horta in a few words, it would definitely not do him justice. But for the sake of argument, let’s just say that he is blunt about his assessment of the current breed of world leaders heading up the world’s richest nations. In the time that he was presenting, he covered topics ranging from foreign aid policies of developed nations, development financing commitments, the importance of human rights advocates in all areas of social justice, along with climate change and his view about the upcoming Copenhagen conference.

The quote that I have put above (slightly paraphrased – trying to keep up with someone speaking while typing on an iPhone is not the easiest thing in the world!) pretty much sums up his view. He expressed doubt that the rhetoric that will inevitably be expressed at the Copenhagen summit will not be followed through with definitive action. He pointed to past commitments, and in particular the 0.7% development financing commitment (first made in 1970) that developed nations have time and time again failed to achieve. He singled out Australia, recognising that Australians themselves are generous, yet our government still fails to meet the 0.7% target – let alone the interim 0.5% target that was meant to be met by 2010. Summits that have addressed development financing, including the Monterrey Consensus, have often ended with much fanfare over these agreements. Yet rhetoric very rarely translates into discernable action from developed nations. This is where Dr. Jose Ramos-Horta’s frustration lies, but also where his hope lies.

His hope lies here because he see’s individuals acting as a collective as a powerful unit for change. Throughout his presentation, he time and time again expressed dissatisfaction at both developed and developing nations governments, seeing their failures of following through on agreements that they make time and time again. But he also expressed hope in the community and in their role of advocating and pressuring governments to think more about justice, and to take rhetoric and turn it into discernable, effective action.

In his assessment of aid programs, he also highlighted the need to reassess many aid programs. He was quick to note that many aid projects are defunct purely because they do not effectively take in the needs of local communities – in short, they are aimed at the wrong people, at the wrong time, in the wrong place. While addressing this issue, he also noted that US$3 billion has supposedly been giving to East Timor as development assistance. Again, he was quick to criticise this. Much of that figure is comprised of funds that never see the ground in East Timor – instead, those funds are either trapped within a boomerang effect, or are spent directly on paying consultants, buying outside materials, and any other number of expenditures that see money spent, but not within East Timor itself (or many other developing nations).

An example he put forward was the fact that many development agencies – AusAID included – for much of their time working in Timor-Leste didn’t “buy local.” As the issue of fair trade is becoming mainstream, so to is the rhetoric surrounding fair trade. However, many development agencies, military forcers (for example, the Australian military involved with peacekeeping) and others have avoided buying local Timorese products and food. Ramos-Horta pointed out that without buying local, particularly within post-conflict communities, these agencies and groups take away thousands of dollars worth of investment within local economies, going directly against much of the developed world’s espousing of free trade, while simultaneously putting up their own barriers in developing nations.

The presentation by Jose Ramos-Horta was definitely one of the best I have seen in quite some time. It was simple and delved into many issues, perhaps only scratching the surface, yet still amazingly effective, humbling and informative.

More info about the Diplomacy Training Centre can be found at: www.dtp.unsw.edu.au

July 27, 2009 | 3:12 AM Comments  0 comments

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