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Guyana calls on UN to set up global accountability indicators for countries

Guyana calls on UN to set up global accountability indicators for countries

President Bharrat Jagdeo
The President of Guyana today called on the United Nations to establish a set of global accountability indicators to measure whether countries are implementing policies in line with the international responsibilities.

Bharrat Jagdeo told the second day of the General Assembly’s annual high-level debate that the concept of accountability needs to be enhanced to ensure that countries act responsibly rather than merely with regard for national interests.

Accountability indicators, “where we can transparently monitor whether the members of the international community are pursuing policies that in a holistic sense helps them to discharge their global responsibilities,” would therefore be helpful, Mr. Jagdeo said.

The indicators would look at policies not only related to the provision of aid, but also connected to climate, trade and other key issues.

“Through the Millennium Development Goals [MDGs], we have started to develop some of the indicators we need,” he said in his address at UN Headquarters in New York. “And as we enhance them further, I believe that we will see that better accountability, properly understood, can help us rise to the challenges we face.”

Mr. Jagdeo noted that while countries such as Guyana need to be accountable for their actions towards the MDGs, financial instability, climate change and other issues, affluent countries also had to recognize their responsibilities.

“Aid flows are appreciated and valuable, but they sometimes pale into insignificance when the same countries that promote how their aid is helping the achievement of, for example, the Millennium Development Goals, are also pursuing unjust, narrow-minded trade or climate policies.”