wins prize for contribution to the protection of human rights in Nepal
John Won, Seoul
Korea

March 11, 2011

Leading Nepalese social activist and this year’s Tji Hak-soon Justice and Peace Award-winner, Arjun Karki accepted his prize yesterday at a special presentation ceremony in Seoul, Korea.

Karki, who is chairman of Rural Reconstruction Nepal (RRN), received a medal and a US$10,000 cash prize from Tji Hak-soon Justice and Peace Foundation chairman, Monsignor Philip Kim Byeong-sang.

The foundation said Karki won the prize for his contribution to the protection of human rights and the development of impoverished and marginalized communities in Nepal.

STATEMENT BY CHAIR AND SPOKESPERSON OF LDC-IV CIVIL SOCIETY FORUM DR ARJUN KARKI AT THE INDIA-LDC MINISTERIAL MEETING “HARNESSING THE POSITIVE CONTRIBUTION OF SOUTH-SOUTH CO-OPERATION FOR LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES’ DEVELOPMENT”

18-19 February 2011, New Delhi

Mr Chairman, Honourable Ministers, LDC-IV Secretary General Mr Diarra,

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

Thank you for allowing me to speak on behalf of the LDC-IV Civil Society Steering Committee at this important Pre-Conference Ministerial meeting focusing on South-South co-operation for LDCs.

We are all aware that for over 30 years, since the Buenos Aires Plan of Action was adopted back in 1978, South-South Co-operation has been part of the United Nations’ strategy for advancing regional development agendas in the South. And, we have also witnessed that in the context of the most vulnerable development bloc – the LDCs – within the global South, the vision of sustainable development that should follow is still elusive in terms of a just and an equitable world. We recognise South-South Co-operation as integral to the advancement of LDCs and therefore, as we move ahead we should seek to rectify the weaknesses and blunders that mirror the traditional North-South co-operation. The upcoming LDC-IV conference gives us an opportunity to revisit and redefine a progressive South-South Cooperation, highlighting creative and substantive evidences of South-South development solutions, and thus forging innovative and inclusive partnerships for LDCs’ development. We must agree to a new framework for South-South Co-operation that is based on the principles of solidarity, justice and equity towards human development and human dignity.

OHRLLS: In your capacity as the global coordinator of the Civil Society Steering Committee, what do civil society organizations expect to come out of LDC IV?

AK: In light of the soon approaching LDC-IV, civil society organisations across the globe are gearing up in consolidating a strong pro-poor LDC agenda, placing the most vulnerable and the marginalised LDC populations at its centre – bearing in mind, that both poverty and vulnerability are endemic in LDCs and this fact is often carelessly overlooked by stakeholders. We have been mobilising our constituency and beyond towards LDC-IV, and are receiving overwhelming support and solidarity in our collective cause towards defending LDC interests. It’s an ethical urgency to reverse the past four decades of development failure in LDCs that has unjustifiably cost the lives and livelihoods of the poor and the vulnerable LDC peoples and we as civil society, expect Istanbul to recognise this urgency. Istanbul is being seen as a historical point of departure in terms of a new progressive development action for the LDCs, truly paving the road for a constructive decade that will witness at least half of the LDCs graduating eventually leading towards a world without LDCs!