Date : 31/03/2013
KUWAIT, March 31 (KUNA) -- International lawmakers stressed the need to
focus on women, youth and democratic policies in order to achieve sustainable
development adding that the aim requires a global cooperation driven by
developed countries.
The call came in the closing statement, or the Quito Deceleration, of the
Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly's 128th meeting, which ended at the capital
of Ecuador on Friday in the attendance of lawmakers from 120 countries.
Sustainable development now stands at a crossroads as production and
consumption - two of the fundamental components of economic prosperity - are
unsustainable. Growth is no longer a solution to challenges of a social,
economic or environmental nature and has become only a part of the solution,
read the statement.
If the world intended to develop as a global society able to conform to
principles like peace and cooperation, while living in harmony with nature, it
should focus on comparisons that aim to achieve good living standards.
A large growth rate does not necessarily mean further development and
happiness for humankind, but to the contrary. Balanced social policies and
limited growth rates are what together achieve good living standards.
Providing jobs and salaries in developing countries should go hand-in-hand
with policies that aim for these relaxed living standards.
Good living standards should include components that do not depend on
unlimited material consumption such as education, health, culture,
entertainment, the right to practice religion, human rights, emotional
satisfaction and patriotic belonging, which all aid in achieving human
satisfaction and development without any large impacts on the environment.
These components are crucial in the modern model for development, and the
government and private businesses, of any country, should assure that further
jobs catering to these needs are met.
Tackling discrimination between genders should also be addressed, in order
to release the full potentials of women as citizens and employees - especially
as they form 50pct of the global population and continue to suffer from
injustice in many economic and social sectors worldwide.
On the environment, the statement urged the need to transfer green
technologies to developing countries.
On the political scale, it urged the need to give less-interacting
components of the society - women, youth, indigenous communities and the poor
- a chance to take part in the decision-making process, particularly over
their own destinies. (end)
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