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Practical Measures Needed To Help Small Island States

20 January 2005

Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon called on international organisations to stop placing unreasonable reporting demands on small island developing states (SIDS). He was speaking at the Mauritius International Meeting on SIDS in Port Louis on 14 January 2005. Mr McKinnon said many international treaties governing the environment, human rights, development and other aspects of international relations have a heavy reporting requirement. Most of these country reports have to be filed annually. On top of that, many international organisations and donor agencies also demand regular reporting from small island developing states. This resulted in small countries spending too much time and scarce resources in form-filling and report-writing.
 
Mr McKinnon proposed that international organisations analyse the demands they are making and consider alternatives such as multi-year reports or multi-country regional reports; technical assistance in report preparation was another possibility. He said scarce human resources especially in SIDS were better channelled towards practical implementation and tangible results than towards "endless form-filling and paperwork".
 
"There is a need to simplify and rationalise reporting requirements for small states," emphasised the Secretary-General. "A nation's economist should be concentrating on helping his or her country to grow, not meeting bureaucratic requirements on the other side of the world."
 
Mr McKinnon said there is also a need to see more effective action to promote the sustainable development of SIDS. He pointed out that genuine engagement and bankable commitments by the resource-rich to help the resource-poor are vital, while the political will to implement them is crucial.
 
"It is a matter of inspired leadership and commitment to work in partnership for results. We must continue to keep small island developing states at the centre of the development agenda and ensure that our decisions today have a real, tangible impact on the lives of their inhabitants in years to come."

 

CNIS - the Commonwealth News and Information Service Issue 218  19 January 2005

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