Former U.N. Secretary General Lectures on Poverty, Discusses World Issues at UNC

from The Epoch Times

By Yan Yan

The Public Policy Majors' Union and the Roosevelt Institution at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill hosted a student tea party with Lord Mark Malloch-Brown on Monday. Later that day, Lord Malloch-Brown lectured on "Making Private Capital Work for the Poor" to some 500 students and faculty.

Lord Malloch-Brown was Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations and Director General of the United Nations Development Programme. He has been a leading advocate for the Millennium Development Goals, which seek to drastically reduce global poverty by 2015. In June 2007, Lord Malloch-Brown joined the British Prime Minister's Cabinet as Minister for Africa, Asia, and the United Nations. He advises the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary on global issues including human rights.

During the tea party, Lord Malloch-Brown discussed U.S. and U.K. foreign policy issues with some 40 students. Oppression in Burma, genocide in Darfur, terrorism in Iraq, and human rights in China were brought up. Lord Malloch-Brown predicted that the next U.S. president will likely adopt foreign policies similar to those of 1945, when the U.S. shared some of its power "in a multilateral" approach to promote values like "democracy, rule of law, and free market."

Lord Malloch-Brown sees the UN as "a forum in which different ideologies could arbitrate their differences without going to war" and a means to manage global problems in global interest. He wagered a bet that "many students will find careers in public policy abroad."

Regarding aid to Afghanistan and African nations, Lord Malloch-Brown said NGO's and grass root actions are "absolutely indispensable to the government" in improving lives. He advocated for a "mixed public and private service provision model." He also called for "higher ethics of delivery" and greater accountability in governments receiving aid. Lord Malloch-Brown was optimistic about the Millennium Development Goals but reminded the audience that they "work, but not overnight." Lord Malloch-Brown also credited President Bush with increased U.S. foreign aid and said "Bush is much more generous than Clinton."

In the Q&A session, Lord Malloch-Brown said that the "global trend toward democracy is moving quite strongly," but the "UN should press for more democracy" in nations like China. "We need to fight for [our] values," Lord Malloch-Brown added.

On improving China's human rights, Lord Malloch-Brown emphasized that Britain will continue to encourage China for improvements and for annual human rights dialogues. He acknowledged that the current Chinese leadership is "tough and difficult on human rights and democracy." Lord Malloch-Brown also said that improving human rights remains "enormously important" and will stay "front and center" for China, despite its economic and social progress. Lord Malloch-Brown sees the economic development as a "precursor to [China's] recovery of political consciousness."

Human rights will "critically determine the path" of China's development, and China's flourishing environmental activism will likely "bleed over to [promoting] human rights," according to Lord Malloch-Brown. He added that Britain is "especially anxious" about calls for democracy in Hong Kong.

Lord Malloch-Brown commented that the "threat of an Olympic boycott is a nudge" on China to improve human rights. He cautions, however, against pushing China into a corner, where China would close itself and "do great harm to its own people."