APN | Beirut

7 March 2024

 

The Arab Forum for Sustainable Development, hosted by ESCWA, invited APN General Manager, Mariam Al Jaajaa, to be a panelist in the fourth session of the forum entitled "Transforming Food Systems in a Multi-Crisis Environment (SDG 2)". This forum serves as the main regional platform for monitoring and reviewing the progress of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the Arab region. It is held annually in collaboration with the League of Arab States and various United Nations agencies operating in the Arab region.

During her address (click here to listen to the speech in Arabic), Al Jaajaa highlighted the double standards within the framework of "international legitimacy" and the prevailing global order. She criticized the notion that international legitimacy serves as an end in itself rather than a pursuit of justice, a viewpoint expressed by former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. Al Jaajaa emphasized that the implementation of the triple nexus approach (humanitarian-development-peace) advocated by the OECD and the broader donor community has proven woefully ineffective. This failure is evident in various instances, such as the genocide through starvation in Gaza, the politicization of humanitarian and developmental aid in Yemen and Syria, and the fueling of conflict through militarization in Sudan. She highlighted that this failure extends not only to states but also to international organizations.

"We are committed to achieving justice and holding the entirety of the current world order responsible; otherwise, it will persist as a tool of neocolonialism," she emphasized.