UNDP’s Director of Democratic Governance Geraldine FRASER-MOLEKETI, former companion-in-arms of Nelson Mandela, as well as a former member of the National Executive Committee of the African National Congress, as well as Minister of Public Service and Administration of the Republic of South Africa, has recently been on visit to Ukraine. Ms. Fraser-Moleketi has a vast experience of developing the state’s policy based on the principles of gender equality, she has also worked on the questions of social involvement of disabled people and protection of the rights of national minorities. Ms. Geraldine told The Day about her vision of the development of democracy in Ukraine, our social capital, and opportunities we need to make use of.
Ms. Geraldine, could you please tell about your mission in Ukraine. As far as I know, you have taken part in the meeting of ombudspersons of Eastern Europe, which took place in Kyiv.
“I have come to Ukraine out of two reasons. The first one is the roundtable and practical seminar ‘Challenges and opportunities in the sphere of human rights protection and their promotion in the CIS countries,’ specially organized by the office of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Development Program in Ukraine. It was attended by ombudpersons and representatives of the Commissioners for Human Rights in eight countries of the CIS. They met to share their experience in the sphere of human rights protection and have discussions. Besides, there was a practical seminar during which the ombudspersons and representatives of the Offices of the Commissioner for Human Rights had an opportunity to learn about the importance of strategic planning and communication with public.
“The second goal of my mission is the participation in a global seminar on local development and local governance. It gathered UN experts from many countries, who discussed the questions connected with the optimization of our strategy in this sphere. We became interested in the work completed by the UNDP in Ukraine, specifically the integrated approach to local development oriented at local specifics and needs of the community. We are planning to apply this experience in our programs of integrated local governance and in elaboration of local development strategies on a global scale.”
In your work with ombudspersons of Eastern Europe you paid much attention to the questions of gender inequality and rights of the disabled persons. In your opinion, how brightly are these violations represented in Ukraine?
“The development of any country based on a stable development is impossible unless all the citizens and strata of population are involved. Besides, the questions of gender inequality are reasonable from the economic, social, and political points of view. Gender equality is reasonable even purely in terms of economy, because a country that does not use to the fullest extent the potential of 50 percent of its population, cannot be economically successful.
“Another important aspect of gender equality is political representation. This question was very important and it was broached both at the meeting of ombudspersons, and the Universal Periodical Review of the human rights situation Ukraine has recently undergone. UN member countries recommended Ukraine to activate the work in this direction.
“The question of gender quality is also connected with the questions of tackling violence against people, and the role of ombudspersons consists namely in protection of the rights and prevention of violence. The questions of preventing human trafficking are also connected with gender equality. As we know, women fall victim to this phenomenon more frequently than men.
“No less important is the question of protection of the rights of persons with disabilities, which was broached during the roundtable and the Universal Periodical Review. Ukraine has ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol. Now we need the ombudspersons to keep an eye on the realization of the national plans of action that would practically help the people with disabilities remove the barriers and provide them with an access to all opportunities and services, as well as prevent their rights from being violated.”
According to preliminary estimates, the number of female MPs in the Ukrainian parliament has grown from 8 to 10 percent (I mean the newly elected parliament). At the same time one of the goals of the millenium development for Ukraine envisages the increase of women’s representation in parliament up to 30 percent before 2015. Most likely, Ukraine will be unable to achieve this goal till 2015. What needs to be done to achieve this aim in the future?
“Out of 59 countries which held the elections last year, 17 countries applied concrete mechanisms of resolving the problem of inadequate level of representation of women in parliament. Those included the assignment of quotas. This mechanism has really helped those countries to increase the representation of women to 27 percent, which I consider a good result.
“Just for comparison, in the countries with no quota system, women are represented in parliament at merely 17 percent on average. So, quotas are one of the mechanisms Ukraine could implement.
“The 2-percent increase of the level of women’s representation in parliament is still a small progress. Of course, you need some resolute actions to reach 30 percent. In this context the important question of developing inner-party democracy arises. There should be some positive dynamics of encouraging talented female candidates to run and take part in politics.
“The UNDP gives all-out support to the countries on their way to providing gender equality. For example, in the countries of Asian-Pacific Region the programs aimed at raising the level of women’s political representation in parliament are being successfully implemented.
“The platform entitled ‘I am versed in politics,’ specially created for female politicians, is also successfully functioning. It provides one in an accessible way the practical information on various aspects of election campaign like how to hold or finance the election campaign and provides female candidates with an opportunity to get advice from more experienced politicians. I think there are many important and interesting developments Ukraine could make use of.
“I want to give you an example from my own experience. At the age of 15 I was working in South-African parliament, I was a member of the African National Congress, and I have worked in the parliaments of several convocations. During the movement of liberation from apartheid, women created a very powerful organization that united active women in all corners and parties of the country. We wrote the Women’s Charter, and some of its clauses concerning the broadening of rights and opportunities of women and gender equality were taken into consideration in the new Constitution of the Republic of South Africa.
“Owing to such active movement of women we have been able to implement 30-percent quotas for representation of women in parliament. Although everything was fixed in the constitution of the country, we achieved that the regulations of the parties stipulated that women should make 30 percent of the entire membership of the parties. After that South Africa became one of the world’s ten countries with the highest level of women’s representation. We have also achieved with the help of inner-party mechanisms that three out of each ten persons on the party lists were women. This is an example of what any country can achieve.”
Achievement of gender equality is a part of developing democracy. In your opinion, how rapid are democratic transformations in the world? How would you characterize them?
“Present-day world is characterized by an increasing level of inequality. We are observing this both in separate countries or regions, and on a global scale.
“This inequality affects the questions connected with democratic governance. Because of this inequality all the more people become marginalized and vulnerable, which in its turn may lead to reduction of the democratic space in the world. This is happening because as a rule marginalized people are voiceless.
“Another important trend is the increasing political mobilization of people. We can see this happening in Arab countries, specifically in the countries of North Africa, and to some extent in Near East. We can see an active performance of the youth who actively express their opinion concerning the need for changes and improving of living standards. They demand from the authorities accountability, transparency, and participation in decision-making process. They demand jobs to be created and human dignity to be kept.
“One more important trend is the increasing level of urbanization, which demands us to look for new approaches to local development and local governance. In this context such questions are becoming the top priority. The interconnection between political and economic questions comes to the foreground.”
Ukraine has recently joined the Open Government Partnership Initiative. What can you tell our readers about this initiative and what advantages will Ukraine get from this?
“The Open Government Partnership Initiative is a very important international initiative, which has been joined by many countries. This is an initiative that helps the governments and civil society to move in the direction of transparency that helps broaden the rights and possibilities of citizens, fight corruption, use new technologies to improve the work of the government. This is a global initiative that makes governments more transparent, efficient, and accountable before the citizens.
“It is important that Ukraine has joined the club of the countries that will make regular reports before the other member countries concerning the progress in the committements they’ve undertaken. This initiative is also a wonderful platform for involving the citizens, civil society, and international community in developing transparency and is a lever of influence concerning the committments Ukraine has undertaken.
“Ukraine has recognized five priorities for itself.
“First, involving of the public in shaping of the state policy, both on regional, and national levels. It is very important that namely people, Ukraine’s citizens had an opportunity to take part in creation of laws and had a possibility to influence the decisions.
“Second, it is the access to open public information.
“Third, it is fighting corruption.
“Fourth, it is a proper governance and improving of administrative services.
“And the last one is the development of electronic governance. They all are really important because the progress in any of these directions will be useful not only for Ukraine’s people, which is apparent, but its government as well, because the progress in these directions builds people’s trust to power.”
You have worked with the famous South-African politician, a living legend Nelson Mandela. What have you achieved from this cooperation?
“I have worked under his leadership starting from 1996, when I became Deputy Minister of Welfare and Population Development of the Republic of South Africa. We have also cooperated within the framework of the African Congress, where I worked as a deputy coordinator on elections after we obtained the permission to hold the elections in the country. It was a great honor and privilege for me to work with him. He was an extremely talented leader, who always used the potential of his team and was distinguished for his great honesty. He was a leader with a strategic vision. Nelson Mandela has always been distinguished for placing people in the center of the events. He is a human above all. Besides, he was not afraid to make quite bold steps: for example, I was appointed deputy minister when I was 35. At the age of 36 I became part of his Cabinet. I.e., he was ready to take risk and invest in the youth and women of the South-African Republic. He has always believed in us, he was very demanding to the quality of our work. We percieved him as a man, not as a legend. He understood very well the need for reconciliation and national unity. He could leave his personal feelings behind, in order to make the question of national unity and state interest the top priority.
“He has always been able to convince us or help hear that we are able to make impossible things possible.”
“Over the past two years a very important work has been conducted, which has been reflected in adoption of important laws aimed at development and improving of democracy in Ukraine. Above all, it refers to the law on the access to public information, the law on free legal aid, the law on fighting corruption, the new Criminal Procedure Code, and the law on civic unions. They are all aimed at resolving important questions.
“However, there is a need for further reforming of the judiciary system. You also need to pay more attention to the question of transparency, fighting corruption, accountability, and responsibility of the state bodies. All of these will help to strengthen democracy and implement important transformations in Ukraine.
“It is very important for the draft laws to go further than approval. The main test for Ukraine is whether these laws will be executed. Here the interaction between the judiciary and executive branches of power and active civil society should play an important role, because this is the only way to achieve real changes in the life of ordinary citizens.
“Ukraine is still facing many challenges, yet it stands a good chance to be successful. In its turn, the UN Development Program will remain a reliable partner of Ukraine on its path toward developing democracy.”
