Leave no-one behind

Diversity and inclusion are words used so frequently now that they’ve almost started to lose their power and meaning. Last week at week one of the fortnight-long UNESCO General Conference in Paris I experienced a strong and important reminder of why deliberate and mindful inclusion is so important – and how easy it is for those with privilege to falsely assume inclusion under the veneer of equality.

As Chair of the Australian National Commission for UNESCO I am proud to join Australia’s Ambassador to UNESCO in leading our nation’s delegation to this biennial meeting of the UN peace agency’s 193 member nations. Australia’s priorities at the meeting this year include achieving supporting our Pacific island neighbours to have a voice through a range of formal and informal mechanisms at all levels of the sprawling United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation.

On so many occasions last week I heard some variation of the message ‘we would like you to tell us what you think’. Every member state of UNESCO is invited to have a say in discussion and debate at these meetings. When voting is required, every member state has one vote, regardless of its population or GDP.

It sounds equal, but it’s not.

In reality, with thousands of people from nearly 200 delegations in attendance, those who know how to navigate the bureaucracy are the ones most frequently heard. They make presentations on stage, participate in panel discussions, and sit on committees and other decision-making bodies.

Many of the wealthier nations have staff members permanently stationed at UNESCO HQ. They know how to navigate the system, they know the staff, and they have the opportunity months, or years, in advance to advocate for inclusion on the formal program. When UNESCO sends discussion papers, invitations and reports in the mail (the mail!), these nations receive them within a day or two.

They feel at home at UNESCO, and therefore comfortable to raise their countries’ name-plates during discussion and debate (the accepted multilateral convention for asking for the floor) – immediately and without hesitation.

Because they are geographically located close to one another, and enjoy reliable telecommunications and transport systems, they can mobilise in groups to lobby other members for specific change to rules, programs, budgets, committee representation or new areas of focus. They can afford to host cocktail receptions to emphasise their point of view.

Small and developing nations – particularly those located on the opposite side of the planet – do not have these opportunities.

The Pacific Ocean covers more than one-third of the planet. Its island nations and their ocean territories cover millions of square kilometres – an area far bigger than any continent. It is extraordinarily important to our planet’s systems and health.

As a group, Pacific Island nations face many obstacles to participating in international decision-making. Classed as ‘developing’, they are incredibly vulnerable to the ravages of climate change-exacerbated extreme weather and rising sea levels; their telecommunications and transportation is unreliable; their populations are small; travel within and outside the region is time-consuming and expensive.

Most of them do not have permanent delegates to UNESCO, or Ambassadors to UNESCO. They do not have travel or catering budgets. They do not make frequent visits to UNESCO HQ. Mail from Europe can take weeks to arrive. UNESCO doesn’t feel like home to them.

Despite these challenges, every two years Pacific Island Ministers and other senior officials make the three-day-plus trip to General Conference, with the hope of gaining a greater voice and visibility among the stable, populous and highly developed economies in the global North, and of raising awareness of the plight of their vulnerable communities.

Once there, they deserve to be heard.

Opening the floor for general discussion and assuming this will automatically guarantee equal participation is na?ve when some of those in the room are so far from home, in every sense of the word. Assuming knowledge of how to navigate the system, and failing to proactively reach out to the planet’s most marginalised and invite them to sit on stage for presentations and panel discussions alongside the planet’s most privileged, is unacceptable.

As one of the Pacific delegates put it to me this week, leaving no-one behind means slowing down to walk at the pace of the slowest member of the group – not walking at the quickest pace and hoping everyone else will catch up.

It’s an important principal for any of us to live by, but for the United Nations agency charged with fostering peace, and responsible for working towards equal access to education, protecting important cultural and natural heritage, nurturing an open scientific culture, and building gender equity, it ought to be essential and non-negotiable.

UNESCO has a fundamental principal to leave no-one behind, and works through its many excellent and important programs to achieve this mandate directly in many of the world’s most vulnerable communities, as well as encouraging its member states to do the same. Its work in Africa, for example, has made material steps towards achieving greater stability, lifting literacy and numeracy, and improving gender equity. But the goal of leaving no-one behind is not served by an assumption that all member states have the same level of access.

Genuine inclusion requires a practice of empathy. It requires compassionate asking and active listening. It requires individuals and bureaucracies to step out of their own framework and attempt to understand the experience of the other. Specific and genuine invitations to participate, and the support through mentoring to do so effectively. Sponsorship, and calling out by allies when it’s failing.

This week at UNESCO General Conference delegates from the Pacific worked hard to have their voices heard. They were eloquent, persistent, and diplomatic while strongly conveying their important message. And Australia and New Zealand worked hard to be good allies to our Pacific family. We met with them daily to offer any useful assistance, advice or practical support. We spoke publicly to echo their messages and highlight their challenges, promoted important constitutional amendments that will make it easier for a wider variety of nations to seek representation in decision-making, called repeatedly for deliberate inclusion of small developing nations at all levels, and called out exclusion when we saw it – both on the public floor of the meeting, and in personal representations to secretariat staff.

We’ll continue to do so, just as the Pacific Island nations will continue to do everything they can to build a strong presence and voice in decision-making. Because genuine inclusion and equality cannot be possible until the whole group takes responsibility for ensuring that no-one is left behind.