The Forerunner of the South Centre

The South Commission was established in 1987. At the Non Aligned Summit Meeting held in Harare in September 1986, Dr. Mahatir Bin Mohamad, Prime Minister of Malaysia, announced the intention to establish the Commission and also made known that Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, former President of Tanzania, had accepted the invitation to be its Chairman.

The Commission consisted of distinguished individuals from the South who had different backgrounds and political persuasions.

The Commission functioned as an independent body, with its members serving in their personal capacities. Its term was set for three years and its work was financed by contributions from the developing countries. The Commission's Secretariat was established in Geneva with the assistance from the Government of Switzerland.

In the course of its three years of operation, the Commission issued separate statements on two pressing issues: External Debt and the Uruguay Round of Trade Negotiations. And in August 1990 it released its Report, The Challenge to the South, published by Oxford University Press, in which it set out its findings and recommendations.

In the Report, the Commission assessed the South's achievements and failings in the development field and suggested directions for action. Although the Commission carried out its work in the final years of a decade that devastated many economies in the South, the Report strikes a note of hope and makes a cogent case for self-reliant, people-centred development strategies. The Commission also shows how developing countries could gain strength - and bargaining power - through mutual co-operation. Describing how the world arrangements for trade, finance, and technology handicap the South, it urges the countries of the South to act in solidarity in the multitude of North-South negotiations. It also argues that growing global interdependence makes it beneficial to all peoples that the developing countries have a fairer chance to escape poverty and attain sustainable development.

The Challenge to the South

 

Members of the Commission were:

Chairman: Julius K. NYERERE (Tanzania);

Secretary General: Manmohan SINGH (India);
Ismail Sabri ABDALLA (Egypt); Abdlatif AL-HAMAD (Kuwait); Paulo Evaristo ARNS (Brazil); Solita COLLAS-MONSOD (Philippines); Eneas Da Conceiçao COMICHE (Mozambique); Gamani COREA (Sri Lanka); Aboubakar DIABY-OUATTARA (Côte d'Ivoire); Aldo FERRER (Argentina); Celso FURTADO (Brazil); Devaki JAIN (India); Simba MAKONI (Zimbabwe); Michael Norman MANLEY (Jamaica); Jorge Eduardo NAVARETTE (Mexico); Pius OKIGBO (Nigeria); Augustin PAPIC (Yugoslavia); Carlos Andrés PEREZ (Venezuela); Jiadong QIAN (China); Shridath RAMPHAL (Guyana); Carlos Rafael RODRIGUEZ (Cuba); Abdus SALAM (Pakistan); Marie-Angélique SAVANE (Senegal); Tan Sri Ghazali SHAFIE (Malaysia); Tupuola Efi TUPUA TAMASESE (Samoa); Nitisastro WIDJOJO (Indonesia); Layachi YAKER (Algeria).

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