Member states of the g7+
Individual g7+ countries have also made clear that they see security as a development priority. Afghanistan has gone the furthest, agreeing with UNDP country office to include a ‘9th MDG’ on enhancing security. Other g7+ countries, such as Liberia and Sierra Leone, have included security as a priority in their PRS processes as Anatole Ayissi from the UN Office for West Africa explains:
West African states themselves recognise that such situations of conflict of institutional instability impact negatively on their progress toward the MDGs, and post-crisis West African countries are now tending to include peace, security and governance as one of the pillars of their poverty reduction strategies (PRS) and their MDG strategies. Liberia’s PRS has four pillars, the very first of which is “consolidating peace and security”. In Sierra Leone, too, the first pillar of its PRS in pursuit of the MDGs is “promoting governance, security and peace”, followed by promoting inclusive growth and promoting human development. So, although there is no explicit Millennium Development Goal on security and disarmament issues … [i]t is also clear, from the political action being taken in many crisis-affected states in West Africa, that these states see security and peacebuilding as cross-cutting priority in the attainment of the MDGs (Ayissi 2008: 21-22).
The PSG on security, therefore, is the outcome of a longer held belief in fragile states that security is fundamental to progress in other MDG areas.