GO BETWEEN 81, June-July 2000 UN NEWS WSSD+5 SPECIAL SESSION As Go Between goes to press, a special session of the General Assembly was meeting from 26-30 June in Geneva to review and appraise implementation of the 1995 World Summit for Social Development (WSSD) outcome. The August/ September mailing of the Go Between will include an NGLS Roundup on the special session, also known as WSSD+5, whose theme was World Summit for Social Development and Beyond: Achieving Social Development for All in a Globalizing World. FIRST PREPARATORY COMMITTEE FOR HABITAT+5 In June 2001, the UN General Assembly will convene a special session for an overall review and appraisal of implementation of the Habitat Agenda, five years after it was adopted by the 171 UN member states that attended the second UN Conference on Human Settlements in 1996 in Istanbul (Turkey). The first preparatory committee (PrepCom) meeting of the GA special session, known as Istanbul+5, was held on 8-12 May 2000 at the headquarters of the UN Centre on Human Settlements (Habitat) in Nairobi (Kenya). The PrepCom agreed that the special session should reconfirm the goals and commitments of the Habitat Agenda; review the status of implementation including identification of progress, gaps, obstacles and challenges; and set global priorities for future action (see NGLS Roundup 55). GA SPECIAL SESSION: WOMEN 2000 The 23rd special session of the General Assembly, entitled Women 2000: Gender Equality, Development and Peace for the Twenty-First Century, concluded at the UN in New York on 10 June after several weeks of long and difficult negotiations. During the session governments reaffirmed their commitment to the goals and objectives contained in the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, which were adopted at the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women, and they agreed to take actions at national and international levels. For much of the week, many governments and NGOs were concerned that the 180 negotiating countries would not be able to reach consensus on an outcome document that built upon the gains made in Beijing. Addressing this concern in his closing statement to the session, GA President Theo Ben-Gurirab (Namibia) praised the outcome and noted that there had been "no backward movement on any of the Beijing language" in the final document. Many of the more than 3,000 NGO representatives had criticized a small group of countries with predominantly Muslim and Roman Catholic populations for being "intransigent" on issues such as reproductive health, definitions of the family and women's sexual rights. NGOs had also pointed to a bloc of Northern countries for what was described as their weak positions on women's economic and social rights in the context of globalization. "We regret that there was not enough political will on the part of some governments and the UN system to agree on a stronger document with more concrete benchmarks, numerical goals, time-bound targets, indicators and resources aimed at implementing the Beijing Platform," according to the Linkage Caucus, a coordinating group that links NGOs across the various issues and geographic regions of the world. The caucus identified a number of areas in which it said progress had occurred. These included: --health--making maternal mortality a health-sector priority and recognizing the gender aspects of diseases such as malaria; --violence--addressing so-called honour killings and forced marriages and calling for and strengthening legislation on domestic violence including marital rape; --globalization--recognizing its negative impacts and those of structural adjustment on women; --economy--recognizing women's right to inheritance and property rights; and --human rights--increased recognition of the specific needs and rights of indigenous women. Contact: See NGLS Roundup 56 for more details. For coverage and summaries of the special session, see also websites (www.un.org/womenwatch/daw), (www.womenaction.org) or (www.iisd.ca). NPT REVIEW CONFERENCE CLOSES The 2000 Review Conference of Parties to the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) concluded its four-week session in May 2000 in New York after last-minute negotiations to reach agreement on the immediate disarmament priorities for the international community. After a 15-year effort to produce a consensus outcome, the 155 NPT states Parties present--out of a total of 187--agreed that there should be "an unequivocal undertaking by the nuclear-weapon states to accomplish the total elimination of their nuclear arsenals." The conference also agreed that there should be increased transparency about nuclear-weapon capabilities, as well as a diminishing role for nuclear weapons in security policies. In terms of non-proliferation--one of the three objectives of the treaty, along with nuclear disarmament and nuclear cooperation--the final document of the conference urged Cuba, India, Israel and Pakistan to accede to the treaty as non-nuclear-weapon states "promptly and without condition." The conference "deplored" nuclear test explosions by India and Pakistan in 1998 and regretted that despite their pledges, the two countries had not yet signed and ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty. The conference, which meets every five years to assess compliance with and effectiveness of the NPT, also strengthened controls over sales of dual-use nuclear items and reaffirmed members' rights to use peaceful nuclear energy. Contact: Weapons of Mass Destruction Branch, Department for Disarmament Affairs, United Nations, New York NY 10017, United States, fax +1-212/963 1121, website (www.un.org/Depts/dda/WMD/WMD.htm). SECURITY COUNCIL WORKING GROUP ON SANCTIONS The UN Security Council decided on 17 April 2000 to establish a working group of outside experts to undertake a six-month review of the effectiveness of UN sanctions. Ambassador Robert Fowler (Canada), serving as Security Council president during April, said that sanctions regimes should be clearly defined and focused, and carefully tailored to the particular situation in which they were to be applied. Some council representatives also urged streamlining procedures for approving humanitarian exemptions, and a study of the negative collateral effects of sanctions on third states--those that are, for example, regular trading partners of affected countries--before the sanctions are applied. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, speaking at the International Peace Academy in New York one day prior to the meeting, said that he hoped the council would ensure that sanctions are used with a clear understanding of both the intended and unintended effects. "In some cases," he said, "the existence of a sanctions regime has transformed a society for the worse as sanctions-evaders, smugglers and the like rise to the top of the socio-economic ladder because of their skill at manipulating the situation to their advantage." He also noted a "general lack of understanding and skepticism in the general public about the rationale and usefulness of sanctions." Even among nations not affected by sanctions, he observed that "there appears a growing distrust of this instrument, and its ability to bring about change at a fair cost." Canadian Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy, presiding over part of the Security Council meeting, said that sanctions must be integrated into a broader council strategy of conflict prevention and resolution and should aim to change the behaviour of wrongdoers. "The whole point of sanctions is not to be punitive, but to get results," he noted. A number of governments called for "smart sanctions" which target rogue leaders and their supporters, while others called for sanctions against alleged sanction-busters. This issue was highlighted by an independent experts' report on 15 March that charged several governments and many private individuals with violating UN embargoes against the Angolan rebel group UNITA. Minister Axworthy, when asked whether there were instances in which sanction-busters needed to be penalized, said that international and domestic law provided for penalties for people and organizations that broke the law in such areas as war crimes. There was a need for national jurisdictions to respond to those issues, he noted. In the case of arms and diamond traders in Angola, however, Minister Axworthy said he thought penalties should be used along with certain incentives to encourage compliance. Security Council sanctions are currently in effect in Afghanistan, Angola, Iraq, Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan and Yugoslavia. SECURITY COUNCIL CALLS FOR DRC PANEL In June the Security Council requested the UN Secretary-General to establish for a period of six months an expert panel on the illegal exploitation of natural resources and other forms of wealth of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The mandate of the panel will include collection of information on all activities on illegal exploitation of natural resources and other forms of wealth in the country, including those in violation of the sovereignty of the country, and research and analysis of the links between such exploitation and the continuation of conflict. The council requested that the panel, once established, should submit to it a preliminary report with initial findings after three months and a final report with recommendations at the end of its mandate. The council said the panel, which will be based at the United Nations Office in Nairobi (Kenya), "might receive logistical support from the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and make visits to various countries of the region." The council also underlined that the panel might call upon the technical expertise of the secretariat and the specialized agencies, funds and programmes of the UN. UNEP COUNCIL AND MINISTERIAL FORUM The first meeting of the Global Ministerial Environment Forum ended in Malmo (Sweden) on 31 May 2000 with the adoption of an action-orientated declaration that will help set the environmental agenda for the 21st century. The Malmo Declaration, which emphasizes a major role for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), will provide input to the UN's Millennium General Assembly in September and to the Rio+10 event in 2002, which together will set the global agenda for environment and sustainable development for years to come. Over 600 delegates attended the ministerial forum, which also served as the sixth special session of the UNEP Governing Council. In other decisions, the meeting gave strong support to on-going activities of UNEP and endorsed the programme's water policy and strategy with its emphasis on assessment, management and coordination of actions. In their declaration environment ministers agreed that Rio+10 should aim to address the major challenges to sustainable development, particularly "the pervasive effects of the burden of poverty on a large proportion of the Earth's inhabitants" seen against the "excessive and wasteful consumption and inefficient resource use" by others. The declaration also recognizes "the central importance of environmental compliance, enforcement and liability," and for the first time the concept of a life-cycle approach with regard to responsibility of the private sector is integrated into the text. "Unsustainable production and consumption patterns in developed countries," said Klaus Toepfer, UNEP Executive Director, "combined with poverty in the developing world are the two main global environmental threats....Here in Malmo, the largest gathering of environment ministers in the history of UNEP have placed these two issues at the top of the agenda for Rio+10 and have engaged in frank and open discussions on the major environmental challenges and opportunities facing the world today." As a key input to the declaration, over 100 of the world's environment ministers discussed for more than ten hours major environmental challenges of the 21st century, the role of the private sector and the role and responsibility of civil society in an increasingly globalized world. In an informal roundtable style, which received widespread acclaim from delegates, ministers engaged in an interactive dialogue facilitated by keynote speakers from academia, industry and civil society. The 21st session of the UNEP Governing Council will meet in February 2001 in Nairobi (Kenya). Contact: UNEP, PO Box 30552, Nairobi, Kenya, telephone +254-2/621234, fax +254-2/226886. The declaration will be available on the UNEP web site at (www.unep.org/malmo). BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY COP-5 Some 1,500 diplomats and experts from 156 countries concluded a two-week meeting in Nairobi (Kenya) on 26 May 2000 after adopting decisions that will guide international action on biological diversity over the next two years. A highlight of the Fifth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP-5) was the signing of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (see Go Between 79) by 64 governments and the European Community. "Biotechnology has the potential to boost agricultural production over the coming decades far more dramatically than even the Green Revolution of the 1970s," said Klaus Toepfer, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), where the meeting was held. "At the same time, without effective safeguards, there is a risk that genetically modified organisms could enter the environment and upset the natural ecological balance. The Biosafety Protocol is therefore one of the convention's most important tools for promoting the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity." Protecting biodiversity is essential because of the innumerable goods and services that it provides to humanity, according to UNEP. It has been estimated that nature's "services"--such as flood control and air purification--are worth some US$36 trillion a year, and that 40% of the economy of the developing world is directly based on biodiversity. Despite this dependence, humanity is destroying and weakening most ecosystems; based on current trends an estimated 34,000 plants and 5,200 animal species--including one in eight of the world's bird species--face extinction. COP-5 also agreed on other actions to address threats to biodiversity. It launched an international programme for reviving the natural environment of drylands, which are home to many of the world's most impoverished people and are severely threatened due to climate change, drought and human activities. Governments that did not sign the Biosafety Protocol in Nairobi can sign it at UN headquarters in New York from 5 June 2000 to 4 June 2001. Their next step will be to ratify the agreement at the national level. The protocol will enter into force 90 days after it has received 50 ratifications. The next meeting of the COP will take place in The Hague (Netherlands) in 2002. The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) reminded parties to the convention that "signing the protocol is only the first step" and that they "must move to ratify and implement it as soon as possible." "The signing is the simple part," said Gordon Shepherd, WWF Director of International Treaties. "It must be followed by ratification and measures such as establishment and implementation of national legislation on genetically modified organisms....Now that the negotiations are over it's time to move towards the implementation phase of the protocol. Any country that does not go beyond signing on the dotted line...has achieved nothing except a show of diplomacy." Contact: Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, World Trade Centre, 393 St. Jacques Street, Office 300, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H2Y 1N9, telephone +1-514/288 2220, fax +1-514/288 6588, e-mail , website (www.biodiv.org). CITES COP-11 A meeting of the 151-member Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) concluded in Nairobi (Kenya) on 20 April 2000 after adopting decisions on how best to protect dozens of animal and plant species from being over-exploited as a result of international trade. Around 1,400 people attended the 11th Conference of the Parties to CITES, including almost 700 delegates and over 400 representatives of 157 NGOs. The meeting, held at headquarters of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), also adopted a five-year strategic plan for helping governments conserve and sustainably use threatened species so that they will not require stronger trade protection. The plan seeks to strengthen national trade enforcement measures in order to reduce and ultimately eliminate illegal trade. It also aims to promote greater public understanding of CITES and to strengthen collaboration between CITES and other conventions and organizations dealing with conservation and biodiversity. Among other things participants agreed to continue the ban on elephant ivory sales. The elephant populations of Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe will remain on CITES Appendix II (which permits trade controlled through permits). However there will be a zero quota for ivory sales. The ivory ban will be reviewed by the next CITES meeting in two and a half years. The ban on international trade in whales, in place since 1986, will be maintained. The meeting also adopted a decision on improving conservation and enforcement efforts in tiger range states for this highly endangered species, as well as on reducing demand for tiger products in the consumer countries. Contact: CITES Secretariat, 15 chemin des Anemones, CH-1219 Chatelaine (Geneva), Switzerland, telephone +41-22/917 8139 or 917 8140, fax +41-22/797 3417, e-mail , website (www.cites.org). LAW OF THE SEA CONVENTION MEETING States Parties to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea concluded their tenth meeting on 19 May in New York with an in-depth debate on their role in implementation of the 1982 convention, as well as budgetary and financial matters. Among other things, the meeting approved the 2001 budget of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (see Go Between 74), which envisaged the expenditure of US$8,090,900. It adopted a decision recommending that the UN General Assembly establish a voluntary trust fund, to be administered by the Secretary-General, for the international tribunal to facilitate the submission of cases by states. It recommended establishing another voluntary trust fund to meet the costs of participation in meetings by developing country members of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf. Both the tribunal and the commission were set up under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (see E&D File Treaty Series 5). In other action, the states Parties decided to include in the agenda of their next meeting an item concerning compliance with the ten-year limit under article four of Annex II of the convention for submissions to the commission. Currently 132 states have become Parties to the convention, and an increasing number are in the process of ratifying or acceding to it, including major industrialized states. The next meeting of the states Parties will be in May 2001. Contact: Annick de Marffy, Deputy Director, Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, United Nations Office of Legal Affairs, 2 UN Plaza, New York NY 10017, United States, telephone +1-212/963 3962, fax +1-212/963 5847, website (www.un.org/depts/los). CONGRESS ON CRIME PREVENTION The tenth United Nations Congress on Prevention of Crime and Treatment of Offenders, which met in Vienna (Austria) in April, expressed its determination to put high priority on completing a draft United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime and its three protocols on trafficking in firearms and people, including migrants. In its adopted Vienna Declaration on Crime and Justice, the congress also stressed the urgent need to develop an effective separate international legal instrument against corruption. "The desire to act globally is absolutely clear," said Pino Arlacchi, Executive Director of the UN Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention (ODCCP). "As we look at arms trafficking, money laundering and trafficking in human beings, we soon realize that no state acting alone can hope to find solutions." The congress, which was attended by delegations from 119 countries, also stressed the importance of intensifying cooperation in the areas to be covered by those instruments, and of strengthening existing machinery. Member states said they would take measures to prevent and combat terrorism and fight other forms of transnational organized crime including illegal trafficking in people, computer crimes and financial offences. Among other things they stressed the need for mutual legal assistance to curb illicit manufacturing of and trafficking in firearms. The declaration will be presented to the UN General Assembly this year. Contact: Centre for International Crime Prevention, United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention, PO Box 500, A-1400 Vienna, Austria, telephone +43-1/26060 4269, fax +43-1/26060 5898, website (www.uncjin.org/CICP/cicp.html). HEALTH MINISTERS DISCUSS AIDS Health systems across Africa are being devastated and need strengthening if they are to tackle the HIV epidemic on the continent, speakers told an Organization of African Unity meeting of health ministers. The meeting, held in May in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso), aimed to help African governments prepare their health systems for HIV/AIDS prevention and care on an increased scale. "We know a great deal about what works to prevent or slow down the epidemic," said Peter Piot, Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). "The challenge is to implement it on a scale that will truly have an impact." Burkina Faso is West Africa's second most affected country with a prevalence rate of 7%. Across Africa, AIDS has had a dramatic impact on health systems: the number of patients is on the rise and AIDS has sparked a resurgence of tuberculosis on the continent after years of decline. In some cases, the number of tuberculosis cases has gone up by 500% over pre-AIDS days, according to UNAIDS. Among other things, meeting participants evaluated AIDS control activities in Africa and assessed the role and responses of health sectors in reversing the epidemic. Discussions also aimed to identify realistic approaches to what can be done within Africa's limited means, as well as define a framework for the African health sector's contribution to the International Partnership Against AIDS in Africa. Contact: Dominique De Santis, Press Officer, UNAIDS, 20 avenue Appia, CH-1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/791 3387, fax +41-22/791 4898, e-mail , website (www.unaids.org). WACAP MEETS IN GENEVA Mayors and municipal representatives meeting at the second Forum of the World Alliance of Cities Against Poverty (WACAP) in April urged the establishment of an international solidarity fund of cities against poverty and called for a halt to falling development aid from industrialized countries. The forum, organized by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the city of Geneva, included representatives of over 120 cities and municipalities as well as international organizations, NGOs, research institutes and the private sector. "We acknowledge that the greatest wealth and the greatest asset in overcoming poverty are the actual people affected by the various forms of poverty," said participants in the Geneva Declaration Against Poverty. "It is our role and our duty to listen to them actively, to reinforce their capacity for expression and action, to create a framework which enhances their initiatives, and to set up the infrastructures and services they need. In doing so, we attach the greatest importance to the consultation and participation of all age groups, particularly the young and the elderly." The declaration invites the cities of wealthy countries to set up a decentralized cooperation budget to which they should allocate 0.7% of their budget, and suggests the alliance set up a working party on urgent situations. Among other things, discussions at the forum focused on establishing partnerships, building capacity of municipalities to tackle poverty, innovative formulas to fund social development, and better ways to cope with catastrophes and emergency situations. The alliance, established in follow-up to the 1995 World Summit for Social Development, aims to empower municipalities to challenge poverty locally and globally. The conclusions of the forum in Geneva were communicated to leaders attending the June special session of the General Assembly to assess progress five years after the Social Summit. Contact: Daniela Bagozzi, Media Officer, UNDP, Palais des Nations, CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/917 8548 or +41-78/745 1614, fax +41-22/917 8005, website (www.wacap-forum.ch). CODEX COMMITTEE ON PESTICIDE RESIDUES The Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues, which held its 32nd session in The Hague (Netherlands) on 1-8 May 2000, recommended 67 new and revised maximum residue limits (MRLs) for pesticides in or on specific food commodities for final adoption. The committee agreed on the priority list of pesticides to be evaluated by the Joint Meeting on Pesticide Residues (JMPR). It concluded that "it was not feasible to establish MRLs for cereal-based foods and infant formula as the Committee had not established MRLs for composite products." It added that it "did not support the establishment of two MRLs, one for adults and the other for infants and children for a raw commodity used for preparing these products." The committee agreed to consider at its next session, among other things, risk analysis principles and methodologies it uses; factors other than science applied in the past or being applied in all elements of risk analysis and how, when and to what extent they have been used; national policies regarding protection of infants and children and which pesticides are of particular concern in this regard; and the feasibility of establishing MRLs for genetically modified crops. The committee is a subsidiary of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, which is the UN body responsible for setting international food standards. In a statement released prior to the meeting, Consumers International said the JMPR "is failing to adequately protect children." According to the global federation of consumers organizations, "the JMPR concludes that there is no basis' for Codex to change its approach in setting standards for pesticides in order to address the vulnerability of children and that additional factors to protect children against exposure to pesticides are not justified." The federation has consistently urged the committee to improve its procedures in order to take into account the greater exposure and susceptibility of children to many pesticides. Contact: Secretariat of the Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme, FAO, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, I-00100 Rome, Italy, telephone +39-06/57051, fax +39-06/5705 4593, e-mail , website (www.fao.org/waicent/faoinfo/economic/esn/codex). Consumers International, 24 Highbury Crescent, London N5 1RX, United Kingdom, telephone +44-171/226 6663, fax +44-171/354 0607, e-mail , website (www.consumersinternational.org). UNESCO EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETS The 159th session of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) Executive Board ended on 26 May 2000 in Paris after adopting decisions that endorsed the reform process launched by Director-General Koichiro Matsuura. The session also voiced "unqualified support" for the organization's reinforced commitment in favour of basic education and increased funding for this sector. In closing remarks the session chair, Mendieta de Badaroux of Honduras, expressed the executive board's "determination to put UNESCO back on track" by supporting its reform process. Delegates also welcomed UNESCO's role to be the lead agency in a UN-wide effort to help states provide basic education for all by the year 2015. Mr. Matsuura, who presented the results of the April 2000 World Education Forum in Senegal (see focus page), said priorities defined at the forum "have to be rapidly translated into education policies and strategies ensuring quality education for all--girls and women, marginalized and vulnerable groups--through formal schooling and adapted non-formal and lifelong education." To achieve this, he stressed the need to reinforce cooperation with NGOs, other UN agencies, the donor community, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and member states. Mr. Matsuura defined UNESCO's role in the global drive for education for all as "leadership through partnership." The necessary technical and financial assistance, he noted, "must be available to all our member states without exception." Mr. Matsuura said he was determined to make follow-up to the education forum "the top priority in UNESCO's programme and budget and to place education for all at the heart of our programme." He called for a massive mobilization of resources "including debt relief and/or debt cancellation schemes" in favour of education for all. The board, underlining that commitment, attributed some US$3 million in additional funding to basic education out of savings of over US$10.7 million redeployed to strengthen programmes. It also supported measures taken to reduce higher level posts in order to achieve a more balanced post structure, develop staff training, prepare to set up a single oversight service, and rationalize UNESCO's field office strategy. The 58-member executive board meets twice a year to oversee implementation of the programme and budget adopted by UNESCO's general conference, which is convened every two years. Contact: Michee Detinho, Clerk Documentalist, Secretariat of the Executive Board, UNESCO, 7 place de Fontenoy, F-75700 Paris, France, telephone +33-1/45 68 20 12, fax +33-1/45 68 57 02, e-mail , website (www.unesco.org/exboard). ILO REPORT ON WORKERS' RIGHTS Intimidation, threats and even murder still await many workers who attempt to organize in a number of countries, according to a report on Your Voice at Work, published in May by the International Labour Office (ILO). Although freedom of association and the effective right to collective bargaining have been recognized as fundamental rights and principles by the 175 member states of the International Labour Organization, "we are still a long way from universal acceptance of these fundamental principles and rights in practice," according to the report. It added that "governments, as guardians of democracy, need to do more than pay lip service" to them. "A global economy in which people do not have the right to organize will lack social legitimacy," said Juan Somavia, Director-General of the ILO. "People organizing themselves to make their voices heard exercise a fundamental human right and the most important development right." Manifest violations of freedom of association highlighted in the report include outright prohibitions on trade unions in Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. In Bahrain and Qatar, government constraints deny committees of workers or labour councils the attributes of independent workers' organizations. Over the past ten years, the ILO has examined allegations of murder of trade unionists in Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala and Indonesia. Other alleged violations addressed by the ILO during that time include: --physical assaults in several countries including Colombia, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Haiti, Mauritius, Sudan and Zimbabwe; --arrests and detentions in over 20 countries including China, C“te d'Ivoire, El Salvador, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Gabon, the Republic of Korea, Morocco, Pakistan, Paraguay, Senegal and Sudan; --forced exile from Bahrain and Myanmar; and --violations of trade union premises and property in countries including the Central African Republic, C“te d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Lebanon, Nicaragua, the Russian Federation and Senegal. The report also points out that whole categories of workers "remain either uncovered or specifically excluded from legal protection in many countries, including agricultural workers, domestic workers, migrant workers and the public sector." It notes the right to organize "is the key enabling right and the gateway to the exercise of a range of other rights at work" and says positive developments have been achieved through consultation with, and cooperation between, government, employers and workers. The report concludes with three interrelated priorities. They are: --ensure all workers can form and join a trade union of their choice without fear of intimidation or reprisal, and employers are free to form and join independent associations; --encourage an open and constructive attitude by private business and public employers to freely chosen workers' representatives, and development of agreed bargaining methods and complementary forms of cooperation concerning terms and conditions of work; and --recognition by public authorities that good governance of the labour market, based on respect for fundamental principles and rights at work, makes a major contribution to stable economic, political and social development during international economic integration, enlargement of democracy and the fight against poverty. Contact: Bureau of Public Information, ILO, 4 route des Morillons, CH-1211 Geneva 22, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/799 7940, fax +41-22/799 8577, e-mail , website (www.ilo.org/voice@work). ILO REPORT ON PENSION SCHEMES Some 90% of the world's working-age population is not covered by pension schemes capable of providing an adequate retirement income, according to a report from the International Labour Office (ILO). Social Security Pensions: Development and Reform says bad management of schemes where they do exist exposes much of the world's population to the risk of poverty in old age. Even in cases where coverage is nearly universal and schemes are well-managed, major problems in financing pensions will arise in coming years as populations age and countries seek to diversify the risk to individuals. "OECD [Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development] countries already spend an average 10% of their gross domestic product (GDP) on old-age retirement benefits," said Colin Gillion, Director of the ILO Social Security Department and editor of the book, "which exceeds their total spending on health care." With that number rising, Mr. Gillion noted that OECD pension plans are "generally excellent, but expensive. The best way to deal with ageing populations is to increase the actual age of retirement and to increase the number of women in employment." The report finds that pension schemes in the OECD countries--mainly in North America, Western Europe, Japan and Australia--are well-managed. The United States pension scheme, and to a lesser extent the United Kingdom scheme, carry more risk than those of West European countries because of a reliance on occupational- and privately-funded schemes rather than complete government financing. Asian schemes have been weakened because of financial turmoil in the region. In Africa, pension schemes are generally weak and badly managed, according to the report. Retirement schemes in the Arab states are still new and face problems in dealing with the high percentage of foreign workers who are not allowed to join. Schemes in Latin America and the Caribbean are performing poorly. The ILO recommends that all countries: --adopt the goal of extending coverage to all members of their population; --institute schemes that protect not only against poverty in old age but against disability and provide benefits for the family in case the wage earner dies; --adjust retirement income to take account of inflation and a general rise in living standards; and --develop additional voluntary provisions for retirement income. The most crucial challenge is extending even minimal old-age retirement benefits to the hundreds of millions of workers in the informal sector. The ILO recommends, among other things, modifying existing schemes to cover excluded groups; designing special schemes for excluded groups; introducing tax-based, universal or targeted anti-poverty schemes; and encouraging the development of special schemes based on self-help among people in the informal sector. Contact: Bureau of Public Information, ILO, 4 route des Morillons, CH-1211 Geneva 22, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/799 7940, fax +41-22/799 8577, e-mail ,website (www.ilo.org). ILO REPORT ON HIV/AIDS In the first study of its kind, the International Labour Office (ILO) has warned of catastrophic consequences of HIV/AIDS for workers and employers worldwide. HIV/AIDS: A Threat to Decent Work, Productivity and Development projects a severe decline in the size and quality of the workforce in a number of countries over the next 20 years. "Surveillance information indicates that sub-Saharan Africa is the worst affected area and needs to be the focus of urgent action," according to the report. "Data and trends from other regions, however, indicate that effective and large-scale preventive interventions are required to avoid similar catastrophes elsewhere." Based on an analysis of population data from Botswana, Cameroon, Ethiopia, C“te D'Ivoire, Haiti, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Thailand, Uganda and Zimbabwe, the ILO said there would be about 24 million fewer workers in those countries alone in the year 2020 as a result of the AIDS epidemic. In eight African countries with HIV prevalence rates higher than 10% of the adult population--Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe--the labour force in the year 2020 will be an estimated 10% to 22% smaller than it would have been if there had been no HIV/AIDS--or about 11.5 million fewer. In the case of countries with HIV prevalence rates below 10% of the adult population--Cameroon, C“te D'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Haiti, Nigeria, Thailand and the United Republic of Tanzania--the labour force is expected to be between 3% and 9% smaller (except in Thailand, where the difference is just over 1%) than it would have been without HIV/AIDS. The report also says HIV/AIDS will have a significant impact on the composition and quality of the labour force in those countries in terms of age, skills and experience, while creating more child labour and unraveling hard-won gains in the advancement of women. "Age and sex distribution of the labour force will change, due to the rising number of widows and orphans seeking a livelihood and the large proportion of people with AIDS in the age group 20-49 years," said the report, "resulting in early entry of children into the active labour force, the early withdrawal of people with AIDS and the retention of older persons in the labour force due to economic need." The report outlines a series of measures that can be taken against the further spread of HIV/AIDS in the world of work. These include: --increasing awareness and advocacy for preventing the spread of HIV and providing protection and support for those living with HIV/AIDS; --development of preventive and protection programmes for workers and employers; --gathering and analysis of additional data on HIV/AIDS; and --development of new legislation and policies concerning HIV/AIDS. Contact: Bureau of Public Information, ILO, 4 route des Morillons, CH-1211 Geneva 22, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/799 7940, fax +41-22/799 8577, e-mail , website (www.ilo.org). WORLD HEALTH ASSEMBLY MEETS A comprehensive resolution on HIV/AIDS is among the results of a week-long session of the 53rd World Health Assembly, which closed on 20 May 2000 in Geneva. The resolution urges member states of the World Health Organization (WHO) to increase access to treatment and prophylaxis of HIV-related illnesses and to make drugs both available and affordable. It also requests WHO to develop a global health-sector strategy as part of the UN system's strategic plan for HIV/AIDS for 2001-2005. Discussions on the revised drug strategy focused on quality, safety and availability of medicines. Delegates highlighted the need for WHO to provide price information on essential drugs, support broader approaches to drug financing, and address the growing dangers of unregulated sale of medicines on the Internet. Public health advocacy groups, including Act Up, Health Action International and Doctors Without Borders, called on the assembly to provide global pricing information on quality medicines available to treat people living with HIV/AIDS and other infections. They also said member states should be advised on the management, legal and regulatory issues that must be addressed to ensure access to these medicines. The assembly adopted its first resolution on food safety for many years; it highlights the growing threat posed to health from foodborne illnesses. Delegates also emphasized the high volume of global food trade today and new technologies used in food production. They called for cooperation with the food industry and consumer associations, establishment of a databank of scientific evidence, and a rapid WHO response to international and national food safety emergencies. After prolonged discussion on infant and young child nutrition, it was decided that the best scientific evidence is needed to guide strategies in this field. Hence the WHO Executive Board will establish an open-ended working group to prepare a resolution for next year's assembly. In the meantime, discussions of this issue were encouraged in regions and countries "with a view towards gathering the broadest possible inputs." Contact: Valery Abramov, Public Information Officer, World Health Organization, 20 avenue Appia, CH-1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/791 2543, fax +41-22/791 4858, e-mail , website (www.who.int). UN COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD On 2 June 2000 the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child concluded its 24th session in three weeks. The committee considered progress reports and issued recommendations concerning the following countries: Iran, Georgia, Jordan, Norway, Kyrgyzstan, Cambodia, Malta, Surinam and Djibouti. In keeping with their obligations as states Party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the nine countries presented written reports on their efforts to promote and protect children's rights and sent government delegations to discuss the documents and answer questions from the committee's ten independent experts. The Committee on the Rights of the Child is a UN body that monitors implementation of the 1990 Convention on the Rights of the Child. During sessions, held three times a year, it examines progress reports from states Party to the convention. The committee can also recommend further actions regarding children's rights to governments or the UN General Assembly, and draft and submit texts to this effect. As an example of this part of its mandate, in 1994 the committee presented to the UN Commission on Human Rights a draft Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, which was adopted at this year's session of the commission. Contact: Laura Theytaz-Bergman, CRC/NGO Liaison Officer, NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child, PO Box 88, CH-1211 Geneva 20, Switzerland or Paulo David, Secretary of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, c/o Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, 8-14 Avenue de la Paix, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland, e-mail . ECOSOC AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) held a series of discussions in preparation for a high-level segment on 5-7 July 2000 in New York on the theme of Development and International Co-operation in the Twenty-First Century: The Role of Information Technology in the Context of a Knowledge-Based Global Economy. The discussion series held in the run-up to the session included panels sponsored by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the United Nations University (UNU). At a presentation on 4 May entitled E-Commerce and Development: Digital Divide or Digital Dividend?, Bruno Lanvin of the UNCTAD Electronic Commerce Section introduced a report on Building Confidence, Electronic Commerce and Development. The report, which examines the rapid expansion of electronic transactions and its macroeconomic and social implications, says the priority areas for development of electronic commerce are access, knowledge and trust. Successful participation by developing countries in e-commerce will rely on the strengths and resources available in the developing countries themselves, said Mr. Lanvin. These include: the level of Internet connectivity and the quality of the telecommunications infrastructure; innovation in the techniques, among other things, of international trade as well as in the use of Internet; mutual respect and collaboration between governments and business sectors; and a significant presence of local enterprises involved in e-commerce. Regarding access, Mr. Lanvin said that liberalization and deregulation of the telecommunications sector and of Internet access are critical to stimulate e-commerce. The creation of more national and regional content is also an aim that needs greater cooperation between the state, enterprises and learning institutions. Regarding knowledge, he said efforts should be made to enhance the practice of e-commerce in developing countries, and support should be provided by international and regional organizations to contribute to the efforts of governments and businesses of developing countries. International norms are vital, Mr. Lanvin said, and measures should be taken to overcome insufficient legal instruments for the development of e-commerce. The president of ECOSOC, Ambassador Makarim Wibisono (Indonesia), chaired a panel discussion on 5 May entitled Information Technology, Economic Growth and Development. Danny Quah of the London School of Economics discussed what he termed the "weightless economy" or the current "dematerialized nature" of economic production. He noted that knowledge and ideas embedded in products are now more important than the products themselves, and that in some cases the products behave like knowledge in the sense that they are infinitely expandible. Mr. Quah emphasized access and participation as the keys to enhancing use of information technology in developing countries. Veli-Pekka Niitame of the Nokia Group spoke about the factors for investment that the company looked for in developing countries: education and competencies, particularly in engineering; a stable civil society; relatively equal income distribution, which enhances business potential; and financing and credit procedures. He emphasized that research and development were currently driving deep investment, not manufacturing. On 12 May a keynote address on Information Technology and Global Development was made by Professor Manuel Castells of the University of California (United States). He spoke of peoples' fear of globalization and technology and related it to the crisis of political legitimacy in governments around the world. Professor Castells emphasized that government deregulation and liberalization had been the agents of globalization, not corporations. He noted an over-emphasis on trade, which he said in itself did not bring about development. He also spoke of the new model of global economic growth where productivity and competition were based on knowledge and information, powered by information technology. Professor Castells observed that the Internet was shaped by its users, mainly people from industrialized countries, which conditioned its development and the values it communicated. To remedy this, he emphasized that talent needed to be incorporated from around the world and that centres of excellence connected to universities were key. He called for a "technological Marshall Plan" to build an information development model in developing countries to tame geopolitical instability. Other events included a panel on 2 May entitled Globalization and Readiness for a Networked World, and a presentation on 10 May entitled Universal Access to Information and Informatics for Human Development. Contact: Tim Wall, Development and Human Rights Section, United Nations Department of Public Information, United Nations, New York NY 10017, United States, telephone +1-212/963 5851, e-mail , ECOSOC 2000 Information Technology website (www.un.org/esa/coordination.ecosoc/itforum). TASK FORCE FOR DISASTER REDUCTION The Inter-Agency Task Force for Disaster Reduction, which held its first meeting in Geneva in April, identified priority areas for its future work, among other things. The priority areas include: --the El Ni¤o and La Ni¤a phenomena; --social and health impact of disasters; --mainstreaming disaster reduction in sustainable development and in national planning; --private and public sector partnerships; --technological disasters; and --the application of science and technology in disaster prevention. The task force, whose work is based on the Strategy for a Safer World for the 21st Century, also addressed regional approaches and mechanisms and recognized the importance of working at the regional level through partners or by utilizing existing regional mechanisms. Participants exchanged views on the role of the task force and the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) secretariat. Three ad hoc working groups--on El Ni¤o and La Ni¤a, early warning, and quantification of risk, vulnerability and impact of disasters--were created for areas mandated by relevant UN General Assembly resolutions or identified by the task force as of common concern. Members of the task force are eight representatives of the UN system--including the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and World Food Programme (WFP)--eight civil society and non-governmental organizations, and six regional entities. The task force, which will produce a report for the substantive session of the Economic and Social Council in 2001, will hold its next formal meeting on 11-12 October 2000. Contact: ISDR, Palais des Nations, CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/917 9000, fax +41-22/917 9098, e-mail . UNICPOLOS PROCESS CONVENED To make progress toward an integrated international policy on ocean affairs, an informal consultative process convened in New York from 30 May-2 June 2000. The UN Open-Ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea (UNICPOLOS), set up by the General Assembly on recommendation of the Commission on Sustainable Development, aims to facilitate deliberations in the General Assembly on developments in ocean affairs. It also intends to strengthen international coordination and cooperation especially in the sustainable development of oceans and seas, and their resources. The meeting in New York focused on two main themes: responsible fisheries and illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing activities; and the economic and social impacts of marine pollution and degradation, especially in coastal areas. Discussions addressed, among other things, measures to promote regional cooperation in combating piracy, how the United Nations system can help countries affected by piracy, and improving management of illegal fishing. The format of the meeting was designed to provide an opportunity to receive inputs from Major Groups identified in Agenda 21, the programme of action agreed at the 1992 Earth Summit. Contact: UNICPOLOS, United Nations, New York NY 10017, United States, telephone +1-212/963 6140, fax +1-212/963 2811, e-mail . PATENT LAW TREATY FINALIZED Member states of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) on 1 June 2000 adopted by consensus in Geneva an international treaty that seeks to simplify and streamline procedures for obtaining and maintaining a patent. The Patent Law Treaty (PLT), which opened for signature on 2 June, will enter into force once it has been ratified by ten countries. The treaty was finalized at a diplomatic conference, which brought together high-level representatives from some 150 states and met from mid-May to the beginning of June. The treaty is the culmination of five years of negotiations and is seen as a major step toward further harmonization of patent law. The treaty, according to WIPO, promises to reduce the cost of patent protection and make the process more user-friendly and widely accessible. "Successful completion of the PLT is a major step in the broader process of reducing patent costs around the world," said Kamil Idris, WIPO Director General. "The next step is to work towards harmonization of legal substance, and eventually towards a single global standard of protection." Contact: Media Relations and Public Affairs Section, WIPO, PO Box 18, CH-1211 Geneva, 20, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/338 8161 or 338 9547, fax +41-22/338 8810, e-mail , website (www.wipo.org). UNOPS-BUSINESS ADVISORY COUNCIL The United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) established a business advisory council in May "to guide the development of a new global partnership with the private sector." It is the first such council ever created by a UN body. UNOPS provides procurement and management services in support of humanitarian and development projects funded by governments and other UN organizations. The new council will be headed by Dana Mead, former chair and chief executive officer of Tenneco, Inc. The council's members will be drawn from top levels in the fields of industry, finance, academia, environment, law and the non-governmental sector. "The United Nations is open for business," said UNOPS Executive Director Reinhart Helmke. "The creation of this landmark advisory body will ensure that UNOPS receives substantive input from the private sector in developing practical ways of engaging business to meet complex international needs." Mr. Helmke said a 31 May conference in New York on expanding partnerships reflected the "deep transformation" taking place at the United Nations, referring to a recent statement by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan that the organization can no longer hope to deliver its mandates without the active collaboration of civil society and the business world. Mark Malloch Brown, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), told business leaders the day the partnership was announced that open markets and private enterprise are the best generators of economic growth and reduced poverty. "So if the United Nations is to help achieve the goals of social progress and higher standards of living embodied in its Charter," he said, "we realize business must be a critical ally." Contact: Sandrine Tesner, Manager, Private Sector Partnership Unit, UNOPS, 405 Lexington Avenue, 4th Floor, New York NY 10174, United States, telephone +1-212/457 1070, fax +1-212/457 4030, e-mail , website (www.unops.org/partnerships). UNCTAD'S BIOTRADE INITIATIVE FOR THE AMAZON The Biotrade Initiative of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) aims to stimulate trade and investment in biological resources to further sustainable development. It also seeks to enhance the capability of developing countries to produce value-added products and services from biodiversity for both domestic and international markets. As part of this initiative, UNCTAD has set up a project in the Amazon to help the region benefit from new investment and trading opportunities arising from an increased interest in biodiversity-based products and services. The Amazon Project will be implemented over a three-year period from 2000-2002, with financial support from the United Nations Foundation. Project activities in Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Surinam and Venezuela will be implemented in cooperation with governments, the private sector, academic institutions, community-based and non-governmental organizations, as well as others including the Convention on Biological Diversity and the World Health Organization (WHO). Two projects will be supported by UNCTAD through the Amazon project. One is Bolsa Amazonia, undertaken with POEMA (Programme Poverty and Environment in the Amazon, Belem), a Brazilian NGO. The project aims to establish a link between the private sector and rural and indigenous communities to promote bio-business opportunities. The second is the creation of a US$150 million Amazon Biodiversity Permanent Fund, to be coordinated by Bioamazonia, a Brazilian NGO and Banco Axial, a private bank. The fund will finance biotechnology research and development activities of the Brazilian Programme of Molecular Ecology, which develops bio-industries and promotes the sustainable use of biodiversity. Contact: The Biotrade Initiative, UNCTAD, Palais des Nations, CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/917 5676 or 917 5607, fax +41-22/917 0044, e-mail , website (www.biotrade.org). PARTNERSHIP FOR CHILDREN LAUNCHED Former South African President Nelson Mandela and child rights activist Gra‡a Machel announced in May plans to build a global partnership for children by playing a direct and personal role in urging other leaders to join them. Mr. Mandela and Ms. Machel made the announcement in Johannesburg with United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Executive Director Carol Bellamy. They described the partnership as a "bold new movement to turn the world around for millions of children." "Over the next few months," said Mr. Mandela, "we will be personally calling upon leaders from all sectors to work with us to find solutions to the major problems faced by children and adolescents. We are not seeking and will not accept vague promises. Our purpose is to get specific commitments from these leaders and specific results." One of the first challenges Mr. Mandela and Ms. Machel will address is the effects of armed conflict on children. The couple, together with the Canadian government and UNICEF, is organizing a meeting of world leaders in September in Winnipeg "to ensure that [leaders] take actions to protect children from violations of their rights in conflict." Contact: UNICEF, 3 UN Plaza, New York NY 10017, United States, telephone +1-212/326 7000, e-mail , website (www.unicef.org) PROGRESS OF WORLD'S WOMEN 2000 Progress of the World's Women 2000, published by the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) in June, focuses on the economic dimensions of gender equality and women's empowerment in the context of globalization. The report, launched at the June special session of the General Assembly for Beijing+5 (see NGLS Roundup 56), says globalization intensifies some of the existing inequalities and insecurities for poor women, while it opens up new opportunities for educated, professional women. Among the negative consequences of globalization has been financial crisis in several of the world's regions in the 1990s. At the same time globalization has created "an environment that allows many women to achieve greater personal autonomy but in an increasingly unequal and risky" context. "In times of crisis," according to UNIFEM, "women are called upon to act as the heroes of everyday life, providing the ultimate social safety net for their families when all other forms of social security have failed." Among its findings the report says that: --economic conditions faced by women in Sub-Saharan Africa and Eastern Europe have deteriorated; --increased indebtedness of certain countries is associated with deterioration in girls' enrollment in secondary school; and --household income inequality increased across a wide range of countries, particularly in Eastern Europe and other developed countries, suggesting that "poor women have not enjoyed much of the fruits of any progress." Women's share of positions as an employer or as a self-employed ("own account") worker is higher in the 1990s than it was in the 1980s in 58 out of 72 countries for which data was available. And women's share of administrative and managerial employment was higher in the 1990s than it was in the previous decade in 51 out of the 59 countries for which data was available. However the gender gap in earnings persists. In 1997 women employed in industry and services typically earned 78% of what men in the same sector earned, although in some countries it was as low as 53% and in others as high as 97%. In 22 of the 29 countries where data was available to make comparisons over time, the gender gap in earnings in industry and services fell from the 1980s to the 1990s. "The data [on earnings] reflect mainly the experience of women in full-time formal' employment in larger places of work," said UNIFEM, "and does not necessarily imply that gap has narrowed for the majority of women who work in part-time or informal' employment in small-scale places of work or at home." Women are organizing to enter, challenge and change the operation of financial markets, the use of new technologies and the formulation of economic policy at national and international levels, said the report, "so that globalization meets human needs." This includes obtaining business training and market advice from micro-finance institutions, rather than just loans, and using the Internet in creative ways to overcome the constraints of isolation, mobilize online for women's human rights, and use electronic commerce to reach new markets. UNIFEM noted that "a women's agenda for equitable economic governance includes improving economic literacy of women's advocacy groups; securing more participation by women in economic policy processes; training policy makers to look at economic issues from a gender perspective and engendering economic analysis; and pressing for changes in global economic governance, especially changes in the World Trade Organization." Contact: United Nations Development Fund for Women, 304 East 45th Street, 6th Floor, New York NY 10017, United States, telephone +1-212/906 6400, fax +1-212/906 6705, e-mail , website (www.unifem.undp.org). IMF WORLD ECONOMIC OUTLOOK 2000 The International Monetary Fund's (IMF) biannual World Economic Outlook (WEO), published in April, says global economic and financial conditions have improved dramatically during the past year. The effects of the recent financial crises may be felt for some time, but emerging economies in Asia have for the most part staged a strong recovery, and the transition countries and Latin America have begun to recover from the subsequent turbulence that particularly affected Russia and Brazil. The "impressive" expansion in the United States is now the longest on record, and the outlook has also improved for Europe. The Japanese recovery, however, remains tentative and fragile. The WEO estimates that world gross domestic product (GDP) in 1999 was 3.3%, a full percentage point stronger than the Fund predicted in its interim WEO report of December 1998. According to Michael Mussa, the Fund's Economic Counselor and Director of Research, this "testifies to the policy adjustments that were made in the major industrial countries to ease monetary policy and to the strong stabilization and reform efforts in a number of emerging market countries around the world." Mr. Mussa said the Fund expects world GDP to exceed 4% next year. Concerning North America, the report said the current upward trend set a record in March for the longest period of continued economic expansion--108 months in a row. "It is not only the length but also the strength of the current expansion in the US," said the report, "with low inflation and low unemployment that has been surprising--indeed puzzling--economists and policy makers." A key feature of the US economy has been a rise in productivity growth rates since the mid-1990s. In 1999, labour productivity rose over 3% compared with an average of just half that over the past two decades. In addition, information technology has been accompanied with increased capital investment and improved labour quality, which are seen as main contributing factors to higher productivity growth. The WEO also notes a strengthening of growth across the European region, with growth continuing in Poland and Hungary and significantly positive growth in the Czech Republic. In the Baltic region, Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) growth is expected to reach 3% in 2000 and 3.4% in 2001, up from 2.9% in 1999. Russia has also had moderate growth, helped by stronger oil prices and contraction of imports. The world's fastest economic growth rates are expected to be in South and Southeast Asia, which will reach about 6.2% each in 2000 and 2001 compared with 5.8% in 1999. The most vibrant growth will be in South Korea (projected at 8.2% in 2000 and 7.3% in 2001), followed by China (7.5% in 2000 and 7.6% in 2001), Malaysia (7.2% in 2000 and 6.9% in 2001) and India (6.5% in 2000 and 6.8% in 2001). South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines have gradually recovered, with South Korea leading the group with a record 10.7% growth in 1999. "Strengthening domestic demand and the foundations for sustainable export growth are expected to continue to lead the expansion in East and South Asia," the report said. The economic outlook for most developing countries is optimistic. Progress in domestic reforms and the improved international environment, such as the strengthening of commodity prices and stabilized global financial markets, have been instrumental in changing the foundations of growth, according to the report. Recovering from two years of slowdown, GDP growth for developing nations as a whole is expected to be 5.2% in 2000 and 5.5% in 2001. African economies are expected to grow by 4.4% in 2000 and 4.5% in 2001. Growth has strengthened in South Africa and is projected to grow in Nigeria and generally among most other African countries, "though there are some that are adversely affected by civil conflict and weather-related difficulties," the report said. The WEO also says a "strong rebound" is expected in Latin America and the Caribbean. After stagnation in 1999, GDP is expected to register 3.7% growth in 2000 and 4.2% in 2001. With improved external financing conditions for Latin America, investment is expected to lead growth. High levels of unemployment and tight credit in several economies may limit the feasible pace of growth in domestic demand, according to the report. "In Latin America, the recession in Brazil turned out to be much briefer and shallower than was anticipated," said Mr. Mussa. "And other economies, especially Argentina which experienced a recession, turned to recovery in the latter part of last year, and that recovery is expected to continue and to gather strength as we move into 2000." Contact: International Monetary Fund, 700 19th Street NW, Washington DC 20431, United States, telephone +1-202/623 7000, fax +1-202/623 4661, website (www.imf.org). HABITAT ON WOMEN AND LAND RIGHTS A study on Women's Rights to Land and Property During Conflict and Reconstruction says that while at international and regional levels there are ample instruments and documents creating and supporting women's right to land and property, at the national level law, custom and tradition pose "serious barriers" to these rights. Results of a preliminary inquiry of the study, produced by the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat), notes that women's access to and control over land and property is a determining factor in their overall living conditions, particularly in developing countries. It is "essential to women's everyday survival," according to the preliminary inquiry, "economic security and physical safety and, some would argue, it is the most critical factor in women's struggle for equality in gender relations and empowerment." Despite this, women generally lack security of tenure. This is a result of: --gender biased laws, which at their best only protect married women "and at their worst do not protect women at all;" --legal systems that are inaccessible to women or that privilege customary law over statutory law; --land titling systems that grant titles to men rather than women or that require payment for land that women cannot afford; and --discriminatory lending or credit policies. If women's enjoyment of their right to land and property is obstructed during times of relative peace, "their enjoyment of these rights during conflict situations is nearly prohibited," says the preliminary inquiry. First, conflict draws men away from their communities and requires women to perform all the functions of head of household, which is particularly difficult under wartime conditions. Second, women often have to flee their homes and lands and lose access to them as a result of economic hardship and violence in conflicts. Third, women who return to their homes and land after conflicts "may face the same lack of access [to them], or if their spouses are missing they are confronted by male relatives who rely on custom or power to deny and usurp women's claims to stand in their spouses' stead." The barriers to women's enjoyment of their rights to land and property in post-conflict situations are formidable says the inquiry, and yet there are some "success stories," which reveal five essential preconditions for women's enjoyment of these rights. They are education and awareness of all--men and women--on the status of women's rights to land; women's organizations that contribute to empowerment and increased self-esteem; community action with men and women working together; adoption of gender-sensitive laws; and international campaigns that play a significant role in local struggles. Contact: Sylvie Lacroux, Coordinator, Land and Tenure Unit, Shelter Branch, UNCHS (Habitat), PO Box 30030, Nairobi, Kenya, e-mail , website (www.unchs.org). ECE ECONOMIC SURVEY OF EUROPE Yugoslavia is suffering under economic sanctions imposed during the war over Kosovo in 1999, according to a report released by the Economic Commission for Europe (ECE). The Economic Survey of Europe says the sanctions are counter-productive: they lead to concentration of wealth among the ruling elite, encourage black marketeering, and leave much of the population impoverished. Political and economic transformation in European transition economies has led to profound demographic changes, including a surge in international migration and a steep decline in fertility in many parts of the region, according to the report. However it says short-term economic prospects at the beginning of 2000 are "considerably better" than they were in the middle of 1999. In the south-eastern European countries--Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Yugoslavia--the economic situation "remains very fragile," said Paul Rayment, Director of the ECE Economic Analysis Division. "The problem of the slow disbursement of committed funds will have to be overcome--essentially by donor countries--if we want a quick start to many projects and a general improvement in expectations." The economies of these countries have moved from modest gross domestic product (GDP) growth in 1998 into recession. The current account deficits have been large and persistent. Unemployment rates average nearly 17%, making it difficult to implement reforms that might worsen the social situation further in the short-run. Domestic and foreign investment remains weak. The ECE says this is largely due to the gap between promises of assistance and disbursement; poor coordination both among donors and between donors and national programmes; and confusion about conceptual frameworks and approaches. The report calls for countries in south-east Europe to draw up their own programmes of transition and development to reflect specific problems and preferences. These programmes would then be discussed in a regional framework to improve coordination and cooperation. It also calls for long-term commitment from Western Europe and particularly the European Union to help the transition economies achieve economic regeneration, and stability and security in the region. Western European economies, on the other hand, are doing well, according to the report. Real GDP is forecast to increase by slightly more than 3% in 2000--the largest increase since 1990. Economic growth in the region received a strong boost from exports to the rest of the world, especially the United States. The United States and Canadian economies are also expected to do well in 2000. The report, which compares GDP levels between countries of Western Europe and countries with economies in transition, finds that progress has been uneven across countries. It lists factors necessary for achieving high and sustained long-term economic growth. These are: --investment in physical and human capital; --investment in research and development, and infrastructural development; --openness to trade; --development and upgrading of financial systems; and --maintaining a generally acceptable distribution of wealth within each country. Contact: Economic Analysis Division, ECE, Palais des Nations, CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/917 2778, fax +41-22/917 0309, e-mail , website (www.unece.org/ead/ead_h.htm). UN AND NGO NEWS ECOSYSTEMS IN SERIOUS DECLINE If widespread decline in the condition of the world's ecosystems continues it could have devastating implications for human development and the welfare of all species, according to a report from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), World Bank and World Resources Institute. Guide to the World Resources 2000-2001: People and Ecosystems--The Fraying Web of Life says the decline is due to increasing resource demands. It examines coastal, forest, grassland, freshwater and agricultural ecosystems and analyzes their health on the basis of their ability to produce the goods and services that the world relies on. These include production of food, provision of pure and sufficient water, storage of atmospheric carbon, maintenance of biodiversity and provision of recreation and tourism opportunities. "For too long in both rich and poor nations, development priorities have focused on how much humanity can take from our ecosystems," said UNDP Administrator Mark Malloch Brown, "with little attention to the impact of our actions. With this report, we reconfirm our commitment to making the viability of the world's ecosystems a critical development priority for the 21st century." The report reveals that, among other things: --half of the world's wetlands were lost last century; --logging and conversion have shrunk the world's forests by as much as half; --some 9% of the world's tree species are at risk of extinction; and --fishing fleets are 40% larger than the ocean can sustain. One of the report's most important conclusions is that there is a lack of much baseline knowledge needed to properly determine ecosystem conditions on a global, regional or even local scale. Contact: Adlai Amor, Media Director, WRI, 10 G Street NE, Suite 800, Washington DC 20002, United States, telephone +1-202/729 7736, fax +1-202/729 7610, e-mail . A summary of the report is available online at (www.wri.org/wri/wrr2000). Copies of the full report will be available in September from WRI Publications, PO Box 4852, Hampden Station, Baltimore MD 21211, United States, e-mail , website (www.wri.org). NGOS AT UNAIDS CO-ORDINATING BOARD The Programme Co-ordinating Board (PCB) of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) met for its ninth session in Geneva on 25-26 May 2000. The board consists of representatives from 22 member states, the seven UN agencies that co-sponsor UNAIDS and five NGO members chosen on a regional basis. NGO representation on the UNAIDS governing board is unique within the UN system. During the meeting new NGO delegates from Asia and the Pacific, Europe, and Latin America and the Caribbean were presented and confirmed. The current delegates, who do not officially represent their organizations on the board, and alternates are: --Africa--Dorothy Odhiambo of Kenya; --Asia and Pacific--Charles Nigel De Silva of Sri Lanka and O.C. Lin of Hong Kong; --Europe--Pedro Silverio Marques of Portugal and Jadwiga Wlado¤ of Poland; --Latin America and Caribbean--Ruben Mayorga of Guatemala and Lissette Mendoza of the Dominican Republic; and --North America--Jairo Pedraza of the United States and Diane Riley of Canada. At each PCB meeting, NGO delegates provide a report from the field focusing on priority issues affecting their communities. The delegates meet the day before with other NGO observers to discuss the issues that will be presented. At the May PCB meeting Ruben Mayorga, who presented the report on behalf of the NGO delegation, stressed the regional dimensions of the epidemic. He highlighted, among other things, the need to: --strengthen the political commitment by governments and other stakeholders to undertake appropriate plans and responses in the Asia-Pacific region; --address the vulnerability of women in Africa in conjunction with mother-to-child transmission of the HIV virus; --institute pragmatic and effective harm reduction programmes, particularly in many Eastern European countries where injecting drug use is a major route of HIV transmission; --have focused prevention programmes and pay greater attention to the needs of HIV-positive people, including access to antiretroviral drugs, in Latin America and the Caribbean; and --obtain more global support from North American NGOs in the response to AIDS, not only in Africa but in other regions as well. Dorothy Odhiambo highlighted the greater involvement of people living with HIV/AIDS at the international, regional, country and local level. NGO delegates actively participated in the plenary, as well as the drafting committee discussions on recommendations on the meeting's agenda items. These included a proposed education strategy, updates on the development of a global strategy on AIDS, and the evaluation of UNAIDS in 2001. Contact: Bai Bagasao, NGO Liaison Officer, UNAIDS, 20 avenue Appia, CH-1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/791 4654 or +41-22/791 4710, fax + 41-22/791 4188, e-mail . UNDP-CSO COMMITTEE ESTABLISHED At the request of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator, Mark Malloch Brown, UNDP has established an advisory committee that aims to facilitate and enhance the programme's engagement with civil society organizations (CSOs). The UNDP/CSO Committee to the Administrator convened its first formal meeting in New York from 18-19 May 2000. Comprised of 14 representatives of civil society, mainly from developing countries, the committee focused its inaugural meeting on three substantive areas: globalization including trade, debt and poverty reduction; conflict prevention and peace-building; and human rights. At the meeting each of the areas was introduced from a civil society perspective. Also on the committee's agenda were briefings on UNDP policy and programme direction, as well as time for discussion. Among other things the meeting aimed to provide direct policy advice and guidance to the Administrator and other UNDP staff, and identify strategic initiatives for joint action. Key recommendations by CSOs to UNDP included strengthening its work in many areas related to globalization, particularly in policy development at the national and international levels and in relations with other international institutions, primarily the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. CSO representatives also called for broad and inclusive use and application of the term "governance" and the concept of "human rights." They expressed their appreciation for the Administrator's commitment to work with CSOs and said they looked forward to more consistent relationships with UNDP at the country level. CSO representatives, who said they were aware of resource constraints and resource reallocation within UNDP, emphasized the importance of support for collaboration with CSOs and for joint initiatives that would develop from the committee's work. Contact: Caitlin Wiesen, Civil Society Organizations and Participation Programme (CSOPP), Social Development and Poverty Elimination Division, Bureau for Development Policy, UNDP, Room DC1-2058, United Nations, New York NY 10017, United States, website (www.undp.org/csopp/CSO). WCAR PREPCOM AND NGO MEETING The Preparatory Committee of the World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Intolerance (WCAR) held its first session in Geneva from 1-5 May 2000. The session adopted decisions concerning draft rules of procedure; accreditation of NGOs without consultative status with the Economic and Social Council; and participation of indigenous peoples' representatives. The committee decided that a request be addressed to Mary Robinson, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and chair of the WCAR, to draw up a draft declaration and programme of action for the conference. It also established an intersessional working group to meet in Geneva in January 2001 to develop the draft agenda, draft declaration and draft programme of action. The working group will develop the draft provisional agenda for the second session of the preparatory committee, scheduled to meet in late May 2001. The working group will also review the question of financing, on an extra-budgetary basis, participation of representatives of least developed countries during the preparatory committee process and at the conference. About 150 representatives of NGOs attended the first meeting of the NGO planning committee for the WCAR, held parallel to the preparatory committee. Ms. Robinson told participants that the conference needed the broadest possible participation of NGOs, including an NGO forum and in the conference itself. She noted the theme of the WCAR should be a unifying one that "captures the spirit of the new century and the idea of one, genuine human family." She said the event should not have "rhetoric and fine words--yes we need vision, but we need practical, time-measurable strategies and a programme of action that is reviewable in five years." In this way she said governments, NGOs, regional organizations and others can take ownership and responsibility. NGO representatives at the meeting said, among other things, caste systems should be addressed by the WCAR; local and regional coalitions on race issues were not adequately represented in conference preparations; more women, migrant workers and racism victims needed to be involved in preparations; many NGOs from developing countries and Eastern Europe would not be able to afford travel to South Africa for the conference; and more focus was needed on discrimination in criminal justice systems. After a long discussion on the process leading up to the NGO meeting, participants exchanged ideas on NGO participation and possible themes to highlight. Among other things, they said issues NGOs bring up at international conferences are not given adequate attention; complete institutional overhaul is needed in many cases for "uniformed people" such as police departments to address racism in their employment practices and complaints procedures; and wider constituencies need to be brought into the WCAR process such as trade unions, the media and the private sector. Contact: Laurie Wiseberg, NGO Liaison, WCAR, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Palais des Nations, CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/917 9393, fax +41-22/917-9050, e-mail , website (www.unhchr.ch/html/racism/home.htm). Roger Wareham, International Association Against Torture, PO Box 693, Lincolnton Station, New York NY 10037, United States, telephone +1-212/234 7788, fax +1-212/678 2548, e-mail . NGO NEWS EU NGDO GENERAL ASSEMBLY Participants in the 26th general assembly of the Liaison Committee of Development NGOs to the European Union, held from 14-15 April 2000 in Brussels (Belgium), adopted resolutions on European Community development cooperation policy, trade and development, discrimination, small arms, and migration and development, among other issues. A summary of adopted resolutions urges the European Commission (EC) to formalize its process of consultation with civil society and include development issues in the preparation of accession to the EU of candidate countries. Concerning trade and development, the assembly called on the EU to, among other things, adopt a position for reform of the World Trade Organization's structure "in order to ensure democratic decision making processes." Concerning fundamental rights and action against discrimination, the assembly called on the EU, European parliament and European civil society to enhance a climate of solidarity and social justice. On the issue of small arms the assembly requested the European Commission, parliament and council as well as member states to promote a five-year moratorium on the export of small arms to African countries; support programmes to collect and destroy small arms; and back programmes for social rehabilitation of people involved in conflicts. Concerning migration and development the assembly requested, among other things, that the European Parliament and Council of Ministers draw up a charter of rights and obligations of migrants and ethnic minorities in the European Union; extend European Union citizenship to nationals of third countries residing legally, on a long-term basis, in the territory of the union; and introduce a European Union status of permanent resident for those who have been established illegally in territory of the union for some time. Contact: Liaison Committee of Development NGOs to the European Union, Square Ambiorix 10, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium, telephone +32-2/743 8760, fax +32-2/732 1934, e-mail . Information on the assembly is located on website (oneworld.org/liaison/en/press/doss.html). INTERACTION FORUM 2000 InterAction, a coalition of more than 160 US-based NGOs, held its fifth annual forum from 17-19 April 2000 in Washington DC. The forum, attended by more than 500 InterAction members, NGO leaders from the United States, Europe and the South, as well as representatives of donor agencies, focused on the theme Strengthening Capacities for Change. Plenaries and workshops centred on enhancing existing capacities to foster positive change including gaining real skills and strategies, networking, and partnership building among Southern and Northern NGOs and the business community. Issues covered at the forum included the use of new technologies to advance development efforts, skills sessions in media strategies, enhancing capacity for advocacy, and reaching financial stability. Opening plenary speakers addressed the use of technology for sustainable development. Noah Samara of the World Space Corporation said that while information technologies have improved lives in the industrialized world, technology has touched only a fraction of the world's population. He challenged US-based development organizations to create "information affluence." Without this, Mr. Samara stressed, any attempt to alleviate poverty and create sustainable development will be "futile." He asserted that the lack of information systems in the developing world directly undermines the ability of a nation to not only keep its citizens informed and educated, but to "simply keep them alive." Anuradha Vittachi of the UK-based OneWorld International Foundation described how OneWorld Online uses the Internet to enable NGOs to network, share information and advance development issues. OneWorld is a network of websites worldwide serving as a gateway to sustainable development and human rights issues. It currently has seven national and regional centres and more than 700 NGO partners. InterAction's Committee on Development Policy and Practice (CDPP) hosted a series of discussions and workshops during the forum. All sessions were linked to the theme Multi-Stakeholder Dialogue on Capacity Strengthening. Panelists included Rajesh Tandon of the Society for Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), who defined capacity strengthening as "the sum total of inputs that civil society needs to pursue its mission at that time." He said this included intellectual, institutional and material resources, but noted that "the key question of resource mobilization for NGOs is to discover links to the society they are part of." Caitlin Wiesen of the Civil Society Organizations and Participation Programme of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) said she viewed transformational elements such as social capacity as critical. She also observed that social mobilization, transformation and values are returning to the "capacity development" debate. David Valenzuela of the Inter-American Foundation spoke of "capacity building" as an on-going learning process whereby an organization "understands its surroundings, establishes a purpose and acquires skills to accomplish its mission in an ever-changing world." He emphasized accountability and transparency to local communities and beneficiaries. Sharon Pauling of the USAID Africa Bureau agreed that capacity building was a learning process involving activities that support and enhance the ability of organizations to carry out their work. In addition to good management, systems and accountability, she said that strong organizations are also strategic, relevant to their communities and mission-focused. Ms. Pauling noted that a diverse funding base was critical. Sheila Kawamara of the Uganda Women's Network said she viewed "capacity building" as development jargon, which could mean many different things depending upon various perspectives. David Bonbright of the Civil Society Enhancement Programme of the Aga Khan Foundation said that capacity building work was best rooted in the programme activity of the organization. He said this allowed the organization to look at issues of capacity enhancement that arise from the work. Najma Siddiqi of the World Bank viewed capacity enhancement as mobilizing people to address their own issues. She also emphasized the need to combat "powerlessness" and focus on how to overcome apathy, build a view that the desirable can be possible, create access to resources, and help people make transitions and shape their own future. "In our interactions with one another," said Ms. Siddiqi, "we have both rights and responsibilities to build another's capacity." Contact: InterAction, 1717 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Suite 701, Washington DC 20036, United States, telephone +1-202/667 8227, fax +1-212/667 8236, e-mail , website (www.interaction.org). ASIA-PACIFIC CONFERENCE ON CHILD SOLDIERS Around 120 representatives of NGOs and over 25 Asia-Pacific governments gathered from 16-20 May 2000 in Kathmandu (Nepal) for the Asia-Pacific Conference on Child Soldiers. They discussed issues including adoption of the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflicts by all states in the region, dialogue with non-state actors, and the "culture of impunity." In working groups, NGO and government representatives also examined root causes of the problem. In the Kathmandu Declaration, adopted by the conference, participants "strongly condemn the use of children as soldiers by armed forces and armed groups....[and] call upon Asia-Pacific States to introduce legislation to give effect to the international standards accepted by them....to bring human rights violators to justice....and to establish independent national human rights institutions." The conference, fourth in a series but the first of its kind in the Asia-Pacific region, was organized by the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers. This London-based coalition of international NGOs and international agencies is composed of, among others, Human Rights Watch, International Save the Children Alliance and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). It was set up to strengthen the campaign for adoption of, and adherence to, the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which would prohibit military recruitment and use in hostilities by armed forces of persons under 18. The optional protocol was successfully negotiated and adopted at this year's session of the UN Human Rights Commission (see focus page) and was subsequently adopted by the General Assembly on 25 May. The conference in Kathmandu was organized at a time when the use of child soldiers in armed conflicts is high. According to Olara Otunnu, UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, more than 300,000 boys and girls under 18 are currently taking part in hostilities in more than 30 countries. They are often abducted and once recruited are used in direct combat or as messengers, cooks, guards or sex slaves. Among countries where the use of child soldiers is widespread, Sri Lanka, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, Cambodia and Myanmar head the list. Contact: Jo Becker, Advocacy Co-ordinator for the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, Human Rights Watch, 350 Fifth Avenue, 34th floor, New York NY 10118-3299, United States, telephone +1-212/216 4700, fax +1-212/736 1300, website (www.child-soldiers.org). UNICEF, Palais des Nations, CH-1211 Geneva, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/909 5111, fax +41-22/909 5909, website (www.unicef.org). GLOBAL SOCIAL MOVEMENT ALLIANCE Three of the world's most extensive social movements have formed an alliance to condemn management of the global economy and call for viable alternatives. Jubilee South, Social Watch and SAPRIN (Structural Adjustment Participatory Review International Network) said in a joint statement in April that current management of the global economy is "fundamentally anti-development in nature" and serves the special interests of corporations and other economic and financial elites, rather than the poor. "These three social movements share a concern that the fundamental economic issues associated with poverty have not been given sufficient attention within the Social Summit process and certainly not by the international financial institutions," said Doug Hellinger, Global Coordinator of SAPRIN. "This is illustrated by the fact that structural adjustment programmes (SAPs) are still built into any debt initiatives and poverty initiatives." The alliance called for a "major shift to a new paradigm" centered on distributive justice and the right of people to influence economic decisions that affect them, their families and communities. A first step in this shift would be an end to the imposition of economic adjustment policies by international financial institutions (IFIs). One fundamental concern is de-linking debt cancellation for countries of the South from such conditionality. The alliance criticized the highly indebted poor countries (HIPC) debt initiative and similar debt-reduction plans for linking debt reduction with adjustment conditionality. It said these do not free Southern countries from debt or from dependence on creditors but rather infringe on their economic sovereignty. The alliance also called for poverty eradication programmes that address the economic and social causes of poverty and inequality. It said the design of such programmes should be a cross-sectoral effort within each country without outside interference. The alliance criticized the current and projected national "poverty reduction" plans and programmes to be designed and implemented under the auspices and oversight of IFIs, and said their macroeconomic and investment programmes are too narrowly focused to address the underlying causes of poverty. The alliance highlighted policies and practices that it said need to be terminated. Among these are labour-market reform "flexibilization" policies, which it argued have "lowered wages, eliminated benefits and destabilized employment for workers by encouraging the use of temporary, part-time and contract workers, weakened the respect for workers' rights, and encouraged the replacement of unionized workers with non-union employees." The alliance called for respect of basic internationally recognized workers' rights and core labour standards across all sectors of economies of the South and North. It also called for termination of trade-liberalization policies and financial-market reforms that it said undermine and destroy otherwise viable small and medium-scale businesses and farms through unfair competition and high interest rates. The alliance argued that "periods of protection" in the countries of the South would allow for the full and effective development of indigenous productive capacity as well as for monetary policies that could help stimulate and sustain such production. The alliance also criticized certain privatization programmes, export-promotion policies and restrictive budgetary policies. Jubilee South is a network of diverse social movements, popular, religious, professional and political organizations, and debt coalitions from many countries of Africa, Asia, the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean. SAPRIN is a cross-sectoral international network encompassing more than 1,200 citizens' organizations from 65 countries. It organizes dialogues and investigations regarding the impact of structural adjustment measures. Social Watch, an NGO watchdog system with affiliates in over 50 countries, monitors commitments made by governments at the Social Summit and the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women. Contact: Doug Hellinger, Development GAP, Global Coordinator, SAPRIN, 927 Fifteenth Street NW, 4th Floor, Washington DC 20005, United States, telephone +1-202/898 1566, fax +1-202/898 1612, e-mail , website (www.saprin.org). OTHER NEWS EU AFRICA SUMMIT The first-ever European Union (EU) and Africa Summit, held from 3-4 April 2000 in Cairo (Egypt), was attended by 13 heads of government of the EU member states and almost all African heads of state. The Cairo Plan of Action, agreed by summit participants, says a bi-regional group will prepare a report on the external debt of African countries "which will be studied within a reasonable timeframe at ministerial level in the framework of the [summit's] follow-up mechanism." During the summit, debt relief packages were announced by Germany and French President Jacques Chirac, who proposed cancelling 100% of debt owed to France by the least developed countries (LDCs). Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar announced cancellation of debt worth US$200 million owed by Sub-Saharan Africa. Mohamed IV, King of Morocco, announced cancellation of the debt of African LDCs. The declaration also addresses issues including regional economic cooperation and integration; integrating Africa into the world economy; trade; private sector development; investment; resources for development; research and technology; human rights, democratic principles and institutions, good governance and the rule of law; peacebuilding, conflict prevention, management and resolution; and development issues. The second summit will take place in Europe in 2003. At a parallel meeting, 80 participants from 34 countries and international NGOs met in Lisbon (Portugal) for the Africa-Europe Civil Society Forum. The forum, held under the aegis of the North-South Centre of the Council of Europe and the European Commission, was preceded by preparatory workshops in Africa and Europe and a workshop of youth organizations. In a declaration participants said they "deplore the existence of poverty on the current massive global scale" and affirmed that it constitutes "a major and primary obstacle" to development. "We also affirm that poverty is a static concept and that it would be more appropriate to talk of the process of impoverishment," said the declaration. "Africa is not poor, it has been and continues to be systematically impoverished. It is therefore necessary to tackle the factors underlying this process. We need to confront the reality that the same processes which are impoverishing some, are enriching others. We affirm the need for new models of development and believe that a logical consequence of efforts to end the process of impoverishment is a process of systematically empowering the poor." The declaration calls for, among other things: --poverty eradication to be the overall objective of cooperation between the EU and Africa; --cancellation of debt of all African countries "without exclusion and without prioritization/hierarchy;" and --coherence of EU policies at the international level. Contact: North-South Centre, Avenida da Liberdade 229, 1250-142 Lisbon, Portugal, telephone +35-1/2135 249 54, fax +35-1/2135 313 29, e-mail . A copy of the declaration is available at website (www.nscentre.org/english/opening.htm). AFRICAN SUMMIT ON MALARIA The control of malaria in Africa would significantly increase the continent's economic productivity and the income of African families, according to a report presented to participants at the first-ever summit to focus on malaria. The summit, held in April in Abuja (Nigeria), was attended by heads of state of 20 African nations and executive directors of the World Bank, United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Children's Fund, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, World Health Organization and the African Development Bank. Sub-Saharan Africa's gross domestic product (GDP) would be 32% greater this year if malaria had been eliminated 35 years ago according to the report, submitted by the World Health Organization. This would represent up to US$100 billion added to Sub-Saharan Africa's current GDP of US$300 billion. Malaria accounts for nearly one million deaths per year in Africa; an estimated 700,000 of these deaths are among children. Research has found that the wider availability and use of insecticide-treated bednets would result in 50% less malaria illness among children. Yet only 2% of African children are currently protected at night with a treated bednet. Contact: Gregory Hartl, Health Communications and Public Relations, WHO, 20 avenue Appia, CH-1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/791 4458, fax +41-22/791 4858, e-mail , website (www.who.int). NEW EC DEVELOPMENT POLICY The European Commission approved in April a document that sets out the parameters for a new European Community Development Policy, which places poverty eradication as a central focus. "Fighting poverty is our core business," said Poul Nielson, European Commissioner for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid. "To successfully engage in that battle we must refocus our policies and restructure our means and methods." Mr. Nielson said issues such as trade liberalization, integration of developing countries in the global economy, and private sector cooperation remain important features of European development policy, but only in as far as they directly contribute to the overarching objective of raising the standard of living of the poor. The commission said its policy on poverty eradication is built on three pillars: --development cooperation and financial aid targeted on assistance that directly benefits the poor; --intensified political dialogue; and --trade and economic cooperation designed to facilitate the smooth and gradual integration of developing countries in the global economy. Areas where the commission says it can offer "comparative advantages, added value and contribute to the over-arching objective of poverty eradication" are: trade for development; regional integration and cooperation; macroeconomic policies linked with poverty reduction strategies; reliable and sustainable transport that plays a key role in access to basic social services; food security and sustainable rural development strategies; and institutional capacity building, good governance and the rule of law. Contact: "Unit Trade.3" Information, European Commission, 200 rue de la Loi, B-1049 Brussels, Belgium, telephone +32-2/295 2888, fax +32-2/296 9854, e-mail , website (europa.eu.int/comm/trade/whats_new/devpol_en.htm). US AFRICA/CARIBBEAN TRADE BILL The United States House of Representatives approved a Trade and Development Act on 4 May 2000, which will provide new preferences to exports from Sub-Saharan Africa and 24 Caribbean and Central American countries. The trade bill is a combination of two pending separate bills: the Enhanced Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) and the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). The trade bill became deadlocked in a House-Senate conference last year when the House extended duty-free benefits to African nations and the Senate attached the CBI, which would open up trade with the Caribbean. It took months, with pressure from the Clinton administration, to agree on a version that included both components. The most controversy was generated by provisions related to textiles and apparel. Representatives from the US states of North and South Carolina, where the textile industry is concentrated, opposed opening the US market to foreign competitors, particularly those from low-wage countries. The bill, in order to address concerns that it would cost US textile industry jobs, puts a cap on the volume of apparel shipments to receive duty-free treatment and limits the amount of textile and apparel exports from Africa and the Caribbean that can be made from non-US fabric or yarn. The bill gives duty- and quota-free access to the US market to products assembled from US fabric or yarn. Imports of African apparel made from regional fabric would be given up to 1.5% of all US apparel imports during the first year, and that percentage would rise to 3.5% by the eighth year. This would raise the value of African apparel exports to the US from US$250 million to US$4.2 billion dollars by 2008, according to US officials. The poorest African nations, however, would be able to export apparel made from third-country fabric for the first four years. "The Caribbean sections of the bill," according to the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (RNM), "are intended to correct the adverse impact on Caribbean Basin exports of apparel items to the US market as a consequence of more generous access provisions for Mexican apparel under NAFTA [North American Free Trade Agreement], which eroded CBI-related advantages." The RNM noted, however, that the benefits under new legislation to facilitate favourable Caribbean trade with the US are provisioned upon a number of conditions including intellectual property protection, investment protection, improved market access for US exports, and "whether the country is taking steps to accord internationally recognized workers rights." Labour union, environmental and other groups have criticized the Trade and Development Act, as have some members of the Congressional Black Caucus. The groups say it is tilted in favour of corporate interests and does not do enough to improve economic aspects of the poor, particularly in Africa. Jay Mazur, President of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE), said that the union opposed the bill "because it does not require countries in Sub-Saharan Africa to enforce internationally recognized core labour rights. We believe that respect for such rights is the only way to ensure that trade works for workers in all countries and to reverse the race to the bottom' promoted by current trade policies." Mr. Mazur, responding to accusations that labour unions were merely taking a protectionist stand, noted that UNITE's position coincided with its sister unions in Africa. He also emphasized that UNITE had previously supported an alternative African trade bill introduced by House Representative Jesse Jackson Jr., which would have provided debt relief, worker rights, and duty- and quota-free access to the US market for clothing made of African cloth. Representatives of Global Trade Watch called the bill "devastating" for Sub-Saharan Africa. They said it offered few labour or environmental protections and did not encourage local development within Africa. The group also referred to the bill as "a one-way NAFTA expansion to 23 Central American and Caribbean nations, helping corporations set up sweatshops where salaries are as low as 60 [US] cents per hour." Supporters of the bill point out that it includes a provision requiring beneficiary countries to adhere to the right to organize and bargain collectively, establish minimum-wage and maximum-hour standards for workers, and to ban the use of forced labour. However it does not require adherence to child labour standards. Contact: UNITE, 1719 Broadway, New York NY 10019, United States, telephone +1-212/265 7000, e-mail , website (www.uniteunion.org). DAC: PARTNERSHIP A NECESSITY How can partnership between aid donors and aid recipients systematically promote poverty reduction strategies? How can aid, private flows and trade interact to support structural reform, foster sustainable development and produce higher quality growth? These are just some of the challenges still confronting the international community, according to the 1999 Development Co-operation Report of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. After more than five years of continuous decline, official development assistance (ODA) rose in 1998 by nearly 10% in real terms to US$52 billion. This reflects both specific measures in the wake of the Asian financial crisis and decisions by several countries to stabilize or rebuild aid programmes. Although ODA has gone up, the DAC members' ODA and gross national product (GNP) ratio has fallen to around 0.25%, well below the 0.33% average maintained in the 1970s and 1980s. This means there is US$20 billion per annum less aid than there would have been if the previous level had been maintained. Private flows, as projected last year, declined further to US$147 billion in the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis. Nevertheless, analysis of long-term trends suggests that private flows will continue to be far larger than aid flows, according to the report. It says the development community now acknowledges that implementation of poverty reduction strategies is the central priority of development cooperation. The debate "surrounding World Bank and International Monetary Fund support for low-income countries," according to the DAC, "within the framework of ambitious debt-reduction schemes, has evolved away from structural adjustment towards poverty reduction. The operational implications are hugely significant both for low-income countries and donors." Events surrounding the World Trade Organization conference in Seattle last year "vividly confirmed that the success of the partnership strategy, aimed at integrating developing economies into the global economy, largely depends on the degree of commitment to policy coherence," said the DAC. "There is clearly an immediate need for international cooperation in strengthening the capability of countries to participate in negotiations; implement measures adopted jointly; take full advantage of opening markets; and promote the social and environmental agenda which must be associated with liberalisation." An increasing number of developing countries have established implementation frameworks for development which are based on comprehensive long-term visions and more systematic and better coordination. "It is important to note," according to the DAC, "as an indicator of the success of the partnership strategy, that developing countries themselves are laying these frameworks and implementing them in accordance with their own development strategies. Cooperation based on the will to obtain tangible and measurable results, with specific goals and guidance indicators that are themselves clearly quantified, is of the essence." DAC reviews were also recently made on Australia, Norway and Austria, the 16th largest DAC donor. In its review Austria was urged to increase its level of aid, have one comprehensive ODA budget, and establish an overall aid policy to help ensure the government's effort was better coordinated. Austria provides 0.22% of GNP in aid against the European Union average of 0.33%. Australia, whose ODA was 0.27% of GNP, has been on a declining trend since 1975 when it peaked at 0.65%. The DAC review, which urged greater effort on aid volume, noted that the process leading to the government's subsequent policy statement in 1997 on Better Aid for a Better Future was well-prepared, transparent, and a model for a national review of development cooperation. The review for Norway, which currently provides 0.9% of its GNP as aid to developing countries, noted the difficulty the country faces in accommodating within the budget a development cooperation agenda that has widened dramatically. It encompasses social investment, democracy, human rights and debt reduction, among other things, with environmental and gender concerns as generic themes. Contact: Media Relations, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2 rue Andre-Pascal, F-75775 Paris Cedex 16, France, telephone +33-1/45 24 80 91, fax +33-1/45 24 80 03, e-mail , website (www.oecd.org/dac). 16TH NORTH-SOUTH MEDIA FESTIVAL The theme for the 16th North-South Media Festival, held in Geneva from 6-14 April 2000, was To Be 20 in 2000. The festival is an annual event with awards given to the best television submissions dealing with North-South relations or development themes. Awards at the festival went to: --Homme Mord Chien (Vlaamese radio en televisieomroep, Belgium), Geneva International Television Award; and Zhou Zhou's World (Hubei Public Television, China), special mention; --L'evangile selon les Papous (Canal+, France), French-Speaking Community Award; --Dream of Knowledge (Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, Norway), Pierre-Alain Donnier Award; --La marmite et le cahier (Tele-Tchad, Chad), South-North Award; --Images d'une dictature (Macumba International, Canada), International Independents' Award; --Boma-Tervuren, le voyage (Cobra Films, Belgium), Ebel Award; and Les damnes de la terre (Films du Cyclope, France) and My Country (Principal Film, Serbia), special mention; --Des marelles et des petites filles (National Film Board of Canada), Youth Award; and --Jeunes guerriers des favelas (24 images, France) and Des marelles et des petites filles (National Film Board of Canada), Valais Award. The award for Press and Democracy in Africa was given to the newspaper Misamu of Gabon. The award entitled Radios of the South was given to the programme La production televisuel locale sacrifiee, les feuilletons etrangers a l'honneur of Radio Wˆkˆ of Benin. The Martin Ennals award for human rights defenders went to Immaculee Birhaheka, Director of Promotion et appuis aux initiatives feminines of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The North-South Media Festival is organized by the Geneva-based Institute of Development Studies, Television suisse romande, Swiss Radio International, InfoSud Press Agency, Fonction: Cinema and NGLS. It is supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, among others. Contact: North-South Media Festival, c/o Television suisse romande, CP 234, CH-1211 Geneva 8, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/708 8193, fax + 41-22/328 9410, e-mail , website (www.nordsud.ch). FOCUS "WE THE PEOPLES" MILLENNIUM FORUM HELD About 1,350 representatives of NGOs from more than 100 countries gathered at the Millennium Forum held at UN headquarters in New York from 22-26 May 2000. Discussions at the event focused on how "to build upon a common vision and the work begun at civil society conferences and the UN world conferences of the 1990s, [and] to draw the attention of governments to the urgency of implementing the commitments they have made." Participants adopted a Declaration and Agenda for Action, which outlines their vision for the United Nations for the 21st century. The text is meant as a contribution to the Millennium Summit, taking place at the UN in New York from 6-8 September 2000 (see Go Between 73). The NGO declaration articulates the views of civil society on six main themes: peace, security and disarmament; eradication of poverty; human rights; sustainable development and the environment; globalization; and the strengthening and democratizing of the UN. The agenda for action identifies steps to be taken by the UN, governments and civil society on the six themes. The forum was divided into plenaries and working groups with experts attending from more than 30 countries. However, globalization rapidly became the dominating subject. "I believe the overarching challenge of our times is to make globalization mean more than bigger markets," said Secretary-General Kofi Annan in his opening address. "Whether your concern be the advancement of women or education, humanitarian assistance or health--a prerequisite for its success is to spread the benefits of globalization more widely. Whether you are active in policy setting or field work, in the developed or developing world, the continuing exclusion of whole regions from the global economy will frustrate your success." International Labour Office (ILO) Director-General Juan Somavia said that "the biggest danger ahead is the growing chasm between the knowledge economy and the informal economy. Both are growing at exponential rates with few bridges between them. We can begin to see the shape of a new global apartheid, based on your options for work [and] sustainable livelihoods." Martin Khor, Executive Director of the Malaysia-based Third World Network, said that "globalization is a process that can be called re-colonization....It is not a globalization of culture that brings us closer together, but primarily a process by which [corporations] have gotten even bigger." He noted that double standards exist between "what is preached toward others and what is protected for [the rich] to maintain the monopoly of power and wealth." Mr. Khor pointed to the successful campaign to ban landmines, which he said sharply contrasts with the nuclear powers' refusal to ban nuclear weapons. He highlighted "the talk of conditionality to get transparency and democracy going at the national level, and the refusal by major powers to democratize at the international level, where global decisions are taken mainly by the Group of Eight or the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) or the Bretton Woods Institutions and World Trade Organization (WTO), without adequate participation of smaller nations, let alone civil society." Regarding Strengthening and Democratizing the UN and International Organizations, NGOs called for significant changes in the UN including measures affecting peacekeeping operations, an enhanced role for the General Assembly, restructuring of the Security Council, limitation and subsequent abolition of the veto, and the possible creation of a UN International Peace Force. In addition, they called for establishing and funding of a Global Civil Society Forum, which would meet every two to three years. Regarding eradication of poverty, including social development and debt cancellation, the forum declaration says that "poverty eradication is not an automatic consequence of economic growth but requires purposeful action to redistribute wealth and land, construction of a safety net and the universal free access to education." The forum urged the UN to introduce binding codes of conduct for transnational corporations and, in connection with developing country debt cancellation, to act as an independent arbitrator to balance the interests of debtor and creditor nations. Regarding peace, security, protection and disarmament, the declaration calls for creating a corps of at least 50 professionally-trained mediators for conflict prevention, and establishing an international, non-violent and inclusive standing Peace Force of volunteer men and women for deployment in conflict areas. NGOs also called for the creation of a Humanitarian Commission to assess humanitarian needs and recommend protective measures for civilian populations in times of armed conflict. They called on governments to initiate a worldwide freeze on armed forces, a 25% cut in production and export of major weapons and small arms, and to adopt an international code of conduct on arms exports. With regard to facing the challenge of globalization, the declaration emphasizes the impact of globalization on the poor and notes that "the present globalization process is not inevitable, but one resulting from decisions taken by human beings." The UN is urged to reform and democratize all levels of decision making in the Bretton Woods Institutions and the World Trade Organization, and integrate them fully into the UN system and make them accountable to the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). The forum recommended that developing countries be exempt from implementing Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs), and that TRIPs be taken out of any new rounds of WTO negotiations. Governments are urged to give particular attention to new forms of taxation, such as the Tobin Tax. A long section on human rights focuses on the indivisibility, interdependence and inter-relatedness of human rights; the human right to development; universal ratification of international human rights treaties without reservations; national implementation; international implementation of human rights standards; promoting awareness of and support for asserting human rights; and the universal realization of human rights. The forum urged the UN to establish a Global Poverty Eradication Fund to ensure access to credit for the poor and a Global Habitat Conservation Fund, which would accrue revenues from a royalty on worldwide fossil fuel production. Governments were also called upon to comply with and implement the declarations, conventions and treaties they have signed and to meet their commitments including those in Agenda 21. Contact: Millennium Forum Secretariat, 866 UN Plaza, Suite 120, New York NY 10017-1822, United States, telephone +1-212/803 2522, fax +1-212/803 2561, e-mail , website (www.millenniumforum.org). G-77 HOLDS FIRST SOUTH SUMMIT The Group of 77 (G-77), consisting of 133 developing countries, held its first ever South Summit in Havana (Cuba) from 10-14 April 2000. The historic event was one of the South's largest gatherings with 42 heads of state and government, 13 vice-presidents and deputy prime ministers, and 77 foreign ministers from 122 developing countries. The summit focused on the broad themes of globalization, knowledge and technology, South-South cooperation and North-South relations. An informal interactive debate among ministers was held during the summit to discuss the role of the UN in the 21st century. Two documents emerged from the summit: a declaration, which sets out a broad strategy for the future; and a programme of action, which sets targets and timeframes for implementation. Agreement on the final declaration proved difficult--changes from the draft declaration, prepared by Cuba, included increased reference to the threat of HIV/AIDS and a commitment by G-77 members to democracy and the fight against corruption. A source of contention was a clause related to respect for the principles of international law, such as sovereignty and equality between states, independence and territorial integrity. The final declaration emphasizes the need for reforming the international financial structure and for creating a new financial architecture guaranteeing the full participation of developing countries in decision making in the arena of international economic policy. The external debt of developing countries, which now stands at US$2.5 trillion, was highlighted as one of the major obstacles to development and one of the issues on which consensus must be sought with developed countries in order to ensure that any debt relief does not replace other forms of official aid. The final declaration says that creation of a stable international economic system must be based on the renewal of an effective North-South dialogue. Such dialogue must focus on correcting imbalances in the international economic system, which the G-77 said have put developing countries at a disadvantage. Delegates also agreed to a strategy aimed at encouraging developed countries to live up to their commitment to allocate 0.7% of gross domestic product (GDP) to official development assistance (ODA) by the end of the decade. The declaration expresses support for South-South initiatives designed to promote cooperation between Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and between Africa and Asia on joint efforts against drought and desertification. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan emphasized the need for unity among the G-77 member states, particularly when making demands aimed at the industrialized North. He said that globalization could not be regarded or pursued as a solely economic phenomenon separate from the complex fabric of social and political life. "It must mean more than creating bigger markets," he said, "because market forces alone, shooting off on their own trajectory, will never ensure that the needs of all people and their societies can be met." Mr. Annan outlined proposals for reducing poverty and fighting drug trafficking, and he underscored the importance of access to new information technologies. He also drew attention to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, many people's lack of access to safe drinking water, and the need to address climate change and its causes. Lastly, he urged developed countries to write off the external debt of the most highly indebted poor countries, open their markets to products from the South, and to be more generous in providing development aid. Mr. Annan's call for debt relief was echoed by numerous delegates including Cuban President Fidel Castro. In his opening address to the summit, Mr. Castro said the IMF should "disappear" and be replaced by a multilateral institution that he said can offer the global economy true stability. Mr. Castro suggested a tax of at least 1% on speculative financial transactions, which would permit the creation of a fund with more than one billion dollars a year to promote the development of poor countries. Some 40 foreign ministers participated in informal exchanges on the role of the UN in the 21st century and discussed permanent membership for developing countries in the Security Council and elimination of the veto, transparency in the council's work, and the establishment of an early warning system to prevent conflicts. Many ministers expressed reservations about the principle of "humanit