Go Between no. 89
December 2001-January 2002
UN UPDATE
KOFI ANNAN LAUNCHES UN ICT TASK
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has launched a global Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Task Force to help spread the benefits of new technology to the world’s poor, and to build universal interconnectivity. The Task Force was set up at the request of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) to work with partners such as regional development banks, international donors and NGOs to help mobilize resources around specific programmes and initiatives related to ICT.
The Task Force, which also includes the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the World Bank, and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), has representatives from governments, the private sector, NGOs, foundations and UN bodies.
Speaking at the launch, the Secretary-General stressed that since the information and communication technology age had dawned for some, but not for all, the Task Force faced an important challenge “to help build digital bridges to the billions of people who are now trapped in extreme poverty, untouched by the digital revolution and beyond the reach of the global economy. The new technologies that are changing our world are not a panacea or a magic bullet,” he added. “But they are without doubt enormously powerful tools for development. They create jobs. They are transforming education, health care, commerce, politics and more. They can help in the delivery of humanitarian assistance and even contribute to peace and security.”
According to José María Figueres Olsen, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on ICT and former President of Costa Rica, even though the Task Force is global in its conception, it aims to be regional and specific in terms of country and regional needs. He said the Task Force has established six different working groups to look at issues, such as regulatory frameworks, low-cost connectivity and applications for health and education.
Contact: Sarbuland Khan, Director, UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) Division for ECOSOC Support and Coordination, 1 UN Plaza, Office DC1-1432, New York NY 10017, USA, telephone +1-212/963 4628, fax +1-212/963 1712, website (www.unicttaskforce.org).
DATES FOR WSSD CHANGED
The General Assembly’s Second Committee approved a resolution modifying the dates for the World Summit for Sustainable Development to be held in Johannesburg (South Africa). The new dates are from 26 August to 4 September 2002 (see NGLS Roundup 88).
US BACKS OUT OF ANTI-BALLISTIC MISSILE TREATY
The United States has given Russia formal notice that it will withdraw from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty in six months, President Bush said on 13 December 2001. “I have concluded the ABM Treaty hinders our government’s ability to develop ways to protect our people from future terrorist or rogue-state missile attacks,” President Bush said.
Former President Richard Nixon and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev signed the ABM Treaty in 1972, one of two agreements reached during the first Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT I), which set limits on strategic offensive weapons to slow the nuclear arms race between the United States and Soviet Union.
“President [Vladimir] Putin and I have also agreed that my decision to withdraw from the treaty will not in any way undermine our new relationship or Russian security,” Mr. Bush said.
“The US decision to withdraw from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty has not set off an arms race,” said Secretary of State Colin Powell. “Rather, it has had the opposite effect,” he added “as both the United States and Russia have pledged to begin reducing strategic nuclear arsenals substantially.” Mr. Powell said the US has offered to cut its operationally deployed strategic nuclear arsenal by 60 to 70%, from 6,000 warheads to a range of 1,700-to-2,200. President Putin said Russia is proposing to cut its nuclear arsenal down to a range of 1,500-to-2,200.
“The United States and Russia will continue negotiations to develop a new strategic framework of arms control that could be put into a legal framework for [Presidents] Bush and Putin to sign when President Bush visits Moscow next year,” the Secretary of State said. Legal framework would “involve substantial reductions in offensive nuclear forces, cooperation on missile defence, enhanced non- and counter-proliferation efforts, and measures to promote confidence and transparency,” according to US Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control Avis Bohlen.
The decision was criticized by US Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, who said, “I think it underlines the fragile coalition we have with our allies,” and by US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joseph Biden, who said “the move would cause an arms build-up not just in Russia but also in Pakistan and India, increasing tensions in southern Asia.”
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan noted with regret the decision of the United States to withdraw from the ABM Treaty, and in a message to the UN Conference on Disarmament on 22 January 2002, said the US’s decision to withdraw from the ABM Treaty “raised concerns over the risk of a new nuclear arms race, a loss of credibility in the commitment to nuclear disarmament, a weaponization of outer space and a tendency towards unilateral approaches to international arms issues.”
UN Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs Jayantha Dhanapala, in his 22 January 2002 address to the Arms Control Association (ACA) in Washington DC, called for “deeper multilateral cooperation rooted in binding legal norms.” Mr. Dhanapala said, “While some prefer paperless disarmament, that is surely no reason to jettison the treaties and conventions that do act as a legal barrier to the acquisition of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and the proliferation of their delivery systems. Our need to prevent terrorist groups from obtaining WMD material and technology demands the strengthening of existing norms and greater efforts to implement them.”
John Bolton, US Under Secretary of State for Arms Control, defended the US’s position on 24 January during the Conference on Disarmament saying, “It has become fashionable to characterize my country as ‘unilateralist’ and against all arms control agreements. Nonetheless, our commitment to multilateral regimes to promote non-proliferation and international security never has been as strong as it is today, through numerous arms control treaties and non-proliferation arrangements...In fact, trying to characterize our policy as ‘unilateralist’ or ‘multilateralist’ is a futile exercise. Our policy is, quite simply, pro-American, as you would expect.”
BWC TALKS COLLAPSE ON LAST DAY
Against the backdrop of increasing global concern over the use of biological weapons, the Fifth Review Conference of the United Nations Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) was held in Geneva from 19 November to 7 December 2001. Ambassador Tibor Toth (Hungary) served as President of the Conference, which brought together 91 of 144 States Parties to continue their article-by-article negotiations to amend the 1972 treaty, which has no mandatory verification mechanism.
Serious differences existed between States on issues concerning: non-compliance with the Convention; the assessment of the Ad Hoc Group mandated in 1994 to develop a draft protocol to the Convention on the issue of compliance/verification; and issues of follow-up. On the opening day of the Conference, before a UN press conference, US Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security John Bolton said, “The draft protocol that was under negotiation for the past seven years is dead in our view. Dead, and it is not going to be resurrected. It has proven to be a blind alley.” Mr. Bolton also said the draft protocol is “hopelessly defective in three major respects,” citing that it would endanger the viability of biological warfare defence programmes, that the inspection mechanism would compromise the export control programmes of the US and other Western countries, and that the protocol would have posed a risk to proprietary commercial information.
Throughout the Conference, drafting sessions and intense formal and informal consultations were held in an attempt to reach consensus on outstanding issues. On Thursday, 6 December, the first draft of the Final Declaration was seen to require further work on the recent anthrax issue, transfers and export controls, guidelines on penal legislation, retaliation with biological weapons, a Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) proposal for a Cooperation Committee, and a European Union proposal for establishing an investigation mechanism. On 7 December, the closing day of the Conference, the Drafting Committee continued its efforts though a number of delegates claimed that the US was being “difficult” on some of the minor issues, and progress on reaching the final draft was seen to stall.
The Drafting Committee’s meeting was abruptly suspended when the US announced, late in the day, its proposal calling for the dissolution of the Ad Hoc Group, which had been drafting the protocol setting out enforcement rules for the treaty. “The Conference takes note of the work of the Ad Hoc Group and decides that the Ad Hoc Group and its mandate are hereby terminated,” the US proposal read. Group meetings and a short meeting of the General Committee were held immediately, and a consensus decision adjourned the Conference until November 2002.
Mr. Toth expressed his opinion on the failed negotiations: “We were quite close to finishing our work, both in terms of the volume of the elements which were consolidated and in terms of the understandings which we reached. However, there seemed to be a serious absence of understanding concerning the issue of the Ad Hoc Group where the differences between positions seemed to be irreconcilable, at least in the time remaining today [7 December]. The draft final declaration was 95% ready. In my judgement, the draft final declaration can in the meantime be an orientation for delegations to undertake or already some national efforts to join in forces and in this period, even to start implementation of some of these ideas. All the consolidated elements will not all fade away. This is a kind of damage control if you wish.”
A resumption of the Conference has been scheduled for 11 to 22 November 2002 in Geneva, where States Parties will continue work on a final declaration.
Contact: V. Bogomolov, Department for Disarmament Affairs, Palais des Nations, CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/917 3441, fax +41-22/917 0034, website (www.un.org/Depts/dda).
FAO ADOPTS TREATY ON PLANT GENETIC RESOURCES
The Thirty-First Session of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Conference adopted on 3 November 2001 the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. FAO says the Treaty, which is the outcome of several years of negotiations to revise the International Undertaking on Plant Genetic Resources, will ensure better use of plant genetic diversity to meet the challenge of eradicating world hunger.
According to FAO experts, the new Treaty is a comprehensive international agreement that takes into consideration the particular needs of farmers and plant breeders, and aims to guarantee the future availability of the diversity of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture on which they depend, and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits. The Treaty is in harmony with the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), which was adopted in 1992 as the first international binding agreement covering biodiversity.
The legally binding international agreement, which will enter into force when ratified by 40 Member States, provides a framework to ensure access to plant genetic resources, and to related knowledge, technologies, and internationally agreed funding. The Treaty also provides the agricultural sector with a multilateral tool to promote cooperation and synergy with other sectors, particularly with trade and the environment, says FAO. FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf called the Treaty a “milestone in international cooperation,” and says it “is at the crossroads where agriculture, environment and trade meet.”
The Treaty revises the previous International Undertaking, which was adopted by the FAO Conference in 1983. It recognized Farmers’ Rights as being complementary to Plant Breeders’ Rights. The International Undertaking is monitored by FAO’s Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (CGRFA), a permanent forum created in 1983 and currently composed of 160 Member States. It will act as the Interim Committee for the new Treaty, until it enters into force.
Secretary of the Commission José Esquinas-Alcázar says that despite the approval of the Treaty, “an enormous task still lies ahead to implement the provisions of the Treaty, in particular in view of the need to ensure that the genetic resources and local technologies developed by generations of farmers are complemented and enhanced by the new genetic technologies, and not threatened or replaced by them.” The length of the negotiations needed to adopt the Treaty reflects the difficulties in reaching agreement on matters related to intellectual property rights and the list of crops covered by the Treaty.
Following the Treaty’s approval, the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) said that agricultural researchers in developing countries now stand a much better chance of developing new plant strains with improved traits to help combat hunger and malnutrition. CGIAR is sponsored by the FAO, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Bank.
“Plant genetic diversity, the result of a combination of farmers’ selection over millennia, natural evolution and plant breeding is a foundation of agricultural development,” said Ian Johnson, World Bank Vice-President and CGIAR Chairman. “Plant breeders all over the world rely on existing diversity to create new varieties of plants with higher yields and increased resistance to pests and diseases, while for many small farmers in developing countries, diversity is the basis of food security and income.”
Contact: José Esquinas-Alcázar, Secretary of the FAO Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, FAO, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, I-00100 Rome, Italy, telephone + 39-06/5705 4986, e-mail <jose.esquinas@fao.org>, website (www.fao.org/ag/cgrfa/default.htm).
CONSOLIDATED INTER-AGENCY APPEALS FOR 2002
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan launched a US$2.5 billion appeal on 26 November 2001 to help 33 million people in desperate need of humanitarian assistance and protection. “The US$2.5 billion dollars that we are seeking today is a large amount–but it is far less than what the world spends on military purposes in a single day,” the Secretary-General told donors gathered at UN headquarters in New York for the launch of the Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeals.
Mr. Annan noted that the world was currently focused on the plight of Afghans who, along with more than 30 million war- and drought-affected people around the world, would have suffered through yet another winter “largely off camera” had it not been for recent events. “Is it not ironic that it took a terrorist attack and military reaction to raise awareness of the vast humanitarian needs in Afghanistan?” he asked.
While welcoming donor efforts to alleviate the suffering of the Afghan people, the Secretary-General urged those present not to forget the 17 other complex humanitarian crises identified in the UN appeals. “In Angola, Somalia and Sudan, long-running civil wars continue to threaten already fragile livelihoods,” he noted. “In Indonesia, 1.3 million people have become internally displaced in less than three years because of new internal conflicts.” And though the past year had brought new hope for the future in Burundi, Mr. Annan said that massive humanitarian assistance remains urgently needed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and in Sierra Leone.
“No matter how good our strategy, or how well we prioritize, the United Nations and its partners cannot fulfil their commitments to millions of people in need of humanitarian assistance without the financial and political support of the Member States,” the Secretary-General told donors, noting that the appeal for 2001 was met with only 50% of the required amount. “We must do better next year, and I repeat my appeal that we should forget no one who depends on us for help and for hope.”
Echoing the Secretary-General’s statements, the President of the Security Council, Ambassador Patricia Durrant (Jamaica), told donors that their contributions would restore hope and erase despair. “The investment you make today will not only help save lives, it will set the basis for self-sufficiency for people and their communities,” she told the meeting, which also heard from individuals who had personally witnessed humanitarian crises in Kosovo and Ethiopia.
On behalf of members of the Council, Ambassador Durrant urged all States to give generously to the appeals. “Members of the Council recognize that gaining access to vulnerable populations and the increasing need to engage with armed groups is one of the key challenges facing humanitarian agencies,” she said, noting that such access was “sporadically granted or even bluntly denied.” Council members called on all States to respect the recognized rules of international humanitarian law, and to facilitate the work of aid agencies carrying out their work.
Contact: Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, United Nations, New York NY 10017, USA, telephone +1-212/963 2380, fax +1-212/963 1312, e-mail <ochany@un.org>, website (www.reliefweb.int/appeals/2002).
GLOBAL COMPACT ADVISORY COUNCIL
The Global Compact Advisory Council, the first United Nations advisory body composed of both public and private sector leaders, held its first session on 8 January 2002 at UN headquarters in New York. Created in July 2000 at UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s initiative, the Global Compact challenges corporations to embrace nine internationally accepted principles on human rights, labour rights, and the environment in order to promote cooperative solutions to the challenges of globalization.
The meeting brought together 11 business executives, two international labour leaders and five civil society organizations and academics to discuss the Compact’s goals, examine current operations, determine procedures and policies for proposing better standards of participation, and to consider what types of corporate behaviour are inconsistent with the Compact. Fred Higgs, General Secretary of the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers’ Unions, said “The Global Compact, like any successful voluntary initiative, needs to be a dynamic, credible process, subject to ongoing review and development. I believe the advisory process is extremely important to ensure that the Global Compact continues to be relevant and credible.”
Members of the Advisory Council said that issues falling under the aegis of the Global Compact were increasingly critical to the stability of the international economy. “Every day, billions of people are affected by business decisions–be it in the realm of employment, environment or human rights,” Director-General of the World Conservation Union Achim Steiner said.
“We must work to underpin the marketplace with solid and stable foundations,” the Secretary-General stressed, “and open the door to full participation by all people, including and especially the world’s poor. The Global Compact gives us a tool for achieving that.” Mr. Annan said that projects are being launched in areas such as investment in least developed countries, diversity in the workplace, and environmental protection, adding that “A collective effort is under way to establish a culture and practice of pragmatic solution-finding through cooperation.”
Some civil society groups have called for the nine principles to be made mandatory and binding, and for an independent monitoring body to be established.
Members of the advisory council will serve rotating terms of two and three years and will meet twice a year.
Contact: E-mail <partners@un.org>, website (www.unglobalcompact.org).
SC HOLDS REVIEW ON CHILDREN IN ARMED CONFLICT
On 20 November 2001, the UN Security Council held a one-day review meeting on the situation of children in armed conflict and considered the Secretary-General’s report on the subject (A/56/342-S/2001/852), as well as an update from Olara Otunnu, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict.
Some 30 speakers addressed the meeting, including a vivid testimony from a former child combatant from Sierra Leone, 14-year-old Alhaji Babh Sawaneh, who was abducted by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) at the age of ten. He described his two-year ordeal as a child combatant, and his experience with disarmament, demobilization and reintegration. On behalf of the children of Sierra Leone, he asked the Council to do all they could to end their “sad tale.”
Today, over 300,000 young persons under the age of 18–some as young as seven or eight, girls as well as boys–are taking part in hostilities in over 30 countries. They are often abducted from schools, refugee camps or their homes.
The Council unanimously adopted resolution 1379 (2001), which calls for various actions to address the widespread impact of armed conflict on children and the long-term consequences on durable peace, security and development. The Council’s readiness to include provisions for the protection of children in mandates for peacekeeping operations was expressed in the resolution, which asked the Secretary-General to include, on a case-by-case basis, child-protection staff in missions and peace-building operations.
In its report on implementation, the Council requested the Secretary-General to attach a list of parties to armed conflict that recruit or use children in violation of their international obligations. With regard to punitive measures, the Council said that it would assess the socio-economic impact of sanctions on children in order to provide appropriate humanitarian exemptions that would take account of their specific needs and vulnerability, as well as minimize such impact.
The resolution urges Member States to end impunity; prosecute those responsible for crimes against humanity and other egregious crimes committed against children; and exclude those crimes from amnesty provisions and relevant legislation. Member States are also urged to consider measures to discourage corporate actors within their jurisdiction from maintaining commercial relations with parties to armed conflict.
Commenting on the resolution, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan emphasized the importance of field monitoring, and the deployment of child protection advisers. He committed himself to providing timely, accurate information to the Security Council about the implementation of its resolutions, and said that he was prepared to bring to the Council’s attention “the identities of parties that are in violation of any part of this resolution.”
Mr. Otunnu stressed that there was an urgent need for the international community to organize a more systematic and effective way of monitoring and reporting on the conduct of parties to conflict in relation to their treatment of children. “Unless critical knowledge gaps are filled,” he said, “interventions on behalf of children are unlikely to be effective.” He proposed a Research Agenda on the Impact of Armed Conflict on Children to focus on filling this gap, as a way to inform and strengthen policy making and action. Mr. Otunnu called attention to the fact that the international community was not doing enough to prevent harm to girls in wartime and to ensure appropriate recovery and rehabilitation services in the aftermath.
Contact: Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, United Nations, Room S-3161, New York NY 10010, USA, telephone +1-212/963 6194, fax +1-212/963 0807, website (www.un.org/special-rep/children-armed-conflict/index.html).
GA DEBATE ON YEAR OF DIALOGUE AMONG CIVILIZATIONS
The General Assembly (GA) convened a two-day debate at UN headquarters from 8-9 November 2001 on the UN Year of Dialogue Among Civilizations, 2001–an initiative aimed at fostering understanding across borders that was widely seen to have taken on greater importance in the wake of the 11 September terrorist attacks against the United States. Some 56 speakers addressed the Assembly, including three Heads of State and Government, and ten Ministers of Foreign Affairs.
In his opening address, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said that the Dialogue was “based not on the premise that we as humanity are all the same, or always in agreement, but rather on appreciation of the fact that we represent a diversity of cultures, and that our beliefs reflect this diversity.” According to Mr. Annan, the Dialogue among Civilizations was in this sense “not an expression of hopes, but a reflection of the world as it is.”
Delegates from several countries took the floor to denounce the extremist beliefs and intolerance that they believed had led to the September terrorist attacks. Other delegates noted that the UN represented the diversity of the world’s civilizations and was a forum for all different civilizations. They urged that the Organization conduct the Dialogue among Civilizations to remove the negative impact of the cold war mentality from international relations; promote the principles of democracy and equality in international affairs; and push forward the establishment of a just and equitable new international political order.
GA President Han Seung-soo (Republic of Korea) said that in the globalizing world, diverse cultures could constitute a source of stability, which was an important lesson the Dialogue among Civilizations had taught. “Indeed, tolerance and dialogue should be included among the core values of the international community. Without them, peace and security cannot be achieved and would hardly be worth achieving,” Mr. Han said.
President Seyed Mohammad Khatami of Iran, who initially proposed the Dialogue, noted that “all cultures, civilizations and faiths were now bound to cohabit the same world by the inviolable verdict of technology.” It was therefore the best of times to “cultivate harmony and foster empathy among this variety,” he said.
During an informal segment, a Group of Eminent Persons appointed by the Secretary-General on the occasion of the Year of Dialogue among Civilizations launched their report entitled Crossing the Divide, which explains the context and the goal of the Dialogue, and sets out a new paradigm of global relations and advocates a key role for the UN.
At the conclusion of the debate, the Assembly adopted a “Global Agenda for Dialogue among Civilizations” (A/RES/56/6) containing objectives, principles and a Programme of Action (POA) for follow-up to the Year.
According to the Agenda, the Dialogue among Civilizations constitutes a process for attaining such goals as inclusion, equity, justice and tolerance in human interactions; promotion and protection of all human rights and fundamental freedoms; development of a better understanding of common ethical standards and universal human values; and enhancement of respect for cultural diversity and cultural heritage.
The POA invites States, the UN system and other international and regional organizations and civil society to consider as a means of promoting dialogue among civilizations: facilitating and encouraging interaction and exchange among all individuals from various societies and civilizations; promoting of mutual visits and meetings of experts in various fields from different civilizations; exchange of visits among representatives of the arts and culture and the organization of cultural festivals; sponsorship of conferences, symposia, and workshops to enhance mutual understanding, tolerance and dialogue among civilizations; planning sport competitions; and other activities.
Contact: Group of Eminent Persons, Year of Dialogue among Civilizations, Secretariat, School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University, 400 South Orange Avenue, South Orange NJ 07079, USA, telephone +1-973/275 2515, fax +1-973/275 2519, website (www.un.org/dialogue).
FOLLOW-UP TO THE RACISM CONFERENCE
In late December 2001, agreement was reached on the Declaration and Programme of Action of the World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance (WCAR) held in Durban (South Africa) from 31 August to 7 September 2001. In a letter dated 27 December 2001, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of South Africa, Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, informed the High Commissioner for Human Rights and governments that she, in her capacity as President of the Conference, had decided that the texts would remain as they were on 24 September, and that they would be published in the final report without further delay.
The texts were adopted on 8 September 2001 in Durban, but disaccords between governments prevented them from being printed and subsequently delayed the issuance of the final report of the Conference. Disagreement concerned the placement of several paragraphs relating to slavery and reparations. Some governments felt the paragraphs were of an action-oriented nature and should be moved from the Declaration to the Programme of Action; other governments opposed this, mainly because of the possible legislative consequences it might entail. The General Assembly considered the report of the Conference, including the Declaration and Programme of Action, at the end of January. It adopted a resolution endorsing the WCAR outcome documents and the creation of a follow-up mechanism in the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
The publication of the final texts will allow OHCHR to implement the anti-discrimination agenda set out in the Declaration and Programme of Action. “With this agenda in our hands,” High Commissioner Mary Robinson said, “we can regain the momentum created by the Conference and get down to the business of making the commitments made at Durban a reality.”
One aspect Mrs. Robinson pointed to is the establishment of the Anti-Discrimination Unit in her Office. This unit will work to combat racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance and will promote equality and non-discrimination (see Go Between 88). Another tool for taking the anti-discrimination movement further is the appointment of a body of five experts–representing all regions–to follow the implementation of the WCAR outcome documents. The expert body will provide annual progress reports to the UN Commission on Human Rights and the General Assembly.
In an attempt to maintain the momentum of the WCAR while disagreement over the outcome documents continued, the OHCHR dedicated the 10 December 2001 Human Rights Day to the follow-up of the World Conference and the Office’s anti-discrimination priorities. In her speech commemorating the Day, the High Commissioner reiterated the importance of implementing the anti-discrimination agenda in the aftermath of the events of 11 September 2001 in New York and Washington. “My Office is committed to taking the lead in follow-up to the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action,” she said, pointing to consultations that are taking place with NGOs and other partners.
On 6 December 2001, a large number of NGOs gathered in Geneva to discuss follow-up activities to Durban. Staff of the newly established Anti-Discrimination Unit of the OHCHR took the opportunity to discuss implementation of the WCAR outcome documents and informed participants that the interim Unit had begun its tasks and had developed a work plan pending the appointment of the Head of the Unit.
Recent NGO activities discussed at the gathering include Migrants Rights International’s intent to set up regional focal points and to step up its campaign to reach rapid ratification of the UN Convention on Migrants and Migrant Workers. The World Organization Against Torture will organize anti-racism parallel events during the upcoming UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva as well as the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in Vienna (Austria). It plans to contribute to the discussion on racism in the criminal justice system within the UN Sub-Commission on the Promotion and the Protection of Human Rights.
Contact: Elsa Le Pennec, World Organization Against Torture, Rue du Vieux-Billard 8, PO Box 21, CH-1211 Geneva 8, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/809 4939, fax +41-22/809 4929, e-mail <elp@omct.org>, website (www.omct.org).
Sandra Aragón, NGO Liaison Officer, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Anti-Discrimination Unit, CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/917 9393, fax +41-22/917 9050, e-mail <saragon.hchr@unog.ch>, website (www.ohchr.ch).
MINISTERIAL MEETING ON REFUGEE CONVENTION
Refugees and asylum-seekers should receive stronger protection at a time when uprooted people are increasingly being wrongly associated with criminals and terrorists, according to a ministerial declaration adopted at a meeting on the 1951 Refugee Convention, the key legal document that defines who is a refugee, their rights, and the legal obligations of States. The ministerial meeting, jointly hosted by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Swiss Government, was held in Geneva from 12-13 December 2001. Ministers from over 150 countries, representatives of UN agencies, and NGO observers attended the meeting.
In his opening speech, Ruud Lubbers, High Commissioner for Refugees, described the millions of uprooted people as “products of political failure.” He said the Convention “is fundamentally about freedom from fear....Unfortunately, governments’ policies towards refugees and asylum-seekers are often based on fear and mistrust. Political leaders are no leaders when they fuel anti-foreigner and anti-refugee sentiments, contributing to this cycle of fear and mistrust.” He also said that governments were not doing enough to find solutions to refugee crises. “Unless governments do more to find lasting solutions for refugees, more of them will fall into the hands of human smugglers, traffickers and criminal networks. Who is then fuelling crime? Fleeing refugees or failing governments?”
The High Commissioner criticized the lack of burden-sharing in taking in refugees among States. Some developed countries have been calling for solutions to refugee problems to be found within the region, and officials in Iran and Pakistan–which host the largest refugee population–are complaining of a lack of burden-sharing. Mr. Lubbers said that the paradox was that countries were refusing to meet their obligations in respect of refugees unless there was burden-sharing, but that if all countries were to meet these obligations, burden-sharing would not be a problem.
“It’s time to speak of refugees not only as a burden or as miserable people but to see them as potential valuable citizens,” Mr. Lubbers said. “Our challenge is to find ways of empowering them, so that they can contribute to our societies.” He called for the Refugee Convention to be placed at the same level as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Mr. Lubbers also warned that the Convention was not a migration control instrument and “must not blamed for the inability of States to successfully manage illegal migration.”
The meeting, which commended the “enduring importance” of the Convention, looked at problems such as massive migration, the increase in trafficking in persons, protracted exile, and the blurred line between migration and asylum.
The Ministerial Declaration reaffirms the commitment of signatory States to the Refugee Convention, and stresses the principle of “non-refoulement” (non-forcible return of asylum-seekers). It calls on States to take measures to strengthen protection of asylum by adopting national legislation and urges caution because of the tense political climate after the attacks of 11 September 2001.
The meeting was part of the Global Consultations on International Protection, launched by UNHCR in 2001, involving governments, NGOs, academics, judges and other experts. The consultations will end in 2002 with the adoption of an Agenda for Protection to strengthen refugee protection worldwide for use by governments and humanitarian groups.
A follow-up session was held on 14 December with African ministers who attended the earlier meeting to discuss the refugee problems in Africa. They reiterated their commitment to help refugees, but said they needed international assistance to be able to tackle the root causes of displacement. They also expressed concern at the “impunity” of some refugee-exporting African nations and called for more to be done on preventing conflicts.
The ministerial meeting was preceded by a conference on 11 December, also held in Geneva, which brought together 50 NGOs to discuss how to better implement the Refugee Convention. The emerging consensus was that any arrangement to strengthen implementation would have to be independent, transparent and impartial.
Contact: Craig Sanders, Coordinator, NGO Unit, Division of Communication and Information, UNHCR, Case postale 2500, CH-1211 Geneva 2 Dépôt, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/739 7944, fax +41-22/739 7302, website (www.unhcr.org).
WHO REPORT ON MACRO-ECONOMICS AND HEALTH
A World Health Organization (WHO)-commissioned panel’s report Macroeconomics and Health: Investing in Health for Economic Development says that a scaling-up of investments in health for the world’s poor will not only save millions of lives but also produce large economic gains, based on the research conducted by the Commission on Macroeconomics and Health, composed of 18 leading economists and health experts.
Harvard Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs chaired the Commission which sought to clarify the links between poverty reduction, health and economic development. The report says that good health is an essential prerequisite for equitable development and fair globalization, and shows that just a few health conditions are responsible for a high proportion of the avoidable deaths in the poor countries. It also states that “well-targeted measures, using existing technologies, could save the lives of around eight million people per year and create substantial economic growth.”
The plan laid out by the Commission recommends that official development assistance (ODA) for health be increased from its current level of US$6 billion per year to US$27 billion by 2007. Under the plan, donor and recipient countries would enter a new “health pact” where international financing of health and the mechanisms of donor financing would evolve to include increased debt relief and increased mobilization of tax revenues for health.
The Commission’s report also outlines a global framework for access to life-saving medicines that includes norms on differential pricing schemes, broader licensing, and bulk purchase agreements. Differential pricing schemes would mean that poor countries would pay only the “baseline” costs of production, while richer countries would bear the costs of research and development. The report also indicates ways in which globalization contributes to the spread of diseases through activities such as tourism, migration, business travel or flows of refugees, stating that even a small increase in movement across borders substantially increases the transmission and incidence of infectious diseases.
The Commission sets the highest priority for scaling-up of health interventions at the community level, where health services are delivered. It also calls for donors to invest amply to strengthen the effective operation of health systems, singling out sub-Saharan Africa as the region with the greatest need for aid. The report identified HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and childhood diseases as targets of new spending.
Contact: Gregory Hartl, WHO Spokesperson, 20 avenue Appia, CH-1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/791 4458, fax +41-22/791 4858, e-mail <hartlg@who.int>, website (www.who.int).
REPORT ON GLOBALIZATION, GROWTH AND POVERTY
A recent World Bank report, Globalization, Growth and Poverty: Building an Inclusive World Economy, says that globalization has helped reduce poverty in a large number of developing countries but it must be harnessed better to help the world’s poorest, most marginalized countries improve the lives of their citizens, especially in light of the current worldwide economic slowdown.
While the study says that 24 developing countries increased their integration into the world economy during the last two decades, with an average 5% growth rate in per capita income in the 1990s, it also states that not all countries were able to do so. Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and the former Soviet Union are cited as countries that have been unable to increase their integration into the global economy, resulting, according to the report, in growing levels of poverty.
The report notes that the 24 developing countries which were able to benefit from globalization represent some three billion people, while the number of people living in countries that are being left behind represent an estimated two billion people. “For the two billion people in the non-integrating countries, globalization is not working as well as it should,” says David Dollar, co-author of the research report. “Some of these countries have been handicapped by weak policies, institutions, and governance, or by civil unrest and even civil war. Others have been handicapped by unfavourable geography, such as being land-locked and prone to disease. Both global and national action is needed to help those people who have been marginalized.”
The study proposes a seven-point plan to help developing countries benefit from globalization while managing the risks. The plan calls for a development round of trade talks; improving the investment climate in developing countries; improving delivery of education and health services; providing social protection to a changing labour market; increasing foreign aid from rich nations; supporting debt relief for reformers; and tackling greenhouse gases.
“Globalization often has been a very powerful force for poverty reduction, but too many countries and people have been left out,” says Nicholas Stern, the Bank’s chief economist. “Some anxieties about globalization are well-founded, but reversing globalization would come at an intolerably high price, destroying the prospects of prosperity for many millions of poor people,” Mr. Stern warned. “We do not agree with those who would retreat into a world of nationalism and protectionism. That way leads to deeper poverty and it is fundamentally hostile to the wellbeing of people in the developing countries. Instead, we must make globalization work for the poor people of the world.”
Contact: Caroline Anstey, World Bank, 1818 H Street NW, Washington DC 20433, USA, telephone +1-202/473 1800, e-mail <canstey@worldbank.org>, website (www.worldbank.org).
WORLD BANK LAUNCHES ENVIRONMENT STRATEGY
The World Bank Environment Strategy: Making Sustainable Commitments sets a direction for future activities and identifies specific actions for the next five years. It also emphasizes the need to tailor assistance according to differences in institutional development and environmental management capacity in client countries. The World Bank says the strategy is based on an understanding that sustainable development, built on a balance of economic growth, social cohesion, and environmental protection, is fundamental to its core objective of lasting poverty alleviation.
“The Environment Strategy will ensure economic growth does not come at the expense of people’s health and future opportunities because of pollution and degraded natural resources and ecosystems,” noted Kristalina Georgieva, World Bank Director of the Environment Department. “It calls for a full and coherent mainstreaming of environmental concerns into poverty reduction strategies, and in Bank lending and non-lending activities.”
The strategy is built around three interrelated objectives: improving people’s quality of life; improving the prospects for and the quality of growth; and protecting the quality of the regional and global environmental commons.
Quality of life efforts will focus on three broad areas where environment, quality of life and poverty reduction are strongly interlinked. The strategy will first attempt to enhance livelihoods, by helping to improve the sustainable management and protection of natural resources such as land, water and forests; will work to prevent environmental health risks including unsafe water and pollution; and aims to reduce vulnerability to environmental/natural hazards.
Efforts to improve the quality of growth will seek to ensure that short-term gains do not constrain opportunities for future development. Recognizing that sustainable environmental management is an essential condition for long-term economic growth and lasting improvements in people’s wellbeing, the Bank says it will focus on helping countries:
—strengthen their environmental policy, regulatory and institutional frameworks;
—strengthen environmental assessment systems and practices; and
—support good governance, increased transparency, access to environmental information, and public participation in decision making, among others.
The strategy notes that the deteriorating quality of the global environment–as reflected by climate change, the degradation of land, forests, water resources and biodiversity–threatens many developing countries. Therefore, the strategy will place increased emphasis on the local aspects of these challenges, on reducing degradation impacts on developing countries, and on actions that are targeted to benefit developing countries and local communities.
“We have a very real chance of reducing world poverty, and doing so in a manner consistent with a clear social and environmental conscience,” Ian Johnson, World Bank Vice President for Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development commented on the Bank’s newly launched strategy. “But it takes actions across all communities of the world–from a small farmers’ organization to a large private multinational corporation to the Western governments of the world….The challenge is to convert policy commitments into real progress on the ground.”
Contact: World Bank, 1818 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20433, USA, telephone +1-202/477 1234, fax +1-202/477 6391, e-mail <eadvisor@worldbank.org>, website (www.worldbank.org/environment).
ECA HEAD CALLS FOR MORE AID AND NEW RELATIONS
Delivering a lecture in London at 10 Downing Street as part of UK Prime Minister Tony Blair’s Millennium Lectures series, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) Executive Secretary K.Y. Amoako called for a new model in relations between African countries and international donors to reverse the decrease in aid to the continent.
Before the Prime Minister and other high-ranking officials, Mr. Amoako described the current trend of reduced development aid, saying overall aid to Africa has declined from US$19 billion a year at the beginning of the 1990s to US$12 billion now, a per capita drop of 40%. “In the same period, our share of global aid has dropped from 37% to 27%–this, when the quality of Africa’s development has improved. Shouldn’t better performance be better recognised?” The Executive Secretary called for a more holistic response from the G-8, which he said might include periodic leadership dialogues between the G-8 and Africa.
Mr. Amoako outlined six challenges to a brighter future in Africa: promoting good governance in both the political and economic spheres; making societies inclusive in order to tap the potential of women and youth; reducing poverty, which would require better economic growth and capably spent social budgets; making Africa part of the global future of science-based progress in order to sustain food security; creating an information-rich economy to expand national information, communications, and technology systems; and freeing up the potential of the private sector which, according to Mr. Amoako, can reduce poverty by building skills, creating jobs, and paying taxes.
He also proposed a new paradigm that would feature greater African leadership in policies and programmes, and would seek a joint commitment to commonly agreed development goals, and mutual accountability in progress towards those goals. “This moves us away from the past model of donor-imposed conditionalities–and towards self-monitoring and peer review among Africans,” he said.
Finishing his 17 December lecture, Mr. Amoako said, “I have been candid about Africa’s challenges and promises. We live in a tough neighbourhood, and the struggle may be long. But I want to close by underscoring what is absolutely our biggest asset and our biggest hope. It is the human spirit, which, when given a chance, will fulfil Africa’s promise.”
Contact: Economic Commission for Africa, PO Box 3001, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, telephone +251/151 5826, fax +251/151 0365, e-mail <ecainfo@uneca.org>, website (www.uneca.org).
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON FRESHWATER
The International Conference on Freshwater brought together 118 governments, 47 intergovernmental organizations, and 73 representatives from Major Groups in Bonn (Germany) from 3-7 December 2001 to examine issues and action relating to the worldwide water supply and wastewater disposal, protection of water bodies and cross-border cooperation. The Conference produced Recommendations for Action (RFA) as a means to bridge the gap between policy and implementation, and will also serve as the Conference’s main contribution to the upcoming World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) to be held in Johannesburg (South Africa) from 26 August to 4 September 2002.
Working under the Conference theme of “Water–A Key to Sustainable Development,” two multistakeholder dialogues were held on equitable access and sustainable supply of water for the poor, and on strategies for sustainable and equitable management of water resources. The resulting Chairman’s Summary recommends that partnerships should include: multistakeholder participation in watershed management groups; support for underrepresented groups to ensure their participation; decentralized decision making at the local level; full public access to information, knowledge sharing and transparency; capacity building; and clear legal and regulatory frameworks.
A closed-door ministerial session was held on 4 December and considered questions of equitable and sustainable use of water resources, and mobilizing financial resources for infrastructure investment. The Ministerial Declaration calls on the WSSD to include decisive action on water issues. It recommends that resources be made available to assist developing countries in mitigating natural disasters, and that women should have an equal voice in water management, among other recommendations.
In the plenary session on integrating gender perspectives, delegates recommended building women’s agricultural, scientific, professional and financial capacity to overcome the inequities in representation in decision making and land tenure. They also called for the integration of water issues into the UN Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, and for reporting on the progress made to both the WSSD and the Third World Water Forum to be held in Kyoto in March 2003. Three parallel working groups were also held on sub-themes related to the RFA.
The final text of the RFA is divided into sections on governance; mobilizing financial resources; and capacity building and sharing knowledge. It points out that US$180 billion is required as investment in providing water and sanitation services to about 1.2 billion people around the world, where only US$70-80 billion is presently invested in water infrastructures, and calls for mobilizing “all sources for funding in developing countries–public funding from general budget revenues, water tariffs and charges, external assistance, and private investment.” The RFA describes water security for all as an achievable goal, and states that policies for all aspects of water should be clearly linked to policies for poverty reduction and economic growth. The RFA also says that water resources management should complement work to combat desertification and other forms of environmental and ecological degradation.
Contact: Secretariat of the International Conference on Freshwater, Tulpenfeld 7, D-53113 Bonn, Germany, telephone +49-228/2804655, fax +49-228/2804660, e-mail <info@water-2001.de>. Conference documents available on website (www.water-2001.de).
FISHERIES CONVENTION ENTERS INTO FORCE
The 1995 UN agreement to ensure the long-term conservation of high seas fisheries entered into force on 11 December 2001, 30 days after Malta became the thirtieth country to ratify the agreement. The agreement implements provisions of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which relate to the Conservation and Management of Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks. It aims to restrict over-fishing by enhancing cooperation in collecting and exchanging information, and gives enforcement agents increased authority to board and inspect fishing vessels. Parties to the agreement also commit to cooperate in regional fisheries management.
While environmental NGOs welcomed the Treaty’s entry into force, some cautioned that nearly three-quarters of the world’s top fishing nations have not yet ratified the agreement. “They account for nearly 80% of the world catch,” noted Director of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Simon Cripps. “While their support is not needed for the UN Fish Stocks Agreement to enter into force, their compliance is essential in order for the Treaty to be effective,” he said.
WWF also said that most fishing nations and regional government bodies fall short of international standards for responsible fisheries management. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the top fishing countries accounted for up to eight million tonnes of fish caught in 1999.
Contact: UN Office of Legal Affairs, Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, 2 UN Plaza, New York NY 10017, USA, telephone +1-212/963 3962, fax +1-212/963 5847, website (www.un.org/Depts/los/convention_overview.fish.stocks.htm).
UNEP RELEASES STUDIES ON FISHERIES
Developing countries that open up their waters to foreign fishing fleets may lose far more than they gain, recent studies from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) indicate. The studies, undertaken in collaboration with national organizations in Argentina and Senegal, show that the eventual costs born by developing countries, in terms of loss of income for local fishermen, environmental damage and fish stock depletion, can far outweigh the short-term financial gains generated from foreign governments and fleets.
Hussein Abaza, head of UNEP’s Economics and Trade Branch (ETB) says, “Unraveling the precise impacts of trade liberalization and subsidies on the environment is not an easy business. Many of the impacts can be hidden, indirect and not immediately obvious.” He added that the studies have pointed to action that needs to be taken if developing countries are to “truly benefit.”
Argentina opened up its waters to European and other fleets, mainly from South-East Asia including Korea and Japan, during the 1980s and early 1990s. Factors such as deregulation, free movement of foreign capital and a reduction of export taxes triggered the boom in the export of Argentinean fish. During the first ten years, the report notes, the number of fish caught mushroomed and exports grew by 478%. However, since 1997, the quantity of fish caught has fallen dramatically as a result of the over-exploitation of key stocks.
Senegal became a major exporter of fish to the European market in the late 1980s as a result of a series of trade-related actions and agreements. Two-thirds of Senegalese export revenues now come from fish exports to Europe. Nevertheless, the study says, these policies resulted in a sharp decline of key fish stocks, with related environmental degradation, as well as threatened food-security of the country.
According to UNEP, the harmful impacts on the marine environment in Senegal and Argentina stem more from a lack of policies to ensure the sustainable management of fish stocks than trade liberalization. Tradable quotas, diversifying exports, measures to preserve the local markets, fines for vessels exceeding quotas, as well as greater enforcement and policing of the fisheries and the type of fishing gear allowed could solve some of the problems. The report estimates that the cost to the economy of the current, unsustainable fishing of one species alone– hake–has cost Argentina US$500 million, and suggests that a better-managed fishery could benefit the economy by as much as US$5 billion.
UNEP will host a technical workshop on the subject on 20 March 2002 in Geneva.
Contact: Hussein Abaza, Chief, Economics and Trade Branch, UNEP, 15 chemin des Anémones, CH-1219 Châtelaine (Geneva), Switzerland, telephone +41-22/917 8298, e-mail <hussein.abaza@unep.ch>, website (www.unep.ch/etu).
INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF MOUNTAINS
The International Year of Mountains (IYM) was launched at UN headquarters in New York on 11 December 2001, with senior UN officials warning that mountain ecosystems face increasing risks as conflicts and environmental damage are harming irreplaceable resources.
The launch was co-sponsored by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the International Year of Mountains Focus Group, in cooperation with the UN Department of Public Information.
In his keynote address, FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf underscored the importance of eliminating armed conflict and hunger to protect the world’s fragile mountain ecosystems and to alleviate the desperate poverty that exists in many mountain communities. “Mountain areas are home to most of the armed conflicts in the world as well as many of the world’s poorest and least food-secure populations,” he said. “As we begin commemorating the International Year of Mountains, conflict may be the single greatest obstacle to achieving our goals.” Mr. Diouf called on countries and UN agencies to make peace in the mountains a priority in the Year by addressing the root causes of conflict.
Other key concerns expressed by UN officials, governments and NGOs included conflict resolution; food security; the loss of ice caps due to global warming; sustainable tourism; sustainable mining; preservation of mountain spaces and development by mountain communities; and legislative and regulatory approaches for sustainable mountain development. The importance of religious and spiritual traditions linked to mountains, particularly among indigenous peoples, was also emphasized.
Mountains occupy one-fifth of the world’s land area, and are home to one-tenth of the world’s population and sources of biodiversity, minerals and forests. More than three billion people–half of humanity–rely on mountains for water to grow food, to produce electricity, to sustain industries and most importantly, to drink. Yet, according to FAO and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) reports, many mountain ecosystems throughout the world are being degraded by unsustainable forestry and agriculture practices, often a result of poverty, urbanization and growing population.
The General Assembly declared the IYM 2002 in November 1998 to increase awareness of the global importance of mountain ecosystems and the challenges faced by mountain people and to stimulate long-term on-the-ground action. This unprecedented opportunity to address mountain issues and celebrate mountain culture evolved out of the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), which placed mountains on equal footing with climate change, tropical deforestation and desertification as a key issue in the global debate on environment and development.
FAO is the lead UN agency for the Year, with partners including UN agencies, NGOs, the Mountain Forum, mountain people’s organizations and more than 40 national committees representing countries around the world.
Contact: Douglas McGuire, Senior Forestry Officer, International Year of Mountains Coordination Unit, FAO, Rome, Italy, telephone +39-06/570 53275, e-mail <Douglas.McGuire@fao.org>, website (www.mountains2002.org).
MEETING TO STRENGTHEN MONTREAL PROTOCOL
The 13th Meeting of the Parties (MOP-13) to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer was held in Colombo (Sri Lanka) from 16-19 October 2001, with 325 participants from 108 countries, representing governments, UN agencies, and international and non-governmental organizations participating. MOP-13 focused on the implementation of existing commitments, rather than the negotiation of new provisions, as it considered ways to strengthen the effectiveness of the Montreal Protocol and ways to accelerate the recovery of the ozone layer.
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), under whose auspices the 1987 Montreal Protocol was adopted, is calling for tighter controls saying that the current spring ozone “hole” over Antarctica measures 24 million square miles–almost the combined size of the Russian Federation and Brazil. “Despite the enormous cuts in ozone-depleting chemicals achieved under the Montreal Protocol, the stratospheric ozone layer remains in poor health as a result of past emissions,” said Klaus Töpfer, Executive Director of UNEP. “To minimize the damage to humans and the environment caused by increased ultraviolet (UV-B) radiation reaching the surface, we need to tackle simultaneously all the remaining sources of these chemicals,” he said.
MOP-13 adopted decisions on: the terms of reference (TOR) for a study on the 2003-2005 replenishment of the Multilateral Fund for the Implementation of the Montreal Protocol, which provides support for phase-out projects in developing countries; an evaluation and review of the performance of the Protocol’s financial mechanism; a review of the Multilateral Fund’s fixed-exchange-rate mechanism; Parties’ compliance; procedures for assessing the ozone-depleting potential (ODP) of new substances; expedited procedures for adding new substances to the Protocol; and monitoring of international trade and prevention of illegal trade in ozone-depleting substances (ODS) and mixtures and products containing ODS, among others.
MOP-14 is scheduled to take place in Nairobi from 25-29 November 2002.
Contact: Michael Williams, Information Officer, UNEP, International Environment House, 15 chemin des Anémones, CH-1219 Châtelaine (Geneva), Switzerland, telephone +41-22/979 9242, fax +41-22/797 3464, e-mail <mwilliams@unep.ch>, website (www.unep.org).
GLOBAL CONFERENCE ON OCEANS AND COASTS
The Global Conference on Oceans and Coasts at Rio+10: Toward the 2002 World Summit of Sustainable Development–Assessing Progress, Addressing Continuing New Challenges, was held in Paris from 3-7 December 2001. Organized by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the conference brought together representatives of intergovernmental, international and regional organizations, NGOs and ocean experts to assess progress made in the implementation of Agenda 21, the 1992 Earth Summit programme of action, on issues relating to oceans and coasts.
The conference called for these issues to be placed on the agenda of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), to be held in Johannesburg (South Africa) from 26 August-4 September 2002. Growing population in coastal areas leads to more pressure on ocean and coastal resources, and the conference called for the World Summit to develop an action plan to “insure the sustainability and life-support functions of the world’s oceans and coasts.”
Some of the issues discussed and possible actions emanating from the conference include:
—Poverty reduction and healthier coastal communities can be achieved by targeting donor aid towards poverty reduction and improving public health in these regions; and, in cases where fishing has to be restricted, by helping communities to find alternative livelihoods.
—Implementation and compliance with international agreements can be enhanced by developing a common vision for oceans and seas; and pursuing wider ratification and implementation of multilateral agreements on oceans and coasts.
—Capacity building for governance of ocean and coastal areas can be accomplished by increasing the capacity of local governments and community-based groups to manage coastal and marine areas; and improving links between education and training in integrated coastal management.
—Protection of coastal and marine areas and biodiversity can be enhanced by developing an internationally accepted marine biodiversity classification system; and incorporating marine protected areas into an overall integrated coastal system.
—Strengthen monitoring of the marine environment by effective international coordination for an integrated assessment of the status of oceans and coasts; and a comprehensive global report on the state of oceans.
—Regarding issues relating to Small Island Developing States (SIDS), there is a need to integrate economic, environmental and social vulnerability factors into a vulnerability index with special applicability to SIDS; and a need for a ten-year review of the 1994 UN Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States.
Contact: Julian Barbière, Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, 1 rue Miollis, F-75732 Paris Cedex 15, France, telephone +33-1/45 68 40 45, fax +33-1/45 68 58 12, e-mail <j.barbiere@unesco.org>, website (ioc.unesco.org/iocweb).
UNAIDS/WHO 2001 AIDS EPIDEMIC UPDATE
The annual report AIDS Epidemic Update, published on 28 November 2001 by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World Health Organization (WHO), estimates that around the world 40 million people were living with HIV at the end of 2001. The report says that 20 years after the first clinical evidence of AIDS was reported, more than 60 million people have been infected with the virus, making it the leading cause of death in sub-Saharan Africa, and the fourth-biggest killer worldwide.
The impact of the AIDS epidemic on growth, income and poverty is deepening in many parts of the world, the report says. In sub-Saharan Africa, the region the hardest hit by the epidemic, the report estimates that heavily affected countries can lose more than 20% of their gross domestic product (GDP) by 2020 because of AIDS. Also severely affected are the education systems, civil administrations, health services and farms of many countries in the region.
The report shows that Eastern Europe and Central Asia continue to experience the fastest-growing epidemic in the world. In 2001, there were an estimated 250,000 new infections in this region, bringing the number of people living with HIV to one million. Given the high levels of other sexually transmitted infections and the high rates of injecting drug use among young people, the report says the epidemic looks set to grow considerably. In this region several factors facilitate the spread of the HIV/AIDS epidemic: mass unemployment and economic insecurity which affect much of the region; social and cultural norms that are increasingly liberalized; and the steady disintegration of public health services, making a much larger and more generalized epidemic a real threat.
The report calls for prompt, focused prevention efforts including in countries that still have low levels of HIV infection. It says that the key to success in low-prevalence countries, where HIV is not yet a risk to the wider population, is to enable the most vulnerable groups to adopt safer sexual and drug-injecting behaviour, to interrupt the spread of the virus among and between those groups, and to buy time to increase the wider population’s ability to protect itself against the virus. The report says it also is vital to defuse the stigma and blame often attached to vulnerable groups.
According to the report, unequal access to affordable treatment and adequate health services is one of the main factors accounting for the drastically different survival rates among those living with HIV/AIDS in rich and poor countries and communities. Public pressure and UN-sponsored engagements with pharmaceutical companies through the Accelerating Access Initiative, along with competition from generic drug manufacturers has helped bring antiretroviral drug prices down. The report says that reducing the high prices of antiretroviral drugs is essential but not enough, and calls for large-scale international support to help countries to meet the challenge of functioning and affordable health systems to bring treatment to those who need them.
Contact: Dominique De Santis, Press Officer, UNAIDS, 20 avenue Appia, CH-1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/791 4509, fax +41-22/791 4898, e-mail <desantisd@unaids.org>, website (www.unaids.org).
ICASA FOCUSES ON COMMUNITY
“The Community Commits Itself” was the theme of the 12th International Conference on AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Diseases in Africa (ICASA), held in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) from 9-13 December 2001, and sponsored by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).
UNAIDS and conference organizers, Society on AIDS in Africa, the African Union against Sexually Transmitted Diseases, and the Government of Burkina Faso, chose the community theme to share insights and experiences gained in disease control and management strategies within the African context and to facilitate greater regional and interregional collaboration. “The most helpful responses to the epidemic so far have been those that build on the mobilization of communities,” organizers said in a statement. “It is therefore absolutely necessary to study community projects, to highlight the success and examine the difficulties encountered in organising community participation….It is only a community whose knowledge of HIV/AIDS has been reinforced which will be able to face up to the epidemic.”
Opening the conference, President of Burkina Faso Blaise Compaore urged Africans to admit that AIDS was the leading disaster in Africa, and that it was hindering further expansion of the continent’s economic and social development. He addressed the devastating effects that HIV/AIDS has had on Burkina Faso. “We see entire families destroyed,” said Mr. Compaore, “the framework that holds them together falling apart, their legendary solidarity fragmented by HIV/AIDS and numerous orphans joining the ranks of the ‘street children’ whose numbers have increased to an alarming degree.”
His sentiments were echoed by UNAIDS Executive Director Peter Piot who said it was time for donor agencies and governments to delve deeper into communities in order to reach more people. Dr. Piot pointed out that there were many possible sources of funding for “scaling-up” AIDS efforts from community to national levels, essential to linking local, district, national and regional decision making.
“In Africa it would require US$5 billion to organize effective prevention, to care for people living with HIV and to support AIDS orphans,” he said, adding that the money should come from the national budgets of African countries, international donors, financial institutions and from the Secretary-General’s Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. “The commitments made at international conferences on AIDS this year must be turned into action if the epidemic is to be effectively pushed back in Africa and other seriously affected areas,” Dr. Piot stressed.
Scientists at the conference emphasized the need for discounted HIV drugs. Despite assertions that Africa does not have a strong enough health infrastructure or sufficient qualified health personnel to administer these drugs, studies were presented showing that the drugs had been effective in Africa. Ibra Nboye, Director of the African Society Against AIDS, cited a study on Senegal that found that between 70 and 80% of patients appropriately followed their drug regimen for several consecutive years. Results of a similar study conducted by France’s National Agency for AIDS Research were also presented at the conference. The World Health Organization (WHO) and UNAIDS officials noted that UN efforts to broaden access to anti-AIDS drugs were gaining momentum, with tangible results emerging in one out of five African countries. ICASA XIII will be held in Nairobi (Kenya) in 2003.
In related news, a recent report The Ecumenical Response to HIV/AIDS in Africa outlines a plan of action to address HIV/AIDS based on dialogue between churches, ecumenical and church-related organizations in Africa, Europe and North America and the World Council of Churches. The preamble calls on church leaders and congregations to speak honestly about HIV/AIDS and to act practically in response to it. Their objectives include the eradication of stigma and discrimination and to ensure that people living with HIV/AIDS are supported and actively involved in all activities of the churches. The report also outlines steps to be taken concerning education; training; prevention; care and counselling; advocacy; gender; culture; and liturgy.
Contact: XIIème CISMA 2001, Secrétariat Permanent, 09 BP 360 Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, telephone +226/373139 or +226/373140, fax +226/373137, e-mail <cisma2001@cenatrin.bf>, website (www.cisma2001.bf).
Calle Almedal, UNAIDS, 20 Avenue Appia, CH-1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/791 4570, fax +41-22/791 4898, e-mail <almedalc@unaids.org>, website (www.unaids.org).
UN MARKS WORLD AIDS DAY
A town hall-style meeting was held at UN headquarters in New York in observance of World AIDS Day on 1 December 2001 under the theme “I care...Do you?”–a question designed to provoke awareness that individual action can go far in slowing infection rates and breaking the silence surrounding the epidemic.
Addressing the meeting, UN officials stressed the need to refocus attention on the global fight against the epidemic and to sustain the momentum that has been achieved in that effort so far. Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette noted that while the events of the past few months had propelled the world into an uncertain environment, the resolve to address the epidemic should not be diminished as a result. “The Secretary-General has issued a call to action with five clear objectives:
—to ensure that people everywhere know what to do to avoid infection;
—to stop HIV transmission from mother to child;
—to provide treatment for all infected persons;
—to redouble the search for a vaccine, as well as a cure; and
—to care for all those whose lives have been devastated by AIDS, particularly orphans.”
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan painted a grim picture of the reach of HIV/AIDS, which according to the most recent figures has infected more than 40 million. Despite these bleak trends, the Secretary-General said the world had reached a new level of commitment to fight the epidemic. “People are grasping the seriousness of the crisis, but they are also realizing that we are not powerless against this disease.” In order to meet the challenge of building on the current momentum, he said greater resources would be needed. “We estimate that an effective response to AIDS in low- and middle-income countries requires US$7 to 10 billion dollars each year. Clearly, funds will need to be boosted through changes in national priorities. Many governments have indicated they are going to increase their national health budgets. And of course, we can also do more by further debt relief to these countries that are spending more in debt repayments, as well as contributions through civil society and the private sector.” The Global AIDS and Health Fund has thus far received pledges of over US$1.5 billion.
Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Gro Harlem Brundtland, sounded an optimistic note, observing that the world had seen the start of a real change over the past year. “Silence about HIV and AIDS is being broken,” she said in a message. “All governments are confronting the epidemic with a new openness. They know that the effects [of AIDS] are relevant for their people. Taboos are starting to erode.”
Contact: UNAIDS, 20 avenue Appia, CH-1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/791 4651, fax +41-22/791 4187, e-mail <unaids@unaids.org>, website (www.unaids.org).
WHO LAUNCHES TOBACCO-FREE SPORTS CAMPAIGN
The World Health Organization (WHO) has been joined by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA), the International Federation of the Automobile Association (FIA), Olympic Aid and other regional and local sports organizations in its Tobacco-Free Sports campaign. The campaign’s aim is to clean sports of all forms of tobacco, including tobacco consumption, exposure to second-hand smoke, and tobacco advertising, promotion and marketing.
Tobacco-free events will be organized all over the world, including the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games in the US and the 2002 FIFA World Cup in the Republic of Korea and Japan.
WHO points out that tobacco companies spend millions of dollars every year sponsoring sports events. “Many athletes, sports fans and spectators are young people,” the WHO reports, adding that recent data suggest that one-third of young smokers start before the age of ten. At the same time, youth consumption of tobacco is up in many parts of the world. Although tobacco companies claim that they do not target youth, the WHO says they advertise on “team jerseys and caps, tote bags and T-shirts, fields and stadia, cars and sports equipment” in order to “create a positive association between tobacco and the strength, speed, grace, success, fun and excitement of sports.” Tobacco kills more than four million people every year, according to WHO figures, and it is estimated that tobacco will kill 8.4 million people every year by 2020.
In related news, WHO’s 191 Member States are negotiating a global public health treaty, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), to bring down tobacco-related deaths. According to the WHO, the FCTC will combine science and economics with legislation and regulation as it seeks global and national solutions for problems such as global tobacco advertising or smuggling–issues that cut across national boundaries, cultures, age groups and socio-economic strata.
Contact: Tobacco Free Initiative, WHO, 20 Avenue Appia, CH-1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/791 2108, fax +41-22/791 4832, e-mail <tfi@who.int>, website (tobacco.who.int).
EAST EUROPEAN HEALTH CARE IN CRISIS
According to a recent survey by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and Public Services International (PSI), the economic and social situation in several East European countries has resulted in the near collapse of some health care systems and afflicted health sector workers with high stress, poor working conditions and salaries at or below minimum wage–if and when they are paid.
“Rapidly increasing rates of sexually-transmitted diseases, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and numerous chronic diseases have created a crisis of care made all the more dramatic by diminishing public health structures, lack of training of health care professionals and general de-skilling of the workforce,” says Guy Standing, ILO Director of the Socio-Economic Security Programme and coordinator of the studies. “All of this has surely contributed to the catastrophic fall in life expectancy rates in Russia, Ukraine and some other countries in the region.”
The ILO People’s Security Surveys (PSS) found 88% of families in Ukraine and 82% in Hungary were unable to afford basic health care. Meanwhile, 78% of healthcare workers surveyed in Ukraine reported that their wages were worse than the average for all workers. In Moldova, the poorest country in Europe, the health service is close to collapse and workers are paid months late, if at all, the survey reports. In the Czech Republic and Lithuania, most healthcare workers said their working conditions and pay had worsened in the past five years.
According to the study, the crisis stems from governments cutting public funding and decentralizing funding responsibilities, leaving many local authorities without the resources or administrative capacity to meet new obligations. The survey notes that the lack of funds has encouraged doctors and others in direct contact with patients to demand or expect illegal payments, and points to Russia, where such “under the table” arrangements represent an estimated 40% of all expenditures by persons seeking medical care.
The ILO says the overall economic situation in certain countries in Central and Eastern Europe puts them on a par with many developing countries, citing that two out of five Romanians live on less than US$30 per month, lower than Peru where the minimum monthly is US$40. Tuberculosis, at 65 per 100,000 of the population, is equivalent to the average found in sub-Saharan Africa.
Contact: ILO Department of Communication (DCOMM), 4, route des Morillons, CH-1211 Geneva 22, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/799 7912, fax +41-22/799 8577, e-mail <communication@ilo.org>, website (www.ilo.org/communication).
UNICEF REPORT ON CIS, CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE
According to a recent UNICEF report, Decade of Transition, child poverty is widespread in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), and Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), in spite of growing economies throughout the region. The report, published by the UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre in Florence, looks at the standard of living of the more than 400 million people who live in the CIS/CEE region.
UNICEF says that almost 18 million children and young people are living in poverty, and increasing numbers of children are ending up in institutions or being put up for adoption as families strain to cope. According to the report, higher rates of children in out-of-home care reflect the greater risks faced by children: weaker family ties, lower household income, poorer access to health and education, higher rates of adult mortality.
In parts of the region, the report finds high levels of school dropout, repetition, and late entry. Secondary school attendance in Central Asian countries has fallen from two-thirds in 1989 to less than half of 15 to 18 year-olds in 1998. Cases of HIV/AIDS have increased dramatically in the region affecting primarily young people (see related story above), and there has been a 50% increase in tuberculosis, with Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Romania being the most affected.
The report notes huge disparities in the situation of children across the 27 countries in the region and calls for renewed efforts to grant a better future for all. Radical reforms of child protection systems in the region are no less urgently needed now than they were a decade ago, says the report, which urges stronger preventive and better targeted policies to help keep children and their families together.
Some of UNICEF’s recommendations include moving child poverty to the forefront of national policy debate, combating long-term problems such as educational disadvantages, teenage pregnancy and ill health that perpetuate child poverty, and supporting family incomes through both economic policy and tax and transfer systems. The report also makes recommendations on education, health and child institutionalization.
Contact: Patrick McCormick, UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre, Piazza SS. Annunziata 12, I-50122 Florence, Italy, telephone +39-05/5203 3253, fax +39-055/244817, e-mail <pmccormick@unicef.org>, website (www.unicef.org/newsline/01pr94.htm) or (www.unicef-icdc.org).
ILO LAUNCHES RED CARD TO CHILD LABOUR CAMPAIGN
The International Labour Organization (ILO) launched its “Red Card to Child Labour” campaign in January 2002 to coincide with the start of the 2002 African Cup of Nations football tournament that began on 19 January in Bamako (Mali). The new campaign against the use of child labour is symbolized by the red card handed out by referees for serious violations of rules on the football field.
The ILO aims to take its initiative worldwide to include the World Cup. “Child labour is neither a sport nor a pastime,” said ILO Director-General Juan Somavía. “Child labourers work hard–on the farms, in mines and quarries, or as domestic servants. Some are trafficked into slave-like conditions or prostitution. Millions are condemned to lifelong poverty and despair. Now, working hand in hand with the world’s most popular sport, we hope to galvanize the global campaign against child labour with this potent symbol–the red card that means you’re out of the game.”
The initiative aims to take advantage of the popularity of the African Cup of Nations 2002 to generate the widest possible public awareness of the reality of child labour and encourage people to support the global movement against it. The ILO says that while today Africa is home to some 40%, or about 80 million, of the world’s child workers, the continent has in many ways led the way in the struggle against child labour, especially in its worst forms. Of the 115 countries ratifying the ILO Convention No. 182, 30 are from Africa, including the first two ratifying States (Seychelles and Malawi).
Following the launch of the “Red Card” campaign in Africa, the ILO plans to pursue the initiative in Latin America, Asia and Europe. The ILO International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC), which is running the campaign, is active in 75 countries, removing children from abusive child labour, providing them with rehabilitation and education and providing their families with income-generating possibilities.
Contact: Department of Communication, ILO, 4 route des Morillons, CH-1211 Geneva 22, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/799 7912, fax: +41-22/799 8577, e-mail <communication@ilo.org>, website (www.ilo.org).
PREPCOM FOR 2ND WORLD ASSEMBLY ON AGEING
The Commission for Social Development, acting as the Preparatory Committee for the Second World Assembly for Ageing to be held from 8-12 April 2002 in Madrid (Spain), resumed its first session at United Nations headquarters in New York from 10-14 December 2001. During the session, the Preparatory Committee discussed the accreditation and participation of NGOs. It also considered the draft 2002 International Strategy for Action on Ageing (E/CN.5/2001/PC/L.9) to be adopted by UN Member States at the Second World Assembly.
According to the draft Strategy for Action on Ageing, the proportion of persons aged 60 years and older is expected to double from 2000 to 2050, from 10 to 21% globally. The draft aims to respond to the opportunities and challenges posed by both individuals and populations ageing in the 21st century. The main goal of the Strategy is to promote the development of a society for all ages. It identifies three key directions for action: development for an ageing world; advancing health and wellbeing into old age; and ensuring enabling and supportive environments.
Recognizing the need for further negotiations on the draft Strategy, the Preparatory Committee decided to hold an extra inter-sessional meeting from 7-18 January 2002 at UN headquarters in New York to advance negotiations on the text before the final PrepCom meeting, to be held from 25 February to 1 March 2002, also in New York. The Committee approved the accreditation of 26 NGOs.
Contact: Alexandre Sidorenko, UN Programme on Ageing, Division for Social Policy and Development, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Room DC2-1358, 2 UN Plaza, New York NY 10017, USA, telephone +1-212/963 0500, fax +1-212/963 3062, website (www.un.org/ageing).
ELIMINATION OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN DAY
The second International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women was observed on 25 November 2001 and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s message marking the occasion drew attention to the political, human rights and humanitarian challenge facing Afghanistan and said that the plight of women will be a major priority for any UN role in the country.
In his statement, Mr. Annan pointed to recent commitments made by Member States, including the Millennium Declaration; the UN Security Council resolution 1325 on women, peace and security; and the signature of the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its protocol to eliminate trafficking in persons, especially women and children. “These commitments must be our lodestar in our mission to free women from violence, wherever they may live,” the Secretary-General said. “Violence against women is not a ‘women’s’ issue, but one that concerns us all–especially men. Men must work to confront what should be described as men’s violence against women, and recognize and respect the equal role and rights of women. When it comes to violence against women, there are no grounds for tolerance, no tolerable excuses,” Mr. Annan continued.
Executive Director of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) Noeleen Heyzer’s statement in honour of the Day highlighted three lessons that UNIFEM has learned from the ways in which women are organizing to address violence and build long-lasting peace. First, women are developing innovative ways to challenge the use of tradition as a rationale for continued violence. Projects from UNIFEM’s Trust Fund in Support of Actions to Eliminate Violence against Women have demonstrated how women’s groups work with religious leaders, families and communities to change attitudes and practices towards female genital mutilation and so-called honour killings, she said. Second, women are also investing in long-term public education and awareness campaigns. Third, women are linking the need for social and economic rights to notions of human security. “The terror of poverty, hunger, HIV/AIDS and inequality are the seeds that spawn social fragmentation and violence,” she said. UNIFEM is supporting women to build economic literacy, to understand economic policy making and to analyze national budget processes from a gender perspective.
Contact: UNIFEM, 304 East 45th Street, 6th Floor, New York NY 10017, USA, telephone +1-212/906 6400, fax +1-212/906 6705, website (www.unifem.undp.org).
FAO/WORLD BANK STUDY ON SMALL FARMERS
According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), small farmers produce much of the developing world’s food, yet they are generally much poorer than the rest of the population in these countries. Currently, more than 70% of the world’s poor live in rural areas and international investment in agriculture is at an all-time low.
Farming Systems and Poverty: Improving Farmers’ Livelihoods in a Changing World, a recent FAO and World Bank study on the future of agriculture in the developing world, emphasizes that responding effectively to the needs and priorities of farmers and their families is impossible without first understanding the world in which they live, and the many choices they have to make each day.
The study notes that although the majority of the world’s population will live in urban areas by 2030, farming populations will not be much smaller than they are today. The publication stresses that, for the foreseeable future, dealing with poverty and hunger in much of the world means confronting the problems that small farmers and their families face in their daily struggle for survival.
FAO says the publication aims to provide international financial institutions and governments with the tools that will help in this process, by identifying options open to poor farmers in over 70 different farming systems around the world. Detailed analyses were undertaken of 20 of these systems, which support nearly two billion farmers and their families, about 80% of the agricultural population of the developing world. The systems were considered in light of five possible broad household strategies for escaping from poverty and hunger:
— intensification of production;
—diversification of agricultural activities for increased output value;
—increased farm size;
—expansion in off-farm income; and
—complete exit from the farming system.
John Dixon, FAO senior farming systems officer, describes the reason behind the study: “In our global family, one in five lives in extreme poverty and more than 800 million are undernourished. That’s why the focus of the World Bank and other development agencies is now swinging back to poverty. The farming systems approach will help them set their priorities for investment in food security, poverty reduction and economic growth by funding broad-based agricultural development that reaches and benefits the poorest and hungriest small-scale farm families.”
Contact: John Riddle, FAO Media Relations Office, FAO, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, I-00100 Rome, Italy, telephone +39-06/5705 3625, fax +39-06/5705 3699, e-mail <john.riddle@fao.org>, website
(www.fao.org/farmingsystems).
FAO SAYS CEREAL STOCKS TO DECLINE
According to the most recent United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Food Outlook Report, the latest information indicates that although there was a slightly larger global cereal output in 2001 of 1,870 million tonnes, production will still be less than the anticipated utilization requirements in 2001/2002, which will lead to a significant decline in cereal stocks.
The FAO says that food emergencies persist in many countries, with Afghanistan currently facing a grave food supply situation. Total cereal food aid in 2001/2002 (July/June) could increase by 1 million tonnes, to 9.5 million tonnes (in grain equivalent), after a sharp drop in the previous season. If forecasts for cereal trade, food aid and prices should materialize, the more vulnerable and food deficit regions could face larger cereal import bills than in 2000/2001, warns FAO.
Global milk output for this year is forecast at 585 million tonnes, up 2% from last year, says the report. Global sugar demand this year is forecast to reach 130.7 million tonnes, up by about two million tonnes from the previous year, and overtaking annual production for the first time in seven years. The report notes that “Although early indications point to a production deficit also in 2002, adequate global stocks are expected to ensure continued market stability throughout 2002.”
Contact: Global Information and Early Warning System (GIEWS) on Food and Agriculture, Commodities and Trade Division (ESC), FAO, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, I-00100 Rome, Italy, Rome, fax +39-06/5705 4495, e-mail <giews1@fao.org>, website
(www.fao.org/giews).
FAO WARNS OF GLOBAL FOOT AND
Globalization of trade favours the globalization of serious epidemics such as foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned during the FAO Conference’s 31st Session held in November, where Member States discussed the recent FMD outbreak in Europe and the impact of epidemic animal diseases on agriculture, trade and food security.
FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf called upon countries “to develop a global plan to contain and progressively control the disease threats at source in developing countries.” Contingency planning for emergencies, strengthening of border controls and of commodity inspections, although essential to combat outbreaks, will not be enough to manage the risks of international spread of FMD, he added.
“Attacking FMD and other animal diseases in developing countries is in the self-interest of industrialized countries. Supporting developing countries in their fight against transboundary animal diseases could reduce the risk of FMD outbreaks in developed countries,” Dr. Diouf said.
Many infectious animal diseases, most importantly FMD, thrive through trade in livestock or livestock products, whether legal or illegal, the FAO stressed, adding that seven out of 11 primary outbreaks of FMD disease that occurred in Europe between 1991 and 1999 are likely to have been caused by the illegal importation of livestock or livestock products.
FAO said that the recent outbreak in the UK of the particularly aggressive ‘Pan-Asian’ strain was most likely caused by feeding pigs with contaminated swill. The virus then spread from the UK to Ireland, France and the Netherlands through livestock trade. FAO estimated that around 4 million animals were slaughtered in Europe in 2001 in order to eradicate the FMD epidemic. FMD is highly contagious and can spread extremely rapidly in livestock through the movement of infected animals and animal products, contaminated objects such as trucks, and even wind currents, said the FAO.
Contact: Erwin Northoff, Media Relations Officer, FAO, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, I-00100 Rome, Italy, telephone +39-06/5705 3105, fax +39-06/5705 4975, e-mail <erwin.northoff@fao.org> website (www.fao.org/ag/aga/events/world_fmd.htm).
SCOPE OF CCW CONVENTION EXPANDED
The Second Review Conference of the States Parties to the Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May Be Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects, also known as the Inhumane Weapons Convention, met in Geneva from 11-21 December 2001 and concluded its session with an agreement to expand the scope of the Convention to cover internal/intra-State as well as international conflicts.
The Final Declaration on the Conference, which recognizes the large number of intra-State conflicts giving rise to serious humanitarian problems, sets forth a number of specific measures, including:
—The amendment of Article 1 of the Convention so that the Convention will apply to internal as well as international conflicts;
—The commissioning of a group of governmental experts to examine ways of dealing with the issues of explosive remnants of war and anti-vehicle landmines;
—Consultations on possible options for promoting compliance with the Convention and its protocols; and
—An invitation to States Parties to convene expert groups to consider the issue of small calibre weapons and ammunition.
A meeting of States Parties to review the above work is scheduled for December 2002 in Geneva.
The Inhumane Weapons Convention, which entered into force in 1983 and has 88 States Parties, comprises four protocols which ban or restrict the use of various types of weapons which are considered to cause unnecessary or unjustifiable suffering, or to have other humanitarian consequences. The weapons currently covered include landmines and booby-traps, incendiary weapons, weapons leaving undetectable fragments in the body, and blinding laser weapons.
Contact: V. Bogomolov, Department for Disarmament Affairs, Palais des Nations, CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/917 3441, fax +41-22/917 0034, website (www.un.org/Depts/dda).
CONFERENCE ON NUCLEAR-TEST-BAN TREATY
A three-day Conference on Facilitating the Entry into Force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) was held at UN headquarters in New York from 11-13 November 2001, with some 108 countries and more than 50 foreign ministers participating. The Conference, convened by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan at the request of the majority of States Parties, sought to decide on measures to accelerate ratification and the Treaty’s early operation.
Participants described the CTBT as a key part of the regime to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and a vital foundation upon which to limit all classes of weapons and to promote the ultimate objective of total disarmament. Many speakers hailed the Treaty as the main constraint to the development of new and advanced nuclear weapons.
Among the most pressing topics of discussion was the danger posed by terrorist groups gaining access to or developing nuclear weapons. The concern was not new, but according to the Conference’s Acting President Olga Pellicer (Mexico), there was a “qualitative change in the degree of concern at the possibility of terrorist groups obtaining nuclear materials,” especially in light of a non-state actor, Osama bin Laden, claiming to have possession of a nuclear device.
In his opening address, Mr. Annan stressed that “the events of 11 September have made it clear that the world cannot afford further proliferation of nuclear weapons, nor can it afford to lose momentum in efforts to eliminate such arms from the world’s arsenals.” He implored countries that have not signed or ratified the Treaty to do so, and urged other countries to focus on “finding arguments and taking steps that will allay the doubts still felt in those States.”
With a total of 161 signatories and 87 ratifications, the CTBT is approaching the status of a universal treaty, but will enter into force only when all 44 States listed in its Annex 2 have ratified it. Thus far, 31 of them have ratified the Treaty, including three of the five declared nuclear-weapon States: France, the Russian Federation and the United Kingdom.
The United States, which has consistently expressed reservations about the Treaty’s verification requirements and compliance measures, did not send a delegation to the Conference. In response to a question from the press about the realistic possibility of the Treaty going forward without the participation of the US, Conference President Miguel Marin Bosch (Mexico) replied, “these things have a way of weighing on the souls and conscience of countries….If you keep up the pressure on the United States, I believe they will come around.”
At its conclusion, the Conference adopted a Final Declaration calling for the acceleration of ratification of the Treaty. The Declaration affirmed that any nuclear-weapon-test explosion or any other nuclear explosion was a “serious threat” to global efforts towards nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. It called upon all States to maintain a moratorium on nuclear-weapon-test explosions or any other nuclear explosions.
Contact: Department for Disarmament Affairs, Weapons of Mass Destruction Branch, United Nations, New York, NY 10017 United States, fax +1-212/963 1121, website (www.un.org/Depts/dda/WMD/ctbt).
UN-NGO COOPERATION
UNCTAD-CIVIL SOCIETY DIALOGUE
On 10 December 2001 in Geneva, the secretariat of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) organized a dialogue with some 20 representatives of NGOs, trade unions and religious groups interested in development cooperation. The meeting covered a range of issues, including: implementation of the Bangkok Plan of Action adopted at UNCTAD X in 2000; follow-up to the Third United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC-III) held in May 2001; and development issues related to the forthcoming United Nations Conference on Financing for Development to be held in March 2002. Gender and development was included as a cross-sectoral issue. Participants also discussed the outcome of the Fourth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) held in November 2001 in Doha (Qatar).
The aim of the meeting was to identify common areas for collaboration between the UNCTAD secretariat and civil society organizations. The Secretary-General of UNCTAD, Rubens Ricupero, said effective collaboration would need to combine good analysis and proposals on the one hand, and effective dissemination of these ideas at the national level (to parliamentarians, the media and public opinion at large). He cited the Ministerial Declaration on the Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) Agreement and Public Health agreed in Doha as an example of major proactive victory for developing countries and the defence of public interest. However, for the issue of TRIPs and public health to reach the top of the global political agenda, it required considerable coverage in the mainstream media, parliamentary debate and support by public opinion. While such an example may not be easy to replicate, Mr. Ricupero suggested it would be worth concentrating on a few selective themes and pool together common research/analysis, advocacy and public outreach capacities.
At the end of the meeting, it was agreed that future cooperation should chiefly focus on: civil society follow-up to the commitments made at UNCTAD X and LDC-III; and follow-up to the Doha Conference in terms of the challenges facing developing countries. Within these two broad themes, participants identified a range of specific issues that would be further prioritized by the UNCTAD secretariat, in light of its specific mandate and available resources. Such issues included: the social dimension of globalization; market access and competition policy issues; the impact of the TRIPs agreement on a range of development concerns; gender and development; fair trade issues/practices; financing for development and debt issues; and alternative development paradigms and practical strategies for their implementation.
An UNCTAD/Civil Society platform will be established as a basis for cooperation. The UNCTAD secretariat’s Civil Society Outreach (CSO) will aim to organize a follow-up dialogue to examine progress made in establishing the platform and to review the work on two or three selected issues.
Contact: Dieter Koenig, Officer-in-Charge, CSO, UNCTAD, Palais des Nations, CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/917 5661, fax +41-22//917 0122, e-mail <dieter.koenig@unctad.org>, website (www.unctad.org).
FFD ENGAGEMENT WITH NGOS
In an effort to support the multistakeholder involvement in the Financing for Development (FFD) process, NGLS, the FFD Secretariat, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Bank hosted a consultation with NGOs in New York from 6-7 December 2001. The meeting allowed for frank exchanges amongst NGOs, government representatives and the institutional stakeholders. Many NGO representatives expressed their reservations over the UN collaborating so closely with the Bretton Woods institutions (BWIs) in the process. However, others recognized FFD as an opportunity for the UN to become more relevant on global economic and financial matters. A discussion with governments revealed that many delegations regard FFD as a point of departure for new relations between the UN, the BWIs and the WTO, rather than an opportunity to make significant commitments.
Reflecting some of the contributions of other participants, Ann Pettifor of Jubilee Plus outlined the following as priorities for NGOs: the interests of human rights placed above market rights; a commitment of the UN system to the democratization of national and international policy making; a realignment of externally financed development to more domestically generated development; an end to official development assistance (ODA) double-standards; and an open, transparent insolvency process.
The consultation also allowed many NGOs, for the first time, to examine the Millennium Development Goals as a tool for raising awareness on development needs and keeping governments accountable on such commitments as poverty reduction and environmental sustainability.
NGLS also co-hosted a meeting in New York with the Department of Public Information (UN-DPI) from 14-15 January 2001, involving NGOs with extensive outreach capacity to consider how best to disseminate information about FFD and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). This involved a brain-storming discussion with Mark Malloch-Brown, the Administrator of UNDP, who has been designated as campaign manager on the MDGs by the UN Secretary-General.
WHO’S CIVIL SOCIETY INITIATIVE
On 12 December 2001, members of the World Health Organization (WHO) Civil Society Initiative (CSI) met with the NGO Forum for Health in Geneva to discuss the CSI’s work plans and to seek the NGO Forum’s input on the Initiative.
Launched by WHO Executive Director Gro Harlem Brundtland during the World Health Assembly (WHA) in 2001, the CSI’s overriding objective is to develop a policy framework for more effective collaboration, information exchange and dialogue with CSOs and to strengthen WHO’s support to Member States in their work with CSOs on global and national health issues. It reflects the WHO’s growing recognition of the importance of collaborating with and reaching out to a broad range of actors in order to create opportunities for improving health outcomes. WHO collaboration with NGOs dates back to the first WHA in 1948, which adopted a set of working principles governing admission of NGOs into official relations. Current guidelines outlining WHO-NGO relations have been in place since 1987.
WHO defines CSOs as non-state, voluntary and not-for-profit organizations. They include formal and informal voluntary organizations, NGOs, professional associations, social movements, community groups, among others. WHO works with CSOs that are health related, whose interests are consistent with WHO values. Increasing concerns about the effects of globalization and global problems have led to greater CSO involvement in public policy debates. In this role, the WHO says, CSOs can enhance the accountability and performance of national governments and global governance systems, adding a political dimension to civil society involvement in health issues.
According to the WHO, CSOs play an important role in the health domain at the national level. CSOs contribute to health policy development, to health service outreach and responsiveness, to health promotion and to raising the profile of health goals in development policy. CSOs have also been involved in a number of global health policies and initiatives, such as Roll Back Malaria, The Global Fund to Fight HIV, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and the Tobacco Free Initiative. In view of the global changes mentioned above, the WHO says there is a recognized need for improved knowledge, attitudes and practices relating to interactions with CSOs at all WHO levels, and particularly at the country level.
The CSI workplan for the next biennium will cover four areas. The first includes achieving greater coherence in WHO policy on CSO relations in order to maximize opportunities for joint work towards health goals. It will include the development of appropriate tools for identifying CSO partners. The second area involves building a knowledge base, which will include collaborative projects between CSI and WHO technical departments to develop knowledge relevant to civil society activities in health at the country level. The third area seeks to improve communications and policy dialogue using tools such as a CSI website and information materials on WHO policies, as well as the knowledge base on CSOs and health. The fourth area aims to strengthen WHO capacity to support and facilitate mutually beneficial government/CSO relations at the country level.
Contact: Eva Wallstam, Director CSI, WHO, 20 Avenue Appia, CH-1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/791 2903, e-mail <wallstame@who.int>.
WORLD BANK, WHO GLOBAL TB INITIATIVE
The World Health Organization (WHO), the World Bank, Partners in Health and the Open Society have launched a five-year global plan to stop the spread of tuberculosis around the world. The Stop TB Partnership, which aims for a tuberculosis-free world in 50 years, has an estimated cost of US$9.3 billion, and a funding gap of US$4.5 billion. WHO Director General Gro Harlem Brundtland has called on developed countries to devote more money to development aid to combat the disease, which Stop TB says kills 5,000 people daily and is growing at up to 10% a year in some regions.
“The overriding principle of the plan is to communicate this one simple message: We can control TB,” Dr. Brundtland said. “It will grant hundreds of thousands of people with TB the measures needed to fight this curable illness,” she said, calling the global burden of TB “immense, even though there is a simple, cost-effective intervention cure that has been available for decades.”
“The World Bank sees the Global Plan to Stop TB as the starting point towards a world free of TB. Given that it causes approximately 2 million deaths per year, creates and perpetuates a cycle of poverty and despair, the development rationale for reversing this epidemic could scarcely be more urgent,” said World Bank President James D. Wolfensohn.
The WHO says that tuberculosis is ravaging the most economically active segment of the population in developing countries. Of the two million dying annually of the disease, 75% are between the ages of 15 and 54. The disease has greatly reduced the life spans of women in affected countries, and every year, more women die from tuberculosis than from all maternal mortality causes combined, according to the Global Plan. The Stop TB Partnership includes over 100 organizations.
Contact: Stop TB, WHO, 20 avenue Appia, CH-1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland, fax +42-22/791 4199, e-mail <stoptb@who.int>, website (www.stoptb.org).
Partners In Health, 643 Huntington Avenue, Boston MA 02115, USA, telephone +1-617/432 5256, fax +1-617/432 5300, e-mail <info@pih.org>, website (www.pih.org/index.htm).
HEALTH RISKS OF DEPLETED URANIUM
Iraq’s request for a UN study on the human health and environmental impacts of depleted uranium (DU) weapons used during the Gulf War was turned down in a 45-54 vote with 45 abstentions at the General Assembly, although the UN’s First Committee on disarmament and international security had earlier voted for Iraq’s proposal for a survey “on all aspects of the effects of the use of depleted uranium armaments.”
Iraq strongly maintains that depleted uranium is linked to several health problems in Iraq including an increase in leukemia and other kinds of cancer among local populations. The World Health Organization (WHO) report Depleted Uranium: Sources, Exposure and Health Effects, released in April 2001 by its Department of Protection of the Human Environment, assesses possible health effects of exposure to DU. The report states that DU has both chemical and radiological toxicity with the two important target organs being the kidneys and lungs, and that impairment to kidneys may be transient, with kidney function returning to normal once the source of excessive uranium exposure has been removed. The report also calls for further studies to clarify the understanding of the extent, reversibility and possible existence of thresholds for kidney damage in people exposed to DU.
In related news, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) announced that a team of UN experts confirmed the existence of DU contamination in Serbia and Montenegro in four of the six Yugoslav sites targeted during the 1999 Kosovo conflict. The international team of experts said that contaminated areas were carefully sign-posted by authorities of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and of Montenegro to prevent public access, and that clean-up activities and decontamination were already underway.
“During our investigations we could not identify any risks for the public at these areas,” said Pekka Haavisto, Chairman of the UNEP Depleted Uranium Assessment Team. The final report of the mission will be published at the end of February 2002.
Contact: Michael Williams, Information Officer, UNEP, International Environment House, 15 chemin des Anémones, CH-1219 Châtelaine (Geneva), Switzerland, telephone +41-22/979 9242, fax +41-22/797 3464, e-mail <mwilliams@unep.ch>, website (www.unep.org).
UNICEF/FIFA LAUNCH GLOBAL ALLIANCE FOR CHILDREN
On 20 November 2001, the Day for the Rights of the Child, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the world governing body of football, the International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA), launched a campaign to promote the rights of the child. FIFA will dedicate the 2002 World Cup to children, the first time a World Cup has ever been dedicated to a humanitarian cause.
The UNICEF/FIFA global alliance has two approaches. First, the alliance will support UNICEF’s global campaign to promote child rights “Say Yes for Children,” in the run up to the UN General Assembly Special Session on Children, to be held in May 2002. The second part of the campaign entitled “Football making a difference for children,” will feature young people during 2002 World Cup events and festivities, with children escorting football players to the field at each game.
Some child rights NGOs, however, have expressed criticism of the UNICEF/FIFA alliance. Global March against Child Labour, based in New Delhi, has drawn attention to the continued exploitation of child labourers in the sporting goods industry in Pakistan and India, accusing FIFA of a lack of will to fully comply with its own Labour Practise Code, which promises no use of child labour and living wages for labourers in its licensed goods production.
Global March Against Child Labour also says that although FIFA has taken steps in the right direction in recent years by sponsoring inspection systems in Pakistan and India to eradicate child labour, these measures only apply to a small fraction of the large number of FIFA-licensed goods and only deal with part of the Code. There is no monitoring or other compliance system in place to ascertain that the hundreds of other FIFA-licensed products are also made without child labour. “We hope that UNICEF is aware of FIFA’s current lack of will to truly protect the right of all children before entering in this partnership,” says Kailash Satyarthi, Chairperson of Global March.
The India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN), an NGO based in Utrecht, released in 2000 The Dark Side of Football, which calls attention to child and adult labour in India’s football industry. The report also examines the role of FIFA, while revealing the continued exploitation of children by companies such as Adidas, Mitre and Mundo, which, it claims, was hidden from the FIFA-supported monitoring system.
The report makes a number of practical recommendations. It says that workers should earn at least the minimum wage for an eight-hour day of work, and calls for a scientific study to be undertaken to determine the number of footballs that can be stitched in a normal working day in order to avoid overstating the number of footballs and the claims that stitchers can easily earn the minimum wage and more. It also recommends that dialogue be established between the Sports Good Foundation of India (SGFI) and the local community and NGOs in order to create community awareness of the need to eliminate child labour in the sporting goods industry, and calls for social protection programmes which would include transitional education centres to prepare full-time working children for government schools.
Contacts: UNICEF, 3 United Nations Plaza, New York, NY 10017, USA, telephone +1-212/326 7000, fax +1-212/888 7465, website (www.unicef.org).
Kailash Satyarthi, Global March Against Child Labour, International Secretariat, L-6 Kalkaji, New Delhi 110019, India, telephone +91-11/622 4899 or 647 5481, fax +91-11/623 6818, e-mail <childhood@globalmarch.org>, website (www.globalmarch.org).
India Committee of the Netherlands, Mariaplaats 4, 3511 LH Utrecht, the Netherlands, telephone +31-30/232 1340, fax +31-30/232 2246, e-mail <liw@antenna.nl>, website (www.indianet.nl).
NGO UPDATE
CONFERENCE ON CHILDREN, TORTURE AND VIOLENCE
An International Conference on Children and Torture and Other Forms of Violence was held in Tampere (Finland) from 27-30 November 2001. Organized by the World Organization Against Torture in partnership with the Mannerheim League for Child Welfare, and with the support of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the conference brought together 183 participants from 73 countries including a wide range of international and national non-governmental organizations, as well as other observers from governments and intergovernmental organizations.
The conference sought to establish a programme of action with concrete, realistic and measurable goals aiming at the long-term elimination of torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and punishment, arbitrary arrests, summary executions, forced disappearances or other more subtle forms of violent repression against children.
The conference unanimously adopted the Tampere Declaration, which acknowledges that widespread social and cultural acceptance of violence against children remains in many countries and that widespread immunity allows such violence to continue. It also identifies the different private and public settings in which violence against children is perpetuated, including families, communities, schools, detention centres, and other institutions; and recognizes that the structural causes of violence against children include the denial of social, economic and cultural rights, therefore resulting in increased poverty and inequality.
The Declaration makes a number of recommendations including the appointment of a Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Children who would be appointed by the UN Commission on Human Rights to examine individual complaints by child victims and conduct on-site investigation on situations of violence against children. The Declaration states that the Special Rapporteur would interact with relevant regional bodies and with national and international NGOs, and would seek the views of children, undertake investigations and take appropriate actions.
The Declaration also recommends that the UN Secretary-General appoint an internationally-respected independent expert to head a team to conduct an in-depth international study on violence against children, as requested by the General Assembly, and that all UN agencies and related bodies support the preparation and implementation of this study.
Contact: Eric Sottas, Director, World Organization Against Torture, 8 rue du Vieux-Billard, Case postale 21, CH-1211 Geneva, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/809 4939, fax +41-22/809 4929, e-mail <es@omct.org>, website (www.omct.org).
FOOD FIRST REPORT ON AMERICAN FAMILY FARMS
According to the Food First/Institute for Food and Development Policy report Freedom to Trade? Trading Away American Family Farms, more and more family farmers are being forced off the land each year. Driven by trade rules devised in Washington for the World Trade Organization (WTO), which strive to reduce or eliminate agricultural subsidies, a series of governmental policies are squeezing out the family farmer while benefiting corporate agribusiness, says Food First. The US Department of Labour expects that the United States will lose 13.2% of all family farm jobs between 1998 and 2008, the largest projected job loss among all occupations.
Food First’s study reports that large multinational corporations now control almost all aspects of American agriculture, with agricultural decision making consolidated in a handful of corporate boardrooms. In the 1980s, economic literature pointed out that there was a general agreement that the market is no longer competitive if the four largest firms held 40% of the market. A few decades later, the top ten agro-chemical corporations control over 84% of the US$30 billion agro-chemical market. Grain distribution is becoming even more concentrated, says the report, adding that two companies, Cargill and Continental, shared 50% of US grain exports in 1994; today they control about two-thirds of the grain in the world.
Export markets have proven more volatile than domestic ones, and globalization has increased the vulnerability of farmers to sudden price swings, the report notes. Food First points out the important role that small farmers play, saying that small farms contribute to “a diversity of ownership, cropping systems, landscapes, biological diversity, culture, and traditions,” as well as environmental benefits and economic opportunities for rural communities.
The report also stresses that agricultural subsidy programmes may be hastening the demise of family farms. “A recent study of federal farm data indicates that farm aid has gone to a host of individual and institutional investors, for whom farming is at most a minor sideline. Basing subsidy payments on farm acreage rather than financial need means that some of the wealthiest members of Congress received farm aid from farm programmes they voted for. At least 20 Fortune 500 companies and more than 1,200 universities and government farms, including state prisons, received checks from the federal programmes touted as a way to prop up needy farmers,” states the report.
Opposition is growing, says Food First, and a blueprint for the New American Farm, based on the multifunctional aspect of agriculture, which produces both public and private goods and services, is emerging. Food First adds, “The nation’s agriculture should provide national food security. This would guarantee that no nation is starved into submission by another nation. Agriculture should ensure national food equity so that no one goes hungry regardless of ability to buy food. Agriculture should be designed to protect the natural environment, to protect the soil, earth, air, and water that are absolute necessities of life on earth. All of these are legitimate public goods and services, invaluable to society, but cannot be provided by the private economy of free trade.”
Contact: Food First/Institute for Food and Development Policy, 398 60th Street, Oakland, CA 94618, USA, telephone +1-510/654 4400, e-mail <foodfirst@foodfirst.org>, website (www.foodfirst.org).
WCL ADOPTS POLICY RESOLUTION
The World Confederation of Labour (WCL), an international trade union confederation uniting 140 autonomous and democratic trade unions from 115 countries, has outlined its policy resolution, which will define WCL’s aims and action priorities over the next four years. The policy resolution document sets forth several action priorities, including: the importance of trade unionism at the grassroots level; the importance of building a regional and international countervailing trade union power to face up to globalization; and cooperation with other trade unions as well as other NGOs.
It also calls for consolidating activities in the field of training, international labour standards and human rights, and strategies to respond concretely to transnational companies. It will advance a framework for world governance that will seek to rehabilitate multilateralism, restore the balance of power between multilateral organizations, and will attempt to establish transparency. WCL calls for these priorities to be built around inter-union cooperation in a constructive, effective and innovative response to globalization.
The WCL Norm Committee has approved a new plan of action on workers’ rights which has three objectives: the protection and advancement of workers’ rights; workers’ rights and transnational companies, particularly in controlling the application of codes of conduct; and social and sustainable development.
Based in Brussels (Belgium), the WCL has over 26 million members, mainly from developing countries. WCL says the last years have been marked by the affiliation of several African and Central and Eastern European organizations.
Contact: André Linard, WCL Information Officer, Trierstraat 33, B-1040 Brussels, telephone +32-2/285/4700, fax+32-2/230/8722, e-mail <info@cmt-wcl.org>, website (www.cmt-wcl.org).
TI PUBLISHES GLOBAL CORRUPTION REPORT 2001
A recent report published by the Berlin-based NGO Transparency International (TI) provides detailed regional reports on the status of corruption around the world. TI Chairman Peter Eigen says, “We are publishing the Global Corruption Report 2001 to strengthen public understanding of the pervasiveness of corruption and the damage this scourge does to building democracy, securing human rights, fighting poverty, and building a level playing field in international business transactions. Sadly, even terrorism thrives on the wings of corruption.”
“The Global Corruption Report 2001 tackles uncomfortable issues, from the Elf Aquitaine affair and corruption in conflict zones to the fall of corrupt leaders,” says report editor Robin Hodess, adding that writers were mandated to write honestly about corruption trends including money laundering, bribery in political party financing, transparency in the diamond trade, and implementing new international anti-bribery laws.
“Corruption deepens poverty around the globe by distorting political, economic and social life,” says Mr. Eigen. According to TI, the report, while noting that some positive reforms–such as legislative breakthroughs and the establishment of independent anti-corruption agencies–have been made, also calls for sustained efforts in the fight against corruption.
The report says that bribery by West European and North American companies of public officials in developing countries has long existed, but its extent is only now being recognized and documented. Susan Rose-Ackermann, writing for the TI newsletter on a similar subject, says that research on corruption is difficult because the perpetrators seek to keep their transactions secret. However, she says that scholars have begun to analyze and measure the impact of corruption on economic and political phenomena and to explain how political and economic conditions contribute to corruption. She notes that this work, using cross-country data, is consistent in finding that corruption is harmful to growth and development and is the result of weak economic and political institutions.
Ms. Rose-Ackermann also states that the research has found that high levels of corruption are associated with lower levels of investment and growth, and that foreign direct investment is discouraged. According to her, highly corrupt countries tend to under-invest in human capital by spending less on education and to over-invest in public infrastructure relative to private investment. She says that corrupt governments lack political legitimacy and, therefore, tend to be smaller than more honest governments, adding that corruption reduces the effectiveness of industrial policies and encourages business to operate in the unofficial sector in violation of tax and regulatory laws.
Global Corruption Report 2001 states that an international coalition is emerging to stop what it calls “corrupt elites” from diverting gains into foreign bank accounts. It also credits civil society groups with what it calls an “anti-corruption eruption” and says a free press has helped expose such activity. The report names Bangladesh, Nigeria, Uganda and Indonesia as the countries most prone to corruption.
Transparency International plans to publish the report on an annual basis. It can be viewed online at www.globalcorruptionreport.org.
Contact: Robin Hodess, Transparency International, Otto-Suhr-Allee 97/99, D-10585 Berlin, Germany, telephone +49-30/3438 2036, fax +49-30/3470 3912, e-mail <ti@transparency.org>, website (www.transparency.org).
WWF LAUNCHES SUSTAINABILITY ASSESSMENT WEBSITE
The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has launched a website on sustainability assessments (SAs) of trade and investment policies as a means to provide information on assessment activities worldwide, and to serve as a resource for organizations and individuals working on trade, environment and development.
WWF describes SAs as a tool that aims to inform policy makers and other stakeholders about the economic, environmental and developmental implications of trade and investment, and to help them develop policy responses that maximize gains for the economy, society and the environment.
WWF says the SA process involves dialogue and cooperation between governments, industry and business, NGOs, social justice groups, indigenous people, and others as it seeks to integrate the environmental and social/development concerns of increased and more liberal trade. By examining how trade policies impact on the environment, SAs aim to flag the potential for environmental harm and suggest sustainable ways forward.
The WWF says for SAs to succeed that they should: involve all relevant government departments; include a broad range of stakeholders; have a scope that includes international and foreign impacts; create an on-going process that becomes an integral part of the trade process; and have a real impact on policy.
Contact: Mireille Perrin, Trade and Investment Programme, World Wide Fund for Nature, Avenue du Mont-Blanc, CH-1196 Gland, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/364 9111, fax +41-22/364 8307, website (www.balancedtrade.panda.org).
FOCUS
GA UNDERTAKES COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW OF PEACEKEEPING
The year 2001 saw United Nations peace operations in almost every part of the globe, with some 39,500 soldiers and officers and 7,500 civilian police deployed. Peacekeepers and peace-builders perform a variety of tasks as military observers, road engineers, drivers, doctors, media specialists, child protection officers, human rights workers, among others. Sixty of them lost their lives in 2001.
During the General Assembly’s 56th session, the Fourth (Special Political and Decolonization) Committee undertook a comprehensive review of peacekeeping operations. The debate was dominated by calls for a more meaningful partnership between UN organs and troop-contributing countries; the need to improve UN rapid reaction capability; and the urgency of formulating a comprehensive strategy for conflicts. The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) addressed and approved the related budget.
Jean-Marie Guehenno, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, provided delegates with an update on the implementation and completion of the so-called “Brahimi” recommendations, which emerged from the August 2000 report of the Panel on UN Peace Operations, chaired by Lakhdar Brahimi (A/55/305). The Panel recommendations included the extensive restructuring of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO); the establishment of a new information and strategic analysis unit to service all UN departments concerned with peace and security; the creation of an integrated task force at UN headquarters to plan and support each peacekeeping mission from its inception; and a more systematic use of information technology.
Outlining strategic goals to underpin DPKO’s current reform efforts, Mr. Guehenno said they included moving from a reactive to a proactive approach, improving communication systems and methods, and ensuring a coordinated and supportive approach that empower field missions to achieve the mandates entrusted to them. Other strategic goals were:
—identifying financial, material and human resource needs and establishing systems and capacities to ensure their availability;
—building capacity to deliver support and ensure the sharing of information; and
—building partnerships and synergies to take advantage of the expertise of the UN’s “peacekeeping partners.”
Mr. Guehenno noted that two of the Brahimi Panel’s most important recommendations had been put in place: the introduction of the Integrated Mission Task Forces (IMTF) and the development of rapid deployment strategies for peacekeeping operations. He reported that DPKO had also attempted to improve its responsiveness by enhancing the Standby Arrangements System, including the development of on-call lists. At a number of meetings, he said, DPKO had approached Member States with initiatives identified in the Brahimi Report, but the overall response had been poor. If the Standby Arrangements System was to function properly, Mr. Guehenno emphasized, it must be adequately supported by contributions, and information provided to the Secretariat must be kept up-to-date.
At the conclusion of the Committee’s review, India made a strong statement in support of troop-contributing countries, noting that a “meaningful partnership between the UN organs and troop-contributing countries was of crucial importance in solving the endemic problems plaguing UN peacekeeping.” India charged that a handful of Security Council Members continued to block the will of the majority on proposals made by troop-contributors for more active involvement in decision making.
The Russian Federation said that a creative interpretation of relevant articles of the UN Charter–which envisaged the involvement of non-permanent Security Council members and even non-members of the Council–could overcome the prejudices that had kept the Military Staff Council inactive. The United States questioned the possibility of incorporating sufficient safeguards to ensure that a process of such close consultation would not create a de facto limited form of Security Council membership for non-elected troop-contributing countries.
Jordan, speaking on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), said that no senior officer should be appointed to participate in a peacekeeping mission to which his or her country was not making a sizeable troop contribution. Nigeria agreed, noting that despite contributing most of the peacekeepers, developing countries were still inadequately represented. Nigeria pointed out that recent recruitment experiences following the recommendation of the Brahimi Report had done little to address the anomaly.
In addition to hearing from some 34 speakers, the Fourth Committee considered several key documents during its peacekeeping review, including those containing the budget implications of the implementation of the recommendations of the Brahimi Panel.
The Fifth Committee examined the programme budget implications of the strategic plan for peacekeeping operations. It adopted a resolution (A/RES/56/241) which recommended approval of US$1.58 million for the advancement of UN peacekeeping activities, including the creation of new entities and the strengthening of DPKO, and approving an additional 121 support-account-funded posts with related post and non-post requirements in the estimated amount of US$16.1 million gross for the period from 1 July 2001-30 June 2002. The resolution expressed concern over the imbalance in the geographical representation of Member States in the DPKO and urged the Secretary-General to take immediate steps to improve it.
Contact: Department of Peacekeeping Operations, United Nations, Room S-3727, New York NY 10010, USA, telephone +1-212/963 8075, fax +1-212/963 9222, website (www.un.org/Depts/dpko/dpko/home_bottom.htm).
NEW TRADE NEGOTIATIONS LAUNCHED AT DOHA
After an extended day of protracted negotiations, the Fourth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO), held in Doha (Qatar) from 9-14 November 2001, adopted a wide-ranging programme of trade negotiations for the years to come. Eight of the issue areas agreed for further negotiations will be treated as part of a “Single Undertaking,” which must be completed no later than 1 January 2005.
In view of the collapse of the Third WTO Ministerial Conference held in Seattle in late 1999, many observers considered the broad work programme adopted at Doha as an important milestone for the WTO. Some said the dynamics of the conference signalled the “coming of age” of developing countries as a political force in global trade negotiations. In the build-up to Doha, developing countries were seen to be strongly united and proactive in their negotiating positions despite pressures to the contrary–which some described as “strong-arm bullying tactics” by some of the major trading powers. Developing countries obtained promises of concessions on a number of counts that would have been considered unrealistic just a few years ago. In particular, the Declaration on the Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) Agreement and Public Health may pave the way for ensuring the primacy of public health over private intellectual property in the interpretation of TRIPs. Many questions related to what has been widely described as the sharp imbalances and inequities in the world trading regime (discussed under the rubric of “implementation”) are firmly on the negotiating agenda. In addition, countries of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) were granted a waiver on the trade preferences granted to them by the European Union (EU) under the Cotonou Agreement.
However, many developing countries and NGOs have expressed concern that in order to obtain these prospective concessions from the North, developing countries have had to accept negotiations in areas that they fear may go against their interests and their development objectives. Some have argued that in order to obtain possible redress from the inequities of the Uruguay Round agreements, developing countries may have to “pay twice” by having to accept negotiations in new areas that may give way to new inequities. Indeed, the principle of a Single Undertaking implies that no agreement in one area enters into force until all other areas have been agreed by all Members.
This is compounded by the fact that most developing country delegations at WTO headquarters in Geneva do not have the institutional capacity to engage, in a well-informed and meaningful manner, in the nine simultaneous and highly complex negotiations that have been launched in Doha. Some developing countries do not have any representation at all in Geneva.
Scope of Negotiations
The eight areas of negotiations falling under the Single Undertaking are the following:
—Implementation;
—Agriculture;
—Trade in services;
—Industrial tariffs;
—TRIPs;
—Anti-dumping;
—The relationship between regional trade agreements and the WTO; and
—Trade and environment.
A ninth area outside the Single Undertaking will be the continuation of negotiations on improvements and clarifications of the WTO’s Dispute Settlement Understanding.
In addition, ministers agreed to what many have described as the most ambiguous part of the Doha Ministerial Declaration, namely whether and when Members will begin negotiations on four additional issues (known as the Singapore issues) after the Fifth WTO Ministerial Conference in 2003. These are:
—Investment;
—Competition policy;
—Trade facilitation; and
—Transparency on government procurement.
Inclusion of these issues on the Doha programme of work was forcefully promoted by developed countries, particularly the EU, and strongly resisted by most developing countries, especially India. NGOs by and large have also campaigned extensively against the inclusion of these issues on the negotiating agenda of the WTO for a number of reasons, including concerns that WTO-based treaties in these areas may grant excessive rights to transnational corporations, as has been said to be the case for TRIPs.
The last-minute compromise text states that Members “agree that negotiations [on these issues] will take place after the Fifth Session of the Ministerial Conference on the basis of a decision to be taken, by explicit consensus, at that Session on modalities of negotiations.” In order for this text to be acceptable to India and a number of other developing countries, the Chair of the final plenary session read out a statement qualifying that the final text “would give each Member the right to take a position on modalities that would prevent negotiations from proceeding after the Fifth Session of the Ministerial Conference until that Member is prepared to join in an explicit consensus.” It remains to be seen whether this interpretation will prevail. Senior European officials are already on the record saying that there is agreement that negotiations on these four issues will begin after 2003. In any event, developing countries have noted with concern that preparations for potential negotiations in these four areas would further stretch their limited technical and representational capacity.
The Declaration mentions explicitly the role of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in providing enhanced technical assistance and capacity building to developing countries in the areas of investment and competition policy.
Between now and the Fifth WTO Ministerial Conference in 2003, the Declaration calls for substantive discussions in the following WTO bodies:
—Working Group on the Relationship between Trade and Investment;
—Working Group on the Interaction between Trade and Competition Policy;
—Working Group on Transparency in Government Procurement;
—Council for Trade in Goods (on trade facilitation);
—Work Programme on Electronic Commerce;
—General Council (on problems facing small economies);
—Committee on Trade and Development (on review of special and differential treatment provisions for developing countries).
The Doha Conference also decided to establish two new working groups in the WTO to report to the Fifth Ministerial Conference. Seen as potentially important avenues to advance developing country interests, these two working groups are on:
—The relationship between trade, debt and finance; and
—The relationship between trade and the transfer of technology.
The UNCTAD secretariat has calculated that the Doha Declaration contains up to 70 issues that are, or may be, subject to future negotiations.
TRIPs and Public Health
For most observers, the Declaration on the TRIPs Agreement and Public Health was a major victory for developing countries and the public interest. Despite efforts by some developed countries to restrict the scope of the declaration to public health crises, HIV/AIDS and other pandemics, the final text states clearly that Members “agree that the TRIPs Agreement does not and should not prevent Members from taking measures to protect public health,” and that “the Agreement can and should be interpreted and implemented in a manner supportive of WTO Members’ right to protect public health and, in particular, to promote access to medicines for all.” Some NGO observers suggested that the Declaration unambiguously clarifies the right of Members to grant compulsory licenses to produce locally and to authorize parallel imports of medicines. The Declaration also instructs the Council on TRIPs to “find an expeditious solution” to the problem of how countries without domestic production capacity can make use of compulsory licensing provisions to the same extent as those that have that capacity, and report back to the General Council before the end of 2002. Least-developed countries are also granted an extra ten years (from 2006 to 2016) to bring their domestic legislation in the area of pharmaceutical patent protection into conformity with the TRIPs agreement.
While the Declaration gives a strong political message, NGOs have cautioned that it is not in itself a legally binding text, and that it will only make a difference if countries do enact and implement pro-public health legislation related to intellectual property. Another question is the impact of the Declaration on existing and future regional and bilateral agreements in which developing countries are often pressured to adopt higher levels of intellectual property rights protection than under TRIPs. NGOs have also noted that the Doha Conference gave far less attention to the wider development problems posed by the TRIPs agreement, such as obstacles to domestic enterprise development, or potential threats to farmers’ livelihoods resulting from the patenting of seeds.
Agricultural Export Subsidies
It is a well documented fact that agricultural export subsidies and similar measures in the richest countries, particularly in the European Union and the United States (the latter notably in the form of export credits and food aid) have led to artificially cheap prices for food exports which, among other problems, can bring about import surges in developing countries that undercut and destroy the livelihoods of small farmers. In the final stages of the Doha talks, the EU found itself virtually isolated from the rest of the WTO membership on this topic. Until the last moment, the EU considered draft language on reducing export subsidies “with a view to phasing [them] out” as unacceptable. The EU eventually joined the consensus on a commitment to “comprehensive negotiations aimed at: substantial improvements in market access; reductions of, with a view to phasing out, all forms of export subsidies; and substantial reductions in trade-distorting domestic support.” This was accepted on condition that a qualifying phrase be added, stating that such a commitment be “without prejudging the outcome of the negotiations.” While this arguably does not commit to a phase-out of export subsidies, it is generally believed that this will increase pressure on the EU towards their reduction. Many developed and developing countries also said they believe that the text as adopted can apply to the instruments used to this effect by the United States.
Special and Differential Treatment
References to the need to strengthen the special and differential treatment provisions for developing countries have never figured so prominently on the multilateral trade negotiations agenda. In relation to the agriculture negotiations, the Ministerial Declaration states that Members “agree that special and differential treatment for developing countries shall be an integral part of all elements of the negotiations and shall be embodied in the Schedules of concessions and commitments and as appropriate in the rules and disciplines to be negotiated, so as to be operationally effective and to enable developing countries to effectively take account of their development needs, including food security and rural development.”
This falls short of an explicit reference to a “Development Box” which an important group of developing countries and NGOs were promoting in the run-up to Doha. The Development Box would enable developing countries to pursue policies aimed notably at achieving food security and protecting the livelihoods of small farmers, whether or not such measures are compatible with the existing Agreement on Agriculture. However, many are optimistic that the language in the ministerial text will allow meaningful discussions on the Development Box in Geneva.
Another issue on the Doha work programme is how to overcome the limitations of the so-called “best endeavour” status of most special and differential treatment measures, which in practice has meant that they have tended to be ignored. The separate Decision on Implementation-Related Issues and Concerns adopted at Doha, among other things, instructs the Committee on Trade and Development “to consider the legal and practical implications for developed and developing Members of converting special and differential treatment measures into mandatory provisions, to identify those that Members consider should be mandatory, and to report to the General Council with clear recommendations for a decision by July 2002.”
No Progress on Textiles
A major implementation concern for developing countries is the lack of progress in the phasing out of import restrictions on textile products, to be completed by 1 January 2005. After strong resistance by the United States to any speeding up of liberalization, the decision on this issue is limited to requesting the Council for Trade in Goods to examine a range of proposals suggested by developing countries and report back by July 2002.
Industrial Tariffs
Negotiations on industrial tariffs will be part of the Single Undertaking, despite deep reservations–and in some cases outright opposition–by many African and least developed country Members. For instance, in a written submission, seven African countries argued that negotiations should only begin after a full impact assessment, arguing that their experience to date suggests that this form of liberalization has led to de-industrialization and job losses. The programme of work refers to “appropriate studies and capacity-building measures to assist least-developed countries to participate effectively in the negotiations.”
Among the potential gains for the developing countries in this area is the agreement (albeit subject to modalities still to be agreed) that negotiations shall aim to reduce or “as appropriate” to eliminate not only tariffs, but also tariff peaks and escalation, as well as non-tariff barriers. Tariff peaks and escalation mean that tariffs increase the more a product is processed, and have been a major barrier to industrialized country markets for value-added products from developing countries.
Anti-Dumping
The Ministerial Declaration has included negotiations to improve and clarify rules related to anti-dumping and subsidies as part of the Single Undertaking, despite strong resistance by the United States (which has been widely criticized for its use of anti-dumping legislation for protectionist purposes). However, the agreed text says that the outcome of negotiations must preserve “the basic concepts, principles and effectiveness of these Agreements and their instruments and objectives.”
Investment
In the period until the Fifth Ministerial Session in 2003, further work in the Working Group on the Relationship Between Trade and Investment will focus on clarifying a range of issues, including the scope and definition of investment, non-discrimination, development provisions and the settlement of disputes. The Ministerial Declaration states that: “Any framework should reflect in a balanced manner the interests of home and host countries, and take due account of the development policies and objectives of host governments as well as their right to regulate in the public interest.”
Trade and Environment
Many environmental groups have noted with satisfaction that clarifying and improving WTO disciplines on fisheries subsidies will be part of the negotiations and may help address the global problem of over-fishing. They have also hailed the broader inclusion of environmental issues on the negotiating agenda as a major victory. In particular, negotiations will include an examination of the relationship between existing WTO rules and the specific trade obligations set out in multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs). They will also include “the reduction or, as appropriate, elimination of tariff and non-tariff barriers to environmental goods and services.” Some observers have noted that on this front a major and immediate challenge for the WTO is defining what constitutes environmental goods and services. Developing countries have been concerned that linking trade and environment may lead to new forms of protectionism.
The Declaration encourages cooperation between the WTO, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and other relevant bodies, especially in the lead-up to the August-September 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD). In this connection, the Declaration states that the Committees on Trade and Development and Trade and Environment “shall, within their respective mandates, each act as a forum to identify and debate developmental and environmental aspects of negotiations, in order to help achieve the objective of having sustainable development appropriately reflected.”
Trade and Services
The negotiating agenda on trade and services was widely viewed as one of the less controversial issues, among government delegates at least. It is essentially a continuation of on-going work in this area. NGOs, on the other hand, have expressed deep concerns in relation to the human rights and development impact of further liberalization and privatization of services, particularly in the areas of health and education. During the Doha talks, a group of developing countries unsuccessfully attempted to link the services negotiations to progress on an assessment of the development impact of services liberalization–as specified in the 1994 General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS).
It is worth noting that the Preamble of the Ministerial Declaration says: “We reaffirm the right of Members under the [GATS] to regulate, and to introduce new regulations on, the supply of services.”
Trade and Labour Standards
Trade union representatives voiced their disappointment that, despite persistent efforts by the EU, the Doha Conference did not launch formal discussions or negotiations on trade and labour standards. The text is restricted to reaffirming the declaration of the 1996 Singapore Ministerial Conference regarding internationally recognized labour standards, and takes note of work under way in the International Labour Organization (ILO) on the social dimension of globalization (see NGLS Roundup 84). Developing countries and a number of NGOs have been opposed to any negotiations at the WTO on the link between trade and labour standards (for fear of new forms of protectionism). But at the same time, they have often raised concerns related to the negative employment impact of trade liberalization in developing countries. This topic is currently being addressed in the context of the ILO’s work on the social dimension of globalization, which involves collaboration with the secretariats of WTO, UNCTAD and other bodies.
A New Trade Negotiations Committee
The overall conduct of the negotiations will be supervised by a Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC) under the authority of the General Council. The TNC shall hold its first meeting no later than 31 January 2002.
Contact: Hoe Lim, External Relations Officer, WTO, Centre William Rappard, 154 rue de Lausanne, Case postale, CH-1211 Geneva 21, Switzerland, telephone +41-22 /739 5466, fax +41-22/739 5777, e-mail <hoe.lim@wto.org>, website (www.wto.org).
MONTERREY CONSENSUS ON FINANCING DEVELOPMENT
After two weeks of deliberations, the 4th Meeting of the Financing for Development (FFD) Preparatory Committee (PrepCom) agreed on a final outcome for the International FFD Conference to be held in Monterrey (Mexico) from 18-22 March 2002. Although the PrepCom needed extra days of negotiations on seemingly intractable differences on official development assistance (ODA) targets, “staying engaged,” and trade, it did produce a clean text in advance of the conference, which is a rare occurrence.
Speaking at a press conference following agreement on the text, Co-Chair Shamshad Ahmad (Pakistan) acknowledged that a “tug of war” existed between the developed and developing countries (Group of 77/China) throughout the negotiations. He said developed countries wanted specific commitments from developing countries on efforts to reduce poverty, protect workers’ rights, protect the environment and exercise fiscal discipline. Developing countries, on the other hand, wanted movement toward a transparent trade regime with greater market access for their goods, no links between trade and human rights and environment standards, serious commitment to the 0.7% target for ODA, a decrease in debt burdens, assistance through capacity building and technology transfer, and a greater role in decision making and norm setting on international economic and financial matters.
Co-Chair Ruth Jacoby (Sweden) stressed how imperative it was to have a consensus document before going to Monterrey but also acknowledged how difficult it was to produce such an agreement between governments, the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Trade Organization (WTO), the business community and civil society. Ambassador Jacoby said an important factor throughout the unique process was for the institutional stakeholders to avoid encroaching on each other’s mandates. “The inclusion of all the stakeholders was both hard and exciting,” she said, “and marks the beginning of new relationships exploring how to better mobilize and use resources.”
Some delegations however did not express much enthusiasm for the outcome. One developed country delegate said he recognized the importance of establishing better working relationships amongst the concerned institutions but lamented the fact that few tangible commitments had been extracted from the process and wondered why negotiations were so arduous over non-binding commitments. While some in the G-77/China expressed similar disappointment with the result, many felt that they had scored a victory by getting strong language on “staying engaged” and areas for follow-up amongst the major stakeholders (see box).
NGOs that stayed until the final hours voiced concern about how little relevance the Argentina crisis, the Enron collapse, and the aftermath of 11 September terrorist attacks seemed to have had on negotiations, and the slow pace of change.
Key Issues Contained in “The Monterrey Consensus”
Trade
—There is acknowledgement of issues of particular concern to developing countries, including trade barriers, trade-distorting subsidies and other trade-distorting measures; the abuse of anti-dumping measures, technical barriers and sanitary and phytosanitary measures; trade liberalization in labour intensive manufactures; trade liberalization in agricultural products; and the implementation and interpretation of the Trade-Related Agreement on Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) in a manner supportive of public health. While there is no explicit action associated with each of these issues, developing countries were pleased over the inclusion of the extensive list (paragraph 25).
—Developed countries wanted to refer to the “Doha Development Agenda” but faced opposition from the G-77/China and heard criticism from NGOs that FFD was trying to preempt discussions still to take place in the WTO. The text now only welcomes the WTO’s decision to place the needs and interests of developing countries at the heart of the WTO work programme (paragraph 23).
Official Development Assistance
—Delegations fought intensely over language calling for greater ODA effectiveness and good governance. Developing countries resisted such attempts with balancing language on national leadership and ownership of development plans. The G-77/China was able to insert good governance at “all levels.” While donor countries were not successful in singling out least developed countries (LDCs) as recipients of ODA, the outcome document does prioritize the poverty reduction impact of ODA (paragraph 33).
—The last paragraph to be agreed in these negotiations centered on the target of 0.7% of GNP of industrialized countries to be spent on ODA. The outcome document recognizes that a substantial increase in ODA and other resources will be required if developing countries are to achieve the internationally agreed development goals and objectives, including those contained in the Millennium Declaration; however, donors did not agree to a timeframe to reach this level. One major donor reiterated its position regarding this target and essentially said that it would never support a supply-side rather than a needs-based goal (paragraph 34 bis).
—All references to Global Public Goods (GPGs) were removed from this section at the insistence of one government that questioned the scientific and economic merits of the concept.
—Governments agreed to examine the results of the study requested of the UN Secretary-General on possible innovative sources of finance, and noted the proposal to use Special Drawing Rights (SDR) allocations of the IMF for development purposes (paragraph 38).
External Debt
—Governments agreed that future reviews of debt sustainability should bear in mind the impact of debt relief on progress towards achievement of the development goals contained in the Millennium Declaration (paragraph 43).
—The outcome document welcomes consideration by all relevant stakeholders of an international debt workout mechanism in the appropriate fora. While NGOs were pleased at the lack of explicit reference to the IMF, they were, however, concerned that the language does not call for a “new” mechanism. NGOs also expressed their concern that governments will revert to an already existing mechanism in the Paris Club, or that the IMF will be identified as the appropriate fora (paragraph 53).
Systemic
—Much of the language in this section refers to efforts already underway concerning international financial architecture reform and the enhanced participation of developing countries in economic decision making and norm setting, and suggests that more should be done along the same lines rather than taking new steps. However, the text suggests that in order to better reflect the growth of interdependence and enhance legitimacy, economic governance needs to develop in two areas: broadening the base for decision making on issues of development concern and filling organizational gaps. All international organizations are encouraged to seek to continually improve their operations and interactions (paragraph 55).
—Some of the actions encouraged in order to strengthen the effectiveness of the global economic system’s support for development include: an improved relationship between the UN and WTO; support for the International Labour Organization (ILO) and its work on the social dimensions of globalization; and promoting the role of the UN regional commissions and the regional development banks in supporting policy dialogue on macroeconomic, financial, trade and development issues (paragraph 58).
—While it is not clear what would be involved, the outcome attaches priority to reinvigorating the UN system as fundamental for the promotion of international cooperation for development and for a global economic system that works for all. In the outcome, governments also reaffirm their commitment to enable the General Assembly to play effectively its central role as the chief deliberative, policy-making, and representative organ of the United Nations (paragraph 59).
Innovations to Engage NGOs
In another innovative step toward involving NGOs in the FFD process, the PrepCom invited NGOs to take the floor during “informal” sessions of the PrepCom and provide, paragraph by paragraph, comments during the first read of the Co-Chair’s draft outcome text. In order to do this most efficiently, NGO caucuses-such as the Systemic Issues Caucus, the Africa Caucus, and the Women’s Caucus-borrowed from the “Counter-draft” developed by a small group of NGOs and added specific suggestions on language for each of the fifty or so paragraphs. Many delegates remarked that some of the most constructive and insightful contributions came from NGOs via this mechanism throughout the first week of negotiations.
NGOs will also participate extensively in the formal process during the International Conference in Monterrey, as participants in the eight Ministerial and four Heads of State Roundtables scheduled for the Conference. Each roundtable will have 70 participants including 48 government representatives, four institutional stakeholders, seven business sector representatives and seven from civil society. NGOs used this PrepCom to determine the selection criteria for these participants and agreed that the International Support Committee of the NGO Forum would take the lead in this regard. NGOs agreed that the following criteria were imperative: regional representation, gender balance, diverse coverage of all issues on the FFD agenda, and a prior involvement in the FFD process (see www.ffdforoglobal.org).
Contact: Federica Pietracci, Financing for Development Secretariat/ UN DESA, 2 UN Plaza, Room DC 2378, New York NY 10017, USA, telephone +1-212/963 8497, fax +1-212/963 0443, e-mail <pietracci@un.org>, website (www.un.org/ffd). The “Monterrey Consensus” can be found on the website.
For more information on the NGO Forum: Laura Frade, Women’s Eyes on the Multilaterals, A.C. Calle Chapultepec No. 257, Creel, Chihuahua, Mexico, telephone +52-145/60134, e-mail <alcadeco@infosel.net.mx>, website (www.ffdforoglobal.org).
Future Points of Engagement
Annual High-Level meeting between Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and the Bretton Woods institutions (BWIs), immediately following the spring meeting of the BWIs.
For the last four years, ECOSOC has hosted a joint meeting between its own Ambassadors and many members of the Executive Boards of the BWIs, including the Chair of the International and Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC), Chair of the IMF-World Bank Development Committee, Chair of the Group of 24, and Chair of the Group of 20 (see Go Between 86).
The FFD outcome recommends that the UN, World Bank and the IMF with the WTO use this meeting to address issues of coherence, coordination and cooperation as a follow-up to FFD. It also recommends that the meeting include an intergovernmental segment to address an agenda agreed to by the participating organizations, as well as a dialogue with civil society and the private sector.
UN General Assembly High-Level Dialogue on Strengthening Cooperation for Development Through Partnership
The FFD outcome document has recommended that this high-level dialogue, held every two years in the General Assembly, be “reconstituted” to enable it to become the intergovernmental focal point for the general follow-up of the Conference and related issues. This meeting would include a policy dialogue, with the participation of the relevant stakeholders, on the implementation of the results of the Conference, including the theme of coherence and consistency of the international monetary, financial, and trading systems in support of development. The next dialogue is scheduled for the third quarter of 2003.
Global Information Campaign
Governments agreed to support the UN in the implementation of a global information campaign on the internationally agreed development goals and objectives, including those contained in the Millennium Declaration.
WORLD BANK/SAPRIN COMPLETE ASSESSMENT OF ADJUSTMENT POLICIES
Trade and financial-sector liberalization, privatization measures, labour-market reforms, and public-expenditure and sector-adjustment policies have undercut domestic production, employment and wage levels, while reducing access to affordable services, according to national reports from participatory exercises. Findings of the Structural Adjustment Participatory Review Initiative (SAPRI) point to the economic-policy roots of growing poverty, inequality and economic crisis in the countries covered by the study.
With support from five European governments, the European Union, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and numerous foundations and NGOs, the Structural Adjustment Participatory Review International Network (SAPRIN), a global network of civil-society organizations, and the World Bank have completed a four-year process of consultation and research in eight countries. The two parties discussed provisional findings of SAPRI in late July 2001, and an executive summary of a global synthesis report was released in Ottawa (Canada) in November 2001 under the name The Policy Roots of Economic Crisis and Poverty: A Multi-Country Participatory Assessment of Structural Adjustment. It is based on the results of the World Bank, SAPRI, and the Citizens’ Assessment of Structural Adjustment (CASA) initiative.
The report argues that there has been a systematic weakening of the productive capacity of the countries implementing structural adjustment policies and the inability of these countries to generate productive employment at a living wage. Poverty has been further deepened by the inability of the poor to access essential services at affordable prices. Women, in a variety of ways, have been particularly and negatively impacted by adjustment programmes, says the report.
Country exercises were jointly launched by local SAPRIN teams, the Bank and governments in eight countries–Bangladesh, Ecuador, El Salvador, Ghana, Hungary, Mali, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. These initiatives mobilized major economic and social sectors and local populations in different national sub-regions, and their involvement included local-level workshops, national public fora and participatory research. SAPRIN and the Bank developed a global methodological framework for the research, which incorporated a gender-sensitive, political-economy approach. SAPRIN also carried out Citizens’ Assessments in Mexico and the Philippines, independent of the World Bank and the respective governments.
According to the report, the exercises have illustrated a number of problems caused or exacerbated by adjustment programmes:
—The report says that in all countries studied, unemployment increased and national poverty grew. As a result of trade liberalization and financial-sector liberalization policies, the weakening of state support and a decline in demand for local goods and services, local industries that provide the bulk of national employment have declined. This occurred as domestic businesses could not compete with the flood of foreign imports nor afford credit at higher rates.
—Structural and sectoral policy reforms in the agricultural and mining sectors have undermined the viability of small farms, weakened food security and damaged the natural environment, claims the report. Food imports, the removal of subsidies from farm inputs, the withdrawal of the state from the provision of technical, financial and marketing assistance, and the emphasis placed on export production have further marginalized small farmers and forced them to overexploit natural resources. Similar consequences were found as a result of deregulating and privatizing the mining sector.
—Employment levels have dropped, real wages have deteriorated, income distribution has become less equitable, and workers rights and unions have been weakened as a result of labour-market reforms. According to the report, privatizations, civil-service reform, and the shrinking of labour-intensive productive sectors have severely undermined the position of workers.
—The privatization of public utilities, the application of user fees to health care and education, and cuts made in social spending in national budgets have reduced the poor’s access to affordable services. Increases in these fees have driven up school dropout rates and dissuaded many from seeking medical care, affecting the poor disproportionately. The social-service infrastructure, the availability of supplies, personnel training and wages have deteriorated, particularly in rural areas and poorer regions.
—Additionally, the report says that macro-level problems have accompanied many of the local-level failures of adjustment programmes. Many of the anticipated economic gains in efficiency, competitiveness, savings and revenues from the privatization of public enterprises, labour-market “flexibilization” and large-scale mining operations have not materialized.
SAPRI was initiated and launched by NGOs with World Bank President James Wolfensohn to help determine the real, local-level impact of adjustment programmes and to give voice to the experience, knowledge and perspectives of local peoples and civil-society organizations. In all, thousands of organizations including small-business organizations, farmers’ associations, trade unions, women’s groups, environmental and indigenous peoples’ organizations, education and health-care associations, and religious and community groups participated in national public consultative fora and participatory research in the ten countries.
SAPRIN will issue the final report in April 2002 prior to the World Bank/International Monetary Fund (IMF) spring meetings.
Contact: SAPRIN Global Secretariat, c/o The Development GAP, 927 15th Street NW, 4th floor, Washington DC 20005, USA, telephone +1-202/898 1566, fax +1-202/898 1612, e-mail <secretariat@saprin.org>, website (www.saprin.org).
UN DAYS AND WEEKS
—International Mother Tongue Day, 21 February
—United Nations Day for Women’s Rights and International Peace, 8 March
—International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, 21 March
—World Poetry Day, 21 March
—Week of Solidarity with the Peoples Struggling Against Racism and Racial Discrimination, week of 21 March
—World Day for Water, 22 March
—World Meteorological Day, 23 March
—World Health Day, 7 April
—World Book and Copyright Day, 23 April
—World Press Freedom Day, 3 May
—International Day of Families, 15 May
—World Telecommunications Day, 17 May
—International Day for Biological Diversity, 22 May
— Week of Solidarity with the Peoples of Non-Self-Governing Territories, week of 25 May
—World No-Tobacco Day, 31 May
—International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression, 4 June
—World Environment Day, 5 June
—World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, 17 June
—World Refugee Day, 20 June
—International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, 26 June
—International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, 26 June
—International Day of Cooperatives, first Saturday of July
—World Population Day, 11 July
—International Day of the World’s Indigenous People, 9 August
—International Youth Day, 12 August
—International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and Its Abolition, 23 August
—International Literacy Day, 8 September
—International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer, 16 September
—World Maritime Day, last week of September
—International Day of Peace, September, opening day of General Assembly
—International Day of Older Persons, 1 October
—World Space Week, 4-10 October
—World Teachers’ Day, 5 October
—World Habitat Day, first Monday of October
—World Post Day, 9 October
—World Mental Health Day, 10 October
—International Day for Natural Disaster Reduction, second Wednesday of October
—World Food Day, 16 October
—International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, 17 October
—United Nations Day, 24 October
—World Development Information Day, 24 October
—Disarmament Week, 24-30 October
—International Day for Tolerance, 16 November
—Africa Industrialization Day, 20 November
—Universal Children’s Day, 20 November
—World Television Day, 21 November
—International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, 25 November
—International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, 29 November
—World AIDS Day, 1 December
—International Day for the Abolition of Slavery, 2 December
—International Day of Disabled Persons, 3 December
—International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development, 5 December
—Civil Aviation Day, 7 December
—Human Rights Day, 10 December
—International Migrants Day, 18 December
UN YEARS AND DECADES
—International Year of Cultural Heritage, 2002
—International Year of Ecotourism, 2002
—International Year of Mountains, 2002
—International Year of Freshwater, 2003
—International Year of Microcredit, 2005
—Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons, 1993-2002
—Second Industrial Development Decade for Africa, 1993-2002
—Third Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination, 1993-2003
—International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People, 1994-2004
—United Nations Decade for Human Rights Education, 1995-2004
—United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty, 1997-2006
—International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World, 2001-2010
—International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism, 2001-2010
GUEST EDITORIAL
Nitin Desai
Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs
and Secretary-General, World Summit for Sustainable Development
As we move into the final preparations for the Johannesburg Summit, the challenges we face are becoming increasingly clear.
To move ahead, the starting point is an honest assessment of progress made since the 1992 Rio Summit. For this we must look at the two dimensions of sustainable development: meeting needs, and protecting the natural resource and environmental base on which our capacity to meet developmental needs rests. In terms of these two parameters, the record of the past decade is frankly disappointing.
Regarding the first dimension of sustainable development, we have hardly made dramatic progress in reducing poverty. While there has been progress in some areas of health, other problems have surfaced, such as HIV/AIDS. Equally, when it comes to the environment, we have not as yet made significant progress. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Living Planet Report 2000 calculates that we as a human race are making demands on the natural ecosystem which are 30% higher than what is actually available. These trends constitute a major challenge for the Johannesburg Summit, which I believe must be tackled in terms of three broad spheres.
First, the social dimension, or meeting needs, is central to sustainable development. An ecologically sound world in which large numbers of people live in poverty is not sustainable. Fortunately, there is a certain amount of political energy in this area. During the Millennium Summit in September 2000, world leaders committed themselves to an ambitious course of halving absolute poverty by 2015 and a string of related goals. That commitment must certainly be reinforced in Johannesburg.
More is needed, however. Johannesburg must also strengthen the connection between poverty and natural resources, and solve overlapping problems in the health and environment interface.
We also need to look carefully at the promotion of sustainable consumption and production patterns, which is not simply a matter of restraining consumption in order to protect the environment. The Commission on Sustainable Development’s discussions on energy focused on both meeting energy needs as they arise in developing countries in a sustainable way, and on the consequences of high levels of energy consumption in the richer countries.
Thirdly, an ecosystem approach to development is needed. All development, good or bad, involves human interventions in natural ecosystems. We have reached the point at which the scale and depth of our impacts on ecosystems is such that we can no longer take piece-meal decisions on development. We need development projects and programmes that not only meet needs, but are sustainable in the context of natural ecosystems.
The specific initiatives, programmes and commitments called for in all these spheres need to be financed. The availability of finance for sustainable development and the growing impact of globalization are being discussed in the Financing for Development process, but some of these issues must be addressed in the context of Johannesburg also. Programmatic initiatives will lack credibility unless there is a sense of forward movement on the finance for sustainable development front.
Finally, one of the most difficult challenges we face, at global, national and community levels, is the institutional dimension. The key to sustainable development is bringing together people who otherwise are separated by the boundaries of ministries, organizations, disciplines, etc. Only bold institutional innovations can make this possible.
To address the above range of challenges we require what I call the three “p’s”: political will, practical steps and partnership. First, political will. In recognition of the fact that sustainable development issues are absolutely essential to global development work, and to raise the profile of the Summit preparations, the Secretary-General has appointed me as Secretary-General of the Summit, assembled a high-level advisory panel, and has requested Jan Pronk, (Dutch Minister of the Environment) to build support and commitment at the country level. Of course much more should be done, and here NGOs can make a major contribution by raising awareness of the urgency of sustainable development problems and the need for concrete measures to address them.
Regarding the second “p”, Johannesburg must produce practical steps to carry forward the sustainable development agenda that emerged out of Rio. These steps must take the form of real programmes and commitments. Much work is required between now and Johannesburg to develop them and to secure the commitment to implement and to fund them, and here the perspectives and specific suggestions of NGOs are essential.
The third “p” is partnership. The effectiveness of sustainable development initiatives depends very much on the commitment of the people who have direct impact on the use of resources: businesses, trade unions, farmers associations, cooperatives, and other groups, as well as NGOs. Partnerships are the key to much of what can be done by way of practical action.
This is a tall agenda, but we did it in Rio and there is no reason why we cannot do it in Johannesburg. With the help of NGOs, the world needs to be given a wakeup call, one that truly announces it’s now or never. I am confident that with the energies, creativity and ideas of NGOs, Johannesburg will mean getting up and getting going, awareness and action.