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United Nations Non-Governmental Liaison Service |
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NO 91 APRIL-MAY 2002
| UN UPDATE | NGO & OTHER NEWS | FOCUS |
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Names Five Key Areas >ICC to Enter into Force....Jul East Timor Declared Independent. SC Approves Smart Sactions...Iraq ILO Reports on Child Labour World Press Freedom Day... Accelerating Action Towards Educ UNEP'S GEO-3: State of the Env.. UNEP Says State of Planet...Worse Developing in Debt Reconstruct... Religious Leaders ask US to Release UNFPA AID Non-Proliferation Preparation Disarmament Conference in China UNDP Brief ECOSOC Afghanistan MoU Signed on Internally Displaced IASC Warns of Food Insecurity.. FAO Regional Conferences. Global Compact & GRI Cooperation Framework CBD COP-6 Adopts Guidelines on Global Resources CITES Lifts Trade Measures Scientists Warn Glacial Lake Flood UNECE Economic Survey of Europe UN Launchs New E-mail News Serv. MIGA Launches Electronic FDI Xchange |
Reality of
AID: Level of OECD AID "Pitiful" Joint Assessment of Structural Adjustment CARE Conducts US Survey Dialogue on Women, Peace and Security Network for Peace and Human Rights Other News Progress made in Kimberly Process Second Roma World Congress |
Developing
Countries Trading More, Earning Less Says UNCTAD WTO Symposium on the "Doha Development Agenda Oxfam Launches New Trade Campaign New Partnership for Africa's Developement G-8 Summit Addresses African Second World Assembly on Ageing Commission on Human Rights, 58th Session UN commission on Population and Development 55th Session of the World Health Assembly Traditiopal Medicine in Primary Health Care Global Fund Holds 2nd Meeting, Awards Country Projects Calendar Guest Editorial:Anna Kajumulo Tibaijuka, Executive Director, (UN Habitat) |
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“Aid alone, in the absence of leadership to restructure global financial, trade and environmental relations, will never achieve the goal of poverty eradication,” says The Reality of Aid 2002, an independent review by NGOs of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) development assistance. The report says that the level of aid from OECD countries is “pitiful,” and without changes to the international financial institutions, “foreign aid will be seen as increasingly irrelevant–just part of an established order that tolerates poverty.” While wealth per person in donor countries has doubled since 1961, aid given per person has declined to less than what it was four years ago. According to The Reality of Aid, poor people in developing countries have paid for decisions in donor countries to cut budget deficits. Countries of the Group of Seven (G-7) gave 0.19% of the gross national product (GNP) in aid in 2000, a far cry from the target of 0.7%. Most of the aid that is being given is going to middle-income countries and emerging markets. Aid to the least developed countries (LDCs) has declined by over 50% throughout the 1990s, and aid to sub-Saharan Africa over the last four years has been the lowest since 1984. A large part of this aid is spent in the donor country through, for example, funding consultants and paying for refugees in the donor country. “The total failure of the majority of rich countries to honour the commitments they have made to increase aid towards 0.7%...contrasts sharply with the growing wealth of OECD countries. [This disparity] can be summed up simply in the phrase ‘richer but meaner,’” says the report. This can be seen in the fact that after the 11 September attacks, countries have found the money–which was not available to give as aid–to assemble a coalition against terrorism with military and logistical resources, and for propping up airlines that were affected by the attacks, says The Reality of Aid. The report says that the international financial institutions, such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), need to be restructured. In the World Bank, for instance, 24 developed countries control over 70% of the voting power. The IMF will only give loans to sub-Saharan African countries if they meet an average of 114 conditions. “These conditions,” says the report, “not only advance the commercial, political and diplomatic interests of the North, they often deepen poverty and inequality.” —eliminate
all types of conditions, unilaterally imposed by outside donors and
creditors, for all forms of aid and debt cancellation for the poorest
countries; Contact: The Reality of Aid, Development Initiatives, Old Westbrook Farm, Evercreech, Somerset BA4 6DS, UK, e-mail <roa@devinit.org>, website (www.realityofaid.org). |
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On 15 April 2002, the Structural Adjustment Participatory Review International Network (SAPRIN) released the findings of its multi-year assessment of the impact of economic adjustment programmes at a public forum held at the European Union in Brussels (Belgium). Entitled The Policy Roots of Economic Crisis and Poverty, the report constitutes an elaboration of draft conclusions discussed with the World Bank in July 2001 (see Go Between 89). Launched with World Bank President Jim Wolfensohn in 1997, the Structural Adjustment Participatory Review Initiative (SAPRI) mobilized major economic and social sectors and local populations in different national sub-regions. Involvement included local-level workshops, national public fora and participatory research. SAPRIN and the World Bank developed a global methodological framework for the research, which incorporated a political-economy approach undertaken in three countries in Africa (Ghana, Uganda and Zimbabwe), two in Latin America (Ecuador and El Salvador) and one each in Asia (Bangladesh) and Central Europe (Hungary). In order to ensure the inclusion of emerging-market economies in the exercise, SAPRIN carried out similar endeavors in Mexico and the Philippines, independent of the respective governments and the World Bank. Members of SAPRIN’s country teams and global Steering Committee presented the full report on the SAPRI findings, which focused on the poverty-generating aspects of adjustment programmes, to some 200 participants including European officials, NGOs and other interested parties. The forum opened with statements of support for SAPRIN’s work from the European Commission and from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), both of which financed SAPRI along with five European governments and various foundations and NGOs. Five sets of SAPRIN panelists from ten countries explained the impact of financial-sector and trade liberalization, agricultural and labour-market reforms, privatization and public-expenditure reform and related measures on the manufacturing sector, small enterprises and farms, food security, employment, workers, poverty, services and the environment, as well as other policy impacts at the macro, meso and micro levels. Between November 2001 and April 2002, SAPRIN presented an executive summary of Policy Roots at public fora in Ottawa, Frankfurt, New York, Porto Alegre, Monterrey and Stockholm. It also joined with other civil society organizations that have engaged the Bank in joint assessments, such as the World Commission on Dams (WCD). SAPRIN met with Mr. Wolfensohn informally in Washington DC in April during the World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings to discuss SAPRI, and Mr. Wolfensohn expressed his regrets that the Bank and he had not been in dialogue with SAPRIN since the SAPRI findings were presented to the Bank in July 2001, and said he would welcome a meeting with SAPRIN to discuss the findings in the near future. 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). |
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The international humanitarian organization CARE has released a survey of public opinion on the United States’ role in the fight against global poverty, and findings show that Americans see a connection between global poverty and national security, strongly support President George W. Bush’s promised increase in foreign aid spending, and believe humanitarian organizations and governments of industrialized nations each have a role in helping people in poor countries pull themselves out of poverty. CARE commissioned the survey following President Bush’s recent promise to increase international aid funds by US$10 billion over the three-year period from 2004-2006 through a new Millennium Fund (see Go Between 90). According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the Millennium Fund would increase US foreign aid to just 0.13% of the gross national product (GNP), short of the Millennium Development Goal of 0.7% GNP. Respondents said they would be more likely to support increased US funding for international aid if they saw examples of successes (81%), and are similarly more likely to increase personal giving (68%), and supported improving basic education and health care, promoting more productive agricultural strategies, improving infrastructure, enhancing the role of women, and preventing AIDS. “Our survey confirms our belief that Americans want to be more engaged in helping solve the problems generated by poverty and lack of opportunity around the world, because it’s the right thing to do, and because our world would be safer,” said Peter Bell, CARE’s President. “They soundly support President Bush’s promise to increase funding for development assistance, and they think the United States should devote a larger proportion of the federal budget to foreign aid,” Mr. Bell added. Contact: CARE, 151 Ellis Street, Atlanta GA 30303, USA, telephone +1-404/681 2552, fax +1-404/589-2651, e-mail <info@care.org>, website (www.careusa.org/index.asp). |
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On 11 April 2002, the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom organized a day of dialogue between UN officials, academics, and NGO representatives at UN headquarters in New York to discuss implementation of UN Security Council resolution S/RES/1325 (2000). Adopted by the Security Council on 31 October 2000, the resolution provides the first political framework from which women’s protection during repatriation and resettlement and for rehabilitation, reintergration and post-conflict reconstruction. It acknowledges, among others, that war affects women differently than men, that the protection of women is often neglected in conflict situations, and that their contributions to peace-building are marginalized. Participants underlined the need for gender to become a routine component of all processes and institutions of the UN, academia and activist efforts. According to Angela King, Assistant Secretary-General and Special Advisor on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women, resolution S/RES/1325 has been a great inspiration to women across the world as it does not approach women as victims, but instead as true collaborators in peacekeeping and peace-building. She called for the Security Council to routinely apply gender analysis in its work. Jennifer Klot, Senior Governance Advisor at United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), suggested that the issue of women, peace and security should be a regular item on the Security Council’s agenda. During the day, participants also discussed the issue of disarmament and strengths that women can bring to it, as well as the entry into force of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC, see article page 1). Speakers said that the ICC is an important tool against impunity at the domestic and international levels, and that it provides women’s organizations with a possibility to raise the legal standards on crimes against women in their own countries. Contact: Sheri Gibbings, Programme Associate, Peace Women Project, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), United Nations Office, 777 UN Plaza, New York NY 10017, USA, telephone +1-212/682 1265, fax +1-212/286 8211, e-mail <sheri@peacewomen.org>, website (www.peacewomen.org). Lurma Rackley, CARE USA, 151 Ellis Street, Atlanta GA 30303, USA, telephone +1-404/979 9450, fax +1-404-589-2651, e-mail <info@care.org>, website (www.careusa.org). |
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The European Network for Peace and Human Rights, a campaign bringing together over 300 people from 30 countries, has set up a permanent liaison to advocate efforts for disarmament, peace and human rights, and to propose coordinated action throughout Europe. It calls for new concepts of security, nuclear disarmament, welfare over warfare, education for peace, and peaceful means of overcoming conflict. The Network aims to create active dialogue with peace and human rights movements in war zones; supports the immediate enforcement of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which protects civilians in time of war; gives support to prisoners of conscience and to those campaigning for the right to conscientious objection to military service and taxation; and strengthens links with the World Social Movement in its opposition to global militarism and support for human rights, sustainable development and democracy. Contact: Peace Pledge Union (PPU), 41b Brecknock Road, London N7 0BT, UK, telephone +44-20/7424 9444, fax +44-20/7482 6390, e-mail <enquiry@ppu.org.uk>, website (www.ppu.org.uk/indexa.html). |
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Participants in the Kimberley Process met in Ottawa (Canada) from 18-20 March 2002 to consider technical issues related to detailed proposals for an international certification scheme for rough diamonds, bringing together representatives from over 37 governments and the European Community, members of the World Diamond Council, and several NGOs. The Kimberley Process strives to develop a global system capable of certifying that conflict diamonds do not enter the legal trading system bewteen the point of mining and first export from a producing country. Participants welcomed the 13 March 2002 UN General Assembly resolution that calls for the full implementation of existing Security Council measures targeting the illicit trade in rough diamonds. The General Assembly also urged the finalization of the international certification scheme, and its subsequent implementation, while encouraging Member States to participate actively in the proposed scheme. Conflict diamonds are said to comprise about 3-4% of the world’s diamond trade. Ambassador Sichan Siv, US Representative to the United Nations Economic and Social Council, addressing the General Assembly on 13 March, said the US remains deeply concerned. “Unfortunately, this illegal trade continues to threaten the very fabric of numerous communities by fuelling armed conflict. We remain committed to working jointly with leaders from the governments of diamond-producing and -importing nations, legitimate private diamond enterprises, and NGOs in fighting this problem,” Ambassador Siv said, adding that the widest possible participation would be necessary in order to reduce conflict and human suffering. Recent draft legislation introduced in the US Senate would ban the import of rough diamonds from nations without a monitoring system for the gems, and under the current version of the bill, the US President would be able to extend the law to cover polished diamonds and jewellery if such items are found to have originated from conflict diamonds. The Ottawa meeting dealt with a number of outstanding technical implementation issues, including the compatibility of the international certification scheme with international trade law obligations. Concern had arisen that the system, which forbids signatories importing stones from non-signatories, would violate World Trade Organization (WTO) rules. The Working Group dealing with the issue proposed to implement the scheme in a WTO compatible manner and requested further examination of WTO-related aspects. Final details on the plan are scheduled for consideration at a ministerial meeting to be held in Geneva in November 2002. “We believe that we are ready to launch the scheme,” said Abbey Chikane, Chairman of the South African Diamond Board and the Kimberley Process, adding that an international certification plan should be in place by the end of the year, as soon as some technical points are worked out. NGOs from North America, Europe and Africa participating in the Kimberley Process are demanding a diamond certification scheme that is effective and credible. Diamond-financed wars in Angola, Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of Congo have taken more than 500,000 lives, according to Oxfam. Saying that too little progress has been made after almost two years of meetings, NGOs argue the plan approved in Botswana in November 2001 is seriously flawed, and as it stands, will do little to change the substantial traffic in illicit and conflict diamonds. NGOs are calling for: —open and comparable production and trade statistics;—credible, independent monitoring of national control mechanisms; and —a competent coordination mechanism. Contact: Engudai Bekele, Partnership Africa Canada (PAC), PO Box 60233, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, telephone +251-1/650100, fax +251-1/652280, e-mail <pac@telecom.net.et>. Susan Isaac, Partnership Africa Canada, 323 Chapel Street, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1N 7Z2, telephone +1-613/237 6768, fax +1-613/237 6530, e-mail <hsda@partnershipafricacanada.org>, website (www.kimberleyprocess.com/default.asp) or (http://partnershipafricacanada.org). |
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The 2nd Roma World Congress was held in Lodz (Poland) from 1-3 May 2002 bringing together over 30 Romani organizations from across Europe and the US, while over 200 other organizations participated via Internet access, to discuss Romani representation in Europe, the Holocaust, and refugee and migration issues. Representatives of the Roma National Congress (RNC) and the International Romani Union (IRU), as well as leaders of Romani Christian and Muslim religious communities and NGOs attended the Congress. According to Romani leaders, some 12 million Roma, or Gypsies of Europe, are facing increasing marginalization and deepening poverty, accentuated by the fall of communism in Central/Eastern Europe. Wars in Bosnia, Kosovo and Macedonia have left several hundred thousand Roma living in refugee camps. “We will face a Palestinian problem in Europe,” said Rudko Kawczynski, chairman of the RNC. “Young people cannot be patient forever. How long can they live in the poor settlements like in Slovakia? In 20 years we will be 20 million.” Leaders also expressed their concern over the resurgence of racism in Western Europe. “Anti-Gypsy sentiment is like anti-Semitism,” said Mr. Kawczynski. “It is a European phenomenon.” “Society wants to assimilate the Roma,” said delegate Nicolae Gheorghe. “But then we will no longer be what we want to be. Self-determination of Roma is the only road to integration.” During the Congress, Romani community leaders passed a resolution calling for the establishment of a new international body, the European Roma Forum, and proposed a preliminary structure. They elected an executive committee that will have a one-year mandate to further discuss the idea with European institutions and national governments. Agnes Daroczi, a leader of the Romani Civil Rights Foundation in Hungary, said “The question in a united Europe is how we can pressure countries to improve our situation.” Participants identified the issues of housing, employment and education as areas where improvement most urgently needs to be made. The Congress also agreed upon the establishment of a new Holocaust Investigation Commission to examine compensation funds for former slave laborers and other victims of the Holocaust, and to examine how such funds have been spent. Contact: Jud Nirenberg, 9 Appleton St., Boston MA 02116, USA, telephone +1-617/542 5752, e-mail <Info@RomaWorldCongress.org>, website (www.romaworldcongress.org). |
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