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Independent Panel on Security in Iraq Releases Report |
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The Independent Panel investigating UN security in Iraq in the wake of the 19 August bombing of UN headquarters in Baghdad, headed by the former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, released its report on 22 October. The Panel, established on 22 September 2003 by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, was asked to examine all relevant facts about the situation before the attack, the circumstances of the attack itself and the actions taken by different parties in the immediate aftermath.
The Report of the Independent Panel on the Safety and Security of the UN Personnel in Iraq said the suicide bombing injured around 150 people, but the exact number is not known. The Panel found that no one knew the exact number of UN employees present at headquarters, in Baghdad, or even in the entire country. There were up to 900 UN employees in Iraq at the time of the bombing, regardless of the fact that a security management group had recommended limiting the number to 300. Many of the UN employees had no security training, and the number of the UN’s own security staff was only twenty, the report indicates.
The Panel interviewed a large number of UN staff, in particular security staff, in New York, Amman, Baghdad and Geneva, as well as representatives of the Coalition Forces, the Coalition Provisional Authority—the US-led occupation force—, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, and NGOs operating in Iraq. “The UN security management system failed in its mission to provide adequate security to UN staff in Iraq,” says the report, adding that this failure of management and staff “left the UN open and vulnerable to the type of attack that was perpetrated on August 19.”
The main conclusion of the Panel finds that the “current security management system is dysfunctional. It provides little guarantee of security to UN staff in Iraq or other high-risk environments and needs to be reformed.” In addition, the report says, “The observance and implementation of security regulations and procedures were sloppy and noncomplian[t],” with commonplace security rules. “Adequate security arrangements may not have been able to prevent the attack against the Canal Hotel perimeter, but would certainly have minimized the vulnerability of the staff and premises and reduced the number of casualties caused by the attack.”
The report warns that UN personnel still in Iraq “remain targets of armed elements.… This situation needs to be corrected urgently.” The report also says that the current system is not able to provide a high level of expertise, and recommends that the new system should have a clear chain of command, an audit trail, extensive information management capabilities and clear division of labour and coordination.
Beyond an analysis of what went wrong on and before 19 August, the Panel also says, “The exposure of UN staff to high-risk environments is likely to persist for years to come.…The UN system needs to take a proactive stand to face and deal with these threats by reviewing their operational and security strategies in a radical manner.”
The Panel recommends that “a new security strategy for the UN system as a whole needs to be developed.” Such a strategy should include “an in-depth review” by independent experts of the entire system, more “assessment tools for the collection of information on potential threats,” and increased “accountability at all managerial levels.”
According to international law, the report says, host countries bear the primary responsibility for the security of UN staff in their country. Where there is no government, as is the case with Iraq, the occupying powers hold the responsibility. The report suggests that US authorities and the United Nations maintained a distance from each other, meaning security arrangements at the Canal Hotel “remained ambiguous.” For example, the CPA shared information about security with the United Nations “in an ad hoc manner” and most briefings “consisted mostly of open source information.” On the other hand, the United Nations sought to distance itself from the CPA by requesting the United States remove soldiers and “protective positions” from the Canal Hotel, but “no alternative security measures were requested.”
“UN senior management in Baghdad was uneasy with this highly visible military presence,” the report says, and consequently, the access road used by the bomber “was open to traffic” on 19 August.
Also on the Panel were Brigadier-General Jaakko Taneli Oksanen of the Finnish Army; Peter Fitzgerald, Deputy Commissioner of the Irish National Police; and Claude Bruderlein, Director of the Programme on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research at Harvard University.
On 4 November, Mr. Annan announced the formation of an independent team of experts charged with determining responsibility for the 19 August bombing. The team will be headed by former Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees Gerald Walzer and will include Srinath Basnayake, the former director of the general legal division of the UN Office of Legal Affairs; Kevin Carty, assistant commissioner of the Irish National Police; and Stuart Groves, senior security manager for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. The team has been asked to hold its first meeting shortly and present its findings to Mr. Annan with “the least possible delay.”
Ramiro Lopes da Silva, Acting Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Iraq and Tun Myat, UN Security Coordinator, have asked to be relieved of their present responsibilities while the team conducts its work, and the Secretary-General has decided that they will take special leave until mid-January, while remaining available to the team to provide relevant information. During this period, the Office of the UN Security Coordinator will be overseen by the Under-Secretary-General for Management, Catherine Bertini.
The report is available online (www.un.org/News/dh/iraq/safety-security-un-personnel-iraq.pdf).
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Eminent Persons Release Report on Commodity Issues
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Commodity-dependent developing countries are highly dependent on primary commodities as their principal source of export revenues, employment, income-generation and domestic savings, and as the driving force of investment, economic growth and social development. A group of 15 independent eminent persons has released its report, which calls for enhanced, equitable, predictable market access for key commodities from developing countries.
On 27 October, a group of independent eminent persons—established by GA resolution 57/236 in December 2002 to examine the situation of commodity-dependent developing countries—presented its report (A/58/401) and their recommendations to an open-ended General Assembly panel on commodities. The eminent persons’ report, based on a meeting held in Geneva from 22-23 September 2003, examined commodity trends and issues, including the volatility in commodity prices and their impact on the commodity-dependent nations—particularly those in Africa, as well as small island and landlocked developing States.
The report gives priority to enhanced, equitable and predictable market access for commodities of key importance to developing countries; addressing the problems of oversupply for many commodities; making compensatory financing schemes user-friendly and operational; strengthening capacity and institutions; and pursuing the possibilities for the creation of a new international diversification fund. It also identifies a wide range of actions that could improve the conditions of commodity markets and alleviate the poverty of many commodity producers, including through better crop management systems. The report also looks at debt relief measures; policy design and implementation; capacity-building efforts; institution-building; preferential schemes; South-South trade; exchange of information and experiences on commodity policies; and risk management. Emphasis was also placed on corporate social responsibility and broad-based partnerships in the search for solutions to commodity problems.
Jorio Dauster, a former member of the Brazilian Foreign Service; Roman Grynberg, Deputy Director and Head of the Trade and Regional Integration Department, Economic Affairs Division of the Commonwealth Secretariat; Irfanul Haque of Pakistan, consultant to the G-24; and Martin Khor, Director of the Third World Network reported to the panel.
While agreeing that national governments and the international community should attach priority to commodity issues, the eminent persons also felt that in many areas, significant steps could be taken by the United Nations, and in particular the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Among their recommendations is a suggestion that UNCTAD should explore the possibilities for a new partnership between governments, private business, producers’ and traders’ associations, civil society and international organizations in the commodity area. The members of the panel proposed that the shape and modalities of such a partnership, as well as concrete steps to implement it, should be announced at the eleventh session of UNCTAD, to be held in Brazil in June 2004. They also recommended that the GA designate a competent organization to lead open and transparent discussions on the creation of a new international export diversification fund.
UNCTAD Secretary-General Rubens Ricupero said that the commodity issue was an essential component of the difficult economic situation of many developing countries, which had been unjustly excluded from the agenda of most international organizations. He said the situation was becoming worse year after year, creating adverse situations for developing countries, including the current failure in the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative. Mr. Ricupero said this problem should be faced squarely if the international community wanted to re-engage in trade negotiations.
He also pointed out that over the last two decades, the approach of the international community toward the commodity issue had been one of benign negligence, which, he added, must be overcome. He also highlighted the importance of corporate social responsibility and emphasized the need for corporations and international institutions to address the matter.
Julian Hunte, President of the 58th Session of the GA and Chairman of the meeting, said that he would be preparing a summary of the discussions for transmission to the Second Committee, in hope that the panel could enrich the negotiations on commodities there. He said he hoped the Assembly could adopt a resolution that would contain concrete proposals for measures that could command consensus and support to allow developing economies to use commodity production as a basis for financing for development and more rapid attainment of the Millennium Development Goals.
Iftekhar Chowdhury (Bangladesh), Chairman of the Second Committee, said that in order to achieve development, it was crucial to have stable and enhanced export revenues, especially for the countries dependent on single or few commodities.
During the debate that followed, speakers also stressed the need for urgent action to deal with the crisis situation created by the long-term trend towards decline in prices of such primary commodities as coffee, cocoa and cotton, which had a negative effect on the development of many countries. The links between commodity prices and the problems of poverty, crime and migration were also highlighted. Heavily indebted countries were finding that as a result of decline in their total export earnings, a major portion of the foreign exchange revenue went towards meeting their debt service and payment obligations.
The report is available online (www.un.org/ga/58/documentation/list4.html).
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GA Debates African Development Initiative
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Meeting from 15-16 October 2003, the UN General Assembly discussed progress in the implementation of and international support for the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD). Participants also discussed the causes of conflict—which many attributed to poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, and the ready availability of small arms and light weapons—and ways to promote durable peace and sustainable development in Africa.
Under-Secretary-General and UN Special Adviser on Africa, Ibrahim Gambari (Nigeria), introduced two reports that formed the basis of the discussions. The highlight of the first report, New Partnership for Africa’s Development: progress in implementation and international support (A/58/254), according to Mr. Gambari, is that official development assistance (ODA) to Africa has increased in the past two years from US$17.73 billion in 2001 to approximately US$18.62 billion in 2002. The increase is more than offset by trade inequities, however. Total ODA, according to the report, “is modest in comparison with the huge agricultural subsidies paid to farmers in the development countries. Furthermore, the subsidies depress commodities prices, hindering Africa’s ability to increase exports and escape from poverty and dependence on aid.”
The report asserts that “bold action” is required by all stakeholders to address the challenges and constraints identified, including “poor policy environments in African countries” and “limited use of public-private partnerships” for addressing NEPAD priorities. The report suggests that African countries must take necessary measures to integrate these priorities into their development progress. Action required, according to the report, includes ensuring adequate funding, developing sound programmes, and creating effective political and public support.
Education is also cited as a priority. “The quality of education in Africa has continued to deteriorate. That, coupled with the ‘brain drain,’ remains a serious challenge.” The report notes, however, that “in the education sector, a number of partner countries have made pledges to the Education for All Fast Track Initiative, with the aim of raising the level of primary school enrolment in countries with very low enrolment rates.”
Regarding the struggle to reduce the crippling indebtedness of African countries, the report says that pledges to reduce or cancel debts had come from Australia, Canada, China, Germany, Japan, Kuwait and the United Kingdom.
The report highlights the Africa Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), which in July 2003 was established and acceded to by 16 Member States volunteering to have their economic and political performance monitored by other African governments. “Perhaps the most innovative feature of the mechanism is that it provides the means to monitor progress towards good economic and political governance. Its primary purpose is to foster the adoption of policies, standards and practices that lead to political stability and economic growth,” the report says.
The second report, Implementation of the recommendations contained in the (1998) report of the Secretary-General on the causes of conflict and the promotion of durable peace and sustainable development in Africa (A/58/352), identifies problems and obstacles in the effective implementation of the recommendations, stressing that concerted action by African countries and their development partners is required. Regarding arms proliferation, the report encourages African countries to be more transparent in providing information on arms and ammunition and to participate in the UN Register of Conventional Arms. It also proposes that the international community provide countries that are stopping or controlling proliferation with more support.
In the area of social development, the report finds that increased and sustained aid to African countries well above the existing levels, accompanied by appropriate policies conducive to growth, including the necessity for enhancing institutional capacities, is necessary to enable African countries to accelerate poverty reduction and achieve the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving poverty by 2015. The report calls for investment in human resources and stresses that African countries need to make substantial investment in their education, health and related social services to address these challenges, including achieving and eliminating gender disparity in primary and secondary education by 2015.
Donor countries are urged to increase their efforts to meet the UN ODA target of 0.7% of gross national product (GNP) to developing countries and to support African efforts in the consolidation of peace and sustainable development. In light of the slow implementation of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative, the report recommends a simplification of procedures and a further review of the content of conditionalities.
In addition, the report stresses the urgent need for African countries to be successfully integrated into global trade arrangements, calling on industrialized countries to take more vigorous measures to lower their trade barriers against exports from developing countries. Progress to reducing trade barriers and opening the markets of developed countries must also be accompanied by improved domestic policies and enhanced capacities such as improved infrastructure, diversified export bases and market export-oriented industries, the report stresses.
In the ensuing debate, some countries said they had observed worsening debt indicators due to the decrease in export incomes and the volatility of commodity prices. The result had been low investment and economic growth as well as insufficient job creation and too few resources for health and education. Many delegates expressed the belief that exploring options such as debt restructuring and debt relief would contribute to the sustained economic growth of the highly indebted poor countries in Africa. The importance of trade in national development was also noted, with many delegations stressing that the international community should make more concerted efforts to expand market access to African products.
The representative from Eritrea voiced caution about the implementation of NEPAD, underscoring concerns expressed by many African civil society groups questioning the appropriateness of receiving, from potential donors, the US$64 billion purportedly needed to activate NEPAD, as it could establish a dependency relationship leading to further weakening of African economies and the curtailment of their independence and sovereignty.
Regarding the promotion of lasting peace, delegates focused on preventing, managing and resolving conflicts, with many proposing the strengthening of African capacities, including through support for regional and subregional organizations. A number of delegations cited the African Union’s creation of the Peace and Security Council, the Pan-African Parliament and the Economic Social and Cultural Council as progress toward facilitating conflict prevention and ensuring the participation of African peoples in the development and economic integration of their continent.
Rwanda, on behalf of the Africa Group, emphasized that the successful implementation of NEPAD would require Africa’s development partners to change their attitude on the flow of ODA. While the slight upswing in ODA was welcome, the representative from Rwanda said, the increased allocations had fallen well short of what was needed for African countries to make any headway toward ensuring long-term development and poverty eradication. The capacity of African countries to fully implement NEPAD’s goals and objectives would ultimately depend on their ability to generate resources in an open and fair international trading system, the representative emphasized. In the wake of the collapse of the recent World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Meeting in Cancún (see Go Between 99), Rwanda said it was clear there was a need for genuine cooperation among trade partners on the removal of subsidies and tariff barriers on African exports.
Italy, on behalf of the European Union (EU), agreed that African resolve must be matched by the commitment of developed countries. The EU, Italy said, had already committed to bring ODA to 0.39% of gross national index (GNI) by 2006, as a first significant step toward the UN goal of 0.7%.
Recognizing the importance of cotton for the development of a number of African countries and the need for urgent action to address trade distortion in that area, Italy said the EU had proposed a constructive solution to address depressed cotton prices in the world market. The EU also remained convinced that growing liberalization of world trade, together with development cooperation activities, could play a crucial role in attaining the MDGs.
Italy reaffirmed that the EU’s contribution to conflict prevention and management would be made through strengthening African capacities. It cited several developments in that regard, including the protocol for an African Peace and Security Mechanism, endorsed by the AU at its Durban Summit in 2002. The mechanism provides for an African stand-by force, whose creation would deter conflicts on the continent and supplement strong and effective cooperation between the United Nations, the European Union and the African Union.
Nigeria’s representative applauded the establishment of the Peace and Security Mechanism and said it looked forward to the creation of the stand-by force as it was much more economical to contain conflict in its incipient stage than to reconstruct and rehabilitate its destructive consequences. The representative also observed that while good governance, respect for human rights, rule of law, accountability, transparency and the freedom to make choices were fundamental in nurturing a culture of peace and sustainable development, the problems of poverty, ignorance, illiteracy, unemployment and the ready availability of small arms and light weapons continued to provide fuel for conflicts in Africa. The international community’s inaction and unfulfilled commitments also bore directly on those conflicts, Nigeria said.
Morocco, on behalf of the Group of 77 developing countries and China (G77/China) cited progress in Africa’s efforts to implement NEPAD, including initiatives at the subregional level in infrastructure, agriculture, health and education, as well as the consolidation of regional mechanisms for conflict prevention, resolution and management.
The G77/China emphasized that the mobilization of national resources was insufficient to ensure adequate financing of the economic and social development programmes, and reiterated that international support was essential to the NEPAD’s success. The G77/China noted that while ODA had increased slightly for Africa, there had been little movement on debt relief or trade. Only reinforced, reliable and broad access to international markets would provide African countries with the resources to help finance their own development, the G77/China stressed, observing that developed countries seemed to be far from meeting the commitments made to that end at the Monterrey International Conference on Financing for Development, the Millennium Summit and the 2001 Doha Development Agenda. Indeed, the G77/China pointed out, the failure of the recent WTO Cancún meeting had revealed the inconsistency of developed countries’ positions on the essence of the multilateral trade system.
Contact: NEPAD Secretariat, PO Box 1234, Midrand, Halfway House, 1685 South Africa, telephone +27-11/313 3716, fax +27-11/313 3684, website
(www.touchtech.biz/nepad).
African Union Headquarters, PO Box 3243, Roosevelt Street (Old Airport Area), W21K19, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, telephone +251-1/51 77 00, fax 251-1/51 78 44, website
(www.africa-union.org).
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UNHCR: Pre-ExCom and ExCom 54th Session
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The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) held the 54th Session of its Executive Committee (ExCom) from 29 September-3 October 2003 in Geneva to discuss protection matters and review and approve the agency’s programmes and budgets. NGO-UNHCR consultations, known as the Pre-ExCom, took place from 24-26 September, also in Geneva.
UNHCR High Commissioner Ruud Lubbers opened the annual meeting of the 64-member governing body by affirming UNHCR’s commitment to Iraq and pledging to work closely with local authorities to help hundreds of thousands of displaced Iraqis return home eventually. Mr. Lubbers stressed that UNHCR “cannot operate from a fortress” despite the 19 August attack on the UN headquarters in Baghdad that killed 22 people and put on hold UNHCR’s plans to repatriate some 500,000 Iraqi refugees and 800,000 internally displaced people.
Outlining UNHCR’s operations around the world, Mr. Lubbers highlighted the repatriation of more than two million people to Afghanistan last year and the encouraging returns to Angola, calling it “an opportunity to put an end to yet another of Africa’s biggest and most protracted crises of displacement.” At the same time, he stressed that these positive developments must be sustained by continued donor and government support for rehabilitation, reconstruction and reintegration.
The High Commissioner also welcomed the “marked improvement” in Liberia and the “positive momentum towards peace” in southern Sudan, but said he was concerned over the ongoing fighting in north-western Sudan that has driven some 65,000 people into neighbouring Chad. He also called attention to the plight of North Koreans who had left their country “illegally” for China, where UNHCR has been denied access to them for years.
Regarding UNHCR’s budget, Mr. Lubbers said the agency still faces a US$54 million funding gap for 2003. He also presented the 2004 annual budget for approval, explaining that the proposed sum of US$995 million was significantly higher than in recent years because many of the activities that had been funded through supplementary budgets are being absorbed into next year’s annual budget. “Ultimately, this is not just about funding; it is about adopting an entirely new approach to the whole concept of partnership. It is about putting refugees first, and institutional needs second,” he added.
The High Commissioner said considerable progress had been made in his “Convention Plus” initiative, which aims to find durable solutions for refugees through special multilateral agreements (see Go Between 94). He also updated the committee on the “UNHCR 2004” process, which seeks to ensure that UNHCR is adequately structured and positioned to carry out its role to enable efficient and effective multilateral governance of the refugee problem.
On 1 October, Erika Feller, UNHCR’s Director of International Protection, warned ExCom members that many governments do not “practice what they preach” when it comes to protecting refugees in accordance with international law. “UNHCR is concerned by the widening gulf between the discourse and commitments made, including in this Committee, and the actual practice of many States,” she said. “Harsh realities facing asylum seekers around the globe are not exceptional, but rather too commonplace.”
“UNHCR is being denied access to persons of direct concern,” she continued. “Refugees continue to confront serious security problems, including sexual and gender-based violence. Fear of terrorism and tightened security controls have negatively impacted refugee access to territory, to asylum procedures and to the solution of resettlement.” She also noted how efforts to curb illegal migration have spawned restrictive legislation, multiplying obstacles to accessing asylum procedures and denying due process to detainees.
“The civilian and humanitarian character of asylum is compromised and, at the level of the individual refugee, women and children continue to account for the largest portion of the victims,” Ms. Feller said, urging States to work towards providing truly “effective” protection.
On 3 October ExCom members adopted a number of conclusions on protection issues, including on the return of people not in need of international protection; the protection of refugees from sexual abuse and exploitation; and safeguards during the interception of refugees before they reach their intended destination. Although not legally binding, UNHCR says that ExCom Conclusions have status as “soft” international law and are often cited in national asylum hearings and court cases, and during the drafting of national asylum legislation.
The Conclusion on Protection from Sexual Abuse and Exploitation was drawn up in an effort to address one of the worst threats facing refugees, especially women and children living in camps. It places a strong emphasis on preventive measures and systems, including training at all levels and implementation of guidelines and codes of conduct, as well as prompt investigation and accountability once abuses are found to have taken place.
The Conclusion on the Return of Persons Found Not to be in Need of International Protection spells out that everyone has a right both to leave and return to their own country, and that States have an obligation to receive back their own nationals. The Executive Committee said it was “seriously concerned, as regards the return of persons found not to be in need of international protection, that some countries continue to restrict the return of their own nationals, either outright or through laws and practices which effectively block expeditious return.”
In his closing address, Mr. Lubbers said that States must guard against overly restrictive procedures and practices that are not consistent with international refugee law. “All too often States—including members of this Executive Committee—fail to live up to their pledges to protect people fleeing persecution,” Mr. Lubbers said, noting that he was deeply concerned about the trend among governments to shield their populations against foreigners. “The reality is that there is far too much anti-foreigner sentiment,” he said. “In many countries, refugees and asylum seekers are vilified by both politicians and the media almost as a matter of routine.”
Mr. Lubbers also challenged donor States to better assist poor countries often over-burdened with large refugee populations, calling for governments to show a “greater commitment to multilateralism.”
Pre Ex-Com
From September 24-26, some 250 participants from over 150 NGOs gathered for Pre-ExCom, where Assistant High Commissioner for Refugees Kamel Morjane set the tone of the meeting by saying that NGOs represent a large and diverse group that gives UNHCR insight. Three main themes ran through Pre-ExCom: protection, partnership, and security. Discussions were held on a wide range of issues on refugee protection including human rights, registration, education, camp security and self-reliance of refugees. The Convention Plus initiative, NGO sustainability, developing investigation mechanisms and protection of internally displaced persons were also discussed.
“Within such a forum and within such a short time, it will always be a challenge to do adequate justice to the varied and often complex issues of refugee protection,” said Craig Sanders, the head of UNHCR’s NGO Liaison Unit, who added that he was encouraged by the quality of the interactions among the NGOs and UNHCR.
“It’s reassuring to see the continued commitment of many of our long-standing partners from among the advocacy and operational NGOs, and also to see the growing participation of our colleagues from among the national NGOs—many of whom play vital roles in refugee protection,” he said.
During Pre-ExCom, a special session on security was held in light of the recent events in Iraq and how these events have changed the context in which humanitarian action is undertaken.
The Pre-ExCom submission to the general debate of the ExCom highlights the increasing difficulties surrounding the issue: “The past several weeks and months will go down in history as an extremely difficult time for humanitarian action. The deteriorated security situations in Iraq and Afghanistan, causing the death or injury of UN and NGO staff, reinforce the reality of the interdependence of all humanitarian actors. The changed international climate in which humanitarian personnel are deliberately targeted, requires a re-evaluation of the way in which we work and the way in which we are perceived in many parts of the world—it is no longer business as usual. Our neutral and impartial action is increasingly intertwined with the activities of political actors and the military. The large majority of humanitarian funding is provided by only a few donor governments. Yet many of those same governments are also playing a leading role in the war on terrorism. In such an environment, how can we ensure the impartiality and independence of humanitarian action?”
The Pre-ExCom statement, facilitated by the NGO network International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA), also pointed out that since last year’s ExCom, the security and protection of refugees, asylum seekers, and other persons who have been forcibly displaced, have not improved in many places, with numerous reports from NGOs and others pointing to the further deterioration of refugees’ security, further restricting their ability to enjoy their rights to protection and durable solutions. On refugee women and children, NGOs pointed out that UNHCR’s current policies and guidelines are valuable, but are being inadequately implemented at the field level. They strongly supported an interagency, multi-sectoral approach to ensure effective protection.
In the context of mixed migratory flows, the statement pointed out that there is still limited recognition of the need for an open and inclusive debate amongst all States and other actors on the social, economic, and protection implications of migration control measures. Instead, “the policies and proposals of several developed countries seen over the last year seriously threaten the fundamental and universal right to seek and enjoy asylum.”
On Convention Plus and the High Commissioner’s Forum that supports the initiative, NGOs said they looked forward to actively participating in the discussions on resettlement; targeting of development assistance to help achieve durable solutions for refugees in regions of origin; and secondary movements of asylum seekers and refugees.
The NGO statement pointed out that sharing information is key to carrying out protection: “We are concerned that UNHCR has become less forthcoming in making available adequate country of origin information and guidelines on refugee status determination in specific situations to refugees, governments, and NGOs. Without access to this kind of information, protection will be compromised.” The NGOs called on donor governments to ensure that adequate funds are made available to ensure access to information and that they also share information related to refugee status determination with UNHCR and NGOs.
NGO statements to the Executive Committee and other documents are available on the International Council of Voluntary Agencies website (www.icva.ch).
Contact: UNHCR NGO Liaison Unit, Rue de Montbrillant 94, CH-1202 Geneva, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/739 8111, fax +41-22/739 7377, e-mail <hqng00@unhcr.ch>, website
(www.unhcr.ch).
International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA), 48, chemin du Grand-Montfleury, 1290 Versoix, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/950 9600, fax +41-22/950 9609, e-mail <secretariat@icva.ch>, website
(www.icva.ch).
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The State of World Population 2003
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This year’s State of World Population 2003, published by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), is entitled Making 1 Billion Count: Investing in Adolescents’ Health and Rights. It stresses that meeting adolescents’ reproductive health needs is an urgent priority in the global fight against poverty and HIV/AIDS.
The State of World Population 2003 finds that neglect and under-funding of programmes enabling young people to avoid unwanted pregnancy, unsafe childbirth and sexually transmitted infections are undermining development and spreading HIV/AIDS. The report notes that investment to correct these issues will be repaid many times over; failing to act, however, will incur tremendous costs to individuals, societies and the world at large.
In every region, there is a need for positive dialogue and greater understanding among parents, families, communities and governments about the complex and sensitive situations facing adolescents and young people. The report examines factors such as changing family structures and living conditions, rapidly changing norms and social behaviours, the growth in orphans and street children, the impact of urbanization and migration, armed conflict, the lack of education and employment, and the continuing toll of gender discrimination and violence.
Increasing the knowledge, opportunities, choices and participation of young people will enable them to lead healthy and productive lives so that they can contribute fully to their communities and to a more stable and prosperous world. UNFPA says that breaking the transmission of poverty from one generation to the next will also require more investments in health and education and a supportive policy environment. The agency urges governments to do more in order to meet their international development goals and commitments to young people.
Some 1.2 billion people, or one person in five, are aged between 10-19, the largest number of adolescents in history. Half of them are poor; one in four live in extreme poverty, on less than US$1 a day. The report finds that in developing countries, some 82 million girls now between ages 10-17 will marry before their 18th birthday, disrupting their education and limiting their opportunities. Some 14 million teenagers, married and unmarried, give birth each year; many face serious pregnancy-related illnesses, and at least five million undergo unsafe abortion. Those aged 15-19 are twice as likely as women in their 20s to die in childbirth. The report stresses that the unmet need for family planning among adolescents is twice as high as among the adult population.
HIV/AIDS has become a disease of the young, the report stresses, fuelled by poverty, gender inequality and a severe lack of information and services for prevention. According to UNFPA, half of all new HIV infections, and at least one-third of the more than 333 million new cases of curable sexually transmitted infections each year, occur in people aged 15-24. Yet only a small percentage know they are infected, and a majority of young people are ignorant about how HIV is transmitted.
“There is a critical need for more education and increased access to youth-friendly reproductive health services,” said UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid. “Studies show that accurate information delivered at the right age within the appropriate context tends to encourage responsible behaviour.”
The report provides country-specific examples of projects that combine life skills education, including sexuality education, and peer counselling with access to services, and often offer job skills training as well. Projects that are locally driven, culturally sensitive and involve youth at all stages have greater success. UNFPA notes that while such programmes have been shown to be highly effective in promoting healthier behaviour in adolescents—in Uganda, for example—they are under-funded and meet only a fraction of the need. A study of 107 countries found that 44 did not include AIDS education in their curricula.
The report points out the high costs and social consequences of failing to adequately meet adolescents’ reproductive health and rights. Countries that invest in education and health on a priority basis, it emphasizes, can benefit from falling fertility and a temporary rise in their working-age populations relative to dependents to boost development. Investment is needed now to take advantage of these future windows of opportunity, which will open in the next 20 years in some subregions, later in others, the report says. “Investing in the wellbeing and ensuring the participation of the world’s largest youth generation will yield benefits for generations to come,” said Ms. Obaid. “By improving the prospects of young people, we improve the prospects of all.”
Contact: Kristin Hetle, Chief, Media Services Branch, UNFPA, 220 East 42nd Street, New York NY 10017, USA, telephone +1-212/297 5020, fax +1-212/557 6416, e-mail <hetle@unfpa.org>, website
(www.unfpa.org).
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Preparation for CSD-12: Regional Implementation Meetings
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In the run-up to the twelfth session of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD-12), which will feature water, sanitation and human settlements as its main topics, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for West Asia (ESCWA) and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) held regional implementation meetings.
ESCWA
As part of its contribution to the work of the twelfth session of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD-12), the UN Economic and Social Commission for West Asia (ESCWA) convened a regional implementation meeting from 19-21 October 2003 in Cairo (Egypt).
Participants adopted ten decisions on follow-up measures to the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) outcomes and the Arab Initiative for Sustainable Development; follow-up activities to the Abu Dhabi Declaration on the future of the Arab Environment Programme; a work programme for the environment up to 2005; priorities and achievements in the field of sustainable development; incentives for private sector investment in environmental projects; and the establishment of an Arab environment fund.
Hosni Khordagui of ESCWA highlighted the importance of regional and subregional organizations in implementing WSSD outcomes. He noted that sustainable development dealt with a wide range of issues beyond the scope of the environment, and deplored the lack of a comprehensive approach to it.
Kathleen Abdalla of DESA stressed the importance of achieving the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of integrated water management by 2015. Stressing that people have the right to a minimum amount of water, a representative from Palestine said that a demand-side approach to water management was not appropriate in the Arab region, which faces severe water scarcity. He called for an integrated river basin management, including addressing upstream pollution, and urged that water be recognized as a vital component of development.
Other participants stressed the need for a joint action plan among States in the Arab region. A participant from the Arab Network for Environment & Development (RAED) suggested that poverty be the basis of the reports and that recommendations of the ESCWA meeting emphasize poverty as a priority issue in the Arab world.
The International Confederation of Arab Trade Unions for Arab Relations drew attention to the role of workers in sustainable development, while the National Council of Women emphasized the role of women and suggested including gender sensitive data in the report to CSD-12.
Contact: Hassan Charif, Sustainable Development and Productivity Division, ESCWA, PO Box 11-8575, Beirut, Lebanon, telephone +961-1/981 301, fax +961-1/981 510, website
(www.escwa.org.lb).
ESCAP
The UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) convened its regional implementation meeting in preparation for CSD-12 from 27-28 October 2003 in Bangkok (Thailand). Panel discussions, multi-stakeholder dialogues and three break-out sessions on experiences in the Asia, Central Asia and Pacific regions took place, as well as discussions on partnership for sustainable development. The meeting concluded with the identification of key issues pertaining to water, sanitation and human settlements in the region.
David Jezeph, ESCAP Water Resources Division reviewed the water supply situation in South, Southeast and Northern Asia, noting that the region was home to three out of four of the world’s most populated countries and contained the most eroded lands, most polluted cities, and the majority of the world’s population without access to safe drinking water and sanitation. He highlighted major implementation challenges, including rapid population growth and urban migration.
On behalf of the Pacific States, consultant John Low described the specific challenges faced by island countries in managing the water sector. He highlighted their small size, natural vulnerability, and limited human and financial resources. He reported on the state of national implementation and outlined challenges in the areas of water supply, water resource management, and water governance and awareness. He also presented the Pacific Regional Action Plan on Sustainable Water Management as “a way forward.”
Many countries highlighted the importance of managing water use and supply at the local level. The representative from Iran stressed the need to increase water use efficiency in the agricultural sector and, with the representatives from Indonesia and China, underscored the role of water pricing.
In the multistakeholder dialogue, NGOs stressed the need to align urban and rural development policies, emphasizing direct community participation in government interventions. The growing gap between rich and poor was also cited and participants stressed the role of governments in distributing wealth, including through improving welfare and changing taxation structures.
Participants then identified key issues in water, sanitation and human settlements in the ESCAP region for inclusion in a report that would reflect achievements, constraints and the way forward.
Contact: Environment and Sustainable Development Division, ESCAP, The UN Building, Rajadamnern Nok Avenue, Bangkok 10200, Thailand, telephone: +66-2/288 1234, fax: +66-2/288 1000, email: <escap-esdd@un.org>, website:
(www.unescap.org).
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UNCTAD Board Debates Interdependence, Market Access, and Africa
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The annual session of the Trade and Development Board (TDB) of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) met in Geneva from 6-17 October to discuss a number of issues, including preferential trade arrangements for least developed countries (LDCs), and better market access and diversification to revive African trade. Participants also considered UNCTAD’s Trade and Development Report 2003.
UNCTAD Secretary-General Rubens Ricupero opened the session by stressing that world economic problems will not be solved by the multilateral trading system alone, but will require the strengthening of global demand in industrial economies outside the United States. Mr. Ricupero said that this would redress macro-economic disequilibria among the large industrial countries and also address the supply constraints of most developing nations. The importance of trade negotiations has sometimes been oversold, he said, as the most they can achieve is to create export opportunities-opportunities from which many developing countries are currently unable to benefit because they lack the necessary productive and export capabilities.
Preferential Schemes
Speaking at a panel discussion on 9 October, Mr. Ricupero stressed that preferential trade arrangements for least developed countries should be made more permanent, while pleading for countries that successfully used trade to reduce poverty and enhance growth to be rewarded by an extension of those arrangements, rather than penalized when they came to an end.
The impact of such preferential schemes for developing countries—including the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) of the US, and the Everything but Arms (EBA) initiative of the EU—is being studied closely by UNCTAD, to see whether they actually do what they are intended to do, which is to raise income and reduce poverty, Mr. Ricupero said. “To make trade work for poverty reduction, it is important to make market access preferences work for trade,” he remarked. And although there was an undeniably clear link between trade growth, employment and poverty reduction, that link was “not always linear or automatic;” policies in areas other than trade were needed to strengthen that link, addressing income distribution and regional disparities, among others, he added.
Lesotho’s Trade and Industry Minister, Mpho ‘Meli Malie, described how AGOA had helped his country, a landlocked LDC with a 45% unemployment rate and an HIV rate of 31%. After overcoming some difficulties in meeting the eligibility requirements for AGOA, including incompatible legal systems, Lesotho had gone on to make considerable progress in its textile and clothing industry. It had targeted job creation as the top-priority task for poverty eradication and had thus decided to promote the textile industry to investors because of its labour intensiveness. The sector’s employment had risen from 19,000 jobs in 1999 to 55,000 today, making Lesotho the largest sub-Saharan textiles and apparel exporting country into the US.
However, Mr. Malie said that, while AGOA had helped, preferences alone were not enough; capacity building was also needed. The uncertainty as to whether AGOA and other preferential schemes would be extended was inhibiting new investment. Other difficulties in implementing the schemes derived from supply-side constraints, such as the lack of financing and the availability of water for industrial use at reasonable cost. Lesotho was planning ahead for the possible demise of preferences, looking into private-public sector infrastructure projects and revising its macro-economic policies. It was also involved in a number of regional initiatives and the development of South-South trade. “Unilateral market access initiatives are appreciated,” he said, but “emphasis should be on a multilateral system of granting of market access, as this has greater predictability and security.”
William Cline of the Institute for International Economics in Washington DC argued that export growth would have a disproportionate impact on gross domestic product (GDP) growth, which in turn would have a large impact on poverty reduction. In order to achieve export growth, it was important to cut agricultural subsidies in developed countries, but it was just as important for those countries to dismantle existing trade barriers, especially in agriculture. The role of market access preferences in reducing developing-country poverty had been empirically proven, notably by the AGOA and Lesotho example, he said.
To make market access preferences even more effective, he said, the period of applicability should be extended; rules of origin should be simplified; the initiatives should be extended to all goods; and tax exemptions should be offered to foreign investors with a view to overcoming supply constraints in the host countries. Mr. Cline also called for decoupling all agricultural subsidies from trade and channelling them into other areas, such as environmental protection. In addition, industrial countries should make “deep cuts” in their manufactures tariffs, and developing countries should cut their tariffs “at least half as much.”
Africa’s Trade Performance
“Given the difficult overall plight of Africa today, it is more important than ever to propose concrete ideas that can help African decision makers find solutions adapted to their particular problems,” Mr. Ricupero said on 13 October. He named three current issues that he said deserved more attention, even though they were not on the multilateral negotiation agenda: the erosion of preferences, preferential arrangements and global commodities policy. He pointed out that these questions are frequently discussed within UNCTAD, particularly the issue of commodities. These subjects will also be in the forefront of the debates at the eleventh session of UNCTAD (UNCTAD XI) to be held in Sao Paulo (Brazil) from 13-18 June 2004, he noted.
During the discussion that followed, Kamran Kousari, Special Coordinator for Africa, introduced a condensed version of an UNCTAD study entitled Economic Development in Africa: Issues in Africa’s trade performance, which looks at Africa’s trade performance over the past 20 years (the full report will be released in December 2003). Mr. Kousari said that despite efforts by many African countries to liberalize their economies, the continent’s share in world trade had continued to decline. Africa relied on the export of a limited number of products whose prices were falling, resulting in worsening terms of trade. At US$200 billion, terms-of-trade losses in commodities alone were equivalent to the total outstanding debt of sub-Saharan Africa.
The decline in commodity prices originated principally from structural oversupply; a surplus of commodities produced in developed countries (including cotton, groundnuts, sugar and wheat), where agriculture is highly subsidized; increased productivity for tropical beverages such as coffee, cocoa and tea, due to technological advances and expansion of land use; and the entry of non-traditional producers. The winners, he said, are the 3% of the population in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries who benefit from farm subsidies, and the multinationals in developed countries involved in commodity trade, processing and retailing. The losers: the millions of farmers in the South, the majority of whom in Africa live on less than a dollar a day, and whose livelihood depends on commodity production and exports. Addressing poverty reduction without addressing the sources of income of the poor would be an exercise in futility, Mr. Kousari stressed.
In a session held with the participation of invited experts, Michael Atingi-Ego, Director of the Research Department of the Bank of Uganda, said that the opening of domestic markets had not led to increased exports. Instead, imports had risen. Exchange rate fluctuation due to capital inflows and the price of the main commodity export had an impact on other exports. Careful management of capital flows and exchange rates was needed, given their significant impact on trade. Even though trade reforms generated both winners and losers they had not been successful in alleviating poverty. It was important to put in place complementary and compensatory policies that would mitigate the adverse consequences of the reforms. Uganda’s attempts to increase the incomes of the “losers” had come up against budgetary constraints. Both national and international efforts should facilitate market access and the lowering of tariffs.
T. Ademola Oyejide, Professor in the Department of Economics of the University of Ibadan (Nigeria), said that Africa’s problems were linked not to market openness, but to the factors of production. Improvements in the continent’s trade performance would require horizontal, vertical and spatial diversification (expansion into faster-growing markets). Africa had undergone a number of macro-economic and sectoral reforms that had only reduced institutional capacities. It was essential, he said, to strengthen those capacities.
Trade and Development Report
The Trade and Development Report 2003 (TDR 2003), released on 2 October, finds that for the third consecutive year, the world economy is in a “state of malaise,” and little improvement is expected over the 1.9% growth registered last year. With the advanced economies struggling to get out of the slump, “the world economy is now facing a widening deflationary gap created by deficient global demand.” The report also notes that there is a “global glut in both labour and product markets, with too many goods chasing too few buyers and too many workers chasing too few jobs.”
The report documents a world of industrial difference across developing regions. In Asia, a handful of “mature industrializers” have shifted to a high-tech and service-heavy development pattern, leaving neighbouring countries more room to use their natural resources and labour reserves in support of rapid industrialization. By contrast, declining shares of manufacturing output and employment (“deindustrialization”) have accompanied rapid liberalization in many Latin American and African countries. The report says “enclaves” of industrialization linked to international production chains have appeared, without, in most cases, translating into more broad-based investment, value added and productivity growth.
In Africa, where climatic and political factors have a major impact on economic performance, the global slowdown appears to have had only a mild effect. Still, with continued weakness of many commodity prices expected over the coming years, the report sees little likelihood that the region will exceed its performance of the past two years, and only a handful of countries appear likely to experience rates of 7% or above. Under these circumstances, TDR2003 finds that achieving the Millennium Development Goals will be a difficult task.
The report concludes that only coordinated expansionary policies among the leading economies can bring about an orderly rebalancing of economic relations. UNCTAD warns that “if decisive action is not taken to restore stability in financial and currency markets, to start a global recovery and reverse the rapid rise in unemployment, there is a real threat that trade imbalances and the coexistence of continued rapid growth in some parts of the world with stagnation, decline and job losses elsewhere could deepen the existing discontent with globalization among a wide section of the world’s population, triggering a political backlash and a loss of faith in markets and openness.”
Contact: Kamran Kousari, Special Coordinator, Office of the Special Coordinator for Africa, UNCTAD, Palais des Nations, CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/907 5800, fax +41-22/907 0274, e-mail <kamran.kousari@unctad.org>, website
(www.unctad.org).
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