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NO
100 October — November
2003 CALENDAR
S-G’s
Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change
GA Extends Term of Ruud Lubbers as UNHCR Head
Secretary-General and UN Share Sakharov Prize
GA Adopts Convention Against Corruption
UN Budget Ends the Year in the Red
WFP Becomes 9th UNAIDS Cosponsor
Consolidated Appeal 2004: US$3 Billion
Salil Shetty Named Director of MDG Campaign
2003 Report on the World Social Situation
UNCTAD Identifies New FDI Patterns
World Bank’s Post-Conflict Fund
Assessing Bilateral Engagement with PRSPs
IMF: Implementing Transparency Measures
FAO Observes World Food Day
WFP: Many Go Hungry on World Food Day
Poverty Eradication: S-G Calls for Bold Action
CSD-12: Preparations Underway
Cross-Sectoral Impact of HIV/AIDS
Girls Face Discrimination in Access to School
UNESCO: 32nd General Conference
UNESCO: Declaration on Human Genetic Data
FAO: Foodcrops and Shortages
Growth of Supermarkets in Africa
Special Rapporteur Reports on the OPT
OIOS Survey Reports on Potential Savings
Montreal Protocol MOP-15: Methyl Bromide
Tehran Convention Protects the Caspian Sea |
UN/NGO
News
Synergies in Partnerships with CSOs
IPU Enhances Partnership with UN
Child Poverty in the Developing World
The State of Sustainable Coffee
Forum on Chemical Safety
NGO News
>Asia Pacific NGOs on the MDGs
“Real” Progress Report on HIPC
Accountability: Impossible Comparison?
Other News
Former Presidents Discuss Latin American Future
People In Aid Revises Code of Good Practice
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Independent
Panel on Security in Iraq Releases Report
Eminent Persons Release Report on Commodity Issue
GA Debates African Development Initiative
UNHCR: Pre-ExCom and ExCom 54th Session
The State of World Population 2003
Preparation for CSD-12: Regional Implementation Meetings
UNCTAD Board Debates Interdependence, Market Access,
and Africa
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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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