NO 93 AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2002
| UN UPDATE | NGO & OTHER NEWS | FOCUS |
| On
23 September, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan unveiled
a plan to further strengthen the United Nations, affecting the full
spectrum of UN entities and activities. Strengthening of the United
Nations: an agenda for further change is the second stage of reform
proposals the Secretary-General has initiated since taking office
in 1997, and its “objective is not to reduce the budget, or to
respond to pressures or conditions imposed from the outside,”
but is more “an initiative from within.” Mr. Annan’s
reform strategy will involve framing political priorities more in
line with the Millennium Development Goals (see Go Between 90) and
streamlining the Secretariat. In Section II, Aligning activities with
priorities, the Secretary-General writes, “We must take a critical
look at all our activities and ask ourselves whether they are relevant
to the implementation of the Millennium Declaration and whether they
have the desired impact. And if the answer is no, we must be willing
to let go.”
The report highlights the fact that
over the biennium 2000-2001, 15,484 meetings were held and 5,879 reports
were issued, placing “excessive demands on both the Secretariat
and Member States.” It says the same problem applies to major
UN conferences convened in recent years and says “[s]ummit fatigue
has set in.” The Secretary-General says that he hopes that “in
the future Member States will exercise self-restraint, and call for
additional conferences only when high-level and comprehensive direction
is needed on new issues of global policy.” “What I am putting before you
today is a package of very pragmatic improvements. Taken individually,
they may not strike you as very dramatic. But taken together, they
amount to a very different way of doing business,” Mr. Annan
said. “If all of them are successfully implemented, we may
really begin to feel that this organization is up to the job the
world has given it.”
The Secretary-General will be seeking
a strong endorsement from the Member States for the reform package,
which will work its way into the system through the 2004-2005 biennium.
As one of the first steps, the Secretary-General will submit to
the General Assembly next year “a thoroughly revised programme
budget that better reflects the priorities agreed to at the Millennium
Summit,” the report says.
Two offices within the Secretariat
are targeted for immediate restructuring: the Office of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Department of
Public Information (DPI). Concerning the former, the report says,
“The UN’s capacity to help individual countries build
strong human rights institutions will be strengthened, the [human
rights] treaty bodies’ procedures will be reviewed in order
to simplify reporting obligations, the system of special procedures
will be reviewed … and given better support, and the management
of the [office] will be strengthened.” The report also stresses
the “importance of the Commission on Human Rights, and the
need for the Commission to stick firmly to its task of promoting
better standards of human rights throughout the world.”
DPI, the report notes, “has
suffered from a fragmentation of its efforts as a result of too
many mandates and missions .” It will be restructured to “concentrate
its efforts on key messages that will be part of a coordinated communications
strategy with specific goals.” Part of this restructuring will
involve “rationalizing” the UN Information Centres around
“regional hubs, starting with Western Europe.”
Noting that interaction between the United Nations and civil society
has “blossomed with the world conferences of the past decade,”
Section IV, Working better together, explores ways to improve cooperation
between the two. The report points out that over two thousand NGOs
now have formal consultative status, and, more recently, that over
3,500 NGOs were given formal accreditation to the World Summit on
Sustainable Development held in Johannesburg (South Africa).
However, the report also says that
due to such “explosive growth,” the system for facilitating
the interaction between the UN and civil society is “showing
signs of strain.” The report points out that due to the large
number of accreditation processes spread across the different units
in the Secretariat, NGOs often “encounter uneven standards
and confusing procedures.” Among other difficulties, it also
makes reference to “a great imbalance in the number of non-governmental
organizations from the industrialized and those from the developing
countries, with very few of the latter taking part in UN activities.” |
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| On
12 September, Sergio Vieira de Mello (Brazil) took up the post of
High Commissioner for Human Rights, replacing Mary Robinson who had
served a five-year term in office. Mr. Vieira de Mello has 33 years
of UN experience, and recently worked as the UN head in East Timor.
Addressing the Informal Meeting of the Commission on Human Rights in Geneva on 24 September, Mr. Vieira de Mello said, “I remain convinced that human rights are about ensuring dignity, equality and security for all human beings everywhere. These three formidable notions are at the core of our vision. They are closely interlinked. Dignity, which reflects both autonomy and responsibility, concerns the individual. Equality is the cornerstone of effective and harmonious relationships between people; it underpins our common systems of ethics and rights, whether we are discussing equality before the law or the need for equity in how States and international systems conduct their affairs. Neither dignity nor equality, of course, can take root in the absence of basic security “These values will guide my way as High Commissioner because they are values which ‘we the peoples’ of the world have been determined to achieve since the creation of the United Nations. Sadly, it is an achievement, as we see each and every day, that we are still a long way off attaining.” |
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The Assembly of States Parties to the
Rome Statute, the treaty creating the International Criminal Court
(ICC), met from 9-10 September 2002 at UN headquarters in New York
to adopt the legal agreements that will allow the Court to begin operating.
The documents had been negotiated since the Statute was adopted by
vote in July 1998. Speakers characterized the event
as second only to the adoption of the UN Charter itself. Many defended
the political impartiality of the Court and pledged to ensure that
the ICC is run in a professional manner. “The independence,
impartiality and integrity of the court must be preserved,”
said UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. “The ICC is not—and
never must become—an organ for political witch hunting. Rather,
it must serve as a bastion against tyranny and lawlessness, and
as a building block in the global architecture of collective security.”
Speaking on behalf of the European Union (EU), Justice Minister
Lene Espersen of Denmark said that the EU “rejects any attempt
to undermine the integrity of the Statute and the Court, which is
to be an effective tool of the international community to buttress
the rule of law and combat impunity for the gravest crimes.”
The speakers were referring to the
very public campaign by the United States to reach bilateral agreements
with States that would exempt US nationals from the jurisdiction
of the Court. The US has argued that it could be victimized by a
politicized Court, while supporters of the ICC say the US concerns
are unfounded and that bilateral agreements the US has sought and
made with some countries have undermined it. Canadian Foreign Minister
Bill Graham said that he would not reiterate the arguments to reassure
democratic, law-abiding States that they had nothing to fear. “Remaining
concerns will best be assuaged by the Court moving beyond its noble
intentions and proving its ability to bring to justice the most
notorious violators of international humanitarian law,” he
said.
NGO observers were also quick to
praise and defend the establishment of the Court. William Pace,
the Convenor of the Coalition for the ICC, said the Court was “one
of the greatest developments of the tools and technology of peace
in history.” He noted that the ICC would not have come into
existence without the contributions of civil society and the ICC
coalition, and thanked those who had joined the campaign. The representatives
of Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International both underscored
the need to protect the Court from improper pressures and called
for collective action to defeat challenges to its scope and legitimacy.
The plenary then formally approved
the rules of procedure for the election of judges that had been
drawn up by a working group. The procedure is designed to ensure
that no geographic region dominates and that there is a gender balance
among the judges. The process of nominating the Court’s 18
judges began on 9 September and will continue through 30 November
2002.
One of the key outstanding issues
is the selection of the Prosecutor, who will have a major impact
on the agenda and public perception of the Court. Jordan’s
Ambassador to the UN, Zeid Ra’ad Zeid Al-Hussein, elected President
of the Assembly of States Parties, said that there were no formal
rules for selecting the Prosecutor. “Most delegations find
it expedient and cleaner if there is an emerging consensus around
one candidate,” he said.
The Assembly set the following dates
related to the work of the ICC: the first resumed session will be
held from 3-7 February 2003, to deal principally with the election
of judges and the Prosecutor; the second resumed session will be
held from 21-23 April 2003; the Budget Committee will meet from
4-8 August 2003; and the second session will be held from 8-12 September
2003, all in New York. In addition, a subcommittee of the Bureau
was created to continue work on the crime of aggression, which will
be chaired by Allieu Ibrahim Kanu of Sierra Leone.
Contact: UN Office of Legal Affairs,
Codification Division, Room S-3460A, United Nations, New York NY
10017, USA, fax +1-212/963 1963, website (www.un.org/law/icc/index.html).
NGO Coalition for the International
Criminal Court, c/o World Federalist Movement, 777 UN Plaza, New
York NY 10017, USA, telephone +1-212/687 2176, fax +1-212/599 1332,
email <cicc@iccnow.org>,
website (www.iccnow.org).
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| Regular Funding of UN Projects Down | ||
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A survey of funding for UN agencies,
programmes and funds finds that money for UN agencies’ long-term
projects is under threat as donor governments try to appear more
responsive to the world’s short-term disasters, citing high-profile
emergencies such as Afghanistan and Southern Africa as examples.
It indicates that the flow of “regular funds,” or the
money used to fund the necessary everyday work in improving the
quality of life in the developing world, has stagnated or fallen
at most of the major UN agencies, noting that the World Health Organization
(WHO) says its regular budget funds have remained at the same levels
for almost 15 years, while the UN Development Programme (UNDP) has
recorded a seven-year decrease in its regular budget. At
the same time, the officials find that donations available for emergency
crises, often referred to in budget documents as “other funds,”
have increased throughout the UN system, adding that although this
help provides immediate relief, the resulting drop in regular funds
means that overall development projects—such as rebuilding
after conflict, or longer-term efforts to recover from a food emergency
crisis—find money short. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Deputy Director of Programme Funding Dan Rohrmann said, “Last year was the first time that ‘other resources’ was more than our ‘regular resources.’ This is a key issue for UNICEF [and] we’re trying to highlight the importance of our regular resources.... Funding on a predictable basis is very important in order to have longevity and staying power for our programmes.”
Mr. Rohrmann continued, “The donor
governments are under increased pressure to show the i mportance of
the aid they give, because of the taxpayers’ concerns over how
the funds are used. When you’re sitting in a donor country and
you have the ‘CNN effect’ from the media, it does pull a
lot of resources to that emergency.”
The officials also noticed a trend
in increased funding to NGOs. While some of this trend stems from
the increased nationalization of aid, Randolph Martin, Senior Director
of Operations for the US-based International Rescue Committee, says
the phenomenon is also due to increased lobbying from the NGO community
itself as well as from doubts surrounding how well the UN agencies
use the funds. He added that sometimes a donor country will go so
far as to contribute to a particular UN project on the condition
that its own national NGOs be involved.
Geldolph Everts, UN High Commissioner
for Refugees’ Deputy Head of Donor Relations, says that more
funding for the NGO sector does not directly work at cross-purpose
to UN goals. “Many of these NGOs are the NGOs we also use in
the field. But what worries us more is that coordination and control
becomes more difficult.”
The funding officials said that dwindling
regular-fund budgets have driven some UN agencies to rely on a small
group of donor nations with strong commitments to their organizations,
noting that UNDP’s top 20 donors provided 98% of its regular
funding last year.
They also found a link between competition
and cooperation in fundraising efforts. UNDP Management Bureau Director
Jan Mattsson said, “This may seem like a paradox, but although
there is greater competition, we have also seen a trend toward greater
cooperation, especially within the UN system. Definitely, the world
is moving toward more cooperation, more partnership.” “In this highly competitive
fundraising environment, we all have to demonstrate results and
show we have a comparative advantage at what we do,” said Mr.
Rohrmann.
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| Controversy Over Genetically Modified Food Aid | ||
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Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa announced in early September that the Zambian Government would remain firm in its decision to refuse food aid donations that include genetically modified (GM) crops, in spite of a severe food shortage. He said Zambia has enough food to last until December, and cited what he called a lack of formal safety assessment of genetically modified foods by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO). “We have made a decision,” Mr. Mwanawasa said. “We have rejected GM food. It is not a slight on donors. There is no conclusive evidence that it is safe. We wish not to use our people as guinea pigs in this experiment. Our decision is final.” Saying that although Zambia had received GM food aid over the past seven to eight years, the government had not been aware the aid contained GM crops. “The fact that we have tasted poison does not mean that we should continue tasting poison, now that we have the facts,” he said. “The facts are that research is not conclusive.” “We’ve got to respect each government’s decision on accepting food aid,” said World Food Programme (WFP) official Judith Lewis. “But they’ve got to explain to their people how they justify turning this food away while children are literally eating dirt.” She added that the issue raised a moral dilemma between mass starvation and possible future consequences from introducing GM food to the region. WFP announced on 9 September that it had agreed to provide Zambia with wheat to help feed the more than two million Zambians affected by drought and facing a severe food emergency. WFP Executive Director James Morris, who is also UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s Special Envoy for the Southern Africa crisis, said WFP and Zambian officials are working to determine how much wheat Zambia will need, while noting that about 12,000 metric tonnes of unmodified corn had been obtained from South Africa. “We have told the Zambian Government that we will do everything possible to help whenever we can,” he said. From 3-16 September, Mr. Morris toured Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland and South Africa with technical experts, making site visits to some of the worst affected areas in order to provide recommendations on what more can be done to respond and safeguard the 13 million people currently facing widespread starvation against greater risk. Establishing mid and longer-term requirements is also a priority, WFP says, in order to help plan for communities to recover. Speaking in Zambia, Mr. Morris also warned that HIV/AIDS is worsening the region’s food crisis by eroding agricultural productivity as it weakens the work force. The United Nations estimates that 20% of Zambia’s adult population is infected by HIV/AIDS. Mr. Morris said Zambia needs about US$72 million to feed its people, but only US$25 million has been pledged so far. Zambian officials, he said, have authorized distribution of food that may be genetically modified in refugee camps, provided that the food is milled before distribution. Zambian scientists have been sent to Western countries to conduct further research on the safety of GM foods before officials make any further decisions. In related news, Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe overturned his earlier decision to ban the importation of GM food aid, saying the government will mill the grain first. WFP estimates that Zimbabwe needs about 450,000 metric tonnes of food aid. A UN-Zimbabwean assessment conducted in August 2002 indicates that of the six countries affected by Southern Africa’s food crisis, Zimbabwe has the highest number of people in need of aid at six million. Malawian Agriculture Minister Aleke
Banda said that his country would also mill all GM corn aid shipped
to it by the United States to prevent any of it being planted as
seed. The ministry said it had not milled the 20,000 metric tonnes
of GM corn already received but would do so with the over 53,000
metric tonnes expected in further US aid. The number of people at
risk in Malawi rose in September from 500,000 to 2.1 million, and
that number is projected to increase to 3.2 million people when
the crisis peaks in December. WFP is putting into place a new operation
to repair the Nacala railway line, the only direct link between
Mozambique and land-locked Malawi, to get food aid distributed more
efficiently. Addressing a press conference at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) held in Johannesburg (South Africa) from 26 August-4 September, FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf said the countries in Southern Africa whose populations are facing a devastating drought should carefully consider current scientific knowledge before rejecting food aid containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs). He also pointed out that there were currently no international agreements in force covering trade and aid involving food containing GMOs, adding that an ad hoc committee of Codex Alimentarius, the joint FAO-WHO Food Safety body, was working to develop appropriate standards. “In the meantime, the important thing is that all donated food meets the food safety standards of both the donor and recipient countries.” He continued, “FAO, together with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Food Programme (WFP), takes the view, based on information from a variety of sources and current scientific knowledge, that the food being offered to Southern African countries is not likely to present a human health risk and may be eaten. The United Nations therefore believes that in the current crisis, governments in Southern Africa must consider carefully the severe and immediate consequences of limiting food aid available for millions of people so desperately in need,” Dr. Diouf said. “Their plight must weigh heavily in government decision-making.” US Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman has denounced advocacy groups that are spreading what she calls false information about GM food, saying their actions are endangering the lives of millions of people in Southern Africa who face severe food shortages. “It is disgraceful that instead of helping hungry people, these individuals and organizations are embarking on an irresponsible campaign to spread misinformation and create an atmosphere of fear,” Ms. Veneman said in a statement released during the Johannesburg Summit. During the Biotechnology and GMO Commission at the Global Peoples’ Forum held during WSSD, the African Civil Society groups, from more than 45 African countries, expressed their support of the Zambian and Zimbabwean Governments and their people in rejecting GM contaminated food. They said in a joint statement that their “response to the crisis is to strengthen solidarity and self reliance within Africa and to reject the dumping of unwanted food and seed that compromises their markets and future generations.” Contact: Caroline Hurford, Public Affairs Officer, WFP, Via Cesare Giulio Viola 68, I-00148 Rome, Italy, telephone +39-06/6513 2330, fax +39-06/6513 2840, e-mail <caroline.hurford@wfp.org>, website (www.wfp.org). |
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| WFP Launches Online Donation Feature | ||
| The
United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has launched an online donation
feature on its website making it now possible for contributors to
help the aid agency feed hungry people around the world. “By
setting up an online donation page on our website, we are making it
easier for private individuals to play a bigger role in helping the
world’s biggest food agency fight hunger,” said WFP Executive
Director James Morris.
WFP says the online donation facility is timely for efforts to help the nearly 13 million people currently facing starvation in Southern Africa, where to date WFP’s regional appeal of US$507 million has raised only US$118 million, or 23% of the amount needed to feed the millions of hungry people in Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe (see Go Between 92). Online donations will also help severely under-funded WFP operations in Afghanistan, West Africa, and the Democratic Peoples’ Republic of Korea (DPRK). WFP says that with a donation of just US$100, it can provide 5,000 cups of rice; US$1,000 will pay for 2,000 pounds of high-energy biscuits; and US$10,000 will buy a medium-sized warehouse for storing food. “Our administrative costs are lower than 9%. That means of every dollar donated, more than 91 cents will go to feeding a hungry person,” Mr. Morris said. Web users can also contribute to the agency’s Global School Feeding Programme, which provides meals for over 15 million undernourished school children. WFP says there are 300 million undernourished children worldwide and school feeding helps improve their nutrition and encourages them to attend school, and that only US$34 is required to feed a child for an entire school year. More information on the new feature can be found on the WFP website (www.wfp.org/index2.html) by clicking on the Online Donation link. Contact: Francis Mwanza, WFP Senior Public Affairs Officer, Via Cesare Giulio Viola 68, I-00148, Rome, Italy, telephone +39-06/6513 2623, fax +39-06/6513 2840, e-mail <francis.mwanza@wfp.org>, website (www.wfp.org). |
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| UNCTAD Says Importance of TNCs on the Rise | ||
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Twenty-nine of the world’s 100 largest economic entities are transnational corporations (TNCs), according to a new United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) list that ranks both countries and TNCs on the basis of value added. Of the 200 TNCs with the highest assets abroad in 2000, Exxon is the biggest in terms of value added (US$63 billion). It ranks 45th on the list, making it comparable in economic size to the economies of Chile or Pakistan. Nigeria comes in just between DaimlerChrysler and General Electric, while Philip Morris is on a par with Tunisia, Slovakia, and Guatemala. The size of large TNCs—usually measured by sales—is sometimes compared to that of national economies as an indicator of corporate influence over the world economy. However, using sales to compare firms with the gross domestic product (GDP) of countries is conceptually flawed, as GDP is a value-added measure and sales are not. UNCTAD says a truly comparable yardstick requires that sales be recalculated as value added. For firms, value added can be estimated as the sum of salaries and benefits, depreciation and amortization, and pre-tax income. According to UNCTAD, the value-added activities of the 100 largest TNCs have grown faster than those of countries in recent years, accounting for 4.3% of world GDP in 2000, compared with 3.5% in 1990, suggesting that the relative importance of these companies is on the rise. On the other hand, for the top 50 TNCs, the share of value added in world GDP has declined somewhat over the past decade. In the combined top 100 list of companies and countries, 24 transnationals appeared in 1990, five fewer than in 2000. Contact: Miguel Perez-Ludena, TNC Affairs Officer, Division on Investment, Technology and Enterprise Development, UNCTAD, Palais des Nations CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/907 5795, fax +41-22/907 0194, e-mail <miguel.perez-ludena@unctad.org>, website (www.unctad.org). |
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| WHO-WTO Joint Study on Public Health and Trade | ||
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The World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) Secretariat have published a joint study on the relationship between trade rules and public health aimed at providing better insight into key issues for those who develop, communicate or debate policy issues related to trade and health. WTO Agreements and Public Health explains that countries have the right to adopt measures restricting imports or exports of products when deemed necessary to protect the health and lives of humans, or to preserve animal and plant life. When liberalizing services, they retain the right to regulate in order to meet national policy objectives, in areas such as health. Eight specific health issues are covered—infectious disease control, food safety, tobacco, the environment, access to drugs, health services, food security as well as emerging issues, such as biotechnology. In each case, examples of challenges and opportunities in implementing coherent trade and health policies are provided. “WTO Agreements are sensitive to health issues. In fact, health concerns can take precedence over trade issues. If necessary, governments may put aside WTO commitments in order to protect human life. And, according to WTO jurisprudence, human health has been recognized as being ‘important in the highest degree,’” concludes Miguel Rodríguez Mendoza, WTO Deputy Director-General. Tensions between the right to health services and the existing multilateral trade rules have been a source of dispute at the WTO since it was created in 1995, and many NGOs, including Médicins Sans Frontières (MSF), Oxfam International, the Third World Network, and Health Action International, have waged campaigns to ensure that trade in medicines is subject to universal rights and values, and not to the rules of the market. In 1999, MSF launched its Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines in response to the increasing gap in access to medicines between the developing and developed world. The 4th WTO Ministerial Conference held in Doha (Qatar) in November 2001 affirmed that governments can take measures to protect public health, and that public health concerns must override commercial interests. Its declaration on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS) and public health recognizes the potentially negative side-effects of the TRIPS agreement and allows countries stronger measures to counteract them, including the right to grant compulsory licenses (overriding patents) and the freedom to determine the grounds upon which such licenses are granted. The Doha Declaration acknowledges that these options are not limited to emergency situations. However, if countries do declare an emergency, they can issue compulsory licenses without prior negotiation with the patent owner. Countries themselves determine what constitutes an emergency situation. On 27 May 2002, Zimbabwe became the first State to declare a national HIV/AIDS emergency, thereby freeing itself from its obligations to respect relevant HIV/AIDS drug patents under the WTO Agreement on TRIPS (see Go Between 92). The six-month emergency declaration lifts all legal restrictions that block access to generic medicines. Speaking of the joint study, Andrew Cassels, Director of WHO’s Strategy Unit, said, “Good public policy must be based on sound evidence. This study highlights areas where trade and health linkages deserve more careful analysis. It also highlights benefits that are possible when trade and health officials work closely together.” In their foreword, WHO Director-General Gro Harlem Brundtland and WTO Director-General Mike Moore, confirm that “there is much common ground between trade and health.” But they also send the message that “health and trade policy-makers can benefit from closer cooperation to ensure coherence between their different areas of responsibilities.” Contact: Communications Office of the Director-General’s Office, WHO, 20 avenue Appia, CH-1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland, +41-22/791 2222, fax +41-22/791 4858, e-mail < mediaenquiries@who.int>, website (www.who.int). Bernard Kuiten, External Relations Officer, WTO, Centre William Rappard, 154 rue de Lausanne, Case Postale, CH-1211 Geneva 21, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/739 5676, fax +41-22/739 5777, website (www.wto.org). |
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| UNIDO Says Rich-Poor Gap Widening | ||
| According
to a recent report by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization
(UNIDO), the gap between wealthy and poor countries is widening despite
the overall trend of an expanding global economy. Industrial Development
Report (IDR) 2002/2003 benchmarks and ranks 87 economies with comparable
data on selected indicators of industrial performance and capabilities.
The study found that only 16 of 58 developing countries improved their technological capacity and 42 countries had a similar technological structure in 1998 to that of 1985. Twelve countries including Peru, Zimbabwe, Saudi Arabia, Jamaica, Ghana and Hong Kong declined in industrial competition, while only six countries—China, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Ireland and Egypt—improved their rank on the scoreboard of the 87 countries measured. “The least developed countries, still struggling to meet the basic human needs of their population, have had their health, social and economic standards slip over the last few decades,” said UNIDO Director General Carlos Magarinos. “The real per capita income of 30 developing countries is lower today than it was 35 years ago.” The report notes that the key challenge
facing developing countries is how to meet “intense global
competitive pressures and to step into the sphere of competing through
innovation and learning, avoiding reducing wages, depreciating exchange
rates, and disregarding labour standards or environmental regulations.”
It calls for a combination of measures—including development
aid, foreign investment incentives for poor countries, and the strengthening
of domestic industries—in order to foster the process of sustainable
industrial development.
UNIDO says another crucial ingredient
needed to reduce the existing gap is the development of a “new
international agenda on industrial development,” as well as increased
market access for developing countries’ goods. Contact: Frédéric Richard, Strategic
Research and Economics Branch, UNIDO, PO Box 300, A-1400 Vienna,
Austria, telephone +43-1/260 26 3821, fax +43-1/269 2669, email
<f.richard@unido.org>,
website (www.unido.org/idr).
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| UNHCR Reports Number of Asylum Seekers Down | ||
| According
to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ (UNHCR)
latest report, entitled Trends in Asylum Applications in Europe, North
America, Australia, New Zealand and Japan, January-June 2002, the
number of people seeking asylum in 28 mostly industrialized countries
fell by 12% compared to the previous six-month period. Applications
in Europe in general were down by 12%, while applications in Central
Europe fell by almost 39%, in large part due to a steep decline in
applications from Afghans (down 58% in Central Europe). In all 28
countries combined, some 268,500 applications were filed from January
to June of this year.
However, UNHCR says some countries saw increases in the number of applicants for the same period of time. The largest percentage increases were in Finland (59%), Bulgaria (54%), Austria (13%), the United States (9%), and the United Kingdom (8%). The largest percentage decreases over the second half of 2001 were noted in Liechtenstein, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Greece, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. The report finds that most of the
world’s asylum seekers come from Iraq, saying that even though
over 22,000 people from that country sought refuge, this figure
represents a 15% drop compared to the last half of 2001. Afghans
were the second largest nationality seeking asylum, followed by
applicants from Turkey, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, China,
the Russian Federation, Colombia, Mexico, the Democratic Republic
of the Congo and India. Contact: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Case Postale 2500, CH-1211 Genève 2 Dépôt, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/739 8290, fax +41-22/739 7302, website (www.unhcr.org). |
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On 12 September, the Conference on Disarmament adopted its annual report to the fifty-seventh session of the General Assembly and concluded its 2002 session. Statements were made concerning the “Five Ambassadors Initiative” to end the stalemate in the work of the Conference; marking the first anniversary of the 11 September attacks on the United States; and welcoming Switzerland’s admission as the 190th Member State of the United Nations. Several speakers said they regretted that for the fourth consecutive year the Conference had not been able to start its substantive work. Taking into consideration the ongoing war against terrorism, several speakers called on the Conference to fulfil its mandate and help ensure that weapons of mass destruction do not fall into the hands of terrorists. The Conference is the only permanent body with the mandate to negotiate disarmament treaties. Acting as President of the Conference, Ambassador Andras Szabo (Hungary) said that during its 2002 session, the Conference had come very close to reaching an agreement on the establishment of three Ad Hoc Committees, namely on the issues of a treaty banning the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices; of nuclear disarmament; and of negative security assurances, as well as on their respective mandates. However, deep controversies persisted over how to deal with the “prevention of an arms race in outer space” (PAROS, see Go Between 92). Ambassador Szabo said the initiative of a group of five past Presidents to the Conference (Algeria, Belgium, Chile, Colombia and Sweden), known as the Five Ambassadors Initiative, provoked broad discussions and lent new impetus to end the four-year stalemate as it seeks to address four issues on parallel tracks, thereby avoiding a debate over which issue should dominate the Conference’s agenda. The initiative proposes that the Conference establish Ad Hoc Committees on effective international arrangements to assure non-nuclear-weapon States against the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons; on cessation of the nuclear arms race and nuclear disarmament; to negotiate a non-discriminatory, multilateral and internationally and effectively verifiable treaty banning the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices; and on prevention of an arms race in outer space. Ambassador Ayewoh (Nigeria) said his delegation offered support to the Five Ambassadors Initiative as a basis for the work of the Conference in 2003, so that it “could put the years of inertia behind them once and for all.” Ambassador Whelan (Ireland) said her delegation strongly believed that the efforts of the five Ambassadors represented a real opportunity for the Conference to re-establish its lead role as the sole multilateral forum for disarmament negotiations. Ambassador Szabo said he hoped that the momentum created this year by the initiative would facilitate the work of his successor, Ambassador Rakesh Sood (India). Dates for the three parts of its 2003 session include 20 January-28 March; 12 May-27 June; and 28 July-10 September. The next plenary of the Conference will be held on 21 January 2003. Contact: Conference on Disarmament, Palais des Nations, CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/917 3440, fax +41-22/917 0034, website (www.unog.ch/disarm/dconf.htm). |
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| Yearbook Says Military Spending on the Increase | ||
| According
to the 2001 UN Disarmament Yearbook, countries spent nearly US$840
billion (an estimated 2.6% of world gross domestic product) on weapons
and other military expenditures in 2001, an average of US$137 for
every person in the world.
The yearbook focuses on the actions and reactions of the international community to a wide range of disarmament issues. It examines steps taken by Member States and the United Nations to confront the threat of the possible use of weapons of mass destruction by terrorist groups in the wake of the 11 September terrorist attacks on the United States and efforts to strengthen multilateral disarmament legal norms with regard to nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. It also includes the outcome of the UN Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects, and other actions taken by the international community to combat the proliferation of small arms and light weapons (see NGLS Roundup 80).
The yearbook recounts different approaches
to nuclear disarmament, prevention of an arms race in outer space
and other issues raised by Member States that prevented progress in
the Conference on Disarmament during the year, including setbacks
at the Fifth Review Conference of the Biological Weapons Convention
(BWC), and in the Ad Hoc Group to negotiate a compliance protocol.
It also looks at the issues of human rights, human security and the
impact of weapons of mass destruction, raised during the Subcommittee
of the Commission on Human Rights. “The pursuit of security through
the endless perfection and accumulation of arms is clearly counter-productive—and
in the early part of the new century, the world must achieve what
Article 26 of the [UN] Charter describes as ‘the least diversion
for armaments of the world’s human and economic resources,’”
writes the Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs, Jayantha
Dhanapala, in the foreword to the yearbook.
Contact: Xiaoyu Wang, Coordinator
for Disarmament Yearbook, Department of Disarmament Affairs; telephone
+1-212/963 9440, fax +1-212/963 1121, e-mail <wangxy@un.org>,
website (www.un.org/Depts/dda/cab/index.html).
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| UN Security Council Debates Women and War | ||
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On 25 July 2002, Noeleen Heyzer, United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) Executive Director, addressed an open debate of the Security Council on conflict, peacekeeping and gender and called on the Council to ensure that women, peace and security becomes a regular item on the political agenda, in thematic debates, and every time country situations are addressed. “Women’s leadership in creating and sustaining peace at the community level has proven essential for nation building. The international community must support the women and girls who are rebuilding their lives and who have committed their lives to peace and security, for which they have waited too long,” Ms. Heyzer stressed. Security Council Resolution 1325, adopted in October of 2000, requested the UN Secretary-General to carry out a study on women, peace and security, and UNIFEM appointed two Independent Experts to complement the Secretary-General’s work in order to establish a comprehensive agenda for action. Over the past year, the Independent
Experts travelled to 14 conflict areas. UNIFEM says eight principal
findings have been identified and recommendations have been made: |
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The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has made known its official reaction to the announced withdrawal of US$34 million in funding from the United States (see Go Between 92). UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Obaid said it was with “deep regret” that she was confirming the loss of funding, even though the US fact-finding mission to China found “no evidence” that UNFPA had supported or participated in the management of a programme of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization. The US decision to withhold the funding, which represents approximately 12.5% of UNFPA’s budget, followed allegations that UNFPA had supported forced abortions and sterilization of women in China. Fifty African countries expressed their support for UNFPA and their concern over the loss of funding in a letter to the US Secretary of State Colin Powell, in which they wrote, “We are particularly disturbed by its potential impact on our efforts to prevent HIV/AIDS, promote family planning and improve the lives of children, especially the girl-child and of women, which are all critical for Africa’s growth and development.” The Group of 77 (G-77) developing countries also sent a letter to the United States encouraging the US to reconsider its action, noting that the reduction would “jeopardize programmes in many developing countries where UNFPA’s support has been, and remains, critical for poverty eradication and for sustainable development.” In late July, the European Union announced that it would fill what it called the “decency gap” left by the US’s decision to stop funding to UNFPA. The European Commission will provide the money to projects run by UNFPA and the International Planned Parenthood Federation. In late August, UNFPA welcomed an initiative from two independent American citizens who have initiated “grass-roots” campaigns in an effort to close the budget shortfall through the circulation of e-mail letters, hoping to reach “34 million friends,” urging each to donate US$1 or more. UNFPA said that cheques had already begun to arrive at its headquarters in New York. Contact: Stirling Scruggs, Director, Information and External Relations Division, UNFPA, 220 East 42nd Street, New York NY 10017, USA, telephone +1-212/297 5020, fax +1-212/557 6416, e-mail <scruggs@unfpa.org>, website (www.unfpa.org). |
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An exceptional session of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) was held at UN headquarters in New York from 5-23 August 2002, aimed at reducing the backlog of States Parties reports submitted periodically to assess compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. The Convention requires States Parties to eliminate discrimination against women in the enjoyment of all civil, political, economic and cultural rights. During the session, chaired by Charlotte Abaka (Ghana), the Committee reviewed reports from Mexico, Armenia, Czech Republic, Uganda, Guatemala, Barbados, Yemen, Peru, Argentina, Greece and Hungary. The Committee congratulated the Mexican Government on its detailed report and its ratification of the Optional Protocol. Experts worried that progress had been “very slow,” however, and had not reached most women in Mexico. The Armenian delegation reported that implementation of the Convention was taking longer than anticipated because of problems arising from the transition from Soviet rule, a devastating earthquake, a blockade and other difficult circumstances. Committee experts expressed concern about the lack of legislation regarding trafficking in women, sexual exploitation, marital rape and domestic violence. The Committee said the Czech Republic had made progress in implementing the Convention, and were pleased that the country’s legislative reform was aiming to align itself with the requirements of the European Union. The Committee asked about judicial and legislative reforms concerning issues of violence against women, noting that rape was designated an offence only in cases where there was some other form of physical violence associated with it. Acknowledging Uganda’s difficult national and regional circumstances, the Committee commended the government’s economic recovery programme and poverty-reduction strategies, both of which highlight gender as a guiding principle for programmes aimed at the eradication of absolute poverty by 2017. The Committee praised the impressive number of institutional mechanisms created to ensure gender equality and equal representation in Guatemala, but cautioned that they might ultimately prove too unwieldy to coordinate and too costly to sustain. The Committee noted the absence of a national plan of action to promote equality between men and women in Barbados, a weak legislative system and a shortage of the financial and human resources required to address situations of inequality in the country. The Committee felt there was a gap between the government’s aspirations and its achievements in implementing the Convention, and called for more sustainable national mechanisms to address women’s issues that could withstand time and transitions. Yemen was commended for its achievements since unification in 1990, particularly its programmes for rural women and specific constitutional reforms. However, the Committee said that pervasive traditional stereotypes and prejudices regarding women, discriminatory legislation and “troubling” precepts enshrined in Islamic law were impeding Yemen’s efforts to ensure gender equality and equal representation. Noting that Peru had made progress in enacting legislation to combat discrimination against women and creating a national machinery to promote equality, the Committee asked detailed questions about the implementation of laws and the work of the various mechanisms. The Committee Chair decided to dispense with the traditional article-by-article review of the report of Argentina in favour of a broader examination of the impact of the economic, financial, political and social crisis on Argentina’s female population. The Committee commended Greece on legislative measures to promote gender equality, including new legal provisions for compulsory participation of both sexes in at least one-third of the public administration decision-making councils, and a provision allowing undocumented migrant women to have working and residence permits. Experts were critical, however, of gender stereotyping in Greek society, pointing out that marital rape was not considered a crime under the penal code and that a law on sexual harassment was absent. The low level of women’s participation in political life, concerns about a national family concept policy, as well as the situation of Roma women were among the issues raised by the experts as they considered Hungary’s report.
CEDAW States Elect 12 New Committee
Experts Cornelis Flinterman (Netherlands),
Huguette Bokpe Gnancadja (Benin), Meriem Belmihoub-Zerdani (Algeria),
Akua Kuenyehia (Ghana), Krisztina Morvai (Hungary), Salma Khan (Bangladesh),
Pramila Patten (Mauritius), Victoria Popescu Sandru (Romania) and
Dubravka Simonovic (Croatia) were newly elected. Re-elected experts
were Fumiko Saiga (Japan), Naela Mohamed Gabr (Egypt) and Rosario
Manalo (Philippines).
Among the 12 experts whose terms
expire on 31 December 2002 are the Committee’s current Chairperson,
Charlotte Abaka (Ghana) and former Chairperson Ivanka Corti (Italy).
Reflecting on their contributions to the Committee, Carolyn Hannan,
Director of the Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW), said
that both women had been powerful forces in raising the Committee’s
influence in the UN and around the world. Chair Abaka summarized
the Committee’s work during her two-year term, noting that
it had emphasized human rights education, and had targeted professionals
such as health care providers, “educationists,” those
in the judiciary, and legal practitioners.
Summarizing the status of the Convention,
Ms. Hannan said that with Bahrain’s accession in June 2002,
there were now 170 States Parties to the Convention. Seventy-five
had signed the Optional Protocol, most recently the Seychelles in
July 2002. Forty-three had ratified and acceded to the Convention,
most recently Georgia in August 2002. Thirty-five had accepted the
amendment to Article 20 related to the Committee’s meeting
time, most recently Cyprus in July 2002. Since two-thirds of States
Parties were required to accept the amendment before it entered
into force, Ms. Hannan encouraged States Parties to submit their
instruments of acceptance with assistance from the Treaty Section
of the UN Office of Legal Affairs.
Contact: Division for the Advancement
of Women, Two UN Plaza, Room 1250, New York NY 10017, USA, fax +1-212/963
3463, email <daw@un.org>,
website (www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/ex_sess.htm).
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The United Nations International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW) has launched a new website and discussion forum as part of INSTRAW’s networking and information activities. The website features a wide range
of resources on gender aspects of environment and sustainable development,
including: —open discussion forum on Gender Aspects
of Environmental Management and Sustainable Development: Emerging
Issues and Challenges. Contact: INSTRAW, César Nicolás Penson 102-A, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, telephone +1-809/685 2111, fax +1-809/685 2117, e-mail <comments@un-instraw.org>, website (www.un-instraw.org/en/research/gaemsd/index.html). |
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| Almost
80% of the world’s population aged 15 years and over is now literate,
including more women than ever before, according to recent figures
from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO), released to mark International Literacy Day on 8 September.
UNESCO’s Institute for Statistics reported a steady fall in the number of illiterate adults from 22.4% of the world’s population in 1995 to 20.3% in 2000. Or, the number of illiterate adults fell from an estimated 872 million in 1995 to 862 million in 2000. The Institute estimates this could drop to 824 million, or 16.5% by 2010. Best performances came from Africa and Asia, which, despite some disparity between countries in these regions, saw the overall percentage of their illiterate populations shrink by 5.4 and 2.8 percentage points respectively. The figures also show that although women still make up two-thirds of the world’s adult illiterates, in all regions they are gaining access to education and literacy, and at a faster rate than men. The Institute reports that the proportion of illiterate women aged 15 and over fell from 28.5% to 25.8%. In Africa, the percentage of illiterate women over the age of 15 fell by 6.4 percentage points to 49.2%. Progress was also made in South and West Asia, and the Arab States and North Africa where the percentages of illiterate women are now 56.4 and 52.2% respectively. UNESCO says that while these figures show an increasingly literate world, they also show that progress is excruciatingly slow: one adult in five remains illiterate and meeting the April 2002 goal set by the World Education Forum in Dakar (Senegal) to halve adult illiteracy by 2015 will be an “uphill battle” unless an extraordinary effort is made. Current estimates show that the percentage of illiterate adults will fall by only another five percentage points by that date. Despite the difficulties, “we must do more and better,” said UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura in his message observing literacy day. “It is intolerable that around one in five of the world’s adults are illiterate. How can we build equitable information societies or thriving democracies if so many remain without the basic tools of literacy? How can intercultural dialogue and mutual understanding prosper when the literacy divide is so great? And how can poverty be eradicated when the roots of ignorance are left undisturbed?” Following are excerpts from UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s speech commemorating the day. “Literacy is essential to the development and health of individuals, communities and countries. It is a condition for people’s effective participation in the democratic process. It is the basis for the written communication and literature that have long provided the main channel for cross-cultural awareness and understanding. And, at the same time, it is the most precious way we have of expressing, preserving and developing our cultural diversity and identity. Literacy, in short, is a prerequisite for peace. “The literacy gap is in many ways among the most unjust of all, for it has an impact on our ability to bridge all other inequalities—between men and women; between rich and poor; between the haves and have-nots of the information technology age; between those who stand to gain from globalization and those who are excluded from its benefits. “Achieving universal literacy is everybody’s concern: therefore, it must engage the wider international community, the United Nations family, civil society, the private sector, local groups and individuals. On this International Literacy Day, let us rededicate ourselves to playing our full part in that mission.” Contact: Press Service, UNESCO, 7 place do Fontenoy, F-75700 Paris, France, telephone +33-1/45 68 17 44, fax +33-1/45 68 56 52, website (www.unesco.org). |
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A recent United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) report says that there will be enough food for the growing world population by the year 2030, but hundreds of millions of people in developing countries will remain hungry and many of the environmental problems caused by agriculture will remain serious. The report, entitled World Agriculture: Towards 2015/2030, notes that for many of the 1.1 billion people currently living in extreme poverty, economic growth based primarily on agriculture and on non-farm rural activities is essential to improve their livelihoods. The majority of poor people live in rural areas and the report stresses that promoting agricultural growth in these areas and giving rural people better access to land, water, credit, health and education, is necessary in order to alleviate poverty and hunger. International trade plays an important role in improving food security and further agricultural trade liberalization could boost incomes. However, FAO projects that the agricultural trade deficit of the developing countries will increase drastically over the period to 2030, and calls for better access to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) markets, the elimination of export subsidies and the reduction of tariffs, in particular on processed agricultural goods, in both developed and developing countries. The study also suggests that the benefits of globalization in food and agriculture could outweigh the risks and costs. Noting that globalization has, in general, led to progress in reducing poverty in Asia, the reports warns: “But it has also led to the rise of multinational food companies with the potential to disempower farmers in many countries. Developing countries need the legal and administrative framework to ward off the threats while reaping the benefits.” Openness towards international markets, investments in infrastructure, the promotion of economic integration and limits on market concentration, could make globalization work for the benefit of the poor, it says.
Some of the main findings from the report
include: —The number of hungry people
in developing countries is expected to decline from 777 million
to about 440 million in 2030, meaning that the target set at the
1996 World Food Summit of reducing the number of hungry by half
by 2015 will not even be met by 2030. Sub-Saharan Africa is cause
for serious concern as the number of chronically undernourished
people will only decrease from 194 million to 183 million. Contact: John Riddle, Information
Officer, FAO, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, I-00100 Rome, Italy,
telephone +39-06/5705 3259, fax +39-06/5705 3699, e-mail <john.riddle@fao.org>,
website (www.fao.org). |
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Before leaving office on 11 September 2002, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson, in an interview with the Associated Press, gave a grim assessment of the state of human rights and accused governments of using the ongoing war on terrorism to curtail civil liberties. “Suddenly the T-word is used all the time,” Ms. Robinson said. “And that’s the problem.” She cited the United States, Russia and China among the nations violating civil rights in the name of combating international terrorist groups. “Everything is justified by that T-word,” she said. “I hope that countries will put human rights back on the agenda because it tended to slip after September 11.” Ms. Robinson also made reference to the Afghanistan detainees being held without charge at the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay (Cuba) and criticized US opposition to the new International Criminal Court (ICC). “The world needs leadership in human rights and the United States could give great leadership. It’s not giving it at the moment, unfortunately,” she stressed. “The United States must be seen to fully uphold international human rights and humanitarian standards. The attacks on New York didn’t just kill many innocent people—they were an attack on freedom and democracy, and we must uphold these standards. And we can do that and effectively combat terrorism.” Ms. Robinson also cited Russian military operations in Chechnya and China’s clampdowns on Muslim Uigurs and in Tibet as examples of countries using the fight against terrorism as an excuse to restrict legitimate opposition. Speaking earlier at the John F. Kennedy Library on 6 January 2002, Ms. Robinson had said, “If human rights are respected...conflict, terrorism and war can be prevented,” an assertion which drew harsh criticism from US officials. Speaking just days before her 11 September departure from office, she said, “I do most of the work constructively, diplomatically... but there are times when there must be a voice in the United Nations for the victims of violations.” One of Ms. Robinson’s last official visits was to China, which she said has made great progress in educating police, prison officials and judges about human rights treaties, but which has also recently arrested labour leaders to quash unrest, detained a prominent AIDS activist and continued to use the death penalty. “On the side of the reality of human rights, I’m very worried,” she said of the country. Asked what she considered the worst human rights violation, she said, “Extreme poverty,” adding that the US, in particular, needs to show more recognition of economic and social rights. As for the future, Ms. Robinson said she plans to set up the Ethical Globalization Initiative to incite countries to put international treaties on rights, the environment, labour standards and other issues into practice. Working with the Aspen Institute, former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev’s State of the World Forum, and the International Council on Human Rights Policy, Ms. Robinson launched the 15-month project on 1 October in New York. “The 150-odd countries that have ratified the Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the all but two that have ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child have legally committed themselves to progressively implementing the right to food, to education, to health, without discrimination,” Ms. Robinson said. “I want governments to remember that when they go into the World Trade Organization. I want the G-8 [Group of Eight industrialized countries] to have it in the front of their minds when they meet.” Ms. Robinson said she will work to assist developing countries, mainly in Africa, to secure funding to build national systems to protect human rights and to become human rights leaders. “I want to harness more resources in the North, in the developed world, from universities, foundations, bar associations,” she said. “But the doing must be African-led.” “For the past number of years, I have been very focused on seeking to implement the legal framework of human rights commitments made by governments,” Ms. Robinson said. “I now want to further this work by taking this normative framework into the debate on globalization.” She leaves office after five years of service and is replaced by Sergio Vieira de Mello (Brazil) who headed the interim UN administration in East Timor. Contact: Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Palais Wilson, 52 rue des Pâquis, CH-1202 Geneva, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/917 9330, fax +41-22/917 9010, website (www.unhchr.ch). |
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| The
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has adopted
Recommended Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights and Human Trafficking
to serve as a framework and reference point for the Office’s
work on the issue of trafficking. The principles and guidelines aim
to provide practical, rights-based policy guidance on the prevention
of trafficking and the protection of the victims of trafficking, as
well as to promote and facilitate the integration of a human rights
perspective into national, regional and international anti-trafficking
laws, policies and interventions.
The principles fall under the categories
of the primacy of human rights; preventing trafficking; protection
and assistance; and criminalization, punishment, and redress.
The 11 guidelines include the following: The principles and guidelines were included as an addendum to the High Commissioner’s report (E/2002/68/Add.1) to the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in July 2002, and are available online (www.unhchr.ch). Contact: Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Palais Wilson, 52 rue des Pâquis, CH-1202 Geneva, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/917 9330, fax +41-22/917 9010, website (www.unhchr.ch). |
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The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) have updated Guideline 6 of the 12 International Guidelines on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights to highlight the need for better access to HIV/AIDS treatment, care and support. “AIDS is a human rights issue,” said Mary Robinson, outgoing United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. “Access to HIV/AIDS treatment is key to realizing the fundamental human right to health. Under international human rights law, States have an obligation to take positive legislative, budgetary and administrative measures that progressively advance the right to the highest attainable standard of health. This commitment should be matched by resources, including from donors and the international community.” “With the advent of life-prolonging HIV treatment, and price barriers falling, access to treatment is now at the heart of realizing the human rights of people living with HIV/AIDS,” UNAIDS Executive Director Peter Piot said. “The new Guideline 6 will help governments and civil society focus on the need to scale up access to prevention and treatment. Today’s unequal and limited access to treatment is unacceptable, with less than 5% of people in the developing world who need HIV medicines having access to them.” The agencies say that in addition to advancing human rights, the revised guideline strengthens the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS adopted last year by 189 governments at the UN General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS (see NGLS Roundup 76), where governments pledged to reduce HIV prevalence among young people by 25% in the worst affected countries by 2005 and globally by 2010. The revised guideline also calls
for “specific actions on the part of governments,” including
national treatment plans, with specific resources committed and
timetables established, leading to universal access; ensuring “vulnerable
populations” have access; setting up mechanisms whereby people
with HIV/AIDS can “challenge inequalities and discrimination”
in treatment provision; ensuring quality control; and supporting
the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria.
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Speaking at the World Summit on Sustainable
Development (WSSD), which wrapped up in Johannesburg (South Africa)
on 4 September, Gro Harlem Brundtland, Director-General of the World
Health Organization (WHO), called for healthy environments for children
to be one of the highest social and political priorities of this
decade. She also announced WHO’s new movement to improve children’s
environmental health, entitled the Healthy Environments for Children
Initiative, aimed at preventing millions of annual deaths and disabilities
in children and improving children’s quality of life. WHO experts
say up to one-third of the 13,000 child deaths that occur every
day are due to the dangers present in the environments in which
children live, play and learn. WHO says environmental hazards are on the rise with increasing industrialization, explosive urban population growth, lack of pollution control, unabated waste dumping, non-sustainable consumption of natural resources and unsafe use of chemicals, and that poor children are most at risk because poverty aggravates the effects of environmental risk factors. WHO also points out that children are highly vulnerable to environmental health hazards because they breathe more air and consume more food and water in proportion to their weight than adults and also live their lives closer to the ground, exposing them more to unhealthy conditions and dangerous chemicals. Pointing to the fact that one in five children in the poorest parts of the world will not live beyond their fifth birthday, due mainly to environment-related diseases, Dr. Brundtland stressed that the international community had agreed on a Millennium Development Goal in September 2000 to reduce the under-five mortality rate by two-thirds by 2015. “Unsafe and unhealthy environments are violating children’s rights to health and thwarting their basic survival. This must stop before it’s too late. There is no excuse: we already have cost-effective, proven tools and strategies to reduce and eliminate biological, chemical and physical hazards present in a child’s environment. These tools urgently must be made available worldwide,” she said. The Healthy Environments for Children Initiative, which aims to be fully functional by early 2003, covers six main areas of environmental risks to children the world over: household water quality and availability; hygiene and sanitation; indoor and outdoor air pollution; disease vectors (e.g. malaria-transmitting mosquitoes); chemicals (pesticides and lead); and accidents and injuries. Key actions include: improving water supply and sanitation facilities; teaching the importance of washing hands with soap and water; installing improved cooking stoves and adequately ventilating the home; using unleaded gasoline in vehicles; sleeping under insecticide-treated bednets to protect against malaria-transmitting mosquitoes; and breastfeeding infants. Led by a global alliance of key institutions and organizations, the initiative will work towards: mobilizing partners and individuals into a broad-based, participatory movement; empowering governments and their local partners to expand and scale up action; making scientific knowledge on risk factors and the most cost-effective interventions available; fostering cooperation internationally and amongst different sectors within each country; and building on successful past work of committed decision makers, teachers, health professionals, NGOs, the private sector and families. “Healthy environments will go a long way to safeguard the intellectual, social and economic potential of children—the future of our societies. Sustainable development will not take place unless we make environments healthy and safe for children. We must make this happen,” affirmed Dr. Brundtland. Contact: Melinda Henry, Information Officer, World Health Organization, 20 avenue Appia, CH-1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland, telephone+41-22/791 2535, +41-22/791 4858, e-mail <henrym@who.int>, website (www.who.int). |
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