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93 AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2002
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UN Holds First Social Forum on
Globalization and Human Rights
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On 26 July and 2 August, the first
UN Forum on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Social Forum)
was held under the auspices of the UN human rights system in Geneva.
Focusing on globalization, poverty and the right to food, the Forum
generated a number of recommendations of a legal nature, including
to the General Council of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
The UN
Social Forum is the first institutionalized attempt to bring together
a range of actors, including those that normally do not participate
in UN meetings such as organized grassroots social movements, to
discuss the socio-economic dimensions of globalization from a human
rights perspective. Operating within the framework of the UN Sub-Commission
on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, the Social Forum
does not only aim to foster dialogue between a broad spectrum of
relevant actors (NGOs, community organizations, trade unions, social
movements, private sector entities, international financial and
trade institutions, and development agencies). It also aims to give
a special voice to new grassroots actors (including the organized
movements of the poor and marginalized that do not have an institutionalized
space within the United Nations system); to articulate their concerns
on the impact of globalization from a specifically human rights
angle; and to make recommendations of a legal nature to relevant
national and international bodies.
A Difficult
Birth
The proposal for the UN to hold such
a Forum was initially presented by Sub-Commission member José Bengoa,
in his 1997/98 final report on globalization, income distribution
and human rights (see NGLS Roundup 30). In March-April of this year,
the UN Commission on Human Rights, in Decision 2002/106 (adopted
by majority vote), approved the holding of such a Forum. It would
be held as a pre-sessional meeting of the Sub-Commission, with the
participation of ten Sub-Commission members who would have the final
say on the Forum’s conclusions and recommendations.
However, the Commission’s decision
needed to be formally endorsed by the UN Economic and Social Council
(ECOSOC) meeting in July 2002 in New York. On the day the Social
Forum was supposed to start (25 July), ECOSOC had not yet voted
on the matter, so procedurally, the meeting had to be postponed
until further notice. According to some observers, this was a deliberate
attempt by one Member State, apparently opposed to the Social Forum,
to delay the ECOSOC vote because it would likely reflect the same
favourable majority as in the Human Rights Commission. By 26 July
(after coordinated lobbying efforts by Geneva- and New York-based
NGOs) ECOSOC had endorsed the Commission’s decision, and the
second date of the Forum was rescheduled for 2 August.
NGO Preparatory Meeting
At the request of the Office of the
High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the Special Committee
of NGOs on Human Rights of the Conference of NGOs in consultative
relationship with the United Nations (CONGO) organized, in cooperation
with NGLS, a preparatory NGO meeting, which was held on 24 July. The
objective was to review in-depth the main themes chosen for the first
Social Forum with the participation of grassroots leaders from developing
countries, NGO representatives specialized in trade, development and
food issues, and UN agency representatives. The meeting, structured
into working group sessions, developed recommendations to the Forum
on trade and agriculture/food security; trade in services; poverty
reduction strategies and voluntary guidelines on the right to food
as part of the follow-up to the 2002 World Food Summit five-year review
(WFS:fyl). Globalization, Poverty
and the Right to Food
The Forum itself was organized into
three panels, the first on globalization and human rights; the second
on the experience of grassroots organizations on the realities of
hunger and poverty; and the third on the “institutional response”
to these issues by representatives of national governmental bodies,
international agencies and NGOs. Speakers included representatives
of the Assembly of the Poor (a Thai coalition of urban and rural
poor, indigenous peoples and fisherfolk); La Via Campesina (an international
coalition of landless and small farmers); the South African Human
Rights Commission; the Brazilian Department of State for Social
Affairs; the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development
(UNRISD); the World Bank, the World Lutheran Federation; ATD Quart
Monde; and Food First Information and Action Network (FIAN).
The Social Forum’s discussions
covered a wide spectrum of issues, including: the impact on small
farmers of the sudden surge of cheap agricultural imports as a result
of trade liberalization in developing countries; the justiciability
of economic, social and cultural rights as evidenced in recent South
African court decisions; whether the integration of human rights
concerns into poverty reduction strategies promoted by international
financial institutions would become added conditionality; the impact
of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) on farmers’ rights
and the right to health; and the value of General Comment N°12 of
the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, as the
most authoritative text to follow-up on the WFS:fyl agreement to
develop voluntary guidelines on the right to food. A detailed summary
of the Forum’s discussions and recommendations is contained
in the Forum’s report (E/CN.4/Sub.2/2002/18) and is available
on the OHCHR website (www.unhchr.ch/html/menu2/2/54sub/advancedoc.htm).
Recommendations to the WTO General
Council
The Conclusions and Recommendations
of the Forum (annexed to the report) were formally adopted by the
ten members of the Sub-Commission. They include recommendations to
States regarding poverty reduction, and protecting and promoting the
right to food at national and international levels. At the international
level, some of the most specific recommendations are addressed to
members of the WTO General Council. The
Social Forum notes that the concept of “non-discrimination”
is a key feature of both human rights and of international economic/trade
law, but the functional understandings and effects of this concept
in the two contexts are “radically different.” This was
a point stressed by NGOs and by the High Commissioner for Human Rights,
Mary Robinson, in her opening remarks. As noted in her report on the
impact of the WTO Agreement on Agriculture on the enjoyment of human
rights (E/CN.4/2002/54), the more narrow definition of non-discrimination
under trade law fails to integrate differences in economic power,
such as between small developing country farmers and large agri-business
firms in the North. The Social Forum’s conclusions stress that
the resulting application of equal rules for very unequal players
in global trade can, in effect, “institutionalize discrimination”
against the weak and vulnerable in the very name of non-discrimination.
“Affirmative action measures to prevent further discrimination
and marginalization are thus called for in the international trading
regime to ensure its consistency with principles of international
human rights law.” The Forum’s recommendations further stress
that special and differential treatment provisions in the WTO could
be a way to enforce needed affirmative action measures at the global
level, provided their status was changed from so-called “best
endeavour” commitments to “targeted and enforceable treatment,”
using non-discrimination and other human rights principles as “the
guiding framework for reform.”
Through the High Commissioner’s
Office, the Social Forum also requested that the three reports of
the High Commissioner on human rights and trade be forwarded to
the WTO Council and to its relevant Committees and to the Director-General
of the WTO, namely: reports on a human rights analysis of the Agreement
on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs)
of the WTO (E/CN.4/Sub.2/2001/13); the WTO Agreement on Agriculture
(E/CN.4/2002/54); and liberalization of trade in services (E/CN.4/Sub.2/2002/18).
Whether WTO members take up these issues remains to be seen, but
would depend not least on whether NGOs specialized in trade and
development integrate human rights prerogatives in their advocacy
for greater economic justice in the international trading regime.
Next year’s Social Forum will
focus on the following theme: “The relationship between globalization
and rural poverty and the rights of peasants, pastoralists and other
rural communities.” The dates have not yet been fixed, but
like this year, may take place in late July.
Contact: Secretary of the Sub-Commission
on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, OHCHR, Palais Wilson,
52 rue des Pâquis, CH-1202 Geneva, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/917
9328, fax +41-22/917 9011, website (www.unhchr.ch).
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Human
Rights Sub-Commission Addresses WTO Issues
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At its 54th session in August this
year, the UN Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human
Rights examined the human rights impact of services trade liberalization,
including through the ongoing negotiations at the World Trade Organization
(WTO) on the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS).
The Sub-Commission is a subsidiary
body of the UN Commission on Human Rights and is composed of human
rights experts nominated by States to act in their independent capacity.
The Sub-Commission had before it a report by the High Commissioner
for Human Rights on Liberalization of trade in services and human
rights (E/CN.4/Sub.2/2002/9), which it had requested last year.
The report is the third in a series of the High Commissioner’s
reports concerning human rights and trade, the others being on the
WTO agreements on intellectual property and on agriculture (see
previous story).
Inconsistency between GATS and Human
Rights Obligations?
The latest report notes that all WTO
members have undertaken obligations to promote and protect human rights.
It examines the human rights obligations of States most directly affected
by liberalization of trade in services, specifically the right to
health (including the right to drinking water), the right to education
and the right to development. The mode of supply of trade in services
that is most relevant from a human rights perspective is through foreign
direct investment (FDI), the report says. While FDI can upgrade national
infrastructures, introduce new technology and provide employment opportunities,
FDI can also have undesired effects where there is insufficient regulation
to protect human rights. The report says, as with any national privatization
scenario, increased foreign private investment can lead to:
—The establishment of a two-tiered service supply with a corporate
segment focused on the healthy and wealthy and an under-financed
public sector focusing on the poor and the sick;
—Brain drain, with better trained medical practitioners and
educators being drawn towards the private sector by higher pay scales
and better infrastructures;
—An overemphasis on commercial objectives at the expense of
social objectives which might be more focused on the provision of
quality health, water and education services for those that cannot
afford them at commercial rates;
—An increasingly large and powerful private sector that can
threaten the role of the government as the primary duty bearer for
human rights by subverting regulatory systems through political
pressure or the co-opting of regulators.
The report stresses that human rights
law does not place obligations on States to be the sole provider
of essential services; however, States must guarantee the availability,
accessibility, acceptability and adaptability of essential services,
including their supply, especially to the poor, vulnerable and marginalized.
Looking specifically at GATS itself,
the report outlines a number of concerns, including the following:
—While GATS in its Preamble acknowledges governments’
right to regulate, the question remains as to the extent to which
GATS can affect government regulations that might have an impact
on trade—including government regulations relevant to the promotion
and protection of human rights. Consequently, judgements on or “tests”
of the “trade-restrictiveness” of government domestic
regulation under GATS should take into account States’ obligations
under human rights law.
—GATS seeks the liberalization of trade in services through
the progressive opening up of States’ services markets. However,
at times there is a need for States to have some flexibility to
modify or withdraw country-specific GATS commitments to comply with
their human rights obligations.
—WTO members should undertake impact assessments of the implementation
of GATS on the enjoyment of human rights as part of the ongoing
GATS negotiations. Assessments should concern both past experience
as well as the potential effects of future liberalization commitments.
The High Commissioner also encourages greater consultation between
WTO delegates and delegates representing the same country as members
or observers of the Commission on Human Rights on the links between
human rights and trade, and on particular ways to ensure coherence
in policy and lawmaking.
“Chilling Effect” of WTO
Rules and Enforcement
In a formal address to the Sub-Commission,
independent expert David Weissbrodt (United States) noted that the
WTO has a uniquely effective enforcement mechanism through retaliatory
tariffs on goods of the defending country by the complaining nation.
“At the national level,” he said, “these developments
in trade law have influenced sovereign States to change their national
regulations, rather than face retaliatory tariffs.” One of the
most “troubling aspects” of these developments, he warned,
is the inevitable “chilling effect” on regulation in the
public interest. “Also, since nearly all countries are now avidly
pursuing export markets, the export imperative means that countries
cut costs in any way they can, even where human life and happiness,
or the environment, are the underlying costs.” He said recommendations
for changes to the WTO system can be made on two levels, one aimed
at reforming the current judicial framework of the WTO, while the
other would seek to re-envision the relationship between trade law
and national laws and other international agreements.
Towards Cancun
In Resolution 2002/11, the Sub-Commission
expresses concern that international economic law and human rights
law have developed as two parallel and separate regimes, with the
risk that human rights principles, instruments and mechanisms will
be marginalized as highlighted by the actual or potential human rights
implications of WTO agreements, including the ones on intellectual
property, trade in services and trade in agriculture. It recommends
that the Secretariat of the WTO and members of the Council on Trade
in Services include human rights considerations and the High Commissioner’s
relevant reports when conducting GATS assessments, and when engaging
in services-related capacity building and technical assistance activities.
The resolution further requests that
the High Commissioner submit to the 55th session of the Sub-Commission
in August 2003 a report on human rights, trade and investment, paying
specific attention to the human rights implications of privatization.
Finally, it requests the High Commissioner to make a comprehensive
submission on human rights, trade and investment to the Fifth Ministerial
Conference of the WTO, to take place in Cancun (Mexico) in September
2003.
Contact: Guennadi Lebakine, Secretary
of the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights,
OHCHR, Palais Wilson, 52 rue des Pâquis, CH-1202 Geneva, Switzerland,
telephone +41-22/917 9328, fax +41-22/917 9011, e-mail <glebakine.hchr@unog.ch>,
website (www.unhchr.ch).
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Human
Development Report — Extracts
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The Human Development Report (HDR)
2002, commissioned by UNDP to explore major issues of global concern,
looks at the advance of democracy in the 20th century and how it
has affected developing countries and poor people. The report, entitled
Deepening Democracy in a Fragmented World, says that although scores
of countries took steps towards democracy during the 1980s and 1990s,
progress in many is stalled and some are slipping back to authoritarian
rule, putting human development at risk.
The report notes that while 140 of
the world’s nearly 200 countries hold multi-party elections,
only 82 are fully democratic with institutions such as a free press
and independent judiciary. It calls for a new wave of democracy
building to give ordinary people a greater say in both national
and global policy making.
Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, Director of the
UNDP Human Development Report Office and lead author of the report,
said that having the means and the freedom to fight for one’s
rights, to shape decisions about the future of one’s own community,
to gain access to crucial information and markets is at the core
of human empowerment.
“The central message of this
report is a simple one: to promote human development successfully
we need to put the politics back into poverty eradication,”
said UNDP Administrator Mark Malloch Brown. “That means ensuring
that the poor have a real political voice and access to strong,
transparent institutions capable of providing them with the kind
of personal security, access to justice, and services from health
to education they so desperately need,” he stressed.
The report highlights a number of
reforms that could address some of what it calls the “more
obvious imbalances” in global decision making, including eliminating
the Security Council veto, reforming the selection process for the
heads of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank (which
it says is currently controlled by Europe and the United States),
and new programmes to help the poorest countries better represent
their interests at the World Trade Organization (WTO), with the
report noting that 15 African countries did not have a single trade
representative stationed at the WTO.
Citing recent global civil society
campaigns—on everything from reducing poor country debt, to
accessing essential medicines under the Trade-Related Intellectual
Property Agreement (TRIPS), to establishing the International Criminal
Court—the report argues that rather than feeling threatened
by such global activism, the international community should see
it as an opportunity to inject new energy and popular legitimacy
into global decision making. The report also notes that nearly one-fifth
of the world’s 37,000 international NGOs were formed in the
1990s and that “[m]ore than US$7 billion in aid to developing
countries now flows through international NGOs, reflecting and supporting
a dramatic expansion in the scope and nature of NGO activities.”
The HDR also provides a country-by-country
assessment of trends towards meeting the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs) established in September 2000 (see Go Between 90).
It concludes that at the current pace, only 55 countries, with 23%
of the world’s population, are on track to achieve as many
as three-quarters of the MDGs, while 33 countries with 26% of the
world’s population are failing on more than half of the targets.
The report says a vital element in making the goals viable will
be increasing aid from the developed nations, and warns that developing
countries must benefit from increases in trade as well as aid in
order to achieve the eight goals and 18 related targets. “Developing
countries must be accountable for necessary social, political and
economic reform and rich countries must hold up their end of the
bargain in terms of providing the trade, aid and investment that
will be needed to support these efforts,” said Mr. Malloch
Brown while noting that the MDGs are “still feasible if global
leaders take action now.”
Most parts of the world have made
progress in human development, but 21 countries registered a decline
in the Human Development Index (HDI)—based on life expectancy,
education and income per person—during the 1990s and 52 countries
ended the decade poorer than at its beginning. The report calls
attention to Eastern and Central Europe, the former Soviet Union
and sub-Saharan Africa, where many countries actually have a lower
HDI today than they did at the start of the 1990s, and in some cases,
lower than in 1975.
Norway remains on top of the HDI
list for the second year in a row, with Sweden, Canada and Belgium
close behind. Sierra Leone is still ranked last, with the bottom
24 countries on the Index all in sub-Saharan Africa.
HDR reported that aid to developing
countries fell during the decade, and for Africa it was halved,
dropping from US$39 to US$19 per person annually. Donor countries
continued to subsidize their farmers at a rate of US$1 billion a
day, more than six times their total aid to poor countries, flooding
markets with cheap imports and squeezing out poor country farmers.
The number of refugees and internally displaced persons worldwide
grew by 50%.
These trends are “deeply troubling,”
said Ms. Fukuda-Parr. “All this adds up to a world in urgent
need of a political order that can achieve greater inclusion, an
order in which all people and countries can have a say in decisions
that affect their future, and one with rules and institutions which
command trust among all people and countries.”
Contact: Trygve Olfarnes, UNDP
Communications Office, 1 UN Plaza, New York NY 10017, USA, telephone
+1-212/906 6606, fax +1-212/906 5364, e-mail <trygve.olfarnes@undp.org>,
website (www.undp.org/hdr2002/).
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Opening
57th Session of the GA SG Stresses Multilateralism |
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The new General Assembly (GA) President,
Jan Kavan (Czech Republic), opened the Assembly’s 57th session
on 10 September 2002, emphasizing the role of the UN in maintaining
international peace and security, enhancing economic, developmental
and humanitarian cooperation, and promoting respect for human rights
and fundamental freedoms. The GA also welcomed East Timor and Switzerland
as new Members, bringing the total number of UN Member States to
191.
Opening the General Debate on 12
September 2002, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan reflected on the
one-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the United States
(US), calling for a broad, sustained and global response to terrorism.
“Broad,” he said, “because terrorism can be defeated
only if all nations unite against it. Sustained, because the battle
against terrorism will not be won easily, or overnight. And global,
because terrorism is a widespread and complex phenomenon, with many
deep roots and exacerbating factors.” Mr. Annan emphasized,
“I believe that such a response can only succeed if we make
full use of multilateral institutions.”
In the face of grave pronouncements
by the US suggesting unilateral actions against Iraq, the Secretary-General
went on to strongly reaffirm the indispensable necessity and enduring
relevance of multilateralism and multilateral institutions in efforts
to maintain international peace, security and freedom for all. “I
also believe that every government that is committed to the rule
of law at home, must be committed also to the rule of law abroad.
All States have a clear interest, as well as a clear responsibility,
to uphold international law and maintain international order.”
“I stand before you today as
a multilateralist—by precedent, by principle, by Charter and
by duty,” he told delegations and world leaders. “The
more a country makes use of multilateral institutions—thereby
respecting shared values, and accepting the obligations and restraints
inherent in those values—the more others will trust and respect
it, and the stronger its chance to exercise true leadership,”
Mr. Annan said. When countries worked together in such institutions,
he stressed, developing, respecting and when necessary, enforcing
international law, they also developed mutual trust and cooperation
on other issues, including ensuring open markets and providing protection
from acid rain, global warming or the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Noting that national self-defense
is enshrined in the UN Charter, Mr. Annan added that nonetheless,
“when States decide to use force to deal with broader threats
to international peace and security, there is no substitute for
the unique legitimacy provided by the UN.”
The Secretary-General said the existence
of an effective international security system depended on the Security
Council’s authority, and that the Council must therefore have
the political will to act, even in the most difficult cases, when
agreement seemed elusive. He highlighted several challenges facing
the international community, including the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,
Iraq, Afghanistan, and in South Asia where tension has increased
between India and Pakistan.
Mr. Annan introduced his annual Report
on the Work of the Organization (A/57/1), which underscores that
no single country has the capacity to cope with the challenges of
an interconnected world, from terrorism to refugee movements, and
from AIDS to environmental problems. The report is available online
(www.un.org/News/ossg/sg/index.shmtl).
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ECOSOC 2002 Substantive Session |
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The UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)
held its annual substantive session from 1-26 July 2002 at UN headquarters
in New York. Convened “at a time when the UN system is gearing
up to pursue internationally agreed development goals, including those
contained in the Millennium Declaration,” according to Council
President Ivan Simonovic (Croatia), it was also held at a “crucial
juncture” in the cycle of major UN conferences—soon after
the Monterrey International Conference on Financing for Development
(FFD) and just before the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable
Development (WSSD).
The high-level segment of the session,
held from 1-3 July 2002 (see Go-Between 92) was an occasion for
the Council to give renewed political impetus to national and international
efforts to improve health and education and to launch new approaches
and partnerships to accelerate progress towards human development.
The operational activities segment was devoted to UN activities
for international development cooperation, with a focus on efforts
to improve the functioning of the UN system at the country level.
The humanitarian segment considered special economic, humanitarian
and other disaster relief assistance, as well as ways to strengthen
the coordination of UN humanitarian assistance to vulnerable groups,
and the transition from relief to development.
Coordination Segment
This year’s coordination segment
held from 10-12 July 2002, was devoted to discussing ways to further
strengthen the Council. Among the issues addressed were Council reform
and the important coordinating role the Council plays in ensuring
effective follow-up to major UN conferences and summits. One of the
principal challenges for the Council in that respect is to build on
its potential to bring together the UN system, the Bretton Woods institutions
(BWIs), the World Trade Organization (WTO), civil society, the private
sector and other actors. The need for effective cooperation and consultations
between the Council and other principal UN organs was underlined,
as was further strengthening of the relationship between the Council
and its functional commissions.
In his summary of the session, Council
President Simonovic said that the Council’s debate with heads
of financial and trade institutions had shown that, given the uncertainty
of recovery in the world economy, further progress in official development
assistance (ODA), debt relief, trade and investment was needed to
create an enabling environment for development. ECOSOC had clearly
expressed its determination to carry out the role assigned to it
in the follow-up to FFD, he said, working together with the BWIs,
the WTO and other stakeholders. The WSSD, he cautioned, would test
the political will of the international community to build on the
momentum created by the Monterrey Consensus and the Doha Ministerial
Declaration, and to make progress towards the implementation of
the commitments made at UN conferences and summits.
The Council took note of both the
Secretary-General’s report on the strengthening of the Council
(E/2002/62) and his consolidated report on the work of the functional
commissions of the Council (E/2002/73). Introducing the reports,
Patrizio Civili, the Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination
and Inter-Agency Affairs, said that they aimed to suggest ways in
which the thematic approach that characterizes the Council’s
work could be more systematically linked to the overall process
of implementation of the Millennium Declaration, and applied not
only to each segment, but also to the relationship among them.
Finland introduced the 23 agreed
conclusions of the coordination segment related to strengthening
the Council, which were adopted without a vote. Among them, the
Council recognized that in order to meet the challenges and opportunities
of globalization and sustainable development and to promote the
effective implementation of the internationally agreed development
goals, including those contained in the Millennium Declaration and
in the outcomes of all other major UN conferences and summits, it
would need to build on these achievements to further strengthen
its role and impact.
Venezuela, speaking on behalf of
the Group of 77 developing countries and China (G-77), said that
follow-up to the major UN conferences should include all major conferences
and summits, and that the follow-up of the implementation of the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) fell within the competence of
the General Assembly (GA), though it was the Council’s role
to assist the Assembly in that regard.
Denmark, speaking on behalf of the
European Union (EU), said that the five (+5) and ten (+10) year
review conferences should not be convened automatically but rather
on a case-by-case basis as well as on their substantive merits.
Existing structures, such as the Council’s functional commissions
should be used for follow-up. The EU also said it was “high
time” to bring the discussion of enhancing coordination among
the development, economic and social, and environmental areas of
the UN to fruition in the Council. The implementation of the MDGs
and the Monterrey Consensus at the national level could not wait,
the EU said, noting that the “Staying Engaged” section
of the Monterrey Consensus was a good building block (see NGLS Roundup
91). Recalling that the Monterrey Consensus had emphasized stronger
involvement of the WTO and BWIs, the EU said that such enhanced
dialogue should focus on ensuring sustainable development and reaffirming
broad commitment to implementing the MDGs at the country level.
The EU said it believed that the
innovative modalities for stakeholder participation in preparations
for the FFD should be continued and suggested that stakeholders
be invited to the Council’s informal consultations on such
issues, so that innovative approaches for engaging civil society,
the private sector and other non-State actors could be applied,
practically to the regular work of the Council.
Speaking at an afternoon panel discussion
on improving the Council’s role in the follow-up of the Millennium
Declaration and other major conferences and summits, John Langmore
of the International Labour Organization (ILO) noted that though
the Council was a globally representative institution, it was not
operating decisively or in a timely way to address global economic
and social issues. The Spring Meetings with the BWIs would be more
interesting, he said, if specific issues were discussed and if they
were held before the Spring Meetings of the International Monetary
Fund (IMF) and the World Bank so that messages about the international
political context could be heard by participants and taken into
account.
General Segment
Among the issues addressed during the
general segment, held from 18-26 July, were regional cooperation for
development, follow-up to major UN conferences and summits, economic
and environmental questions, gender mainstreaming, science and technology
for development, and assistance to third States affected by sanctions.
The Council also heard, for the first time, reports on the newly established
Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples, and the Office of the High
Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Countries
and Small Island Developing States. The majority of the segment was
devoted to action by the Council on texts recommended by its functional
commissions.
In his summation, Mr. Simonovic said
that the general segment had further confirmed the Council’s
need to focus on the follow-up to the Millennium Declaration and
conferences, and to reflect on cross-cutting policy issues emerging
from its subsidiary machinery. He noted that during the segment,
for the first time ever, the Council’s bureau had met with
the chairpersons of the functional commissions to ensure better
coordination.
The Council adopted a draft decision
(E/2002/L.28) on implementation of the Council’s agreed conclusions
regarding the role of the UN in promoting development, particularly
with respect to access to and transfer of knowledge and technology
through partnerships with relevant stakeholders, including the private
sector.
The Council also adopted the Facilitator’s
draft resolution on the FFD, by which it affirmed its commitment
to contribute to implementation of the Monterrey Consensus. The
Council agreed to attach priority to four broad tasks related to
follow-up activities: to promote coherence and an integrated approach
within the UN system; to intensify interactions with the BWIs, the
WTO and other stakeholders; to continue involving other relevant
stakeholders, including civil society organizations and the private
sector; and to prepare inputs for the GA’s consideration.
The Council further affirmed its
commitment to make full use of the annual spring dialogue of the
ECOSOC, the BWIs and the WTO to address issues of coherence, coordination
and cooperation related to follow-up of the FFD. The Council also
decided to invite all institutional stakeholders to provide the
Secretary-General with interim reports during the first quarter
of 2003 on work undertaken and planned regarding the implementation
of the different components of the Monterrey Consensus in preparation
for the spring dialogue.
The Council decided to postpone consideration
of the Secretary-General’s reports on basic indicators for
the implementation of and follow-up to the major UN conferences
and summits at all levels (E/2002/53) and on the implementation
of and follow-up to the outcomes of the major UN conferences and
summits (E/2002/57).
NGOs
The Council took action on four out
of five decisions contained in a report of the Committee on NGOs on
its 2002 regular session (E/2002/71, Part I). One decision authorized
the Committee on NGOs to hold a resumed session from 8-24 January
2003 to complete its work. Under the terms of another decision, the
Council asked the Secretary-General to establish a general voluntary
trust fund in support of the UN NGO Informal Regional Network. Action
was deferred on a fifth decision concerning the report of the Committee
on NGOs on its 2002 regular session until Part II of that report becomes
available in all the official UN languages.
Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
The Council also adopted a draft resolution
on the newly created Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (E/2002/L.16),
(see NGLS Roundup 93) that would ask the Secretary-General to appoint
a Secretariat Unit within the Department of Economic and Social Affairs
(DESA) to assist the Forum in carrying out its mandate; establish
a voluntary fund for the Forum in order to fund implementation of
it recommendations; and authorize an exceptional three-day pre-sessional
meeting of the members of the Forum from 7-9 May 2003.
In an additional decision (E/2002/L.32),
the Council requested that the Secretary-General submit proposals
to the 57th session of the GA concerning the provision of adequate
resources to support the secretariat unit for the Forum within DESA.
The Council decided (E/2002/L.19)
by a vote that the second session of the Forum would be held at
UN headquarters in New York from 12-23 May 2003. The US, however,
along with Australia, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands and the United
Kingdom, said that the Forum should carry out its work within existing
resources and rejected the proposed programme budget. The matter
will come before the GA’s Fifth Committee (Financial and Budgetary).
Contact: Division for ECOSOC Support
and Coordination, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, One
UN Plaza, Room 1428, New York NY 10017, USA, telephone +1-212/963
4628, fax +1-212/963 1712, website (www.un.org/esa/coordination/ecosoc/document.htm).
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Economic Survey of Latin
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According to a recent United Nations
Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC)
report, the annual regional output of Latin American and Caribbean
economies is expected to fall by 0.8% this year, and unemployment
is expected to exceed 9%, with the report calling future prospects
for the region “disappointing.”
Current Conditions and Outlook, Economic
Survey of Latin America and the Caribbean, 2001-2002 states that
hopes for the start of an economic reactivation in the region in
the second half of 2002 are based on projections of an upturn in
the United States economy and better economic conditions in Europe,
adding that any improvement in the international environment ought
to be reflected in the Mexican, Central American and Caribbean economies,
which have close trade relations with the US.
The study classifies mainland Latin
America into two groups in terms of growth in 2002. Argentina, Paraguay,
Uruguay and Venezuela form the first group, which the report says
will most likely see GDP decline. The second group, composed of
Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico and Peru, is expected
to experience modest growth rates of up to 3%. Growth in Central
America remains relatively low, while the situation of island countries
in the Caribbean varies widely, with average growth for the Caribbean
Community (CARICOM) countries expected to reach 1%.
The report also notes that the slowdown
has also taken a toll on reform programmes in the region, that investment
and saving have failed to show any sign of improving upon the figures
posted in 2001, and that the labour demand remained sluggish in
the first semester of 2002. The report is available for downloading
on the ECLAC website in both Spanish and English.
Contact: Hubert Escaith, Economic
Development Division, ECLAC, Casilla 179-D, Santiago, Chile, telephone
+56-2/210 2539, e-mail <hescaith@eclac.cl>, website (www.eclac.cl).
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55th Annual DPI/NGO Conference
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The 55th annual Conference of Non-Governmental
Organizations, sponsored by the UN Department of Public Information
(DPI) and NGOs accredited to the UN, was held from 9-11 September
2002 in New York with the theme “Rebuilding Societies Emerging
from Conflict: A Shared Responsibility.” Some 2,700 NGO representatives
from 85 countries attended the conference, which featured plenary
panel discussions and numerous regional and thematic workshops.
At the opening of the conference,
Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette said that post-conflict
situations were a “crucible” for the UN, where its achievements
and failures were most plain and where only the daily test of self-improvement
enabled it to do its part in rebuilding nations. She noted that
the UN was reaching out as never before to new partners, and said
that NGOs held a “unique place in those endeavors.”
In their keynote speeches, both Lakhdar
Brahimi, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for
Afghanistan, and Mary Robinson, the outgoing UN High Commissioner
for Human Rights, stressed the importance of joint UN and NGO work,
while recognizing the vital role of local leadership. “If there
is one lesson that years of experience in peacekeeping and peace-building
have taught us, it is that a peace and reconstruction process stands
a far better chance of success when it is nationally owned, rather
than led by external actors,” Mr. Brahimi said. “Without…
local leadership,” Ms. Robinson said, “efforts are destined
to be piecemeal, of limited effect and unsustainable.”
Mr. Brahimi emphasized the importance
of supporting fledgling government institutions in post-conflict
societies. “We must all recognize that the international community’s
role is often dramatically transformed in the post-conflict stage,
and this requires that we change the manner in which we do business,”
he said. While humanitarian efforts are getting the most attention,
Mr. Brahimi said, “we must ensure that reconstruction and rehabilitation
are not neglected.”
Ms. Robinson highlighted the role
of justice in rebuilding societies, including NGO work in assisting
the truth and reconciliation commissions in Sierra Leone and East
Timor. She noted, however, that “we still do not put enough
emphasis on helping developing countries to build their own national
protection systems for human rights.”
The complexity of creating legal
systems as part of peace-building was addressed in a panel on “Re-establishing
the Rule of Law and Encouraging Good Governance.” According
to the moderator, Under-Secretary General for Legal Affairs Hans
Corell, numerous components that had to be created from scratch
in post-conflict situations included not only rules governing civil
society but also civilian police, a justice system and regulations
concerning property. Local participation, a free press and accommodation
of local culture also had to be ensured, he said, for the long-term
sustainability of whatever systems of order were created.
Entrusting serious tasks only to
expatriates and foreign NGOs was what “killed” local initiative
and impeded self-sustainable development, Janina Ochojska, President
of the Polish Humanitarian Organization, stressed during a panel
on “Restoring Social Services: Identifying Priorities.”
From the first day of emergency assistance, she said, aid recipients
must participate in the entire process, from planning to implementation.
During a panel entitled “From
Less than Zero: The Challenge of Rebuilding Economies,” Evgenii
Vassilev, a representative of the Friendship Ambassadors Foundation
(Bulgaria), said he was convinced that economics was at the heart
of many conflicts and that economic remedies must therefore be stressed.
Vincent Lelei, Oxfam Regional Director for the Horn, East and Central
Africa concurred. “Before conflicts take their devastating
toll on lives,” he said, “they kill livelihoods.”
Noting the capacity of Africa’s communities to survive, recover
and go on, Mr. Lelei emphasized that local people should be placed
firmly at the centre of planning and delivery and have some measure
of control over decisions that impacted them and their livelihoods.
In the process of making those decisions in a community setting,
trust could be rebuilt. Mr. Lelei also advocated that global policies,
in trade and other areas, be looked at critically, so that grassroots
populations could build relationships in a wider and more sustainable
way.
Speaking on a panel entitled “Against
the Odds: The Process of Reconciliation,” Daniel Ntoni-Nzinga,
a representative of the Angolan Reflection Group for Peace, asserted
that peace was more than the silencing of guns. Pointing out that
some 85,000 rebels had been demobilized in Angola without any achievement
of peace, he said that attempts at reconciliation meant Angolans
had to first agree, “who we are, who we want to be.”
Concluding the conference were two
world leaders dedicated to rebuilding their own societies after
terrible conflict: President Vojislav Kostunica of the Federal Republic
of Yugoslavia, and Jose Luis Guterres, Vice-Minister for Foreign
Affairs and Cooperation of East Timor.
Mr. Guterres described the 20 years
of suffering East Timor had endured, noting that a new era had begun
with the UN Mission there and the establishment of a Serious Crime
Unit and a Commission on Reception, Truth and Reconciliation. Many
NGOs had helped the Timorese, he said, giving their time and energy
and denouncing human rights violations, violations against women
and arbitrary arrests. He said that the fundamental values of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights had now been incorporated
in the country’s Constitution, and announced that East Timor
had deposited its instruments of accession to the Rome Statute of
the International Criminal Court.
Contact: NGO Section, Department
of Public Information, Room L-1B-31, United Nations, New York NY
10017, USA, telephone +1-212/963 7233, fax +1-212/963 2819, email<dpingo@un.org>,
website (www.un.org/dpi/ngosection/55conf.htm).
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Calendar
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Children
—Committee on the Rights of the
Child, 32nd session, 13-31 January 2003, Geneva
Disarmament
—Disarmament Commission, Organizational
session, December (2 days), New York
—Groups of Environmental Experts
on Explosive Remnants of War, 3rd session, 2-10 December 2002, Geneva
—Conference on Disarmament, 1st
Part, 20 January-28 March 2003, Geneva
Ecosoc/General Assembly
—General Assembly, 57th session,
September-December 2002, New York
—Committee on Non-Governmental
Organizations, 8-24 January 2003, New York
Food and Agriculture
—Expert Consultation on Identifying,
Assessing and Reporting on Subsidies in the Fishing Industry, 3-6
December 2002, Rome
Human rights
—Commission on Human Rights,
Working Group on draft declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples,
2-13 December 2002, Geneva
—Working Group on the Right to
Development, 6-17 January 2003, Geneva
International Law
—International Criminal Court, 2nd Assembly of States Parties,
3-7 February 2003, New York
Social Development
—Commission for Social Development,
41st Session, February 2003, New York
Sustainable Development
Basel Convention
—Conference of Parties, 6th session, 9-13 December, Geneva
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