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GO
BETWEEN - NO 102 -
February - March
2004 - Calendar
of selected events
UN UPDATE
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New
High Commissioner for Human Rights |
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On 25 February, the General Assembly approved UN Secretary-General
Kofi Annan’s appointment of Justice Louise Arbour of Canada
as the new United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, for
a four-year term of office. Justice Arbour is expected to retire
from the Supreme Court of Canada in late June 2004 to take up her
new assignment in Geneva. The GA established the post of UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights in December 1993.
Since 1999 Louise Arbour has served on the Supreme Court of Canada.
In 1996 she was appointed by the Security Council as Chief Prosecutor
for the International Criminal Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia
and for Rwanda, based in The Hague. Ms. Arbour has published extensively,
in both English and French, in the fields of human rights, civil
liberties, gender issues and criminal procedure.
In a statement released on 20 February, Human Rights Watch said
that Secretary-General Kofi Annan has chosen a skilled jurist and
principled advocate. “Justice Arbour is the embodiment of what
is needed for this job,” said Kenneth Roth, Executive Director
of Human Rights Watch. “She combines the human rights experience,
international standing and moral stature needed to confront the
worst and most powerful abusers.” Human Rights Watch stressed
that around the world, human rights are being assailed in the name
of the international campaign against terrorism, and called on Justice
Arbour to make these challenges to human rights a first priority
during her tenure. In particular, she should press for the creation
of an independent mechanism—such as a UN special rapporteur—to
monitor how governments are using the fight against terrorism as
an excuse to undermine human rights worldwide.
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Conference on
Disarmament: Engaging NGOs
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On 12 February,
the Conference on Disarmament approved a decision regarding the enhancement
of the engagement of civil society in its work. The decision states
that NGOs will continue to be allowed to attend formal plenary meetings
and to be seated in the public gallery. Upon request, they can receive
official documents of the plenary. NGOs are able—at their own
expense and twice per annual session—to make written material
available to the members of the Conference outside the hall. After
the Conference adopts a programme of work, it will allocate one informal
plenary meeting per annual session to NGOs to address the Conference.
Only NGOs whose activities relate to the work of the Conference will
be able to address the Conference. A formal selection process will
be put in place to consider requests from NGOs to participate. |
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High-Level Initiative
Against Hunger
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On 30 January
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, President Jacques Chirac of France,
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil, and President Ricardo
Lagos of Chile met in Geneva to discuss a global fund to fight hunger
and to consider proposals put forth by President Lula at last year’s
G-8 Summit held in France, which included alternative financing mechanisms,
such as a tax on international arms deals as a way to finance a fund
against hunger.
During their meeting in Geneva, the leaders agreed to establish
a working group responsible for finding ways to raise US$50 billion
per year to fight world hunger. According to President Chirac, who
termed the proposed fund “the Lula Fund,” raising US$50
billion is only part of what must to be done to end hunger. The
working group, formed by French and Brazilian experts, will study
alternative financing mechanisms and is expected to present a report
later this year.
President Lula, speaking at the joint press conference held after
their meeting, said he had not come to Geneva “just to recall
that hunger is a weapon of mass destruction which kills 24,000 persons
each day and 11 children per minute.” He said he came to Geneva
“in search for solutions and concrete actions in order to eradicate
hunger and reduce poverty.” The challenge at hand is to combine
economic stability and social inclusion, which would require “great
transformation in the structure of societies and profound changes
in the organization of the productive system,” he said, while
also pointing out that political will is an “indispensable
element” of the equation.
President Chirac commended President Lula for the Zero Hunger Programme
that he has undertaken in Brazil (see Go Between 97). Citing World
Bank figures on achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs),
President Chirac said it would be necessary for official development
assistance (ODA) to “increase by US$50 billion a year, that
is to say to rise from US$60-US$110 billion a year.” He also
made the observation that overall world trade and exports each year
are worth some US$8,000 billion and the world gross domestic product
(GDP) is US$33,000 billion. “The reason I mention those two
figures is basically to indicate that US$50 billion in fact is just
a mere drop in the ocean, provided of course that we have the desire
and the ability to get it.”
President Lagos pointed out that “globalization has a social
deficit for which no answers, no credible answers, have been found.”
He said that ODA “at its current level has reached a ceiling
and it’s very difficult to imagine that countries are going
to increase it further.” Speaking of the proposed working group,
and noting that “the process of globalization is a fact and
it’s here to stay,” he said the issue is “how, within
this process, we can obtain resources now that we can put to use
immediately to deal with hunger.”
Mr. Annan called attention to the fact that in 2003 world leaders
had been distracted by matters of war and peace, and the tragic
events that occurred diverted their attention from other pressing
issues. “These issues do not grab headlines, but hundreds of
thousands suffer every day from extreme poverty and hunger, unsafe
drinking water, and environmental degradation. Endemic or infectious
diseases claim millions of lives. We must refocus our energies on
these threats. We must translate the Millennium Development Goals
into reality—and we have only 11 years left in which to do
so.”
Speaking of the eight MDGs, the Secretary-General stressed, “We
also know that, in many countries, there is no hope for reaching
the first seven Goals unless we start by achieving the eighth Goal—the
global partnership for development.”
On 1 March, President Chirac met with the three heads of the Rome-based
UN food agencies to discuss concrete ideas to bolster efforts to
rid developing countries of hunger and rural poverty. “We shall
work together to strengthen our ongoing initiatives to support national
efforts to eradicate constraints to rural development and food security,”
the UN agency heads said in a statement. “We believe that a
‘twin-track’ approach is needed: emergency assistance
in food aid to prevent lasting damage from malnutrition and investments
in the rural sector, and agricultural production to enable the poorest
and most vulnerable people to feed themselves and build sustainable
livelihoods.” These agencies already cooperate closely with
members of civil society as part of an International Alliance Against
Hunger (see Go Between 92).
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Globalization
Can and Must Change |
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The World Commission
on the Social Dimension of Globalization, co-chaired by President
Tarja Halonen of Finland and President Benjamin William Mkapa of Tanzania,
released its 168-page report on globalization on 24 February 2004.
A Fair Globalization: Creating Opportunities for All calls for an
“urgent rethink” of current policies and institutions of
global governance.
The Commission, an International Labour Organization (ILO) initiative
launched in 2002 by ILO Director-General Juan Somavia, says globalization
can and must change. Its report expresses concern about the direction
globalization is currently taking: “Its advantages are too
distant for too many, while its risks are all too real. Corruption
is widespread. Open societies are threatened by global terrorism,
and the future of open markets is increasingly in question.”
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan welcomed the report and said he
hoped the international community would pay close attention to its
findings and recommendations “on one of the most important
issues of our time—the need to ensure that people throughout
the world, and especially the poor, can benefit from globalization
and have a voice whenever decisions about it are taken.”
Through its report, the Commission proposes a series of coordinated
measures across a broad front to improve governance and accountability
at both national and international levels, including fairer rules
for international trade, investment, finance and migration; policies
to make decent work a global goal; measures to promote core labour
standards and a minimum level of social protection in the global
economy; and new efforts to mobilize international resources to
meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). NGLS Roundup 112 provides
more information on the report.
Contact: Secretariat of the World Commission, ILO, 4 route de Morillons,
CH-1211 Geneva 22, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/799 7781, fax +41-22/799
8909, e-mail <worldcommission@ilo.org>, website (www.ilo.org/public/english/wcsdg/index.htm).
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10th
Anniversary of the Rwandan Genocide |
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The 10th anniversary
of the Rwandan genocide, in which an estimated 800,000 Rwandans were
killed in a three-month period, was observed on 7 April 2004. The
Government of Rwanda asked that the world’s observance of the
Day include a minute of silence at noon local time in each time zone.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan noted that “Such a minute of
silence has the potential to unite the world, however fleetingly,
around the idea of global solidarity. Let us be united in a way we
were not ten years ago. And let us, by what we do in one single minute,
send a message—a message of remorse for the past, resolve to
prevent such a tragedy from ever happening again—and let’s
make it resound for years to come.”
A one-day memorial conference that included two panel sessions
was organized by the Governments of Canada and Rwanda in New York
on 26 March. Opening the memorial conference, Mr. Annan said, “The
international community failed Rwanda, and that must leave us always
with a sense of bitter regret and abiding sorrow.” The Rwandan
genocide raised questions that affected all humankind, including
fundamental questions about the authority of the Security Council
and the effectiveness of UN peacekeeping, Mr. Annan said, asking
the question if confronted by a new Rwanda today, would the international
community respond effectively?
During the two panel discussions that were held, participants considered
means to ensure a more effective international response to genocide
in the future. According to Canada’s Foreign Minister Bill
Graham, the international community, while it had learned what needed
to be done, still lacked political agreement to prevent a Rwanda
from happening again. He stressed that it was more urgent then ever
to confront gross violations of international humanitarian law.
Rwanda’s Foreign Minister, Charles Murigande, pointed out
that the international community failed to intervene even though
it had plenty of advance warning from many sources that large-scale
killing was likely. “Calling it genocide would have made it
an obligation for the international community to intervene, which
it was unwilling to do. And so people spoke of ‘mass killing,’
‘tribal violence’ or ‘acts of genocide’ to escape
having to take responsibility, while Rwandans died at a rate of
well over 10,000 a day,” he said, noting that he supported
the findings of a report entitled Responsibility to Protect, which
recommends that when a population is suffering serious harm and
the State in question is unwilling or unable to act, then the international
community has a duty to protect.
Speaking before the Commission on Human Rights in Geneva on 7 April,
Mr. Annan unveiled a five-point plan for the United Nations to prevent
future genocides while calling particular attention to the crisis
unfolding in the Darfur region of Sudan. The Secretary-General voiced
his “grave concern” over reported human rights abuses
in Darfur, citing a recent warning by the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator
of “ethnic cleansing” in the area.
In outlining his Action Plan to Prevent Genocide, Mr. Annan said
the first step must be to prevent armed conflict by addressing the
issues that cause it. “We must attack the roots of violence
and genocide: hatred, intolerance, racism, tyranny, and the dehumanizing
public discourse that denies whole groups of people their dignity
and their rights,” he said.
Protecting civilians during war should be the second step in thwarting
potential genocides. The third step is to end impunity for those
who have committed such crimes, he said, recalling the work of the
UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the landmark verdicts
it has handed down—the first conviction for genocide of a former
head of government, the first to determine that rape was used as
an act of genocide, and the first to find that journalists who incite
the population to genocide are themselves guilty of that crime.
His plan also calls for greater efforts to achieve wide ratification
of the Rome Statute, so that the new International Criminal Court
“can deal effectively with crimes against humanity, whenever
national courts are unable or unwilling to do so.” The fourth
step includes the Secretary-General’s decision to appoint a
Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, who will report through
him to the Security Council and the General Assembly, as well as
the Commission on Human Rights.
As for the fifth pillar of his plan, the Secretary-General called
for “swift and decisive action” in response to warnings
of genocide. “Anyone who embarks on genocide commits a crime
against humanity. Humanity must respond by taking action in its
own defence. Humanity’s instrument for that purpose must be
the United Nations, and specifically the Security Council,”
he said, adding that military action should be used as an extreme
measure.
“Let us not wait until the worst has happened, or is already
happening,” the Secretary-General concluded. “Let us not
wait until the only alternatives to military action are futile hand-wringing
or callous indifference. Let us be serious about preventing genocide.
Only so can we honour the victims whom we remember today. Only so
can we save those who might be victims tomorrow.”
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US
Refuses to Sign Land Mine Treaty |
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On 27 February,
the United States announced that it would not sign the Mine Ban Treaty,
which outlaws the stockpile of mines and requires each country to
destroy its remaining mines within four years. The announcement reversed
a decision the Clinton administration made in 1998 to give up the
use of all antipersonnel mines and join the treaty by 2006, if the
Pentagon could find a suitable alternative.
The Bush administration has announced that after 2010 it will only
use “smart” mines that deactivate themselves after a set
period of time. Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military
Affairs Lincoln Bloomfield said that the US army would phase out
the older types of mines as soon as possible. Until then, the president
must authorize any use of conventional or “persistent”
mines. Furthermore, within a year, the US plans to stop using mines
undetectable by conventional metal detectors. The US also said it
will give a 50% increase to the State Department’s humanitarian
mine action budget, bringing the budget to US$70 million.
Stephen Goose, Executive Director of the Arms Division of Human
Rights Watch, said that the policy change means that now US forces
are free to use smart mines anywhere in the world, indefinitely.
“So-called smart mines are not safe mines—they still pose
real dangers for civilians,” Mr. Goose said, adding that the
US was taking progressive steps but was “missing a great opportunity”
to make the world safer by outlawing land mines. “While the
rest of the world is rushing to embrace an immediate and comprehensive
ban on anti-personnel mines, the Bush administration has decided
to cling to the weapon in perpetuity,” he said. Stan Brabants
of Handicap International Belgium said that smart mines can still
pose unacceptable risks for civilians, cause new mine victims, and
the clearance task will still be time-consuming, costly and dangerous
for deminers.
The US is one of fifteen countries left in the world that produces
or reserves the right to produce anti-personnel mines. The US stockpiles
10.4 million anti-personnel mines and 7.5 million anti-vehicle mines
making it the world’s third largest “mine power.”
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Statistical
Commission Discusses MDG Indicators |
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Meeting at UN
headquarters from 2-5 March 2004, the Statistical Commission reviewed
the progress of the United Nations Statistics Division in compiling
and analyzing data for monitoring progress towards the achievement
of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs, see NGLS Roundups 98, 105
& 106). As part of its review, the Commission cited a number of
initiatives aimed at improving the compilation of appropriate data
and indicators in the areas of environment, poverty, gender equality,
and slum populations. These included the potential development of
a number of system-wide subgroups spearheaded by key UN and multilateral
agencies and programmes aimed at developing joint work on poverty,
gender, population and environment indicators.
Emphasizing the importance of country level monitoring in both
developed and developing countries, the Commission called attention
to the handbook Indicators for Monitoring the Millennium Development
Goals: Definitions, Rationale, Concepts and Sources (http://millenniumindicators.un.org/unsd/mi/Metadatajn30.pdf),
which aims to provide guidance on the definitions, concepts and
sources of data for each of the indicators being used to monitor
goals and targets.
The Commission also highlighted the work being undertaken at the
national level by key donor countries to measure their progress
in meeting the requirements for the development of a global partnership
for achieving the MDGs. Denmark’s recently released report,
entitled Goal 8: Establishing a Global Partnership (www.um.dk/publikationer/um/english/
danida/Goal8reportMinistryofFor.pdf) was cited as an important precedent
for other developed countries. The study represents the Danish Government’s
first national progress report on Denmark’s effort to fulfill
its international commitments as part of a broader global partnership
between donor and recipient countries.
The report explores the level and quality of Denmark’s official
development assistance (ODA), its support for international trade
cooperation and developing country access to essential medicines,
as well as its efforts in supporting debt relief for highly indebted
poor countries (HIPC). Looking forward, the report expresses Denmark’s
intention to advocate that other industrial countries compile similar
national reports on the fulfillment of their commitments to MDG
Goal 8 as part of the UN’s overall five-year review of progress
achieved in relation to the MDGs, to be held in 2005.
Contact: Director, Statistics Division, United Nations, New York
NY 10017, USA, telephone +1-212/963 4583, fax +1-212/963 4116, e-mail
<unstats@un.org>, website (http://unstats.un.org /unsd/default.htm).
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ECOSOC
Reviews Efforts to Stem Poverty in LDCs |
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Top UN officials,
donors and heads of international institutions convened at the UN
Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) on 17 February 2004 to examine
worldwide efforts to lift the 50 poorest nations—home to 600
million people—out of poverty and instability.
During a day-long meeting in preparation for its high-level segment
taking place from 28-30 June 2004, ECOSOC reviewed progress in mobilizing
resources and creating an enabling environment for poverty eradication
for the least developed countries (LDCs) since an action plan was
drawn up at an international conference held in Brussels in 2001
(see NGLS Roundup 75).
The Brussels Programme of Action (POA) includes seven specific
commitments made by the LDCs and their development partners relating
to the mobilization of financial resources as well as governance,
trade and sustainable development.
Setting the stage for three roundtable discussions, ECOSOC Chair
Marjatta Rasi (Finland) challenged participants to consider how
existing tools and frameworks could be better used to mobilize more
resources for development and improving institutions and the policy
environment, and how official development assistance (ODA) could
be better utilized and harmonized to enhance pro-poor policies and
accelerate progress towards poverty eradication and sustainable
development.
In his opening remarks, UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic
and Social Affairs José Antonio Ocampo said that most LDCs
were in serious danger of falling short of the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs) and the Brussels POA. He warned that in extreme cases,
the lack of access to resources could undermine the basic mechanisms
of governance and lead to political disintegration and open social
conflicts. “Such instability,” he observed, “is a
major obstacle to making the business climate attractive to both
domestic and foreign investors. The efforts to mobilize resources
should therefore be closely integrated with the efforts to achieve
peace and security.” He added that proposals to link debt service
payments to commodity pricing might be considered, and said that
there was also a need to promote trade, as well as ensure duty-
and quota-free access for exports, which are currently subject to
protection and subsidized competition.
During the discussions that followed, a range of participants offered
recommendations to remedy the economic woes of poor countries. These
included widening the tax base, focusing on the middle class, investing
in infrastructure, giving priority to education, and providing LDCs
with fair access to international markets.
In the panel on national resource mobilization, speakers stressed
the need for more transparency in policy making and for combating
corruption. Promoting policies that expand the tax base was also
emphasized, as was the critical importance of reducing both the
risk and cost of doing business in developing countries.
The panel on international resources stressed the lack of financial
resources currently available for developing countries to reach
the MDGs. The panel focused on the quality of international assistance,
emphasizing that ODA should lead to capacity building and the promotion
of sustainable development. Speakers stressed that resource mobilization
should be flexible and should focus on foreign direct investment.
Debt reduction was also an essential element of the discussion,
as was the need to open up market access for developing countries.
A third roundtable emphasized the need for policy coherence at
the national and regional levels and noted that migration and trade
policies must also be mutually coherent in order to ensure that
neighbouring countries are better able to reach their regional and
individual development goals.
Contact: Office of the High Representative for Least Developed
Countries, Landlocked Developed Countries and Small Island Developing
States, United Nations Room UH-900, New York NY 10017, USA, telephone
+1-212/963 7778, fax +1-917/367 3415, e-mail <OHRLLS-UNHQ@un.org>,
website (www.un.org/special-rep/ohrlls/ohrlls/default.htm).
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UNHCR:
Asylum Seekers Down in 2003 |
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A report released
by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says
the number of people seeking asylum in industrialized countries fell
20% in 2003, a drop the United Nations attributes to political and
security improvements in key countries. Some 463,000 asylum claims
were made—the lowest since 1997, and the third lowest since 1988.
“I welcome this news,” said UN High Commissioner for
Refugees Ruud Lubbers. “Most of the major groups of asylum
seekers—especially the Afghans, Iraqis and people from Serbia
and Montenegro—have decreased in number, which reflects the
significant changes in their home countries and regions.” However,
Mr. Lubbers warned, “The improvements remain fragile in many
countries, and there needs to be continued investment of aid and
resources in the regions of origin to ensure that the trend is not
reversed.”
The European Union also recorded record lows in 2003 asylum applications—down
22% from the previous year, to 288,000, well under half the record
high of 669,000 in 1992, during the Balkan wars. The United Kingdom
received the greatest number of asylum seekers in 2003, with 61,050,
followed by the United States with 60,700, France with 51,400, and
Germany with 50,450.
In terms of asylum-seeking nationalities, Russians—mostly
Chechens—topped the list in 2003 with 33,400 applications,
up 68% from the previous year. They were concentrated in Austria
(6,700), Poland (5,600), the Czech Republic (4,900), Germany (3,400)
and Slovakia (2,700). Iraqis, the top asylum-seeking group in 2002,
dropped by 50% to 24,700 in 2003. Afghans, the top group in 2001,
declined by 46% between 2002 (25,500) and 2003 (13,800).
Important decreases have also been reported in Africa, where a
number of countries have seen a significant improvement in circumstances
in recent years. Angolan asylum seekers in 2003 fell by 46% compared
to 2002, Sierra Leoneans fell by 58%, while asylum seekers from
the Democratic Republic of the Congo fell by 22%. Somalis, who increased
by 7%, were the only major African asylum-seeking nationality to
go up in 2003.
Contact: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Case Postale
2500, CH-1211 Geneva 2 Dépôt, Switzerland, telephone
+41-22/739 8111, website (www.unhcr.ch).
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Reconstruction
of Liberia |
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“Let us all
seize this opportunity to end a long-running nightmare that has disgraced
humankind. Let us consolidate the peace, and make the peace process
irreversible,” UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said as he opened
a two-day conference aimed at addressing Liberia’s reconstruction
needs. Co-sponsored by the United States, the World Bank and the United
Nations, the conference, held from 5-6 February in New York, was organized
by the United Nations Development Group (UNDG) and brought together
representatives from 110 countries and 45 organizations.
Technical discussions, statements, reports and presentations were
held over the two days, and organizations and governments at the
conference pledged more than US$500 million towards reconstruction
and humanitarian assistance, against a US$660 two-year assessment
need. Other assistance, such as training and technical assistance
and alleviation of the debt burden, was also pledged.
C. Gyude Bryant, Chairman of the National Transitional Government
of Liberia, said the situation in Liberia was characterized by a
total breakdown of law and order, massive displacement of population,
lack of essential services, unreliable public utilities and environmental
degradation, as well as a rising incidence of HIV/AIDS, a huge debt
burden and pervasive food insecurity. The real challenges of the
transition still lay ahead, he warned, with comprehensive disarmament
the most crucial among them. After a four-month delay, the disarmament
process was scheduled to restart on 15 April 2004. The UN Mission
in Liberia (UNMIL) peacekeeping force has 14,000 troops in Liberia
and is slated to number 15,000.
Nearly 15 years of war and conflict have severely compromised the
environment of Liberia, with drinking water and sewage systems in
such a damaged state they represent a serious threat to public health,
according to the Desk Study on the Environment in Liberia, compiled
by the Post Conflict Assessment Unit of the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP). Urgent action is also needed to restore electricity
supplies, including Liberia’s main hydroelectric plant. Serious
electricity shortages are forcing many Liberians to chop down trees
and destroy habitats like mangrove swamps for fuel wood and charcoal.
The report also finds that the poaching of wild animals for food
has sharply intensified over recent years, partly as a result of
a rapid penetration of roads and labourers into forest areas to
support illegal logging.
“In modern Africa, environment security and effective and
fair resource governance are at the very heart of peacemaking and
peacekeeping. The misuse of natural resources has not only been
a source of conflict in Liberia and the wider region, but has also
sustained it,” said UNEP Executive Director Klaus Toepfer.
Contact: Eric Falt, Spokesperson and Director of UNEP’s Division
of Communications and Public Information, PO Box 30552, Nairobi,
Kenya,
telephone +254-2/623292, e-mail <eric.falt@unep.org>, website
(http://postconflict. unep.ch).
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S-G’s
Report: Composition of the Secretariat |
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A report by UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan (A/58/666), entitled Composition of the
Secretariat, shows that women staff members are catching up with men
in terms of the number of those recruited, but females still hold
lower-level jobs.
The percentage of women in UN posts subject to geographical considerations
under the Organization’s quota system has jumped to 41.8% from
38.1% in 1999. Aside from those posts set aside to fill geographic
quotas, the global gender distribution of Secretariat staff shows
a nearly balanced female-male ratio of 51.2% to 48.8%. The numbers,
however, do “not reveal important differences in gender representation
by grade, category and by department or office,” the report
says.
Women account for just 17.3% of the 52 Under-Secretaries-General
and Assistant Secretaries-General. Among the 383 Directors below
them (decision making and senior staff), women comprise just 30.6%.
With regard to posts subject to the quota system, the Office of
Human Resources and Management (OHRM) has more female professionals,
with a ratio of 37 women to 27 men, but in the Department of Political
Affairs (DPA), there are 41 women compared to 60 men in those jobs.
Women account for 40% of the middle-level professional staff and
62% of the 6,745 general service mainly secretarial staff, according
to the report, which covered the period from 1 July 2002-30 June
2003. The report is available online (www.un.org/Docs/journal/asp/ws.asp?m=A/58/66).
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ILO
Reports on Women and Employment
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Women are entering
the global labour force in record numbers, but they still face higher
unemployment rates and lower wages and represent 60% of the world’s
550 million working poor, according to a report by the International
Labour Organization (ILO) entitled Global Employment Trends for Women
2004. The report was prepared for International Women’s Day,
celebrated on 8 March.
At the same time, Breaking Through the Glass Ceiling: Women in
Management, a separate updated analysis of trends in the efforts
of women to break through the “glass ceiling,” says the
rate of success in crashing through the invisible, symbolic barrier
to top managerial jobs remains “slow, uneven and sometimes
discouraging.”
“These two reports provide a stark picture of the status of
women in the world of work today,” ILO Director-General Juan
Somavia said. “Women must have an equal chance of reaching
the top of the job ladder. And, unless progress is made in taking
women out of poverty by creating productive and decent employment,
the Millennium Development Goals of halving poverty by 2015 will
remain out of reach in most regions of the world.”
Global Employment Trends for Women 2004 finds that more women work
today than ever before. In 2003, 1.1 billion of the world’s
2.8 billion workers, or 40%, were women, representing a worldwide
increase of nearly 200 million women in employment in the past ten
years. Still, the explosive growth in the female workforce hasn’t
been accompanied by true socio-economic empowerment for women, the
report indicates. Nor has it led to equal pay for work of equal
value or balanced benefits that would make women equal to men across
nearly all occupations. “In short, true equality in the world
of work is still out of reach,” the report adds.
Female unemployment in 2003 was slightly higher than male unemployment
for the world as a whole (6.4% for female, 6.1% for male), the ILO
said, leaving 77.8 million women who were willing to work and looking
for work without employment.
The report also found that women typically earn less than men.
In the six occupations studied, women still earn less of what their
male co-workers earn, even in “typically female” occupations
such as nursing and teaching.
“Creating enough decent jobs for women is only possible if
policy makers place employment at the centre of social and economic
polices and recognize that women face more substantial challenges
in the workplace than men,” Mr. Somavia said. “Raising
incomes and opportunities for women lifts whole families out of
poverty and it drives economic and social progress.”
Breaking Through the Glass Ceiling finds that the overall employment
situation for women hasn’t evolved significantly since 2001.
Women’s shares of professional jobs increased by just 0.7%
between 1996-1999, and 2000-2002, and data shows that women are
markedly under-represented in management compared to their overall
share of employment. However, the study says some employers are
beginning to shift attitudes and businesses now understand that
family-friendly policies, improved access to training, and stronger
mentoring systems encourage female staff retention and can improve
productivity.
Contact: Department of Communication, ILO, 4 route des Morillons,
CH-1211 Geneva 22, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/799 7940, fax +41-22/799
8577, e-mail <press@ilo.org>, website (www.ilo.org).
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International
Women’s Day Celebrated |
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International
Women’s Day (IWD) was celebrated worldwide on 8 March, with a
focus this year on women and HIV/AIDS. Speaking at UN headquarters
in New York during the annual observance, UN Secretary-General Kofi
Annan said it was among women that the real heroes of the war against
HIV/AIDS were to be found.
In most countries and communities, he said, it was women who had
been the most active and effective advocates and activists in the
fight against HIV/AIDS. Supporting those women, and encouraging
others to follow their example, must be the strategy for the future.
“It is our job to furnish them with strength, resources and
hope,” he stressed, calling for “real, positive change
that would give more power and confidence to women and girls, and
transform relations between women and men at all levels of society.”
Commenting on the effect of HIV/AIDS on women in the Middle East,
Queen Noor of Jordan said that experts had questioned the accuracy
of the low rates of infection in the region, due to the widespread
stigma attached to the disease. Many of those who carried the HIV
virus would simply rather die than risk encountering rejection,
or worse, from family, friends and community. “Our strong sense
of family and religious traditions may inhibit behaviour that spreads
the virus, but, at the same time, those traditions may inhibit testing
and reporting of those who may be infected.”
Ndioro Ndiaye, Deputy Director-General of the International Organization
for Migration (IOM), said that women made up nearly half of the
migrant population around the world, estimated today at approximately
175 million persons. Ms. Ndiaye stressed that HIV/AIDS, trafficking
and migration had one thing in common—they knew no borders
and could be found all over the world. While the first two fed on
female powerlessness due to gender discrimination and the abuse
of what was considered women’s inferior status and her vulnerability,
the third could quickly become an unwilling partner of the first
two, she said.
Speaking from Geneva, World Health Organization Director-General
Lee Jong-Wook said that in many places women had far less access
to health information, care and services than men did. “This
inequality frequently prevents women and girls from obtaining treatment
for HIV/AIDS when sick, and from protecting themselves against infection.”
The World Food Programme (WFP) chose “Putting Women at the
Centre of Food Security” as its theme for this year’s
IWD, noting that 70% of the 110 million people who received WFP
rations in 2003 were women and children. WFP says experience shows
that when women are in control of food distribution, families are
more likely to be well-nourished, and that children have a better
chance of going to school. Getting food to women around the world
is often an enormous challenge, WFP said “Women often have
to wait for hours. They then carry home heavy sacks of food,”
said WFP Executive Director James Morris. “We must find ways
of making their task easier, while ensuring that they remain at
the centre of the process; in short, to empower them without overburdening
them.”
The International Labour Organization (ILO) hosted a panel discussion
entitled “Women of Justice: Balancing the Scales” with
Carla Del Ponte, Chief Prosecutor, International Criminal Tribunal
for the Former Yugoslavia, and human rights activist and Nobel Peace
Prize Laureate Shirin Ebadi at ILO headquarters in Geneva.
Ms. Del Ponte described the difficulties of being a woman judge
and spoke of the inequality between men and women in the law of
justice, saying that compliance and monitoring measures are needed.
Ms. Ebadi spoke of her strong desire for justice, even as a child
in Iran, and said her struggle for rights and justice has not been
easy. She stressed that if justice, democracy and freedom are undermined
in a society, women are usually the first to be affected. She said
that better educated women can better defend their rights, noting
that a number of NGOs in her country are providing classes where
women can be educated. When asked by the audience how her life has
changed since winning the Nobel Peace Prize, Ms. Ebadi said the
Prize has given her a “bigger loud speaker” as her voice
now gets through to more people.
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UNAIDS:
Global Coalition on Women and AIDS |
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According to the
Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), women are particularly
vulnerable to HIV/AIDS and existing prevention programmes are failing
to reduce the risk of infection by not addressing gender relations
and sexual behaviour. To address the problem, UNAIDS has launched
the Global Coalition on Women and AIDS, a new initiative made up of
activists, government representatives, community workers and celebrities
that seek to stimulate concrete action on the ground to improve the
daily lives of women and girls.
Launched in London on 2 February 2004, its efforts will focus on
preventing new HIV infections among women and girls, promoting equal
access to HIV care and treatment, accelerating microbicides research,
protecting women’s property and inheritance rights and reducing
violence against women. Women comprise about half of all people
living with HIV/AIDS. In sub-Saharan Africa, 58% of those living
with HIV were women as of end 2003 and young women aged 15-24 were
2.5 times more likely to be infected than young men.
“All too often, HIV prevention is failing women and girls,”
said UNAIDS Executive Director Peter Piot, speaking at the launch
of the Global Coalition. “Because of their lack of social and
economic power, many women and girls are unable to negotiate relationships
based on abstinence, faithfulness and use of condoms. It is precisely
to address these inequalities and reduce women’s vulnerability
to HIV that the Global Coalition on Women and AIDS has been created.”
“It is crucial that HIV prevention programmes involve both
women and men to effectively address gender inequality and reduce
women’s vulnerability to HIV,” said Mary Robinson, former
President of Ireland and Executive Director of the Ethical Globalization
Initiative. “Women’s rights must be fully respected and
protected if we want a realistic chance at reversing the spread
of AIDS.”
On 8 March, commemorating International Women’s Day, the premiere
of the film “Women Are” was held in Geneva, showing that
despite the challenges they face, women are on the frontlines of
the AIDS response in their communities, empowering themselves and
leading change.
The women featured in the 52-minute film, produced by Mondofragilis,
describe the hardships they face in light of the growing AIDS threat,
but also provide concrete examples of how they have managed to overcome
these obstacles and empower women in their communities to fight
the epidemic. “The call to empower women is not new, but AIDS
makes it more urgent,” said Musimbi Kanyoro, General-Secretary
of the World Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA), who
co-produced the film with UNAIDS. “The film premiered today
brings to life not only the deeply-rooted injustices and discrimination
faced by women, but provides hope for the millions of women out
there who feel disempowered and vulnerable. It is a wake-up call
for women to take action to stem the tide of AIDS.” More information
on the film “Women Are” is available online (www.mondofragilis.com/womenare).
Contact: Dominique de Santis, Press Officer, UNAIDS, 20 avenue
Appia, CH-1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/791 4509,
fax +41-22/791 4898, e-mail <desantisd@unaids.org>, website
(http://womenandaids.unaids.org/default.html).
World YWCA, 16 Ancienne Route, CH-1218 Grand Saconnex, Geneva,
Switzerland, telephone +41-22/929 6040, fax +41-22/929 6044, e-mail
<worldoffice@worldywca.org>, website (www.worldywca.org).
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UNDP:
AIDS Spreading in Eastern Europe and CIS
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In a report released
in February 2004, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
shows that the 28 countries of East and South Eastern Europe, the
Baltics and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) have some
of the fastest growing rates of HIV/AIDS infection in the world. The
impact is compounded by insufficient public awareness, frequent stigmatization
and lack of adequate policy instruments.
The report, entitled Reversing the Epidemic: Facts and Policy Options,
says that in spite of a comparatively low prevalence in the region,
growth rates in new HIV infections reported over the last several
years in Estonia, Russia and Ukraine are among the world’s
highest. The report reveals that the infection is threatening economic
growth because many of those who are HIV positive are between the
ages of 15-40 years old—the bulk of the labour force. Estimations
of 1.8 million people living with HIV/AIDS represent about 0.9%
of the adult population. Experience from other regions of the world
indicates a 1% infection rate as a threshold; beyond this percentage,
efforts to turn back the epidemic have failed in many other countries.
Data from the region unambiguously points to the socio-economic
and governance dimensions of the epidemic. Members of at-risk groups
are often subject to social exclusion, poverty, stigmatization,
or incarceration. Also, the above-average prevalence of HIV in the
region’s over-crowded penal institutions—which the report
calls “real HIV incubators”—is a serious cause for
concern.
The report supports a better policy balance between criminalization
and exclusion on the one hand, and tolerance, inclusion, and treatment
on the other. Good governance in addressing HIV/AIDS includes expanding
access to information, protecting the human rights of vulnerable
groups, increasing the participation of civil society in decision-making
processes and establishing partnerships between public authorities
and civil society groups, the report says.
A number of countries in Central and South-Eastern Europe, such
as Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia have recorded successes
in halting or reversing the spread of the epidemic. At the same
time, a relatively successful transition outcome does not in itself
guarantee an effective response, as is apparent in the case of Estonia,
which combines one of the region’s most successful transitions
with some of its highest HIV prevalence rates, the report warns.
“All experts concur that delays are disastrous when dealing
with HIV/AIDS. Just as in some CIS countries today, only twelve
years ago South Africa too saw less than 1% of its adult population
infected—now that rate is twenty times higher. It is already
too late to speak of avoiding a crisis in Eastern Europe and the
CIS. Nevertheless, there is still much that governments and civil
societies can do to reduce the social, demographic and economic
consequences of HIV/AIDS and even reverse the epidemic,” said
Kalman Mizsei, UNDP Assistant Administrator and Director for Europe
and the CIS.
The report is available online in English and Russian.
Contact: Sandra Pralong, Regional Bureau for Europe and the Commonwealth
of Independent States, e-mail <sandra.pralong@undp.org>, telephone
+421-908/729846, website (www.undp.sk/hiv).
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CEDAW
Notes Both Progress and Discrimination
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The Committee
on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) met at
UN headquarters in New York from 12-30 January 2004 to assess the
implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women in eight States Parties: Belarus, Bhutan,
Ethiopia, Germany, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal and Nigeria.
Progress was noted in each of the countries assessed by the Committee,
including legislative revision to penal, family and civil codes
and, in some cases, sweeping legal reforms, as well as efforts to
strengthen national mechanisms to promote women’s rights. However,
experts repeatedly drew attention to the pervasiveness of discriminatory
stereotypes and entrenched patriarchal attitudes, which they said
had led to grave and systematic violations of women’s human
rights across the spectrum of nations. States were encouraged to
set timetables for implementing particular actions, to prioritize
their activities and to monitor the impact of their policies and
programmes. The Committee also stressed the role of civil society,
and in particular, women’s NGOs, urging States Parties to cooperate
with NGOs in the implementation of the Convention and the Committee’s
comments.
CEDAW Chair Ayse Feride Acar (Turkey) said that factors concerning
social and cultural patterns of conduct of men and women and the
persistence of prejudices and customary and other practices took
different forms in different countries, but, that in each case,
the Committee took the firm view that States Parties had a clear
obligation to eliminate such discriminatory practices without delay.
“While tradition and culture are sources of richness for a
country, they cannot be allowed to function as impediments to women’s
enjoyment of their human rights,” she said.
The Committee also issued a general recommendation—the 25th
since 1991, and the first since 1999—promoting the use of temporary
special measures, such as quotas, to accelerate the equal treatment
of women and men. Article 21 of the Convention empowers CEDAW to
make general recommendations based on the examination of reports
received from States Parties. Also during the session, the Committee
focused attention on the situation of women in Iraq, noting a decision
by Iraq’s Governing Council to repeal existing civil statutes
governing issues related to marriage, divorce, child custody and
inheritance. Iraq is a State Party to the Convention, and the Committee
called on all responsible authorities in that country to ensure
full compliance with the treaty.
Announcing the completion of her 38-year career at the UN, Angela
King, the Assistant Secretary-General and Special Adviser to the
Secretary-General on Gender Issues and the Advancement of Women,
said that among the most satisfying developments during her tenure
had been the steady improvement of awareness of women’s human
rights, which she said had been significantly boosted by CEDAW’s
work.
The 31st session of CEDAW will meet from 6-23 July 2004, and the
32nd session from 10-28 January 2005.
Contact: CEDAW, UN Division for the Advancement of Women, 2 UN
Plaza, 12th Floor, New York NY 10017, USA, fax +1-212/963 3463,
e-mail <daw@un.org>, website
(www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/30sess.htm).
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World
Water Day Observed 22 March
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The theme of World
Water Day, observed on 22 March, was “Water and disasters,”
and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in his message, highlighted that
water is central to eradicating poverty and achieving sustainable
development. He appealed for a renewal of efforts to “give water
issues the attention they deserve, now and over the long term,”
and pointed out that water-related disasters—including floods,
droughts, hurricanes, typhoons and tropical cyclones—inflict
a terrible toll on human life and property, affecting millions of
people and provoking crippling economic losses.
“Modern society has distinct advantages over those civilizations
of the past that suffered or even collapsed for reasons linked to
water. We have great knowledge, and the capacity to disperse that
knowledge to the remotest places on earth.” He noted that new
technologies will continue to provide the backbone of efforts, but
“only a rational and informed political, social and cultural
response—and public participation in all stages of the disaster
management cycle—can reduce disaster vulnerability, and ensure
that hazards do not turn into unmanageable disasters.”
Speaking of the international community’s role in facing global
water problems, the Secretary-General said, “If we are to achieve
the Millennium Development Goal of halving, by 2015, the proportion
of people who are unable to reach or to afford safe drinking water,
we will need to make 270,000 new water connections per day. The
requirements for meeting the sanitation goal are even more formidable.
This is not to demean the dedicated efforts being made by a number
of governments and thousands of civil society groups, but rather
to demonstrate the urgent need to go beyond business as usual.”
Mr. Annan announced that he has established an Advisory Board on
Water and Sanitation, to be chaired by former Prime Minister Ryutaro
Hashimoto of Japan, that will raise awareness of the issues, help
mobilize funds and encourage new partnerships. The Board will include
a wide range of eminent persons, technical experts, and other individuals.
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations
Secretariat for the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction
(UN/ISDR) were the lead agencies for World Water Day 2004. World
Meteorological Day was observed on 23 March, with the theme “Weather,
climate and water in the information age.” Information on both
days is available online (www.waterday2004.org and www.wmo.int).
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Rotterdam
Convention Enters into Force
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On 24 February
the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) Procedure
for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade
entered into force. Jointly supported by the United Nations Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP), the Rotterdam Convention enables countries to decide
which potentially hazardous chemicals they want to import and to exclude
those they cannot manage safely. Where trade is permitted, requirements
for labelling and providing information on potential health and environmental
effects will promote the safer use of chemicals.
“In many developing countries conditions do not allow small
farmers to use highly toxic pesticides safely. The result is continued
damage to the health of farmers and poisoning of the environment,”
said FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf. “We recognize that,
in meeting the increased demand for food production, pesticides
will continue to be used. The Rotterdam Convention provides countries
with a major tool to reduce the risks associated with pesticide
use.” He pointed out that the treaty promotes sustainable agriculture
in a safer environment, “thereby contributing to an increase
in agricultural production and supporting the battle against hunger,
disease and poverty.”
The Convention has been implemented on a voluntary basis since
September 1998 in the form of the interim PIC procedure. The first
meeting of the Conference of the Parties will take place from 20-24
September 2004 in Geneva, and will establish a chemical review committee
that will evaluate future chemicals for the Convention’s list
and consider such issues as its relationship to the World Trade
Organization and a strategy for regional delivery of technical assistance.
As of 19 February 2004, there are 60 States Parties to the treaty.
Contact: Erwin Northoff, Information Officer, FAO, Viale delle
Terme di Caracalla, 00100 Rome, Italy, telephone +39-6/5705 3105,
fax +39-6/5705 4974, e-mail <erwin.northoff@fao.org>, website
(www.fao.org).
Eric Falt, Spokesman and Director of Information, UNEP, PO Box
30552, Nairobi, Kenya, telephone +254-2/623292, fax +254-2/624489,
e-mail <eric.falt@unep.org>, website (www.unep.org) or (www.pic.int).
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POPs
Treaty Achieves 50th Ratification
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The 2001 Stockholm
Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) will become legally
binding on 17 May 2004 as France became the 50th State to ratify the
agreement on 17 February.
“Of all the pollutants released into the environment every
year by human activity, POPs are the most dangerous. For decades
these highly toxic chemicals have killed and injured people and
wildlife by inducing cancer and damaging the nervous, reproductive
and immune systems. They have also caused uncounted birth defects,”
said Klaus Toepfer, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP). He also noted that the treaty would strengthen
the overall scope and effectiveness of international environmental
law.
POPs can travel great distances, are often toxic at very low levels,
and last for many years in the environment. They can also concentrate
in living organisms through a process called bioaccumulation. Though
not soluble in water, POPs are readily absorbed in fatty tissue,
where concentrations can become magnified by up to 70,000 times
the background levels. Fish, predatory birds, mammals, and humans
are high up the food chain and so absorb the greatest concentrations.
Governments will meet for the first session of the Conference of
the Parties to the Convention (COP-1) in Uruguay in early 2005.
One of the meeting’s priorities will be to assist countries
to combat malaria by replacing DDT with increasingly safe and effective
alternatives. COP-1 will also establish a committee for evaluating
other chemicals and pesticides that could be added to the initial
target list of 12 POPs (aldrin, chlordane, DDT, dieldrin, endrin,
heptachlor, mirex, toxaphene, polychlorinated biphenols, hexachlorobenzene,
dioxins and furans).
In addition to banning uses, the treaty focuses on cleaning up
the growing accumulation of unwanted and obsolete stockpiles of
pesticides and toxic chemicals. Dump sites and toxic drums from
the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s are now decaying and leaching chemicals
into the soil and poisoning water resources, wildlife, and people.
The Global Environment Facility (GEF) is the principal entity of
the interim financial mechanism of the treaty, and has mobilized
resources to support POPs projects in more than 100 countries.
“The ratification of this treaty is a true landmark for environmental
health,” says Monica Moore of Pesticide Action Network North
America (PANNA). “By targeting an entire class of chemicals
for global phase out, it moves us a giant step forward in protecting
people and the planet.” A strong force behind the swift ratification
of the POPs Treaty has been a global network of NGOs, the International
POPs Elimination Network (IPEN). “IPEN played a key role in
building the international resolve to get rid of these dangerous
chemicals,” PANNA’s Kristin Schafer said. “This unprecedented
mobilization of NGOs from affected communities around the world
made this a better treaty and led directly to its rapid ratification.”
Contact: Eric Falt, Spokesman and Director of Information, UNEP,
PO Box 30552, Nairobi, Kenya, telephone +254-2/623292, fax +254-2/624489,
e-mail <eric.falt@unep.org>, website (www.unep.org) or (www.pic.int).
International POPs Elimination Network (www.ipen.org).
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UNEP
Launches SC.Asia Project
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A United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP) project has been launched to help make
growing middle class consumerism in Asia more in tune with the environment.
The European Union funded project, called Sustainable Consumption
Asia or “SC.Asia,” aims to transfer knowledge and experience
of consumption issues from European to Asian countries.
With recent figures showing Thailand’s stock market more than
doubling its value in the past year, and China officially projecting
its economy to quadruple by 2020, UNEP says there are now more “middle
to high income” consumers—those earning more than US$7,000
per annum—in Asia and the Pacific than in Western Europe and
North America combined.
According to UNEP’s Bangkok-based Industry Officer Niclas
Svenningsen, Asia would face an ecological disaster if consumption
levels reached those currently seen in Europe or North America.
The negative effects of affluent consumption—such as destruction
of natural resources, waste generation, traffic congestion, power
supply shortages—are starting to prompt some Asian governments
to look at sustainable consumption, Mr. Svenningsen said. However,
most governments are focused solely on economic growth and increasing
private and public consumption without addressing its consequences.
UNEP says governments face complex policy issues due to the wide
disparities of wealth between and within countries of the region.
For much of Asia a sustainable model would mean an increase in consumption
to address poverty and ensure basic needs are met, but more affluent
sectors would need to modify patterns and levels of consumption.
Mr. Svenningsen pointed to opportunities for countries to “leap-frog”
some of the phases and mistakes of western countries, including
adopting practices such as recycling programmes, product testing,
product labelling and information, public awareness campaigns based
on social research, leading by example and accountability by government
and the private sector, and environmentally-friendly laws and economic
incentives.
The project is scheduled for completion by October 2005 and will
help governments meet their requirements related to sustainable
consumption under the United Nations Guidelines on Consumer Protection.
Contact: Jim Sniffen, Information Officer, UNEP, 2 UN Plaza, Room
DC2-803, New York NY 10017, USA, telephone +1-212/963 8094, fax
+1-212/963 7341, e-mail <info@nyo.unep.org>, website (www.nyo.unep.org).
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UNCTAD:
Guidelines on Eco-Efficiency Indicator
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The United Nations
Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has released new guidelines
on eco-efficiency indicators that link the environmental performance
of corporations to their financial performance. The Manual for the
Preparers and Users of Eco-efficiency Indicators describes a method
for providing systematic and consistent information on environmental
performance over time. Such information cannot be assessed by the
conventional accounting model but is increasingly demanded by stakeholders,
especially in the post-Enron era, UNCTAD says. Intended both for preparers
and users of financial statements, the guidelines cover accounting
treatment of such areas as water use, energy use, contributions to
global warming, ozone-depleting substances and waste.
“To achieve sustainable development, sustainable value or
sustainable business, enterprise management must take into account
the impact of their performance on their employees, their customers,
their suppliers and the community, including its environment,”
UNCTAD Secretary-General Rubens Ricupero said. “The precise
correlation between improved environmental performance of an enterprise
and its bottom line is extremely difficult to prove because of the
many factors that can affect profits.... However, the concept of
eco-efficiency, where increased profits are achieved under conditions
of declining environmental impact, demonstrates such a link.”
The guidelines have recently been adopted by Ciba Specialty Chemicals,
making it the first multinational company to base its environmental
reporting on the UNCTAD model. “By linking key environmental
parameters to its gross profit results starting already in 2001,
we were able to demonstrate how our high-quality products add value
throughout the value chain, using fewer resources and minimizing
environmental impact,” Armin Meyer, Chairman and Chief Executive
Officer of Ciba Specialty Chemicals said. “[E]ffective this
year we are reporting our environmental performance in accordance
with these guidelines.” The company, he added, “remains
committed to being a responsible and environmentally aware company,
while at the same time making a profit for its shareholders. One
cannot be separated from the other.”
UNCTAD, through the Intergovernmental Working Group of Experts
on International Standards of Accounting and Reporting (ISAR), has
been working on corporate environmental accounting since 1989. Industry
experts, financial analysts, standard-setters, accounting practitioners,
academics and environmental experts provided inputs and comments
to the manual.
Contact: Constantine Bartel, UNCTAD, Palais des Nations, CH-1211
Geneva 10, Switzerland, telephone +410-22/917 5875, e-mail <constantine.bartel@unctad.org>,
website (www.unctad.org/en/docs//iteipc20037_en.pdf).
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FAO
Convenes International Conference on Rice
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As part of the
International Year of Rice (IYR) awareness and action campaign, the
United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) convened a
conference in Rome from 12-13 February, bringing together some 600
policy makers, rice specialists and industry representatives from
90 countries to present their perspectives on latest trends and industry
developments. The conference, entitled “Rice in Global Markets
and Sustainable Production Systems,” aimed to mobilize the international
community to confront the most pressing issues facing the global rice
sector, from local farming practices to international trade.
FAO, as the organizing agency for IYR implementation, says it views
the year as a vehicle for achieving the first of the eight Millennium
Development Goals, which calls for a 50% reduction of hunger and
poverty by 2015. Rice is the staple food for over half of the world’s
population, and FAO projections show that by 2030 total demand for
rice will be 38% higher than the annual amounts produced between
1997-1999. In order to meet future demand, new methodologies and
production technologies are necessary as land and water resources
become increasingly scarce.
According to FAO, of the 840 million people still suffering from
chronic hunger, more than 50% live in areas dependent on rice production
for food, income and employment. Because rice does not contain all
the elements necessary for a balanced diet, FAO says a key aspect
of the IYR is to encourage rice producers to intensify the rice
production system and fully exploit their capacity to raise fish
and livestock. Intensified rice systems will benefit the nutrition
and livelihoods of the rice-dependent community, while supporting
biodiversity and encouraging the sustainable management of natural
resources.
Poor rural farmers account for 80% of all rice producers. More
than two billion people in developing nations depend on the rice-based
system for their economic livelihood. According to the IYR Secretariat,
this population is generally trapped in poverty because of the inability
to tap the potential for agro-intensification, economic policies
that favour rice consumers and decreasing support for public rice
research. In the past few years, countries have also been confronted
with falling prices, an increased competition for markets and a
changing policy environment.
The conference examined the challenges posed by new economic and
policy settings and highlighted efforts that are being made at the
national and international levels to overcome major production constraints.
Conference documents addressed subjects including rice in global
markets; the challenges and opportunities of sustainable rice-based
production systems; agricultural diversification; land and water
conservation; biotechnology and its implications for production
and trade; new varieties and sustainable cropping systems to face
food security; and traditional rice-based livelihood systems and
global indigenous agricultural heritage, among others. The documents
are available online (www.fao.org/rice2004/en/e-001.htm).
Contact: Rita Ashton, Commodities and Trade Division, FAO, Viale
delle Terme di Caracalla, 00100 Rome, Italy, telephone +39-06/5705
2057, fax +39-06/5705 4495, e-mail <Rita.Ashton@fao.org>,
website (www.fao.org/ rice2004/index_en.htm).
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FAO
Geneva Liaison Office
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The Liaison Office
of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Geneva
(LOGE) has launched a new website (www.faologe.ch) which aims to complement
the main FAO website. It offers a more focused platform for reporting
trade policy developments in Geneva and elsewhere and provides guided
access to the specialized information and resources available on the
main FAO website from the perspective of the interests of the Geneva
trade community. The website also contains a calendar of events related
to agricultural trade.
As part of its activities, LOGE liaises with intergovernmental
and non-governmental organizations and other institutions based
in Geneva, as well as the Government of Switzerland. It also identifies
potential new partners for cooperation with FAO and establishes
working contacts with development partners based in Switzerland.
LOGE also participates in the emergency and relief activities coordinated
by the UN Office of Coordination for Humanitarian Assistance (OCHA).
FAO’s role is to respond, together with the other partners
in the UN system, to the specific needs for emergency assistance
in the agricultural, livestock and fisheries sectors in developing
countries affected by exceptional natural or human-induced calamities.
Contact: Food and Agriculture Organizational Liaison Office in
Geneva, Palais des Nations, 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland, telephone
+41-22/917 3683, fax +41-22/917 0065, e-mail <pkonandreas @unog.ch>,
website (www.faologe.ch).
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FAO
to Help in Nicaraguan Coffee Crisis
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The United Nations
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has announced that it will
work with the Nicaraguan Government to assist small-scale coffee growers
hit by the global crisis in coffee prices. Falling international coffee
prices have damaged Nicaragua’s economy, largely dependent on
coffee, by reducing income, employment and food security for thousands
of families in the rural sector. FAO says it will help the country’s
authorities prevent food shortages among the worst-affected coffee
producers and, at a later stage, will help them diversify their crops
and produce more competitive varieties in the international coffee
market.
With production expenses currently higher than commercial value
and a credit system overburdened with debt, many farmers have been
forced to abandon their coffee plantations. Until recently, coffee
cultivation represented some 30% of the agricultural sector’s
gross domestic product, half of agricultural export earnings and
a quarter of the country’s total exports.
“Bearing in mind that coffee cultivation in Nicaragua accounts
for almost a third of agricultural employment, the consequences
of this crisis are devastating for a country where external debt
is ten times larger than the total value of export earnings,”
said Loy Van Crowder, FAO representative in Nicaragua.
FAO will provide assistance to the country’s authorities in
drawing up an income-generating programme to change and diversify
coffee production towards more competitive varieties. Pilot projects
will benefit some 2,000 small- and medium-scale coffee producers,
who mainly belong to cooperatives who grow their coffee in the lowlands.
Contact: Nuria Felipe Soria, Information Officer, FAO, Viale delle
Terme di Caracalla, I-00100 Rome, Italy, telephone +39-06/5705 5899,
e-mail <nuria.felipesoria@fao.org>, website (www.fao.org).
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Global
Biotech Forum Meets
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Internationally
recognized experts, leading scientists and high-level delegations
from more than 80 countries, as well as representatives from intergovernmental
organizations and NGOs, industry and the media attended the Global
Biotechnology Forum (GBF), held in Concepción (Chile) from
2-5 March 2004.
Some 1,400 participants in the forum, which was sponsored by the
United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the
International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology,
sought to initiate and develop strategies meant to narrow the biotechnological
gap between developed and developing countries—enabling the
latter to benefit more from the utilization of their natural resources
and to achieve economic and social progress. The GBF also provided
an occasion for debate on the impacts of biotechnology on the environment
and on human health, as well as an opportunity to reach a consensus
on issues such as harmonization of regulatory standards and equitable
access to technology.
A number of key issues affecting the development of biotechnology
in the developing world were identified, including: inadequate scientific,
technical and research capabilities; the absence of entrepreneurial
skills and of public investment in this field; the presence of intellectual
property barriers; varying biosafety regulations; and difficult
market access.
The meeting succeeded in opening a dialogue for developing proposals,
initiatives and solutions for action, such as the establishment
of a multi-stakeholder forum for informed dialogue on biotechnology
and its benefits for the developing world; and the creation of a
network and database on biotechnology activities in developing countries
and those with economies in transition, including global market
and technology information for partnership facilitation, enhancement
of capacity-building activities, and the assessment of intellectual
property legislation on biotechnology.
In his closing address, UNIDO Director-General Carlos Magariños
stressed the need to utilize the expertise, skills and activities
that the UN and other international organizations have in the field
of biotechnology, through greater interagency collaboration. He
added that the GBF’s conclusions would enable UNIDO to refocus
its biotechnology activities, target objectives consistent with
its corporate strategy and assist member countries in meeting some
of the Millennium Development Goals.
Contact: UNIDO, Vienna International Centre, PO Box 300, A-1400
Vienna, Austria, telephone +43-1/260 260, fax +43-1/ 269 26 69,
e-mail <unido@unido.org>, website (www.unido.org) or (http://binas.unido.org/global_forum).
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IMO
Adopts Convention on Ballast Water
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The International
Maritime Organization (IMO), the UN agency responsible for the safety
and security of shipping and the prevention of marine pollution from
ships, has adopted an international convention to prevent the potentially
devastating effects of the spread of harmful aquatic organisms carried
by ships’ ballast water. The instrument was adopted at an international
conference held in London from 9-13 February, which brought together
representatives from over 70 States, two intergovernmental organizations
and 18 NGOs.
The convention has a two-tiered format: it will impose requirements
on all ships to manage ballast water in a standardized way, and
it will also give signatories the option to impose stricter measures
before allowing ships into their ports. The new convention will
require all ships to implement a Ballast Water and Sediments Management
Plan. All ships will have to carry a Ballast Water Record Book and
will be required to carry out ballast water management procedures
to a given standard. Existing ships will be required to do the same,
but after a phase-in period. Parties to the convention are given
the option to take additional measures, subject to criteria set
out in the convention and to IMO guidelines yet to be developed.
It will enter into force 12 months after ratification by 30 States
representing 35% of world merchant shipping tonnage.
“This is an extremely serious environmental issue which IMO
has been working on for more than a decade,” IMO Secretary-General
Efthimios Mitropoulos said. “Unlike oil spills and other marine
pollution caused by shipping, exotic organisms and marine species
cannot be cleaned up or absorbed into the oceans. Once introduced,
they can be virtually impossible to eliminate and in the meantime
may cause havoc.”
IMO says the problem of invasive species is largely due to the
expanded trade and traffic volume over the last few decades and
the effects in many areas of the world have been devastating. Quantitative
data show the rate of bio-invasions is continuing to increase at
an alarming rate, in many cases exponentially, and new areas are
being invaded. Examples of harmful alien species imported via ballast
water include the European zebra mussel, which has caused billions
of dollars’ worth of pollution damage in the North American
Great Lakes, and the American comb jelly, which nearly destroyed
anchovy and sprat stocks in the Black and Azov Seas. Scientists
estimate that ten billion metric tons of ballast water are transferred
globally every year.
The Global Environment Facility (GEF)/United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP)/IMO Global Ballast Water Management Programme (GloBallast)
is already providing technical support and expertise under a multi-million
dollar project (http://globallast.imo.org). The programme will help
developing countries understand and monitor the problem, and to
prepare to sign the convention.
Contact: International Maritime Organization, 4 Albert Embankment,
London SE1 7SR, United Kingdom, telephone +44-020/7735 7611, fax
+44-020/7587 3210, e-mail <info@imo.org>, website (www.imo.org).
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47th
Session of Commission on Narcotic Drugs
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The United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs held its forty-seventh
session in Vienna from 16-25 March. Antonio Maria Costa, Executive
Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC),
in his opening remarks said, “If we put together income and social
trends, public health factors, detection and treatment approaches,
together with perceptions and the need to show results, one message
emerges, loud and clear: the greater and the wider the commitment
of society to drug control, the greater the likelihood of success.”
The session recommended the adoption of 14 resolutions, including:
n Enhanced prevention of the drug-related spread of HIV/AIDS;
n A call for a more efficient control of precursors used in the
illicit drug manufacture (law enforcement agencies need to focus
on links between drugs and precursors smuggling networks in order
to plan appropriate interdiction activities);
-A request to the UNODC to provide greater assistance to countries
emerging from conflict in their drug control and crime prevention
efforts;
-A call to enhance financial and technical support for counter-narcotic
efforts in Afghanistan; and
-A request to the UNODC to undertake a global survey on cannabis
and work on a strategy to eradicate cannabis crop.
One of the resolutions urges Member States to identify and dismantle
Internet websites used for unauthorized trade in internationally
controlled drugs. The Commission also pointed to a need for rules
and regulations governing the sale of drugs on the Internet.
“The Commission took note of progress made in the reduction
of opium cultivation in the Golden Triangle and coca cultivation
in the Andean region. At the same time, it addressed new threats
and challenges, such as the rapid spread of HIV/AIDS among the drug-injecting
population in Eastern Europe, Central and South-East Asia, as well
as in China; an upsurge in synthetic drugs production, trafficking
and abuse; mounting evidence of the close connection between trafficking
in drugs and human beings, organized crime and terrorism,”
said Mr. Costa. “As the world drug problem evolves, staying
the course is not good enough: our strategy has to adjust to meet
newly emerging threats.”
Sixty NGO representatives attended the session. On 17 March an
NGO Forum was held with nine organizations from Europe and the United
States presenting their work in drug abuse prevention and rehabilitation.
Priorities in international drug policy were also discussed. The
meeting called for increased interaction between the UNODC and the
NGO community on concrete activities that can alleviate drug addiction.
Contact: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Vienna International
Centre, PO Box 500, A-1400 Vienna, Austria, telephone +43 1 26060
0, fax +43 1 26060 5866, e-mail <unodc@unodc.org>, website
(www.unodc.org).
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UN / NGO COOPERATION
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UNCTAD
XI: 2nd Civil Society Hearing |
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The Preparatory
Committee (PrepCom) for the eleventh United Nations Conference on
Trade and Development (UNCTAD XI), to be held in São Paulo
(Brazil) from 13-18 June, is meeting on a regular basis until June.
Intergovernmental negotiations are based on a pre-negotiation text
(TD(XI)/PC/3), and the Committee aims to produce a negotiated text
that will be adopted by governments in São Paulo. The Conference
meets every four years to set priorities and guidelines for the organization,
and to provide an opportunity to debate key economic and development
issues. During the week-long discussions in Brazil, a number of sessions
on trade, investment, finance, technology and development-related
topics will be organized around the main theme: “Enhancing the
coherence between national development strategies and global economic
processes towards economic growth and development, particularly of
developing countries.”
The negotiations and discussions are to a certain degree based
on the questions of the fundamental role and mandate of UNCTAD,
and deal with the differing viewpoints from developing and developed
countries, respectively. Some contentious issues discussed at this
stage of the negotiations have been the concepts on policy space
and open nationalism, trade-related security measures, corporate
social responsibility, and references to Information and Communication
Tools (ICT) or more specifically to the World Summit on the Information
Society (WSIS) outcome documents adopted at the first phase of the
Summit in Geneva in December 2003 (see NGLS Roundup 110).
As part of the preparatory process, a second civil society and
private sector hearing was held on 23 February 2004 in Geneva, presenting
an opportunity for dialogue amongst delegations from Member States
and civil society organizations (CSOs). Participants from the private
sector, parliaments, academia as well as NGOs were invited to address
the sub-themes of UNCTAD XI: development strategies in a globalizing
world economy; building productive capacity and international competitiveness;
assuring development gains from the international trading system
and trade negotiations; and partnerships for development.
NGO representatives read out their official statements during the
hearing, and over 50 individuals registered to participate, either
actively or as observers. A number of the statements emphasized
the importance of UNCTAD’s role and mandate, especially for
trade and development in developing countries, and the possibility
to revitalize the Doha negotiations and support the Development
Round to include a strong development dimension in the Round’s
final outcome (see Go Between 89). Some CSOs urged UNCTAD and its
Members States to promote policy space for developing countries
to advance in their development goals. Many expressed their concern
about the possibility of UNCTAD’s mandate being reduced and
its role and functions limited.
At the request of many CSOs, a third hearing was held on 22 April,
also in Geneva. All information, including an upcoming programme
for the third hearing, official summary documents of statements
from the 16 January (see Go Between 101) and 23 February hearings,
accreditation procedures, and other relevant information, can be
found online (www.unctad.org or www.un-ngls.org).
On 24 February, civil society representatives held an informal
meeting with UNCTAD’s Civil Society Outreach unit and discussed
procedural and organizational matters for the Civil Society Forum,
which will be held from 11-12 June 2004 in São Paulo, just
before UNCTAD XI. For information on observing or participating,
contact UNCTAD’s Civil Society Outreach Unit <amel.haffouz@unctad.org>.
An online forum is also available to facilitate civil society and
private sector discussion on UNCTAD XI (http://talkdevelopment.info).
The official UNCTAD XI website was launched on 5 April (www.unctadxi.org),
providing sections on the conference, the programme, a press room,
documentation, and information for participants.
Further information on procedural matters can be obtained from
the contacts below.
Contact: Jorge Eduardo Durao, Brazilian Association of NGOs (ABONG),
Rua General Jardim, 660 - 7 - Vila Buarque, Cep: 01223-010 São
Paulo - SP, Braziltelephone +55-11/3237 2122, fax +52-21/2286 1209,
e-mail <abong@uol.com.br>, website (www.abong.org.br).
Alexandra Strickner, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
(IATP), Geneva Office, 15 Rue de Savoises, 1205 Geneva, Switzerland,
telephone +41-22/789 0724, fax +41-22/794 4152, e-mail <astrickner@iatp.org>,
website (www.iatp.org).
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Trade
Unions Criticize IMF Report |
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On 3 February
2004, the world’s largest trade union organization, the International
Confederation of Trade Unions (ICFTU), in collaboration with the European
Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and the World Confederation of Labour
(WCL) lambasted an International Monetary Fund (IMF) report for its
“attack” on labour rights and the European social model.
The trade unions criticized the April 2003 edition of the IMF’s
World Economic Outlook (WEO), which devoted its Chapter 4, entitled
“Unemployment and labour market institutions: why reforms pay
off,” to an analysis and recommendations for reducing labour
market rigidities in Europe through reductions in unemployment insurance,
employment protection, minimum wages, and coordinated wage bargaining.
The chapter concludes that Europe could greatly reduce unemployment
by adopting US-style labour market and competition rules, with—trade
unionists charge—the strongly implied recommendation that European
countries should follow the US example of offering much weaker legal
and social protection to their workers.
The IMF paper is criticized for its “ideological bias,”
which trade unions say is reflected by its selective reading of
evidence and its scant attention to the reality of European labour
markets. The WEO asserts that “unemployment could fall by about
6.5 percentage points” in the Euro area were these countries
to deregulate labour market institutions and product markets to
US levels. In a letter to then IMF Managing Director Horst Köhler,
the trade unionists wondered “why US-style institutions applied
in the Euro zone would bring unemployment down to 2%, when the same
institutions applied in the US produce an unemployment rate currently
three times higher in spite of the higher degree of fiscal and monetary
stimulus applied in the US.”
In a November 2003 meeting between IMF and trade union representatives,
IMF staff emphasized the limitations of the WEO essay, including
the fact that the study had not looked at the benefits derived from
current European institutions nor the costs associated with their
radical downsizing. They stated that the Fund had not intended that
it be used as a basis on which European countries should make policy
choices for labour market reforms.
ICFTU says IMF’s report on European labour markets dangerously
ignores the huge benefits reaped from labour market institutions
and the important role of trade unions in Europe, claiming instead
that higher levels of unionization are an obstacle to employment
and growth. Trade unionists point out that this claim is in direct
contrast to the institution’s earlier statements that trade
unions and the IMF share common objectives of economic growth and
poverty reduction. However, its inclusion in this report leads the
European trade movement to fear that were governments to follow
the paper’s recommendations, with its strong attachment to
neo-liberal economic theory, serious implications could result for
the livelihoods of millions of workers across Europe.
In light of European media reports that the Fund considers that
Europe can eliminate its unemployment problem by mimicking the US
model, the trade unionists are demanding a response from the IMF
clarifying its position. They have invited IMF to “publish
a more balanced survey of the EU labour market that concedes the
points we raise, as a means of redressing the damage done by your
earlier report.”
Contact: ICFTU, Boulevard du Roi Albert II 5, B1, B-1210 Brussels,
Belgium, telephone +32-2/224 0232, e-mail <james.howard@icftu.org>,
website (www.icftu.org).
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UNFPA/AGI:
Adding it Up |
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According to a
report by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Alan
Guttmacher Institute (AGI), gaps in sexual and reproductive health
care account for nearly one-fifth of the worldwide burden of illness
and premature death, and one-third of the illness and death among
women of reproductive age. Adding It Up: The Benefits of Investing
in Sexual and Reproductive Health Care finds that these gaps could
be closed and millions of lives saved with highly cost-effective investments.
The report stresses that policy makers, governments and donor agencies
have vastly undervalued the diverse returns—economic and social
as well as in health—such investments would bring, and says
improvements in reproductive and sexual health are essential to
the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals set by world
leaders in 2000 (see NGLS Roundups 98, 105 & 106).
The report makes the case for increased funding for sexual and
reproductive health services—particularly in poor countries—by
illustrating the societal and individual impact of investments in
three key areas: prevention, diagnosis and treatment of sexually
transmitted infections, including HIV; maternal health; and contraceptive
services and supplies to prevent unintended pregnancies.
The report points out that current programmes providing contraceptives
to the 500 million women in developing countries who do not wish
to become pregnant already prevent, each year:
- 187 million unintended pregnancies;
- 60 million unplanned births;
- 105 million abortions;
- 22 million miscarriages;
- 2.7 million infant deaths;
- 215,000 pregnancy-related deaths; and
- 685,000 children losing their mothers.
Adding It Up calls attention to a severe global shortage of contraceptive
services and supplies. Closing the gap so that every woman at risk
of unintended pregnancy has access to modern contraceptives would
cost US$3.9 billion more per year, and would save the lives of an
additional 1.5 million women and children annually, reduce induced
abortions by 64%, reduce illness related to pregnancy and preserve
27 million years of healthy life—at a cost of just US$144 per
year of healthy life. Sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa, and West
and South Asia represent the world’s most disadvantaged regions
where the gap in services and resulting health burden are most acute.
While there is strong documentation of the health benefits of investment
in sexual and reproductive health, non-medical benefits have up
to now been undercounted, partly because they are hard to quantify
and measure. The report draws on an extensive body of studies and
a variety of methodologies to indicate tangible economic and social
benefits.
Adding it Up notes that individual consumers, national governments
and NGOs in developing countries are providing more than three-quarters
of the money spent there on sexual and reproductive health care.
Donor countries have fallen far short of the funding commitments
made at the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development
(see Go Between 101).
Contact: Kristin Hetle, Chief, Media Services Branch, UNFPA, 220
East 42nd Street, New York NY 10017, USA, telephone +1-212/297 5020,
fax +1-212/557 6416, e-mail <hetle@unfpa.org>, website (www.unfpa.org).
Melanie Croce-Galis, Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI), 120 Wall
Street, 21st Floor, New York NY 10005, USA, telephone +1-212/248
1111, fax +1-212/248 1951, e-mail <mediaworks@guttmacher.org>,
website (www.guttmacher.org).
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IPPF
& UNFPA: VCT Guidelines |
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The International
Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) and the United Nations Population
Fund (UNFPA) have released new guidelines to help reproductive health
care providers who want to offer HIV testing and counselling. Integrating
HIV Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) Services into Reproductive
Health Settings provides practical information for both public and
non-governmental providers using a stepwise approach that shows how
to effectively plan, implement, monitor and evaluate an integrated
service.
UNFPA says that although voluntary counselling and testing (VCT)
for HIV is highly effective at preventing the spread of the virus
and often provides newly diagnosed patients with legal and psychological
help, it is frequently offered in isolation from overall sexual
and reproductive health services. Pilot projects in Ivory Coast
and India found “exponential benefits” to integrating
the two, among them reduced stigma, heightened awareness and increased
access to HIV/AIDS care services.
UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Obaid said integrating the two
services presents “an opportunity to reach the millions, especially
women, who are vulnerable to [HIV] infection,” while IPPF Director
General Steven Sinding said, “Only by addressing people’s
sexual and reproductive health needs in a consultative and holistic
manner can we work together to roll back the devastation caused
by the HIV virus.”
The guidelines, available in English, French and Spanish on both
the IPPF and UNFPA websites, provide step-by-step advice for incorporating
VCT into the services of a sexual or reproductive health clinic.
Contact: Kristin Hetle, Chief, Media Services Branch, UNFPA, 220
East 42nd Street, New York NY 10017, USA, telephone +1-212/297 5020,
fax +1-212/557 6416, e-mail <hetle@unfpa.org>, website (www.unfpa.org).
Hugh MacLeman, International Planned Parenthood Federation, Regent’s
College, Inner Circle, Regent’s Park, London NW1 4NS, United
Kingdom, telephone +44-020/7487 7900, fax +44-0207487 7950, e-mail
<hmacleman@ippf.org>, website (www.ippf.org).
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NGO UPDATE
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HRW
Reports on Human Rights & Armed Conflict |
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To mark its 25th
anniversary, Human Rights Watch has chosen to focus on a single theme
for its 407-page World Report 2004: Human Rights and Armed Conflict.
The 2004 report contains a series of more analytical and reflective
essays that take stock of developments in a specific area and offers
suggestions on the way forward.
The focus on armed conflict was in large part influenced by recent
events, according to the report’s editors, most obviously the
war in Iraq and continuing armed conflict in Africa. As Kenneth
Roth argues in the keynote essay of the report, while the Bush administration
has repeatedly cited the human rights crimes of the Saddam Hussein
government to justify the war retrospectively, “this never
was a war that could be justified on strictly humanitarian grounds.”
In their essay on conditions in post-Saddam Iraq, Joe Stork and
Fred Abrahams note that the US and its coalition partners have treated
rights issues as matters of secondary importance. Themes that they
identify in Iraq—from failure to provide troops with essential
training in securing law and order to insufficient attention to
justice for past serious crimes—echo themes identified by Sam
Zia-Zarifi in his essay on post-conflict Afghanistan. Mr. Zia-Zarifi
notes that, in Afghanistan, the focus of coalition forces on defeating
remnant Taliban and al-Qaeda forces as quickly as possible led to
reliance on warlords, many with long records of rights abuses. The
result has been a deteriorating human rights situation, deepening
fear among Afghans and growing insecurity in much of the country.
The human rights implications of the global campaign against terrorism,
often portrayed by those who wage it as a new kind of war, loom
large in a number of the essays. Entries on the US and Russia (Chechnya)
in particular demonstrate a clear and troubling trend: an assault
on human rights in the name of counter-terrorism. Jamie Fellner
and Alison Parker describe various ways in which the Bush administration
is citing threats to national security as a justification for putting
executive action above the law in the United States. Rachel Denber’s
essay on Chechnya shows how the international community, despite
well-intended words on the importance of human rights and humanitarian
law, has failed to engage with the Russian Government over its appalling
human rights record in Chechnya, a conflict now justified by Russian
authorities as their contribution to the global war on terror.
In his essay on the conduct of counter-terrorism operations, Mr.
Roth notes the unclear boundaries of what the Bush administration
calls its war on terror. He also examines Israel’s practice
of targeted killings of alleged armed militants. He concludes that,
even in war, law enforcement rules should presumptively apply away
from a traditional battlefield, and war rules should be a tool of
last resort, certainly not applicable when a functioning criminal
justice system is available.
The report also covers rights in the context of war in Africa—particularly
in the Great Lakes region and in West Africa. It takes up issues
such as children as weapons of war, cluster munitions, arms supplies,
and issues related to sexual violence and the status of women, as
well as the role of the UN in preventing and resolving conflict.
HRW says that almost without exception, the world’s worst human
rights and humanitarian crises take place in combat zones.
The 15 essays comprising the report make clear that what is needed
is the political will to implement existing commitments and the
creativity to draw on past successes and failures to devise new
institutional responses to the human rights challenges posed by
pervasive armed conflict. The report is available online (www.hrw.org/wr2k4).
Contact: Human Rights Watch, 350 Fifth Avenue, 34th floor, New
York NY 10118-3299, USA, telephone +1-212/290 4700, fax +1-212/736
1300, e-mail <hrwnyc@hrw.org>, website (www.hrw.org).
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Oxfam:
Employment Conditions and Trade |
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Big brand companies
and retailers in the fashion and food industries are driving down
employment conditions for millions of women workers around the world,
according to a study issued by Oxfam on 8 February 2004. Trading Away
Our Rights combines research from 12 employment-related campaigns
across rich and poor countries, and interviews with more than 1,000
workers, factory and farm owners, global brands, importers, exporters,
union and government officials.
Examining the lucrative food and clothing industries, the report
finds that companies are outsourcing their production and using
their dominant market position to drive cost and risk down their
supply chains, squeezing their suppliers to deliver “just-in-time”
orders at lower prices. This pressure is dumped onto women workers
in the form of ever-longer hours at faster work rates, often in
poor conditions and with no job security. The report asserts that
millions of women are being denied their fare share of the benefits
of globalization as a result.
“This is where globalization is failing in its potential to
lift people out of poverty and support development,” said Oxfam’s
Make Trade Fair campaign director Phil Bloomer. “There is a
widening gap between the rhetoric of global corporate social responsibility
and the reality of the corporate business model. Many corporations
have codes of conduct to hold their suppliers accountable for labour
standards, but their own ruthless buying strategies often make it
impossible for these standards to be met.”
Women workers are being hit especially severely—their stories
debunking the myth that theirs is just “extra” income.
“Globalization has created new jobs for women,” said Rieky
Stuart, Executive Director of Oxfam Canada, “but more often
than not they work 12-hour days in poor conditions, without job
security or sick leave, and still don’t earn enough to feed
their families.” This burden is ruining women’s health,
breaking up families and communities, and undermining the prospects
of future generations, the report says.
“Jobs in labour-intensive industries are celebrated as empowering
women,” Mr. Bloomer said. “While we welcome the fact that
millions of women are getting a wage, the wage alone doesn’t
free them from poverty. Instead they’re being burnt-out by
working harder, faster, over longer hours and with few health, maternity
or union rights. This is a poor strategy for improving women’s
lives.”
The report stresses that many governments—encouraged by the
World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) and big business—are
also complicit as they continue to pursue laws and trade agreements
that allow for deeper “flexibilization” of labour. This
results in countries being pitted in competition to provide the
most flexible workforce.
“This short-term advantage of trade is short-sighted and comes
at the risk of a long-term cost to society,” Mr. Bloomer says.
“Improving employment conditions, on the other hand, would
be a powerful catalyst for reducing poverty. It would strengthen
an international trading system that is rightly being seen as failing
the poor and would create new opportunities for investment, growth
and development.”
The report concludes that in addition to changes needed in corporate
behaviour, States must begin to guarantee workers’ rights to
join trade unions and to bargain collectively, and to better enforce
labour laws. Consumers, the report advises, ought to support brands
that sustain good jobs as much as hip fashion.
Contact: Oxfam International Secretariat, 266 Banbury Road, Suite
20, Oxford, OX2 7DL, United Kingdom, telephone +44-1865/31 3939,
fax +44-1865/31 3770, e-mail <information@oxfaminternational.org>,
website (www.oxfaminternational.org).
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World
Vision: Risky Development |
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World Vision has
published a research report that examines the links between trade,
growth and poverty, using data from 84 developing countries to question
the underlying assumptions behind much trade-related policy advice.
Risky Development: Export Concentration, Foreign Investment and
Policy Conditionality finds that for the last 25 years there has
been growing pressure on developing countries to liberalize their
trade regimes and specialize their exports according to their current
comparative advantage. However, the report points out that that
is not how today’s industrialized countries developed. The
experiences of the United States, Germany, Japan, Taiwan and South
Korea have shown that the judicious use of interventions, such as
limited trade restrictions and subsidized credit, can accelerate
the deliberate acquisition of comparative advantages in new fields.
Report results show that while there may be costs and risks associated
with seeking to diversify a country’s economic base through
an active industrial policy, there are also costs and risks associated
with specialization. For example, a 10% increase in export concentration
is associated on average with a 5% increase in terms of trade volatility,
higher volatility in the purchasing power of exports, and worse
measures of infant mortality, immunization rates, female life expectancy
and female illiteracy. Higher terms of trade volatility, in turn,
are associated with lower economic growth. The average change in
terms of trade volatility from one four-year period to the next
in the sample was almost 28%, which is associated with average growth
rates 15% lower than would otherwise have been the case. It was
also associated with around 2% lower immunization rates and around
1.7% higher female adult illiteracy, representing millions of women
and children.
The extensive links between trade and aid are also a major theme
in the report: “Aid is no substitute for sound and equitable
economic policies, but it can be a vital catalyst. Aid has a unique
role to play in accelerating the process of strengthening institutions,
improving infrastructure and preventing human wastage on a colossal
scale by ensuring that children are well nourished, healthy and
educated.”
The executive summary of the report calls upon donors and lenders
to pay particular attention to the needs of children: “Every
generation of children allowed to grow up malnourished, poorly educated
and traumatized by violence puts their country further and further
behind. No amount of economic tinkering later on can make up for
those lost years.”
Contact: World Vision International, I Vision Drive, East Burwood,
VIC, 3151, Australia, telephone +61-3/9287 2233, fax +61-3/9287
2315, website (www.global-poverty.org) or (www.wvi.org).
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WRI
Warns of Worsening Global Warming |
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On 11 March the
World Resources Institute (WRI) expressed disappointment that despite
a decade since the ratification of the United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the problem of global warming is becoming
worse and there has been a collective failure to reduce greenhouse
gas emissions.
“We have not made significant progress in curbing global warming
in the last decade. In fact, the latest scientific reports indicate
that global warming is worsening,” said Jonathan Pershing,
Director of WRI’s Climate, Energy and Pollution Programme.
“We are quickly moving to the point where the damage will be
irreversible. Unless we act now, the world will be locked in to
temperatures that would cause irreparable harm. To stabilize the
atmospheric concentrations of the greenhouse gases that lead to
global warming, we must ultimately bring net emissions of these
gases to near zero.”
Leaders from 154 countries signed the UNFCCC during the 1992 Earth
Summit in Brazil. The convention was ratified on 21 March 1994 and
188 countries are signatories. An implementing treaty, the Kyoto
Protocol, is in limbo as Russia remains undecided whether it will
ratify it or not, and the Bush administration has refused to sign
it.
Data from WRI’s Climate Analysis Indicators Tool (CAIT) indicate
greenhouse gas emissions such as carbon dioxide rose 11% over the
last decade and are expected to grow another 50% by 2020. Studies
indicate that the hottest years this century occurred since 1990,
the date from which the UNFCCC measures countries’ efforts
to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Sir David King, a leading scientist from the United Kingdom, has
publicly warned that the most severe problem facing the world today
is climate change. A recent report commissioned by the US Defense
Department concludes that abrupt climate change from global warming
could trigger war among States for food, water and energy, posing
new threats to US national security. A study released in January
in Nature magazine suggested that up to 37% of all species in several
biologically diverse regions could become extinct from the climate
change that is likely to occur between now and 2050.
David Jhirad, WRI’s Vice President for research and an international
energy expert, said that unprecedented technology innovation, policy
leadership and private capital investment will be needed to solve
this problem. “Accelerated development of a portfolio of technologies
could stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations, enhance global energy
security, and eradicate energy poverty. We urgently need the political
will and international cooperation to make this happen,” he
stressed.
Contact: Adlai Amor, Director of Media Relations, WRI, 10 G Street
NE, Suite 800, Washington DC, USA, telephone +1-202/729 7736, fax
+1-202/729 7610, e-mail <aamor@wri.org>, website (www.wri.org).
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EUROSTEP
Says EU ODA Rates on the Rise |
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According to an
annual report published by the European Commission, the average amount
of official development assistance (ODA) of current Member States
is expected to rise to 0.42% of their combined gross domestic product
(GDP) by 2006. Although still far from the United Nations objective
of 0.7% of GDP, in actual terms the projected increase would amount
to 10 billion Euros. In 2003 the Member States allocated on average
0.35% of their GDP to ODA.
Eurostep, in its ProActive File (PAF) No. 350, says the increase
in ODA comes as a response to the commitments made at the 2002 Monterrey
Conference on Financing for Development (see NGLS Roundup 91). At
Monterrey, Member States agreed to increase the average ODA rate
of the EU countries from 0.33% of GDP to 0.39% by 2006. Member States
that were behind in ODA contributions also agreed to increase their
share to 0.33% by 2006.
Last year there were significant increases in ODA in Sweden, France,
Greece and Italy. Finland, Portugal and Belgium also increased their
contributions, but ODA also fell by 10.3% in Spain and 8.4% in Austria
and somewhat in Denmark, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
Currently only Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden
have reached the UN target of 0.7%. However, many of the Member
States that are not at this level have agreed on national timetables
for reaching the UN target. Eurostep notes that the accession of
new Member States is undoubtedly going to affect the average of
ODA contributions of the EU. Most of the new Member States start
from ODA levels of 0.03% of GDP and are expected to exceed only
0.1% in 2006.
Contact: Eurostep, 115 Rue Stévin, 1000 Brussels, Belgium,
telephone +32-2/231 1659, fax +32-2/230 3780, e-mail <admin@eurostep.org>,
website (www.eurostep.org).
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OTHER NEWS
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Helsinki
Group Meets for the First Time |
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The first meeting
of the Helsinki Group—a high-level eminent body to foster global
problem solving—took place from 28-30 January 2004 in Helsinki.
The work of the Helsinki Group is part of the Helsinki Process on
Globalisation and Democracy, an initiative of the Finnish and Tanzanian
Governments launched in early 2003. The Group, comprising 18 members
appointed in a personal capacity, will meet four times. Their policy
recommendations for future steps in global governance will be published
in a report in May 2005, and presented at the next Helsinki Conference,
to be held in autumn 2005.
The main task of the first Helsinki Group meeting was to chart
the global economic and political terrain and to choose topics for
more detailed scrutiny. The meeting also provided the members with
an opportunity to express their policy preferences with regard to
the global problems and the methods of their resolution. In the
opening session the Co-chairs of the Helsinki Group (Foreign Ministers
of Finland and Tanzania Erkki Tuomioja and Jakaya Kikwete, respectively)
elaborated on the tasks ahead and made suggestions for working priorities.
The Helsinki Process also includes three Tracks (New Approaches
to Global Problem-Solving; the Global Economic Agenda; and Human
Security), and during the meeting, convenors of the Tracks discussed
what kinds of contributions the Helsinki Process may expect from
their work. A meeting, bringing together the track convenors (Nitin
Desai-Track One, Fantu Cheru-Track Two and Fen Hampson-Track Three)
will be held from 13-14 May in New York, to discuss synergies and
overlaps between the Tracks.
At the end of the three-day meeting, the Group concluded that the
current responses to the challenges of the world community are not
adequate. Furthermore, a new consensus on accountable and credible
global governance is needed to change political and economic trends
in global affairs; this consensus has to be based on partnerships
between the North and the South and must include not only governments
but also international organizations and civil society.
During the meeting, the Group reached an initial agreement on the
outline for its final report. First of all, it will identify the
main problems plaguing the world and challenges to be addressed,
ranging from the issues of poverty, human security, and environmental
degradation to the lack of commitments to multilateralism, unemployment,
and the democratic deficit in global governance.
Secondly, the Group will reflect on the existing institutional
and normative framework and on what is being done about these crises.
The Group says it will search concrete methods to implement some
of the recommendations of the International Labour Organization’s
(ILO) World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization
in practice (see NGLS Roundup 112).
Thirdly, The Helsinki Group will reflect on the question “What
needs to be done?” and will concentrate on strategies of democratic
international governance, such as new approaches to North-South
relations, ensuring access and influence by non-State actors, and
promoting coherence between global policies. Finally, the Group
will discuss how to reach the selected policy changes, with new
approaches covering international coalition-building and liaisons
with relevant constituencies.
From 25-27 March, a Track Two meeting was held in Geneva, organized
by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Finland, and the Helsinki Process,
and co-hosted by NGLS. Bringing together a wide range of stakeholders,
the meeting focused on financing the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs) and featured a presentation from Jan Vandemoortele, Poverty
Group Leader of the United Nations Development Programme. The meeting
explored creating politically feasible solutions and recommendations
for achieving the MDGs in a sustainable way. The Track will develop
practical recommendations on its priority areas, which are financing
of the MDGs, debt relief and global health financing.
The Helsinki Group includes members from different backgrounds
and constituencies, and will present its recommendations to the
Helsinki Conference in September 2005. More information on the Helsinki
Process is available online.
Contact: Sami Lahdensuo, Programme Manager, Helsinki Process on
Globalization and Democracy, Pieni Roobertinkatu 13 B 24-26, 00130
Helsinki, Finland, telephone +358-9/6987 024, fax +358-9/612 7759,
mobile +358-40/507 2852, e-mail <sami.lahdensuo@cmi.fi>, website
(www.helsinkiprocess.fi).
Juha Mustonen, Helsinki Process on Globalization and Democracy,
Pieni Roobertinkatu 13 B 24-26, 00130 Helsinki, Finland, telephone
+358-40/583 0945, e-mail <juha.mustonen@cmi.fi>.
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1000
Women for the Nobel Peace Prize 2005 |
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An international
search is underway to nominate 1,000 women for the Nobel Peace Prize
in 2005. A group of Swiss women, led by Ruth-Gaby Vermot-Mangold—a
member of the Swiss Parliament and of the Council of Europe Parliamentary
Assembly—have launched the initiative to find 1,000 women who
work for peace in their countries, communities and neighbourhoods,
and nominate them for the Nobel Peace Prize. The deadline for nominations
was 30 April 2004.
The initiative’s focus is on women worldwide from all walks
of life—the woman teacher, farmer, artist or politician—who
devote themselves to a future free of violence. The search hopes
to draw attention to these thousand profiles and strategies for
constructive conflict management, also providing important impulses
for conflict research and peace policies.
Contact: 1000 Women for the Nobel Peace Prize, c/o Swiss Peace
Foundation, Sonnenbergstrasse 17, PO Box 3000, CH-Bern 7, Switzerland,
telephone +41-31/330 1213, e-mail <info@1000peacewomen.org>,
website (www.1000peacewomen.org).
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4th
Stockholm International Forum |
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The fourth Stockholm
International Forum, held in Stockholm from 26-28 January, was held
under the theme Preventing Genocide: Threats and Responsibilities.
The Forum was the fourth and final session of a series that began
in 2000 when the Swedish Government sponsored a conference designed
to improve international cooperation on Holocaust remembrance and
education. The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the
Crime of Genocide was adopted in 1948, but a conference has never
been held to address the subject. More than 1,000 delegates from 55
countries, international organizations and NGOs participated in the
Forum.
At the opening, Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson called for
world commitment to “an agenda of active genocide prevention,”
while UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said “all of us failed”
to prevent genocide from recurring since the Holocaust. “Genocide
has happened again, in our time. And States even refused to call
it by its name, to avoid fulfilling their obligations.”
“The events of the 1990s, in the former Yugoslavia and in
Rwanda, are especially shameful,” the Secretary-General added.
“The international community clearly had the capacity to prevent
these events. But it lacked the will. Those memories are especially
painful for the United Nations. In Rwanda in 1994, and at Srebrenica
in 1995, we had peacekeeping troops on the ground at the very place
and time where genocidal acts were being committed.”
Participants discussed ways to avoid future genocides through early
warning, stronger international legal cooperation and improving
desperate social and economic conditions that are often the breeding
grounds for mass violence. Some speakers raised the possibility
of using force to stop genocide, but only as a last resort. “The
very need to use force is an admission of failure,” said Yehuda
Bauer, head of Holocaust Studies at Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
“We need to develop a very clear and practical scale of measures
that precede the use of force.”
In the Declaration adopted by the Stockholm International Forum
2004, nations commit to using and developing practical tools and
mechanisms to identify as early as possible genocidal threats; protecting
groups identified as potential victims of genocide, mass murder
or ethnic cleansing; ensuring that perpetrators of genocidal acts
are brought to justice, and supporting survivors of genocide to
rebuild their communities; supporting research on preventing genocide;
educating youth and the wider public against genocidal dangers through
formal and informal educational structures; and cooperating in the
search for effective measures against genocidal dangers.
Contact: Government of Sweden, 4th Stockholm International Forum,
Government Offices, SE-103 33, Stockholm, Sweden, telephone+46-8/405
1000, website (www.preventinggenocide.com).
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International
Peace Academy Publishes Essays |
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The International
Peace Academy, an independent international institution dedicated
to promoting the prevention and settlement of armed conflicts between
and within States through policy research and development, has published
From Reaction to Conflict Prevention: Opportunities for the UN System,
a collection of essays that brings together scholarly perspectives
and findings that shed light on the challenge of moving from reaction
to conflict prevention within the UN system.
Although every conflict is complex and unique, there are general characteristics
that emerge. The first is the importance of economic factors in both
contributing to and prolonging war. Resource scarcity relating to
high population growth, the legacies of land distribution, uneven
food distribution, and lack of access to freshwater are all potential
sources of conflict. Conversely, the publication notes, natural resources
can also increase the probability and duration of violent conflict
as actors seek to enrich themselves through illicit means. Another
significant characteristic is the role of belligerent groups and the
manner in which they are able to foment and perpetuate violence. Their
ability to manipulate populations through the instrumental use of
ethnicity, religion, history, and myths in support of the goals they
seek is one of the key factors that determines how a conflict will
unfold. Another factor is the nature of contemporary conflict, with
a tendency to slide between interstate and intrastate, making the
role of neighbours important as they can act as mitigators of violence
just as easily as they can fuel and prolong it.
The book seeks to identify opportunities for making existing and nascent
capacity for conflict prevention more effective operationally within
the UN system at large. Part 1 examines recent quantitative and qualitative
findings regarding conflict trends and their causes with a view towards
better informing conflict prevention initiatives and implementation.
Part 2 looks at conflict prevention instruments and capacities as
they have developed since the end of the Cold War. In particular,
Chapter 10 explores the need for taking a systems approach to conflict
and its prevention and making commensurate adjustments within the
UN system, highlighting the importance of making conflict prevention
a structural priority.
In Part 3, the focus of conflict prevention is broadened to examine
the work of practitioners beyond the UN system in the world of donors
and NGOs. In particular, Chapter 15 argues that traditional preventive
action—short-term preventive diplomacy in particular—has
become increasingly ineffective in the face of more complex crises
and conflicts. What is needed, the publication argues, is a “more
comprehensive democratisation assistance strategy for preventions,
as well as a longer-term one that addresses root causes.”
Contact: International Peace Academy, 777 UN Plaza, 4th Floor,
New York NY 10017-35210, USA, telephone +1-212/687 4300, fax +1-212/983
8246, e-mail <ipa@ipacademy.org>, website (www.ipacademy.org).
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EPI:
China Faces Grain Shortage |
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According to Earth
Policy Institute (EPI), China faces a dire grain shortage and will
need to turn to the world market for massive imports within the year.
On February 8th, the Chinese Government announced an emergency appropriation,
increasing its agricultural budget by 25%, or roughly US$3 billion.
EPI says the additional funds will primarily be used to raise support
prices for wheat and rice, the principal food staples, and to improve
irrigation infrastructure.
After a remarkable expansion of grain output from 90 million tons
in 1950 to 392 million tons in 1998, China’s grain harvest
has fallen in four of the last five years—dropping to 322 million
tons in 2003 (a drop of 70 million tons exceeds the entire grain
harvest of Canada).
EPI President Lester Brown, speaking at a press conference in Washington
DC on 10 March, said a marked increase in desertification, loss
of irrigation water and the conversion of farmland to non-farm uses
has left China with just 76 million hectares of farm area on which
to grow the key crops of wheat, rice and corn—a decrease of
14 million hectares from just five years ago.
The smaller area of cultivation, combined with heightened demand
by the addition of 11 million people to China’s population
each year and diversified diets that call for more grain-fed livestock
products have left production shortfalls of millions of metric tons
of all three grains, Mr. Brown said. He noted that China’s
ability to cover its rice shortfall of 20 million metric tons when
world rice exports total just 26 million metric tons leaves open
the possibility of “chaos” in the world rice economy.
He also said the demand from China comes at a time when world grain
stocks are at their lowest level in 30 years and when US farmers
are having trouble keeping up production levels due to aquifer depletion
and the loss of irrigation water to cities. What this means, he
said, is that “the surplus world grain production capacity
and cheap food of the last half century may soon be history. Higher
food prices could become a permanent part of the economic landscape.”
Because the United States controls nearly half of world grain exports
and China may become the majority buyer of those stocks within two
years, the two sides face a situation in which “Chinese consumers
who have a US$120 billion trade surplus with the United States—enough
to buy the entire US grain harvest twice over—will compete
with Americans for US food, likely driving up food prices for the
United States and the world,” Mr. Brown suggested.
He also termed China’s entry into world grain markets a “wake-up
call” because of the potentially devastating effect higher
prices could have on developing countries that cannot afford to
compete for the grain. “Rising grain prices in the world market
could destabilize governments in low-income countries that import
a substantial part of their grain supply. That political instability
could disrupt economic progress,” he said. “At that point,
no one will be better off, because that disruption at the global
level could turn out to be very costly.”
The key for China in overcoming grain shortages, he said, is enhancing
water and land productivity. As a solution, he recommended that
China implement water-recycling programmes in cities so that the
countryside can retain valuable water supplies. Mr. Brown also said
China should phase out a tax it imposes on farmers. By doing so,
he said, farmers and their families would stay on their land instead
of moving to urban areas, keeping the agricultural sector productive
and competitive.
Contact: Earth Policy Institute, 1350 Connecticut Avenue NW Suite
403, Washington DC 20036, USA, telephone +1-202/496 9290, fax +1-202/496
9325, e-mail <epi@earth-policy.org>, website (www.earth-policy.org).
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Unleashing
Entrepreneurship: Making Business Work for the Poor |
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A report by the Commission on the Private Sector and Development
says governments in both the developing and developed world should
“focus on developing businesses that create domestic employment
and wealth.” The report, entitled Unleashing Entrepreneurship:
Making Business Work for the Poor, also calls for governments to
do more to enable private companies to flourish, including by providing
better-targeted subsidies and tax incentives and legal systems for
protecting property rights that are internationally regarded as
credible.
The Commission on Private Sector and Development presented Unleashing
Entrepreneurship: Making Business Work for the Poor to UN Secretary-General
Kofi Annan on 1 March 2004. Building upon existing bodies of research,
the Commission, co-chaired by Prime Minister Paul Martin of Canada
and former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo, sought to distil key
policy recommendations for overcoming existing domestic obstacles
impeding positive impact on private sector development.
Mr. Annan, speaking at the launch of the report, said, “In
the work for development, the UN has only sporadically tapped the
power that can be drawn from engaging the private sector.”
The Commission, which was launched less than one year ago, had focused
on two key areas: the hopes and expectations of developing country
entrepreneurs themselves, and a broad range of good practice examples
that illustrate how the capability of the private sector can be
best harnessed to develop the country and to reduce poverty. The
Commission’s work, the Secretary-General said, should help
shed light on the capacity of the private sector to play its role,
and a more central role in development, and especially in the work
to reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). He said the report
complements in many ways the efforts of the Global Compact (see
Go Between 89), and pointed out the need to “build a true development
coalition in which all actors play mutually supportive roles—governments,
public development agencies, the private sector, civil society organizations
and labour unions.”
The report sought to move beyond the often contentious debate on
the role of foreign direct investment (FDI) and multinationals in
developing countries by focusing its work on the needs as well as
employment generating potential of domestic small- and medium-sized
enterprises.
Illustrating the central role of domestic private sector actors
in financing productive activities, the report highlights the fact
that domestic private investment in the 1990’s averaged 10-12%
gross domestic product (GDP) as compared to FDI flows which averaged
only 2-5% GDP for developing countries during the same period. Consequently,
the report extols the private sector as a key engine of growth and
employment generation critical for achieving the MDGs. The report
also argues that the development of domestic financial and productive
resources in emerging countries is likely to create a more stable
and sustainable pattern of growth than that which would emerge if
countries relied more exclusively on external financing mechanisms.
Guiding Policy Recommendations
Concluding that the primary responsibility for achieving growth
and equitable development lies with developing countries themselves,
the Commission’s recommendations largely revolve around policy
interventions necessary to create an enabling environment for private
sector activity. To this end, the Commission outlines a number of
policy recommendations for the public, public-private, and private
policy spheres.
In the public sphere, the report recommends that developing country
governments reform the regulatory environment by eliminating artificial
and policy induced constraints to strong economic growth. Central
to this strategy, the Commission recommends that developing country
governments take swift action to “formalize” their large
informal economies and change the composition and competitiveness
of its private sector ecosystem to encourage economies of scale.
The report also highlights a number of best practices for business
registration and transaction governance aimed at providing incentives
conducive to private sector competitiveness and ingenuity.
In the public-private sphere, the report urges governments to develop
partnerships that leverage financing for development and upgrade
basic worker skills and training. It also calls for the development
of broader financing options for entrepreneurs as well as the brokering
of more innovative public-private partnerships for the sustainable
delivery of basic services, particularly in the areas of energy
and water.
Finally, the report encourages private sector actors in developing
countries to develop business models that can be scaled up and that
are commercially sustainable. It challenges the private sector to
channel private initiative into development efforts and build linkages
with large domestic companies and multi-nationals to nurture competitiveness.
Emphasizing the importance of civil society as a critical observer
of the development agenda and as a facilitator of innovative approaches
for meeting the MDGs, the report urges NGOs to develop partnerships
for monitoring and implementing local development initiatives. It
also calls upon developed countries to foster an international macro-economic
and trade environment within which private sector initiatives in
developing countries can flourish.
Moving Forward
Committed to putting its recommendations into action, the Commission
has proposed a programme of follow-up actions meant to catalyze
both public and private sector response to their initial report.
According to United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Administator
Mark Malloch Brown, “Our focus now is on a very un-commissionlike
second-phase where we will be launching a series of actionable initiatives
to facilitate transformations in individual countries and to provide
the tools for governments and the private sector to…begin rapidly
implementing a programme of change.” In order to more effectively
follow the progress of its recommendations, the Commission has asked
the United Nations to sponsor an annual progress report to track
the progress of private sector development initiatives. Prepared
with input from international development institutions as well as
with the support of a number of Commission members, the report would
offer an opportunity to celebrate progress and expose continuing
obstacles to private sector development in emerging countries.
Contact: Victor Arango, Communications Office, United Nations Development
Programme, One United Nations Plaza, 19th floor, New York NY 10017,
USA, telephone +1-212/906 6127, e-mail <victor.arango@undp.org>,
website (www.undp.org/cpsd).
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42nd
Commission for Social Development: Improving Public Sector Effectiveness |
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At its 42nd session held at UN headquarters in New York from 4-14
February, the United Nations Commission for Social Development focused
on improving public sector effectiveness, as well as issues related
to migration, ageing, people with disabilities, the family, and
implementation of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development
(NEPAD).
Since the convening of the World Summit for Social Development
in Copenhagen (Denmark) in 1995, the Commission has been the key
UN body in charge of the follow-up and implementation of the Copenhagen
Declaration and Programme of Action (POA). With the tenth anniversary
of the Summit approaching, the Commission negotiated and adopted
draft agreed conclusions on the Commission’s priority theme—improving
the effectiveness of the public sector.
The text stresses the crucial role an efficient and robust public
sector could play in reaching one of the POA’s main goals—achieving
people-centred development—by ensuring equitable, adequate
and accessible social services to all, particularly those most in
need. Emphasizing the primary responsibility of governments for
the provision of social services in order to enhance social development
and attain international development goals, the Commission encouraged
governments to strengthen exchanges of experience and methods of
effective delivery of public services. It invited governments to
consider complementary and alternative approaches in that regard,
through decentralization, privatization and public-private partnerships,
or, where appropriate, the introduction of competitive, market-based
structures.
Acknowledging that developing and least developed countries (LDCs)
needed to have sufficient levels of financial resources to provide
social services commensurate with the needs of their citizens, the
Commission recognized that a substantial increase in official development
assistance (ODA) and other resources would be required if those
countries were to achieve internationally agreed goals and objectives.
While recognizing that each country had the primary responsibility
for its own economic and social development, the Commission nevertheless
reaffirmed that international cooperation had an essential role
in assisting developing countries in strengthening the human, institutional
and technological capacity to improve public sector effectiveness.
The UN system and the international financial, trade and economic
institutions, as well as bilateral donors, were invited to play
an important role in assisting developing countries, LDCs and countries
with economies in transition, to that end.
Migration
As the focus of its annual consideration of new and emerging issues,
the Commission held a wide-ranging dialogue on international migration
and migrants from a social perspective. Participants, which included
government delegations, policy experts and NGOs, underscored that
the social impact of migration on regional development and global
demographics made it more than just a “North-South” issue.
Summarizing the dialogue, Commission Chair Jean-Jacques Elmiger
(Switzerland) noted that globalization, and the widening gap in
resource allocation—often due to poorly coordinated monitoring
of the movements of free goods and capital, on the one hand, and
the movement of populations, on the other—made it vital to
strengthen international cooperation on migratory issues. “Efforts
should focus on improving the overall perception of migrants and
better integrating them into society in their new homes,” he
said, adding that “Social impacts on sending countries, particularly
in the area of remittances, must also be considered.”
Participants also underscored the need for developing consistent
and complementary migratory and immigration policies among sending,
transit and receiving countries. International cooperation might
be envisaged in the area of law to ensure social protection and
integration, participants suggested, according migrants the kind
of status that would provide access to decent jobs and adequate
income. Stepped up international cooperation might also make it
possible to begin a process towards defining a normative migratory
framework, which could enhance protections for each individual.
Ageing
The Commission took up the review and appraisal of the 2002 Madrid
International Plan of Action on Ageing, discussing how governments
could tailor their development strategies to include an ageing perspective.
Speakers agreed that the Madrid Plan was a practical tool to assist
policy makers in focusing on the key priorities associated with
individual and population ageing.
During a special panel discussion, policy experts underscored the
need for a “bottom-up” or participatory approach to generate
ageing-friendly social policies. Participants stressed that programmes
for elderly persons needed to be integrated into poverty-alleviation
strategies, and that integration of ageing and family issues into
social development policies in general was necessary. Challenges
discussed included identifying indicators to measure poverty and
discovering what criteria were involved in order to measure the
effectiveness of policies already in effect.
The Commission approved a draft text, E/CN.5/2004/L.7, on the modalities
for the review and appraisal of the Madrid Plan, deciding to undertake
the review and appraisal of the Plan every five years—with
each review cycle to focus on one of the priority directions identified
in the Plan. The text encourages Member States to establish a national
coordinating body or mechanism to facilitate the implementation,
and to include both ageing-specific policies and ageing mainstreaming
efforts in their review of the Plan and in their national strategies.
The Commission also approved draft texts on persons with disabilities,
the family, and implementation of the NEPAD.
Contact: Social Perspective on Development Branch, Division for
Social Policy and Development, Department of Economic and Social
Affairs, 2 UN Plaza, Room DC2-1350, New York NY 10017, USA, telephone
+1-212/963 5873, e-mail <social@un.org>, website (www.un.org/esa/socdev/csd/csocd2004.htm).
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Economic
Development in Africa: Ending the Conspiracy of Silence |
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The majority of African countries are boxed into a trading structure
that subjects them to secular terms-of-trade losses and volatile
foreign exchange earnings, according to a report by the United Nations
Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Economic Development
in Africa: Trade Performance and Commodity Dependence attempts to
place in perspective the reasons for Africa’s poor performance
and its declining share in world trade.
“There is on the question of commodities a sort of conspiracy
of silence. The solutions are not simple…But nothing justifies
the present indifference.” —President Jacques Chirac
of France, in his address to the Twenty-Second Summit of the Heads
of State of Africa and France in Paris, 20 February 2003
A report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
(UNCTAD), entitled Economic Development in Africa: Trade Performance
and Commodity Dependence, finds that the majority of African countries
are boxed into a trading structure that severely encumbers effective
macro-economic management and stunts capital formation, hampering
efforts to diversify into more productive activities and adding
to the debt overhang.
As a result, and despite years under structural adjustment programmes,
much of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has remained commodity dependent.
Furthermore, UNCTAD says huge northern subsidies have contributed
“in no small measure to undermining the efforts of some African
countries to tackle poverty.” The report calls for a three-pronged
response to easing the short-run burden of commodity dependence
and facilitating longer-run structural changes, by combining measures
to strengthen domestic institutional capacities with more balanced
international trading arrangements and more generous and innovative
international financing schemes.
Caught in a Commodity Trap
Even as the continent’s reliance on non-primary fuel exports
persisted, paradoxically, its share in world primary non-fuel exports
dropped from 6% to about 4% between 1980 and 2000, indicating a
loss of market share. The average annual growth rate of Africa’s
non-fuel primary commodity exports was 0.6%, compared to an overall
developing-country average of 3.3% and a 5% average for Asia. For
total merchandise exports, the continent recorded a drop from 6.3%
to 2.5%.
By implication, sub-Saharan Africa has barely participated in the
trade boom in dynamic products, and only one of its 20 leading non-fuel
exports is found in the world’s 20 most dynamic products. The
report notes that to a significant extent this reflects both the
failure to shift into manufactures and the sluggish global demand
for its non-fuel commodity exports, a situation aggravated by both
high price volatility and secular decline in real prices.
UNCTAD’s analysis of real commodity prices for 14 products
of export interest to Africa between 1960-2000 suggests that 12
of them suffer from high price volatility, and nine depict declining
real price trends. Despite some signs of improvement in the early
1990s, between 1997-2001 UNCTAD’s combined price index of all
commodities fell by over 50%, while tropical beverages and vegetable
seeds and oil, which comprise one-fifth of sub-Saharan Africa’s
non-fuel commodity exports, registered the highest decline of all
in real terms. UNCTAD indicates that had commodity prices remained
at 1980 levels, per capita incomes would have been 50% higher than
they are today; thus many African countries are “caught in
a commodity trap that has essentially become a poverty trap.”
According to the report, adverse terms of trade and loss of market
share have caused serious damage to economic development in SSA,
leading to low savings and investment, and are the principal factors
contributing to Africa’s high indebtedness. UNCTAD warns that
because of these factors, several African countries currently benefiting
from debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC)
initiative are projected, by multilateral financial institutions,
to fall back into unsustainable debt positions. On average, the
report notes, HIPCs with deteriorating debt indicators have higher
export commodity dependence, and their exports display a much greater
volatility relative to other HIPCs.
Trickle-up Economics
The report, while noting that the reasons for this situation are
complicated, finds that market access is a critical factor, as most
post-Uruguay Round tariff peaks are in agriculture, and tariff escalation
has a negative impact on processed products. While welcoming such
recent initiatives as the African Growth and Opportunities Act and
the Everything but Arms initiative, the report suggests that benefits
would have been substantially higher but for the stringent rules-of-origin
requirements, or the criteria needed to determine the national origin
of a product. Moreover, poor farmers in SSA incur huge income losses
as agricultural subsidies and domestic support to less competitive
(and often the wealthiest) producers in the Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries contribute to structural
oversupply and secular declines in real prices for products such
as cotton, groundnuts and sugar. These subsidies caused an estimated
revenue loss of up to US$300 million in 2002 for the cotton industry
in Africa—more than the total debt relief of US$230 million
approved in the same year by the World Bank and the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) for nine cotton-exporting HIPCs in West and
Central Africa.
The reports says the big winners from structural oversupply have
been major transnational corporations (TNCs) whose activities are
concentrated at the higher stages of the value chain and which can
control procurement and marketing through production contracts,
alliances and other mechanisms, and restrict entry through massive
financial, information and technological advantages. Low input prices
have enabled these firms and traders to reap very large profits
at the expense of poor producers, and with the dismantling of State
enterprises (such as Commodity Boards and caisses de stabilisation),
poor farmers have little countervailing negotiating power. According
to the International Coffee Organization (ICO), coffee-producing
countries currently earn (exports free on board) just US$5.5 billion
of the US$70 billion value of retail sales, compared to some US$10-$12
billion of the US$30 billion value of retail sales in the early
1990s. But the report also notes a similar pattern for newer, more
dynamic and higher-value added products, such as fish, cut flowers
and vegetables.
UNCTAD says that global economic conditions and externally induced
shocks have had a major impact on growth and development prospects
in Africa; but equally significant is the fact that many firms and
consumers in the advanced countries have benefited from low commodity
prices. Even as these countries have provided lavish protection
for their own farmers from the adverse impact of volatile and generally
declining real commodity prices, they have argued against deploying
similar instruments to protect far harder-hit rural communities
in the developing world. UNCTAD says it is time for the international
community to assume its share of responsibility, in light of the
Millennium Development Goals, by supporting a consistent and coherent
policy framework that does not frustrate Africa’s own efforts
at economic restructuring and diversification.
Economic Development in Africa: Trade Performance and Commodity
Dependence calls for new international initiatives on commodities,
in line with the development needs of African countries. Greater
local institutional capacity has to be created to fill the institutional
void in such areas as research and training, transport infrastructure,
information management and quality control, and the management of
rationalization schemes. UNCTAD says this would necessitate a bigger
role for the State in addressing Africa’s commodity dependence
than currently conceived, but would need to take account of past
mistakes in this area as well as financial constraints. On the latter,
increased official development assistance (ODA) and much deeper,
broader and faster debt relief remain crucial to any effective strategy
to revive the performance of the primary sector and diversify the
economic base.
According to UNCTAD, a comprehensive assessment of compensatory
finance mechanisms designed to meet short-term price shocks and
income shortfalls of African commodity producers is required. Such
a review will need to address the pro-cyclical working of previous
schemes and the burden of excessive conditionalities. The need for
a “diversification fund” with the objective of supporting
export diversification—thereby increasing the capacity of African
countries to rationalize the supply of traditional exports—must
also be addressed.
The report supports accelerating ongoing negotiations in the World
Trade Organization (WTO) on reducing and finally phasing out agricultural
subsidies, as well as strengthening technical assistance to poorer
countries in such areas as quality control and health and safety
requirements. It recommends interim measures for compensating African
producers for income losses attributable to subsidies and other
domestic support for agriculture in the North.
Finally, new markets should be tapped, including through enhancing
South-South trade—particularly in non-traditional commodities,
which have high-income elasticity and lower rates of protection
(fruits, vegetables, fish and seafood)—and increasing exports
to emerging markets. The report also underscores enhancing intra-African
trade, which is one of the main objectives of the New Partnership
for Africa’s Development (NEPAD).
Contact: Kamran Kousari, Special Coordinator for Africa, Palais
des Nations, CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/907
5800, fax +41-22/907 0274, e-mail <kamran.kousari@unctad.org>,
website (www.unctad.org).
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EC Adopts Commodities Action Plan
The European Commission adopted a commodities action plan on 12
February 2004 with the aim of helping developing countries combat
agricultural commodity dependency. EC support will target the African
cotton sector specifically, and the EC says it will expand and simplify
its “FLEX” instrument, which is used to compensate African,
Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries for short-term fluctuations
in export earnings.
Recognizing the need to reduce the vulnerability of countries dependent
on commodities such as coffee, cotton and cocoa for the majority
of their export earnings, the EC has adopted a plan focusing on
six major areas: supporting commodity dependent developing countries
in elaborating strategies covering critical parts of the commodities
chain; supporting regional initiatives for commodity development;
increasing access to finance and commodity risk insurance schemes;
supporting diversification; helping integrate commodities dependent
countries in the international trading system; and enhancing sustainable
corporate practices and investments in such countries.
Building on this plan, the EC has developed a specific programme
for African cotton producers, and has allocated more than 80 million
Euros in trade-related technical assistance to help African cotton
producers consolidate the competitiveness of their cotton sectors
and put in place measures to mitigate the impact of price fluctuations.
The EC is currently discussing a reform of the support for its cotton
producers by partly decoupling support from production, which would
reduce trade-distorting effects. The EC does not apply export subsidies
to cotton, and encourages other developed countries to eliminate
such subsidies and improve access to their markets.
EC Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy said that, “commodity dependent
developing countries are particularly disadvantaged in their efforts
to reap the benefits of a more open international trading system...trade
alone is clearly not a sufficient answer as we have witnessed in
the case of African cotton, which already has full market access
in the EU. We need to support the development of the supply side.
We must also continue our efforts to reduce trade-distorting support.
These are key objectives of the ongoing World Trade Organization
negotiations which need to re-start in earnest if development friendly
outcomes such as these are to be assured.”
More information is available online (http://europa.eu.int/comm/trade/issues/global/development/index_en.htm).
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Civil
Society-UN Interaction: Moving from a Culture of Reaction to Peaceful
Prevention of Armed Conflict |
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A seminar, entitled “Civil Society-UN Interaction of the Prevention
of Armed Conflict,” was held in New York from 10-12 February
focusing on both the opportunities and challenges for interaction.
Participants agreed that more needed to be made of the relationship
between civil society and the United Nations and UN agencies in
order to move from a culture of reaction to one of peaceful prevention
of armed conflict.
In opening the seminar and outlining the political dynamics of
the relationship, Danilo Turk, UN Assistant Secretary-General for
Political Affairs, stressed that the UN and civil society had to
find a common platform for early warning and conflict prevention,
which he said could be found if the two actors communicated more
effectively. Participants agreed that this was particularly true
in regions with weak or failing governments where UN bodies and
offices could link up with active civil societies.
Participants looked at how relationships between the UN and civil
society often develop in ad hoc ways, noting that more intentional
efforts needed to be made to make this engagement more timely. For
example, it was suggested that a mapping exercise of entry points
would be valuable, both into the UN and conversely, for the UN into
civil society.
Catherine Barnes of Conciliation Resources portrayed the involvement
of civil society in conflict prevention and management as one likely
to continue and to expand. She highlighted 13 areas of conflict
prevention and management where NGOs are proving themselves to be
important in actual and potential activities. Among those she mentioned
were:
- NGOs acting as independent monitors and watchdogs, such as the
Forum on Early Warning and Early Response and the International
Crisis Group (ICG), which can provoke strategic responses to emerging
conflict by providing early warning indicators;
- NGOs increasing the constituencies for peace by building community
based movements and widening the circle of those who find a stake
in the peace-making agenda;
- NGOs doing what States cannot or will not do by, for example,
undertaking discussions for compromise, which then enable stalemated
politicians to move forward;
- NGOs creatively reframing conflict problems by suggesting possibilities
outside the normal paradigms used by governments and official bodies;
- NGOs talking to those whom governments cannot talk, such as paramilitaries
and guerilla fighters and helping to clarify actual as opposed to
assumed agenda;
- NGOs helping to build the inclusion of women in conflict prevention
and peace building and securing international recognition of their
inclusion through UN Security Council Resolution 1325; and
- NGOs bringing business leverage to bear upon a conflict through
highlighting the costs of conflict to the private sector and the
economy.
John Foster of the North-South Institute in Ottawa provided recommendations
for interaction between the UN and civil society in order to strengthen
peace and security. Many lessons, he said, could be learned from
other global processes in the fields of gender, development assistance,
women, environment and human rights where linkages and coalition
building had been quite prominent. This work in peace and security,
he noted should simultaneously expand the coherence of the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs). For example, Mr. Foster suggested that
reference to the Millennium Declaration should be carefully integrated
in linkage between the conflict prevention and MDG agendas, whereby
linking the achievement of peace and development as essential. Furthermore,
acknowledging that 2005 will see high-level events in the areas
of the MDGs, conflict prevention and financing for development,
Mr. Foster recommended that a connection between and amongst these
events should be considered.
The seminar also explored the case study of interaction between
the West Africa Network for Peace building (WANEP) and the intergovernmental
Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), with representatives
from both organizations stressing how important their cooperation
is. West Africa in particular requires these partnerships because
some of the governments in power are in many cases part of the conflicts.
To this end, ECOWAS and WANEP have signed a Memorandum of Understanding
to validate and give meaning to the partnership in early warning
and conflict prevention.
The Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC),
who organized the seminar, has been forged largely in response to
the UN Secretary-General’s Report on the Prevention of Armed
Conflict (A/55/985 - S/2001/574), which called for the General Assembly
to explore existing mechanisms for peaceful dispute settlement within
the international community. The Partnership is carrying out a three-year
global programme of research, discussion, and network-building,
which will lead to the International Conference on the Prevention
of Armed Conflict scheduled for 2005 at UN headquarters.
Contact: GPPAC, International Secretariat - European Centre for
Conflict Prevention (ECCP), Korte Elisabethstraat 6, PO Box 14069,
3508 SC Utrecht, Netherlands, telephone +31-30/242 7777, fax +31-30/236
9268, e-mail <info@conflict-prevention.net>, website (www.conflict-prevention.net).
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Barbados
Preparatory Meeting Adopts AOSIS Common Position for the BPOA (SIDS+10)
Review Process |
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The Inter-regional Preparatory Meeting for the Ten-year Review
of the Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small
Island Developing States (SIDS) took place from 26-30 January 2004
in Nassau (Bahamas). Participants noted that the challenges many
countries in the region face relate mainly to the environment, including
climate change effects, decreased fresh water supplies, and pollution.
The meeting developed a common platform in preparation for the ten-year
review of the 1994 Barbados Programme of Action (BPOA) on Small
Islands.
During the week, delegates engaged in a general debate and six
panel discussions, heard from the Youth Forum and civil society
organizations, and considered and adopted the Nassau Declaration
and the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) Strategy Paper for
the Further Implementation of the Barbados Programme of Action (BPOA).
The AOSIS Strategy Paper follows the chapters outlined in the BPOA,
and identifies new issues such as trade, health and culture that
have emerged since 1994 when the BPOA was adopted. Among the key
concerns raised at the meeting were those relating to how SIDS have
fared under globalization and World Trade Organization (WTO) rules.
The Nassau Declaration reaffirms commitment to the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs), and acknowledges that SIDS have made some progress
in implementing the BPOA “largely through domestic measures,
despite the impediments imposed by their structural disadvantages
and vulnerabilities.” The declaration voices concern, however,
over the weakening economic situation of many of these countries
due in part to their declining trade performance.
Concerned that SIDS are unable to effectively participate in multilateral
trade negotiations, resulting in their further marginalization,
the declaration calls on the WTO to “recognize the special
case of SIDS and take appropriate action.” The declaration
also calls for “greater support for and improved coordination
among” development partners for the effective implementation
of the BPOA. “We emphasize the urgent needs of SIDS for new
and additional financial resources, provided in adequate, predictable
and timely flows, in order to respond effectively to these challenges.”
During the meeting, Anwarul Chowdhury (Bangladesh), Secretary-General
of the International Meeting for the Ten-year Review of the Programme
of Action on SIDS, scheduled to take place in Mauritius from 30
August-3 September 2004, revealed that overall assistance for small
islands has fallen from US$2.3 billion in 1994 to US$1.7 billion
in 2002. Mr. Chowdhury also identified four key issues that he said
would dominate his own lobbying efforts in moving the SIDS concerns
to the forefront of the international development agenda: addressing
the impact of HIV/AIDS; how best to use information and communications
technology to SIDS’ advantage; trade preferences and market
access; and the impact of the “post-September 11th” security
threat on SIDS.
The Nassau Declaration notes that the current emphasis on security
worldwide “has resulted in the diversion of resources from
the sustainable development agenda.” “Security,”
the declaration says, “must be viewed in a multidimensional
fashion, including threats such as natural disasters, food security,
water security, incidence of HIV/AIDS, narco-trafficking, and illegal
trade in small arms.” The declaration highlights the need for
more international cooperation and technical and financial support
to SIDS to face these threats, “as these new obligations create
particular difficulties for all SIDS, particularly those with large
coastal areas and the archipelagic SIDS.”
During negotiations on the AOSIS Strategy Paper issues concerning
trade and globalization dominated the agenda. A key issue for AOSIS
is the need for special and preferential treatment under the WTO.
Previous attempts by AOSIS to advocate for such treatment—during
the World Summit on Sustainable Development in particular—have
not been met with favourable responses. The strategy paper therefore
identifies a series of actions for the international community and
the multilateral trade regime to consider, asserting that “there
is an urgent need for greater democracy, transparency and inclusiveness
in the international financial decision-making processes and institutions,
and in the process of setting international rules, codes, norms
and standards.”
Addressing another overriding concern for SIDS—climate change—the
strategy paper states that “the adverse effects of climate
change and sea-level rise continue to threaten the sustainable development,
livelihoods and existence of SIDS….The failure of most industrialized
countries to reduce domestic greenhouse gas emissions means that
the vulnerability of SIDS will be increased and that adaptation
to climate change continues to be a major priority for SIDS.”
To this end, SIDS urged the international community to “ensure
the immediate ratification and entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol,”
to “take further urgent action to reduce domestic greenhouse
gas emissions, including through the development and increased use
of renewable energy” and to “support SIDS in the development
and implementation of national climate change action plans.”
Contact: SIDS Secretariat, Division for Sustainable Development,
Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2 UN Plaza, Room DC2-2220,
New York NY 10017, USA, telephone +1-212/963 2803, fax +1-212/963
4260, e-mail <dsd@un.org>, website (www.un.org/esa/sustdev/sids/sids.htm)
or (www.sidsnet.org).
The Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries,
Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States,
United Nations, Room UH-900, New York NY 10017, USA, telephone +1-212/963
7778, fax +1-212/963 5051, e-mail <OHRLLS-UNHQ@un.org>, website
(www.un.org/special-rep/ohrlls/ohrlls/default.htm).
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COP-7
of the Convention on Biological Diversity and MOP-1 of the Cartagena
Protocol on Biosafety Meet in Malaysia |
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The Seventh Conference of the Parties (COP-7) to the Convention
on Biological Diversity (CBD) met in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) from
9-20 February, followed by the COP serving as the first Meeting
of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (MOP-1) from
23-27 February. The CBD, negotiated under the auspices of the United
Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), was adopted on 22 May 1992,
and entered into force in December 1993.
COP-7 brought together over 2,300 participants, including representatives
from 161 governments, international organizations, civil society
and indigenous peoples’ groups to identify the obstacles and
constraints to implementation of the CBD, and how to respond with
concrete measures to the outcomes of the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable
Development (WSSD), including the target of significantly reducing
biodiversity loss by 2010.
COP-7 participants considered a wide spectrum of issues and work
was split between two working groups. Over the two weeks, Working
Group I considered mountain biodiversity; protected areas (PAs);
the Strategic Plan; inland water ecosystems; marine and coastal
biodiversity; monitoring and indicators; biodiversity and climate
change; the ecosystem approach; and sustainable use, among others.
It established contact groups on PAs and the Strategic Plan. Working
Group II discussed technology transfer and cooperation; the Convention’s
work programme and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs); access
and benefit-sharing (ABS); Article 8(j); cooperation with other
Conventions; and liability and redress, among others. It established
a contact group on ABS. Participants also discussed the budget for
2005-2006, financial resources and mechanisms, and guidelines for
the third national report. A ministerial segment was held from 18-19
February, which adopted the Kuala Lumpur Ministerial Declaration.
Ministerial Segment
The high-level segment brought together over 120 ministers and heads
of delegations, with COP-7 President Dato’ Seri Law (Malaysia)
calling upon ministers to provide guidance and political impetus
to COP-7. At the conclusion of the segment, ministers adopted the
Kuala Lumpur Ministerial Declaration, which urges governments to
ratify the Convention and the Biosafety Protocol; reaffirms the
significant role of indigenous and local communities in the conservation
and sustainable use of biological resources; commits ministers to
the development of an international regime on ABS; commits governments
to integrate biodiversity conservation and sustainable use into
socio-economic development; and urges governments to establish PA
networks and develop indicators and incentives to meet the 2010
target as outlined in the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation (see
NGLS Roundup 96).
The Malaysian Environmental NGOs (MENGO) Coalition presented an
NGO statement to the ministerial segment on 19 February, which called
on the ministers to ensure that technology development and transfer
is based on the needs and priorities identified by countries, subject
to participatory processes, assessment and adaptation to meet the
objectives of the CBD. “For an urgent start, this means a global
ban on the GURTS or terminator technology, no technology dumping
and the right to say ‘No’ to genetically modified organisms
by countries, indigenous peoples, small farmers, fisherfolk and
other local communities. We also reject the inclusion of GMOs [genetically
modidfied organisms] in food aid,” their statement said. While
hoping that non-Parties to the Protocol would “not undermine
the spirit and principles of the Protocol,” NGOs also called
for a strong international regime, rejecting attempts to “turn
this into a facilitation of access.”
Difficult Negotiations
After two weeks of negotiating, delegates to COP-7 adopted 33 decisions.
Many civil society groups called for issues related to the World
Trade Organization (WTO)—such as its Agreement on Trade-Related
Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs)—to be kept
out of the CBD discussions. Disagreements over trade-related language
held up the adoption of a number of decisions, including mountain
biodiversity, inland water systems and alien species until the last
day, following insistence by several countries, including Argentina,
Australia and Brazil, to include language related to avoiding trade-distortions
when implementing positive incentive measures. “If these proposals
had gone through, it would mean conservation programmes would be
restricted by trade concerns,” said Tewolde G. Egziabher, Director-General
of the Environmental Protection Authority in Ethiopia. The attempt
to link conservation with trade reflects reality—economic concerns
still supersede environmental ones, said Third World Network (TWN).
“It is unsustainable production and trade at all costs versus
conservation and sustainable use for the longer term. The tension
has been building up over the past ten years but the clash became
very obvious this meeting,” Chee Yoke Ling, legal adviser to
TWN, said.
Other issues that required lengthy debate included agreeing on
the terms of reference for an ABS regime, technology transfer, establishing
indicators and a monitoring system for achieving the 2010 target,
and protected areas.
Establishing an Access and Benefit Sharing Regime
Gaining access to genetic resources and sharing the resulting benefits
is complex as it involves important principles and potentially large
sums of money. Ideally, by granting an international company or
other organization access to its genetic resources (such as plants
that can be used to produce new pharmaceuticals), a country or local
community will in return receive a fair share of the profits or
other benefits. During COP-7, however, there were major divisions
among States regarding the nature, scope and elements of such a
regime, as called for by governments at WSSD. Many developing countries,
in particular those from the Like-minded Group of Mega-diverse Countries,
renewed their calls for a legally binding regime that would involve
prior informed consent. Several developed countries, in particular
the United States, strongly opposed such a regime.
Delegates finally agreed to mandate the Ad hoc Open-ended Working
Group on ABS “to elaborate and negotiate an international regime.”
While the mandate sets the framework for further talks in the working
group, it does not resolve the issues of the regime’s legal
nature and scope. The meeting’s final declaration says: “It
is noted that the international regime could be composed of one
or more instruments within a set of principles, norms, rules and
decision-making procedures, legally-binding and/or non-binding.”
The ABS Working Group is expected to carry out its work in collaboration
with the Working Group on Article 8(j) and Related Provisions, which
deal with indigenous issues and measures for protection of traditional
knowledge.
Significantly Reducing the Rate of Biodiversity Loss by 2010
Agreement was also reached on a multi-year programme of work that
will put greater focus on implementation and achieving the target
of a significant reduction in the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010.
“The conservation and sustainable use of the world’s biological
resources is central to alleviating poverty and promoting sustainable
development,” said UNEP Executive Director Klaus Toepfer. “By
adopting measurable indicators and specific goals for the overall
2010 target, this conference has empowered governments to more accurately
monitor progress—or the lack of it—in reversing the modern
extinction crisis,” he said. The sub-targets agreed upon at
COP-7 include conserving at least 10% of each type of ecosystem,
protecting those areas that have a particular importance for biodiversity,
stabilizing populations of certain species now in decline, and ensuring
that no species of wild flora or fauna are endangered by international
trade. CBD estimates that 34,000 species of plants and 5,200 animal
species, including one in eight of the world’s bird species,
face extinction.
CBD Executive Secretary Hamdallah Zedan, in his closing remarks
at COP-7, said the programmes of work adopted on protected areas,
technology transfer and mountain ecosystems were “worthy products
of intensive discussions seeking to balance scientific advice and
extremely sensitive political considerations.” He also noted
that the CBD was moving into a new phase: implementation.
MOP-1 of the Cartagena Protocol
The first Meeting of the Parties (MOP-1) to the Cartagena Protocol
opened on 23 February for a week of discussions on implementation
details of the Biosafety Protocol, which entered into force on 11
September 2003. Currently, there are 87 Parties to the Protocol,
which addresses the safe transfer, handling and use of living modified
organisms (LMOs) that may have an adverse effect on biodiversity.
Delegates to MOP-1 had three difficult issues to negotiate: how
to identify shipments of LMOs or GMOs; liability and compensation
in cases of damage caused by transboundary movements of LMOs; and
how to deal with non-compliance of the Protocol. Most developing
countries and the European Union, supported by environment groups,
pushed for detailed identification of LMO cargoes as well as clear
rules on liability and compliance.
On the first day of negotiations, Phil Bereano (US) delivered the
NGO Statement to MOP-1, which said, “We have always applauded
the democracy, transparency and inclusiveness of the UN process,
especially valuable in this era of unilateralism. However, these
processes must not be abused by those seeking to delay or dilute
the effectiveness of the Protocol. Since non-Party delegations do
not have the right to vote, none of them should be allowed to undermine
the efforts of Parties to carry out the Protocol’s provisions.
We urge that non-Party countries not be given special privileges
or deference in the MOP processes.”
During negotiations on the labeling of LMO shipments, the EU, which
has one of the world’s strictest import regimes for LMOs, along
with Switzerland, supported the use of “unique identification”
for documentation, such as a code identifying a transgenic plant
line. This was in sharp contrast with the main LMO exporters—the
United States, Australia and Canada, also non-Parties—who wanted
to keep documentation requirements to a minimum so as not to hinder
trade in LMOs. Parties were able to adopt documentation requirements
and other procedures that will require all bulk shipments of genetically
engineered crops intended for food, feed or processing to be identified
as “may contain LMOs.” Accompanying documentation should
also indicate the contact details of the importer, exporter or other
appropriate authority. An expert group will further elaborate the
documentation and handling requirements for bulk agricultural shipments
over the next year. Key issues that remain unresolved include the
percentage of modified material that these shipments may contain
and still be considered LMO-free, and the inclusion of any additional
detailed information. The US supports the establishment of a 5%
labeling threshold, below which LMO shipments would be exempt from
documentation requirements. Current EU regulations set a 0.9% threshold.
The EU also acknowledges the need to address labeling thresholds
for the unintentional presence of LMOs. A decision on these matters
will be considered at the next meeting, to be held in the first
half of 2005.
A working group of legal and technical experts on liability and
redress for damages resulting from transboundary movements of GMOs
was launched and asked to develop a regime by 2008. It will consider
issues such as insurance and the definition and valuation of damage
to biodiversity. A 15-person committee on compliance was established
and will be effective immediately. It will ensure that cases of
non-compliance can be reported by other parties and will not only
be reliant on self-reporting. It will submit regular reports and
recommendations to the governing body of the Protocol.
Other decisions adopted include making the Biosafety Clearing House
fully functional (it will enable governments to share information
on GMOs, national legislation, and other relevant matters), implementing
a comprehensive action plan to promote capacity building, providing
guidance to the Protocol’s financial mechanism on priorities
and establishing a medium-term work programme for the Protocol.
On 23 February, the Chinese Government announced that it would
give permanent approval for imports of food commodities produced
through modern biotechnology. Previously, China required traders
to obtain temporary safety certificates if they wished to import
biotech grains. In 2003, US agricultural exports to China reached
a record of nearly US$5 billion. China is also the top foreign customer
for US cotton. US Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman and US Trade
Representative Robert B. Zoellick in their joint release said, “China’s
decision to approve permanent safety certificates for several biotechnology
crops is another positive step for trade between our two countries
and demonstrates the Chinese Government’s commitment to the
WTO principle of using sound science to determine such issues.”
At the close of MOP-1, Juan López of Friends of the Earth
International said, “Governments committed to biosafety have
risen above the attempts of the US coalition to undermine the right
of consumers, farmers and citizens to choose non-genetically modified
crops and food. GMOs pose a real present danger to the environment,
and the health and livelihoods of people around the world.”
Dennis Olson of the Minneapolis-based Institute for Agriculture
and Trade Policy criticized the Bush administration for lobbying
almost exclusively on behalf of the biotech industry at the expense
of many US farmers who oppose further expansion of genetically modified
crops.
Currently there are 188 States Parties to the Convention, whose
objective is threefold: the conservation of biological diversity;
the sustainable use of its components; and the fair and equitable
sharing of benefits arising from the use of genetic resources. CBD
COP-8 will take place in the first half of 2006 in Brazil.
Contact: Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity,
393 Saint Jacques Street, suite 300, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H2Y
1N9, telephone +1-514/288 2220, fax +1-514/288 6588, e-mail <secretariat@biodiv.org>,
website (www.biodiv.org).
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The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources
for Food and Agriculture
The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and
Agriculture will enter into force on June 29 following the ratification
of 12 European countries and the European Community, the Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO) has announced. Forty-eight countries
have ratified the agreement since 2002.
The treaty ensures that plant genetic resources for food and agriculture
are conserved and used in a sustainable way in an effort to stop
the loss of plant biodiversity. According to FAO, since agricultural
activities started worldwide, around 10,000 species have been used
in food production. Currently, however, 150 crops feed most of the
world’s population and only 12 of them provide 80% of food
energy (wheat, rice, maize and potato alone provide 60%). FAO says
some of the poorest countries are among the richest in terms of
genetic diversity.
The treaty will institute a multilateral system of facilitated
access and benefit sharing that applies to over 64 major crops and
forages most important for food security. Scientists, international
research centres and plant breeders from public and private organizations
will benefit from enhanced access to genetic biodiversity. The system
will also ensure the fair sharing of benefits derived from the use
of genetic resources, in particular for farmers in developing countries
that have for centuries contributed to the conservation of genetic
resources.
“The treaty provides an international legal framework that
will be a key element in ensuring food security, now and in the
future,” said Jose Esquinas-Alcazar, Secretary of FAO’s
Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. He also
noted that the challenge is now to ensure that the treaty becomes
operative in all countries.
FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf said the treaty is “crucial
for the sustainability of agriculture.”
Contact: José Esquinas-Alcázar, Secretary, Commission
on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (AGD), Viale delle
Terme di Caracalla, 00100 Rome, Italy, telephone +39-06/5705 4986,
fax: +39-06/5705 3057, e-mail <Jose.Eqsuinas@fao.org>, website
(www.fao.org/ag/cgrfa/default.htm).
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Friends of the Earth:
Genetically Modified Crops: A Decade of Failure [1994-2004]
Since 1996, as more and more genetically modified crops took root,
a growing number of stakeholders around the world began to voice
their concerns about the possible negative impacts of GMOs and their
contribution to an unsustainable model of agriculture. Opposition
is particularly heated on three grounds: environmental, health and
socio-economic.
Environmental pitfalls:
Gene transfers: scientific research is raising increasing concerns
about the potential environmental risks associated with GM crops,
including: gene transfer: genes from GM crops can be (and have been)
transferred to wild relatives of these crops.
Pest Resistance: Insect pests may develop resistance to GM crops
engineered to contain Bt toxins, shortening the useful life of such
crops and compromising the effectiveness of existing Bt insecticides.
This has serious implications for the organic community and other
farmers using integrated pest management (IPM) and other sustainable
agriculture approaches. The naturally occurring Bt pesticide that
these non-GM farmers benefit from becomes useless as insects become
resistant.
Adverse impacts for non-target organisms: pest-resistant crops may
have adverse impacts for beneficial insects and other invertebrate
populations. In 1999, scientists at Cornell University revealed
that pollen from genetically engineered Bt corn could kill Monarch
butterflies. The findings of this lab study have since been confirmed
in an ongoing field study at Iowa State University. In addition
to the monarch butterflies, there is evidence showing that Bt crops
may also affect beneficial predator insects such as lacewings and
ladybirds when they eat insects that have been feeding on genetically
engineered plants.
Health concerns:
New allergies: GM crops could introduce new allergens into foods
that sensitive individuals would not know to avoid. The problem
is unique to genetic engineering because it alone can transfer proteins
across species boundaries into completely unrelated organisms. Genetic
engineering routinely moves proteins into the food supply from organisms
(such as viruses) that have never been consumed as foods.
Socio-economic issues:
The corporations that market GMOs and the associated chemicals seek
to control agriculture and food production by buying up seed companies,
patenting seeds and locking farmers into exclusive agreements. If
this strategy succeeds, it will dramatically reduce agricultural
biodiversity and lead to more industrialized and unsustainable farming.
The majority of GMOs that have been authorized or are pending approval
are either herbicide-tolerant or insect-resistant. They pose real
problems for the environment and offer absolutely no benefit to
the consumer, as they are neither cheaper nor better quality than
conventional foods.
— extracts from Genetically Modified Crops: A Decade of Failure
- available online (www.foei.org)
Contact: Friends of the Earth International , Secretariat PO Box
19199, 1000 GD Amsterdam, The Netherlands
telephone +31 20/ 622 1369, fax +31 20/ 639 2181
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NGOs Urge World Bank to Adopt Recommendations on Extractive Industries |
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The Extractive Industries Review (EIR) was launched by the World
Bank Group in 2001 to discuss its future role in the extractive
industries with concerned stakeholders. The aim of the independent
review was to produce a set of recommendations that would guide
the involvement of the World Bank Group in the oil, gas and mining
sectors, and the discussion took place within the context of the
World Bank Group’s overall mission of poverty reduction and
the promotion of sustainable development.
There are indications that the World Bank may introduce a requirement
for transparency of payments as a condition for the support provided
to extractive industry companies and projects by the International
Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee
Agency (MIGA), its private sector arms. The Bank has not made an
official public announcement as this Go Between goes to print, yet
confirmation is expected when the Bank management formally publishes
its response to the Extractive Industries Review (EIR) Final Report,
which included a recommendation for the Bank to “vigorously
pursue transparency at country and company level in all the resource-rich
countries it works with.”
The EIR initiative was announced by World Bank President James
Wolfensohn during a meeting with NGOs at the Bank’s annual
meetings in Prague (Czech Republic) in 2000. Chaired by former Indonesian
Environment Minister Emil Salim, the EIR began work in July 2001.
Its aim was to examine Bank involvement in oil, gas and mining,
covering the project-specific investments of the IFC and MIGA and
the country-level lending programmes of the International Development
Association (IDA) and the International Bank for Reconstruction
and Development (IBRD), then produce recommendations for ways that
the Bank as a whole could change its approach to better reflect
its mandate of poverty alleviation through sustainable development.
Representatives from across the World Bank Group, governments, industry
and civil society, including indigenous peoples and labour unions,
were involved in the two-year consultation.
The EIR Final Report, which was submitted on 15 January 2004, contains
detailed recommendations for implementation by the Bank, covering
a wide range of issues including governance and transparency, human
rights, climate change, the environment, the rights of indigenous
peoples and local communities, and workplace conditions. The report
takes a critical view of the Bank’s involvement in extractive
industries to date, noting that in many cases it has neither alleviated
poverty nor promoted sustainable development.
The news with regard to the IFC and MIGA first came to light when
the draft response to the EIR report by the Bank management was
leaked to the public and during various meetings between Bank staff
and representatives of the NGO coalitions Extractive Industries
Transparency Initiative and Publish What You Pay campaign. NGOs
are welcoming the move, which they say will significantly enhance
transparency over company payments to resource-rich developing country
governments. However, as this proposal would only apply to IFC loans
and MIGA insurance and guarantees to companies, there would be no
similar obligations on resource-rich governments who receive loans
from the IBRD and the IDA.
It appears that many of the EIR recommendations will be rejected.
While the EIR Report accepts that extractive industries can contribute
to poverty alleviation, it also says that the Bank is not ideally
placed to help them. Moreover, it recommends that, to combat climate
change, the Bank should pull out of oil projects in five years,
end the funding of coal mining, and quickly ramp up lending for
renewable energy. It should also require “free prior and informed
consent” from local indigenous peoples before funding any extractive
projects.
According to the Financial Times, industry and governments have
flatly rejected the conclusions. In an op-ed piece on 27 February
2004, Paul Mitchell, Secretary General of the London-based International
Council on Mining and Metals, wrote: “In many poor countries
where investment is most needed the recommendations would limit
the World Bank assistance and its ability to leverage higher performance
standards from the private sector. The Bank’s environmental
and social safeguard policies are not as tough as some non-governmental
organizations would like, but they do have the effect of setting
clear standards for private investors.”
Members of the NGO coalition have disagreed, arguing that extractive
industries in poor countries do more harm than good by entrenching
a destructive and predatory elite. “The oil and coal industries
increase poverty, human rights abuses, and environmental degradation
locally and globally, and the World Bank has no business using our
tax dollars to support them,” stresses Steve Kretzmann, campaign
coordinator for the Sustainable Energy and Economy Network, part
of the Washington DC-based Institute for Policy Studies. “Throughout
the whole [EIR] process, there was no credible evidence that the
extractive industries could contribute meaningfully to reducing
poverty.”
Contact: Publish What You Pay Coordinator, Open Society Foundation,
Cambridge House, 5th Floor, 100 Cambridge Grove, London W6 0LE,
United Kingdom, telephone +44-20/7031 0204, fax +44-20/7031 0201,
e-mail <coordinator@publishwhatyoupay.org>, website (www.publishwhatyoupay.org).
Extractive Industries Review, Rini Sulaiman, e-mail <rsulaiman@eireview.org>,
website (www.eireview.org).
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