Go Between 66, Oct.-Nov. 1997 UN NEWS GENERAL ASSEMBLY WORKS ON UN REFORM Virtually all heads of state and government, and ministers who spoke in the opening debate of the 52nd session of the General Assembly paid considerable attention to the issue of UN reform. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has urged that this be the Assembly of reform, based on his July report Renewing the United Nations: A Programme for Reform to the General Assembly (A/51/950, see also Go Between 65). Some of the views expressed in the Plenary and some of the issues addressed can be found on pages 24-25. UNITED NATIONS STILL ON FINANCIAL BRINK Joseph Connor, UN Under-Secretary-General for Management, said in October that lack of payments by UN member states has put the organization on a financial brink without stability or liquidity. He said the financial crisis has been caused by the late and non-payment of member states, which have become recurring practices on the part of many. This has led to persistent intervals of regular budget cash deficits, increased borrowing from peacekeeping cash for regular budget purposes, and debts accumulating to some member states for troops and equipment. At the end of September unpaid assessments totalled US$2.417 billion for the regular budget, peacekeeping and international tribunals. Mr. Connor said the major contributor accounted for 60% of the total amount owed to the UN, while the next 14 principal contributors accounted for 28%, with most of that portion owed by just two member states. Outstanding contributions to the regular budget (not including peacekeeping and international tribunal contributions) amounted to US$649 million at the end of September, and the largest contributor owed 77% of that amount. So far this year the UN has received US$972 million against regular budget assessments, but this included payment of prior years assessments. Mr. Connor said the regular budget is forecast to end 1997 with a deficit of US$272 million. He added that peacekeeping cash is dwindling; usable cash at the end of September amounted to US$745 million and is forecasted to end the year with US$670 million. Disbursements exceeded receipts from May through August 1997 and would likely do the same in November and December. UN SECURITY COUNCIL MEETS ON AFRICA Concerned by the number and intensity of armed conflicts on the African continent and their effects on sustainable economic and social development, the UN Security Council held a ministerial meeting on 25 September to consider the need for concerted international efforts to promote peace and security in Africa. The open meeting was attended by foreign ministers of Security Council member states and representatives of observer governments, interested agencies and organizations. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan noted the new consensus that the primary responsibility for the solution of Africa s problems rests with Africans themselves. But this consensus brings with it a realization of the role and responsibilities of the international community in support of Africa s goals. In place of interventionism, it promises a mature relationship based on mutual support and trust, he explained. The current chair of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), Robert Mugabe, President of Zimbabwe, emphasized that peace and security cannot be attained in conditions of abject poverty as prevalent as in Africa today. Mr. Salim Ahmed Salim, Secretary-General of the OAU, emphasized the importance of close cooperation between the OAU and the United Nations, while other African government representatives noted the importance of paying heed to African positions when deciding matters related to the continent s well-being. Keizo Obuchi, Japan s Minister for Foreign Affairs, noted that success in resolving African problems will be a test of the effectiveness of the Security Council as the principal UN organ primarily responsible for maintaining international peace and security. He announced Japan s intention to convene an International Conference on Preventive Strategy in Tokyo in January 1998, which will focus on Africa. Oxfam International said it welcomes the council s initiative and called on the UN, World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other international institutions and governments to adopt a more comprehensive approach to tackling conflict. It said greater coherence across all political, economic, military and humanitarian policies would ensure that they reinforce rather than undermine one another. Oxfam also recommended undertaking a conflict impact assessment to be applied to all international economic, trade, aid and investment policies when a region is subject to conflict or instability. The council has asked the UN Secretary-General to produce a report containing concrete recommendations regarding the sources of conflict in Africa, ways to prevent and address these conflicts, and how to lay the foundation for durable peace and economic growth. The report is to be submitted to the council by February 1998 and to the General Assembly and other relevant UN bodies for appropriate action. Contact: NGLS, Room FF-346, 304 East 45th Street, New York NY 10017, United States, telephone +1-212/963 3125, fax +1-212/963 8712, e-mail . The press release (S/6420) containing the presidential statement of the meeting is available on the UN web site (http://www.un.org). UNCTAD TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT BOARD MEETS The Trade and Development Board of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), which held its 44th session from 13-24 October in Geneva, discussed inter alia issues related to globalization; interdependence; income distribution and growth; special problems of least developed countries and Africa, particularly agricultural reform; and economies in regress. Discussions were based primarily on reviews of the two annual reports recently published by UNCTAD: Trade and Development Report 1997 and The Least Developed Countries 1997 Report. The high level segment of the board discussed these issues in relation to the theme Globalization, Competition, Competitiveness and Development. A later session, jointly held with the Second Committee of the General Assembly in New York via video conference, focused on the prospects for electronic commerce. The segment closed by launching a Partners for Development meeting between UNCTAD, the private sector and NGOs, to be held in Lyon (France) from 9-13 November 1998. The board s Commission on Investment, Technology and Related Financial Matters previously reviewed UNCTAD s World Investment Report 1997 at its second session, held from 29 September-3 October in Geneva. At that time the commission discussed the issue of liberalization and competition policy, and criteria for assessing the development-friendliness of investment treaties. (For more detailed coverage see NGLS Roundup, November 1997.) Contact: Jo Butler, External Relations, UNCTAD, Palais des Nations, CH-1211 Geneva, telephone +41-22/907 5048, fax +41-22/907 0043, e-mail . 51ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY CONCLUDES The 51st session of the UN General Assembly was a time of discarding the syndrome of business as usual, according to the session s outgoing President Razali Ismail (Malaysia), when bringing it to a close on 15 September. The United Nations has not yet found a formula to become a universal house which can defuse the debilitating aspects of power politics, nor to overcome bilateral and subregional hostilities which stand in the way of effectualizing the universal values of the Charter, he said. At the end of the day, the unfinished business and the inertia that accompanies it is because of entrenched national positions and their attendant politics. The GA President said the financial crippling of the United Nations continues to obstruct the momentum for reform, preventing constructive negotiations for genuine reform of the organization. Arguments about complicated legislative procedures, attaching arbitrary conditions to payments and using the media to cast a different version do not reduce what is simply a solemn treaty obligation. Blind unilateralism will be the undoing of the United Nations. Mr. Razali said the UN will not be strengthened if reform concentrates only on cost-effectiveness, efficiency and better coordination; instead such objectives alone would divert attention from the United Nations real functions and Charter responsibilities. If the United Nations is to survive, he added, it has to transform itself from an organization serving only the interests of states to one serving the interests of peoples living in an interdependent and global society. He also cited as discouraging the as yet unfulfilled comprehensive package to reform the UN Security Council. Mr. Razali said that the issue of NGO participation in the work of the UN remains unresolved, despite extensive efforts to clarify and move it forward in the General Assembly subgroup on NGOs (see Go Between 64). While some are concerned about the logistical aspects of dealing with NGOs claiming that there are not enough seats nor enough meeting time to cater for them, he said, some in fact fear the prospects of greater transparency, accountability and public participation in the intergovernmental decision-making process, using any manner of legal arguments to prevent this from happening. He noted that this approach exemplifies how governments treat the UN as a creature of national self-interest where national sovereignty is supreme, however and by whomever that is defined, and not equipped with conditions to reflect universal rights and growing transnational concerns. He added that a mix of governmental, intergovernmental and non-governmental voices in the organization can reflect reality more closely than a nation-state dominated United Nations. For a copy of Mr. Razali s speech contact: NGLS, Room FF-346, 304 East 45th Street, New York NY 10017, United States, telephone +1-212/963 3125, fax +1-212/963 8712, e-mail . MONTREAL PROTOCOL ON OZONE MEETINGS Some 110 governments attending the ninth Meeting of the Parties (MOP-9) to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer have agreed to tighten restrictions on several destructive chemicals. Participants in the meeting, held from 15-17 September in Montreal (Canada), agreed on a phase-out schedule for methyl bromide, a fumigant. They also set up a licensing system to help governments track international trade in chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and other controlled substances and discourage illegal sales. Under the methyl bromide agreement, phase-out by developed countries (previously set at 2010) has been moved up to 2005 with exemptions for critical uses and interim reductions of 25% by 1999, 50% by 2001 and 70% by 2003. Developing countries (previously committed only to a freeze by 2002) have agreed to a 20% four-year average of 1995-1998 as the base year for calculating the phase-out; the interim reduction schedule will be reviewed in 2003. In addition to the US$10 million agreed last year for funding demonstration projects testing the feasibility of methyl bromide alternatives, the Multilateral Fund will make US$25 million per year available in both 1998 and 1999 for activities to phase out methyl bromide in developing countries. Starting one year after the agreement enters into force, Parties will ban trade in methyl bromide with non-Parties. The new licensing system for controlling trade will be based on licences issued by Parties for each import and export and on regular information exchange between Parties. This will enable customs and police officials to track trade in CFCs and to detect unlicensed trade. The system will become effective at the start of 2000. Contact: Michael Williams, Information Unit for Conventions, UN Environment Programme (UNEP), Geneva Executive Centre, 15 chemin des AnÇmones, CH-1219 ChÉtelaine, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/979 9242 or 979 9244, fax +41-22/797 3464, e-mail or K. Madhava Sarma, Coordinator, Ozone Secretariat, PO Box 30552, Nairobi, Kenya, telephone +254-2/623851, fax +254-2/226886, e-mail . A Montreal Protocol Tenth Anniversary Colloquium, held on 13 September in Montreal, brought together over 300 participants, including natural and social scientists, policy makers, business people, NGOs and delegates to MOP-9 held afterwards. Participants in the colloquium, which was sponsored by Environment Canada, 3M and Nortel, reviewed progress made since the signing of the protocol in 1987 and highlighted the lessons this process holds for continued implementation of the protocol and for addressing other global environmental issues. Based on the outcomes of the colloquium, a statement on lessons learned from the Montreal protocol highlighted what it described as the vital role of scientific contributions in establishing the reality of the ozone threat; the importance of realistic measures and cooperative elements in implementing the protocol; the necessity for technological innovation in providing solutions; and the value of objective assessment of scientific, environmental, technological and economic factors in fostering consensus. Contact: John D. Reid, Director, Policy and International Affairs, AES/Environment Canada, Tour Nord, 5äme Çtage, Les Terrasses de la Chaudiäre, 10 rue Wellington, Hull, Quebec K1A 0H3, Canada, telephone +1-819/997 3832, fax +1-819/994 8841, e-mail , web site (http://www.ec.gc.ca/ozone/tenthann/coll_e.htm) . UNDP/UNFPA EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETS The third session of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and UN Population Fund (UNFPA) Executive Board in 1997 concluded its week-long meeting on 19 September. With regard to UNDP, the board approved the regional framework for the Arab States region, the global cooperation framework and 83 country cooperation frameworks, most of them on a non-objection basis. However, UNDP Administrator James Gustave Speth said the organization would have difficulty bringing about internal changes required by the UN reform process without adequate funding. I am committed to lead an organization which can and does make a real difference in the lives of the poor. We have such an organization today, but it is being placed increasingly in jeopardy, he said. The board debated ways to address the current stagnation in voluntary contributions to the UNDP core budget. Management of the sharp rise in non-core or earmarked contributions, now accounting for some two-thirds of UNDP income, will be examined at the 1998 January session. An estimated budget appropriation of US$518 million was approved for the 1998-1999 biennium. The board also considered six items related to UNFPA: n budget estimates for 1998-1999; n an annual financial review for 1996; n evaluation of the fund s staff training activities; n the technical support services system; n a report on the consequences of resource shortfalls on the achievement of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) goals; and n draft terms of reference for the Coordinating Committee on Health, which is an intergovernmental body composed of representatives of the Executive Boards of the World Health Organization (WHO), UN Children s Fund (UNICEF) and UNFPA. The board adopted a 1998-1999 biennium support budget for UNFPA of roughly US$143.2 million in gross appropriations. Monique Essed-Fernandes of the Suriname-based Women and Development Organization and a representative of the NGO Advisory Committee to UNFPA, called on the board to strengthen partnerships with NGOs and increase resources channelled to them in line with recommendations contained in the ICPD Programme of Action and the revised resource allocation system. She also emphasized the need for NGO representation at the board and cited structures recommended for the institutionalization of such participation in the advisory committee s June meeting. Although there was no discussion of this item, the Executive Board took note of the recommendations of the NGO Advisory Committee as contained in the report of its third session, which represented the first formal acknowledgement of that committee s work. The bureau of the board has asked UNFPA and UNDP to prepare brief papers containing proposals on how to accommodate more structured NGO participation in the work of the Executive Board. The papers are expected to be presented to the bureau at a meeting in October. Subsequently, bureau members will share the papers with regional groups for reaction and comment. The UNDP/UNFPA Executive Board is scheduled to meet during 1998 on 19-23 January, 20-24 April, 8-19 June and 14-18 September. A one-day joint meeting with UNICEF will be added to the January session to enable an exchange of views on the impact of overall reform on UN funds and programmes. Contact: UNDP, 1 UN Plaza, New York NY 10017, United States, telephone +1-212/906 5000 or UNFPA, 220 E. 42nd Street, New York NY 10017, United States, telephone +1-212/ 297 5011, fax +1-212/557 6416. UNHCR EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE SESSION HELD Sadako Ogata, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said during the 48th annual UNHCR Executive Committee Session that the world is experiencing a crisis in the application of humanitarian principles, not a failure of the principles themselves. There were 82 observer delegations at the session (compared to 75 last year), with 27 represented at ministerial level. Ms. Ogata told the committee, meeting from 13-17 October in Geneva, that if states had fulfilled their responsibilities as stipulated by the committee and supported UNHCR s actions more firmly and decisively, some of the problems it encountered could have been avoided. Many of you said [during the session] that UNHCR cannot be left alone to face intractable dilemmas and security risks. I hope that your sympathy can be translated into the political and financial support required to carry out our mandate. She thanked delegations that have pledged additional resources, and said she is counting on what one of the delegates defined as a shared determination to tackle the root causes of political, social and economic instability that generate population movements. Ms. Ogata said it is important that donor governments take note of the need expressed by many delegations from the South, especially Africa, for more resources to be allocated to communities hosting refugees or receiving returnees. States must not only be reminded of principles, she added, but must also be given the means to apply them. On the role of UNHCR in post-conflict rehabilitation Ms. Ogata said, We do not wish to enlarge the scope of UNHCR s humanitarian work into development activities. We have no mandate, no expertise, and no capacity for development work. Voluntary return in safety and dignity remains the fundamental aim of all our repatriation operations, and as a consequence, obliges us to be involved in the post-conflict rehabilitation and reconciliation process. Prior to the session UNHCR held its traditional meeting with NGOs. Participants in the meeting on 8-10 October discussed UNHCR activities in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa, with special attention on the Great Lakes region. Ms. Ogata told participants that UNHCR, whose primary mandate is protection, is unable to fulfil this mandate on its own and needs the support of the NGO community. She stressed the importance of striving for the best communication and coordination when working with NGOs and concluded by highlighting the importance of establishing a sense of community as an integral part of peace building. Contact: Maureen Connelly, NGO Coordinator, UNHCR, Case postale 2500, CH-1211 Geneva 2 DÇpìt, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/739 8985, fax +41-22/733 7309. UNESCO EXECUTIVE BOARD CONCLUDES SESSION The Executive Board of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) ended its 152nd session on 17 October after adopting a series of decisions and recommendations, notably a draft Declaration on the Human Genome. UNESCO Director-General Federico Mayor, who described the declaration as the first universal standard setting text in the field of biology, said it is of fundamental moral and technical importance. The board, which began its work on 6 October, also adopted a draft Declaration on the Responsibilities of the Present Generations Towards Future Generations. In preparation for the 50th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1998, the board approved UNESCO s plans to celebrate the event with a view to disseminate the declaration text. It also requested the UNESCO Director-General to assign priority to poverty eradication activities in all the fields of UNESCO s competence and called for continued intersectoral and inter-agency collaboration for the development of effective strategies for the eradication of poverty. UNICEF EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETS The third regular session of the UN Children s Fund (UNICEF) Executive Board, held at UN headquarters from 9-12 September, considered 24 country programme recommendations, a management excellence process, supply operations, a new strategy outline for the 1998-1999 budget and a medium-term financial plan for 1997-2000. The session also discussed terms of reference for a Joint Coordinating Committee on Health involving UNICEF, the World Health Organization (WHO) and UN Population Fund (UNFPA). UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy reaffirmed the organization s support for the UN Secretary-General s recommendations for UN reform. She said UNICEF s active involvement in implementing the reforms, through participation in drafting and implementation of the guidelines for the UN Development Assistance Framework and the working group on reform of humanitarian assistance operations, would help enlarge and sharpen focus on children throughout the UN system. However, she highlighted what she described as the shameful evaporation of official development assistance. (ODA flows in 1996 represented only 0.25% of the combined GNP of members of the Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.) She said the decline, combined with the foreign-exchange impact of a strong US dollar, has led to a projected shortfall of some US$35 million in UNICEF income for 1997 and a likely total drop of US$100 million in the past two years. For this reason hundreds of UNICEF posts around the world have been cut or frozen. Among other things, the board discussed decentralizing supply operations and improving access to basic supplies such as essential drugs, staple foods, school materials, clean water and sanitation facilities. Under this approach closer attention will be given to the most disadvantaged children. In terms of the allocation of general resources for programmes, the board agreed to give higher priority to the needs of children in least developed countries and sub-Saharan Africa. Regarding the Joint Coordinating Committee on Health, UNICEF, WHO and UNFPA will continue to collaborate in increasing community involvement, providing greater access to health services to the poorest and ensuring sustainability of health actions. Contact: Janet Nelson, Chief, NGO Liaison Section, UNICEF, 3 UN Plaza, New York NY 10017, United States, telephone +1-212/824 6380, fax +1-212/888 7465, e-mail , web site (http://www.unicef.org). TELEFOOD LINKS UP THE WORLD On 19 October the first global TeleFood telecast, organized by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) with the aim of raising awareness of the world s 800 million chronically hungry and malnourished, linked an estimated 100 million viewers in 60-70 countries. The Italian national television company RAI presented over eight hours of TeleFood transmission in Italy with relays by satellite links to the rest of the world. Satellite operators Intelsat and Radio France Outremers provided free downlinks for developing countries to connect to the RAI transmission. Many countries also broadcast programmes of their own on the TeleFood theme. The TeleFood transmission by RAI included reports from developing countries, discussion of food security issues and live entertainment by international artists. It culminated with a star-studded concert at the Vatican. In several countries TeleFood programmes included appeals for donations. In Italy these reached over two billion lire (US$1.2 million) by the time the programme ended, and in Spain about US$250,000 was pledged. FAO says every dollar raised by the TeleFood appeal will go to providing practical support to rural people in developing countries both through FAO s Special Programme for Food Security or similar grassroots projects. Contact: Christine Graves, FAO, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, I-00100 Rome, Italy, telephone +39-6/5705 2515, fax +39-6/5705 6167, e-mail . Details of television programming in individual countries can be found on the web site (http://www.fao.org/food). INTERNATIONAL DAY TO ERADICATE POVERTY UN Development Programme (UNDP) events to commemorate the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty on 17 October included a programme on A World Without Poverty at UN headquarters in New York. During the programme, held in the Economic and Social Council Chamber, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and UNDP Administrator James Gustave Speth recognized project representatives from Viet Nam, South Africa, El Salvador and the United States. The representatives recounted their own stories about the impact of anti-poverty projects on their lives and on those around them. In connection with the events, about 40 journalists are participating in trips covering anti-poverty activities in Angola, Guatemala, Viet Nam and the Siberian area of Russia. UNDP resident representatives around the world also organized a variety of activities to commemorate the day, including seminars, TV debates and project visits, school contests and sport and cultural activities. At the end of the 20th century, 1.3 billion people live on incomes of less that US$1 a day. Nearly one billion people are illiterate, over a billion lack access to safe drinking water, and some 840 million go hungry or face food insecurity. Nearly a third of the people in the least developed countries most of which are in sub-Saharan Africa are not expected to survive to age 40. WORLD HABITAT DAY 1997 FOCUSES ON FUTURE CITIES Governments, community organizations and individuals around the world marked this year s World Habitat Day on 6 October with a variety of national and community level events focusing on the theme Future Cities. The actual job of creating sustainable healthy urban centres requires the involvement of a wide range of actors, said Dr. Wally N Dow, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and Executive Director of the UN Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat). These include governments, local authorities, and just as importantly representatives of civil society. He said this year s theme highlights the special importance of the Habitat Agenda, which was approved by the world s governments at the 1996 UN Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) in Istanbul (Turkey). The Habitat Agenda is a global call to action which offers a positive vision of Future Cities: sustainable human settlements where all have adequate shelter, a healthy and safe environment, basic services and productive freely-chosen employment, said Dr. N Dow. In New York, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged all member states, local authorities and grassroots organizations to deepen the partnerships formed in Istanbul toward implementing the Habitat Agenda. On World Habitat Day at UN headquarters, two panels of representatives from academia, the private sector, public administration, NGOs and professional associations discussed issues related to the themes Healthy Future Cities and Sustaining Communities. Contact: Susan Francis, Communication Manager, UNCHS (Habitat), PO Box 30030, Nairobi, Kenya, telephone +254-2/623239, fax +254-2/624333, e-mail . MAINSTREAMING GENDER EQUALITY Over 60 participants from UN agencies and bilateral donor agencies met in Geneva from 15-17 September to consider how to take forward commitments to mainstreaming gender equality made in the Platform for Action of the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women, and further endorsed at the 1997 session of the UN Economic and Social Council (see NGLS Roundup, September 1997). Gender mainstreaming is a comprehensive strategy, said Angela E.V. King, UN Special Adviser on Gender Issues and the Advancement of Women. It involves policies and operations, and the processes of their development. It also involves individuals, structures and institutions. But most of all, it involves change. Change from the tried and true way of policy formulation and decision-making, from the comfortable habits of designing development projects and service delivery. Gender mainstreaming means a change from functioning in well-established structures and hierarchies, from dealing with ever-familiar interlocutors, and from following orthodox approaches and using traditional sources of information....Decisive leadership, cogent arguments, striking examples, and convincing strategies will help the majority to embrace change. Its advocates have to reach beyond their own familiar collaborators and foster new partnerships and alliances. Clear models of responsibility and accountability are needed so that well-defined outcomes can be achieved. Carolyn Hannan-Andersson, Policy Adviser on Equality Between Women and Men at the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), said there is growing consensus on the basic principles of mainstreaming: it is more than integration, more than making gender equality aspects an integral part of routines, processes and documents (even if this is a precondition for real mainstreaming), and more than ensuring equitable involvement of women and men. Mainstreaming, she said, necessarily involves ensuring that the perceptions, values, knowledge, experience, priorities, needs and potentials of both women and men are given equal weight and utilized in developing the visions, goals, policies and strategies necessary to achieve effective, sustainable people-centred development. Mainstreaming is thus about improving development; it is about transforming development. During panel presentations and working groups, participants discussed and pooled ideas on strategies, institutional development, and collaboration and partnership for mainstreaming gender equality. They agreed that achieving gender equality is not only a goal in itself but also a means to make poverty reduction and promotion of human rights and democratization more effective by addressing the needs of both women and men. They also recognized that despite innovative efforts by multilateral and bilateral development agencies, greater commitment of human, technical and financial resources is required to ensure the transformation of organizations and the full institutionalization of the gender equality perspective. Building strategic partnerships with women s organizations and other stakeholders in civil society was also agreed to be vital for achieving success. A statement adopted at the meeting identifies some key challenges for achieving mainstreaming of gender equality, including increased commitments and political will, the development and institutionalization of higher levels of gender competence, and the establishment of tools for monitoring and mechanisms of accountability. The meeting, organized by the UN Division for the Advancement of Women, brought together members of the UN Inter-Agency Committee on Women and Gender Equality and the Expert Group on Women and Development of the Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (DAC/OECD). Participants agreed that there should be a continued professional exchange on mainstreaming gender equality. Contact: Kristen Timothy, Deputy Director, Division for the Advancement of Women, Department for Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations, New York NY 10017, United States, telephone +1-212/963 3104, fax +1-212/963 3463. RIGHT TO DEVELOPMENT GROUP MEETS The Intergovernmental Group of Experts on the Right to Development, which held its second session from 29 September-10 October in Geneva, emphasized the urgency of implementing this right in the context of globalization, which it said has increased risks of marginalizing countries, groups and individuals. The group reaffirmed the need to interpret the right to development in its integrated and multidimensional aspects. This means taking a balanced approach between different categories of rights (civil and political rights and economic, social and cultural rights) and between national and international scales of responsibility. The group s report highlights the responsibilities in this regard of international development and financial institutions, states and civil society organizations and calls for a coalition of these different actors to implement a clear campaigning and mobilization platform. The report, while insisting on the responsibilities of states to fulfill their obligations under all categories of rights, stresses action at the international level to address the transboundary impact of policies and practices on all human rights. It suggests civil society take a leading role on this: In view of the expanding influence of financial and market forces at international and national levels, civil society organizations should be supported by States and international organizations to fulfil their countervailing role in representing the public interest and minimizing possible adverse social effects of the market. The report also says civil society groups should address the implications of transnational corporations and financial institutions especially in terms of the ethics of their behaviour, economic, environmental, health and cultural effects, effects on local firms and sectors, and on the right to development. It adds that civil society organizations should be encouraged to influence states and international agencies to pay serious attention and take concrete measures to implement the right to development. After years of controversy and debate among member states, the right to development was recognized as an integral part of fundamental human rights in consensus language of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, adopted by the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights. As it is not subject to a treaty, however, the right to development does not have any legal status. Moreover, member states still disagree on interpretation, particularly as to whether the right to development is exclusively an individual right or can also be treated as a collective right. At its next session the Commission on Human Rights will consider recommendations of the working group to set up a follow-up mechanism whose functions would be decided in the context of broader UN reforms. In 1996 the commission mandated the working group to elaborate a strategy and practical measures for the implementation and promotion of the right to development, as set forth in the Declaration of the Right to Development (UN General Assembly resolution 41/128). Contact: John Pace, Research and Right to Development Branch, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Palais des Nations, CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/907 1039, fax 41-22/917 0212, e-mail , web site (http://www.unhchr.ch). WORLD BANK CONFERENCE ON ENVIRONMENT While many countries have signed environmental treaties to preserve everything from the air we breathe to wildlife habitats, few signatories have carried them out. One of the aims of the Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development Conference, held from 6-11 October in Washington DC, was to bring together many of the world s leading authorities on the environment to come to grips with issues that prevent governments from living up to their existing legal obligations. The conference, organized by the World Bank, included sessions on the mounting evidence of climate change, the steady destruction of the world s coral reefs, and the threats posed to forests and farmland by poor environmental practices. For environmental agreements to work, you have to get sound scientific, technical and economic information, said Robert Watson, Director of the Bank s Environment Department. You have to make comprehensive international assessments of the problem you re trying to correct. Then you want the full participation by everyone involved in the debate: civil society, governments, industry, environmental groups, and all the scientific and technical experts. He said other prerequisites include knowledgeable local communities, informed by a responsible media; recognition of equity within and among nations; financing for developing countries to help them comply with environmental restrictions; and political will by governments, individual and corporate leaders. Contact: Clare Fleming, World Bank, 1818 H Street NW, Washington DC 20433, United States, telephone +1-202/473 2874, e-mail . IMF ADOPTS GUIDELINES ON GOVERNANCE The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Executive Board, which met on 4 August, has adopted guidelines covering the IMF s role in issues of governance. Increasingly, we find that a much broader range of institutional reforms is needed if countries are to establish and maintain private sector confidence, and thereby lay the basis for sustained economic growth, said IMF Managing Director Michel Camdessus. Every country that hopes to maintain market confidence must come to terms with the issues associated with good governance. The guidelines advocate attention to governance issues falling within the mandate and expertise of the IMF in the context of both IMF-supported lending programmes and Article IV consultations. Article IV consultations of the IMF s Articles of Agreement are bilateral discussions held with all IMF members, usually every year, where a staff team visits the country, collects economic and financial information and discusses with officials the country s economic development and policies. They also call for a more proactive approach in advocating policies, and the development of institutions and administrative systems that aim to eliminate the opportunity for rent seeking, corruption and fraudulent activity. The guidelines stress an evenhanded treatment of governance issues in all member countries and call for enhanced collaboration with other multilateral institutions, particularly the World Bank, to make better use of complementary areas of expertise. The guidelines say that the IMF can contribute to good governance through its policy advice and (where relevant) technical assistance by improving management of public resources through reforms covering public sector institutions; and by supporting development and maintenance of a transparent and stable economic and regulatory environment conducive to efficient private sector activities. They also state that the use of IMF conditionality related to governance issues emanates from the IMF s concern with macro-economic policy design and implementation as the main means to safeguard the use of IMF resources. Thus, conditionality, in the form of prior actions, performance criteria, benchmarks, and conditions for completion of a review, should be attached to policy measures, including those relating to economic aspects of governance that are required to meet the objectives of the programme. Contact: IMF, 700 19th Street NW, Washington DC 20431, United States, telephone +1-202/623 7000, web site (http://www.imf.org). The Guidance Note is published in full in the IMF Survey, Vol. 26 No. 15, 5 August 1997. INTERNATIONAL MONETARY SYSTEM REVIEW URGED In an economy characterized by globalization and liberalization of financial markets, private capital now dominates the total net long-term financial flows to the developing world, with 95% going to only 26 countries; at the same time official development assistance is stagnating, according to Professor Gerald Helleiner of the University of Toronto (Canada). Prof. Helleiner was one of the several speakers who briefed the Second (Economic and Financial) Committee of the 52nd UN General Assembly on What Kind of Finance Conference Does the World Need? He also said private capital has proven highly fickle and volatile and cited the current turmoil in South East Asian currency markets. Effective global macroeconomic and financial management is far more important to overall output, employment and development than any individual national-level actions or, for that matter, any changes in the trade regime, he said, which puts a premium on sound and effective management of the global economy. Prof. Helleiner, who also acts as advisor to the Intergovernmental Group of 24 (developing countries), said the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank group have done much of their work extremely well. However, he described as severely flawed the process through which these and other institutions managing the international monetary and financial system are attempting to adapt to global financial market forces. It is tortuously slow, he said, insufficiently participatory, overly influenced by powerful lobbies from the financial sector and constrained by jurisdictional ambiguities and turf battles. The process also fails to take adequately into account the rapidly growing importance of governments that are not members of the Group of Eight in the world economy. Using examples from recent major initiatives in the international financial arena, he argued that the priorities of developing countries are not adequately reflected, and that the views and interests of a few major industrialized countries characterize decisions reached. Under these conditions, international economic governance cannot be carried out with the full involvement and input of ever-more central economic powers. Prof. Helleiner urged the Second Committee to take up the question of financing for development and to avoid a narrow approach. It would be nonsensical, he said, to attempt to address the issues surrounding the future of the financing of development in isolation from the many influences upon the now dominant private flows of capital. The issues he said would benefit from the UN General Assembly s attention include macroeconomic policies of the major industrial countries, particularly as they affect interest rates; provision of adequate liquidity and appropriate responses to periodic crises; and the backstopping and supervisory roles of the major financial institutions not only the IMF and the World Bank group but also the regional development banks, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and related institutions. A useful conference, he added, would address the workings of the entire international monetary and financial system as it impacts development. He also cautioned members against seeing such a conference as an end in itself. The point, he said, is not to hold a conference but to start a process. For a copy of Prof. Helleiner s statement contact: NGLS, Room FF-346, 304 East 45th Street, New York NY 10017, United States, telephone +1-212/963 3125, fax +1-212/963 8712, e-mail . TELECOM POLICY FORUM ON ACCESS INEQUALITY In response to rapid changes in the telecommunications marketplace, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) organized a forum and exhibition entitled Telecom Interactive 97. The forum, held on 8-14 September in Geneva, opened with a discussion on the universal right to communicate and policies that could make the market for telecommunications more affordable, accessible and responsive to consumer needs. Dr. Pekka Tarjanne, ITU Secretary-General, said 97% of Internet connections, which are concentrated among only 16% of the world s population, are used mostly for business purposes in the United States. Although the growth rate of new connections is higher in the developing world than in Europe, there are still major challenges to putting in place affordable and widespread telecommunication infrastructures, particularly in Africa. Martin Bangemann of the Commission of the European Communities said that in view of growing inequalities between economies and the dangers of a clash of civilizations, it is imperative to develop an international charter that would harmonize national and international telecommunications laws and reverse the process of marginalization. He said that the charter should be limited to broad principles and in general avoid detailed rules. Since the pace of technological innovation is five to ten times faster than the time required to develop (let alone implement) a new regulation, Dr. Bangemann stressed that it would be impossible to develop detailed laws without hindering competitive innovation, which drives down costs. He acknowledged a tension between market competition and the public interest, but he said this could be reconciled through the proposed charter. Most speakers, who were senior government and private sector representatives, concurred that liberalization on a global scale is the most appropriate policy option, although some argued for safeguards against possible cultural homogenization. They also raised the problem of the reliability of information found on the Internet. In response to questions by African delegates concerning the high initial costs of setting up telecommunications infrastructure, meeting chair Bruno Lanvin of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said the costs of such investments should not be seen in isolation since they bring down transaction costs and help improve trade efficiency at national and international levels. However, questions remain on the demand side. Craig McCaw, chairman of the US-based Teledisc Corporation, said the final element remains the purchasing power of the local inhabitants. ITU will organize Africa Telecom 98 on 4-10 May 1998 in Johannesburg (South Africa). The event will focus on, inter alia, possibilities and ways of increasing access to basic telecommunications in Africa. Contact: ITU, Place des Nations, CH-1211 Geneva 20, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/730 6161, fax +41-22/730 6444, e-mail , web site (http://www.itu.int/TELECOM). WORKING GROUP ON BIOSAFETY MEETS Delegates in the Open-Ended Ad Hoc Working Group on Biosafety, which met from 13-17 October in Montreal (Canada), have produced a consolidated draft text for negotiations on a biosafety protocol at the group s next session. Among other things, they created a contact group on final clauses and institutional matters; extended the existing contact group s mandate on definitions established at the prior session on address annexes; and identified elements to be included in draft articles on outstanding issues, including socio-economic considerations, liability and compensation, illegal traffic, non-discrimination, trade with non-Parties, and objectives, general obligations, title and preamble of the protocol. Two parallel open-ended sub-working groups, established to address the core substantive articles of the protocol, achieved their objectives of developing a consolidated draft negotiating legal text, which will form the basis for the forthcoming negotiations. The working group strongly recommended to the fourth Conference of the Parties (to be held in Bratislava in May 1998) the need for an additional three days for each of the two already approved meetings in 1998, and a further third meeting of the working group in 1998 in order to complete its work. In addition the working group recommended that a special session of the Conference of the Parties be held following the last meeting of the working group, at which the Protocol on Biosafety would be considered for adoption. The working group s next meeting will be held in February 1998 in Montreal. The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), negotiated under the auspices of the UN Environment Programme, was adopted in May 1992 and opened for signature at the June 1992 Earth Summit. The treaty entered into force on 29 December 1993; there are currently 169 Parties to the convention. Contact: Thomas Yongo, Associate Legal Officer Biosafety, CBD, 393 St. Jacques Street, Office 300, Montreal, Quebec H2Y 1N9, Canada, telephone +1-514/287 7028, fax +1-514/288 6588, e-mail . A workshop on Policy Reform to Implement the Convention on Biological Diversity: Meeting the Challenge with Policy Research took place at the Eighth Global Biodiversity Forum in Montreal from 29-31 August. The forum was held immediately prior to the third meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA-3) to the Convention on Biological Diversity. The workshop on policy reform to implement the convention, attended by 53 participants from 18 countries, including members of SBSTTA delegations, government agencies, NGOs, intergovernmental organizations and universities, was organized by the African Centre for Technology Studies (Kenya), Land and Agriculture Policy Centre (South Africa), Sociedad Peruana de Derecho Ambiental (Peru) and the World Resources Institute (United States). Workshop participants formulated a set of recommendations that they presented to SBSTTA-3 the following week. They urged Parties to the convention to identify gaps in policy development; include in their national reports to COP-4 and in sector-specific discussions information on available national capacity to analyze policy alternatives for implementing the CBD; ensure future documentation prepared for use by the Parties provides delegations with options for policy choice and evaluates the implications of each; and urge the financial mechanism of the CBD, as well as other financial sources, to support the development, strengthening and sharing of policy research capacity at the national and regional levels. They also recommended that national decision-making processes for convention implementation should be supported by policy research capacity that is inter-disciplinary, multi-sectoral, utilizes in-country, local and non-governmental capacity, ensures participation of relevant stakeholders and provides for on-going monitoring and evaluation. Contact: Christine Elias, World Resources Institute, 1709 New York Avenue NW, Washington DC 20006, United States, telephone +1-202/638 6300, fax +1-202/638 0036,e-mail . INTERNATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHIC COMMISSION The Assembly of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) met from 2-18 July in Paris to discuss current programmes in ocean sciences, activities of the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS), and national and international plans for the 1998 International Year of the Ocean, among other issues. Delegates from the 125 member states of the commission reviewed its activities undertaken in the last two years and noted that while global interest in the ocean and ocean sciences is increasing worldwide, financial resources available at the international level remain limited. They called on the commission to redefine priorities and focus on four main areas of activity in coming years: n development of operational oceanography through the GOOS mechanism, which is a global framework of collection, analysis and distribution of marine data used to forecast weather and monitor ocean health; n provision of scientific input for coastal area management and sustainable development; n transfer of knowledge and capacity-building; and n ocean observations as early warning systems for climate variability and change. The IOC, founded by UNESCO in 1960, works in four major areas: research on oceanic and coastal phenomenon and their relation to marine resources; ocean monitoring; education, training and technical assistance; and the exchange and distribution of data. Contact: Nicole Guillemain-Goupi, Documentalist, International Oceanographic Commission, UNESCO, 7 place de Fontenoy, F-75700 Paris, France, telephone +33-1/45 68 39 82, fax +33-1/45 68 58 12, e-mail . INTERGOVERNMENTAL FORUM ON FORESTS The Intergovernmental Forum on Forests (IFF) of the Commission on Sustainable Development held its first organizational session from 1-3 October 1997 at UN headquarters in New York. The forum was established during the June 1997 special session of the General Assembly to review and appraise implementation of Agenda 21 (UNGASS). The forum encouraged inputs from Major Groups in all the activities of its programme of work and welcomed proposals made by governments to organize expert group meetings or to conduct studies in support of its work. Austria, Costa Rica and Indonesia have offered to host intersessional meetings in support of IFF deliberations. The second session of the IFF will meet in June-August of 1998 in New York or Geneva. The third session will meet in February-March 1999 in Geneva. The IFF will report to the Commission on Sustainable Development at its eighth session in the 1999. Contact: Zehra Aydin, Department for Economic and Social Affairs, Room DC2-2252, United Nations, New York NY 10017, United States, telephone +1-212/963 8811, fax +1-212/963 1267, e-mail , web site (http://www.un.org/dpcsd). COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD The Committee on the Rights of the Child, a monitoring body to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, held its 16th session from 22 September-10 October. Governments presenting their reports at the session were Laos, Australia, Uganda, the Czech Republic, Trinidad and Tobago, and Togo. States Parties were asked to answer questions by the committee, make statements on country reports, and submit further information. The committee reviewed methods of work, developments, cooperation, dialogue and interaction with United Nations bodies and specialized agencies. A representative of the International Labour Organization (ILO) said the committee s concluding observations were instrumental in the ratification by a number of states of the ILO convention concerning minimum age for admission to employment. He also spoke about a new instrument to abolish the most intolerable forms of child labour under three main categories: situations of slavery and servitude; illicit activities such as the use of children in drug trafficking, pornography and sexual exploitation; and jobs harmful to the health and development of children. The committee, considering issues on the question of the rights of children with disabilities, said that provisions in the convention are intended to assure disabled children the maximum fulfilment of all their rights, not only those applying to disabled children. A working group on the rights of children with disabilities will be constituted to elaborate a plan of action for implementation of various proposals and to follow up on recommendations. The question of mandate, composition and activities of the working group will be pursued at the committee s next session in January 1998. The NGO Group for the Rights of the Child will also convene an informal meeting on its ongoing cooperation with the committee at that time. Contact: S. Raadi-Azarakhchi, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Palais des Nations, CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/917 3359, e-mail or Laura Theytaz-Bergman, NGO Group for the Rights of the Child, 1 rue VarembÇ, CH-1211 Geneva, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/734 0558. BUILDING THE FUTURE OF BURUNDI During a meeting on Building the Future of Burundi, held from 26-28 September in Paris, participants from Burundi stressed the need to end violence and restore peace in the country through dialogue and negotiation. They asked UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Director-General Federico Mayor to pursue this dialogue on themes within UNESCO s field of competence to assist the building of a better future for Burundi with its national, regional and international partners. At the meeting, organized by UNESCO, some 50 representatives of different sections of Burundi society began a dialogue focusing on three themes: origins and nature of the conflict; education, culture, science and communication at the service of dialogue; and building the future for peace and development, democratic principles and human rights. About 30 observers of the meeting represented different countries, NGOs, and international and inter-governmental organizations. Participants stressed that ideas, cultures and ethnic groups must be allowed to express themselves within a democratic constitutional and institutional framework to ensure the security and participation of every citizen in the management of public affairs. To this end, participants agreed on the importance of guaranteeing freedom of information, security and the rights and freedoms of all. They also said the preservation of a united Burundi nation will be possible only if all citizens take part in the construction of a democratic system, taking into account the conditions of the country and the political, social, economic and cultural aspirations of the entire society. Contact: Daniel Janicot, Assistant Director-General, Directorate, Operational Unit, UNESCO, 7 place de Fontenoy, F-75700 Paris, France, telephone +33-1/45 68 16 52, fax +33-1/45 68 55 53. COMPANIES MOBILIZE AGAINST HIV/AIDS In the first internationally coordinated response by the business sector to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, a core group of companies launched on 23 October the Global Business Council on HIV/AIDS. The council, whose honourary president is South African President Nelson Mandela, includes Cargill, The Financial Times, GlaxoWellcome, Levi Strauss and MTV. The Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) played a key role in creating the council and will work closely with it. Member companies that join the council agree to take visible, positive action to help their customers, employees and communities where they work face the challenges posed by the epidemic; cooperate with each other on projects involving national and local response to HIV/AIDS; and advise UNAIDS on business interests and policy concerns. Contact: Anne Winter, Manager, Communications and Public Information, UNAIDS, 20 avenue Appia, CH-1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/791 4577 or +41-79/213 4312 (mobile), fax +41-22/691 4187, e-mail , web site (http://www.unaids.org). UNICEF AND WORLD BANK SIGN AGREEMENT The UN Children s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Bank have agreed to work together to support sub-Saharan African countries in their efforts to promote access to safe water, environmental sanitation, and hygiene education for the poor in rural and urban areas. The two agencies, which signed a memorandum of understanding on 9 October, will collaborate to develop and implement water, environmental sanitation and hygiene education programmes in villages, small towns and poor urban neighbourhoods and to extend sustainable services to the poor. Over 250 million people half of Africa s population are without access to safe drinking water, and almost 300 million do not have adequate sanitation. With the current rate of population growth and extension of water and sanitation services, a business as usual approach would result in over 500 million without water and sanitation by the year 2020, according to UNICEF and the World Bank. Much of sub-Saharan Africa is threatened by growing water scarcity and deteriorating water quality, increasing water costs, and conflicts among users. The human impact especially on the poor and women and children will be unprecedented, as will the environmental impacts in cities where almost half the population lives. The two agencies said their complementary nature, the scale of the challenge ahead and the need for innovative national programmes make collaboration an imperative if there is going to be a serious effort to significantly improve the availability of water, sanitation and hygiene education to those that will not be reached by conventional services in the near future. Contact: Anna Wright, UNICEF, 3 UN Plaza, New York NY 10017, United States, telephone +1-212/326 7566 or David Theis, World Bank, 1818 H Street NW, Washington DC 20433, United States, telephone +1-202/477 1955. NEW UNIFEM TRUST FUND LAUNCHED The United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) has launched a US$1.2 million trust fund dedicated to eliminating violence against women. Violence obliterates women s self-esteem, destroys their health, denies their human rights and undermines their full involvement in society, said Noeleen Heyzer, UNIFEM Director. More than one-third of women in the developing world are victims of domestic violence. UNIFEM is working to break the silence of violence in women s lives. We are bringing it out into the open and demanding accountability and action. Twenty-three projects aimed at eradicating gender-specific violence have been selected for funding in the initial grant cycle. They will be implemented in 18 countries in Africa, East and South Asia, the Middle East, Latin America and the Caribbean. n In Latin America a regional Campaign for Action to Eliminate Violence Against Girls and Women will press governments to approve effective legislation and promote adequate sanctions to gender-specific crimes. n In South Africa an educational programme targeting highschool students will seek to educate youth as well as parents and teachers about these issues using theatre, games, youth-led counseling services and other participatory methods. n In the Philippines women migrant workers who were victims of abuse will write and produce a video on their experiences, which will serve as an educational tool to teach other migrant workers about their rights and how to exercise them. n In India health workers will be sensitized to the issues through specialized training designed to improve the treatment of women victims of violence. The criteria for funding projects include areas of awareness raising and advocacy, capacity building, literacy, training, action-related research, and prevention and deterrence of violence. The next cycle of grants will be considered in November. The new trust fund was created by the United Nations General Assembly in response to an urgent call for action at the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women. Initial contributors to the Trust Fund are the governments of Australia, Denmark, Italy, Japan, Malta, Mauritius and the Republic of Korea. Contact: Melanie Roth, Media Officer, UNIFEM, 304 E. 45th Street, 6th Floor, New York NY 10017, United States, telephone +1-212/906 6897, fax +1-212/906 6705, e-mail , web site (http://www.unifem.undp.org). NEW PESTICIDES ADDED TO WATCH LIST Five extremely hazardous pesticides are being added to an existing watch list so that their trade can be better monitored and managed. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) announced in September that highly concentrated formulations of five pesticides known as organophosphates methamidophos, methyl parathion, monocrotophos, parathion and phosphamidon will join 17 harmful pesticides and five industrial chemicals that are already part of the Prior Informed Consent procedure (PIC). According to this voluntary system, dangerous substances should not be exported without prior agreement of the government of the importing country. Currently, 154 countries are participating in the PIC procedure, which is jointly administered by FAO and UNEP. These pesticide formulations pose a considerable risk to the health of many small farmers and agricultural workers because they cannot be handled safely, said Niek Van der Graaff, Chief of the FAO Plant Protection Service. In developing countries, protective gear is often too expensive, or if available, cannot be used due to the climate. Studies on the application of organophosphates have demonstrated that during normal spraying, farmers are exposed to contamination by absorption through the skin of residues on clothing. The global market for pesticides, which was estimated at US$30 billion in 1996, continues to grow. The fastest growing markets are in the developing world, particularly Latin America and Asia. In China the production of organophosphorus insecticides totalled 177,900 tons in 1995, an increase of 28% over the previous year. Thailand, one of Asia s most rapidly expanding agrochemical markets, uses monocrotophos, methamidophos and methyl parathion as its main insecticides. Dramatic shifts to intensive pesticide use on export crops is also occurring in Africa. Contact: Erwin Northoff, FAO, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, I-00100 Rome, Italy, telephone +39-6/570 53105, e-mail or Jim Willis, UNEP, Geneva Executive Centre, 15 chemin des AnÇmones, CH-1219 ChÉtelaine, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/979 9183, e-mail . ENVIRONMENT, URBAN DEVELOPMENT CONFERENCE About 60% of the world s population will be living in cities by the year of 2020. Promoting collective endeavours among all stakeholders living in cities to address urban environment problems in the coming decades will be one of the objectives of an international conference to be held in 1998 in Tokyo (Japan). The conference, to be organized by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, will focus on the theme How to Cultivate an Eco-Society Worldwide. The conference organizing committee, which will meet from 26-29 May 1998, held its second meeting in Tokyo on 13 October. The meeting finalized the themes, format and likely outcomes of the World Conference on International Cooperation of Cities and Citizens for Cultivating Eco-Society, or Eco-Partnership Tokyo. Other issues to be highlighted at the conference will include: n creation of regional recycling systems with cooperative work by citizens, NGOs, enterprises and urban administrations; n international cooperation toward realization of an ecosociety; and n promotion of a wide popular culture for an eco-society that will foster sustainable development and respect for the earth s rich natural resources. About 500 delegates from around the world are expected to attend, including heads of cities, experts, municipal administrators, government officials, private citizens and representatives of NGOs, commercial enterprises, the United Nations and other intergovernmental bodies. Contact: Akira Kawada, Secretariat to the World Conference on International Cooperation of Cities and Citizens, Tokyo Metropolitan Government, 8-1 Nishi-Shinjuku 2-chome, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 163-01 Japan, telephone +81-3/5388 3097, fax +81-3/5388 1329. IMF: BOLIVIA ELIGIBLE FOR HIPC INITIATIVE On 10 September the IMF Executive Board decided that Bolivia has completed the first stage of strong adjustment and reform under the HIPC initiative and is eligible for exceptional assistance to reduce its debt burden to a sustainable level. The IMF, which will provide US$29 million, said this will reduce Bolivia s external debt by US$448 million in net present value (NPV) terms. The board agreed that Bolivia could reach its completion point (after the second stage of adjustment and reform) in September 1998. It decided that the target NPV of external public and publicly-guaranteed debt at the completion point should be set at 225% of exports, compared with a projected ratio of 259% before assistance. In view of the heavy debt-service burden facing Bolivia over the next few years, the IMF and the World Bank will deliver their assistance in a front-loaded fashion. The total nominal debt-service relief is estimated at US$0.6 billion. All assistance is conditional on Bolivia s continued adherence to an IMF and World Bank-supported programme including the observance of social development targets as well as satisfactory assurances of action under the initiative by all other creditors. The IMF s exceptional assistance of US$29 million will be provided at the completion point in the form of a grant into an escrow account to be used exclusively to pay debt service to the IMF. FORUM ON PROMOTING FDI The Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) and the World Bank/Foreign Investment Advisory Service held a forum on the Prospects for Promoting Foreign Direct Investment in the Transition Economies to discuss foreign direct investment (FDI) in East-Central Europe and the newly independent states of the former Soviet Union. Participants in the forum, held on 29-30 September in Geneva, included representatives of the private sector of the regions, governments and international legal institutions. Many private sector representatives stressed the necessity for regional trade fairs, an improvement of local infrastructure and more financing from their governments. Some members said the private sector believes that because governments finance some of their activities, these governments want a say in how the activities are run. Representatives of the private sector in transition economies argued that this thinking needs to be changed if the sector is to grow and unnecessary bureaucracy needs to be reduced. Working groups at the forum suggested that organizations such as the UN and the ECE encourage governments of East-Central Europe and the former Soviet Union through dialogue and information to give greater flexibility to private sector activities. The working groups called on international organizations to play a larger role in training members of the private sector, especially those working abroad, and they said international organizations should give Investment Promotion Agencies (IPAs) a higher domestic status and weight. A representative of the NGO Transparency International stressed the importance of reducing private sector and government corruption, which was described as widespread in the region. Contact: Geoffrey Hamilton, Economic Commission for Europe, Palais des Nations, CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/917 2838, fax +41-22/917 0037. WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION AT EXPO 2000 The World Health Organization (WHO) has concluded an agreement to advise organizers of the World Exhibition EXPO 2000 on the conceptualization and development of a health exhibition. EXPO 2000, which is estimated to attract more than 40 million visitors, will be held in Hanover (Germany) from 1 June-31 October 2000. EXPO 2000 is designed to follow up on and promote Agenda 21, the programme of action for sustainable development agreed five years ago at the 1992 Earth Summit. The exhibition will thus present sustainable options to meet the health challenges of the next century in the following areas: youth and older people, non-communicable and new and re-emerging infectious diseases, and healthy cities. Visitors will explore how healthy lifestyles, supportive environments and technology can address health futures and improve the health of the world s people in the 21st century. The exhibition will be a mixture of theatre stage productions, science centre and high-tech multi-media to take visitors on a journey of discovery of health. It will be multiplied by modern media technologies to also reach virtual visitors, who are not physically at EXPO 2000. The exhibition will be developed in cooperation with NGOs, scientists, academic institutions and public and private sector organizations from around the world. Contact: Monika Gehner, Division of Health Promotion, Education and Communication, WHO, CH-1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/791 2929, fax +41-22/791 4178, e-mail . UN NGO NEWS ANNUAL DPI/NGO CONFERENCE Building Partnerships was the theme of the 50th annual UN Department of Public Information (DPI) NGO Conference held from 10-12 September at UN headquarters in New York. The conference, organized by the DPI NGO section in cooperation with the Committee of NGOs associated with it, focused on growing collaboration between the UN and NGOs working to promote peace and security, economic and social well-being, human rights, and the rule of law. The meeting, attended by over 600 civil society organizations, provided an opportunity for representatives of government, international and national NGOs and UN officials to share ideas on how to make a difference in their own communities through their work and through networking with other organizations. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan told participants that NGOs have become indispensable partners of the UN, particularly in preventive diplomacy, humanitarian work, development and in human rights. Razali Ismail (Malaysia), President of the 51st UN General Assembly, said NGO participation in the UN s work is a healthy development that should be enhanced: Not only do NGOs deliver more development assistance than the entire UN system (excluding the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund), but they also provide development, education and health care services in areas that government and the private sector fail or neglect to reach. UN High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata said NGOs are among UNHCR s most important partners, with some 400 NGOs implementing 1200 projects in more than 120 countries at a cost this year of US$264 million. She also called for enhanced and continued dialogue with NGOs. With regard to how much access NGOs should be given to the UN, Ambassador Ahmad Kamal (Pakistan), who chaired the Subgroup on NGOs of the High Level Working Group on the Strengthening of the UN System, said debate on the role of NGOs is in truth about power-sharing, and the United Nations has so far declined to share power. Mr. Razali pointed out that while there is merit in keeping the boundaries of the relationship porous in the case of non-profit NGOs, he said the ramifications of association with profit-making or commercial NGOs and foundations are potentially serious. Formal sessions during the three-day conference were conducted on topics including milestones in the UN-NGO relationship; UN-NGO partnerships and current trends; communications aspects of human rights; cooperating for development; partnering in cyberspace; global information flows; models for new partnerships; working for peace; and new trends in NGOs and civil society. Contact: NGO Section, DPI, Room S-1060, United Nations, New York NY 10017, United States, fax +1-212/963 6914. HUMAN RIGHTS HIGH COMMISSIONER MEETS NGOS During her first meeting with NGOs, who gave her a notably warm welcome, the new UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson said the high expectations generated by her appointment place tremendous responsibility on her, in particular to act independently and impartially as a moral voice for victims of abuse and those that are excluded. At the meeting, held on 18 September in Geneva, and followed by a similar meeting with NGOs in New York, she said she intends to adopt a bottom-up approach in her work that will depend greatly on the field-level monitoring role of NGOs and their inputs. She said she will reach down to support the structures of civil society at the local level as much as possible. Ms. Robinson s appointment as head of the new Geneva-based Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, which encompasses the former Centre for Human Rights, coincides with preparations for the commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 1998 Five Year Implementation Review of the 1993 Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action adopted at the World Conference on Human Rights. She said this should be a cause for stock-taking rather than celebration, even if the exercise is not very comfortable. The momentum around these two events should facilitate her efforts to initiate one of the main features of the UN Secretary General s reform package, which is to mainstream the human rights agenda across the entire UN system. Ms. Robinson, who said she will increasingly highlight the human rights dimension in the work of other UN agencies, will be represented at all four Executive Committees (peace and security; economic and social affairs; humanitarian affairs; and development cooperation) that form part of the new leadership structure set up by UN Secretary-General (see Go Between 65). She stressed that the mainstreaming of human rights goes hand in hand with gender mainstreaming and said she will give strong impetus to the implementation of the Beijing Platform of Action. Women s rights are human rights, she added. Ms. Robinson said one of her major roles will be to bridge the different perceptions of human rights between the North and South. She said that while civil and political rights cannot be compromised, greater weight must be placed on economic, social and cultural rights and the right to development. And she stressed that problems related to food, health, education and shelter must be seen in terms of rights, not needs, adding that she intends to be very vocal on this. She expressed concern at the financial situation of her office, which she described as critically under-resourced since its creation in 1994. Ms. Robinson hopes to increase voluntary financial contributions and widen the circle of contributors. Ms. Robinson, who is the former President of Ireland, replaces JosÇ Ayala-Lasso (Ecuador), the first High Commissioner for Human Rights. The post was set up after the World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna. Contact: BÇatrice Murebwayire, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Palais des Nations, CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/917 1143, fax +41-22/917 0212, e-mail . IFAD/NGO ANNUAL CONSULTATION Participants in the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) NGO Annual Consultation, held on 13-15 October in Rome (Italy), addressed the theme Local Action Development for Sustainable Resource Management. Participants, who included 13 representatives of Northern NGOs, 20 of Southern NGOs and seven observers, discussed case studies on the impact of desertification on local economies; combating desertification and capacity of local institutions to respond to challenges; the role and potential of local financial institutions; and improving micro-finance capacity building. Policy recommendations to IFAD included the following: n Knowledge Network devise ways to extend the linkages between IFAD s Knowledge Network and the global NGO community by appointing a number of NGOs as focal points. n IFAD/NGO financing instruments lead other multilateral financial institutions in creating innovative mechanisms for assuring NGO participation in the design, implementation and evaluation of the loans. At the same time, the Extended Cooperation Programme (ECP) grants, a useful instrument that permits direct grants to NGOs, should be increased in size and overall budget. n NGO capacity building IFAD should support training programmes for NGOs to build their professional capacities in project design so that they can be better partners. Such training should include the planning of projects, monitoring and evaluation, impact assessment, and integration of specific issues such as health, environment, gender and social aspects in project design. n North-South interface IFAD, selected as the agency that will host the Global Mechanism of the Convention to Combat Desertification (CCD), should facilitate a new and creative interface between Northern and Southern NGOs (see page 28). n Development of Local Programmes in order to improve the quality and quantity of local area development programmes, IFAD should conduct a critical analysis of best practices. Moreover IFAD should provide financing to pilot projects for promoting local community development in countries that support the CCD. n CCD implementation IFAD should set up strategies and criteria for involving NGOs at different levels of policy making in IFAD-NGO partnership arrangements for implementing the CCD. Indeed, IFAD should promote stronger and more flexible institutional frameworks for its implementation at local, national, regional and international levels. Contact: Maria Teresa Rubin de Cervin, Programme Development Officer for NGOs and Civil Society, IFAD, via del Serafico 107, I-00142 Rome, Italy, telephone +39-6/5459 2394, fax +39-6/504 3463, e-mail . AMNESTY ADDRESSES UN SECURITY COUNCIL On 15 September Pierre Sane, Secretary-General of Amnesty International, briefed an ad hoc meeting of the Security Council on human rights considerations in the prevention and management of conflicts and in ensuring the rebuilding of societies. During the meeting, also attended by UN agency and Secretariat personnel, he told the council that respect for human rights should be central to how it monitors and manages conflicts. We tend to think that when a conflict erupts human rights have to be suspended because it is war, Mr. Sane said. Instead, he stressed the importance of reports on human rights violations as the first step in establishing accountability, which he said changes the behaviour of the belligerents. Mr. Sane said analysis of human rights reports for patterns of violations allows early identification of signs of impending conflicts. Mr. Sane said his briefing to the council reflects the growing importance that council members attach to considering the human rights dimension, particularly when designing their responses to crises and planning operations aimed at producing long-lasting solutions in the field. He noted that if post-conflict peace-building efforts are to have a lasting impact, the building of human rights institutions has to be taken seriously. In this regard, he highlighted the creation of national human rights commissions, the retraining of police and military, and the importance of establishing an international criminal court that is truly independent. Other issues identified as crucial include monitoring of arms transfers, especially light weapons. Mr. Sane suggested that the council follow up on its initiative to investigate the flow of arms to the former Rwandan army, and he recommended examining arms flows into the entire Great Lakes region, including illicit transfers and certain government-authorized arms transfers, which he said have fuelled the crisis and led to gross human rights violations. Children need to be protected in armed conflict, and women with appropriate qualifications should be included in human rights investigative teams so that violations committed against women, such as rape and sexual slavery, can be properly documented and the perpetrators brought to justice. He advised the council to consider this issue in its peacekeeping and demobilization plans; otherwise he warned those children would be used in attempts to refuel conflicts. Contact: Amnesty International, 1 Easton Street, London WC1X 8DJ, United Kingdom, telephone +44-171/413 5500, fax +44-171/956 1157. UN INTERNATIONAL NGO MEETING ON PALESTINE NGOs participating in the UN International NGO Meeting/European Symposium on the Question of Palestine expressed serious concern over the current stalemate in peace negotiations. Participants at the meeting, held from 25-28 August in Geneva, committed themselves to undertake campaigns against Israeli settlements and pledged to work to make East Jerusalem capital of the future Palestinian state. Participants, who called for coordinated international campaigns in support of the rights of Palestinian people, also discussed refugee rights, family reunification and economic and social issues. The meeting, convened under the auspices of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, was chaired by Ibra Deguene Ka (Senegal). He said the NGO community has played an important role in fostering international action to bring occupation of the Palestinian territories to an end; endeavouring to influence their respective governments; engendering positive public opinion on the subject; and contributing moral and material assistance to the Palestinian people to better their living conditions and assist their efforts in resisting occupation. Contact: Thierry Potvin, Press Officer, Information Service, United Nations, CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/917 2311, fax +41-22/917 0300, e-mail . CONFERENCE ON TOBACCO AND HEALTH Each year tobacco causes about 3.5 million deaths throughout the world this will increase to ten million annual deaths during the 2020s, with seven million of these deaths in developing countries, according to the Tenth World Conference on Tobacco or Health, held from 24-28 August in Beijing (China). Fifty percent of the unnecessary deaths are taking place in middle age (35-69) and robbing those killed of around 22 years of normal life expectancy. Nicotine is addictive and tobacco products have and are being aggressively marketed by a powerful industry promoting to the young the images of independence, emancipation and sex appeal for products that in reality only kill and disable, said Dr. Hiroshi Nakajima, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO). WHO says the situation is especially worrisome in less developed countries the home of 80% of the world s population where public awareness of the health consequences of smoking is low, while funds to counteract marketing practices of international tobacco companies are negligible. And the absence of an international agreement protecting less developed countries from the marketing assault of the tobacco giants makes these countries even more vulnerable. For example, according to the largest study ever conducted on smoking deaths in China, tobacco will kill a third of all young men in China if current rates of new smokers persist. Of the 300 million males now aged up to 29 years, about 200 million will become smokers. If they continue to smoke throughout their lives, 100 million will eventually be killed by tobacco; half of these deaths will occur before age 70. In many countries, tobacco consumption is increasing among women. More than half a million smoking deaths occur in women, said Dr. Judith Mackay of the WHO Expert Advisory Panel on Tobacco and Health. Globally, approximately 12% of women smoke as compared to 47% of men. But there can be no complacency about the lower level of tobacco consumption among women. She said studies in different countries show that smoking among women presents a special problem for public health: not only do female smokers suffer from all the negative health consequences that male smokers endure, but they also experience other consequences that are gender specific. Indications are that smoking is increasing among girls in both developed and developing countries, said Dr. Mackay. The conference was organized under the auspices of WHO by the Chinese Medical Association and the Chinese Association on Smoking and Health. Contact: Igor Rozov, Health Communications and Public Relations, World Health Organization (WHO), 20 avenue Appia, CH-1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/791 2532, fax +41-22/791 4858, e-mail . FIRST MAYAN WOMEN S CONGRESS Eighty women representing 33 Mayan women s groups assembled at the First Mayan Women s Congress, held from 10-11 October in Merida (Mexico). The event, which brought together more than 200 participants including representatives of governments, donors and UN organizations, was described by its sponsor, the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), as an unprecedented opportunity for Mayan women to present their experiences and indigenous knowledge to policy makers and donors as part of an ongoing effort to enable the economic empowerment of Mayan women by bringing them into mainstream development. Mayan women urged financial support for projects aimed at transforming women s traditional activities into profitable microenterprises, and they emphasized the need for workspaces to increase efficiency and quality control; training to improve businesses and administration skills; new markets; elimination of intermediaries so that profits go directly to women; and gender sensitivity training for men and women. Roundtables, which allowed for in-depth discussion of ways to make Mayan women s activities more economically viable, focused on embroidery, crafts, aquaculture, beekeeping, livestock, agriculture and environmental education. Plans are underway to hold similar congresses in Belize, Guatemala and other states of Mexico. Contact: Melanie Roth, UNIFEM, 304 E. 45th Street, 6th Floor, New York NY 10017, United States, telephone +1-212/906 6897, fax +1-212/906 6705, e-mail , web site (www.undp.org/unifem). DECLARATION ON PRESS FREEDOM ADOPTED Media professionals from 40 European countries have adopted a declaration urging the release of imprisoned journalists, the prosecution of crimes committed against journalists, media self-regulation, journalistic ethics and unbiased reporting on ethnic minorities. The declaration was adopted by acclamation at the close of the European Seminar on Promoting Independent and Pluralistic Media with a focus on Central and Eastern Europe, held in Sofia (Bulgaria) from 10-13 September. More than 300 journalists and representatives of professional media organizations took part in the seminar, the last of five major regional meetings on this theme organized by the UN Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (UNESCO) and the United Nations since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Eastern and Central European journalists today face serious problems like their colleagues in other regions of the world, said Henrikas Yushkiavitshus, UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Communication, Information and Informatics. The historical struggle for freedom of expression experienced in Western democracies in the past is today s reality for many journalists in Eastern Europe. The Sofia Declaration highlights Article 19 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which enshrines the freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media, and regardless of frontiers. The declaration urges the UN General Assembly to reinforce the practical application of Article 19 as an important contribution to the 50th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It also strongly deplore[s] that nearly all assassinations and other crimes against journalists and other media professionals in Europe, as in other parts of the world, go unpunished. It calls on governments to free immediately journalists jailed for their professional activities, urges access to governmental and intergovernmental information, and asserts the right not to reveal sources of information. The Sofia Declaration is important, said Aidan White, General-Secretary of the International Federation of Journalists (FIJ). It puts pressure on governments to set the media free and warns the private sector that action needs to be taken against media concentration and activities which undermine standards of journalism. The Sofia seminar was organized in cooperation with, among others, FIJ, the World Association of Newspaper Publishers (FIEJ), the International Organization of Journalists (IOJ) and Reporters sans Frontiäres (RSF). Contact: Rosa Gonzalez, Communications Division, UNESCO, 7 place de Fontenoy, F-75700 Paris, France, telephone +33-1/45 68 42 11, fax +33-1/45 68 55 84, web site (http://www.unesco.org). CLEAN UP THE WORLD CAMPAIGN An estimated forty million people around the world participated in the fifth annual Clean Up the World Campaign, which took place from 19-21 September in more than 110 countries. The campaign, organized in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), focuses on initiatives to produce both short and long-term solutions to environmental problems. The campaign s organizing committees help establish recycling centres, carry out environmental education campaigns, create reforestation programmes and establish compost centres. Clean Up the World emphasizes the importance of establishing long term sustainability and implementing strategies to recycle and reuse waste materials, as well as to reduce waste at its source. The Clean Up the World Campaign has proven to be one of the simplest and most effective ways of tackling these issues and at the same time help raise environmental awareness, said UNEP Executive Director Elizabeth Dowdeswell. Contact: Clean Up the World, 117 Harris Street, Pyrmont, Sydney, Australia, telephone +61-2/9692 0700, fax +61-2/9692 0761, e-mail or Patricia Jacobs, Information Officer, UNEP, PO Box 30552, Nairobi, Kenya, telephone +254-2/623088, fax +254-2/623692, e-mail . NGO NEWS CIVICUS SECOND WORLD ASSEMBLY While the globalization of markets, communication and democracy creates new opportunities for millions, it may also lead to the destruction of cultures and communities. Is civil society the answer to the perils of globalization? This was one of the questions discussed by participants at the 2nd World Assembly of CIVICUS the World Alliance for Citizen Participation. The assembly on Engaging Our Partners was held from 23-26 September in Budapest (Hungary). At the opening ceremony Dr. Benjamin Barber of the Walt Whitman Center for the Culture of Politics of Democracy noted that the greatest challenge facing civil society is the onset of globalization. Civil society and the forces of globalization are in a contest for the soul of democracy, he said. The institutions of democracy must be rooted in civil ideals...[of] plurality, diversity and difference. Over 500 civil society activists from 70 countries participated, including NGO leaders, business people, government leaders, researchers, grassroots activists, scholars, donors and artists. Participants focused on strengthening the building blocks essential to a strong civil society, particularly in those countries without a long history of nonprofit-sector activity. They introduced proposals for increasing visibility and understanding of the sector, promoting supportive laws and regulations, and developing new approaches to mobilizing financial resources for civil society initiatives. Contact: CIVICUS Secretariat, 919 18th Street, 3rd Floor, Washington DC 20006, United States, telephone +1-202/331 3518, fax +1-202/331 8774, e-mail , web site (http://www.civicus.org). NGOS LAUNCH HUMAN RIGHTS DECLARATION Over 180 human rights and women s organizations are preparing a Declaration of Human Rights from a Gender Perspective, which is intended to strengthen and enrich the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on its 50th anniversary in 1998. The consortium preparing the declaration with a gender perspective said, There is no better way to celebrate this anniversary than to launch a major campaign for human rights education with, for, and by the communities who stand to gain most from the declaration s proclamations. The consortium includes the ComitÇ de AmÇrica Latina y el Caribe para la defensa de los derechos de la mujer (CLADEM), which initiated the declaration; the US-based People s Decade for Human Rights Education (PDHRE), which serves as the secretariat for the campaign; and some 20 other human rights organizations from around the world. A related campaign aims to implement the UN Decade for Human Rights Education (1995-2004) to the fullest extent possible. The consortium said many non-governmental and community groups engaged in struggles for economic and social justice are not familiar with the powerful content of the declaration and its relevance to their daily lives or the Platform of Action for the UN Decade. Indeed, they said many of the communities have not defined their efforts within a human rights perspective. That s why the 50th anniversary of humanity s most critical and empowering document should not pass in silence, NGO representatives said. Contact: Susana Chiarotti, CLADEM, Juan JosÇ Paso 652, Rosario, Argentina, telephone +54-41/370874, fax +54-41/370874, e-mail , web site (http://www.pdhre.org). MEETING ON REPRESENTATION OF WOMEN IN MEDIA Women media producers from around the world met in Zurich (Switzerland) from 6-12 September to discuss electronic media, representation of women from the South in local and Northern television productions, and cultural expression and self-representation, among other things. The meeting, sponsored by Shedhalle, an NGO working on international art and cultural projects, included audio-visual presentations by women from independent media, community television and video units from Latin America, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Participants discussed media production, distribution and representation in a post-colonial context; exclusionary social practices that are produced and fostered by the media, such as those affecting gypsies; struggles against the effects of globalization by taking a grassroots approach to the question of identity and representational politics; and the challenges marginalized women face. Speakers highlighted the ways in which communication can be used to mobilize for political change within national contexts or for emerging alternative globalizations, such as global fax alarms used by women at the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. Contact: Shedhalle Zurich, Seestrasse 395, CH-8038 Zurich, Switzerland, telephone +41-1/481 5950, fax +41-1/481 5951, e-mail web site (http://www.access.ch/justwatch). NGOS MOBILIZE AGAINST EU PATENT DIRECTIVE Southern NGOs, people s organizations and scientists have joined NGOs in Europe in mobilizing to block legislation approved on 16 July by the European Union Parliament. The legislation allows 17-20 year patents to be taken out within the EU on living material including plants, animals and human parts. If implemented, the Directive on the Legal Protection of Biotechnological Inventions would prove a major victory for transnational corporations that have been lobbying to impose monopoly rights over life forms through patents, and it would jeopardize the livelihoods of millions of people in the South, according to some activists. The next stage in the legislative procedure takes place in the European Council of Ministers in November 1997. A Memorandum from Concerned Citizens of the South, delivered to EU development ministers in September, outlines concerns about the legislation and calls for the directive to be delayed until wide public consultation has taken place. The NGOs cite concerns including legalization of biopiracy, and undermining of food security and the South s bargaining power in the World Trade Organization (WTO). By corrupting common-sense definitions of what constitutes an invention (in practice, equating it with a discovery), NGOs note the directive would not only encourage continuing biopiracy of genetic resources from the South but would also criminalize Southern farmers, herbalists, traditional healers and indigenous communities. In terms of food security, some activists say the directive would dramatically increase the powers and influence of corporate plant breeders, transnational agribusiness companies and transnational pharmaceutical corporations. Southern NGOs signing the memo reject the argument that biotechnology is necessary if the world s people are to be fed. Instead, they say it will exacerbate hunger and malnutrition by further undermining community control over food production and access to land and food. Activists also believe the directive threatens to preempt a democratic outcome to the 1999 WTO review of the Trade Related Intellectual Property (TRIPs) agreement by intensifying the already substantial pressure on Southern nations to adopt US-style patent legislation and undermining their bargaining power within the negotiations. Contact: The Corner House, PO Box 3137, Station Road, Sturminster Newton, Dorset DDT10 1YJ, United Kingdom, telephone +44-1258/473795, fax +44-1258/473748, e-mail . CONFERENCE ON HIGHLY INDEBTED POOR COUNTRIES The second Latin American Conference of the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPCs), held from 2-4 July in Tegucigalpa (Honduras), aimed to educate the public, including leaders of Honduran grassroots organizations, about the World Bank s HIPC initiative and to examine whether Honduras, whose debt burden is currently classified as sustainable by the Bank, might qualify for debt relief. The conference was organized by NGOs and the Netherlands Organization for International Development Cooperation (NOVIB). Technical experts from central banks and NGOs from around the world discussed the reasons debt is contracted; the extent of the debt problem beyond the 41 HIPC countries; and how the debt burden inhibits the space of human development. Participants also discussed some of the shortcomings of the HIPC initiative and proposed alternative methods of calculating the debt burden including giving a more prominent place to the ratio of debt-to-budget expenditures and debt-to-GDP. Representatives from a number of HIPC countries, including the four Latin American highly-indebted poor countries of Bolivia, Guyana, Honduras and Nicaragua, stressed the importance of direct action, international labour solidarity, and initiatives to promote civil society/government consultations on debt. Participants decided to form a Latin American network for sharing information and strategies on external debt, to be called the Red Latinoamericana en Deuda y Desarrollo (Latin American Network on Debt and Development). Contact: Associaci¢n de Organismos No Gubernamentales, Apd Postal 2239, Tegucigalpa, Honduras, telephone +504/303546 or 307622, fax +504/303546, e-mail . JUBILEE CAMPAIGN 2000 The Jubilee Campaign 2000 is collecting signatures for a petition to be submitted to the 1999 Summit of the Eight (formerly the Group of Seven), to be held in Germany. The campaign has also set up a millennium clock in London to draw attention to what it calls the urgent need for slashing developing country debt by the year 2000. Jubilee 2000 (see Go Between 63), an educational charity based in the UK, is campaigning to achieve a one-off cancellation of the backlog of unpayable debt for the world s poorest countries, which it describes as one that either cannot be paid, or can be paid only with enormous human suffering. The campaign, which focuses on relieving the debt burden of governments to other governments, international financial institutions or to commercial banks by the year 2000, is designed to promote social justice, fundamental human rights and sustainable development. During 1997 Jubilee 2000 campaigns are being launched in Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Ghana, Honduras, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Italy, Kenya, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania, the United States, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The campaign, which has established strong links with refugee and anti-racist groups, is also working with many other national, women s and community organizations, as well as trade unions such as the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU). Contact: Jubilee 2000, PO Box 100, London SE1 7RT, United Kingdom, telephone +44-171/620 4444, fax +44-171/620 0719, e-mail , web site (http://www.oneworld.org/jubilee2000/campaign.h tml). YOUTH FOR HABITAT INTERNATIONAL NETWORK Youth organizations from 41 countries gathered in Eskisehir (Turkey) from 14-21 September to discuss the role of youth in implementing the agendas agreed at the 1996 Habitat II conference and the 1992 Earth Summit. This event was the first follow-up meeting of Youth for Habitat, an open-ended network of youth groups formed during the build-up to Habitat II. The 400 participants in the meeting decided to consolidate their partnership under an umbrella structure called Youth for Habitat International Network. The network, whose secretariat will be based in Turkey, will focus on the following objectives: n raise awareness and distribute information on the Habitat Agenda and Agenda 21, as well as promote youth perspectives on their implementation; n encourage local work on the documents objectives, particularly in areas where no action has been taken and where global aspects are not integrated into existing local initiatives; n exchange information within the network in the fields of training, fundraising, communication and networking; n encourage other international events that could promote youth perspectives on the Habitat Agenda and Agenda 21; n monitor youth actions at all levels through comparable human settlement and shelter indicators and documented best practices; and n establish contact with relevant UN agencies, NGOs/grassroots organizations and other partners to achieve these objectives. Contact: Youth for Habitat International Secretariat, c/o Mehmetcan Tarhan-Sezai Hazir, Youth Association for the Implementation of the Decisions of Habitat II and Agenda 21, Sisli Belediyesi 12, Kat Istanbul, Turkey, telephone +90-212/272 1212, fax +90-212/272 4596, e-mail . REGIONAL CONSULTATION ON REFUGEE WOMEN Major problems confronting refugee women are violence, insecurity, lack of basic needs and disrupted lives, according to participants at the Regional Consultation on Refugee Women and Women in Situations of Armed Conflict, held on 12-16 October in Chiangmai (Thailand). The consultation, organized by the Asian Pacific Development Centre, is part of the centre s support for implementation of the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women Platform for Action. Participants said filling information gaps and improved dissemination on conditions of refugee women and women in armed conflict, among other things, are essential to lobbying and advocacy on their behalf. As a result of the conference, a regional situation analysis report will be produced for distribution among women s networks and for the UN Commission on the Status of Women session in March 1998. Contact: Vanessa Griffen, Coordinator, Gender and Development Programme, Asian and Pacific Development Centre, Pesiaran Duta, PO Box 12224, 50770 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, telephone +60-3/6511088, fax +60-3/6510316, e-mail . WORLD BREAST CANCER CONFERENCE More than 1000 delegates from 54 countries attended the first World Conference on Breast Cancer to discuss, among other things, research and medical treatment; environmental pollution and its links to health; and economic links to health such as poverty and globalization. Nearly half of the participants were women living with cancer. The theme of the conference, held from 13-17 July in Kingston (Canada), was Break the Silence, Stop the Epidemic: Opening the Doors to Dialogue Around the World. Delegates, who began work on a Global Action Plan to Eradicate Breast Cancer, included scientists, environmentalists, political leaders and health and human rights activists. The conference ended in an International Public Hearing chaired by Bella Abzug, President of the Women s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO) and a cancer survivor. Ms. Abzug said 70% of breast cancer cases are due to unknown causes although connections can be shown between increases in chemical use and rising rates of cancer worldwide. She called the breast cancer epidemic an international public health crisis, with a death toll expected to exceed half a million globally in the year 2000. This is every woman s nightmare and one in eight women s grim reality in industrialized regions of the world, she stated. As regions of the South become more industrialized, cancer incidence increases. Our question is: Why? Scientists, researchers and activists presented testimony to a panel of government representatives from legislative bodies and ministries of health or environment from Brazil, Egypt, Guyana, Japan and the United States. A survey was distributed to conference delegates to gather suggestions for the global action plan, which will be developed over the coming months. The next conference, scheduled to take place from 25-31 July 1999 in Ottawa (Canada), will assess progress in implementing the plan. Contact: WEDO, 355 Lexington Avenue, 3rd Floor, New York NY 10017, United States, telephone +1-212/973 0325, fax +1-212/973 0335, e-mail . REGIONAL NEWS COUNCIL OF EUROPE SUMMIT The Council of Europe Summit, held in Strasbourg (France) on 10-11 October, has adopted an action plan to strengthen democratic stability of the council s 40 member states. The action plan defines four main areas where the council says there is scope for immediate advances and practical measures. They are: n democracy and human rights a Single Court of Human Rights will be established, as well as an office of Commissioner of Human Rights; n social cohesion social standards as embodied in the Social Charter and in other council instruments will be promoted, and a new strategy for social cohesion will be defined; n security of citizens the council called for the adoption of further measures to prevent terrorism and strengthen international cooperation in combating terrorism, and it instructed the Committee of Ministers to adopt before the end of the year guiding principles to be applied in the development of domestic legislation and practice to combat corruption and organized crime; and n democratic values and cultural diversity the council decided to launch an initiative for education for democratic citizenship. To carry out structural reforms, the council instructed the Committee of Ministers to adapt the organization to its new tasks and its enlarged membership and to improve its decision-making process. (Over the past five years over 15 states of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union have joined the council.) It also instructed the committee to take steps to ensure that the action plan is speedily implemented by the various Council of Europe bodies, in cooperation with European and other international organizations. Contact: Information Point, Publishing and Documentation Service, Council of Europe, F-67075 Strasbourg Cedex, France, telephone +33-3/88 41 20 33, fax +33-3/88 41 27 45. MULTILATERAL ENVIRONMENTAL AGREEMENTS An International Conference on Implementation of Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs): Ways and Means, held 15-16 September in The Hague (Netherlands), was attended by 110 experts of 29 countries, relevant MEA secretariats, international organizations, NGOs, research institutes and universities. Presentations were made on implementation of MEAs through trade and non-trade measures, historical analysis and expectations for the future. A comparison was made of dispute settlement regimes in MEAs and in the World Trade Organization (WTO). Participants were also updated on the use of consensus building as a way to handle disputes between environment and trade interests, and on negotiations of a Biosafety Protocol under the Convention on Biological Diversity as they relate to the trade and environment debate. Three parallel sessions focused on implementation of multilateral environmental agreements on climate change, forests and waste exports. Participants also discussed legal implications of WTO law on environmental policies and bridges between trade, environment and development to improve effectiveness of global environmental policies. The conference concluded with a panel on the future of debate on trade and environment. The conference was organized by the Netherlands Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment and TMC Asser Instituut. Contact: TMC Asser Instituut, PO Box 30461, 2500 GL Den Haag, Netherlands, telephone +31-70/342 0329, fax +31-70/342 0316, e-mail , web site (http://www.asser.nl). UNHCR WARNS AGAINST DEPORTATIONS In September the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) warned against the hasty deportation of rejected Algerian asylum-seekers in the midst of an upsurge of violence in the country. UNHCR said it is concerned about the forcible return of rejected Algerian asylum-seekers from European countries in recent months. We recognize that not all asylum-seekers from Algeria have legitimate claims to asylum, said Dennis McNamara, UNHCR s Director of International Protection. However, we consider that a significant number of those currently fleeing Algeria are in genuine need of international protection. UNHCR said there has been a low level of acknowledgement paid by some European countries to the protection needs of these Algerians: last year, of the 5950 Algerian asylum applicants in Canada, the United States and 14 European countries, only 670 were approved. Violence and terrorism in Algeria have been on the rise since the end of 1996. Political assassinations and car bomb attacks have claimed many lives, particularly in recent months. Under the current situation, UNHCR says it believes certain groups of asylum seekers could face serious security problems if returned to Algeria now. Algerians who have close links with the government, members of the country s security forces and the judiciary, intellectuals, artists and journalists seen as supporting a secular government need special consideration in the asylum countries. Also at risk are women viewed as transgressing moral or religious values and members or perceived members of Islamic groups. UNHCR said these people should benefit from international protection, and it strongly appealed to governments not to deport Algerian asylum seekers without due consideration of the security risk they may face if they return to their country. In October, UNHCR also denounced the expulsion of hundreds of Rwandan refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo. The DRC government said it had repatriated more than 4000 Rwandans from its frontier in Goma. Most were reported to have fled the recent upsurge of violence in Rwanda. At the same time Rwandan authorities told UNHCR staff in the border town of Gisenyi that DRC soldiers trucked to the area 830 Rwandan refugees, including 753 women and children. The DRC government is a signatory to international conventions on refugees. Its actions against refugees in recent days constitute a violation of their commitments, said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata. We are particularly alarmed at the situation in the DRC. We were forced to suspend our operations for Rwandan refugees there after our efforts to help these people had been frustrated at every turn, she added. This is just another stage in the deteriorating condition of refugees in the DRC. DUBROVNIK CONFERENCE ON TRANSITION ECONOMIES Experts from governments of transition economies, academia and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, Bank for International Settlements, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development gathered in Dubrovnik in late June for the third Dubrovnik Conference on Transition Economies. Participants discussed balance of payment trends, exchange rates and competitiveness in transition economies. Two previous conferences dealt with macroeconomic stabilization and banking sector reforms, respectively. The conferences are designed to facilitate systematic analyses and a free exchange of ideas on the problems of transition economies. The June 1997 Dubrovnik conference focused on approaches to balance of payments, exchange rates and trade issues in transition economies. It was suggested that certain indicators such as the ability to mobilize domestic savings, attract foreign savings and use the proceeds productively to advance reforms and growth determine the sustainability of current account deficits and should be monitored carefully. Many favoured fixing exchange rates in the early stage of stabilization. Others advocated flexible rates to avoid currency appreciation, among other things. On trade policy, all agreed that transition economies should remain open, but views differed on whether countries should simultaneously pursue complementary reforms. Contact: Dorothy Thibodeau, International Monetary Fund (IMF), 700 19th Street NW, Washington DC 20431, United States, telephone +1-202/623 7300. UNDCP: OPIUM PRODUCTION IN AFGHANISTAN UP Opium poppy production in Afghanistan rose to 2800 metric tons in 1997 an estimated 25% increase over the preceding year, according to the 1997 Afghanistan Opium Poppy Survey. Over 95% of Afghanistan s total opium production originates in provinces currently under Taliban control. The survey results reaffirm the importance and urgency for the international community and the local authorities to take coordinated action at the source to deal with this very grave problem, according to the UN International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP). It said some 58,400 hectares of Afghanistan are under opium cultivation, with a marginal increase of about 2.8% over 1996. The significant increase in production is probably due to a higher yield per hectare resulting from favourable weather conditions and improved methods of cultivation. The new estimate puts dry opium production in Afghanistan above the combined estimated production in the so-called Golden Triangle of Lao People s Democratic Republic, Myanmar and Thailand. According to UNDCP, few countries today are faced with a more daunting array of problems than Afghanistan it is poverty-stricken, the infrastructure is in ruins, and it has experienced 19 years of war. In addition, legitimate agricultural production has been halved, with a per capita income below US$100 per year. Contact: UN Information Service, Vienna International Centre, PO Box 500, A-1400 Vienna, Austria, telephone +43-1/21345 4666, fax +43-1/21345 5899, e-mail . DUBROVNIK CONFERENCE ON TRANSITION ECONOMIES The World Food Programme (WFP) has warned that nutritional data collected under government auspices shows an average 17% of young children surveyed in North Korea are seriously undernourished. Without adequate assistance we can expect massive mortality in the coming winter, WFP Executive Director Catherine Bertini said in September. Nutritionally, North Koreans are already pressed to the limit. In the first collection of nutritional data obtained by a foreign aid agency in North Korea, a team of five WFP-recruited nutritionists measured the weight-for-height ratio of more than 4000 children in nurseries and kindergartens in four North Korean provinces selected by the government. This is not the random sample we had hoped to carry out countrywide, and we cannot vouch for its scientific accuracy, but it does confirm anecdotal evidence about the North Korean s poor nutritional status and the strong impressions of WFP staff and other visitors to the country, Ms. Bertini said. According to WFP, 17% of the young children it measured were seriously malnourished. The standard weight for a young girl 70 centimetres tall is 8.4 kilograms, but the malnourished children measured with this height were all below 6.8 kg and some were below 6.0 kg, which are respectively the cut-off points for moderate and severe malnutrition. The situation is dangerous because winter will set in soon: temperatures fall to below 20 degrees centigrade, and the country lacks adequate heating and medicine. People will need additional food to combat the cold and medicine to fight off disease. WFP has been distributing supplementary food rations to 2.6 million children aged six or younger since May. However, malnutrition persists in children who cannot absorb the nourishment because they suffer from diarrhoea, respiratory ailments and other diseases left untreated for lack of medicines and medical care. Food aid has also gone to some 250,000 farmers and workers taking part in flood rehabilitation projects and their 850,000 dependents, and up to one million hospital patients. The team of nutritionists included representatives of Save the Children Fund UK, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the UN Children s Fund (UNICEF). Contact: Trevor Rowe, Spokesman, WFP, Via Cristoforo Colombo 426, I-00145 Rome, Italy, telephone +39-6/6513 2602, fax +39-6/6513 2866. FOCUS REALITY OF AID 1997-1998: BLEAK FUTURE FOR THE POOR The Reality of Aid 1997/1998, published by Eurostep, the International Council for Volunteer Agencies and ActionAid, reports that total aid from member states of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has been cut to 0.25% of total OECD gross national product, the lowest level since 1950. The report says this indicates a total lack of commitment by the richest governments to reach the target of 0.7% of GNP. Total aid from OECD countries fell by US$3.8 billion in 1996, a decline of 4.2% in real terms from 1995. The deepest cut was made by Japan, the world s largest bilateral donor, which reduced its aid disbursements by 15% in net terms. The report says there is little indication in OECD countries that this decline will be reversed. Cuts Made Despite Need and Public Support An insufficient amount of aid is being channeled to where it is most needed, according to the report. While the poorest countries received a smaller share of a smaller aid pot, wealthier countries in Central and Eastern Europe received a 10% increase in aid. In 1995 only one-fourth or 25.1% of total OECD aid reached the 48 least developed countries, and 17 out of 21 OECD donors cut their aid to sub-Saharan Africa. We were encouraged when governments committed themselves to OECD targets to halve abject poverty by 2015, said Sabina Siniscalchi, chair of Eurostep. But we now fear that these were empty promises. These cuts have been made despite strong public support for aid and poverty eradication. For example, a recent poll of the European Union (EU) found that an average 67% of people support development cooperation and 87% think it is important. In Japan, 80% of the population thinks aid should remain steady or be increased. And in Spain there have been public demonstrations calling for increased aid levels. Governments say that these cuts are necessary as they must deal with domestic budget deficits. Several European countries have cited pressures to cut their budgets in order to meet targets to join the European Monetary Union. However, in countries that have successfully eliminated their domestic deficits, there are no signs that aid budgets will be restored to previous levels. The report says there is some good news regarding individual government efforts to improve their aid programmes at the policy level. An increasing number of aid agencies have committed to making poverty reduction or eradication the main focus of their aid programmes, such as Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom. And a specific focus on gender is slowly becoming mainstreamed in aid policies. Efforts to Eradicate Poverty Being Undermined The report says that reducing aid is only one of a number of ways that OECD countries are failing less developed countries. Efforts to eradicate poverty are also being undermined by short-term political or commercial interests. A key area where development has been undermined concerns the debt burden carried by so many developing countries. Despite initial progress, some countries such as the United States, Germany and Japan are reportedly holding up implementation of the Highly Indebted Poor Countries Initiative (see page 19). Even if this initiative moves forward, it will likely only benefit six of the 29 severely indebted low income countries, due to the very strict macroeconomic conditions that must be met by [them] in order to qualify for the Highly Indebted Poor Countries relief, said Eurostep. Arms exports from rich counties are also undermining the development potential of low-income countries. Arms trading, which fuels regional conflicts, is still profiting rich countries such as the US, France and Britain, while interventions to prevent or end conflicts are failing. In some cases, food aid has served to undermine sustainable food production rather than promote it. For example, the EU has come under heavy criticism for dumping subsidized beef in South Africa, which has contributed to a 40% reduction in South African commercial farmers incomes. This has led to losses to the economy estimated to be equivalent to 95% of the European Union s annual aid to South Africa. And in Haiti, the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, 30 years of US food aid has failed to promote national food production. Global trade and investment rules, such as the latest round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and the proposed Multilateral Investment Agreement (MIA), are pressuring developing countries to open up their markets before their national industries can survive competitively. It is feared that the MIA would prevent national governments from imposing trade-related restrictions on investment and would guarantee free entry into countries for foreign investors, thus barring efforts in developing countries to direct investment toward strengthening national economic and social capacity, says the report. Recommendations for Renewed Development Cooperation The report calls on OECD governments to honour their international commitments toward developing countries. It concludes that new and innovative forms of cooperation between the North and South are necessary to meet the challenges of the next century. This renewed development cooperation should be based on equal partnerships, not only between governments but also individuals, consumers, social movements and business. It also calls on OECD governments to follow through with specific plans and time lines on their international commitments, including targets agreed at recent international UN conferences. Contact: Earthscan Publications, 120 Pentonville Road, London N1 9JN, United Kingdom, telephone +44-171/278 0433, fax +44-171/278 1142, e-mail . FIFTY-SECOND UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY DEBATES UN REFORM At the opening of a UN General Assembly, all eyes turn to the general debate in the assembly plenary, where heads of state and government, ministers and high-level officials put forward their priorities for the session. UN reform was a central refrain as the general debate of the 52nd General Assembly began on 22 September. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan laid out the challenge as he addressed heads of state and other high-level representatives of the UN membership. Let this be the Reform General Assembly, he said. Let it be remembered as a time when all of us joined forces and seized the opportunities created by the new era to revitalize our United Nations this unique and universal instrument for concerted action in pursuit of the betterment of humankind. In addition to the results of the working groups on UN reform, which met throughout the 51st assembly, governments are considering the Secretary-General s report on Renewing the United Nations: A Programme for Reform to the General Assembly, which was submitted on 16 July to the GA (see Go Between 65). While some of the actions proposed in the report will be implemented by the Secretary-General, others that fall outside of the scope of his mandate require member states approval to be implemented. Broad support was expressed for the Secretary General s reform report, with some governments (including the European Union and the United States) declaring their willingness to treat the report as a package whose main elements would be kept intact and approved. Others (primarily developing countries) foresaw the need for a more deliberate and detailed examination. Reform Priorities in the Debate Many states expressed support for the basic purposes and principles of the United Nations as contained in the UN Charter, and they described economic development as inextricably linked to peace and security. In order to achieve [peace and security] we must bring about a world where sustainable development is possible, said Guido di Tella, Foreign Minister of Argentina, and where the norm is the rule of law; respect for human rights, including respect for the rights of indigenous peoples and minorities; and non-discrimination by reason of race, religion, gender or anything else. Sweden s Foreign Minister, Lena Hjelm-Wallen, pointed out that long-term prevention should address the root causes of conflict: poverty, social injustice, oppression and violation of human rights. She urged UN members to build upon the close relationship between security and development established by recent UN conferences. Malaysian Foreign Minister Dato Seri Abdullah bin Haii Ahmad Badawi, when discussing the growing relationship between the United Nations and the private sector, said the private sector should be welcomed as partners to operationalize certain aspects of sustainable development. He also warned that the UN must not be dominated by the interests of the business community, and he called for corporate actors to be held accountable. The Foreign Affairs Minister of the Dominican Republic said better coordination between the assembly and the Security Council would result in a properly informed Assembly that would be in a position to make better recommendations to the Security Council. In this regard, he said, the strengthening of the General Assembly, the main forum in which member states are represented, cannot be postponed. Slovak Foreign Minister Zdenka Kramplova said, The change of priorities in international politics after the end of the cold war, in particular the utmost necessity to solve various socio-economic problems, seems to have shifted arms control and disarmament issues out of sight. She called for disarmament to be given stronger priority on the UN agenda. Governments, which repeatedly stressed that reform is not synonymous with cost-cutting, welcomed a proposal according to which savings gained through improvements in UN administration would be used for economic development. Many states cautioned against reforms that would weaken the UN s social and economic development work. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Tanzania, speaking on behalf of the Group of 77 developing countries, said that developing countries strongly feel that emphasis should be placed on the role of the UN in economic development. Robert Mugabe, President of Zimbabwe, warned that any attempts to refashion an exclusively political mandate for the United Nations will marginalize its role in development, while giving free play to blind market forces and finance capital. Panama Foreign Minister Ricardo Alberto Arias expressed concern that discussions of reform are disproportionately focused on the use of force, instead of on cooperation for development. He cited poverty as the greatest threat to international peace and security and asked, Which current or future Security Council member s army could put an end to the threat? He proposed reorganizing the UN on the basis of, among other things, peace, trade and sharing of technology. It is not military tools to prevent war that must be strengthened, he said. What must be strengthened are the tools to build peace. Progress is not yet everyone s partner, said United States President Bill Clinton, who noted that over half the world s people are two days walk from a telephone and are literally disconnected from the global economy. Describing the role of the UN in economic matters he said, The UN has a special responsibility to make sure that as the global economy creates greater wealth, it does not produce growing disparities between the haves and have-nots, or threaten the global environment, our common home. The European Union (EU) called for an organization that responds better to one of its fundamental objectives, which consists of promoting economic and social progress, eradicating poverty and ensuring the widest possible participation in an expanding world economy. Security Council Reform The need to expand the membership of the council, in particular to ensure more equitable representation of developing countries, was most frequently cited, and a number of governments called for permanent representation of Japan and Germany. We are all agreed in this chamber that what was appropriate in 1945 is not what is right in 1997, said UK Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Robin Cook. Most of the countries represented here today did not even exist when the United Nations was formed. Mr. Cook, who stressed the need for a new balance between developed and developing countries in a modernized Security Council said, We are all agreed on the need for change; we have been discussing it for four years. It is time that we agreed that a proposal for change which has the backing of the vast majority of members is better than a status quo which has the backing of none. Many agreed that both permanent and non-permanent seats should be increased. However there was no agreement on mechanisms for determining who would fill new permanent seats. The question of the veto is also unresolved; some countries want to abolish the veto, which would require acquiescence of all five current veto powers. The democratization of the council hinges on the veto being either eliminated or extended to the new permanent members, argued Alfred Nzo, South African Minister for Foreign Affairs. The Minister for Foreign Affairs of Belgium called the right of veto incompatible with the general interest and appealed to UN member states to modify the decision-making mechanism so as to avoid recourse to this instrument which has become entirely obsolete. Singapore Foreign Minister S. Jayakumar said that no great power or even a power with aspirations to greatness has ever been willing to submit its own vital interests to UN jurisdiction. He added that although UN reform may be widely accepted, what the great powers want is not a strong United Nations per se. They want a United Nations just strong enough and credible enough to serve as an effective instrument of their own will and policies. Mr. Jayakumar said small countries are more inclined to take the UN on its own terms and in its own right. Financial Reform Governments, both large and small from all regions of the world, joined together to call on member states to pay their dues in full, on time and without conditions. Many referred to the continued inability of the United States government to pay its legally assessed contribution. We all must honour our assessed contributions in line with international agreements, not unilateral decisions, said Namibian Ambassador Martin Anjaba. Bjorn Tore Goda, Norwegian Minister for Foreign Affairs, was even more explicit. It cannot be justified that some countries unilaterally pay less than their legally binding share, or nothing at all. Non-payment is unacceptable, he said. How can those of us who always make a point of paying in full and on time, without conditions, expect our citizens and taxpayers to continue financing free riders? But US non-payment, as devastating as it has been for the United Nations, is not the only problem with the organization s financial situation. Finland Minister for Foreign Affairs Tarja Kaarina Halonen noted that only 89 member states...have paid their dues in full and without conditions, and many of them did so late. Mr. Clinton said that he has made it a priority to work with our Congress on comprehensive legislation that would allow us to pay off the bulk of our arrears and assure full financing of America s assessment in the years ahead. At the same time, he said the US is looking to member states to adopt a more equitable scale of assessments of the United Nations dues. The UN scale of assessment is the system by which each member s share of the budget is assessed. The current scale methodology attempts to approximate member states capacity to pay by using six criteria, including national income data for a base period; debt relief that reduces annual national income of eligible, highly indebted countries; and a low per capita income allowance that further reduces national income already adjusted for debt. The floor is set at a minimum rate of 0.01% and the ceiling, which is the maximum rate that a country can be assessed, is 25%. The United States, which is the only country that currently benefits from the maximum 25% rate, has met with mixed reactions to its call to reduce the rate to 20%. Keizo Obuchi, Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs, said Japan s assessment is almost as great as the assessments of the other [non-US] four permanent members of the Security Council. If Japan s assessment were to increase further out of proportion, he said with reform of the Security Council not yet realized...there would be a problem with respect to the fairness of such a situation. However, Italian Foreign Affairs Minister Lamberto Dini warned against making such a linkage. There can be absolutely no link between members contributions and Security Council reform, lest the impression be created that permanent seats are up for sale, he said. Angel Gurria, Mexican Minister of Foreign Affairs said, The financial crisis of the organization should not lead us to take decisions that distort the spirit of reform....Carried to this extreme, this logic would call for the designation of Ted Turner as a permanent member of the Security Council, with the right of veto. By the way, he added, we appreciate Mr. Turner s generosity. The report of the Secretary-General on Renewing the United Nations: A Programme for Reform to the General Assembly is available on the UN web site (http://www.un.org). Many United Nations missions have also made their speeches available on their home page on the Internet. If you do not have access to the Internet, you can obtain a copy of your government s speech by contacting the mission or write to NGLS, Room FF-346, 304 East 45th Street, New York NY 10017, United States, telephone +1-212/963 3125, fax +1-212/963 8712, e-mail . ELIMINATING LANDMINES: A GIFT TO THE WORLD Representatives of 121 countries attending a diplomatic conference in Oslo (Norway) from 1-19 September have agreed to adopt a treaty unambiguously banning the production, transfer, stockpiling and use of anti-personnel landmines (APLs). The Oslo meeting was one of the final steps in what has become known as the Ottawa Process, a series of meetings aimed at producing the treaty. Canada has issued an open invitation to all states to sign the treaty at a ministerial conference scheduled to take place in Ottawa (Canada) from 3-4 December 1997; almost all of the 106 states that launched the process in June 1997 are expected to do so, with the treaty entering into force once 40 signatory states have ratified it. Parties to the treaty commit to destroying their stockpiles of anti-personnel landmines and those laid within minefields, those laid in areas outside minefields, and to report annually on the status of their programmes for destruction. The treaty requires the destruction of stockpiled mines within four years and of mines in the ground within ten years. The convention outlines a variety of measures involving the UN, including: n treaty review conferences; n compliance investigations; n the arrangement of conferences of states Parties; n collection, transmittal and circulation of requests, reports and information; n designation of the UN Secretary-General as the depositary of the convention; and n technical work on mine clearance. Toward A Global Ban Fifty countries supported efforts for a global ban on anti-personnel landmines at the first international strategy meeting of governments, convened by Canada in Ottawa in October 1996. The resulting Ottawa Declaration was the first major intergovernmental commitment to address the landmines crisis in a comprehensive manner. It included efforts to achieve a total prohibition of anti-personnel landmines, an early end to new deployments of APLs, and greatly increased mine clearance and assistance to victims as part of a global strategy to combat the humanitarian emergency caused by mines. The declaration included reference to more than ten specific regional initiatives in Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America to enhance regional and international cooperation in clearing mines, providing assistance to victims, and building regional awareness of the landmines crisis. At the 51st UN General Assembly in December of last year, 157 states voted in favour of Austrian-sponsored resolution 51/45S, which called upon all states to conclude a new international legally-binding agreement totally prohibiting APLs as soon as possible. Only ten states abstained from voting, and none opposed the resolution. A draft treaty text was then elaborated by Austria and circulated to governments at the end of 1996. At an international conference held in Vienna from 12-14 February 1997, representatives of 111 states, as well as representatives of the UN, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) and others exchanged views on the content of the draft. Government representatives from 120 countries then met in Bonn (Germany) on 23-24 April to discuss compliance provisions to be included in the draft. This was followed by an international expert meeting on possible verification measures for the treaty, held from 24-25 April in Konigswinter (Germany). The Brussels International Conference for a Global Ban on Anti-Personnel Mines, held from 24-27 June of this year, was the official follow-up to the 1996 Ottawa conference. It was attended by representatives from 154 states, which constituted the largest-ever gathering of states for a specific conference devoted to the anti-personnel landmines issue. On the closing day, 97 states signed a declaration calling for the negotiation of a ban treaty by the end of 1997. The Oslo diplomatic conference was open to full participation by states that signed the Brussels declaration. Negotiations were based on the draft treaty text prepared by Austria. All states signing the Brussels declaration had the right to vote on proposals, while others were present as observers. Extraordinary Momentum The Ottawa process gained extraordinary momentum during 1997, starting with an announcement by South Africa of a unilateral ban on the use, production and trade of APLs in February. The South African initiative led to a series of commitments from southern African countries, including Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland and Zimbabwe. In May the newly elected government of the United Kingdom announced it would destroy its stocks of APLs by the year 2005 and press more vigorously for a ban. At the end of the same month some 50 representatives from Baltic and Eastern European states, NGOs and landmine experts met in Stockholm (Sweden) to build support for the treaty. Diana, Princess of Wales also helped to bring international attention to the issue. In June at the annual meeting of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), 40 African governments supported a resolution declaring Africa a landmine-free zone. At the same time, the Organization of American States (OAS) declared it would seek the goal of a landmine-free hemisphere and called for a moratorium on APL production, use and transfer. Also in June, Turkmenistan hosted Central Asia s first-ever conference on means of achieving a ban on APLs, which focused on the human and social costs of landmines in the region, international efforts to bring about a ban, and means of stepping up mine clearance and assistance to victims. In July, Asian military and strategic analysts meeting in Manila (Philippines), called on Asian governments to take urgent action to address the disastrous humanitarian implications of the use of APLs. In August, Germany announced it would complete the destruction of its landmine stocks by the end of the year in line with its renunciation of landmines last year. The United States, facing enormous international pressure, announced two weeks prior to the Oslo conference that it would join the talks, although it brought a number of reservations to the negotiating table. Some Holding Back Two of the permanent five members of the UN Security Council, China and the Russian Federation, did not participate in the talks although the Russian government recently announced that it is now prepared to cooperate in achieving the goals of the convention. For most of 1997 a parallel attempt to negotiate a worldwide ban on landmines has also met resistance. The process is taking place through the Geneva-based UN Conference on Disarmament, which recently appointed Ambassador John Campbell (Australia) as Special Coordinator to explore the establishment of a possible mandate on the question of anti-personnel landmines. Tension was heightened in the final days of the Oslo conference as the US pressed for the incorporation of its exceptions into the treaty: it insisted on a change in the treaty s definitions to permit the US to continue using one million of its smart APLs, which are anti-tank mines fitted with anti-personnel booby-traps to stop soldiers defusing them. The US also called for a reversal of the provision prohibiting governments from withdrawing from the treaty during armed conflict, and a nine-year delay in the effective date of the treaty for all nations. In the spirit of compromise, the US dropped two other demands: a specific exception for the Korean peninsula and deletion of the no reservations clause, although it was pointed out that those concerns could be taken care of by the remaining three demands. While supporters of a ban regret that the US says it will not sign the treaty in Ottawa in December along with some 26 other users or producers of APLs many involved in the process were pleased by the determined resolve of governments supporting the ban to avoid exceptions, reservations or postponements in the treaty s clauses. Challenges for the Future The government of Canada will host a series of roundtables to create an Agenda for Action on APLs for the post-signing period. Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Lloyd Axworthy has called on NGOs to help mobilize governments not only to sign the treaty but to ratify it as soon as possible and help find a way to engage non-participating states and non-state actors in an effort to universalize it. He has also noted what he calls the key role civil society can play in deterring and detecting willful non-compliance. The International Campaign to Ban Landmines, based in Washington DC, has launched a plan for concerted action by NGOs around the world that make up its coalition. The plan calls for: n securing the maximum number of signatories in December; n ensuring the treaty enters into force before the year 2000; n promoting universalization of the treaty; n monitoring its implementation, including requirements for destruction of stockpiles and emplaced mines; and n assistance to victims. Contact for the UN s work on landmines: Mine Clearance and Policy Unit, Department of Humanitarian Affairs, Room S-3600, United Nations, New York NY 10017, United States, telephone +1-212/963 1875, fax +1-212/963 1312, web site (http://www.un.org/Depts/Landmine/index.html). Demining Unit, Department of Peace-keeping Operations, Room U-510, United Nations, New York NY 10017, United States, telephone +1-212/963 1875, fax +1-212/963 3452. For the campaign against anti-personnel landmines: International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), 19 avenue de la Paix, CH-1202 Geneva, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/734 6001, fax +41-22/733 2057. International Campaign to Ban Landmines, care of US Campaign to Ban Landmines, Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation, Suite 740, 2001 S Street SW, Washington DC 20009, United States, telephone +1-800/853 9292, fax +1-202/483 9312, web site (http://www.vvaf.org/landmine/index.html). Also see NGLS Roundup, March 1997. FIRST CONFERENCE OF PARTIES TO DESERTIFICATION CONVENTION MEETS On 10 October ministers and other senior officials from 122 governments ended their two-week meeting in Rome (Italy) on the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (CCD). The First Conference of the Parties (COP-I) made a number of decisions concerning several institutional features of the convention and participation of NGOs in subsequent conferences. The plenary heard statements from ministers and other government officials and representatives of intergovernmental organizations regarding efforts to implement the CCD. Five plenary meetings were devoted to a high-level segment and one to a dialogue between NGOs and delegates on building partnerships. Most delegates said they were pleased with COP-1 and looked forward to COP-2 in Dakar (Senegal) in late 1998 to consider more substantive issues related to combatting desertification. The meeting was attended by over 700 government delegates, including 51 ministers and vice ministers, and around 200 observers. One hundred and nine representatives of 62 NGOs attended, and on 6 October the plenary hall was transformed into an NGO Forum. At the forum presentations were organized around four themes: women, desertification, drought and poverty; local experiences and traditional knowledge; partnership building; and communication. The Global Mechanism Established COP-1 agreed to the establishment of a global mechanism to promote and rationalize the transfer of financial and technological assistance for activities to curb desertification. The mechanism, which is mandated to assure every country needing international support has full access to information about multilateral and bilateral sources, will act as a catalyst to improve coordination, minimize overlaps and share information, ideas and success stories. Drawing on the lessons of the past, we will now rely on a more networked set of institutions and a more cooperative approach for channelling financial and technological resources to where they are most needed, said Hama Arba Diallo, Executive Secretary of the CCD. As this new approach starts to show results on the ground that are convincing as well as cost-effective, it should also gradually attract greater resources into the struggle against desertification. Delegates chose the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) as the organization to administer the global mechanism. IFAD will work in close cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which will designate the mechanism s head. Other organizations including the World Bank and the African, Asian and InterAmerican regional development banks will actively collaborate to ensure that the mechanism achieves its aim of giving people of the drylands the tools they need to help themselves. Permanent Secretariat to be Located in Bonn The meeting also finalized arrangements for another institutional pillar of the convention. Until now the convention process has been supported by an interim secretariat located in Geneva. Governments agreed by consensus to establish a permanent secretariat on the foundations of the existing one and to locate it in Bonn (Germany), where it will share premises with the secretariats of the climate change and migratory species treaties, as well as the UN Volunteers, among other UN programmes. The parties to the convention also agreed on a 1998 and 1999 work plan and budget for the secretariat. In addition to a core budget for salaries and operating expenses, there will be two trust funds to support supplementary activities and the participation of delegates from the affected developing countries. Plenary Meeting on NGO/Government Partnerships Delegates and NGOs applauded the holding of a plenary meeting organized by the NGO community on 9 October, which was described as a useful forum that set a precedent for incorporating practitioners into intergovernmental processes. The plenary enabled governments and NGOs to define concepts such as partnerships and jointly discuss their objectives. Delegates and NGOs broke into small groups to discuss their understanding of partnerships; characteristics of strong partnerships; and expectations of partnerships. An Argentine case study on building partnerships for national action programmes was presented, and NGOs and delegates discussed NGO participation. Several participants spoke about the need for methods for bridging the activities of local and national NGOs and North-South and South-South exchanges. Key issues discussed included the degree to which partnerships lead to community involvement; the place of women and gender issues in national action programmes; defining the roles and responsibilities of all partners involved; the need for time, respect and awareness of the legitimate role of all stakeholders; and political will on the part of implementing agencies. Decision ICCD/COP(1)/L.20 tabled by Argentina during the NGO-organized meeting was adopted by the closing plenary without comment. The decision, which recalls CCD references to the participation of NGOs and local populations in combatting desertification, requests that additional open dialogue sessions organized by NGOs occur within the programme of work for future COPs. It also requests that the secretariat make all efforts to facilitate at least two half-day NGO sessions within the official programme of work, and it asks NGOs to give further consideration to institutional mechanisms for reinforcing a wide range of partnerships. Background on the Convention The Convention to Combat Desertification, which was one of the results of negotiations at the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development, was adopted in June 1994. The convention opened for signature in October of the same year, and it entered into force on 26 December 1996. Contact: Secretariat for the Convention to Combat Desertification, Geneva Executive Centre, 11-13 chemin des AnÇmones, CH-1219 ChÉtelaine, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/979 9412, fax +41-22/979 9030, e-mail . WTO HOSTS HIGH LEVEL MEETING ON LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES The World Trade Organization (WTO) hosted a high level meeting on Integrated Initiatives for Least-Developed Countries Trade Development to discuss means to support the 48 least developed countries (LDCs) in reversing their marginalization from the global trading system. The meeting, held in Geneva on 26-27 October, was preceded by an NGO symposium jointly convened by WTO and the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The NGO symposium, held on 25-26 September, produced a set of recommendations (WT/LDC/HL/16). This was the first time the WTO secretariat co-organized an NGO event designed specifically to contribute to a WTO high level meeting. The high level meeting aimed to foster coherence and coordination between the increasing number of autonomous bilateral and multilateral initiatives aimed at supporting integration of LDCs in the world economy. The centre piece of this effort is an integrated framework for trade-related technical assistance pursuant to the WTO Plan of Action for Least-Developed Countries, which was adopted at the 1996 WTO ministerial conference in Singapore. The integrated framework is designed to facilitate coordination among the six agencies involved in preparations for the high level meeting and to develop country-specific programmes that are demand-driven by the least-developed countries. The agencies are WTO, UNCTAD, the International Trade Centre (ITC), UN Development Programme (UNDP), the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). For this purpose, the high level meeting held 12 pilot country roundtables covering Bangladesh, Chad, Djibouti, Guinea, Haiti, Madagascar, Mali, Nepal, Tanzania, Uganda, Vanuatu and Zambia. In addition, the high level meeting held a plenary session on market access and two thematic roundtables: one on building capacity to trade and one on encouraging investment. Market Access WTO Director-General Renato Ruggiero stressed the urgency of improving access of LDC exports, not only to developed countries markets but to those of advanced developing countries and economies in transition. UNCTAD Secretary-General Rubens Ricupero reminded delegates of the problems of excessively complex rules of origin and tariff escalation (higher tariffs imposed on processed goods). Delegations from a number of developed and developing countries and transition economies announced new or additional preferential market access measures for LDCs. South Africa expressed concern about conditionalities that may be attached to bilateral initiatives such as the proposed Africa Initiative of the United States. This concern was echoed by the Ugandan delegate who told the plenary of the internal pressures his government faces when such conditionalities impose tariff reductions on imports, which may induce domestic firms to adjust to international competition but also risk undermining local industry. Building Trade Capacity The thematic roundtable on trade capacity touched on the multi-faceted aspects of supply-side constraints including macro-economic policy, physical infrastructure, human resources, communications, transport, trade support services and transparent governance structures. In the context of the proposed integrated framework, discussions focused on coordination among the six agencies and other bilateral programmes, including the need for greater coherence between the different agencies policy advice. One delegate said that withdrawal of the state s role in directing economic development, as advocated by some, would not be compatible with following the East Asian model, which countries are now encouraged to emulate. The UNDP representative suggested part of the problem is that governments send different ministries who give contradictory advice to the agencies respective governing bodies. He added that greater coherence among ministries may help in this regard. The meeting chair, Development Minister Jan Pronk (Netherlands), concurred with this view and said that it is the same governments who also own these different agencies and in a sense we are making these recommendations to ourselves. A representative of a British NGO, speaking on behalf of the 35 NGOs who took part in the joint WTO/UNCTAD NGO symposium, said that unintended, negative consequences of trade policy changes in terms of food security, environmental damage or further marginalization must be recognized and dealt with. He emphasized that technical assistance should be targeted at micro-enterprises, farmers associations and microcredit in order to build trade capacity from the bottom up. He added that NGOs have a role to play in terms of their on-the-ground experience and ability to reach people. Encouraging Investment The thematic roundtable on investment focused on encouraging private investment for LDCs trade capacity-building. It was generally accepted that mobilization of domestic investment is the central factor around which a mix of public and private foreign investments should build. The meeting stressed the importance of good governance and partnerships, particularly between public and private sectors, but also with NGOs. In view of the proliferation of bilateral investment treaties, some delegations expressed the need to move away from the present discretionary system, based on unequal bargaining power relations, toward a rules-based system that could be developed through a multilateral investment treaty. An NGO representative from Tanzania said that a multilateral agreement on investment should be development friendly (see NGLS Roundup, November 1997), not just in terms of trade capacity-building, but with regard to wider development concerns such as labour standards, environment and gender. She stressed that it is important to monitor both the positive and negative impacts of investment and called on LDC governments to recognize the legitimate and valuable role NGOs can play on this front. Follow-Up The high level meeting formally endorsed the integrated framework approach and will convey the recommendations to the governing bodies of the other five agencies for consideration. The six agencies are to conclude a needs assessment for a further 21 LDCs by 15 March 1998 and develop programmes of technical assistance. The WTO was requested to submit the report of the meeting s outcome to the next WTO Ministerial Conference in May 1998. Contact: WTO, External Relations, Centre William Rappard, 154 rue de Lausanne, CH-1211 Geneva 21, Switzerland. INTERNATIONAL SEABED AUTHORITY MEETS A green light for exploring the mineral wealth of the deep seabed was given in Kingston (Jamaica) during the resumed third session of the International Seabed Authority held from 18-29 August. Go Between summarizes the decision, as well as continuing work on a mining code, the authority s 1998 budget and other discussions. For the first time since the creation of the new legal regime for the world s oceans under the 1982 United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea, approval was given to the plans of work submitted by seven pioneer investors. The investors are interested in searching defined areas, mostly in the Central Pacific, for potential mining sites. Their goal is to locate economically exploitable deposits of polymetallic nodules rich in manganese, nickel, cobalt and copper lying miles below the ocean surface in areas beyond national jurisdiction. The action by the authority s council, which met as the semi-annual session ended, authorizes its Secretary-General to issue contracts to the seven investors. These contracts will bind them to comply with obligations that include international monitoring of their activities, measures to protect the marine environment, and the establishment of training programmes for personnel from developing countries. The investors include private companies and the governments of Bulgaria, Cuba, the Czech Republic, Poland, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation and Slovakia. Work Continues on Mining Code Work continued in the Legal and Technical Commission on a detailed mining code, which will spell out obligations of the authority and the investors. The commission, which produced a third draft of the code, said it expects to complete the task when the authority convenes its next session in Kingston from 16-27 March 1998. The document will spell out, in legal and practical detail, procedures based on provisions in the Convention on the Law of the Sea and the 1994 Implementation Agreement. Regulations for exploiting resources are to be dealt with at a later stage, since exploitation is not expected to occur for some time. One part of the draft is devoted to measures to protect and reserve the marine environment. It would recognize the rights and interests of coastal states and authorize the council, on the commission s recommendations, to issue emergency protection orders. The confidentiality of information submitted to the authority by contractors would be assured. One of the steps taken to clarify the relationship between the council and the Legal and Technical Commission was a procedure agreed under which council members, before giving the go-ahead to contracts, examined folders of non-published materials supplied by investors to the commission in support of their work plans. This compromise was worked out at the initiative of several developing countries that sought greater transparency in the work of the commission and the council, which is a 36-member intergovernmental policy body. Budget The assembly adopted a 1998 budget of US$4,703,900 for the authority and set a scale of assessments for its 135 members, based on the United Nations scale. This is up from US$4,150,000 in 1997, which reflects the evolutionary approach endorsed by the assembly last August. Next year will mark the first in which the authority will be funded by its own members rather than by the United Nations. Observers in the Legal and Technical Commission By virtue of a consensus accepted by the council on 20 August, the last three days of the commission s closed meetings on the draft mining code were attended by observers from up to 15 non-members of the commission. This was the first time since the establishment of the 22-member expert body that observers were allowed to be present during its deliberations. The observers were accepted on a first-come, first-served basis but were not allowed to participate in the discussions. Greenpeace International joined the International Ocean Institute and the Law of the Sea Institute as non-governmental organizations that were allowed to participate as observers in the session. The consensus decision was worked out in a meeting convened by the president of the council with the chairs of the commission and the Group of 77 developing countries. It followed debates during the first two days of the resumed session on a proposal originally made in March by the G-77. Supporters of this proposal argued that council members should be able to monitor the commission s work in order to follow the thinking behind its recommendations. They maintained that this would lead to a speedier adoption of the code in the council. Many developed states opposed the proposal. They said the commission s members, elected by the council, were already widely representative of differing views, and as experts they should be free to voice those views in private since they often deal with confidential matters. Authority Location and Background Since there were no new developments concerning the headquarters of the authority, notably the location of its permanent site in Jamaica, the council decided to put off until next March its study of a draft headquarters agreement. The government of Jamaica told the assembly on 27 August that a national commission had submitted a preliminary report and all options were being examined. All states Parties to the Convention of the Law of the Sea are members of the authority. Provisional members are states (and the European Community) that have not adhered to the convention but have notified in writing their intent to apply it and the implementation agreement provisionally. Provisional membership, usually for two years but in some cases for one year, must be approved in each case by the council. Contact: United Nations Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea/Office of Legal Affairs, United Nations, New York NY 10017, United States, telephone +1-212/963 3968, fax +1-212/963 5847. 1998 MEETINGS OF SOME FUNCTIONAL COMMISSIONS OF ECOSOC The following lists 1998 meetings of some of the functional commissions of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Please note dates may be subject to change. Commission for Social Development 36th Session New York, 10-20 February 1998 A number of priority issues are addressed annually, including: the enabling environment for social development; the special situation of Africa and the least developed countries; enhancement of social development goals in structural adjustment programmes; mobilization of domestic and international resources for social development; and the framework for international, regional and subregional cooperation for social development. The commission s priority theme in 1998 is promoting social integration and participation of all people, including disadvantaged and vulnerable groups and persons. The commission will consider the following specific topics, including from a gender perspective: n promoting social integration through responsive government, full participation in society, non-discrimination, tolerance, equality and social justice; n enhancing social protection, reducing vulnerability and enhancing employment opportunities for groups with specific needs; and n violence, crime and the problem of illicit drugs and substance abuse as factors of social disintegration. The 36th session will also review relevant United Nations plans and programmes pertaining to the situation of social groups such as youth, the disabled and the ageing. The commission will continue its recent practice of holding panel discussions during its 36th session to enable participants to hear from and interact with governmental and civil society experts on topics under consideration. In 1998 panel discussions will be held on participatory and just societies and reducing vulnerability. Secretariat: John Langmore, Director, Division for Social Policy and Development. NGO Focal Point: Yao N Goran, Division for Social Policy and Development (DPSD), Department for Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations, New York NY 10017, United States, telephone +1-212/963 3175, fax +1-212/963 3062, e-mail . Selected documents will be made available on the DSPD web site (http://www.un.org/dpcsd/dspd/). Commission on Population and Development, 31st Session New York, 23-27 February 1998 The commission s priority theme in 1998 is health and mortality with special emphasis on the link between health and development and on gender and age. In preparation for the 1999 five-year review and appraisal of the implementation of the International Conference on Population and Development Programme of Action (ICPD+5), the regional commissions are planning ICPD+5 reviews. The United Nations Population Fund is planning technical expert group meetings on a number of topics, including (tentatively): macro- and micro-economic linkages and population; adolescent reproductive health; the role and participation of NGOs and civil society organizations in ICPD implementation; resource mobilization for population and development; and reproductive health. Secretariat: Joseph Chamie, Director, Population Division. Contact: Population Division, Department for Social and Economic Affairs, Room DC2-1950, United Nations, New York NY 10017, United States, fax +1-212/963 2147. Selected documents will be made available through the Population Information Network (POPIN) web site at (http://www.undp.org/popin/unpopcom). Commission on the Status of Women 42nd Session New York, 2-13 March 1998 The commission s priority themes in 1998 are violence against women; women in armed conflict; human rights of women; and the girl child. The commission will also consider the following specific topics: n review of gender mainstreaming in organizations of the UN system; n emerging issues, trends and new approaches to issues affecting the situation of women or equality between women and men; n communications concerning the status of women; and n the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and the elaboration of a draft optional protocol to the convention. Secretariat: Angela King, Director, Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW). NGO Focal Point: Koh Miyaoi, DAW, United Nations, New York NY 10017, United States, telephone +1-212/963 8034, fax +1-212/963 3463, e-mail . Selected documents will be available on the DAW web site at (http://www.un.org/dpcsd/daw/). Commission on Human Rights 54th Session Geneva, 16 March-24 April 1998 The year 1998 will mark the 50th anniversary of adoption by the UN General Assembly in 1948 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In addition to its ongoing programme of work, the 54th session of the Commission on Human Rights will review the state of preparations for the 50th anniversary, which will be commemorated in a plenary meeting of the General Assembly on 10 December 1998. The commission will also undertake a five year implementation review of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action of the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights during its 54th session. The review will continue during the coordinating segment of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, which is expected to be dedicated to the contribution of UN agencies and programmes to implementation of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action. Secretariat: Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Contact: BÇatrice Murebwayire, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Palais des Nations, CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/917 1143, fax +41-22/917 0212, e-mail . Selected documents will be available on the web site (http://www.unhchr.ch). Commission on Sustainable Development, Sixth Session New York, 13 April-1 May 1998 The commission s priority themes for 1998 are poverty/consumption and production patterns; strategic approaches to freshwater management; a review of outstanding chapters of the Programme of Action of the Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States (SIDS); transfer of technology; capacity-building; education; science; awareness-raising; and business and industry. Secretariat: Director, Division for Sustainable Development. NGO Focal Point: Zehra Aydin, Division for Policy Coordination and ECOSOC Affairs, Department for Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations, New York NY 10017, United States, telephone +1-212/963 8811, fax +1-212/963 1267, e-mail . Selected documents will be made available on the DPCSD web site at (http://www.unorg/dpcsd/dsd/). Commission on Human Settlements, 17th Session Nairobi, 5-14 May 1999 The commission, which meets biannually, has responsibility for follow-up and implementation of the Second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (HABITAT II). NGO arrangements in functional commissions of ECOSOC are governed by ECOSOC resolution 1996/31, which enables NGOs in consultative status and on the ECOSOC Roster to be present at public meetings of the commissions, make oral statements and publish brief statements. Contact: Joseph Mungai, Secretary to the Commission on Human Settlements, UN Centre for Human Settlements, UNCHS (Habitat), PO Box 30030, Nairobi, Kenya, telephone +254-2/623133, fax +254-2/624266. The 1997 ECOSOC session, held from 30 June-25 July in Geneva, invited NGOs that were accredited to the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women or the 1995 World Summit for Social Development to attend the 42nd session of the Commission on the Status of Women or the 36th session of the Commission for Social Development, provided the NGOs have started the process of applying for consultative status. NGOs accredited to the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development were likewise invited to attend the 31st session of the Commission on Population and Development if they have applied for consultative status. ECOSOC/GENERAL ASSEMBLY n 52nd UN General Assembly, 16 September-December, New York n ECOSOC organizational session, 3-6 February 1998, New York n ECOSOC resumed organizational session, 7-8 May 1998, New York n ECOSOC substantive session, 6-31 July 1998, New York n GA Special Session on Narcotic Drugs, 8-19 June 1998, New York CALENDAR ENVIRONMENT Commission for Sustainable Development (CSD) n CSD Intersessional Working Groups, 23 February-6 March 1998, New York n Commission for Sustainable Development, 13 April-1 May 1998, New York Climate Change Convention n Conference of the Parties, 3rd session, 1-10 December, Kyoto Convention on Biological Diversity n African Regional Meeting on the Clearing-House Mechanism, late November/early December, Cairo n Conference of the Parties, 4th meeting, 4-15 May 1998, Bratislava Global Environment Facility n 1st meeting of the GEF Assembly, April 1998, New Delhi HUMAN RIGHTS n Committee Against Torture, 19th session, 10-21 November, Geneva n Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 17th session, 17 November-5 December, Geneva n Open-Ended Working Group to Elaborate Policy Guidelines on Structural Adjustment Programmes and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 16-20 February 1998, Geneva n Commission on Human Rights, 16 March-24 April 1998, Geneva n Human Rights Committee, 23 March-24 April 1998, Geneva Rights of the Child n Committee on the Rights of the Child, 5-23 January 1998, Geneva n Pre-sessional Working Group on the Committee on the Rights of the Child, 26-30 January 1998, Geneva SOCIAL ISSUES n Commission for Social Development, 10-14 February 1998, New York n Commission on Population and Development, 23-27 February 1998, New York n Commission on the Status of Women, 2-13 March 1998, New York n Commission on Narcotic Drugs, 11-20 March 1998, Vienna n Commission on Human Settlements, 5-14 May 1998, Nairobi International Labour Office (ILO) n Tripartite Meeting on Breaking Through the Glass Ceiling: Women in Management, 15-19 December, Geneva TRADE United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) n Commission on Trade in Goods and Services, and Commodities, 2nd session, 17-21 November, Geneva n Commission on Enterprise, Business Facilitation and Development, 2nd session, 1-5 December, Geneva