Go Between 82, Aug.-Sept. 2000 UN NEWS MILLENNIUM SUMMIT HELD AT UN HEADQUARTERS The largest number of world leaders in history gathered at the United Nations in New York from 6-8 September 2000 to discuss critical issues facing the world including poverty eradication, globalization and peace. The Millennium Summit resulted in the Millennium Declaration, in which Heads of State and Government "reaffirmed their faith in the United Nations and its Charter as indispensable foundations of a more peaceful, prosperous and just world." The Declaration spells out values and principles, as well as goals, in the priority areas of peace, development, the environment, human rights, protecting the vulnerable, the special needs of Africa, and strengthening the UN. The Declaration states that the central challenge facing the world today is ensuring that globalization becomes a positive force for all the world's people by making it fully inclusive and equitable. The world leaders committed themselves to halving, by the year 2015, the proportion of the world's population living on less than one dollar a day and to deal comprehensively with the debt problems of low- and middle-income developing countries. Peace and security issues were high on the agenda throughout the three days and were discussed in a Security Council Summit, with the Council meeting at the level of Heads of State and Government for only the second time in history. The Council adopted a resolution (S/2000/845) in which it pledged to enhance the effectiveness of the United Nations in addressing conflict at all stages--from prevention to settlement to post-conflict peace-building. The Council welcomed the much-discussed "Brahimi Report" on UN Peace Operations (S/2000/809, see page 4) and decided to consider what some observers have called "far-reaching" recommendations. The Security Council also called for action on the illegal flow of small arms and the illegal exploitation and trafficking of high-value commodities. In his closing remarks to the ground-breaking Summit, Secretary-General Kofi Annan noted what he called a "remarkable convergence of views on the challenge that faces us." He said that Member States wanted action and above all wanted results from the Summit. However, Mr. Annan reminded Member States that they held the power to reach the goals they had set. "Only you can determine whether the United Nations rises to the challenge," he said. (See forthcoming NGLS Roundup, no. 62.) 100 MILLION SUFFER DROUGHT The number of people being fed by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) due to drought has more than quadrupled in the last four years, according to the agency. It reported in August that more than 100 million people in over 20 countries are suffering the effects of drought; the number of affected people WFP now feeds has soared to 16 million this year, from three million in 1996. "We've seen an incredible increase in drought-induced hardship over the last decade," said Francesco Strippoli, WFP Senior Humanitarian Advisor. "Today, we're literally working in every part of the world to provide emergency food aid to people who have lost their crops or livelihoods due to drought." The Horn of Africa remains in the grip of a severe drought, with more than 16 million people facing severe food shortages. Kenya alone is suffering from one of its worst droughts in recorded history. With a national maize requirement estimated at 3.21 million tons, the country will need to import some 1.4 million tons over the next year, according to WFP. In other parts of the world, the devastating drought in Central Asian countries--including Afghanistan and Tajikistan--has spread to the Caucasus, where between 55% to 60% of crops in Armenia's mountain regions are at risk of damage. Drought is also plaguing countries in Central America and the Caribbean. For example, WFP reports that crop losses of maize and beans in Honduras are estimated to be between 80% and 90%, and in Haiti drought has destroyed at least 33% of the current harvest. Other countries seriously affected by drought include the Middle Eastern nations of Jordan, Syria, Iran and Iraq. In comparative terms, over the 1990s WFP's drought-related emergency operations represented 53% of the programme's total responses to natural disasters. The number of drought-related emergencies over this period amounted to 102--more than 50% higher than food emergencies caused by floods, the next highest percentage. Kenya is suffering severely from drought and the food situation "gives cause for serious concern," according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in a special report published in July 2000. It says that starvation-related deaths, particularly among children, are being reported. Nearly 20 million people in the region are facing food shortages. "The food situation is especially dire for pastoralists," according to FAO, "because this is the fourth consecutive rain failure in their areas." The long rainy season from March to May, which normally accounts for 80% of total annual food production, has failed with widespread crop failures as well as large livestock losses. Maize prices are very high and continue to rise, which "is seriously hurting the poor whose access to food" is being curtailed, says the report. "Livestock losses, plummeting livestock prices due to the poor state of the animals, and the high and rising grain prices have combined to precipitate a grave food crisis for the pastoral households," according to FAO. "Household economies have collapsed, leading to destitution and starvation-related deaths, especially among children." It said there were also reports of increasing inter-ethnic armed conflicts over scare water and pasture resources. Contact: Erwin Northoff, Media Officer, FAO, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, I-00100 Rome, Italy, telephone +39-06/5705 3105, fax +39-06/5705 4975, e-mail , website (www.fao.org). Contact: Jeff Rowland, Public Affairs Officer, WFP, Via Cesare Giulio Viola 68, I-00148 Rome, Italy, telephone +39-06/6513 2971, fax +39-06/6513 2840, e-mail , website (www.wfp.org). BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS TALKS At the conclusion of a four-week round of negotiations in August on a binding verification regime to the Convention on Biological Weapons, the Chairman of the Ad Hoc Group in charge of negotiating the regime reported "good progress" in a number of areas. Ambassador Tiber Toth (Hungary) said the talks, held in Geneva, had moved delegations closer to agreement on issues involving definitions and equipment in relation to the verification scheme. The scheme will be embodied in a Protocol to the Treaty, which is formally known as the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on their Destruction. Less progress was achieved on issues relating to compliance measures, which Mr. Toth described as core elements of the future protocol. For example, questions persisted concerning which portion of industrial facilities and which portion of bio-defence facilities would have to be declared, he said. The issue of investigations was complicated by the question of how to provide access to sensitive facilities. According to the UN Department for Disarmament Affairs, it is difficult to determine how to monitor compliance with the Biological Weapons Convention because equipment and facilities capable of producing biological agents are essentially similar to those used for peaceful purposes. Contact: Convention on Biological Weapons, Weapons of Mass Destruction Branch, Department for Disarmament Affairs, United Nations, New York NY 10017, United States, fax +1-212/963 1121, website (www.un.org/Depts/dda/WMD/WMD.htm). DISARMAMENT COMMISSION SESSION The United Nations Disarmament Commission met at the UN in New York from 26 June-7 July 2000. The key issue dominating the session, chaired by Javad Zarif (Iran), was the need for progress toward total nuclear disarmament. Jayantha Dhanapala, Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs, said that nuclear doctrine, traditionally the domain of certain declared nuclear powers, had evolved into a multiplicity of "minimum nuclear deterrence" strategies, whereby other countries were now characterizing nuclear arms as "essential" and "vital" to maintaining their security. For this reason, he said, the challenge of global nuclear disarmament demanded immediate attention. Mr. Zarif felt that the Commission could inspire change in the existing international security paradigm, which he said was still haunted by the balance of terror and security arrangements. He noted that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) had charted a new course for nuclear disarmament in the aftermath of the Cold War, underlining the legal obligation to proceed toward a world free of nuclear weapons. He cited the recent and successful conclusion of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) 2000 Review Conference, which produced consensus on key issues. Mr. Zarif also emphasized the announcements by some nuclear-weapons States that they would cease production of fissile material and place their material from military stockpiles under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) supervision. He said these measures should now be followed by the "de-alerting" of nuclear weapons. (In many cases nuclear weapons in the "declared" countries are aimed at specific targets and "on alert." ) Russia noted that it had ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) this year and was ready to begin negotiations on the prohibition and destruction of fissile materials. It said it had already stopped producing weapons-grade uranium and had embarked on a programme to close down facilities producing weapons-grade plutonium. It indicated that the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM) should prohibit the extension of the arms race to outer space and prevent the manufacture of outer space-based anti-missile weapons. Russia proposed a global system to monitor the prevalence of missile systems, whose implementation would be a step forward in disarmament efforts. China expressed concern about the refusal of the United States to sign the CTBT and what it described as US efforts to develop "national and theatre missile-defence systems to the detriment of global strategic equilibrium and regional stability." China said it supported the negotiation and conclusion of a treaty that would end the production of fissile material. The US strongly disagreed with China's characterization of limited national missile defence as "a unilateral nuclear arms expansion in another form." It said that the non-nuclear missile defence programme was designed to counter certain limited and possibly nuclear threats, which could be the result of proliferation in a world quite different from that in 1972 when the ABM was concluded. India noted that it was the only nuclear-weapons State calling for a convention prohibiting the development, production, testing, deployment, stockpiling, threat or use of nuclear weapons. India said it was willing to participate in agreed, multilateral, non-discriminatory and irreversible measures including a global no-first-use agreement and revitalization of the bilateral process. India noted that it had consistently opposed the "weaponization" of outer space. Regarding conventional arms, Mr. Dhanapala said there had been ominous reports that global arms expenditures had started to rise, although the total volume of international conventional arms trade was still reportedly stable. Some countries exported arms to achieve expedient political goals, he asserted, while others continued to produce arms "to reap bountiful commercial opportunities." He noted that the forces of globalization had been shaping both the production and distribution of arms, and several major producers and consumers were getting rid of their surpluses. Regarding confidence-building, he suggested measures including advisory assistance to Member States. He also urged the Commission to give consideration to the potential contributions of technology, noting that the growing availability of high-resolution satellite imagery at reduced cost could help as a supplementary means to reassure countries against imminent invasion threats. Portugal, on behalf of the European Union (EU), said it considered transparency in armaments activities a "fundamental instrument in building confidence and security among States." It noted that transparency would provide "data on international transfers of categories of conventional arms that are potentially destabilizing when accumulated excessively." Brazil said that States should strive to transform the UN Register on Conventional Arms into an even more relevant confidence-building tool. It emphasized the need for timely provision of data relevant to exports and imports of arms covered by the Register, and of information on acquisitions from domestic manufacturers and military holdings. South Africa highlighted its decision to destroy, in a transparent manner, all surplus arms rather than sell them. It said such measures would not only promote confidence among States in support of regional stability, but would provide the means to limit illicit trafficking in those weapons. The Commission adopted three draft reports that will be submitted to the General Assembly at its 55th session. The main report describes efforts to address ways and means to achieve nuclear disarmament, and practical confidence-building measures in the field of conventional arms. CHILDREN AND ARMED CONFLICT The UN Security Council unanimously adopted on 11 August 2000 Resolution 1314 (2000) on Children and Armed Conflict. In the Resolution, the Council underlined the importance of "giving consideration to the special needs and particular vulnerabilities of girls affected by armed conflict, including those heading households, orphaned, sexually exploited and used as combatants." The Resolution says that policies and programmes including those for prevention, disarmament and demobilization should incorporate the human rights and welfare of these girls. The Resolution also expressed the Council's "grave concern at the linkages between the illicit trade in natural resources and armed conflict, as well as linkages between the illicit trafficking in small arms and light weapons and armed conflict, which could prolong armed conflict and intensify its impact on children." The Council reaffirmed the need to continue to include child protection advisers in peacekeeping operations. It urged all Member States to respect fully international law applicable to the rights and protection of children in armed conflict, and to sign and ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention of the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict. The Resolution draws upon a report of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on the issue, which was requested by the Council in its Resolution 1261 (1999). This Resolution placed the issue of children and armed conflict on the international peace and security agenda. Mr Annan's report was discussed during the Security Council's special session on children and armed conflict, held in July 2000. Also addressing the special session were Carol Bellamy, Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), and Olara Otunnu, special representative of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict. In his report, Mr. Annan emphasizes that "the question of children and armed conflict is an integral part of the United Nations' core responsibilities for the maintenance of international peace and security, for the advancement of human rights and for sustainable human development." The report provides a set of 55 recommendations to Member States, regional and intergovernmental organizations, and the UN. These include that the Security Council and Member States "urge the international corporate sector to set up voluntary codes of conduct concerning economic activities, including trade in arms and natural resources, with parties to conflict which are responsible for gross violations of rights of children" along with monitoring mechanisms for the codes. Mr Annan also recommended that Security Council-imposed sanctions minimize unintended consequences for civilian populations--particularly children--through the establishment of exemptions on humanitarian grounds. Contact: Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, United Nations, UN Plaza, New York NY 10017, United States, telephone +1-212/963 3178, fax +1-212/963 0807, website (www.un.org). COMMITTEE ON THE PEACEFUL USES OF OUTER SPACE The Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space held its 43rd session from 7-16 June 2000 in Vienna (Austria). It discussed, among other things, the UN Programme on Space Applications, whose mandate is to create awareness among policy makers and government agencies of the benefits of space technology. One of these activities will be to support the United Nations International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) through the use of satellite images to monitor the cultivation of illicit crops. The Committee endorsed the Office for Outer Space Affairs' plan of action to implement recommendations made by the Third United Nations Conference on the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNISPACE III), held in 1999. The programme of action included organizing a symposium to strengthen partnership of the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee with industry; promoting youth participation in space activities; and strengthening activities of the United Nations Programme on Space Applications. The Committee also agreed to endorse the Legal Subcommittee's recommendations on measures for full adherence to the five international treaties governing outer space, and it endorsed a recommendation of the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee to organize a colloquium entitled The Human Dimension in Space Science and Technology Applications, to be held during the 44th session of the committee in 2001. Contact: Director, Office for Outer Space Affairs, United Nations Office at Vienna, PO Box 500, Vienna, Austria, telephone +43-1/26060 4950, fax +43-1/26060 5830, e-mail , website (www.un.or.at/OOSA). PEACE OPERATIONS REFORM REPORT A report of the Panel on United Nations Peace Operations issued on 23 August 2000 makes far-reaching proposals for reforming and improving the work of the UN in this area. The central message of the report is make sure before sending the UN that the situation on the ground is understood as well as the implications and that the UN "goes in with its eyes open," said Panel Chair and former Algerian Foreign Minister Lakhdar Brahimi. The report assesses shortcomings of the existing system of peace operations and makes recommendations to remedy what the panel called serious problems in strategic direction, decision making, rapid deployment, operational planning and support, and the use of modern information technology. Taking into account experiences of the past decade--in which peacekeepers were often deployed in dangerous situations requiring peace-making rather than simply peacekeeping--the panel stressed the need to establish more effective strategies for conflict prevention, such as fact-finding missions to areas vulnerable to conflict (see focus page in this Go Between). The Panel said that consent of local parties, impartiality and the use of force only in self-defence should remain bedrock principles of peacekeeping. However, the report suggests that the UN has been too unwilling in the past to distinguish victim from aggressor and to create sufficiently robust rules of engagement. In order for UN peacekeepers to become a more credible deterrent, it says mandates should specify an operation's authority to use force. The Panel, which highlighted what it described as the reactive nature of UN operations, recommended that an information-gathering and analysis entity be created to allow the UN to "get ahead" of daily events, such as a proposed information and strategic analysis secretariat. It would create and maintain integrated databases on peace and security issues, distribute that knowledge throughout the UN system, generate policy analyses, formulate long-term strategies, and draw attention to emerging crises. The Panel also made recommendations aimed at improving deployment standards, which would allow missions to take advantage of the critical weeks following a ceasefire or peace accord. With the new standards, it said the UN should be able to fully deploy traditional peacekeeping operations within 30 days of adoption of the related Security Council resolution, and within 90 days in the case of complex peacekeeping operations. In order to support rapid and effective deployment, the panel encouraged Member States to enter into partnerships with one another to form several brigade-size forces. Mr. Brahimi said Member States--large and small, from South and North alike--have stressed the necessity for urgent improvement in ways the UN addresses conflict situations. In light of this, he urged them "to act decisively to translate into reality those of our recommendations that require formal action by them." In a letter forwarding the report, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan urges Member States to consider, approve and support implementation of the report's recommendations. "The Panel's analysis," he said, "is frank yet fair; its recommendations are far-reaching yet sensible and practical." Mr. Annan added that he hoped the report would be brought to the attention of all leaders attending the Millennium Summit, and he asked for support of the General Assembly and Security Council to convert into reality the far-reaching agenda of the report. Deputy Secretary-General Louise Frechette has been designated to follow up on the report's recommendations and will oversee the preparation of a detailed implementation plan, which Mr. Annan will submit to the General Assembly and Security Council. FAO, UNDP REFORM PROCESSES The reform process carried out by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) since 1994 has "provided a solid foundation to face the challenges of the new millennium," said Jacques Diouf, FAO Director-General. He said the reform programme had produced clear priorities, decentralized operations, modernized management and streamlined procedures while fostering recognition that FAO can achieve its mission only if it makes reform an ongoing process. FAO has sharpened its focus, with food security as the guiding theme of its programmes. As part of the organization's efforts to enhance its relations with civil society, exchange of information with non-governmental and civil society organizations has increased, noted Mr. Diouf. FAO is also implementing a policy of expanded cooperation with the private sector. Another key aspect of the reform process has been the widespread deployment of modern office and information technologies throughout the organization. This has required a "considerable investment in human and financial resources, but it has resulted in efficient decentralization and has improved the speed and quality or work," according to the organization. The challenges facing FAO and strategies are contained in a major review undertaken by the organization, entitled The Strategic Framework for FAO: 2000-2015. Major steps were also taken by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) during 1999 to reorient its focus and concentration, Administrator Mark Malloch Brown told the UNDP Executive Board in June. He said that "67% of our outcomes are now related to capacity building--and of those 42% are in the policy, regulatory and legal framework areas, and another 33% in institutional capacity building." UNDP is also "moving to put our people back in the field where development happens," said Mr. Malloch Brown. "We are well underway now on our 25% cut in Headquarters, combining both the reduction and redeployment of staff." He added that UNDP planned cuts of 10% in core administrative costs over the next year. Among other things, the functions of UNDP Country Offices will be reviewed, as well as its institution-building work at the country level. UNDP plans to "continually refine and reinforce the role of the Resident Coordinator and our relations with the broader UN agency community and--where necessary--continue to strengthen our role in post-conflict coordination and support, to our new partnerships with the private sectors and civil society organizations." Ministers from developing and donor countries voiced support for UNDP's work and widely endorsed the organization's reform process at a Ministerial Meeting in New York on 11 September 2000. Representatives from 67 countries including more than 40 ministers examined UNDP's role as the development arm of the UN, its effectiveness, and ways to build political support for its work. Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the UN, said that "through UNDP the UN is present all over the world and is seen to be dealing with the actual problems faced by the great majority of the world's people." Mr. Annan also endorsed the "strong management" that he said Mr. Malloch Brown is putting in place throughout the organization. Mr. Malloch Brown, who chaired the meeting, outlined the agency's programme initiatives and reform process. "We will have a culture of performance where success is recorded but also where problems are addressed," he said. The ministers offered insights and advice as to how UNDP could meet development challenges throughout the world. One delegate said that in order to be most effective, UNDP must not forget that "the road map of development should be left to recipient countries to determine." Many speakers drew attention to the need to increase support for UNDP's core resources, which are essential for the agency's efforts to assist the poorest countries. In response, a number of donor countries committed to increasing their level of core and non-core funding. INTERNATIONAL SEABED AUTHORITY MEETS Exploring for minerals on the deep ocean bed has been made subject to a detailed set of international regulations as a result of work by the sixth session of the International Seabed Authority, which met for its second part from 3-13 July 2000 in Kingston (Jamaica). The new rules, which cover all of the world's ocean bottoms outside national jurisdiction, are entitled "Regulations on Prospecting and Exploration for Polymetallic Nodules in the Area" in the international seabed area. The rules, which take effect immediately, are a product of four years of work. They are the first piece of legislation to emerge from the authority, which was established by the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (see E&D File Treaty Series, no. 5). Built on the framework of the convention, the rules fill in new details in two areas: environmental protection, and safeguards for confidential data developed by seabed operators. Adoption of the rules by the council of the International Seabed Authority was made possible by a last-day compromise among the 66 Authority members attending the session (out of a total of 133) on environmental issues, specifically the role of seabed contractors and their sponsoring States in guaranteeing that the authority will be able to cope with any unexpected environmental incident related to exploration. Contact: International Seabed Authority, 14-20 Port Royal Street, Kingston, Jamaica, West Indies, telephone +1-876/922 9105, fax +1-876/922 0195, website (www.isa.org.jm). UNESCO MEETING ON UNDERWATER HERITAGE Over 200 governmental experts representing 84 countries ended their third meeting on 7 July 2000 concerning the Draft Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage. The meeting, held in Paris at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), reported progress toward a consensus and notably fine-tuning the definition of cultural heritage to be covered by the convention. While there is unanimous agreement on the need to protect underwater cultural heritage from destruction and pillaging, according to UNESCO, more negotiations are required in several areas. These include how to deal with cultural heritage vestiges located on the continental shelf beyond the 12-mile territorial waters; regional agreements; and whether rivers and lakes should be covered by the convention. UNESCO was asked by its executive board in 1993 to consider the feasibility of an international convention to protect underwater cultural heritage. UNESCO's General Conference, the organization's main decision-making body, decided to proceed with the project and governmental experts began meeting in June 1998. They will hold a fourth meeting during the first half of next year. Contact: Cultural Heritage Division, UNESCO, 1 rue Miollis, F-75732 Paris Cedex 15, France, telephone +33-1/45 68 37 56, website (www.unesco.org). IOC ADOPTS MEASURES The Executive Council of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) ended its annual meeting in Paris on 30 June 2000. The council, made up of 36 UN member states, reinforced its commitment to monitor and protect the world's oceans. Among other things, the 33rd session of the council obtained commitment of IOC member states to accelerate implementation of a programme to measure the temperature and salinity of the upper 2000 metres of oceans; approved the start of negotiations to raise funds for a major warning system to forecast storms in the Northern Indian Ocean; and warned of an urgent need to study the impact of disposal of carbon dioxide in the deep ocean. The IOC was established in 1960 to provide UN member states with a mechanism for global cooperation in the study of the ocean and to serve as a common body for coordination among UN agencies and programmes with a responsibility for marine affairs. Contact: Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO, 1 rue Miollis, F-75732 Paris Cedex 15, France, fax +33-1/45 68 58 12, website (ioc.unesco.org/iocweb). UNFCCC SUBSIDIARY BODIES MEET Almost 1,700 people attended the 12th sessions of the subsidiary bodies of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC, see E&D File Treaty Series, no. 7), held 12-16 June 2000 in Bonn (Germany). The sessions, preceded by one week of informal meetings, included representatives of 145 Parties, three observer states, and 148 observer organizations and the media. The meetings were organized to enable delegates to make progress on reaching the goals of the November 1998 Buenos Aires Plan of Action (see E&D File, vol. III, no. 18) adopted at the fourth Conference of the Parties (COP-4). They discussed technical and political issues related to laying the foundation for negotiations on a comprehensive agreement at COP-6 from 13-24 November 2000 in the Hague (Netherlands). Delegates adopted 21 draft conclusions on issues including land-use change and forestry; policies and measures; land use; guidelines under articles on methodological issues, information communication, review of information of the Kyoto Protocol (see E&D File, vol. III, no. 16) and technology transfer; and mechanisms. They also adopted the Report of the Joint Working Group on Compliance. Contact: Barbara Black, Meetings Services Officer, Conference and Information Support, UNFCCC Secretariat, PO Box 260 124, Haus Carstanjen, Martin-Luther-King-Strasse 8, D-53175 Bonn, Germany, telephone +49-228/815 1000, fax +49-228/815 1999, e-mail , website (www.unfccc.de). UNEP ROUNDTABLE AND WORKSHOP At the first Cleaner Production Roundtable for Africa, held 9-10 August 2000 in Nairobi (Kenya), over 70 participants endorsed the holding of an annual roundtable, which they said would provide a mechanism for facilitating progress on promotion and implementation of cleaner production in Africa. The roundtable also provided inputs for the Sixth International High-Level Seminar on Cleaner Production, to be held in Montreal (Canada) in October. The roundtable participants also agreed to establish a Regional Coordinating Committee of members from five regions of the continent: Central, East, North, Southern and West Africa. At a subsequent Workshop on Sustainable Consumption, held on 11 August 2000 in Nairobi, participants discussed a United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report on Sustainable Consumption and Cleaner Production, and they highlighted food security issues and the need for a forum to exchange experiences and facilitate action. They stressed that sustainable consumption, especially in relation to improving the poor's access to basic needs, is extremely relevant to Africa. The workshop and roundtable were organized and sponsored by UNEP, United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), Carl Duisberg Gesellschaft of Germany and the governments of the Netherlands and Norway. Contact: Division of Technology, Industry and Economics, UNEP, 39-43 quai Andre Citroen, F-75739 Paris Cedex 15, France, telephone +33-1/44 37 14 50, fax +33-1/44 37 14 74, e-mail , website (www.unep.org). UNEP PROJECT ON TOXIC SUBSTANCES The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) announced in August that to reach a better understanding of environmental and health risks posed by persistent toxic substances and measures needed to deal with them, UNEP Chemicals will execute a US$5 million project to assess the pollutants. The results of the project, scheduled to start in September for two years, will contribute to priority-setting by the Global Environment Facility (GEF). The study, to take place in all regions of the world, will complement work being done in conjunction with negotiations now underway for a global treaty on the list of 12 persistent organic pollutants (POPs). The project's outcomes should serve to guide international action to protect human health and the environment from persistent toxic substances, according to UNEP. The Global Environment Facility is jointly implemented through UNEP, the United Nations Development Programme and the World Bank. "There is clearly a need for a scientifically-based assessment of the nature and scale of the threats to the environment and public health from persistent toxic substances that goes beyond the list of 12 persistent organic pollutants," said Klaus Toepfer, UNEP Executive Director. "Conclusions from the full-scale project will assist GEF in establishing future priorities, help countries and regions in developing responses to risks from these pollutants, and in the longer term contribute to identifying additional POPs for international action." Persistent toxic substances pose a serious threat to humans and the environment--they can last in the environment for a long time, be transported long distances far from their origin, and can accumulate in organisms through the food chain. Contact: Jim Willis, Director, UNEP Chemicals, Geneva Executive Centre, 11-13 chemin des Anemones, CH-1219 Chatelaine (Geneva), Switzerland, telephone +41-22/917 8183, fax +41-22/797 3460, e-mail , website (irptc.unep.ch) or (www.chem.unep.ch/pops). FAO: DEFORESTATION RATE SLOWING The destruction of the world's forests is continuing but there are strong indications that the rate of deforestation is slowing down, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said in August. Preliminary analysis of more than 300 satellite images show that the rate of deforestation in tropical countries was at least 10% less in the past ten years compared to the 1980s, according to FAO. Half of the images in the survey show a reduced rate of deforestation, and 20% show an increase. The survey was part of FAO's Global Forest Resources Assessment 2000, to be released by the end of this year. "These preliminary results do not mean that the battle against deforestation is over," said Hosny El-Lakany, Assistant Director-General of the FAO Forestry Department, "and a reduction in deforestation must not be used as an excuse for unsustainable forest practices." FAO's last global figures on forest cover indicated that in 1995 there were 3.5 billion hectares of forest, including natural forests and forest plantations. About 55% of the world's forests were located in developing countries; 3% of the world's forests were plantations. Between 1980 and 1990, forest cover change in natural forests in developing countries--where most deforestation is taking place--was estimated at a loss of 15.5 million hectares per year. Contact: Publications and Information Coordinator, Forestry Department, FAO, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, I-00100 Rome, Italy, telephone +39-06/5705 4778, fax +39-06/5705 2151, e-mail , website (www.fao.org/forestry/fo/country/nav_world.jsp). FAO REPORT ON AGRICULTURE The world's population of around eight billion people by 2030 will be better fed but the number of hungry and undernourished people will remain stubbornly high, according to a report of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on Agriculture: Towards 2015/2030. "In 2015 there could still be about 580 million people suffering from chronic undernourishment," according to the FAO. The report says population growth will continue to slow down, and food consumption levels will be higher in an increasing number of countries. This will cause world agriculture to grow at a slower pace, from an annual 2.1% over the last two decades to 1.6 in the period to 2015 and 1.3% up to 2030. However growth in agriculture will "continue to outstrip world population growth of 1.2% up to 2015 and 0.8% in the period to 2030." Cereals will remain the principal source of food supplies, accounting for about half of daily calorie intakes. Developing countries will become increasingly dependent on imports of cereals. Their net cereal imports are expected to rise from 107 million tons in 1995/1997 to 270 million in 2030. The report notes that traditional exporters such as North America, Western Europe and Australia will need to increase their net exports from 142 million tons in 1995/1997 to 280 million tons by 2030. Contact: Erwin Northoff, Media Officer, FAO, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, I-00100 Rome, Italy, telephone +39-06/5705 3105, fax +39-06/5705 4975, e-mail , website (www.fao.org). UNHCR: WORLD'S DISPLACED INCREASE The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) released in August the latest in a series of annual statistical reports on several categories of the world population it describes as "refugees and others of concern" to the agency. At the end of last year, the total number of persons with whom UNHCR was concerned reached 22.3 million, according to the 1999 Statistical Overview, which provides comprehensive information on asylum seekers, refugees and others in some 150 countries. During 1999, the global refugee population increased by some 1.6% to reach 11.7 million by the end of the year. Of those, Asia hosted the largest share with 41%, followed by Africa (30.2%), Europe (22.3%), North America (5.4%), Oceania (0.6%) and Latin America and the Caribbean (0.5%). US Ambassador to the UN Richard Holbrooke has been advocating a redefinition of refugees to include internally displaced persons, "which we feel are simply refugees who don't cross borders," he said. UNHCR was also concerned with 1.2 million asylum-seekers, 2.4 million returned refugees, and four million internally displaced persons (IDPs). The latter figure, however, represented only a fraction of the world's 20 to 25 million IDPs, according to the agency. During last year 1.6 million refugees returned to their home country--a 60% jump over the previous year. UNHCR said the increase was largely due to the changing circumstances in Kosovo. Contact: Arnulv Torbjornsen, NGO Coordinator, Division of Communication and Information, UNHCR, Case postale 2500, CH-1211 Geneva 2 Dep“t, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/739 8290, fax +41-22/739 7302, website (www.unhcr.org). UNHCR MEETING ON MASS DISPLACEMENT IN CIS Representatives from more than 60 countries and international organizations met in Geneva from 13-14 July 2000 to discuss progress in efforts to resolve mass displacement in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The Fifth Steering Group meeting of the CIS Conference Follow-Up Process was hosted by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Organization for Migration, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. "In the last four years we have made significant progress putting in place laws on refugees and migration and government structures that will deal with mass displacements in the CIS," said Assistant High Commissioner Soren Jessen-Petersen prior to the meeting. "Indeed, one successful outcome of the Conference process often overlooked is the absence of dramatic developments to the contrary. Five years ago, there was considerable concern about massive population displacement and human suffering. Despite setbacks, this has largely been avoided." However he stressed the need to continue activities launched by the CIS Conference process as it seeks to adapt to shifting priorities within the region. Mr. Jessen-Petersen said the conference process will concentrate on four main issues in the future. These are: -- assuring continued focus on groups of concern including refugees, internally displaced, illegal migrants, formerly deported peoples and ecological migrants; -- migration management including combating illegal migration and trafficking; -- sustaining and promoting activities of NGOs and civil society; and -- implementing legislation. Since the post-Cold War era, more than half a million forcibly-deported peoples, internally displaced people and refugees have returned to their homes or former homelands in the CIS countries, from both the region and outside. Contact: Arnulv Torbjornsen, NGO Coordinator, Division of Communication and Information, UNHCR, Case postale 2500, CH-1211 Geneva 2 Depot, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/739 8290, fax +41-22/739 7302, website (www.unhcr.org). UNHCR STUDY ON EUROPEAN ASYLUM Much of existing policy making of European governments concerning increasing problems of human trafficking and smuggling "is part of the problem and not the solution," according to a study published online entitled The Trafficking and Smuggling of Refugees: The End Game in European Asylum Policy? The study, commissioned by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), observes that refugees are now forced to use illegal means if they want to access Europe at all. The direction of current policy risks "not so much solving the problem of trafficking but rather ending the right of asylum in Europe, one of the most fundamental of all human rights," says the study. "Any comprehensive approach that tackles trafficking and smuggling successfully requires legal and safe migration opportunities for all refugees, as well as necessary enforcement measures." It adds that Europe "is in urgent need for political and moral leadership on this issue." There are few legal possibilities for refugees to enter the European Union, according to the study, so the majority are required to attempt ever more clandestine forms of entry. It says comprehensive approaches toward specific refugee-generating countries do stress the need for eliminating the root causes of instability and oppression; but they are "much less comprehensive when discussing the durable solutions available to refugees." There are no systematic proposals for the resettlement of refugees in the European Union, notes the study. "Rather, the effects of blanket enforcement measures, such as common visa policies, readmission treaties, carrier sanctions and airline liaison officers, act to deny refugees the possibility of illegal exit from the regions of their persecution," it says. "As international policy currently stands, if European governments were ever successful in stopping organized illegal migration at source or in transit countries, they would have ended European asylum policy as we know it." Among other things, the study discusses European responses to trafficking and smuggling from the perspectives of border enforcement, and organized crime and human rights. It also analyses a series of comprehensive proposals for reforming refugee and other migration to Europe and includes recommendations for European governments and refugee agencies. Contact: Arnulv Torbjornsen, NGO Coordinator, Division of Communication and Information, UNHCR, Case postale 2500, CH-1211 Geneva 2 Depot, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/739 8290, fax +41-22/739 7302. The study is available on the UNHCR website at (www.unhcr.ch/evaluate/reports/traffick.pdf). SECURITY SUMMIT ON UN PERSONNEL The third Security Summit on United Nations Personnel, which took place on 15 June 2000 in New York, met to discuss the safety and security of UN personnel and to review recent decisions by relevant legislative bodies. In her opening statement Mehri Madarshahi, President of the Coordinating Committee for International Staff Unions and Associations of the UN System (CCISUA) and chair of the summit, noted that the hazards in UN staff assignments are manifold and complex. She said that "it is incumbent upon all parties involved--governments, the Administration of the United Nations Secretariat and the elected staff representatives--to congregate and deliberate about measures, policies and strategies that could be put in place to enhance the well-being and security of our colleagues everywhere." General Assembly President Theo Ben-Gurirab (Namibia), in his keynote address, noted that the Summit was taking place during a time when more fierce regional conflicts were placing acute strains and risks on UN personnel. He cited the 1994 Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel as key to the commitment to staff security. The Convention has 43 signatories and 33 States Parties; it was ratified during the Summit by an additional eight countries (Bangladesh, Botswana, Croatia, France, Hungary, Poland, Senegal and Uruguay). The Convention is among 25 treaties that UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has highlighted for government signature and ratification during the upcoming Millennium Assembly. Deputy Secretary-General Louise Frechette noted that the UN would be constrained in exercising its mandate toward eliminating violence and warfare and ensuring universal adherence to human rights if its staff continued to face current levels of danger. Ambassador Antonio Monteiro (Portugal) referred to an increase in the number of complex emergencies and natural disasters, as well as new types of conflicts that tended to strain traditional approaches to protecting UN staff in the field. Nicholas Bwankira, Director of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees New York Office, noted that agency staff in conflict and post-conflict resolution face unique dangers. He argued that "there is a consensus among UN agencies on the frontline that security of staff is a major issue compounded by lack of resources. It is critical, therefore, that we match mandates with resources." Mark Powe, Staff Security Coordinator of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), spoke of colleagues whose lives had been abruptly taken while doing their jobs. Cathy Bergen of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) provided an NGO perspective on safety of humanitarian staff in the field. Mona Hammam, Director of the World Food Programme (WFP) New York Office summed up the situation when she noted that the Summit itself was "a commentary on our times, when the UN flag has become a target rather than a shield." Contact: Mehri Madarshahi, President, CCISUA, United Nations, Room S-525A, New York NY 10017, United States, telephone +1-212/963 5436. OCHA MEETING ON CRISIS MANAGEMENT The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) held a Ministerial Conference on Regional Cooperation and Coordination in Crisis Management for Europe and the Newly Independent States (NIS) from 15-16 June 2000 in Fribourg (Switzerland). The conference, hosted by Switzerland, was attended by ministers and senior officials from Europe, the NIS, Canada, United States, and others including the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the Red Cross Movement. Participants discussed the need for more coordination in humanitarian activities in response to natural, industrial or human-made disasters. In the Fribourg Communique and Framework for Action, participants reaffirmed their commitment to humanitarian law and respect for territorial integrity in accordance with the UN Charter. They also noted the "important contributions made by civil society, notably non-government organizations...to enhanced humanitarian response capacity." The Framework for Action, agreed to by 51 governments and 37 organizations, recognizes the primary role of the UN in coordinating international humanitarian assistance in crisis situations. However it says that States have "primary responsibility for providing emergency humanitarian assistance when crises occur on their territory," and calls for cooperation between States and regional and international organizations in dealing with humanitarian crises. Lack of coordination among major regional actors has hindered many humanitarian operations during recent emergencies, according to OCHA. It warned that unless new policies are put in place the effectiveness of humanitarian mechanisms will deteriorate further, more resources will be wasted, and lives will be lost. Contact: Donato Kiniger-Passigli, Disaster Reduction Division, Information Management and External Relations Branch, OCHA, Palais des Nations, CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/917 2653, fax +41-22/917 0023, website (www.reliefweb.int/fribourg). OCHA REPORT ON AFGHANISTAN SANCTIONS Afghanistan's economy and the ability of humanitarian agencies to help Afghans are being hurt by Security Council sanctions imposed in November, according to a report from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). The report, released in August, says that the sanctions have had a "tangible negative effect on the Afghan economy." The loss of Ariana Airlines flights means that sales of fresh fruit, previously shipped and sold outside Afghanistan, are now restricted to its low-price domestic market. This has resulted in a loss of income and employment in harvesting, packing and distribution. The loss of the air link has also brought an end to imports of medicines from India that were valued for their low cost and good quality, which has restricted options for aid agencies operating in the country. The health sector, says the report, has been the most directly affected due to delays and costs in obtaining medical supplies. Another significant impact of sanctions "is the extent to which ordinary Afghans feel isolated and victimized," says the report. "There is a widespread perception that the United Nations has set out to harm rather than help Afghans." The report notes that the coping capacity of the civilian population has already been "severely weakened as a result of the war and the erosion of many traditional coping mechanisms including in particular the role of extended family networks....The situation of females is such that practically all the households without an able-bodied male are vulnerable; they rely on food aid, children's work and begging to survive." Contact: Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, United Nations, New York NY 10017, United States, telephone +1-212/963 1234, fax +1-212/ 963 1312, e-mail or Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, United Nations, Palais des Nations, CH-1211 Geneva 10 Switzerland, telephone +41-22/917 1234, fax +41-22/917 0023, or e-mail , website (www.reliefweb.int/ocha_ol). WORLD BANK REPORT ON CONFLICTS A report from the World Bank says civil wars are more often fuelled by rebel groups competing with national governments for control of diamonds, coffee and other valuable primary commodities rather than by political, ethnic or religious differences. Economic Causes of Civil Conflict and their Implications for Policy, which looks at 47 civil wars from 1960 to 1999, notes that countries earning around one-fourth of their yearly gross domestic product (GDP) from exports of unprocessed commodities "face a far higher likelihood of civil war than countries with more diversified economies." Without exports of primary commodities such as gemstones or coffee, "ordinary countries are pretty safe from internal conflict." The report says rebel groups in vulnerable countries "loot" primary commodities to stay financially viable. This allows them to pay their large numbers of young, poorly-educated soldiers and to keep their rebellion alive--domestically as well as internationally. The looting of such resources explains many current and former civil conflicts, according to the World Bank. In Sierra Leone, for example, the capture of rich diamond mines by rebels and the subsequent sale abroad is one of the main reasons for renewed bloodshed in the war-stricken country. The Angolan rebel group UNITA is reputed to have accumulated more than US$4 billion in financial assets during its first war with government forces, some of which was then later used to start a second round of war. The report also says that if a country has recently had a civil war, the risk of further conflict is much higher. Immediately after the end of hostilities there is a 40% chance of further conflict; this risk then falls at around one percentage point for each year of peace. However, this depends upon the size of the diaspora abroad and its ability to use large financial resources and publicity to keep combatants active. The diaspora sometimes harbor romanticized attachments to their group of origin and may nurse grievances. They tend to be much richer than people in their home country and can afford to "finance conflict" without suffering the consequences, notes the report. While ethnic dominance is a problem, ethnic and religious diversity does not make a society more dangerous--in fact, it makes it safer, according to the report. A country that is ethnically and religiously homogenous is surprisingly dangerous--the risk is 23%. The report suggests policies that it says could reduce the risk of civil conflict, including: -- enlist the international community to make it more difficult for rebel groups to sell diamonds and other commodities they loot; -- generate rapid growth to counter the effects of low income and economic decline; and -- provide credible guarantees to protect minorities in societies where a single ethnic group dominates by entrenching their rights into a national constitution. Contact: Phil Hay, Media Relations Officer, External Relations Department, World Bank, 1818 H Street NW, Washington DC 20433, United States, telephone +1-202/473 1796, fax +1-202/522 2632, e-mail . WOMEN AND BURUNDI PEACE NEGOTIATIONS All 19 political parties involved in Burundi peace negotiations have agreed that women should participate in the peace process and that their concerns regarding implementation of the peace accord should be taken into account. This commitment is the outcome of a meeting convened by the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) on 23 June in Arusha (Tanzania). "The voices of Burundi women must be heard in the peace process," said Noeleen Heyzer, UNIFEM Executive Director. "Their rights must be guaranteed in all of the mechanisms that will guide Burundi's peaceful development." A UN team at the meeting was invited to the Arusha peace talks by negotiation facilitators, headed by former South African President Nelson Mandela. The six-member UN team included experts--from South Africa, Uganda, Guatemala and Eritrea--who had negotiated peace accords in their own countries. They provided advice to the 19 political parties on how to strengthen women's participation in the peace process. During the June meeting they addressed concerns such as the protection of women's rights under the new constitution, their contribution to the economy, and the importance of women's role in conflict resolution. Since 1997, virtually all parties to the negotiations had categorically refused to include women in the negotiations, according to Ruth Perry, the first female African head of state of Liberia and vice-chair of one of the negotiating committees. She noted that "this breakthrough must be given immediate support to develop a wider process of engaging women throughout Burundi on issues relating to their security, their inclusion and their human rights." Contact: UNIFEM, 304 East 45th Street, 6th Floor, New York NY 10017, United States, telephone +1-212/906 6400, fax +1-212/906 6705, website (www.unifem.undp.org). 23RD SESSION OF CEDAW The 23rd session of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) met at UN Headquarters in New York from 12-30 June 2000. The session adopted recommendations for advancing the status of women in Austria, Cameroon, Cuba, Iraq, Lithuania, Moldova and Romania. Among issues addressed during the session were economic embargoes and sanctions; economies in transition; trafficking in women; and female genital mutilation (FGM). Cuba and Iraq both cited embargoes and sanctions as impediments to advancement and full implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. The Committee agreed that the United States' embargo of Cuba exacerbated the discrimination women continued to experience since they are concentrated in professions seriously affected by the embargo. Concerning Iraq, the Committee felt that implementation of the Convention was insufficient even taking into account the effect of the sanctions. In particular, it said, priority steps had not been taken to ensure that women benefited equally from the "oil-for-food" programme. In Lithuania, the Republic of Moldova and Romania, the Committee noted transition economies are experiencing economic upheaval and hardship, which had resulted in high unemployment and poverty among women. It noted, however, that countries undergoing severe economic hardships during such transition periods could take advantage of crisis situations to galvanize support for women's rights and ensure their full participation in all spheres of life. The Committee found that trafficking was also a problem in the three countries. Austria, noted by the Committee as one of the destinations to which women who are victims of trafficking are sent, said it had established a victim protection facility for psychological, health, legal and family matters. It was also working to facilitate women's return and employment in their country of origin. Although the Committee praised what it described as Austria's pioneering legislation to address the issue, it urged all four countries to confront the problem through bilateral and multilateral cooperation and to develop new laws that prioritized the human rights of trafficking victims for purposes of sexual exploitation or labour. Regarding FGM, the Committee observed that Cameroon had shown commitment to improving the status of women through adoption of a national plan against the practice. The plan seeks to improve health and living conditions for women and to put an end to FGM. The Committee noted that the impact of structural adjustment programmes, coupled with privatization, had negatively affected Cameroon's capacity to implement the Convention. Committee members also expressed concern about equal access of women in the countries discussed to employment, education and health care; the situation of elderly women; the full inclusion of women in public and political life; and the rights of migrant women. According to Yakin Erturk, Director of the UN Division for the Advancement of Women, one of the most common issues among all the countries was the persistence of stereotypical attitudes toward women and men. Although stereotypes manifest themselves differently in each culture, she noted, the persistence of negative attitudes continued to be a source of inequality such as overemphasizing women's responsibilities in household work to the detriment of their role in public life. In Austria, for example, 50% of women do not progress beyond mandatory schooling and are over-represented in part-time work. In Cameroon, Ms. Erturk pointed to what she described as the persistence of negative traditional and cultural practices such as polygamy, FGM and high drop-out rates among school-age girls. Other examples included incidents of forced marriage and so-called honour killings in Iraq; stereotypical representation of women in the media in Lithuania; the double load of home and outside work as well as legal restrictions of property rights in Moldova; and the persistence of stereotypes in textbooks and school curricula in Romania. CEDAW Chair Aida Gonzalez Martinez (Mexico) noted that the 23rd session had immediately followed the General Assembly Special Session entitled Women 2000: Gender Equality, Development and Peace in the Twenty-First Century, which reviewed implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (PFA) adopted at the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women. The Special Session made several recommendations concerning the work of CEDAW; it expressed particular concern about the fact that the goal of universal ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women by the year 2000, established in the PFA, had not been achieved. A large number of reservations to the Convention still remain, and many countries have not yet implemented the provisions contained in the Convention. Regarding the status of the Optional Protocol, which allows women who are victims of sexual discrimination to submit complaints to CEDAW (see Go Between 79), the Committee noted that 41 States Parties to the Convention had signed thus far and five had ratified it. The Committee said it was hopeful that the ten ratifications necessary for the Optional Protocol to enter into force will be achieved during this year. Contact: UN Division for the Advancement of Women, United Nations, New York NY 10017, United States, fax +1-212/963 3463, e-mail , website (www.un.org/womenwatch). UN TO TARGET ORGANIZED CRIME One-hundred and twenty countries have produced a new treaty that aims to "close the major loopholes that allow organized crime to flourish and that block international efforts to combat it," the United Nations announced in August 2000. The treaty--known as the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime--will be sent to the UN General Assembly for formal adoption. The final draft of the treaty, which was forged by an ad hoc committee meeting in Vienna (Austria), is intended to serve as a blueprint for countries to improve their systems to "shut down international criminal organizations," eliminate safe havens, protect witnesses and block money laundering. "In agreeing on this unified draft," said Pino Arlacchi, Executive Director of the United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention (ODCCP), "the world community is freeing itself of the decades-old losing approach of trying to address international crime with local solutions. We can now affirm that the tide is turning on cross-border crime." The ad hoc committee is also preparing three draft protocols by which countries would undertake in-depth measures to combat trafficking in women and children, migrants and illicit arms. Contact: Sandro Tucci, Spokesman, ODCCP, Vienna International Centre, PO Box 500, A-1400 Vienna, Austria, telephone +43-1/26060 5629, fax +43-1/230 7002, website (www.odccp.org). 88TH SESSION OF ILO CONFERENCE Delegates to the 88th session of the International Labour Conference, which concluded on 15 June 2000 in Geneva, voted to adopt a new international Convention on Maternity Protection. The Convention, which would be legally binding for ratifying governments, will enter into force after receiving two ratifications by Member States of the International Labour Organization (ILO). Concern for maternity protection at work "goes straight to the core of the ILO's concern for reconciling family life and working life," said Juan Somavia, ILO Director-General. He noted that the convention and a related recommendation "will extend coverage to many millions of women who are presently unprotected during the period of maternity....A key element of making decent work a reality must involve improving working conditions and opportunities for women." The Convention, which applies to all women including those employed in the informal sector, contains a provision for protection of the health of mother and child. A previous Convention covered a narrower category of women workers, and it contained no provision about health protection of the mother and child. The new standard says that "each member shall, after consulting the representative organizations of employers and workers, adopt appropriate measures to ensure that pregnant or breastfeeding women are not obliged to perform work that has been determined by the competent authority to be prejudicial to the health of the mother or the child, or when an assessment has established a significant risk to the mother's health or that of her child." The length of maternity leave would be extended from 12 to 14 weeks, including "a period of six weeks compulsory leave after childbirth, unless otherwise agreed at the national level by the government and the representative organizations of employers and workers." On employment protection the new Convention says that "it shall be unlawful for an employer to terminate the employment of a woman during her pregnancy or absence on leave or during a period following her return to work to be prescribed by national laws or regulations, except on grounds unrelated to the pregnancy or birth of the child and its consequences or nursing." And it notes that "a woman shall be provided with the right to one or more daily breaks or a daily reduction of hours of work to breastfeed her child." The length and duration of the breaks are to be implemented in accordance with national practice, and "these breaks or the reduction of daily hours of work shall be counted as working time and remunerated accordingly." The session also took action to compel the government of Myanmar (Burma) to comply with ILO Convention 29 on forced labour. Under the terms of a resolution, a series of measures will take effect in November of this year unless the ILO Governing Body is satisfied with the country's intentions to comply with recommendations of a 1998 Commission of Inquiry, which found "widespread and systematic use of forced labour in Myanmar." The conference also adopted a resolution on HIV/AIDs, which urges member states--and where applicable employers' and workers' organizations--to strengthen occupational health and safety systems to protect groups at risk, among other things. An ILO report on HIV/AIDS: A Threat to Decent Work, Productivity and Development, discussed at a high-level meeting during the conference, warns of catastrophic consequences of HIV/AIDS for workers and employers worldwide. The report (see Go Between 81) projects a severe decline in the size and quality of the workforce in a number of countries over the next 20 years. Contact: Bureau of Public Information, ILO, 4 route des Morillons, CH-1211 Geneva 22, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/799 7940, fax +41-22/799 8577, e-mail , website (www.ilo.org). FINANCING FOR DEVELOPMENT MEETS IN JAKARTA The first in a series of regional consultations on Financing for Development (see Go Between 81) opened in Jakarta (Indonesia) on 2 August 2000. The four-day meeting, which was jointly organized by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), brought together over 150 delegates from 37 countries as well as representatives of financial institutions, UN bodies and NGOs. The meeting addressed a range of issues including trade, capital flows, development assistance, debt and financial architecture. "It is encouraging to see the beginning of the process with an emphasis on the multi-dimensional problems facing developing countries," said Makarim Wibisono, President of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and Permanent Representative of Indonesia to the UN. UNCTAD Secretary-General Rubens Ricupero stressed that promoting complementarity, stability and appropriate burden sharing in financial arrangements at all levels should be an important objective of future reform efforts in the area of finance. This series of meetings is one of the various mechanisms being used by the Financing for Development (FFD) process as it prepares for its final high-level meeting scheduled for 2001. The remaining regional consultations are: -- 9-10 November 2000, Colombia, ECLAC (Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean); -- 21-22 November 2000, Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), ECA (Economic Commission for Africa); -- 23-24 November 2000, Beirut (Lebanon), ESCWA (Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia); and -- 7-8 December 2000, Geneva, ECE (Economic Commission for Europe). Go Between will be providing a summary of the consultations once all five have been completed. Contact: Federica Pietracci, FFD Secretariat, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations, Room DC2-2256, New York NY 10017, United States, telephone +1-212/963 8497, fax +1-212/963 1267, e-mail , website (www.un.org/esa/analysis/ffd). UNDP, UNIFEM AND ITU AGREEMENT A formal agreement aimed at enabling more women to shape information and technology policies was signed in July 2000 in New York by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The agreement, which establishes general principles and identifies areas in which the three agencies will cooperate, guarantees that the impact of information and communications technologies (ICTs) on women is incorporated in policy dialogue and decision making. "Now is the time to shape a future in which women are not just consumers of computers and information," said Noeleen Heyzer, UNIFEM Executive Director, "but also producers of the technologies and policies that underpin the world of tomorrow." The agencies will encourage governments and the telecommunications industry to recruit, employ, train and advance women's fair and equitable access to ICTs. As part of their collaboration the three agencies will jointly monitor and evaluate implementation of women's empowerment in national development plans around the world. Contact: Omar Gharzeddine, UNDP, 1 UN Plaza, New York NY 10017, United States, telephone +1-212/906 5171, e-mail , website (www.undp.org), Micol Zarb, UNIFEM, 304 E. 45th Street, 6th Floor, New York NY 10017, United States, telephone +1-212/906 5463, e-mail , website (www.unifem.undp.org) or Hanne Laugesen, Head, Conference Department, ITU, Place des Nations, CH-1211 Geneva 20, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/730 5691, fax +41-22/730 6422, e-mail , website (www.itu.int). SECOND WORLD ASSEMBLY ON AGEING Preparations for the Second World Assembly on Ageing, to be held in 2002, include revising the 1982 International Plan of Action on Ageing and developing a Long-Term Strategy on Ageing. Revision of the Plan of Action, adopted 18 years ago at the Vienna World Assembly on Ageing, has been initiated by the United Nations Secretariat for the World Assembly on Ageing. Technical committee meetings are being held to advise on content of the Plan and Strategy, which will be drafted by the Assembly Secretariat and subject to intergovernmental negotiation and approval by the UN General Assembly. At the first technical meeting, held in June 2000 in Frankfurt (Germany), participants discussed, among other things, how to ensure that the revised Plan and Strategy will pay particular attention to developing countries. A second technical committee meeting is scheduled for later this year in the Dominican Republic. The 44th session of the UN General Assembly in 1989 decided to convene the second World Assembly, which it said would review outcomes of the first World Assembly, as well adopt a revised plan of action and a long-term strategy on ageing "in the context of a society for all ages." Contact: Alexandre Sidorenko, UN Programme on Ageing, Division for Social Policy and Development, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Room DC2-1358, 2 UN Plaza, New York NY 10017, United States, telephone +1-212/963 0500, fax +1-212/963 3062, website (www.un.org/esa/socdev/ageing.htm). GLOBAL POVERTY REPORT Poverty in the midst of plenty is one of the central challenges in today's global economy and society, according to the Global Poverty Report, submitted at the Group of Eight summit in Okinawa (Japan) in July. The report was co-published by the African Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Inter-American Development Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank. Fighting poverty "is both a moral imperative and a necessity for a stable world," according to the report. It notes that an estimated 1.2 billion people are living on less than US$1 per day, and almost three billion on less than US$2 per day. It stresses that, among other things, the "global community needs to make a concerted effort to accelerate progress and more effectively address the causes of poverty at country and global levels." Nations "need to get on a path of sustainable, pro-poor growth" that provides "opportunities for all, a voice in decision making and protection from shocks." At the country level the report calls for, among other things: -- policies that promote low inflation, realistic and stable exchange rates, reasonable fiscal deficits, effective integration into the global economy, and private sector activity; -- investments in the physical and financial assets of poor people such as adequate schooling and skill development; -- transparency and accountability, which "contribute to well-informed public debate;" and -- broad participation, which the report says can help improve the management of public expenditures. At the international level, factors such as globalization, volatility of commodity prices, the availability of knowledge, and flows of private and official capital have a "powerful impact" on poor countries and their ability to reduce poverty, according to the report. It notes that "advanced countries have an important role to play in contributing directly to the fight against poverty, as well as through the role they play in international organizations. Actions are needed to ensure that opportunities for poor countries are expanded." It says actions at the global level include, among things, the following. -- Industrialized countries should strive to sustain global economic expansion to provide the demand conditions for developing countries and to open their markets more completely to imports from developing countries. -- Donor countries should strive to increase aid flows to the poorest countries and to complete financing for the Enhanced Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Debt Initiative, "with aid increasingly targeted at country-driven, poverty-oriented" programmes. -- The international community should provide increased support for international public goods, notably for research and dissemination of vaccines for communicable diseases such as HIV/AIDS and malaria. -- The private sector and research institutions have "a crucial role to play in devoting talent and resources to solving the problems facing poor countries." The report also says that international financial institutions (IFIs), including multilateral development banks and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), have "a central role to play at the country level, where they provide policy advice, and financial and technical support for long-term country-driven" programmes. They "have a key role to play at the global level where they can help shape international rules and ensure the provision of global public goods....Poverty reduction strategies now being prepared by countries are providing a framework for enhanced collaboration between governments, IFIs and other external agencies, and civil society." Contact: World Bank, 1818 H Street NW, Washington DC 20433, United States, telephone +1-202/477 1234. The report is available on the World Bank website (www.worldbank.org/poverty/library/G8_2000.htm). WORLD ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL SURVEY After widespread economic setbacks in 1997-1998, a "healing process" in the global economy gathered momentum in 1999 and is expected to "broaden and deepen in the near future," according to the forthcoming World Economic and Social Survey, 2000. The first chapter, released by the United Nations in July, says expansion in 2000 "is likely to be even more dynamic than in the last two quarters of 1999, in which case growth in the global economy would return to the levels attained in the mid-1990s. As then, the current outlook is for this rate of growth to be sustained over the next few years." However, the report notes, some macro-economic imbalances that have developed as part of the recovery "pose a potential threat to this favourable outlook" and need to be addressed. And while widespread, the improved prospects are not universal. Continued efforts need to be made at all levels, says the report, "to ensure that the benefits of revitalized growth permeate to all countries and individuals. Information and communications technologies can contribute to these efforts but spreading their benefits to where they are most needed will require conducive national policies and international support." Growth of gross world product (GWP) is expected to increase from 2.7% in 1999 to 3.5% in 2000, the highest since 1996. Global trade began to recover in the second half of 1999, and growth of world exports is forecast to be about 8% per year in 2000-2001, compared to 4.8% last year. For countries and regions with spare production capacity in expanding sectors, "demand for their exports from countries with buoyant domestic absorption levels has provided a crucial impetus to their recovery." Other countries--notably those remaining heavily dependent on non-fuel commodity exports--have been "largely by-passed" by the recovery in world trade. While all developed countries recorded gains in their per capita gross domestic product (GDP) in 1999, the number of developing countries that recorded falling per capita output remained at 37 (out of 95 regularly monitored). However, the report notes, the proportion of the population living in developing countries that experienced positive per capita growth rose from about 74% in 1998 to some 78% in 1999. Sustained growth of per capita output of 3% per annum is postulated as the minimum necessary to enable developing countries to make a significant reduction in poverty over the long run, says the report. The number of developing countries that achieved this benchmark declined from 24 in 1998 to 21 in 1999. The proportion of the developing-country population in this category dropped in 1999 to 58% from 61% in 1998. Some middle-income countries in South-East Asia joined the group, while the number from Africa--especially sub-Saharan Africa--fell. "The number of developing countries that failed to increase per capita GDP by 3% in 1999 and the share of the population affected remained large," says the report. "Moreover, only a modest improvement seems to be in the offing over the near-term. The number of such countries and the proportion of the population of developing countries achieving this benchmark are expected to rise only to 29% and 63%, respectively, in 2000." Meanwhile, the number of countries that are forecast not to increase per capita GDP in 2000 will drop, but only to 20, with the share of the population thus affected remaining at about 7%. Almost half the countries monitored, accounting for about 30% of the population of the developing world, will increase per capita output by less than 3%. On these expectations, despite the relatively optimistic outlook for the world economy, it is unlikely that there will be a major dent in poverty in most developing countries in the near future. Contact: UN Publications, 2 UN Plaza, Room DC2-853, New York NY 10017, United States, telephone +1-212/963 8302, fax +1-212/963 3489, e-mail or UN Publications, Palais des Nations, CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/907 2606 or 907 4872, fax +41-22/917 0027, e-mail . INTEGRATED FRAMEWORK FOR LDCS INEFFECTUAL An independent report (WT/LDC/SWG/IF/1) commissioned by six international economic institutions says that an inter-agency initiative established to support the integration of least developed countries (LDCs) has been largely ineffectual in meeting its objectives. The report reviews implementation of the Integrated Framework for Trade-Related Technical Assistance to Least-Developed Countries, which is a joint project of the World Trade Organization (WTO), World Bank, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), International Monetary Fund (IMF), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the International Trade Center (ITC). It says implementation of the framework has suffered from confusion about its activities and goals, including different perceptions between LDCs and donors about the objectives of the framework. Representatives of LDC governments said they expected additional funding, while donors expected the framework to produce greater efficiency by coordinating trade-related technical assistance. Representatives of LDC governments also complained that the framework was not sufficiently demand-driven. In addition, governance and administration of the framework were found to be weak since they depended on management by committee without clear responsibility assigned to any single entity. The report describes the framework as a generally "unfunded mandate." On 6 July heads of the six organizations met in New York to consider the results of the review. In a joint statement they said the issues raised in the report and its conclusions "made clear the need for strengthening the [framework] and improving its functioning." They agreed to support the integration of trade-related technical assistance and capacity building into the national development strategies and plans of LDCs, principally through such instruments as Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) and the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF). This mainstreaming effort will be led and coordinated by the World Bank, according to the principles of its Comprehensive Development Framework. The WTO is to remain chair of the Inter-Agency Working Group, which "will ensure transparency and adequate coordination" of the six agencies under the framework. The administrative unit for the framework, currently located at ITC, will be moved to the WTO. The agency heads also agreed to seek "donor support for and voluntary contributions to an Integrated Framework Trust Fund (IFTF) for the purpose of mainstreaming trade and trade-related assistance into development architecture." The fund will be administered by UNDP. Contact: World Trade Organization, Centre William Rappard, 154 rue de Lausanne, Case postale, CH-1211 Geneva 21, Switzerland, telephone +41-22 /739 5111, website (www.wto.org). WORLD BANK/WHO TOBACCO REPORT Higher taxes are the key to cutting cigarette consumption, especially among the poor, the young and the relatively uneducated, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) and World Bank in a report published in August on Tobacco Control in Developing Countries. The report says a tobacco tax increase has been found to be a very effective tool for lowering tobacco use, particularly in developing countries. It also challenges the perception that tobacco products smuggling negates the benefits of higher taxes--"corruption sets the stage for this illegal activity," says the report. Higher taxes leading to a 10% rise in cigarette prices would motivate about 42 million people to quit smoking, according to WHO and World Bank researchers. In the report they say raising cigarette taxes could prevent about ten million tobacco-related deaths (nine million of these in low- and middle-income countries). Not only would tobacco consumption and tobacco deaths drop, but government revenues would actually rise by 7% on average for a 10% increase in cigarette taxes. The report is the outcome of a three-year research project involving a team of about 40 economists, epidemiologists, social scientists, and public policy and legal experts from 13 countries. Unless smoking patterns change, one billion people are expected to die from smoking in the 21st century---ten times more than those killed by tobacco throughout the 20th century, according to WHO. Contact: Derek Yach, Executive Director and Project Manager, Tobacco Free Initiative, World Health Organization, avenue Appia 20, CH-1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/791 2108, fax +41-22/791 4832, e-mail , website (www.who.int/toh) or World Bank Publications, PO Box 960, Herndon, VA 20172-0960, United States, telephone +1-703/661 1580, fax +1-703/661 1501, website (www1.worldbank.org/tobacco). UNCTAD MEETING ON TNCS AND SMES Transnational corporation and small and medium-sized enterprise (TNC/SME) linkages under certain conditions can have a positive impact on national growth and development, said participants in a workshop on the issue held 8-9 August 2000 in Penang (Malaysia). About 250 representatives of TNCs, SMEs and international experts attended the workshop, held by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and Intel Malaysia. Among other things participants identified best practices that they said under certain conditions could contribute to the success of such linkage programmes in Asia, including the following. -- Governments must act as catalysts by providing a continuously-improving logistics and educational infrastructure, particularly for development of engineering and management skills. -- TNCs must act as agents of change or "anchor companies," working with SMEs for technological and managerial upgrading, by "adopting" and coaching them in continuous improvement. -- SMEs, which must have the commitment to compete, survive and succeed, also need a vision of their own evolution and should be prepared to change their mindset in line with new opportunities and requirements. -- Public and private sectors, as well as academia, must work together to create "meso" institutions such as skill training centres to facilitate transfer of technology and encourage continuous innovation. Participants also stressed that linkages between TNCs and SMEs must be based on trust, confidence and long-term vision. Contact: Lorraine Ruffing, Chief, Technology and Enterprise Branch, Division on Investment, Technology and Enterprise Development, UNCTAD, Palais des Nations, CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/907 5802, e-mail , website (www.unctad.org). WIPO TAKES ON "CYBERSQUATTERS" The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has initiated a second round of consultations to address outstanding issues related to intellectual property and domain names. The issues include abusive registrations of trade names, geographical indication and other rights not based on trademarks. A group of countries spearheaded by Australia made the request, which also calls upon WIPO to draw up a list of best practices to help administrators of country code top-level domain name registries (ccTLDs) prevent and resolve domain name disputes. "This request marks a new phase in our attempts to establish greater compatibility between identifiers in the real and virtual worlds," said WIPO Assistant Director General Francis Gurry, who oversaw the first WIPO Internet Domain Name Process. "In examining personality rights, geographical indications and the other areas mentioned in the request, we will be embarking on more complex, but no less important, legal and policy terrain." The results of the second series of consultations are expected to be submitted to WIPO's member states and the Internet community in the first half of 2001. For more information about the second WIPO process see website (ecommerce.wipo.int). Cybersquatters take advantage of the global, "first-come first-serve" nature of the domain names system by, among other things, registering domain names that have come to constitute a form of "business identifier" since they are easy to use and remember. Contact: Media Relations and Public Affairs Section, WIPO, PO Box 18, CH-1211 Geneva 20, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/338 8161 or 338 9547, fax +41-22/338 8810, e-mail , website (www.wipo.org). GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GATEWAY The World Bank is planning to establish the Global Development Gateway, a development portal on the web, which would aim to serve as a common platform for material, dialogue and problem solving on development issues. The gateway team currently includes the World Bank Group, members of the public and private sectors, and some civil society groups. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) joined in July as a partner. The gateway, according to the World Bank, is intended to serve the needs of users including developing countries, donors, civil society and the private sector. It will aim to assist them by providing links to ideas and good practice, information about development activities and trends, funding, and commercial opportunities. The Bank said local government in developing countries, community representatives and NGOs are expected to play a "vital enabling and intermediary role" in this process. The Bank is planning or has already held consultations about the gateway in regions around the world and with NGOs. However the NGO Bretton Woods Project said it is "concerned that this US$60 million plan would further strengthen the World Bank's influence" over development research, and that "the Bank's existing 150 websites and other initiatives set a poor precedent: often amounting to little more than promotion of the Bank and its favoured" policies. "We are very concerned about this...initiative," said Brian Ashley of the South Africa-based Alternative Information for Development Centre. "We feel that NGOs and the communities they serve will again be marginalized from access or input to knowledge." Contact: Global Development Gateway, World Bank, Room G2-015, 1818 H Street NW, Washington DC 20433, United States, fax +1-202/522 7479, e-mail , website (www.worldbank.org/gateway). Bretton Woods Project, PO Box 100, London SE1 7RT, United Kingdom, telephone +44-20/ 7523 2170, fax +44-20/7620 0719, e-mail , website (www.brettonwoodsproject.org). WFP HUNGER SITE RAISES US$3 MILLION The Hunger Site (www.thehungersite.com), the first "click-to-donate" website established by the World Food Programme (WFP), observed its first anniversary in June 2000. Designed to make it easy to help fight world hunger, the site allows individuals to donate food with a click of their mouse. "The Hunger Site's contribution has been extraordinary, thanks to the many people who click daily and the corporations who pay for their donations," said Catherine Bertini, WFP Executive Director. "Not only has this site generated much-needed funds for our work, it has also created a great deal of awareness of hunger and its consequences....a vital step on the road towards a world without hunger." In its first 12 months more than 70 million people in over 180 countries have clicked on the site. Together they have generated more than US$3 million in pledges--enough to provide 150 million cups of food for the world's hungry, according to WFP. The donations to WFP are used to deliver food aid in Bhutan, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Haiti, India, Mozambique, Nepal, Pakistan and Venezuela. Among other things, the site's donations support WFP projects that encourage hungry children across the world to go to school by offering school lunches and snacks. Contact: Jeff Rowland, Public Affairs Officer, World Food Programme, Via Cesare Giulio Viola 68, I-00148 Rome, Italy, telephone +39-06/6513 2971, fax +39-06/6513 2840, e-mail , website (www.thehungersite.com). UN AND NGO NEWS COMMITTEE ON NGOS MEETS The Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations met in a resumed session at the United Nations in New York from 12-23 June 2000 to consider applications by NGOs for consultative status and requests for reclassification; review quadrennial reports submitted by NGOs; hear special reports requested of specific NGOs; and review the Committee's methods of work. The Committee recommended that the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) authorize it to meet again from 8-19 January 2001 to complete the work of the 2000 session. The Committee had before it 80 new applications for consultative status and 37 applications deferred from 1998 and 1999. Of these, it recommended 37 organizations for consultative status. One, the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, was recommended for reclassification from special to general status. In examining the NGO applications before them, Member States on the Committee consistently asked questions regarding funding sources including financial resources from governments; the role of elected officials in the work of an NGO; any electoral political activity; position statements of an NGO that might contradict the UN Charter, particularly regarding violence or terrorist activity; and positions an NGO might take that directly challenge the authority of a government. Member States are increasingly referring to NGO websites to assess an organization's mission, alliances, activities and position statements and compare these to written applications. In several cases, both for the review of new applications and review of complaints, NGO website pages including links to other organizations were circulated to delegates and cited in the discussion. In the case of the North American Taiwanese Women's Association, which was denied status, China's representative said the position of the organization in support of an independent Taiwan, as reflected on its website, was contrary to what was stated in its application. In another example, the application of the Women's Zionist Organization of America, Hadassah, was deferred. A number of representatives of Member States including Lebanon, Syria and the Palestinian Observer noted that the organization's website calls for a unified Jerusalem as the capital of Israel; this is contrary to the UN position and to the NGO's own purported agenda of humanitarian assistance. The United States said it did not begrudge any NGO an opinion on different issues and supported the organization's application. A considerable amount of time was given to special reports of four NGOs based on complaints raised by China, Cuba, the Russian Federation and Sudan. The Committee heard responses from two of the NGOs and held extensive question-and-answer sessions. After considering complaints, the Committee recommended to ECOSOC that the consultative status of two NGOs--the International Council of the Association for Peace in the Continent (ASOPAZCO) and the Transnational Radical Party (TRP)--be suspended. One concern of the Committee was the activities of some NGOs at the Commission on Human Rights. With regard to the TRP for example, the Russian Federation claimed that a representative of "Chechen separatists and terrorists" had addressed the April 2000 Commission on Human Rights under the name of the TRP. The NGO Committee decided to send a letter to the Chair of the Commission reminding it of Resolution 1996/31 on the relationship between NGOs with consultative status and the UN. In his closing remarks, Chair Levant Bilman (Turkey) said the Committee would have to find a solution for handling the increasing number of applications from NGOs. Presently 2,012 NGOs have applied for consultative status and over 400 are submitting quadrennial reports. Member States currently serving on the NGO Committee include: Algeria, Bolivia, Chile, China, Colombia, Cuba, Ethiopia, France, Germany, India, Lebanon, Pakistan, Romania, Russian Federation, Senegal, Sudan, Tunisia, Turkey, and the United States. BIOLOGICAL HOTSPOTS FUND LAUNCHED A US$150 million fund designed to better safeguard the world's threatened biological "hotspots" in developing countries was launched in August by the World Bank, Conservation International (CI) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF). The Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund focuses on highly threatened regions, where some 60% of all terrestrial species diversity are found on only 1.4% of the planet's total surface area. The threat to species diversity is reflected in the mounting loss of forests and other plant and animal habitat worldwide, said backers of the new Fund. Eighty-eight percent of the original hotspots are already destroyed, and some 12% of all mammal species and 11% of all bird and plant species are threatened with extinction. "This is a new source of money exclusively for local groups whose work is central to protecting the biodiversity hotspots," said Peter Seligmann of Conservation International. "The aim is to help agencies and communities to pull together more effectively and have a greater impact. Too often the many ongoing efforts in the hotspots fail to deliver because people don't know what others are doing or because crucial activities--often at the grassroots level--are not funded." The Fund's administrative flexibility is designed to help ensure that conservation investments achieve maximum impact; its streamlined process of decision making aims to allow quick responses to new threats and for smaller-scale projects that are often very time-sensitive. The Fund will help to provide quick and easy access to grant guidelines and application forms through the Internet. Applications can be submitted online (www.cepf.net). Conservation International will oversee day-to-day management of the Fund, and the World Bank and GEF will provide an oversight role with other sponsors. The Fund's areas of focus during its first year of operations will be the hotspot regions of Madagascar, West Africa, and the Tropical Andes. Each subsequent year, the Fund will invest in a minimum of five additional critical ecosystems. A global nonprofit organization, Conservation International applies innovations in science, economics, policy making and community participation to protect the Earth's richest regions of plant and animal diversity in biodiversity hotspots, major tropical wilderness areas and key marine ecosystems. The Global Environment Facility, whose implementing agencies are the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Bank, provides grants and concessional funding to developing countries and economies in transition for projects to protect the global environment. As the financial mechanism of the Convention on Biological Diversity, it is the principal international funder of biodiversity conservation. Contact: Conservation International, 2501 M Street NW, Suite 200, Washington DC 20037, United States, telephone +1-202/429 5660, fax +1-202/887 0193, website (www.conservation.org) or (www.worldbank.org/biodiversity). UNEP SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING GUIDELINES Revised guidelines on sustainability reporting were released in July 2000 by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The guidelines, which make recommendations for companies when reporting economic, environmental and social performance, were developed by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). The revised guidelines reflect the contributions of hundreds of individuals and organizations worldwide that "generously donated their time and wisdom in the months since the release of the March 1999 GRI Exposure Draft Guidelines," according to the GRI. During that time representatives from business, NGOs and government provided comments and suggestions for improving the draft version. The revised guidelines represent a major step toward a generally-accepted, global framework for sustainability reporting, according to the GRI. They were developed, among other things, to help bring more consistency to environmental performance reports released by businesses. The GRI, convened by the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies (CERES) based in the United States, involves participation by, among others, international organizations and the United Nations, business, NGOs, accountancy organizations and universities. Contact: Global Reporting Initiative, 11 Arlington Street, Boston MA 02116, United States, telephone +1-617/266 9384, fax +1-617/267 5400, e-mail , website (www.globalreporting.org). UNCHS SECURE TENURE CAMPAIGN Over 3,000 members of the Indian National Slum Dwellers Federation (NSDF) were joined by officials from Mumbai municipality and the government of India, among others, to launch the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (UNCHS) Global Campaign for Secure Tenure. The launch involved slum dwellers from 23 Indian cities and from cities in Kenya, South Africa, Namibia, Thailand, Cambodia, Nepal and Vietnam. The launch is the first in a series of international events to promote the campaign, which aims to improve implementation of the goal of adequate shelter for all. The campaign is focused on promoting housing rights and highlighting the importance of the urban poor as partners in seeking solutions and what it describes as the central role of women in urban development strategies. During the launch, UNCHS (Habitat) and NSDF signed a memorandum of understanding that aims to facilitate extending the campaign to cities throughout India. Contact: Sharad Shankardass, Acting Head, Press and Media Unit, UNCHS (Habitat), PO Box 30030, Nairobi, Kenya, telephone +254-2/623151, fax +254-2/624060, e-mail , website (www.unchs.org). EARTHACTION KIT LAUNCHED EarthAction, a network launched at the 1992 Earth Summit, has produced an action kit on the future of the United Nations. The kit includes the Call for a Safer World, which has been signed by hundreds of citizen groups and members of parliament in the network and was designed to influence leaders meeting at the Millennium Summit. The document outlines steps that, if implemented, the network says "would do much to democratize and strengthen the UN system." They are: -- Strengthen the UN's capacity for preventive diplomacy to ensure it "acts in good time to help resolve dangerous conflicts before blood is shed." -- Create a "UN Rapid Deployment Brigade" able to respond immediately to genocide, aggression or natural disasters. -- Establish an independent International Criminal Court that is able to prosecute any individual for genocide, war crimes, international aggression or other crimes against humanity. -- Launch a process of balanced, worldwide demilitarization including elimination of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction, with an international agency to verify compliance with disarmament agreements. -- Establish a representative environmental council able to make binding decisions to protect the planet without waiting for unanimous agreement among the world's governments. -- Establish a directly-elected People's Assembly within the UN "to ensure democratic accountability in international decision making and in the expenditure of UN funds." -- Raise money through fees on global pollution or international currency transactions "to fund these initiatives for UN reform, to protect the global environment, and to meet the basic needs of the world's citizens for food, clean water, shelter, education, family planning and health care." Contact: Nicholas Dunlop, Executive Director, EarthAction, 17 The Green, Wye, Kent TN25 5AJ, United Kingdom, telephone +44-1233/813796, fax +44-1233/813795, e-mail or Lois Barber, Executive Director, EarthAction, 30 Cottage Street, Amherst MA 01002, United States, telephone +1-413/549 8118, fax +1- 413/549 0544 e-mail , website (www.earthaction.org). NGO NEWS WORLD DISASTERS REPORT While public health "has improved dramatically over the last century in much of the developing world," it is increasingly under threat as "governments retreat from national health provision and look to the private sector and non-governmental organizations to fill the gap," according to the World Disasters Report 2000. This year's report, published annually by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, focuses on public health disasters. It is concerned with, among other things, the underlying causes of public health crises, where resources can make the most difference, and how partnerships can multiply the effects of aid intervention. The report includes chapters on AIDS in Africa, public health concerns in Kosovo and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and the legacy of Chernobyl. "It is the silent, ongoing disasters--with less obvious root causes--that are more deadly [than sudden disasters]," said Didier Cherpitel, Secretary General of the federation. He added that the days when disaster response meant "quick in, quick out" are long gone--"we cannot just pack up and go home after the disaster. But pumping inadequate resources into dysfunctional systems is equally flawed." Organizations must "engage in much more focused advocacy and action--through partnerships with local communities, governments, private sector companies, health research bodies and journalists," according to Mr. Cherpitel. "Public health education and provision within local communities will render them stronger and better able to cope. We need to invest in people, not just in commodities." Support for disaster-affected states in providing appropriate public health systems will help prevent future disasters, says the report. It stresses that advocacy at the international level must address some of the systemic threats to public health such as lack of investment in solutions to developing world diseases; shifts from aid toward capital flows that may not serve the needs of the most vulnerable; poverty; poor education; and changes in climate and land use. Contact: International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, PO Box 372, CH-1211 Geneva 19, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/730 4222, fax +41-22/733 0395, e-mail , website (www.ifrc.org). PEOPLES' TRIBUNAL CALL TO CORPORATIONS The Permanent Peoples' Tribunal, an independent forum established in 1979, said in July it was asking four major corporations to show cause that they had not committed serious violations of internationally-recognized human rights and environmental standards. The corporations are Freeport McMoRan, Rio Tinto Zinc, Monsanto and Union Carbide. The tribunal reached this decision "on the basis of extensive documentation in the form of technical reports, testimony of expert witnesses, and stories of individual victims." It "found sufficient evidence to call upon the alleged violators to show cause that these violations had not occurred," said Gianni Tognoni, Secretary General of the tribunal. The four corporations will be invited to give evidence in rebuttal of the allegations contained in the tribunal's indictment. The tribunal was formed in 1979 as successor to the Bertrand Russell War Crimes Tribunal on Latin America. It examines violations of the rights of peoples and suggests remedies for such violations. The tribunal is composed of over 60 members who are jurists, writers, statespeople, artists and scientists from around the world. It attempts to fill gaps in international law, which it seeks to influence by elaborating on documents such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Nuremberg principles and United Nations General Assembly resolutions. Contact: Permanent Peoples' Tribunal, c/o Lelio Basso International Foundation, Via della Dogana Vecchia 5, 00186 Rome, Italy, telephone +39-06/68801468, fax +39-06/6877774, website (www.grisnet.it/filb). ASIAN NGOS OPPOSE DAMS A regional network of Asian NGOs has adopted a declaration opposing the construction of dams and urging governments to help villagers affected by them. The Pak Mun Declaration was adopted at the First East and South-East Asia Regional Meeting on Dams, Rivers and People, held in Kong Jiam (Thailand) from 28 June-2 July 2000. The declaration was signed by NGO representatives from Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Myanmar (Burma), Philippines, Republic of Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Viet Nam. It calls for: -- a moratorium on large dam construction in East and South-East Asia until problems created by existing dams have been rectified and reparations have been made to affected communities; -- decommissioning dams that have created irreversible social, environmental and cultural destruction; -- an immediate stop to the financing of dam projects by bilateral and multilateral organizations; -- independent enquiries on the justification of proposed dam projects; -- cheaper, cleaner alternatives to dams to meet energy and water needs; -- prior and informed consent of affected people be taken into account when planning dams; and -- full recognition of cultural, social, economic and land rights of indigenous peoples. Contact: Southeast Asia Rivers Network (SEARIN), 25/5 Moo 2, Soi Sukhapiban 27, Changkhien-Jed yod Road, Chang Phuek, Chiang Mai 50300, Thailand, telephone +66-53/221157, fax +66-53/221157, e-mail or Aviva Imhof, South-East Asia Campaigner, International Rivers Network, 1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley CA 94703, United States, telephone +1-510/848 1155, fax +1-510/848 1008, e-mail , website (www.irn.org). CLIMATE VOICE INITIATIVE LAUNCHED A coalition of environmental organizations launched an international web-based initiative in August designed to "give citizens around the world a voice in demanding a halt to global warming." The website (www.climatevoice.org), put together by 16 organizations including Greenpeace, World Wildlife Fund and Friends of the Earth, aims to send ten million messages to political leaders demanding they use the upcoming Sixth Conference of the Parties (COP-6) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change to reduce pollution that causes global warming. At COP-6, to be held in November 2000 in The Hague (Netherlands), governments must meet the deadline for finalizing rules for implementing the Kyoto Protocol (see E&D File, vol. III, no. 16). "It is now ten years since the international scientific community issued its first warning about the threats the world faces from climate change," said Andrew Kerr of WWF's Climate Change Campaign. "That's why we're aiming for ten million messages: one million for each year that governments have to failed to take action. It is scandalous that available solutions to this problem have been so thoroughly neglected." The coalition's website also contains a petition that can be downloaded, and a "cyber postcard" that can be sent to friends, encouraging them to join the campaign. Contact: Andrew Kerr, Public Affairs Manager, WWF Climate Change Campaign, WNF, Postbus no. 7, 3700 AA Zeist, Netherlands, telephone +31 6/5161 9462, fax +31-30/691 2064, e-mail , website (www.climatevoice.org). OTHER NEWS G-7 MEETS IN OKINAWA Meeting in Okinawa (Japan) from 21-23 July 2000 for their annual meetings, leaders of the Group of Seven (G-7) industrial countries held discussions on international financial architecture, the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Debt Initiative, abuse of the global financial system, and nuclear safety. The G-7 is made up of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom and the United States. In its final communique the G-7 noted that over the past year prospects for world economic growth had improved, and it pointed to stronger underlying fundamentals of the global economy and the industrial countries in particular. It said that "emerging market economies, including the crisis-affected economies in Asia and elsewhere, continue to strengthen." The G-7 noted that in order for this trend to continue the international community would have to strengthen the international financial architecture. Proposals in this regard involved reform of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and reform of the Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs). Strengthened IMF surveillance was necessary in light of globalization and large-scale private capital flows, as was strengthening governance and accountability of the IMF's decision-making structure. On the issue of debt the G-7 acknowledged that further efforts were required but noted that nine countries had benefited from the HIPC Initiative in the amount of US$15 billion. At last year's meeting in Cologne (Germany), G-7 leaders agreed to a package of measures that totaled close to US$100 billion in debt relief. The G-7 suggested that one of the reasons for the delay in relief was due to the fact that many of the HIPC countries were involved in military conflicts. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan expressed his disappointment at the failure of G-7 countries to provide debt relief to poor countries in a timely manner. "For four years," he said, "we have had too many promises and too little action." He noted that one year after the G-7 made much-touted promises of debt relief, only nine out of the 41 highly indebted poor countries had qualified for relief. "Where there is agreement in principle that debt relief is essential, and where delays have a profoundly negative impact on the lives of poor people," he said, "clearly more must be done." As at previous Summits, NGO networks and campaigns paid close attention to decisions being taken on debt relief for poor countries. According to Yoko Kitizawa of Jubilee 2000 Japan, this year's Summit marked a missed opportunity to make progress on debt initiatives. "This will be known as the Squandered Summit," she said. "While the G-7 leaders have enjoyed Japan's US$750 million hospitality, they have squandered an historic opportunity to cancel the unpayable debts of the poorest countries." Reacting to G-7 leaders' suggestion that they would rather delay debt relief to ensure that proceeds did not finance military conflicts, Jennifer Henry of the Canadian Jubilee Initiative said that "if the G-7 really valued human security, then it would have cancelled these outrageous debts. Secure societies cannot be built on a bedrock of poverty and deprivation." Ms. Henry, who cited UN figures that show 13 children die every minute as debt servicing sucks money out of health care and education spending, called the debt crisis "a death crisis." In spite of this, she added, "the G-7 are treating it like a case of the sniffles." Jubilee 2000 vowed to step up its campaigning pressure. "We will be going over the heads of the G-7 to the UN Millennium Summit of 130 Heads of State," Ann Pettifor of the UK campaign said. "From there, we will march to Prague [where the World Bank and International Monetary Fund Board of Governors will meet in September] to intensify pressure on the IMF to release countries from the slavery of debt." David Ugolor of the Nigerian campaign noted that the fight would continue and suggested that as a result of lack of progress in Okinawa there would be "growing demands for repudiation of the debt instead of dialogue." G-15 MEETING CONCLUDES IN CAIRO The Group of 15 (G-15) developing countries, which met in Cairo (Egypt) on 19-20 June 2000, highlighted concerns about the globalization process, called for a stronger role for developing countries in decision making in the World Trade Organization (WTO), and said the international community should address the "asymmetries and imbalances in the global economy" before poverty can be reduced and living standards raised. Trade between the 17 countries that make up the G-15 accounts for about 10% of import-export flows around the world. The members of the G-15 are: Argentina, Algeria, Brazil, Chile, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Jamaica, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Venezuela and Zimbabwe. During the meeting in Cairo ministers agreed to admit Colombia and Iran. A final communique said that "the multilateral trading system should operate in a manner that is open, equitable, rule-based and non-discriminatory. It must take into account the development dimension in multilateral trade negotiations." The G-15 said instruments such as Special and Differential Treatment provisions need to be strengthened, and "special attention should be given to addressing the problems faced by developing countries in the implementation of their WTO obligations." The group reiterated its opposition to linking "non-trade" concerns such as environmental and human and labour rights to trade; it said it rejected all attempts to use such issues as "disguised forms of protectionism and as conditions for restricting market access, aid and/or technology flows to developing countries." OAU HOLDS SUMMIT Participants in the 36th summit of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), held in Lome (Togo) in July 2000, ended their meeting by signing a draft treaty establishing an African Union. The union, to be loosely modeled after the European Union, would in time replace the OAU. It would, among other things, oversee Africa's defense, economy and foreign affairs. Twenty-five of the OAU's 53 members have signed the act to create the union; the act must be ratified by two-thirds of OAU members. The 33 presidents and four prime ministers attending the summit also discussed HIV/AIDS in Africa, the continent's external debt, and armed conflicts. They told UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan that the OAU supports the efforts of UN peacekeeping in Sierra Leone, but called for immediate cessation of UN sanctions on Libya. The 2001 OAU summit will be held in Zambia, and an extraordinary summit on the African Union Treaty will be held in Libya the same year. Contact: Organization of African Unity, PO Box 3243, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, telephone +251-1/517700, fax +251-1/517844, website (www.oau-oua.org). OAU ISSUES RWANDA REPORT The 1994 genocide in Rwanda is the subject of an investigative report commissioned by the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and prepared by a seven-member International Panel of Eminent Personalities. Rwanda: The Preventable Genocide explores the circumstances that led Hutu extremists in the government and army to attack both the country's Tutsi population and moderate Hutus. Between half a million and 800,000 people were killed in 100 days, which represented well over three-fourths of the Tutsi population. Millions of Rwandan Hutus became displaced within the country or fled to become refugees in neighbouring countries. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan welcomed the 296-page report as "another important contribution" toward efforts to shed more light on the tragedy. In November 1999, a Panel commissioned by the UN and chaired by Ingvar Carlsson, former Prime Minister of Sweden, issued a report on the genocide. While it was critical of the United States, France and Belgium, the report focused more on failures of the UN Secretariat and Security Council (see Go Between 79). Panel Chair Sir Ketumile Masire, former President of Botswana, presented the OAU report to the organization's recent Summit in Lome (Togo). Panel member Stephen Lewis, former Permanent Representative of Canada to the United Nations and subsequently Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), introduced it at a press conference at the United Nations in New York on 7 July 2000. "We repudiate the position of the Government of France, the position that asserts that they had no responsibility," Mr. Lewis said. "They could have stopped the genocide before it began. They knew exactly what was happening. Worse...they facilitated the exodus of a huge number of genocidaires [people that carried out genocide], thereby ushering in the larger Great Lakes catastrophe." In what it describes as the US Government's role in blocking a more effective UN intervention force throughout the genocide, the report says this is "an almost incomprehensible scar of shame on American foreign policy." Mr. Lewis noted that "the United States has in large measure already admitted its responsibility" but said that "the difference between our report and the United States' admission is that the President of the United States says the American behaviour during the genocide flowed from ignorance. We say absolutely not, you knew everything that was going on...it flowed from public policy." The Panel also singled out the role of the Catholic and Anglican Churches and said their "involvement with [Rwandan President Juvenal] Habyrimana before the genocide, and the involvement of some of its leaders during the genocide, was entirely unforgivable." With some heroic exceptions, it notes, church leaders played a conspicuously scandalous role in these months, at best remaining silent or explicitly neutral. "This stance," says the report, "was easily interpreted by ordinary Christians as an implicit endorsement of the killings, as was the close association of church leaders with the leaders of the genocide." Belgium and the OAU are also criticized in the report. Belgium's "panic in the face of the death of their ten peacekeepers turned into an inglorious effort to throttle United Nations involvement," according to Mr. Lewis. "The OAU tried very hard to strike an agreement which would halt the catastrophe. But everyone made the same mistake: they were trying to stop a civil war and not a genocide....the OAU, like the UN, failed to call genocide by its rightful name and refused to take sides." The Panel presented a list of 32 recommendations in its report, including the conclusion that reparations are owed to Rwanda by actors in the international community for their roles before, during and since the genocide. The Panel is calling for the establishment of a commission to determine a formula for reparations and to identify which countries should be obligated to pay. The Panel said funds paid as reparations should be devoted to urgently needed infrastructure developments and social service improvements on behalf of all Rwandans. "It is remarkable how well Rwanda is doing despite a genocide just six years ago," said Mr. Lewis. "It deserves massive assistance from the rest of the world, particularly from those countries that betrayed Rwanda when it needed the world most." Contact: Organization of African Unity, PO Box 3243, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, telephone +251-1/517700, fax +251-1/517844, website (www.oau-oua.org). OECD REVISED BUSINESS CODE OF CONDUCT The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) 29 country members held their annual ministerial council meeting on 26-27 June 2000 in Paris. The meeting adopted revised Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, developed in consultation with labour unions and other civil society groups. Companies that adhere to the voluntary code of conduct will, among other things, "refrain from seeking or accepting exemptions not contemplated in the statutory or regulatory framework related to environmental, health, safety, labour, taxation, financial incentives, or other issues." Non-OECD countries Argentina, Brazil, Chile and the Slovak Republic have also agreed to the guidelines. European Union Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy said the agreement demonstrates that governments are responding to public concerns about globalization. Alan Larson, United States Under-Secretary of State for Economic, Business and Agricultural Affairs, said it would produce a "race to the top" on corporate behaviour. John Evans, Secretary-General of the OECD's trade union advisory council, said the code is an important step toward "socially acceptable" economic regulation. However NGOs cautioned that the code still needs further strengthening, and vowed to continue their campaign for international rules that are binding on multinational corporations. They also said they would campaign against the voluntary code if they find that it is not being properly implemented. In advance of the ministerial meeting, members did not succeed for the second consecutive year to agree on a plan designed to end so-called tied aid, or official development assistance that requires recipient countries to purchase goods and services for specific development projects from the donor country. Objections from Japan, Denmark and France led to the failed talks. Proponents of untying aid--including the United States, United Kingdom and a number of NGOs--argue that tied aid distorts trade and is anti-competitive since it serves to provide subsidies to domestic firms and producers in donor countries. Jeff Chinnock of ActionAid said that "it is an utter disgrace that rich countries, who claim they are trying to tackle extreme poverty, cannot even take the smallest step towards reducing the commercial abuse of their aid programmes. This is breathtaking hypocrisy of the worst order." On 26 June the OECD also released a list of 35 countries that it deemed unfair tax havens. Listed countries will be given a year to act, after which they could be hit with sanctions. The OECD also listed 47 tax practices among its members that it called "potentially harmful." This included the United States' foreign sales corporation law, which was recently found in violation of World Trade Organization rules. Contact: Media Relations, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2 rue Andre-Pascal, F-75775 Paris Cedex 16, France, telephone +33-1/45 24 80 91, fax +33-1/45 24 80 03, e-mail , website (www.oecd.org/dac). WTO ON TRIPS AND AGRICULTURE The Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) met in Geneva on 26-30 June 2000 to discuss the review and implementation of the TRIPs agreement. Due to serious disagreement over substantive and procedural matters, participants departed without reaching consensus on most issues on the agenda. Among the controversial issues discussed was the built-in review of Article 27.3(b), which addresses patentability exclusions for biological organisms. Some observers noted that developing countries remain much more interested in reviewing Article 27.3(b)'s substance than in discussing its implementation or procedures for review. Many developing countries seek greater flexibility in creating their own systems of intellectual property protection, and may push for the exclusion of all life forms from intellectual property laws. India and Pakistan are said currently to be supporting a proposal to allow the compulsory licensing of essential medicines under Article 27.3(b) in the context of the implementation discussions at the General Council. Most developed countries, on the other hand, are said to be extremely reluctant to open the TRIPs agreement for renegotiation. Developing countries, particularly India, also expressed interest in exploring the relationship between the TRIPs agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The TRIPs Council is currently considering the CBD secretariat's application for observer status. At the second Special Session of the Committee on Agriculture, held on 29-30 June in Geneva, there was little movement on some of the most contentious issues such as export subsidies, which had contributed to the collapse of talks at the third WTO ministerial meeting in Seattle late last year. The United States proposed to "reduce to zero" the levels of all internal farm payments, including export subsidies. The European Union, which maintains a wide range of export subsidy programmes, proposed maintenance of the current agriculture framework. One EU official called the US proposal "disappointing" and "not helpful to the negotiating process." A senior US representative, on the other hand, said "the emphasis is on minimizing trade-distorting measures which the EU has in such a large amount." In a submission prior to the meeting, a group of 11 developing countries including the Dominican Republic, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka, accused the United States and the European Union of creating new barriers to agricultural imports from developing countries. "The existing Agreement on Agriculture rules," the group said, "seem to bestow special and differential treatment on developed rather than developing countries." They pointed out that the existing agreement "has not satisfactorily addressed the food security and development concerns" of developing countries. They also called for the creation of a "development box," which would refer to a range of subsidies they could apply, even if these are "trade-distorting," to specifically address developing countries' needs. Contact: WTO, Centre William Rappard, 154 rue de Lausanne, Case postale, CH-1211 Geneva 21, Switzerland, telephone +41-22 /739 5111, website (www.wto.org). FOCUS SECURITY COUNCIL DEBATES PREVENTION OF ARMED CONFLICT With a view to fostering a "culture of prevention and of peace," the UN Security Council held a day-long debate on 20 July 2000 in New York on armed conflict. It called for a strategy of "early warning, preventive diplomacy, preventive deployment, preventive disarmament and post-conflict peace-building." Thirty statements were heard including from UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who said that conflict prevention should be the cornerstone of collective security in the 21st century. Many speakers emphasized the need to address underlying causes of conflict in the hopes of preventing it. They identified as key issues poverty and under-development; the proliferation of small arms and light weapons; and the illegal exploitation of natural resources, particularly diamonds and oil. Among solutions proposed were the establishment of early warning systems, fact-finding missions, a "containment" approach to threats to peace, improved coordination and information flow within the UN system, and post-conflict peace-building efforts to prevent the recurrence of conflict (see news story on Peace Operations Reform Report). Some States noted that a major obstacle to early warning for prevention of conflict was the problem of its compatibility with the principle of sovereignty. Others felt that the international community could play a constructive role in internal situations, and that this could strengthen sovereignty rather than weaken it. The role of civilian police in the prevention of conflict and the role of women in peace-building were also highlighted. Jean-David Levitte, Representative of France and speaking on behalf of the European Union (EU) and associated States, emphasized the need to ensure the rule of law, respect for human rights, and the democratic foundation and functioning of political systems as a means to prevent conflict. Mr. Levitte said there should be room for political, ethnic and religious minorities so that the alternative for them did not "fall between their absence from political life or recourse to armed violence." Mr. Annan, citing a recent United Nations University study, said that "simple inequality between rich and poor is not enough to cause violent conflict. What is highly explosive is...'horizontal' inequality: when power and resources are unequally distributed between groups that are also differentiated in other ways--for instance by race, religion or language. So-called ethnic' conflicts occur between groups which are distinct in one or more of these ways, when one of them feels it is being discriminated against, or another enjoys privilege which it fears to lose." Mr. Annan proposed that the Security Council hold periodic meetings at the Foreign Minister level to discuss thematic or actual prevention issues. The Council also decided to meet during the Millennium Summit (see NGLS Roundup, no 62). Mr. Annan suggested that the Council work more closely with other principal organs of the UN, and proposed that prevention issues be placed on the agenda of the monthly meeting between Presidents of the General Assembly and Security Council. The Council might also obtain useful information and other assistance from the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), as well as request advisory opinions on any legal questions from the International Court of Justice (ICJ), he said. Mr. Annan proposed that the Council examine ways of interacting more closely with non-State actors that have expertise in prevention and can make a difference. He pointed to the role of civil society, including the corporate sector, in this regard. Mr. Annan reminded the Council that there was no shortage of ideas for avoiding the sort of human suffering, killing and wanton destruction that had so disfigured the 20th century. But, he said, "there remains a worrying lack of political will among Governments, which hold most of the levers of prevention in their hands, either to show political leadership when it is needed or to commit the necessary resources." He noted that Governments must sell prevention policies to their publics "even if the costs must be borne today and the benefits do not arrive for months or even years, and then not in tangible form." He thanked the seven Governments that had contributed to the Trust Fund for Preventive Action, for a total of US$7.4 million in three years. Gerhard Pfanzelter, Representative of Austria and speaking as Chair of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said that the UN, regional organizations and individual States could and must invest more effort, time and money in conflict prevention. Considering the costs of conflict resolution and post-conflict reconstruction in terms of human suffering as well as financial and operational costs, the investment in conflict prevention might be the most economic and rational investment possible, he said. Many Governments agreed, noting that the cost of war far outstripped resources required for institutions that promoted conflict prevention and resolution. "We must commit to providing the United Nations and relevant regional bodies with resources necessary," said Jamaican Foreign Minister Paul Robertson and current President of the Council, "to enable timely and effective action to avert or quickly resolve conflict." Cheickna Keita, Representative of Mali which currently chairs the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), also highlighted the need for support for regional efforts at conflict prevention. He urged the inclusion of disarmament, demobilization and rehabilitation programmes in peace agreements and--recognizing the economic component--welcomed involvement of financial institutions in such programmes, including the private sector. Robert Fowler, Ambassador of Canada, stressed the need to end what he termed the "culture of impunity." He emphasized the importance of the International Criminal Court (ICC) as a powerful deterrent to human rights abuses. He also underscored the need for more effective sanctions and peace deployment operations. Unfortunately, he said, "the Council's decision making on peacekeeping mandates continues to be unduly driven by outside political and financial considerations rather than operational imperatives." In a presidential statement issued at the conclusion of debate, the Security Council underlined the need for continued in-depth consideration of the issues. It invited the Secretary-General to make recommendations to the Council on the most effective and appropriate early warning strategies--bearing in mind the need to link early warning with early response--and to submit to the Council by May 2001 a report containing an analysis and recommendations on initiatives within the UN for prevention of armed conflict. DURBAN AIDS CONFERENCE, REPORTS AND OTHER INITIATIVES The 13th International Conference on AIDS was held for the first time in Africa, where adult HIV infection rates top 25% in some nations. The theme of the event, held 9-14 July 2000 in Durban (South Africa), was Break the Silence. Go Between summarizes discussions at the conference, as well as recent UN initiatives to combat HIV/AIDS. Durban Conference The conference was attended by around 12,000 delegates including scientists, government representatives, health workers, activists, pharmaceutical company representatives as well as journalists. In addition to plenary sessions, the programme included "tracks" on basic science; clinical science; epidemiology, prevention and public health; and social science. Imbalance in Resources Fueling HIV/AIDS "Fire" Spending on HIV/AIDS must be dramatically increased in order to meet even the most basic care and prevention needs in sub-Saharan Africa, Peter Piot, UNAIDS Executive Director, told the opening ceremony. He said that the "increasing global imbalance in resources fuels the fire of HIV/AIDS in Africa. Right now, US$3 billion is needed...before we even consider the issue of combination therapy. Incredibly, this figure is almost ten times what is being spent today." Dr. Piot called upon the governments of affected countries in sub-Saharan Africa, donor governments and other sectors--including business--to dramatically increase the resources dedicated to HIV/AIDS care and prevention on the continent. He also urged governments of the world's wealthiest nations to cancel the debt of many of the hardest-hit African nations, so that some of the billions of dollars now spent on debt service can be dedicated to health care and HIV/AIDS prevention. Poverty and HIV/AIDS Form Vicious Cycle To date 18.8 million people around the world have died of AIDS and more than 34 million are living with HIV or AIDS--24.5 million of them in sub-Saharan Africa. Of the 2.8 million AIDS deaths in 1999, 2.2 million were in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). HIV/AIDS is already starting to have an immense impact on the economies of hard-hit countries--hurting not only individuals, families and firms but also significantly slowing economic growth and worsening poverty, according to new research presented at the conference. Researchers also said there is growing evidence that in the hardest-hit countries of Southern Africa, national wealth will be reduced by 15%-20% over the next ten years as a result of HIV/AIDS. They said lower economic growth and increased poverty threaten to form a vicious cycle in which HIV/AIDS drives many families into deepening poverty, while at the same time poverty accelerates the spread of HIV. African Scientists Launch Vaccine Strategy for the Continent During the conference leading scientists in Africa launched the African Strategy for an HIV Vaccine, which aims to "fast-track" HIV vaccine development on the continent to achieve results in the shortest possible time. The scientists called upon African governments, regional and international agencies, industry and donors to speed up research and testing. They said that "proactive participation of African scientists, institutions" and communities will be essential to develop HIV vaccines for Africa quickly. The strategy will be translated into a plan of action by the end of the year and will be guided by a range of principles including transparency, collaboration with other efforts, sustainability, ethics, respect for human rights, and inclusion of all countries. During the conference UNAIDS reiterated its commitment to making HIV/AIDS care and treatment available and affordable to greater numbers of people infected in developing countries by working with drug manufacturers, governments and NGOs. Some pharmaceutical companies announced individual contributions to tackling HIV/AIDS in Africa. And after the conference the US government's export finance agency offered to lend up to US$1 billion a year over the next five years to governments and private health care groups in sub-Saharan Africa to purchase AIDS-related drugs and services from US firms. However, South Africa and Namibia rejected the offer--they said they needed affordable drugs, "not loans that would burden their economies even more." During the closing ceremony of the conference former South African President Nelson Mandela called for urgent action to protect children from HIV/AIDS. Children will bear the brunt of the disease's impact unless it is curbed, he warned. World Aids campaign 2000: "Men Make A Difference" Men Make a Difference is the theme of the first year of a two-year campaign on the role of men in the AIDS epidemic. The Campaign, launched by UNAIDS, aims to involve men more fully in the effort against AIDS and to focus on men in national responses to the epidemic. The Men Make a Difference Campaign has three goals: raise awareness of the relationship between men's behaviour and HIV; encourage men and adolescent boys to make a strong commitment to preventing the spread of HIV and caring for those affected; and promote programmes that respond to the needs of both men and women. Women are at special risk of HIV, according to UNAIDS; they often have less control over when, where and whether sex takes place. But cultural beliefs and expectations about "manhood" also encourage risky sexual and drug-taking behaviour in men. This puts them--and their partners--at heightened risk. Many men may not engage in risky behaviour, UNAIDS notes. However, over 70% of HIV infections worldwide occur through sex between men and women, and a further 10% through sex between men. Another 5% take place between people who inject drugs, four-fifths of whom are men. Engaging men as partners in fighting AIDS is thus the surest way to change the course of the epidemic, said UNAIDS. World AIDS Day On 1 December 2000 people around the world will observe World AIDS Day, which provides an opportunity to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS, carry prevention messages into communities, improve care for those infected by HIV, and fight denial and discrimination. AIDS Measures in Poverty Reduction UNAIDS is working with its co-sponsors to maximize the inclusion of AIDS prevention and care measures in country-level poverty reduction strategies and debt relief accords. A special team devoted to poverty, debt and AIDS is also developing tools for analyzing the links between poverty and AIDS, and for HIV/AIDS-related goal and target setting in debt relief agreements. UNAIDS is also brokering technical support for countries and United Nations HIV/AIDS theme groups that request assistance during preparation of Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) and other documents required under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Debt Initiative. Since the beginning of 2000, several countries in Africa have started to feature HIV/AIDS more prominently in their poverty reduction strategies and in related HIPC debt relief. UNAIDS is monitoring developments in this area including whether national governments allocate larger amounts of funding for their AIDS programmes by using savings from debt relief under the Enhanced HIPC Debt Initiative. UNAIDS presently assists some Eastern and Southern African countries-- Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia--that are negotiating HIPC accords. Report on Rural HIV/AIDS Vulnerability The fight against the HIV/AIDS pandemic in developing countries has been mostly perceived as an urban problem, but the absolute numbers of people living with HIV are increasing rapidly in many rural areas, according to a report from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and UNAIDS. The report on Sustainable Agricultural/Rural Development and Vulnerability to the AIDS Epidemic says that in some countries the gap in HIV infection rates between urban and rural areas is narrowing. But because so many people in developing countries live in rural areas, the absolute numbers of rural inhabitants infected are very high. The report calls upon governments to pay more attention to the burden of HIV/AIDS on local communities and to ensure that rural development efforts also aim to combat the epidemic. Though HIV prevalence is rising in rural areas, the infrastructure needed for prevention programmes--counselling and testing, condom availability and AIDS information--is less developed, notes the report. Moreover, health facilities are often inadequate in rural communities, which bear the main burden of care for people with HIV. Many HIV-infected people in cities return to their villages when they fall ill. Rural families provide most of the care for AIDS patients as well as the costs for food, medicine and funeral expenses. Agricultural development policies, noted the report, rarely take this fact into consideration. Besides human suffering, AIDS threatens sustainable agriculture and rural development. Sickness and death of an adult family member can result in the inability of a household to cultivate the land. Tending for the sick can take a considerable amount of time, which is no longer available for agriculture. As a result, remote fields tend to be left fallow, and switching from labour-intensive to less labour-intensive crops is more likely. Among other things, the report recommends that considerations relating to HIV/AIDS should be incorporated in agricultural and rural development; ministries of agriculture and rural development should be sensitized about HIV/AIDS and where required, should review their policies and activities; and households affected should have better access to and control over resources such as credit and land. Report on Migrant Populations and HIV/AIDS AIDS and migration are two of the crucial social issues facing today's changing world, according to a report from UNAIDS and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Migrant Populations and HIV/AIDS--The Development and Implementation of Programmes: Theory, Methodology and Practice, says that 95% of HIV/AIDS infections occur in developing countries "where poverty, poor health systems and limited resources for prevention and care fuel the spread of the virus." At the same time, an estimated 125 million people live and work outside of their country of citizenship, while between two and four million migrate permanently each year. At the end of 1997, the world counted some 12 million refugees, with another six million people internally displaced within their countries because of wars and ethnic tensions. "Migrant populations have a greater risk for poor health in general and HIV infection in particular," warns the report. "This is due to the impact of sociocultural patterns of the migrant situation on health, their economic transitions, reduced availability and accessibility of health services," and the difficulty of host country health care systems to cope with traditions and practices of immigrants. It says the "otherness" of migrants often creates xenophobia, isolation and hostility in the host community. In addition, as with other people living with HIV/AIDS, migrants who are HIV-positive are subject to stigmatization and discrimination--therefore they hide their HIV status as long as possible and do not use support services. The report summarizes the background, theories and principles underlying the development of HIV/AIDS programmes for migrant populations. It says steps that can be taken in developing programmes, projects and interventions for migrant populations include shortening the development period of programmes without giving up the principle of cultural adaptation to immigrants' background. For information on the Durban conference and UNAIDS activities, contact: Dominique De Santis, Press Officer, UNAIDS, 20 avenue Appia, CH-1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/791 4509, fax +41-22/791 4898, e-mail , website (www.unaids.org). For information on the Men Make a Difference Campaign, see website (www.unaids.org/wac/2000/campaign.html). For information on the FAO/UNAIDS report, contact: Erwin Northoff, Media Officer, FAO, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, I-00100 Rome, Italy, telephone +39-06/5705 3105, fax +39-06/5705 4975, e-mail , website (www.fao.org) or UNAIDS (see above). For information on the UNESCO/UNAIDS report, contact: Publishing, Promotion and Sales Division, UNESCO, 1 rue Miollis, F-75732 Paris Cedex 15, France, fax +33-1/45 68 57 41, e-mail , website (www.unesco.org) or UNAIDS (see above). HIGH-LEVEL MEETING ON GLOBAL COMPACT On 26 July 2000 Secretary-General Kofi Annan hosted a unique meeting at the UN in New York to launch the Global Compact. The meeting was attended by almost 50 heads of corporations, labour representatives and NGOs. Go Between summarizes discussions on outcomes of the event. Participants in the meeting included Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and top executives of large global entities such as Daimler Chrysler, Unilever, Deutsche Bank and Nike, as well as leaders of labour and civic groups including representatives of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, Amnesty International and the World Wide Fund for Nature.The Global Compact initiative grew out of a challenge from Mr. Annan in January 1999 at the World Economic Forum in Davos (Switzerland) to the corporate community to implement in its practices nine principles in the areas of human rights, labour standards and the environment (see Go Between 79). As the Global Compact evolved and efforts were made to operationalize it, the initiative was expanded to include some representatives from NGOs and labour organizations in support of universal values and responsible business operations. In his opening statement to the July meeting, Mr. Annan reviewed the initiative's evolution. He warned of a backlash against globalization unless it was embedded in social values and reflected the common objectives of all segments of the world's population. He challenged the business community to join the United Nations in adding stronger social and environmental pillars to sustain the global economy. Phil Watts, CEO of Royal Dutch Shell, agreed with the Secretary-General's analysis that globalization had negative connotations for some people and that there is no alternative to engagement with the widest possible range of stakeholders. Fred Hicks of the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers Unions spoke of the role of workers associations in conflict resolution and cited experiences in Ireland and some Central European countries. He recognized that unions have a "major vested interest in the success of the company but [are] independent and representative [of] people not only in the work place but also in the communities in which they live." Many business representatives spoke of the voluntary initiatives they participate in with civil society. Phil Knight, CEO of Nike, commented that "working with partners is not always easy but it is the best way to make progress." He recognized that the Global Compact was neither a code nor a monitoring system and claimed that its "greatest value is [the] nature of [the] UN itself." Human rights NGO representatives emphasized the importance of public scrutiny, monitoring and transparency. Pierre Sane of Amnesty International said three points essential in development of the Compact are independent monitoring; public reporting; and identification at the outset of measures to be taken against Compact members who systematically violate the principles. Mark Malloch-Brown, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), referred to an open letter to Mr. Annan from NGOs. Although many support the UN, they said they opposed the meeting and expressed their concern that some of the corporate participants invited to it had poor records in the areas of human rights or the environment. In the letter to Mr. Annan concerning the relationship of the UN and the business community, NGOs noted that the UN had developed guidelines enabling use of the UN name only when the principal aim was to show support for the purposes and activities of the UN. "Given that there is no provision for monitoring a corporation's record in abiding by UN principles," said the letter, "the Guidelines' modalities for partnerships are quite susceptible to abuse. For example, a company with widespread labour or environmental violations may be able to join with the UN in a relatively minor cooperative project, and gain all the benefits of association with the UN without any responsibilities. The UN would have no way to determine whether the company, on balance, is contributing to UN goals or preventing their realization." Tariq Banuri of the Regional International Networking Group welcomed the "bold initiative to place ethics at the centre of globalization discussions." He also referred to the concerns of NGOs "presently not in this room" and insisted that issues of transparency should play as fundamental a role as the building of trust and compacts. He said that "language of trust is only half of the story. Transparency is the other half." An executive summary and conclusion of the meeting asserted that "nearly 50 transnational companies from such diverse sectors as media, mining, automotive, services, telecom, banking, petroleum, pharmaceuticals, software and footwear took a public stand on the Compact and its principles. Some of the companies had never done so. Others have had a troubled history in relation to one or more of the areas covered by the Compact. This initiative gives an important boost to the development of responsible corporate citizenship and sets an example for others to emulate." The summary recognized that "voluntary initiatives of the kind represented by the Global Compact are no substitute for action by governments. Effective governance is critical for the promotion of human rights, decent work, environmental protection and development." Mr. Annan asked all participants to finalize a priority plan for collaborative action in the next five months, and he announced the establishment of a Global Compact Office. Representatives of companies pledged to translate the principles of the Compact into corporate practice in three main ways: advocating the Compact in their mission statements, annual reports and similar venues; at least once a year, posting on the Global Compact Web site (see below) specific examples of progress they have made or lessons learned in putting the principles into practice; and joining with the UN in partnership projects, either at the policy level or at the operational level in developing countries. All participants agreed to help involve additional actors and to meet the goal of adding to the Compact coalition 100 large transnational corporations and 1,000 companies overall from across the world's regions within three years. Contact: Georg Kell, Senior Officer, Executive Office of the Secretary-General, Room S-3855C, United Nations, New York NY 10017, United States, e-mail , website (www.unglobalcompact.org). UNICEF PROGRESS OF NATIONS 2000 REPORT The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Progress of Nations report records the world's progress toward meeting goals and benchmarks set at the 1990 World Summit for Children, and the rights enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The central topic of this year's report, which was released at the World AIDS Conference in Durban (South Africa) in July, is the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The epidemic "has in less than a generation become the greatest catastrophe facing the continent of Africa," said UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, "and is now spreading in Asia and parts of Central Europe and Latin America." He observed that "so malevolent is the threat that the economic prospects and social stability of entire regions are at risk....The figures on infection rates among youth are horrifying. Efforts to educate and inform people, especially youth, about HIV/AIDS must be pursued with far greater energy." The report says that the region with the highest incidence of HIV/AIDS among 15-24 year-olds is sub-Saharan Africa with some 5.3 million young women and 2.6 million men infected. In the Americas 200,000 women and 440,000 men between the ages of 15-24 are living with HIV/AIDS. Haiti has the largest proportion of 15-24 year-olds testing positive for HIV/AIDS--2.9% of women and 4.9% of men--with the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Panama and Guatemala close behind. Cuba has the smallest proportion with 0.02% of women and 0.06% of men. The report also highlights the rapid spread of HIV/AIDS among young people in some South-East Asian countries particularly Myanmar, Thailand and Cambodia. The report also describes the possibilities that open up when nations invest in children's well-being and protect their rights. It says that millions more are enjoying better health thanks to improved access to clean water, and more children are enrolled in school now than ten years ago. Breastfeeding rates are up in many countries, and birth registration records have improved vastly. The report notes successes in immunizations including the near-eradication of polio. It also highlights what it describes as the slow but steady progress girls and women are making to overcome inequality and discrimination and achieve their full potential. *************************************************************************** 1990 Children's Summit Goals Listed below is a summary of year-2000 goals agreed to by almost all nations at the 1990 World Summit for Children. -- Reduce infant and under-five child mortality rates by one-third of 1990 levels, or to 50 and 70 per 1,000 live births respectively, whichever is less -- Reduce by half 1990 maternal mortality rates -- Reduce severe and moderate malnutrition among under-five children by half of 1990 levels -- Universal access to safe drinking water and to sanitary means of excreta disposal -- Universal access to basic education and completion of primary education by at least 80% of primary school-age children -- Reduce the adult illiteracy rate (appropriate age group to be determined in each country) to no more than half its 1990 level, with emphasis on female literacy -- Improve protection of children in especially difficult circumstances *************************************************************************** But the report examines other goals that have not been met because of poverty, gender discrimination, debt, wars, inadequate commitment or unequal social development. Among issues highlighted are early childhood care and child labour. Carol Bellamy, Executive Director of UNICEF, emphasizes in the report the importance of early childhood care. She notes that children suffering today from nutritional hypotrophy, or stunted growth, are likely to be physically and mentally stunted adults. Many children do not survive, she said, and "many of those who do survive carry long-term deficits in mental capacity along with losses in stature. Once established, stunting and its effects typically become permanent." She blamed the situation on poverty, which deprives children of a basic diet, as well as the lack of clean water and adequate health care. During childhood, says the report, "the neural network in the brain develops, depending largely on the stimulation and care the child receives. Before a healthy child reaches the age of two and a half, millions of neural links have been forged, connections upon which physical, mental and cognitive development largely depend." In the developing world, 39% of children under five-years are stunted. Three out of every four children in the world who are stunted live in Asian-Pacific nations according to the report. The most heavily-affected areas are South Asia and the Pacific at 44%, sub-Saharan Africa at 40%, and Central Asia at 37%. Ms. Bellamy said the key to healthy childhood is proper health care for the mother during pregnancy and childbirth. It is also vital for the child to live in a place with access to clean water, adequate sanitation, and "child-friendly" schools. International Labour Organization (ILO) Director-General Juan Somavia, who contributed to the report, said that millions upon millions of children are "lost among the living." The lost children "are the most exploited, the poorest of the poor: child soldiers, girls in brothels [and] young bonded workers in the factories, sweatshops, fields and homes of our seemingly prosperous globe." He estimates that of the 250 million children between the ages of five and 14 who are economically active, some 50-60 million between the ages of five and eleven are "engaged in such intolerable forms of labour....No one would tolerate such an abomination if it were visible and concentrated in one place. Yet we continue to tolerate it in a hidden and dispersed form, to our collective peril and shame." The link between education and poverty alleviation is the key to resolving the problem, according to Mr. Somavia. "In the fight against child labour and the exploitation of children, education must go hand in hand with global measures to buffer poor nations through steps such as fairer trade, more aid, deeper debt relief, better investment policies and more stable commodity prices." Contact: Division of Evaluation, Policy and Planning, UNICEF, 3 UN Plaza, Room H-9F, New York NY 10017, United States, fax +1-212/824 6492, e-mail , website (www.unicef.org). UNDP PUBLISHES HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT 2000 Human rights and human development share a common vision and a common purpose, according to the Human Development Report 2000, published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Go Between summarizes the findings of the report, which shows how human rights bring principles of accountability and social justice to human development. The common vision and purpose of human rights and human development is "to secure, for every human being, freedom, well-being and dignity," says the report. Divided by the Cold War, the rights agenda and development agenda followed parallel tracks, it notes. Now converging, their distinct strategies and traditions can bring new strength to the struggle for human freedom. "When people have civil and political rights, they are empowered to claim economic and social rights, and vice versa," said Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, Director of the Human Development Report Office of UNDP. "Without economic and social rights, the poor--and poor women in particular--are often deprived of education and awareness of what their rights and options are. Discrimination and abuses are endemic when knowledge and recourse are denied." Action and Commitment Needed by Major Players Achieving rights for all people in all countries will require action and commitment from the major players in society, notes the report. It focuses on the link between the struggle for economic and social rights and the fight for civil and political liberties--two sides of the same coin. With the establishment of more than 100 multi-party democracies in the last 20 years "in a global wave of freedom, bullying and bullets have been giving way to the ballot box," said Richard Jolly, Principal Coordinator of the report. "Now it is time to build on that foundation." But the report notes that votes alone do not guarantee human rights--a democratically-elected majority can crush minorities. And growing national and international inequalities threaten to erode hard-won gains in civil and political liberties. The report insists that poverty is as much a human rights issues as arbitrary arrest--"yet the torture of one person causes outrage while the deaths of more than 30,000 children every day from mainly preventable causes go unnoticed," it says. Statistics Tell the Human Story The report, which views statistical indicators as a powerful tool for promoting human rights, says setting targets and measuring performance is an important way of seeing whether reality lives up to rhetoric. "Indicators make it possible," said Mr. Jolly, "for people and organizations-- from grassroots activists and civil society, to governments and the United Nations--to identify important actors and hold them accountable for their actions." He observed that statistics also tell the human story: "Who gets arrested, who votes and for what, and who makes decisions." If a right is violated, there must be accountability, the report says, and indicators can point to the failure of accountability. It asks why 82% of executions in the United States since 1977 have been prisoners convicted of murdering a white person, when roughly the same number of blacks and whites are murdered, and where in the criminal justice system does bias enter? Statistics can also reveal patterns. Analysis of cases involving abused, tortured and murdered street-children in Guatemala found that where members of the security forces were charged, only 10% received a sentence. The failure of the judicial system to provide a remedy for the violence, observes the report, is a failure to protect the rights of the street-children "and an unspoken endorsement for the continuation of the violence." To critics who claim that civil and political rights cannot be measured in the same way as economic and social rights, the report answers: "Untrue. Statistics are important for gauging the extent of torture, conditions in prisons and the extent of political participation." It also points out that "the absence of statistics can be as revealing as their presence." For example, data is rarely collected on issues that are incriminating or embarrassing. The Human Development Report 2000 quotes a European social worker's complaint about the lack of data on homeless people: "Everything else is counted--every cow and chicken and piece of butter." Achieving "All Rights for All" The report offers a range of suggestions for achieving the goal of "all rights for all." It urges international bodies--including the World Trade Organization (WTO)--to be guided by human rights principles and commitments in decision making to create an inclusive and just global economic system. It tells global corporations that profit-making is not enough; they have responsibilities to respect human rights, too. But it is governments that must take the lead in protecting human rights, although they cannot expect to be left alone to do the job. In a globalizing world, the report says, "the state-centred model of human rights accountability is out of step with the time. Nothing less than a global perspective on human rights is acceptable." The report lays out "seven key features needed for a broader approach to securing human rights." First, every country needs to strengthen its social arrangements for securing human freedoms with norms, institutions, legal frameworks and an enabling economic environment. Second, the fulfillment of all human rights requires democracy that is inclusive: protecting the rights of minorities, providing separation of powers, and ensuring public accountability. Third, "poverty eradication is not only a development goal--it is a central challenge for human rights in the 21st century." Fourth, human rights--in an integrated world--require global justice. "The state-centred model of accountability," says the report, "must be extended to the obligations of non-state actors and to the state's obligations beyond national borders." Fifth, activists, lawyers, statisticians and development specialists need to work together with communities to generate information and evidence that can, among other things, mobilize changes in policy and behaviour. Finally, "achieving all rights for all people in all countries," notes the report, "....will require action and commitment from the major groups in every society--NGOs, media and businesses, local as well as national governments, parliamentarians and other opinion leaders." Contact: UN Publications, 2 UN Plaza, Room DC2-853, New York NY 10017, United States, fax +1-212/963 3489, e-mail or UN Publications, Palais des Nations, CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland, fax +41-22/917 0027, e-mail , website (www.undp.org/hdro). SECURITY COUNCIL BANS SIERRA LEONE DIAMONDS The Security Council decided on 5 July 2000 that all States shall prohibit the direct or indirect import of rough diamonds from Sierra Leone or its territory. Resolution 1306 (2000) expresses the Council's concern with the role played by the illicit trade in diamonds in fueling the conflict in Sierra Leone and with reports that such diamonds transit neighbouring countries including Liberia. The resolution, which exempts imports of rough diamonds whose origin is certified by the Government of Sierra Leone, calls upon the diamond industry to cooperate with the ban. Sierra Leone's diamond region is under control of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF). The group is led by Foday Sankoh, who was arrested on 17 May 2000. RUF's control of the nation's deposits of rough diamonds and the revenues it gains from diamond sales to buy weapons is fueling conflict in the country. The Security Council's ban will be initially reviewed after 18 months according to the terms of the resolution, adopted by a vote of 14 in favour to none against with one abstention (Mali). Following the review, which could cover the situation in Sierra Leone including the extent of the Government's authority over the diamond producing areas, the Council would decide whether to extend the prohibition for a further period and, if necessary, modify it or adopt further measures. The resolution asks the Government of Sierra Leone to ensure the effective operation of a certificate of origin regime for trade in the country's diamonds. It also asks relevant international organizations and other bodies including the International Diamond Manufacturers Association, the World Federation of Diamond Bourses, and the Diamond High Council to assist the Government of Sierra Leone in facilitating full operation of the regime. Ambassador Ibrahim M. Kamara, the Representative of Sierra Leone, said that by implementing the Resolution the Security Council for the first time would "go to the root of the conflict in Sierra Leone" which he termed "a war cast in gemstones." The United States said that while it accepted the consensus view on the issue given the critical importance of imposing sanctions to end illicit trade of diamonds-for-arms, it favoured establishing benchmark criteria to be met before the sanctions could be lifted. The resolution, noted US Ambassador Nancy Soderberg, linked removal of sanctions to the arbitrary passage of time, rather than to fair and reasonable compliance with requirements established by the Council. She said the diamond boycott should stay in place until the Sierra Leone Government's control over the diamond producing regions had been fully established. The UK agreed with the US position, but China and the Russian Federation insisted on time limits. Russian Ambassador Sergey Lavrov asserted that limits with a review to future steps made sanctions more effective and equitable. Ambassador Moctar Ouane of Mali and Chair of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) said the resolution, which calls Liberia's role into question, was not "timely" as ECOWAS was conducting its own inquiry into the illicit diamond trade. The resolution would not be acceptable to ECOWAS, he said, as the study of the situation had not been completed. Mali preferred to press for revival of the peace effort, he said. Mr. Ouane encouraged the Council to think of the future and reflect on the way President Charles Taylor of Liberia could be involved in the search for peace in Sierra Leone. The De Beers diamond company responded to the resolution by announcing on 12 July 2000 that it would demand its suppliers certify the origin of diamonds sold to the company. At the World Diamond Congress held in Antwerp (Belgium) in July 2000, the International Diamonds Manufacturers Association and the World Federation of Diamond Bourses passed a resolution that establishes a system of certification aimed at proving the origin of diamonds. On 31 July and 1 August 2000, the Security Council's sanctions committee held an exploratory hearing to "assess the role of diamonds in the Sierra Leone conflict and the link between trade in Sierra Leone diamonds and trade in arms." Diamond industry experts argued that the international community had chosen to focus on regulating diamonds because of a lack of political will and capacity to tackle arms trafficking or preventing rebel groups from buying arms, many of which are produced by the Security Council's five permanent members. Ralph Hazleton, a Canadian expert on diamonds, said that controlling the diamond trade was not the best approach. No matter what the international community does, he said, "the rebels will always find ways to sell their diamonds. There are a lot of not-so-honest people around." He proposed that ways be found to force the rebels in Sierra Leone out of the diamond mining areas instead. However the US and UK expressed confidence that the diamond embargo would prove effective. "You are lowering the price of diamonds going out and therefore demotivating the RUF," said Ambassador Greenstock, who noted that the price of smuggled diamonds had already fallen 30% since the embargo was imposed. In accordance with Resolution 1306, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed a panel of five experts to monitor implementation of the ban, examine violations of the two-year old arms embargo--Resolution 1171 (1998)--and make recommendations for strengthening it. Members of the panel are: Martin Chungong Ayafor (Cameroon), Chair; civil society expert Ian Smillie (Canada); arms and transportation expert Johan Peleman (Belgium); expert from Interpol, Harjit Singh Sandhu (India); and expert from the International Civil Aviation Organization, Atabou Bodian (Senegal). The Panel, which met in briefing sessions from 19-25 August 2000 in New York, established a programme of work that will take the team on a series of visits in Africa and Western capitals, as well to an intergovernmental diamonds conference in Pretoria (South Africa) on 16 September. In addition to its work on the links between diamonds and the arms trade, the team will collect information on possible violations of the 1998 arms embargo and the adequacy of air traffic control systems in the region to detect aircraft suspected of trafficking arms across borders. The panel will report to the Security Council Committee on Sierra Leone by the end of October 2000. REPORT OF WORKING GROUP ON SG'S AFRICA RECOMMENDATIONS Decreasing levels of official development assistance (ODA), a lack of strong political will on the part of the international community, the proliferation of armed conflicts and weak governance are among the main obstacles facing Africa according to the Open-Ended Ad Hoc Working Group on the Causes of Conflict and the Promotion of Durable Peace and Sustainable Development in Africa. Go Between summarizes a report by the Working Group, which met from 17-18 July 2000 in New York. The Working Group was established to monitor and report on implementation of recommendations made by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in his 1998 report (A/52/871) on the issue. During its July session the Working Group finalized its report that will be submitted to the 55th session of the General Assembly. The Working Group's session in New York included a general exchange of views and presentations by Special Representatives of the Secretary-General, and representatives of some UN departments, specialized agencies and programmes, as well as representatives of the Bretton Woods Institutions. The report of the Working Group provides an overview of progress made in implementing the Secretary-General's 1998 recommendations; summarizes the major constraints and obstacles to full implementation; and suggests further actions and measures that can be taken to accelerate implementation within all areas of focus. Progress The report notes that, among other things, due to the Security Council's considerable attention and its Resolution 1296 in April 2000, the protection of civilians in armed conflict will form an integral part of all Council deliberations on peace-keeping operations. Concerning refugee security issues, the report says progress has been made on preventive measures, cooperation with national law-enforcement authorities, deployment of civilian or police monitors, and developing a coordinated response to refugee-related activities on the continent. A strategic framework has been further developed to coordinate political, human rights, humanitarian and development activities. The report notes that this approach, now being applied in Sierra Leone and Burundi, will help ensure that humanitarian action supports overall peace-building activities. Obstacles The report says obstacles still remaining include insufficient political will at the international level, inadequate resources and capacity, limited access to technology, a general deterioration of public health, a weak private sector and economic structure, as well as difficulties in coordination among governments, donors and international institutions. Effective implementation requires strong political will on the part of African countries and the international community, it says, adding that the Carlsson report on Rwanda (see Go Between 79) illustrates that a lack of political will remains in some African countries to implement peace accords and other measures. The amount of resources allocated to development assistance to African countries, especially official development assistance (ODA), has been decreasing since the early 1990s. Africa has less access to private capital markets, so foreign direct investment (FDI) flows have not adequately supplemented those declines. The report points out that structural adjustment programmes, heavy debt burdens and the excessive obligation to pay them have undermined implementation of anti-poverty and other social development programmes. Many African countries still remain highly dependent on one or two primary commodities for the bulk of their exports. And despite the opening of markets, many remain unable to capitalize on new opportunities to export new products. In areas where African exports are competitive, such as textiles and some agricultural commodities, the continent continues to face discriminatory tariff and non-tariff barriers, according to the report. It also highlights problems of low productivity, lack of investment, and inadequate infrastructure, credit and market information. The report raises concerns about a number of UN system-wide coordination frameworks, mechanisms and processes, and the need for greater coherence among them. African countries, which face a scarcity of skills and information technology, are often burdened with accounting and reporting rules of various partners, such as donor countries and the UN system, for sometimes overlapping activities. The Working Group's proposals at the national and international level aim to, among other things: create national and regional plans of action for human rights; promote transparency and accountability in public administration; enhance administrative capacity; create an enabling environment for foreign direct investment and economic growth; address public health issues; and focus on social justice and achieving social development. The Working Group proposed that the UN General Assembly call on the international community to work toward cancellation of the debt of least developed countries, including those emerging from conflicts, "on a once and for all basis." It urged the international community to provide further debt relief to other highly indebted African countries currently not eligible for the Enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative. The Working Group proposed that the General Assembly give particular attention to the devastating impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa. It also urged the General Assembly to invite the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) to consider ways and means to: mainstream HIV/AIDS prevention in development activities; promote inter-country cooperation to encourage best practices and sharing of experiences; and promote and support regional responses to HIV/AIDS. Contact: Yvette Stevens, Special Coordinator, Office of the Special Coordinator for Africa and the Least Developed Countries (OSCAL), United Nations, Room DC1-1030, New York NY 10017, United States, telephone +1-212/963 5084, fax +1-212/963 3892, e-mail , website (www.un.org/esa/africa/adhocwg/index.html). DPI/NGO CONFERENCE HELD ON THEME OF GLOBAL SOLIDARITY The 53rd Annual DPI/NGO Conference, organized by the UN Department of Public Information in cooperation with the Executive Committee of NGOs associated with the Department, was held from 28-30 August 2000 at UN Headquarters in New York. The theme of the event was Global Solidarity: The Way to Peace and International Cooperation. The three-day conference featured five plenary panels that focused on best practices and lessons learned from recent experiences and on identifying new, broad-based campaigns bringing together multiple issues. Discussions centred on the ways in which civil society can participate in national and international decision-making processes, and explored the role of civil society in policy formulation and implementation in relation to the increased demands for humanitarian intervention in conflict areas. Panels included high-level government and UN officials, and representatives of civil society such as NGOs, the private sector, academia and the media. Opening the conference, General Assembly (GA) President Theo-Ben Gurirab (Namibia) stressed the impact NGOs have had on the UN since the 1992 Earth Summit. "The UN and Member States," he said, "need to identify complementary and constructive ways to respond to this growing involvement of civil society in the international arena." UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan applauded the contribution of the NGO Forum Declaration and Plan of Action to the Millennium Summit process (see Go Between 81). He said it spelled out an agenda "very close to the set of objectives I have put forward to world leaders for consideration at the Summit." Mr. Annan noted the serious concerns that NGOs have raised about globalization's negative aspects, but he emphasized that partnerships had to be formed that ensured globalization could benefit all the world's people. In this context he stressed the importance of the Global Compact (see focus page in this Go Between), which he said had brought together leaders from business, international labour unions and NGOs, to challenge business to embrace and enact a set of core values in the areas of labour standards, human rights and the environment. "We must engage private corporations," he said, "which produce most of the wealth in the world today, in a search for something beyond short-term profit." Hanan Mikhail-Ashrawi, Secretary-General of the Palestinian Initiative for Global Dialogue and Democracy, was a keynote speaker. Ms. Ashrawi noted that while in itself globalization was not "a phenomenon that embodies intrinsic value or inherent threat, a state of polarization seems to be in the making---a simplistic for/against equation that could derail both the discourse and the agenda of our constant passage into the future." The response, she said, should be based on a thorough understanding of the forces at work, the implications for human existence as a whole, and the requirements of engagement and intervention that would maximize benefits and neutralize or minimize any negative repercussions on the desired "human agenda." She spoke of the technology-based information revolution and its potential to act as a force of global democratization, but cautioned that the emergence of a new global elite was increasing and had resulted in a new form of "brain drain" from developing countries. On the positive side, however, she emphasized that "traditional sources of power and authority are being challenged" and that an "unprecedented formation of non-traditional leadership and non-political claims to power and power-sharing are emerging from different sectors within one society as well as from supra-national institutions and networks." A panel discussion entitled The 1990s: Action Not Promises focused on implementation of action plans of the major UN and NGO conferences of the 1990s. Nitin Desai, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, said that the 1990s had been qualitatively and quantitatively different from anything experienced in the past. He pointed to a new dimension in international relations: that of groups examining problems not from the perspective of national interest but from an issue-based one. That new element, he said, had profoundly affected the conference process and was clearly one of the most important outcomes of the 1990s. Ann Pettifor, Director of the Jubilee 2000 UK Coalition, said that there was a grievous gap in relations between international creditors and national debtors. To close that gap, she said, a new process incorporating justice and forgiveness was needed. The International Monetary Fund (IMF), she said, was currently playing "the role of witness, plaintiff, judge and jury in the court of international finance," leading to reckless lending and borrowing. She noted that the Secretary-General's Millennium Report had proposed a new approach, in the form of a debt arbitration process to balance the role of sovereign creditors and national debtors. She said that there was no time for debate on the issue, however, when countries were disintegrating into insolvency. The closing session address was given by Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, representing the first time that a Head of State had ever addressed the DPI/NGO Conference. Mr. Bouteflika said that NGOs were "ethical dimensions representing the values of solidarity," which he said might be able to change the negative trends of globalization and "the cult of profit" and make a "unique contribution to the building of a universal conscience free from manipulation." He praised the efforts of NGOs in their work to spread the culture of peace and end apartheid, discrimination, landmines and the threat of nuclear proliferation. He also addressed what he considered to be the negative aspects of NGOs; he said these were their mistrust and hostility to governments and a "tendency to reduce the State's role, especially in the countries of the Third World." He noted that the obstacles to good governance in the South were not always excesses of the State but signs that it was often too weak. He said economic and social rights of millions of people were ignored and flouted, and further aggravated by the globalization process. In this context he said Southern countries had welcomed the "actions of certain NGOs at the World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference in Seattle last November." He saluted campaigns by NGOs in favour of debt relief in developing countries. Such actions, he said, clearly strengthened the defence of human rights. Contact: UN Department of Public Information (DPI), NGO Section, Room S-1070L, United Nations, New York NY 10017, United States, fax +1-212/963 6914, website (www.un.org/MoreInfo/ngolink/dpingo.htm). INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT PREPCOM MEETS The fifth Preparatory Committee (PrepCom) for the International Criminal Court (ICC) met at UN Headquarters in New York from 12-30 June 2000 to finalize and adopt the Rules of Procedure and Evidence for the Court, as well as a text on the Elements of Crimes coming under its jurisdiction. Go Between summarizes discussions and decisions made during the PrepCom. The Rules of Procedure and Evidence cover such issues as composition and administration of the Court, penalties for crimes, obligations of international cooperation and assistance, as well as enforcement of sentences. On the matter of crimes initially within the Court's jurisdiction, PrepCom Chair Ambassador Philippe Kirsch (Canada) highlighted discussion on whether to bind judges with legal language. The decision, he said, was to offer a guide and leave it to the Court to interpret. In a statement on the final day of the PrepCom, marked by heated debate, Ambassador Kirsch said that its outcome had reflected a compromise, but that for the Court to be effective it had to enjoy the widest support possible. "The Rome Statute is here to stay," he said. "It will not and cannot be changed." Background On 17 July 1998 the Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court was approved by a vote of 120 to 7. The ICC is a permanent judicial body with the authority to investigate and bring to justice individuals who commit the most serious of crimes of concern to the international community such as genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity including torture, sex crimes and the enforced disappearance of persons. States Parties to the Rome Statute, the Security Council and the Court's Prosecutor have the power to bring cases before the Court, which will be presided over by 18 judges. An independent prosecutor will be elected through secret ballot cast by States that have ratified the Statute. Under the Statute, the Court can step in only when States are unwilling or unable to dispense justice. It can exercise jurisdiction when either the country where the crime took place or the country whose citizens committed the crime has ratified the Statute. To date the treaty has been signed by 98 countries and ratified by 15. Until 31 December 2000, States may sign the ICC treaty and ratify it later. After that date, States must ratify the treaty before they may sign. Sixty ratifications are needed for the treaty to enter into effect. Debate Debate at the PrepCom centred around a United States proposal that sought to exempt US soldiers and government officials from prosecution, and at the same time ensure that citizens of "irresponsible nations" were not exempt. The US was one of seven countries voting against the 120 that approved the treaty to establish the ICC. It objected to the idea that its citizens could be subject to the Court's jurisdiction if an alleged crime was committed in a country that ratified the treaty, even if the US was not Party to the treaty. The European Union (EU) objected to the original US proposal on the grounds it could have given permanent Security Council members that did not ratify the treaty--including the US--a veto on prosecution of their citizens and could have allowed potential war criminals to escape prosecution. Domestic politics in the US also put pressure on the country's negotiators. On 14 June Republican Senator Jesse Helms, who chairs the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, introduced legislation that would bar any US cooperation with the ICC as long as the US had not ratified the treaty creating it. Helms' proposed legislation would trade US citizens' immunity for US participation in United Nations peacekeeping operations. It would also ban US military assistance to any country that has ratified the treaty, with a waiver for US allies that agree to protect US citizens from extradition. The proposed legislation placed American officials in a difficult position--at the forefront of efforts to bring Saddam Hussein and Pol Pot to trial, they acknowledged to the New York Times that they were "now fighting a rear guard action to try to exempt countries that do not join from having to face prosecution." Some observers expressed surprise at the US position, given the fact that the ICC will have to defer in the first instance to national authorities for the investigation of a crime by a national. The US could prosecute its own citizens who have committed criminal acts rather than allowing the ICC to do so. According to Kenneth Roth, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, the ICC will actually have less jurisdiction over US military personnel than the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia created by the UN Security Council. (In that tribunal the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, NATO, was cleared of any war crimes.) Mr. Roth also noted that the Rome Statute builds in many checks to ensure that the ICC is not politicized. For example, an ICC prosecutor can be dismissed for misconduct by a majority of governments signatory to the treaty; and a defendant who alleges inappropriate prosecution by the Court would be entitled to review by up to three separate judicial panels. Despite concern about the US position by many Member States, enormous effort was made to build consensus for a negotiated solution that included the United States. It eventually dropped the Security Council reference and redrafted the proposal to ensure that "irresponsible nations" could not take advantage of an exemption for US citizens from prosecution. The text was accepted in the form of Rule 9.19 in relation to Article 98.2 of the Statute on cooperation with request to waiver or immunity and consent to surrender. The rule states, "The Court may not proceed with a request for the surrender of a person without the consent of a sending State, under Article 98, paragraph 2, such a request would be inconsistent with obligations under an international agreement pursuant to which the consent of a sending State is required prior to the surrender of a person of that State to the Court." The PrepCom's report said that "it is generally understood that Rule 9.19 should not be interpreted as requiring or in any way calling for the negotiation of provisions in any particular international agreement by the Court or by another international organization or State." The European Union said the formula adopted represented the best compromise possible, but cautioned it would never accept any interpretation of the rules that ran counter to the spirit of the Rome Statute. Cote d'Ivoire insisted that the proposal amounted to an amendment to Article 98.2. However, in the interests of not delaying the PrepCom's work it did not insist on a vote. Other issues of debate included the matter of crimes initially within the Court's jurisdiction: genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The PrepCom identified elements that would constitute those crimes and would need to be proven in order to obtain convictions. They are: the environment in which a crime is committed; was a crime actually committed; and did the person have the intention to commit the crime? In the category of crimes against humanity, murder, enslavement, extermination, persecution, disappearance and sexual crimes were all discussed. Regarding the crime of aggression, once agreement is reached on a legal definition the draft text will be presented to a Court amendment conference, which is expected to take place seven years after the Court becomes operational. In the meantime the chair of the PrepCom Working Group on the subject, Tuvako Manongi (United Republic of Tanzania), told the PrepCom that although progress had been slow, proposals had now been collected and negotiations could begin in earnest. *************************************************************************** Rome Statute Ratifications & Signatories As Go Between goes to press the ICC Rome Statute had 112 Signatories and 19 Ratifications. The Russian Federation became the 112th State to sign the Rome Statute. The Statute, which was open for signature during the Millennium Summit from 6-8 September 2000, has been ratified or signed by the following countries. Ratifications Belgium, Belize, Botswana, Canada, Fiji, France, Ghana, Iceland, Italy, Lesotho, Luxembourg, Mali, New Zealand, Norway, San Marino, Senegal, Tajikistan, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela Signatories Albania, Andorra, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cote d'Ivoire, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Eritrea, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, France, Gabon, Gambia, Germany, Georgia, Ghana, Greece, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lesotho, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Mexico, Moldova, Monaco, Morocco, Namibia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Portugal, Poland, Republic of the Congo, Republic of Korea, Romania, Russian Federation, Samoa, San Marino, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Spain, St. Lucia, Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Venezuela, Zambia and Zimbabwe. *************************************************************************** NGO Participation The NGO Coalition for an International Criminal Court (CICC), including more than 1,000 human rights and grassroots groups, organized teams to follow both working groups, met regularly as a caucus to track negotiations, held press conferences and lobbied delegates. It also held parallel events including a forum with Fabiola Letelier, President of Corporaci¢n de Defensa de los Derechos del Pueblo (CODEPU) in Chile, and the Honorable Judge Baltasar Garzon, Judge of the Audiencia Nacional in Spain. Ms. Letelier, a prominent advocate in the struggle against "impunity," is the sister of Orlando Letelier who was killed in the United States by Chilean government representatives during the Pinochet regime. Judge Garzon is known for his action to try former Chilean President Augusto Pinochet for crimes committed against Spanish citizens during his presidency. The Women's Caucus for Gender Justice, which met daily and sported black T-shirts calling for gender justice in the agreements, issued a position paper entitled "Excluding crimes against women from the ICC is not an option." The caucus has hosted a series of panels throughout the ICC preparatory meetings to highlight women's concerns, particularly the need to ensure that negotiations related to crimes of sexual and gender violence avoid the discriminatory tendencies prevalent in national settings. The caucus called for a statement that acts of sexual and gender violence, while constituting crimes in and of themselves can also constitute, among other things, torture, enslavement, murder or genocide when the elements of these crimes are committed. The caucus noted that at the last PrepCom a proposal by 11 mostly Arab States sought to exclude crimes of sexual and gender violence when committed within the family. Compromise language would only hold a State accountable if it "actively promotes or encourages" a crime. Caucus members opposed the compromise on the grounds that "many crimes against women are committed with the tacit approval or toleration by States." The caucus also sought protection of victims and witnesses, including legal representation at all stages of trial and the right to counsel. Regarding the adoption of Rule 9.19, which the US proposed in relation to Article 98.2, the CICC urged delegations to oppose what it viewed as a de facto amendment to the Rome Statute. CICC members argued that the amendment would open the door to future negotiations aimed at limiting the Court's jurisdiction. CICC Convenor Bill Pace noted that "extreme pressure is being placed on delegations by those governments attempting to achieve exemptions from prosecution or to otherwise weaken the Statute adopted in Rome in July 1988." The Women's Caucus for Gender Justice said that it was "disappointed by the weakening resolve of the States who committed themselves to a strong court. We are further shocked at the undemocratic process for adopting the rule, including the pressure exercised on some delegations." In addition NGOs were concerned that the much-debated language contained in the "chapeau" on crimes against humanity in the Statute's Elements of Crimes would impose additional jurisdictional thresholds. At issue was whether a State would be held accountable for its failure to act as well as for its actions. NGOs urged that "crimes encouraged or facilitated by a State or organization through a failure to act" be included. They also suggested that if delegates could not reach consensus on this item, they should leave the interpretation of the Rome Statute to the Court rather than formalizing weak language at the PrepCom. Future Work Remaining tasks for the PrepCom include the finalization of financial rules and regulations, a first-year budget for the Court, a relationship agreement between the Court and the UN, a headquarters agreement with the host country (the Netherlands), and negotiations on a definition for the crime of aggression. The PrepCom remains constituted until conclusion of the first meeting of the Assembly of States Parties. Secretary Hiroshi Kawamura (Japan) was appointed contact for financial issues and rules of procedure for the Assembly of State Parties. Ambassador Cristi n Maquieira (Chile) was appointed contact for the pending relationship agreements. Mr. Maquieira will also help negotiate an agreement on privileges and immunities of the Court and "ways to enhance the effectiveness and acceptance of the Court." The next session of the PrepCom will take place at the United Nations in New York from 27 November to 8 December 2000. Contact: Codification Division, Office of Legal Affairs, United Nations, Room 3460, New York NY 10017, United States, telephone 1-212/963 5332, fax +1-212/963 1963, website (www.un.org/law/icc/index.htm). Coalition for an International Criminal Court, c/o World Federalist Movement/Institute for Global Policy, 777 UN Plaza, New York NY 10017, United States, telephone +1-212/687 2176, fax +1-212/599 1332, e-mail , website (www.igc.org/icc). NGO PARTICIPATION IN PREPARING THE WORLD CONFERENCE ON RACISM Preparations are underway now for the World Conference on Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance (WCAR) and a parallel NGO Forum, which will be held in Durban (South Africa) in August/September 2001. Go Between summarizes preparatory meetings for the events, including NGO participation in them. The first Preparatory Committee (PrepCom) was held in Geneva in May 2000, with a second one scheduled for May 2001. National and regional preparatory meetings, expert seminars and NGO meetings are also scheduled. Regional Preparatory Meetings The WCAR regional meeting for the Americas and Caribbean, which will include participation by Canada and the United States, will take place in Santiago (Chile) from 3-6 December 2000. The regional meeting for Africa will take place from 1-4 November 2000 in Dakar (Senegal). The regional meeting for Asia will be held in Teheran (Iran) from 18-21 February 2001, and the meeting for Europe was scheduled in Strasbourg (France) from 11-13 October 2000. NGOs in consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Committee (ECOSOC) and/or accredited to the WCAR can participate in the regional preparatory meetings. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has secured funding to subsidize the participation of some NGOs in the regional meetings for Africa, the Americas and Asia. In order to facilitate the process, one NGO for each region has been asked to take charge of the logistics and to form a steering committee, which will be charged with selecting NGOs that will receive financial assistance. Contacts Africa: Alioune Tine, Rencontre Africaine pour la Defense des Droits de l'Homme (RADDHO), BP 15246, Fann, Senegal, telephone +221/824 6056, fax +221/824 6052, e-mail , website (www.afrdh.org/raddho/index.html) Americas: Ines Reichel, Instituto Inter-Americano de Derechos Humanos (IIDH), Apdo. 10.081-1000, San Jose, Costa Rica, telephone +506/234 0404, fax +506/234 0955, e-mail , website (www.iidh.ed.cr) Asia: Nimalka Fernando, International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism (IMADR), 150 route de Ferney, PO Box 2100, CH-1211 Geneva, telephone +41-22/791 6263, fax +41-22/791 6480 or +94-1/682 505, e-mail Regional Expert Seminars A number of regional expert seminars will be organized by OHCHR in the run-up to the WCAR. An expert seminar was scheduled in Bangkok (Thailand) from 5-7 September 2000 on the theme "Migrants and Trafficking of Persons, with Particular Reference to Women and Children." An expert seminar for Africa was scheduled in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) from 4-6 October 2000 on the theme "Preventing Ethnic and Racial Conflict." An expert seminar was also planned in Santiago from 25-27 October 2000 on "Economic, Social and Legal Measures to Combat Racial Discrimination, with Particular Reference to Vulnerable Groups." NGOs in consultative status with ECOSOC or those accredited to the WCAR will receive an invitation to participate as observers to the expert seminars and can distribute documents. NGOs that are not accredited to either ECOSOC or the WCAR may listen from public galleries but cannot participate in discussions or distribute documents. NGOs wishing to attend the expert seminars must forward to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) their official letterhead with names of designated representatives by e-mail or fax as soon as possible (see contacts below). Contacts Asia: Gloria Nwabuogu, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Palais Wilson, 52 Rue des Paquis, CH-1202 Geneva, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/917 9394, e-mail Africa: Aziz Ndiaye, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Palais Wilson, 52 Rue des Paquis, CH-1202 Geneva, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/917 9826, e-mail Latin America: Sandra Aragon, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Palais Wilson, 52 Rue des Paquis, CH-1202 Geneva, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/917 9129, e-mail Regional NGO Meetings At regional NGO meetings on the WCAR, NGOs accredited to either ECOSOC and/or the WCAR will be able to plan their input for the NGO Forum in South Africa. A regional NGO meeting for Africa is tentatively scheduled in Botswana from 21-26 January 2001. A meeting for the Americas will take place in Quito (Ecuador), although a date has not been set. A meeting for Eastern and Central Europe will be held from 13-18 November 2000 in Warsaw (Poland). Regional steering committees are being established to elaborate criteria for selecting NGOs to participate in the NGO meetings, selecting participants and planning the programme. NGOs wishing to participate in the meetings should contact the NGOs listed below and describe its involvement in the fight against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia or related intolerance and the reason why it is important that a representative of the organization attend the NGO consultation. NGOs can also nominate other organizations they think should attend the NGO meetings. Contacts Africa: Chantal Kisoon, Human Rights Centre, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria, South Africa, fax +27-12/362 5125, e-mail Asia and the Pacific: Nizam Assaf, Arab Organization for Human Rights, fax +962-6/465 4262, e-mail or Americas: Irene Leon, Agencia Latinoamericano de Informaci¢n (ALAI), Casilla 17-12-877, Avenida 12 Octobre N18-24, Oficina 503, Quito, Ecuador, telephone +593-2/505074, fax +593-2/505073, e-mail , website (www.alainet.org) or Mark Hecht, Human Rights Internet (HRI), 8 York Street, Suite 302, Ottawa, Ontario K1N 5S6, Canada, telephone +1-613/789 7407, fax +1-613/789 7414, e-mail , website (www.hri.ca) Eastern and Central Europe: Marek Nowicki, Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, 18 Bracka str., Apt. 62, 00-028, Warsaw, Poland, telephone/fax +48-22/828 1008, 828 6996 or 826 9875, e-mail , website (www.hfhrpol.waw.pl) ILO: SOCIAL PROTECTION SYSTEMS UNDER STRAIN About 75% of the 150 million people seeking or available for work around the world lack unemployment insurance protection, according to the World Labour Report 2000. The theme of the report, published by the International Labour Organization (ILO), is Income Security and Social Protection in a Changing World. The vast majority of people in developing countries, including informal sector wage earners and self-employed persons, "have no social protection whatsoever," observes the report. It also notes that millions of people in the informal sector "earn very low incomes and have an extremely limited capacity to contribute to social protection schemes." They cannot afford to save much and can look forward neither to pensions nor to health insurance benefits. And they are reluctant or simply unable to seek help from social assistance schemes where these exist. "Alarmist rhetoric notwithstanding," said Juan Somavia, ILO Director-General, "social protection, even in the supposedly expensive forms to be found in most advanced countries, is affordable in the long-term. It is affordable because it is essential for people, but also because it is productive in the longer term. Societies that do not pay enough attention to security, especially the security of their weaker members, eventually suffer a destructive backlash." For low-income developing countries, the ILO says it is imperative to give priority to schemes specially-designed to meet the needs of informal sector workers. Government support is deemed "indispensable" in the effort; a possible starting point would be the extension of statutory social insurance schemes "toward increased--and possibly universal--coverage." The report makes various proposals to extend social protection, which currently covers less than half of the world's population. These include extending existing programmes, creating new programmes that target informal sector workers, and developing tax-financed social benefit systems. The report highlights some key trends and issues affecting social protection: -- The number of people living in extreme poverty around the world has increased by 200 million in just the last five years, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa, Central Asia, Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia. -- 850 million people work less than they want or earn less than a living wage. -- Poverty is one of the major factors driving 250 million children into the labour force and jeopardizing their attendance in school. -- Poverty rates for households headed by a single mother in Australia, Canada, Germany, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway and the United States are at least three times higher than for two-parent households. -- Social security expenditure as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) has risen in most countries over the period 1975-1992; there have been exceptions to this trend, especially in Africa and Latin America. "Changes in family structure have combined with other developments," observes the report, "notably rising unemployment and inequality, to produce a steep rise in child poverty rates between the mid-1960s and the mid-1990s." Actions aimed at improving income security for women include practical measures such as maternity benefits, childcare facilities and parental leave--these help men and women combine paid employment and child-rearing, and support the access of women to paid work. Other measures are extension of compulsory social security to all employees including categories in which women are heavily represented such as domestic and part-time work, and recognizing unpaid child-rearing work through the award of credits under contributory systems or through the provision of universal benefits. Workers who are fortunate enough to be covered by unemployment benefits are mainly concentrated in industrialized countries, says the report. But for those who work in the rural or urban informal sectors in developing countries--including 750 million to 900 million underemployed workers--hardly any unemployment protection exists at all. These groups, according to the ILO, should be assisted through employment in labour-intensive infrastructure programmes: feeder roads, land reclamation, minor dams, wells and irrigation systems, drainage and sewerage, building schools and health centres. Throughout Central and Eastern Europe, "not more than half of the unemployed receive either unemployment benefits or social assistance," says the report. It notes a study's findings that between 1991 and 1995 "the unemployment beneficiary rate dropped from around 80% to less than 40% in Hungary, from 75% to 55% in Poland, and from 82% to 27% in Slovakia." Most countries in Latin America rely on termination compensation schemes, which pay lump-sum benefits only. In recent years increasing emphasis has been placed on developing employment services for the unemployed by improving the flow of information on vacancies and skill shortages, facilitating worker mobility, managing training programmes, and providing job subsidies for the unemployed. Countries that have introduced such active labour market policies in the 1990s include Argentina, Barbados, Brazil, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay. As of 1998 only four Asian economies--China, Mongolia, the Republic of Korea and Hong Kong, China--"had any form of unemployment benefit scheme," according to the report. It noted that the recent financial crisis has made it clear that "unemployment insurance schemes could play a substantial role in coping with the unacceptable levels of hardship caused by rapidly escalating unemployment." Contact: Bureau of Public Information, International Labour Organization, 4 route des Morillons, CH-1211 Geneva 22, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/799 7940, fax +41-22/799 8577, e-mail , website (www.ilo.org/publns). PUBLICATIONS AND ONLINE Higher Education in Developing Countries, Perils and Promise This report, published by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the World Bank, explores the crisis in higher education in developing countries and outlines a vision for progress. The report is from the Task Force on Higher Education and Society, a body of experts from 13 countries convened by UNESCO and the World Bank. Available from: Publishing, Promotion and Sales Division, UNESCO, 1 rue Miollis, F-75732 Paris Cedex 15, France, fax +33-1/45 68 57 41, e-mail , website (www.unesco.org) or World Bank Publications, PO Box 960, Herndon VA 20172-0960, United States, telephone +1-703/661 1580, fax +1-703/661 1501, e-mail , website (www.worldbank.org). Yearbook of the United Nations 1997 This reference book provides an overview of UN activities in 1997 to address major global challenges in areas including peacekeeping, disarmament, human rights, trade and development, drugs, crime prevention and assistance to refugees. The book is indexed and contains texts of all major General Assembly, Security Council, and Economic and Social Council resolutions and decisions. Chapters cover political and security questions; human rights; economic and social questions; legal questions; institutional, administrative and budgetary questions; and intergovernmental organizations related to the United Nations. Available from: United Nations Publications, 2 UN Plaza, Room DC2-853, New York NY 10017, United States, fax +1-212/963 3489, e-mail or United Nations Publications, Palais des Nations, CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland, fax +41-22/917 0027, e-mail , website (www.un.org/pubs/sales.htm). Globalization: The United Nations Development Dialogue--Finance, Trade, Poverty, Peace-Building This book summarizes some of the important discussions that have taken place at the UN on "globalization with a human face," international financial architecture, international trade and developing countries, and the fight against poverty. Available from: United Nations University Press, 53-70 Jingumae 5-chome, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-8925, Japan, fax +81-3/3406 7345, e-mail , website (www.unu.edu). Missionaries and Mandarins: Feminist Engagement with Development Institutions This book, co-published by the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD), examines the strategies employed by women who are working to make state organizations, multilateral institutions and NGOs more gender equitable. Studies from countries including Australia, Canada, Morocco and Viet Nam illustrate both the variety of institutional strategies adopted by feminists in different political and cultural settings, and the highly diverse forms of political action by women. Available from: Intermediate Technology Publications, 103/105 Southampton Row, London WC1B 4HH, United Kingdom, fax +44-20/7436 2013, e-mail , website (www.oneworld.org/itdg/publications). Women at the Peace Table: Making a Difference This book, from the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), says that while political negotiations on peace and security remain almost an entirely male domain, women in all regions are lobbying for an equal place at the peace table. The book contains interviews with women leaders whose achievements include shaping new constitutional guarantees of equality, setting up action programmes, and conveying a sense of the everyday realities of civilians who increasingly suffer the brunt of armed conflict. Available from: United Nations Development Fund for Women, 304 East 45th Street, 15th Floor, New York NY 10017, United States, fax +1-212/906 6705, e-mail , website (www.unifem.undp.org). Synergies This newsletter from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), which covers international environment treaties, aims to promote and strengthen collaboration between the relevant UN agencies and convention secretariats. Available from: Information Unit on Conventions, UNEP, International Environment House, 11-13 chemin des Anemones, CH-1219 Chatelaine (Geneva), Switzerland, e-mail , website (www.unep.ch/conventions). Albania This country profile from Oxfam explains how Albania's history of foreign domination and four decades of totalitarian rule have shaped its society. It contains opinions of Albanians including those imprisoned under the dictator Hoxha, students who took part in demonstrations, villagers who have held on to traditional identities, and people working to rebuild their communities. Available from: Oxfam, c/o BEBC, PO Box 1496, Parkstone, Dorset BH12 3YD, United Kingdom, fax +44-1202/712930, e-mail or Oxfam, Stylus Publishing LLC, PO Box 605, Herndon VA 20171-0605, United States, fax +1-703/661 1547, e-mail , website (www.styluspub.com). Directory of Non-Governmental Organizations This directory of Thai NGOs, published by the Thai Development Support Committee (TDSC), lists 465 NGOs and their address, objectives, activities, areas of operation and funding sources. Available from: TDSC, 409 3rd Floor, TVS Building, Soi Rohitsuk, Pracharat-bamphen Road, Huay Khwang, Bangkok 10320, Thailand, fax +66-2/691 0409, e-mail . Earthscan Publications Against the Grain: The Genetic Transformation of Global Agriculture This book argues that the consequences of genetic engineering have been underestimated or ignored by industries exploiting the new technologies. It provides an account of the science and technologies involved in producing transgenic plants and argues for full public accountability and control of new developments. Stakeholders: Government-NGO Partnerships for International Development This study, from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), reviews the relationships and division of responsibility between OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) member governments and NGOs working in international development. The study says that an over-emphasis on evaluation may be leading NGOs to choose activities that are easily accountable to donors, rather than basing their activities on beneficiaries' real needs. It also examines the impacts of the funding relationship between governments and NGOs, in which NGOs must increasingly compete for contracts. Available from: Earthscan Publications, 120 Pentonville Road, London N1 9JN, United Kingdom, fax +44-171/278 1142, e-mail , website (www.earthscan.co.uk). Corporate Social Responsibility: Making Good Business Sense This report from the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) was developed through dialogue between business and non-business stakeholders worldwide. It says that managing social issues is vital for the reputations of corporations and for their survival in today's world. The book provides hands-on tools to help companies tackle social issues; among these is a 12-point navigator to guide companies through social challenges and dilemmas. Available from: WBCSD, 160 route de Florissant, CH-1231 Conches (Geneva), Switzerland, fax +41-22/839 3131, e-mail , website (www.wbcsd.ch). UNCTAD Handbook on Statistics on CD-ROM This CD-ROM from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) provides statistical data relevant to the analysis of world trade, investment and development. The statistics cover value, growth and shares of total exports and imports; trade and commodity price indices; the structure of world trade; international finance; and selected indicators of development. The CD-ROM is searchable with a data export facility. Available from: UN Publications, 2 UN Plaza, Room DC2-853, New York NY 10017, United States, fax +1-212/963 3489, e-mail or UN Publications, Palais des Nations, CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland, fax +41-22/917 0027, e-mail , website (www.un.org/pubs). CSD Electronic Listserver The listserver of the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) provides information on CSD activities including the upcoming ten-year review of the UN Conference on Environment and Development (Rio+10). Other electronic discussions organized around Rio+10 will also be announced on the listserver. To join the listserver, go to the Commission on Sustainable Development website (www.un.org/esa/sustdev/csdlistserver.htm). For those with e-mail but without access to Internet, e-mail . CALENDAR DISARMAMENT -- Disarmament Commission, Organizational session, December (2 days), New York ECOSOC/GENERAL ASSEMBLY -- 55th UN General Assembly, Millennium Assembly, September-December, New York HUMAN RIGHTS -- Human Rights Committee, 70th session, 16 October-3 November, Geneva -- Working Group on the Declaration of Indigenous Peoples, 16-27 October, Geneva -- Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, 62nd session, November/December (3 weeks), Geneva -- Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 23rd session, 13 November-1 December, Geneva -- Committee Against Torture, 25th session, 13-24 November, Geneva Racism -- World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, 2001, South Africa INTERNATIONAL LAW -- Preparatory Commission for the Establishment of an International Criminal Court, 6th session, 27 November-8 December, New York LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES -- Third Conference on Least Developed Countries, 14-20 May 2001, Brussels NARCOTIC DRUGS -- International Narcotics Control Board, 69th session, 30 October-16 November, Vienna SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT Convention to Combat Desertification (CCD) -- Conference of Parties, fourth session, and meetings of subsidiary bodies 11-22 December, Bonn Framework Convention on Climate Change -- 6th session of the Conference of the Parties, 13-24 November, The Hague Global Environment Facility (GEF) -- NGO Consultation, 14 November, Washington DC -- GEF Council Meeting, 15-17 November, Washington DC Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee -- 5th session, 4-9 December, South Africa TRADE, FINANCE AND DEVELOPMENT Financing for Development -- Preparatory Process, started in January 2000 United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) -- Trade and Development Board, 47th session, 9-20 October, Geneva GUEST EDITORIAL Sharon Capeling-Alakija Executive Coordinator, United Nations Volunteers (UNV) International Year of Volunteers 2001 -- Free Will, Goodwill Go Global Volunteerism is not only about good deeds--it can bring nations together. A vivid example of this came last year in the wake of devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Greece, long-time rivals that nearly went to war three times in the past quarter-century. Greek volunteers were among the first people to respond to Turkey's quake last August. Turkish volunteers and non-governmental organizations returned the favour weeks later when Greece was shaken with its own quake. The spontaneous outpouring of goodwill and support for victims of both nations transcended seemingly impossible barriers and opened new avenues for political change. The two countries started talking, setting up cultural exchanges and mending fences after decades of animosity. At the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme, we want to capture the same volunteer spirit manifested in Greece and Turkey and help it to spread across the globe. The International Year of Volunteers (IYV) 2001 is a timely new channel to highlight and energize voluntary service within and across borders. The Year provides a global opportunity to demonstrate the power of volunteerism when people join hands in the fight against poverty, AIDS and environmental destruction. Excitement is already stirring as UNV and its NGO partners worldwide get ready for the Autumn 2000 launch of IYV 2001: In the Republic of Korea, the IYV 2001 National Committee will gather in the national stadium on 5 December with a total of 2001 members to kick-start a year of planned activities to promote volunteering; In Italy, the Volunteer Service for Civil Protection, an NGO, is facilitating a world conference to create an international on-call volunteer force to fight disasters and catastrophes worldwide. This initiative will increase the effectiveness of volunteers intervening on short notice; In Kenya, the National Coordinating Committee will focus IYV 2001 activities on volunteerism for the eradication of malaria, still Africa's number-one killer; In Mexico, a programme entitled Una Hora por Mexico (One Hour for Mexico) will collect 500,000 signatures of people ready to commit one hour of community service each month. This scheme will mobilize new volunteers, bringing benefits to both the communities and to the volunteers themselves. IYV 2001 National Committees on five continents manage these projects and countless others. To date there are 48 National Committees, with another 40 about to be formed. These National Committees are key to spreading the IYV 2001 message because there is no single volunteer concept: each culture and nation has its own interpretation, which brings the richness of diversity to IVY 2001 and global volunteerism. Volunteers recognize and celebrate their diversity. At a regional IYV 2001 workshop held recently in South Africa, African participants resolved that volunteering in their region "is deeply embedded in all of our societies as expressed in the concepts of ubuntu, botho, ujama, and harambee." IYV 2001, they said, provides an opportunity to "rekindle the spirit of volunteering and community care." The spirit is moving through the work of the National Committees, a series of IYV 2001 regional conferences and efforts of various partners. Four months before the IYV 2001 launch, many NGOs working with volunteers, governments and UN agencies are taking the initiative to recognize, facilitate, network and promote volunteerism as IYV 2001 preparations shift into high gear. Volunteers are everywhere. But the scope and nature of voluntary service changes with the passing of time. IYV 2001 provides a global platform to discuss the meaning and perceptions of volunteerism. IYV 2001's main advocates are networking among academics, volunteers, NGOs, governments and the private sector to generate interest and advance the discussion on the impact of volunteerism. As focal point for IYV 2001, UNV continues to develop tools to help researchers, National Committees and volunteer organizations prepare for the year. For individuals with access to the Internet--often available through NGOs --the IYV 2001 website (www.iyv2001.org) offers news, research and a global calendar of volunteer activities. Contributions shared online form part of an expanding network of volunteer stakeholders. Through this network, UNV is creating a global outlet for volunteer advocates in 2001 and beyond. Indeed, IYV networking is making the world a smaller place for the millions of volunteers. Strengthening the bonds of global volunteerism, we are setting out to achieve what the UN General Assembly proclaimed that IYV 2001 should accomplish: to highlight the work of those "millions" and to "encourage more people globally to engage in voluntary activity." Through IYV 2001, we look forward to many more heartening volunteer experiences such as those of Turkey and Greece. Join in with us to reach our mark and energize the volunteer spirit. NGLS is an inter-agency programme of the United Nations system that facilitates dialogue and cooperation between NGOs and the UN system. The NGLS mission statement, endorsed by its governing body, the Joint United Nations Information Committee (JUNIC), states: "The Non-Governmental Liaison Service (NGLS) promotes dynamic partnerships between the United Nations and non-governmental organizations. By providing information, advice, expertise and support services, NGLS is part of the UN's efforts to strengthen dialogue and win public support for economic and social development." Go Between is produced with kind support from DESA, DPI, FAO, IFAD, ILO, OHCHR, UNAIDS, UNCHS (Habitat), UNCTAD, UNDCP, UNDP, UNEP, UNESCO, UNFPA, UNHCR, UNICEF, UNIFEM, WFP, World Bank, the governments of Canada and Denmark, and the UN Foundation. NGLS Coordinator: Tony Hill Editor: Adrienne Cruz Editorial Assistant: Suroor Alikhan Contributors: Barbara Adams, Stella Arthur, Joslyn Barnes, Hamish Jenkins and Jolanda van Westering