In the wake of the global financial and economic crisis, the President of the UN General Assembly, Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann, set up a commission of experts chaired by Nobel Prize Laureate Joseph Stiglitz, whose mandate is to reflect on the causes of the crisis, assess its impacts on all countries and suggest adequate responses to avoid its recurrence and restore global economic stability. The "Commission of Experts of the President of the UN General Assembly on Reforms of the International Monetary and Financial System" (hereafter referred to as the "Commission on Financial Reforms") will produce a report whose recommendations will be considered in the preparatory process leading to the UN Conference at the highest level on the world financial and economic crisis and its impact on development called for in the final document adopted at the 2008 Doha Conference on Financing for Development.
The Office of the President of the General Assembly asked NGLS to consult with civil society groups across the globe and to compile their views into a single report that will be presented to the Commission as an official input to their deliberations. This on-line consultation - open to all civil society organizations - was set up to support this effort.
The report has now been finalized.
Read more ...
The United Nations Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis and its Impact on Development will be held from 1-3 June, 2009 in New York.
The GA President has released the second draft of a resolution which contains the proposed organization of the conference. In it, the President proposes holding the conference from 1-4 June, 2009.
In a letter dated 28 January 2009, the President of the UN General Assembly, Mr. Miguel D’Escoto Brockmann, recalled that the General Assembly, in its resolution 63/239, endorsed the Doha Declaration on Financing for Development which stated that the UN would hold a conference on the financial and economic crisis and its impact on development. The Declaration further stated that the conference will be organized by the GA President and that modalities will be decided by the end of March 2009 at the latest.
The consultation ran from 26 January-13 February. NGLS received nearly 100 submissions from civil society organisations around the world. The Report has now been finalized.
Below are broad descriptions of each of the four Working Group themes and some leading questions.
NGLS is in the process of posting all substantive contributions on the website.
Click here to access the contributions.