Subject: [fem-women2000 501] Millenium Summit: Globalization Statement for your consideration from WILPF
From: lalamaziwa <lalamaziwa@jca.apc.org>
Date: Fri, 25 Aug 2000 10:57:24 +0900
Seq: 501
forwarding.. //lalamaziwa -- PLEASE CIRCULATE WIDELY Dear friends, This statement to the Millennium Summit about the effects of globalisation has been forwarded to me from Geneva, in the hope that organisations based here will be willing to add their names. The statement apparently very much resembles the first draft of an alternative declaration which was to be made in Geneva at the Copenhagen +5. Please email me if you wish to join it, and please do forward it to your networks of interested organisations. thanks felicity hill To the United Nations Millennium Summit The undersigned non-governmental organizations wish to bring to the attention of the participants in the Millennium Summit, 6 September 2000 in New York, the following observations in the wake of the Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly on the Implementation of the Outcome of the World Summit for Social Development and Further Initiatives, Geneva, 26-30 June, 2000: In Copenhagen, the vision of a more just and equitable world was collectively painted by governments. Beautiful words were said and commitments were made to make this vision a reality. Everyone agreed that urgent action and progress can be achieved, must be achieved, and will be achieved. At the time, representatives of many NGOs and people's organizations and movements warned in their Alternative Declaration that "over-reliance placed on unaccountable 'open, free-market forces' as a basis for organizing national and international economies aggravates, rather than alleviates, the current global social crises. This false premise threatens the realization of the stated goals of the social summit." In the five years since Copenhagen, inequity within and between countries, poverty, instability, insecurity, social exclusion, and environmental degradation have worsened. The UN Secretary-General, in his report to the Millennium Summit, states that in recent decades far more people have been killed in civil wars, ethnic cleansing, and acts of genocide, fueled by weapons widely available in the global arms bazaar. There is also a collapse of national economies and social disintegration. Poverty has been further exacerbated by the financial crisis in Asia, which spilled over to Russia and Brazil. What happened in these past five years? Where have governments and the international community failed? Where lies our hope for a better world to come? Many documents and declarations from gatherings of peoples' organizations and campaigns, but also from official intergovernmental conferences have diagnosed what has gone wrong. The Seattle debacle destroyed the myth that globalization, led by the World Bank (WB), the World Trade Organization (WTO), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) brings wealth and prosperity to all countries. The further concentration of wealth and power in the hands of fewer countries, corporations and individuals is being resisted on many fronts. The southern governments' refusal to be bullied by the OECD countries in Seattle was a defining moment. The consistent stand and campaigns of peoples' movements and the NGOs against more globalization and liberalization debunked the myth of globalization. the statement "WTO-Shrink or Sink" signed by many NGOs and peoples' organizations captures the demands of millions on how the international trading system should be restructured. The financial crises have shown that unbridled speculative investments and short term capital transactions by financial liberalization can destroy national economies overnight and cause hundreds of thousands of people to sink further into poverty. The proposals for currency transfer taxes is gaining widespread support. The peoples' campaign on debt cancellation, structural adjustment policies (SAPs) and the democratization of the IMF has led the latter to undertake some cosmetic changes such as the HIPC initiative (Heavily Indebted Poor Countries) and the much touted New Financial Architecture. However, these are highly inadequate and deceptive and do not in any way lead to changing their undemocratic and un-transparent nature. The UN Secretary-General's remarks during the NGO Millennium Forum that there is poverty because of not enough globalization are disturbing. It was even worse to have launched during the 24th Special Session the joint OECD, WB, IMF, UN document called "A Better World For All". The involvement of the Secretary-General with this document distressed many NGOs there, leading them to call on the UN to withdraw its endorsement of the document. The results of the 24th Special Session are disappointing. The undersigned NGOs wish to draw particular attention in regard to some of the Commitments made in Copenhagen not met: Commitment 1: Creating an economic, political, social, cultural and legal environment The events in the past five years and the peoples' campaigns against the WB, IMF and the WTO, and also against the Multilateral Agreement on Investments (MAI) clearly demonstrate the culpability of these bodies and of the OECD in creating a disabling, instead of an enabling, environment. The OECD countries should admit to their part in creating such a disabling environment which directly impacts negatively on the South. The Global Compact launched by the UN Secretary General with the private sector is being presented as a measure to get the support of corporations in achieving the goals of the Summit. However, it is heavily criticized not only by many NGOs but also by developing countries which urge the cancellation of this initiative. The HIPC initiative is promoted as being a solution to relieve the debt burden of poor countries, but developing countries find it most inadequate. We support the movement for the cancellation of the debts of all developing countries that face repayment problems. Commitment 2: Eradicating poverty in the world The policy formulation on poverty eradication, which is the business of the UN, has been shifted to the WB and the IMF. We are seriously concerned about institutions that have further exacerbated poverty are being allowed to be the ones to take charge of poverty eradication policies and programmes. The Poverty Reduction Strategy Programme/Papers (PRSP) of the IMF and the WB is a new conditionality that will underpin the relationship of debtor countries with them and Overseas Development Assistance (DOA). We call on the UN to take full responsibility for policy formulation on poverty eradication and not surrender these to the market forces and international financial institutions. We reiterate that poverty eradication can only be achieved if the structural root causes of poverty are sincerely addressed. Commitment 6: Universal and equitable access to quality education, physical and mental health, and primary health care Nearly one-third of the world's population lacks access to essential drugs. Globalization and international trade rules may make the situation worse. The Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights Agreement (TRIPS) of the WTO which imposes global standards of intellectual property rights protection will have adverse implications for public health and access to drugs. Increased patent protection will lead to higher drug prices. It is also expected that the number of patented drugs of importance from a public health perspective will increase in the future. The scenario therefore is one which sees the widening of the access gap between the rich and poor, between developed and developing countries. The TRIPS Agreement protects the interest of the private sector, by securing its monopoly in the production, manufacturing and sale of essential and life-saving medication. We therefore call on governments to recognize the importance of protecting fundamental human rights to the highest attainable standard of health care over and above the interests of pharmaceutical corporations. The Group of 77 is right to demand the exclusion of essential and life-saving drugs from patentability in order to ensure access to such medicines at affordable prices. Many of us went to Geneva with the hope that governments honestly admit to having failed to live up to the commitments they made in Copenhagen, and together search for long lasting solutions that will fully involve those who are excluded from social development. It is high time to admit that globalization and reliance on the market is not the path to social development. We protest against the increasing role of institutions such as the WB, IMF and the WTO in defining social development policies. These bodies remain undemocratic, un-transparent and unaccountable. They continue to act in the interests of the powerful and mighty countries and corporations. We do not walk in the corridors of power, but in those of the weak. We are not in the business of accommodating vested interests but the interests of more than a billion people living in poverty. We cannot ask those who are dying of starvation, those who do not have access to basic social services and decent living conditions, those who are deprived of their basic human rights to be reasonable and patient. Social development is about human rights and not about charity. A world without economic, social, environmental and cultural justice and equity cannot be called democratic. The right to development is a fundamental and integral part of the body of human rights. We therefore commit ourselves to pursue the right to development of all nations and peoples and to ensure that the United Nations takes its responsibility in achieving this goal. Signed by: Europe-Third World Center (CETIM) General Arab Women Federation International Federation of Rural Adult Catholic Movements (FIMARC) Indian Movement "Tupaj Amaru" International Indian Treaty Council (IITC) International League for the Rights and Liberation of Peoples (LIDLIP) Movement Against Racism and for Friendship Among Peoples (MRAP) North South XXI Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY) World Movement of Mothers World Muslim Congress Pax Romana World Peace Council (WPC) ******* ******* ******* ******* Felicity Hill, Director, United Nations Office Women's International League for Peace and Freedom 777 UN Plaza, New York, NY 10017, USA Ph: 1 212 682 1265 Fax: 1 212 286 8211 email: flick@igc.apc.org web: www.wilpf.int.ch www.reachingcriticalwill.org _________________________________________________________________________ fem-Women2000@jca.apc.org for Women 2000, UN Special Session on Beijing+5 Searcheable Archive http://www.jca.apc.org/fem/news/women2000/index.shtml visit fem-net HomePage for other mailing lists http://www.jca.apc.org/fem