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VOICES RISING
YEAR III - VOL 3. Nº153
September 16 , 2005
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1.- WOMEN’S GROUPS EXPRESS SHOCK AND
DISAPPOINTMENT
2.- III REPORT from NY
3.- NY PROCESS
4.- II REPORT FROM NEW YORK
5.- UN SUMMIT DRAFT OUTCOME DOCUMENT
6.- STEVE BIKO INTERNATIONAL PEACE AWARD
………………………………………
1.- WOMEN’S GROUPS EXPRESS SHOCK AND
DISAPPOINTMENT
AT UN, SPEECHES BY BUSH AND BLAIR
Joan Ross-Frankson
Joan@wedo.org
Women's organizations at the World Summit are shocked and
disappointed by the statements made yesterday by President Bush and Prime
Minister Blair before the UN General Assembly.
President Bush thanked the international community for its assistance with
post-Katrina rescue and reconstruction. Yet he personally unleashed
Ambassador John Bolton on the Summit negotiations three weeks ago, dealing a
severe blow to international cooperation and the final result. President
Bush claimed that the US has a moral obligation to help poor countries. But
Ambassador Bolton made it clear throughout the negotiations that the US will
not adopt the target of 0.7% of national income for foreign aid, and he even
tried to prevent other rich countries from mentioning it in the Summit
agreement. President Bush can no longer speak with a straight face about his
commitment to defeating HIV/AIDS, when his Ambassador refused to allow
language that would have ensured full funding for the Global Fund on
HIV/AIDS, Malaria and TB. Neither can President Bush continue to point to
his “Millennium Challenge Account” program as an alternative to concrete
targets for foreign aid - the MCA has proven to be an exercise in public
relations that has disbursed little money to poorer countries.
Prime Minister Blair called the Millennium Development Goals “a specter.”
Instead of reiterating Britain’s commitment to these goals, he only referred
to the weaker agreements reached at the G8 summit in Gleneagles. But
“doubling of aid” that is already paltry amounts to much less than meeting
the 0.7% target. Bush and Blair talk about trade as a critical strategy in
poverty eradication. But until the EU and the US eliminate the millions of
dollars spent for farm subsidies to their own agribusiness, this is just one
more empty promise. “Opening trade” will also hurt the poor unless the EU
and the US stop using patents to prevent affordable access to essential HIV
drugs. Farm subsidies and patents were to be included in the agreement for
this Summit, but the US successfully got them off the table. Britain should
stop the race to the bottom began by the US, not acquiesce to it.
Statement by:
ActionAid International
Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development Gender Program
Center for Women’s Global Leadership (CWGL)
Choice for Youth and Sexuality, Netherlands
Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN)
Forum on Women and Development (FOKUS)
Gender and Education Office (GEO/ICAE)
Girls Power Initiative, Nigeria
Inform, Sri Lanka
International Council on Adult Education (ICAE)
International Institute for Cooperation Amongst People
Milenio Feminista
Red de Educacion Popular Entre Mujeres de America Latina y el Caribe (REPEM)
United Methodist UN Office
Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO)
Youth Coalition
………………………………………
2.- III REPORT from NY
Women's Groups Prescribe Political Viagra for World Leaders
September 13, 2005
Women’s organizations worldwide are gravely concerned by the state of
negotiations on the World Summit. We are especially appalled by the
unilateralism and unwillingness of the US to compromise. We are dismayed by
the impotence of so many governments - especially the US who clearly lack
the political will to reach a groundbreaking agreement on development, human
rights, peace and UN reform.
Despite the fact that the outcomes of UN conferences of the 1990s have
recently been reaffirmed by all governments the Beijing Platform for Action
as recently as March 2005 governments are now showing little courage to live
up to those commitments.
The paragraph proposed by Brazil on increasing the capacities of adults and
adolescents to protect themselves from HIV infection, has not been supported
widely, and is in danger of being diluted by US language that is a covert
attempt at inserting “abstinence-only education” as a main prevention
approach.
The text on the important role of women in the prevention and resolution of
armed conflicts is being held hostage to language on “foreign occupation” an
intractable debate at the UN that should not be used to derail this crucial
paragraph.
The agreement on the Responsibility to Protect populations from genocide,
war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity is still held up by
squabbles over its title.
The establishment of the Peace building Commission is caught up in
insistence by the US that it remain under the complete control of the
permanent members of the Security Council.
Even issues the US allegedly cares about have been severely undermined by
the chaos caused by its own obstructionist tactics in the Summit. For
example, the creation of the Human Rights Council is now in serious
jeopardy, since
consideration of its composition and functioning is now to be discussed in
the future, and not at the Summit itself.
Women of the world are watching and expect more from their governments. The
well-being of billions of poor and marginalized women, girls, men and boys
is at stake. The future of multilateralism, international cooperation, and
the UN itself, is in the balance.
We expect political will, courage, and a sustained commitment to human
rights, democracy, development and peace.
At this final stage of the Summit negotiations, nothing else will do.
Statement by:
Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN), the Women’s
Environment and Development Organization (WEDO), the Center for
Women’s Global Leadership (CWGL), United Methodist UN Office, Choice
for Youth and Sexuality (Netherlands), Red de Educacion Popular Entre
Mujeres de America Latina y el Caribe (REPEM), Family Care
International, ActionAid International Africa, International Council on
Adult Education (ICAE), Gender and Education Office (GEO/ICAE),
the Open Society Institute, Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development
(Gender Program), Inform (Sri Lanka)
………………………………..
3.- NY PROCESS
Dear women
There is no doubt about the fact that our feminist friends that are now in
NY are embedded in a complex political process, they are doing a major work
there and they have been giving a strong critical position that many of us
share and agree with in terms of the issues around the MDGS and related
matters to the World Summit.
We should be proud of this work, the statement they issued and the
collaboration and commitment.
I would like to specially acknowledge the work of the GCAP feminist group,
Alejandra Scampini from REPEM and women from DAWN for their enormous work in
such a complicated global scenario to defend what took us years to achieve.
A strong warm hug to all of you and here we are standing by you
Ximena Machicao Barbery
General Coordinator
REPEM
............................................
4.- II REPORT FROM NEW YORK
By Alejandra Scampini
REPEM-DAWN
GCAP Feminist Task Force
1. 58th ANNUAL DPI/NGO CONFERENCE
United Nations, NY, September 7-9, 2005
The three days of the DPI/NGO Conference revolved around issues such as In
Larger Freedom: A Focus on Human Development: Implementing the MDGs; the
Priorities of Civil Society in terms of Collective Security; and A Dialogue:
The Future of the United Nations. Over 3500 representatives from the civil
society participated in the main conferences and parallel workshops. The
papers are available on DPI/NGO website:
www.un.org/dpi/ngosection
The last day of the DPI/NGO Conference, the main conferences and
the round tables focused on the issue of the future of the UN.
Much was said about the power of civil society today in the world, and much
about the UN’s need for the civil society and social organizations, today
more than ever. There are many proposals to strengthen the UN so that it
recovers the mission for which it was created, giving priority to
development, security and human rights. The NGO and the civil society have
reiterated in many opportunities, from Beijing +10 to the Interactive
Hearings that took place this year in June, that UN’s current structure does
not facilitate the collaboration between NGOs, the civil society and the
member states, so that they can jointly tackle the challenges posed by the
21st Century.
In June’s Interactive Hearings, 2005, the civil society and organizations
handed the President of the General Assembly, Mr. Ping, specific
recommendations, which in turn he handed to the Member States for them to
work on them in advance to the Millennium Summit 2005.
As REPEM/DAWN representative, and member of the Global Call for Action
Against Poverty, we were invited to participate in the Round Table of
September 9th, on United Nations and the
Civil Society. I must say that the elaboration of this presentation was
intense and charged with responsibility. The tension between issuing a
political and technical message in a friendly and positive environment such
as DPI, where the general audience would agree with the discourse, but
bearing in mind that the governments’ representatives were few floors above
in the UN building, negotiating behind closed doors, or better said,
“negotiating in the WTO’s best style, in the green rooms”, without
fulfilling the commitments assumed in time, without consulting with the
NGOs, and delaying the draft outcome document of the Summit, made one feel a
heavier pressure on what we should say about the UN we want and the UN we
must recover.
I would like to share with you the presentation, which is a mere attempt to
bring once more to this space the message elaborated jointly with women’s
and feminist organizations and networks in the strategic sessions of the
GCAP Feminist Task Force in June 2005, prior to the June Interactive Public
Hearings.
ROUND TABLE #3
United Nations and the Civil Society
Presentation by Alejandra Scampini
REPEM- DAWN, member of the GCAP Feminist Task Force
“I would like to start by acknowledging the participation of women in the UN
process. Women’s and feminist organizations have been involved in these
processes over 25 years, from the First World Conference on Women, held in
Mexico in 1975, to the +10 reviews of Beijing and Cairo. We have developed
and implemented advocacy agendas to instill a gender perspective in the
processes and outcomes of this conference. We have today a valuable
expertise and global political capacity in UN negotiations. We have
contributed to the conferences, not only on women, of the decade of the
‘70s, to the inclusion of women’s and gender issues in the UN’s main
processes. Within the UN, we are agents for change, and not only subjects.
We are many women, working within and outside the UN, articulating ourselves
and networking from local to global and viceversa, and this work has had a
strong impact on the outcomes of the UN Conferences, particularly in
relation to rules and procedures. Quoting Ros Petchesky, the idea that
women’s rights are human rights is a result from the transnational work done
by women prior and during the World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna.
We recognize our women’s agency and we also recognize that we constantly
navigate between frustration and weariness. Frustrated because the
development and human rights goals have not been fulfilled, and weary of
passing from conference to conference, facing conservative and
fundamentalist forces, which are everywhere, also in these UN negotiation
spaces and process. Once and again, the goals of gender equality and justice
are challenged and frustrated.
We are, as Gina Vargas says, in an ethically unacceptable and politically
unsustainable context, but another context is possible. Another UN is
possible. This is why we are still committed, creative, pushing for
progressive agendas, decided to include our visions and make a call for
action.
Within its framework, we want to strengthen the idea that UN is today an
important multilateral institution for the establishment of rules and the
construction of consensus, and we have to work jointly for UN to have this
element we feel it should be further developed, this real power to fulfill
the international conventions and resolutions.
The UN cannot find the solution in an isolated manner. We have to do this
jointly, and to this end we need, among other things, to broaden and
strengthen civil society’s participation. As Lydia Alpizar, Mexican feminist
women and AWID representative, expressed in the Public Interactive Hearings
of this year, “without us, the peoples” the UN is nothing but an empty
shell. A United Nations like this does not work for us, does not belong to
us, it is contaminated by political and economic interests that do not allow
it to develop the mission for which it was created.
We must recover that mission. Thus, changes in terms of how, what for, and
whose is UN. We must review and debate on structures, functions, power
dynamics, with the active participation of civil society, as part of its
vision and mandate. Only then we will have a UN more credible and capable of
serving justice and global democracy.
More than ever, the UN is a crucial space for fighting unilateralism and
corporative power. We believe the UN has a unique and valuable role, not
only to create rules at multilateral level, but it is our shield, of men and
women, against the voracious capitalism and the hegemonic political and
economic power. Certainly, we can make substantial contributions in terms of
making it more effective, but one key question posed by Zo Randriamaro,
Madagascar activist, in one of her publications is that, in order to
evaluate the UN is considering where would global governance and “we the
people” without the UN. Furthermore, as women and their organizations face
new and larger challenges in the current context, today it is fundamental to
capitalize the achievements and assets accumulated along decades of feminist
activism in the UN, and build upon them. This is one of our messages for
those who advocate in favor of the MDGs. The MDGs will be achieved if they
lie on the foundation of the achievements and assets accumulated in previous
Conferences and Summits.
In the June Hearings women contributed to this debate of the UN Reform. We
demanded to go beyond rhetoric into practice, reclaiming the definition of
clear mechanisms and necessary resources to ensure a significant
participation, at both regional and international levels.
The governments, the UN, the private sector recognize today the
achievements, with the participation of the civil society in the conferences
and summits, as well as in other instances of the UN, but today, this must
be reinforced, and a budged allocated, as well as broadening the
participation to other instances of the system, specially in the General
Assembly.
In this sense, feminist and women s recommendations emerged from the Public
Interactive Hearings are as follows
One of the mechanisms could be to offer consultative status to NGOs in the
GA; we do not have that status yet, and our participation should not be
limited to special invitations, we have to find a permanent mechanism that
can be used to influence the resolutions, as well as the Commissions.
With regard to the Security Council, we express that the discussions should
go beyond the members, and speak about democratization, transparency and
accountability in the decision-making process, generating spaces for
dialogue and consultation with the civil society. It would be important to
use the space of the UN Reform to create a formal permanent mechanism that
allows us, from the civil society, to reach and help to build the concept of
human security that includes women’s security in the public and private
spheres.
With regard to the Economic and Social Council, our strong and loud message
was that this body should be reinforced and its status raised, serving as
forum on the development of cooperation, and to which the International
Financial Institutions should subordinated and accountable.
Finally, as main agents within the UN, together with other social movements
and organizations, we know that the change is possible from within the UN.
We reclaim our UN as crucial forum we helped to develop together. To this
end, we will have to involve ourselves in its mechanisms in order to
determine the how, to where and why of these changes. We call on you to work
together to create the time and space needed for this presence to be
effective and the partnership we need. Thank you.
2. KOFI ANNAN AT DPI/NGO
The last day of the conference, Kofi Annan, UN Secretary-General,
attended the closure of the sessions. The folder with each day’s agenda had
many sentences by Kofi Annan. A very opportune one: “Please keep making your
voices hear, loud and clear enough to lift the sky. And keep raising your
voices after that, to hold Governments to their promises and to help
translate those promises into action.”
Kofi Annan entered the room and received a warm welcome, the people standing
and applauding as he made his way, accompanied by his wife, who sat and
listened to him, together with the rest of us present. I will quote some
excerpts of his speech. I had a strange feeling when I heard him, a true
appreciation for his work, but I also felt in him a kind of weariness and
almost a goodbye in his expression of gratitude to the NGOs. And also
frustration before the news about the negotiations around the draft outcome
document for the Summit. In short, he thanked the civil society the support
received and called on us to keep demanding and participating. Let’s hope
the UN and the member states create these spaces and provide the resources
to allow us following these processes.
“It’s 9 years since I took office, I had seen the situation Irak, the MDGs,
the Reform of UN, the Establishment of International Criminal Court, the
Fund to fight Aids, but one of the most notable events has been the NGO
revolution. It started before my time but it has intensified certainly. The
Hearings was the latest example. I myself, I am never far from the NGOs. Two
weeks ago, in Niger, my wife and I saw UN, helping people in need, I also
saw NGOs, nutrition centers, I saw humanitarian groups doing efforts. We are
still far to meet the needs there, but without NGOs we cannot get further. I
thank you for the vital role you are playing in delivering relief. ..but you
are also good at helping finding new threats and concerns, you can see what
is not seen by us and governments are not ready to admit. We stand in the
eve of the Summit, and this Summit can have enormous consequences for all
men and women all over the world. You NGOs have done a great contribution ,
you have given a platform to speak. We must continue this dialogue, among
NGOs, member states and the UN. Today delegates are working to strengthening
efforts to reaching MDGs and they are working to have a balance document
addressing terrorism, conflict prevention, Human Rights and UN reform.
Serious discussions are going on and clock is ticking. The work may not be
finished, I will be disappointed and so you will be. We have to tell them we
are watching! When the Summit is over, what happens next? Monitor at local,
village and see leaders make changes now!
3. NEGOTIATIONS
New York, NY September 8, 2005
FROM :
The Gender Monitoring Group of the World Summit is the Center for Women's
Global Leadership (CWGL), Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era
(DAWN) and Women's Environment and Development Organization (WEDO); GMG is
working with the United Methodist Office of the UN.
www.beijingandbeyond.org
Contrary to their assertions, the Bush Administration has not made
significant concessions in the negotiations for the World Summit. Rather, in
the disingenuous style that has marked the Bolton approach to reaching
global consensus, the US is now removing road blocks that it itself created.
"The Bush Administration is wasting the time of governments and the UN
itself by creating problems and then offering its own solutions to these
same problems," said Françoise Girard, of Development Alternatives with
Women for a New Era (DAWN) and a spokeswoman for the Gender Monitoring Group
of the World Summit (GMG), an alliance of women's organizations focused on
ensuring that voices of women are heard in the forthcoming meeting of world
leaders at the United Nations September 14-16. Also working with the GMG is
the United Methodist Church.
The Bush Administration's so-called "concessions" include agreeing to
references to the fact that other countries have signed on to the Kyoto
Protocol (the environmental treaty) and the 0.7% of GNP target for official
development assistance, and recognizing that the Millennium Development
Goals constitute the development framework that is currently mobilizing
governments and civil society worldwide. These "concessions" show the utter
lack of seriousness of the Bush Administration's own objections.
"We need to see a lot more than these 'concessions' from the US if they are
serious about wanting to ensure the success of the Summit," said Charlotte
Bunch of the Center for Women's Global Leadership (CWGL) and the Gender
Monitoring Group of the World Summit. "Contrary to their claims, they are
not negotiating with urgency and in a spirit of compromise. Women's
organizations call on the US to stop wasting time of governments and the
UN," she added.
By tabling hundreds of amendments and asking for line-by-line negotiations
on the entire document, the Bush Administration knowingly opened the door
for a handful of "spoiler governments" to add and delete text at will,
throwing the whole process in chaos and threatening a successful outcome for
the Summit.
Below are specific examples of how the U.SUS. continues to undermine the
summit process:
Environment:
Even in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the US still opposed
references to the significance of the Kyoto Protocol, the environmental
treaty. Now Ambassador Bolton is willing to note that Kyoto is important for
many other countries. Yet the US still won't join the treaty. Why not?
Women's organizations wonder what else needs to happen before the US gets
serious about making a commitment to addressing global warming and
protection of the environment. June Zeitlin of the Women's Environment and
Development Organization and the Gender Monitoring Group of the World Summit
asked: "What other catastrophic events need to happen, how many more
thousands of people must die before the US gets serious about showing
political will to address the links between environment and poverty in the
US and around the world?"
Financial Assistance to Poor Countries for Development:
The Bush Administration overtly states that "we have made clear that we
do not accept the overseas development assistance target of 0.7% of donor
gross national product." The Bush Administration will now agree to note that
other countries do accept the target. But why doesn't the US commit to 0.7%
of GNP? It can afford to.
This week-end, during negotiations at the UN, the US actually called
developing countries "greedy" when they asked for more money for health and
HIV. DAWN's Girard wondered: "Is it "greedy" for less developed states to
seek financial assistance from wealthier states so they can better provide
health care to their citizens? Is it greedy for poor people displaced by a
hurricane, some of whom lost everything but the shirts on their backs, to
seek financial assistance for food and health care?"
Millennium Development Goals:
After objecting strenuously to any mention of the Millennium Development
Goals, the US will now let other countries refer explicitly to the MDGs.
Yet, the question remains: why is the US not embracing the MDGs and
championing them, when the rest of the world, from Europe to Africa, has
already done so?
FROM ALEJANDRA SCAMPINI, REPEM-DAWN, GCAP FEMINIST TASK FORCE and ROSA
LIZARDE, GCAP NY COORDINATOR
During the weekend, many of us kept in touch via cellphone with those
colleagues who were inside the UN. We who do not have passes, can only
receive information thanks to this way of articulating and this exercise of
many years. Many colleagues waited until 8 pm on Saturday, waiting for news
on the negotiations and the possibilities to know when the last document
will be ready.
The order of the governments is to move forward. Some countries feel
excluded from the negotiation processes and for not being part of this group
established by Ping to move forward.
The governments’ delegates are arriving in New York and the document has to
be ready by the time they arrive. The idea is that when the Summit starts
there will be no more negotiation, the negotiation has to take place now,
and be closed as soon as possible. There are some advances in the language
of the UN Reform. Apparently, there is an agreement in relation to the
formulation of the ODA, but we haven’t seen the document yet. The issue of
the Human Rights Council is a dead-end and we don’t know what else shall be
advanced in that sub-group.
Only on Saturday they began to work on the trade section, and they are still
coming and going in relation to issues such as terrorism and disarmament.
Today Sunday, 10 pm, we are still waiting for the draft outcome document.
As we repeatedly say, this process has been one of the worse, more confuse,
we’ve ever seen. It looks like the WTO negotiations, the green rooms, the
total lack of consultation with the civil society and the position of the
US, which appears like the only one that obstructs, but in fact the rest of
the countries do nothing to isolate it.
Meanwhile, women and feminists are everywhere trying to evaluate the
situation, thinking about the strategies in relation with the media,
advancing in the missions, getting closer to see what’s happening, working
also with the GCAP in a next press release, as more and more people arrive
in New York.
GCAP held its briefing before and after the march along the 5th
avenue on Labour Day, we will have daily caucuses and lobby and media
strategies each day.
Some of the notes require further clarification. I'm sorry that it hasn't
been possible to clarify with them tonight. We'll get more detail tomorrow.
The headline is that there are still areas of disagreement but Ambassador
Ping is hoping to offer a draft at 4pm which presumably he would like to see
as a draft to resolve the differences....No detail here on progress in the
development section. This needs to be checked out. On R2P, not yet home and
dry it would seem...
This morning, UNGA President Ping who completes office in 2 days convened a
group of 15 the P 5 plus 10 to slog through the Ping 4 paper. This new sub
group of 15 ambassadors met in the very small conference room which
physically made inclusion of more than a certain number of delegations
possible. In the morning this new formation was not running parallel to many
subgroups on various parts of the text.
This generated much anger from those governments excluded, which was
expressed at a long meeting in ECOSOC chamber at 4pm.
This meeting was attended by the Core Group and probably 60 other
governments. Ping briefed that he had asked the smaller group to respect the
agreements from the core group process of the last several days. The new
informal high level group addressed development and secretariat reform
issues. Progress on both was reported more on development. The 4 pm meeting
was both an update to the core and general membership and there was a
challenge by Algeria and Cuba to scuttle the convened group as
unrepresentative and not empowered to negotiate for them. Several
governments spoke against Algeria and Cuba request to return to the
growingly dysfunctional core group process and the GA Press appealed to let
him have until 4 pm tomorrow to deliver a document.
Notes offered on the details on development and Secretariat reform, and
other groups:
Australia: Disarmament: can't claim to be at a point to share proposed
language
Eliasson (Successor to Ping as General Assembly President): on Development:
2-3 remaining issues, defining victims, and their status under international
law, def of liberation struggle for self-determination, where to go values
and principles or here.
Bangladesh: R2P: still not there, difficulties re title, ref to charter,
differences on exercise of veto
Chile: Human Security: Chile/Japan presented proposal, not questioned,
support of all parties, 2 delegations need to get instructions.
Panama: HR Commission/Council - can't reach full agreement despite broad
support for institution, bones of contention are UN charter and criteria for
participants. Ping asked Panama to continue on this.
Mauritius: Impunity: group met and can agree on 2 sentences. end of the
road, up to the president to guide.
Section 5: Revitalisation of UN: 137 agreed, 138 in suspension, approved 140
and 142, India said try to find language re 141 and will submit to
secretariat for consideration by the core
Reform of ECOSOC - outstanding items related to the Peace-building
commission, and dev issues, dependent on negotiation on these issues and
other parts of the paper,
- re operations, Switzerland and Russia in drafting group. Draft put forward
to core group to unit 1 and 2 bullets to make one and to keep the third
bullet.
- re Humanitarian assistance, coordination sub groups, significant progress,
agree on 5 paras
- regional orgs, Nigeria volunteered to draft - please meet Nigeria
- Coop with UN and Parliamentarians - still have to revise Millennium
Declaration language
- re participation of NGOs, Switzerland, and France coordinating subgroup
The Core Group is due to meet at 4pm, [Sunday] when it seems Ambassador Ping
would like to deliver a new draft.
4. BIGGEST ANTI-POVERTY COALITION IN HISTORY JOINS WITH HISTORIC NEW YORK
LABOUR MARCH
www.whiteband.org
The Global Call to Action Against Poverty,
the world’s largest ever anti-poverty campaign, joined and lead one of the
oldest Labour Day parades in the world in New York City on Saturday, 10
September. Marchers in the parade stood together to say “no to poverty” and
“yes to decent jobs and workers’ rights”. GCAP and the Labour Day march
organizer both wanted to send a clear and united message to 170 world
leaders about to meet in New York at the UN World Summit, to end world
poverty.
“Workers and their organizations are a proud partner of the Global Call to
Action Against Poverty (GCAP) alliance precisely because they understand how
poverty affects us all, whether we live in the developed or developing
world, whether we’re employed or unemployed. On this White Band Day 2, we
will be joining the Labour Day parade and standing together with New York
City’s working families. We will be calling on UN member countries to seize
this historic opportunity to take concrete action to alleviate world
poverty,” said Kumi Naidoo, chair of the Global Call to Action against
Poverty.
GCAP participants will join an expected crowd of 250,000 people as they
march on 5th Avenue from 44th Street to 72nd St., celebrating the proud
trade union history of struggle for workers’ rights and social justice.
“Creating decent jobs for all as the best way to end poverty remains at the
center of trade union demands. Workers, no matter where they live, have the
right to be treated with dignity and to organise with their fellow workers
to improve both their employment and social conditions,” said Guy Ryder,
General Secretary of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, a
major partner in GCAP.
“The demand for decent work is nothing more than a demand to get back what
one puts in, to have the peace of mind that a job brings with it the ability
to feed and clothe your family, to send your children to school, to have
access to a doctor if you get sick,” he continued.
“These are the issues that bind together the women and men from 74 countries
who will unite to call on world leaders to wake up to poverty tomorrow, and
New York City’s workers who will march in the parade,” Ryder concluded.
NYC Central Labor Council President Brian M. McLaughlin welcomed the
participation of GCAP in the march. “The global economy has given incentives
to employers to strip away basic dignity for working families,” said
McLaughlin. “We are proud to have GCAP engaged in the struggle for global
fairness, and to be a part of our parade.”
What: GCAP contingent joins NYC Labour Day Parade
Where: East 44th St. at Vanderbilt Avenue
When: 10 am, September 10, 2005
For interviews/further info: Gemma Adaba (914 645 5777), Kate
Norgrove on 858 205 8734 (knorgrove@gmfc.org)
or Nicky Wimble on +44 7745 783 478 (nwimble@oxfam.org.uk).
Background:
The current draft Summit outcome document reaffirms the Millennium
Development Goals - the internationally agreed upon targets for halving
world poverty and commitments made by world leaders in 2000 when they signed
the Millennium Declaration.
GCAP believes that this Summit is a chance for world leaders to reaffirm a
timetable for achieving poverty reduction and get back on track with the
promises they made in 2000 to achieve the MDGs.
GCAP is calling for leaders at the World Summit to lay out clear steps
towards not only meeting, but exceeding, the Millennium Development Goals.
Leaders of all rich countries must agree to reach 0.7% of their national
income in aid immediately and ensure that this aid reaches the poorest
people in the poorest countries. They promised to give this amount in 1970,
and 35 years later this promise remains broken. Whilst the G8 committed to
increase levels of aid, the quality, quantity and crucially the speed of its
delivery fall far short of what is desperately needed.
Leaders at the UN summit must endorse the need to go further on debt
cancellation, agreeing to cancel the debts of all countries that need it to
be able to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. They must also ensure
that debt relief is not tied to harmful World Bank and IMF conditions.
On 10 September, the spotlight will be on world leaders as they prepare to
leave for the UN World Summit in New York. People across the world will
unite in the second GCAP White Band Day mobilization to demand that world
leaders Wake-Up to Poverty.
…………………………………….
5.- UN SUMMIT DRAFT OUTCOME DOCUMENT
Kouraich.Jaouahdou@unctad.org
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
Please find herewith enclosed the address from which you can download the
Outcome Document for the World Summit 2005currently underway in New York.
Negotiations on the Outcome Document by Member States were completed just
before the opening of the World Summit.
You can also consult the NGLS web page
www.un-ngls.org/UN-summit covering the UN
Summit to find links to the official summit website offering documents,
speeches, photos and webcasts. You will also find the latest NGO and Civil
Society documents relating to the Summit.
The Outcome Document can be accessed directly from the following address:http://www.un-ngls.org/un-summit-DOD.doc
Best regards,
UN-NGLS
………………………..
6.- STEVE BIKO INTERNATIONAL PEACE AWARD
Why Steve Biko International Peace Award ?
The Umtapo Centre, greatly inspired by the thoughts and actions of the
late Stephen Bantu Biko, announced the dedication of an annual award in his
memory on 12th September 1996 on the occasion of its tenth anniversary. It
was an award to be given to those unsung heroes/heroines who had dedicated
themselves in different ways to the struggle for freedom in South Africa.
Previous recipients have included: the late Mrs Winnie Motlalepule Kgware
from the North West Province, the first woman to lead a political
organisation in South Africa; MsMary Mkhwanazi, community activist from
Umlazi who was the founder and first president of the South African Domestic
Workers’ Union; and Ms Anne Hope, who was responsible for adapting the Paulo
Freire an approach for South Africa and who co-authored the Training for
Transformation manuals which were banned in South Africa in the 1970s.
With the declaration of a UN-recognised International Day for Peace in
September, it seemed logical for Umtapo to combine its Annual Biko Award
with the International Day for Peace. And so was launched the Steve Biko
International Peace Award in September 2003, dedicated to those who have and
who continue to make a contribution to the freedom of the oppressed all over
the world.
*******************************
Dear Umtapo Friend/Colleague/Comrade
Re: Annual Steve Biko International Peace Awards 2005
This year, the Annual Steve Biko International Peace Awards 2005 is being
given to none other than the late revolutionary Brazilian popular educator,
PAULO FREIRE, whose philosophy and framework for developing critical
consciousness has provided the context and modus operandi for Umtapo’s work
since its inception .
In spite of the attempts by liberals and apologists to misrepresent Freire
and create confusion around his ideas during the height of the liberation
struggle in South Africa, Umtapo stood steadfast in its commitment to
popular education and its goal of conscientisation of the oppressed. Today,
we feel honoured to be the first organisation in the country if not the
continent to acknowledge Freire’s contribution to the struggles of oppressed
people not only in South Africa but across the globe.
If we had the resources, we would have been proud to have all our friends
around the world to be present with us on this occasion, unfortunately, we
can only humbly request a message of support from you and/or your
organisation, institution (preferably by email).
Fatima Freire Dowbor, daughter of Paulo Freire, will be receiving the award
on the family’s behalf. It will be handed over by Mrs Ntsiki Biko, board
member of Umtapo Centre.
The function takes place on23rd SEPTEMBER 2005 at the Tropicana Hotel,
Durban starting at18h00. The National Minister of Education, Ms Naledi
Pandor, will be the keynote speaker.
Peace and Solidarity
Deena Soliar
Director
PAULO FREIRE ( 1921 - 1997)
Born in Recife, a port city of Brazil, Freire dedicated his life to the
struggle against poverty at an early age having been on the receiving end
himself. In the early 60’s, his adult literacy programme won the attention
of the poor and awakened their hope that they could take control of their
lives in the Brazilian countryside. In 1964,following a military coup, his
work was considered a threat to social order, Freire was arrested and
exiled.
He continued working with the poor while in exile in Chile which then
received world attention as one of the five nations of the world which had
best succeeded in overcoming illiteracy. Freire was invited as a visiting
professor to Harvard University, and in 1970, he published his first work in
English. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. After leaving Harvard, he worked for the
World Council of Churches and had the opportunity of impacting on African
countries such as Tanzania and Guinea-Bissau.
In 1979, Freire was invited to return to Brazil, where he joined the
University of Sao Paulo. In 1988, he became the Minister of Education for
Sao Paulo.
Freire died in May 1997 but his work continues today through the voices of
others who carry the message.
“Paulo Freire’s family has received with great happiness the opportunity of
this award. We feel extremely touched to know that our father is remembered
in Africa side by side with this great African leader, Steve Biko”
Lutgardes Costa Freire
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