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IT'S NOW, OR LATER
By Claude Robinson and Alejandro Kirk
“ We are at the beginning of the end game and expect full agreement tomorrow” .
That was the assessment yesterday of Cristian Maquieira, President of the Preparatory Committee about the status of the negotiations of a final document to bring down the curtain on the Social Summit .
Diplomatic sources confirmed to Terra Viva that agreement has been reached on postponing the issue of the currency taxation (Tobin Tax) by accepting Canada's proposal to "further study the implications" of such tax, overcoming objections from the United States, Japan and Australia. The Tobin tax will not be mentioned in the document.
The United States delegation also dropped most of its reservations to the TRIPS text (Trade in Related Intellectual Property Rights), partially yielding to the G-77 demand that humanitarian needs, such as the spread of AIDS must take precedence over commercial patent rights, source said.
The exact wording of the new text or its implications for the manufacturing of life-saving medicines was not immediately available.
One dramatic development was that the controversial paragraph 39, by which for the first time the core issues of globalisation would be formally debated by UN specialised agencies, the Bretton Woods institutions and the World Trade Organisation within the United Nations framework, is to be totally deleted, according to the source.
Reportedly, the most difficult issues still stuck at the closure of this edition last night were:
- the disagreements between the G-77, mainly Cuba, and the United States over the issue of unilateral measures, under which countries could apply sanctions such as the US embargo against Cuba, on other countries.
- the strong objection by developing countries to endorse the UN Secretary General's Global Compact initiative, which is yet to be defined;
Earlier Thursday a UN spokesperson said that most of the text had been agreed and it was expected that the remaining issues would be resolved by early Friday morning so that the final document can be adopted Friday afternoon. While most diplomats and UN officials agreed that the Session would end with a Final Declaration, it was clear from statements by hundreds of delegates and non-governmental organisations since Monday that the outcome would fall short of some expectations .
Noting the opposition of most of the industrialised countries to advancing the global agenda for social development at this time, one NGO representative said there had been “a weakening and erosion” of some positions that had been agreed five years ago .
Julian Disney, President of the International Council on Social Welfare,(ICSW) told Terra Viva that “the political reality does not support a process capable of driving through” fundamental initiatives. Nitin Desai, UN Under Secretary General for Economic and Social Development, told a press briefing Thursday afternoon that there are a number of issues on which there had not yet been “ a meeting of minds”. These included guidelines on social principles, the social responsibility of corporations and the price and availability of drugs to combat AIDS.
On the positive side Desai said that there was agreement, in principle, to launch a global campaign on poverty reduction but offered no details about timing or goals .
The Declaration will be in three parts: A political section setting out general principles, a Review and Assessment Section which will be a kind of social development balance sheet since Copenhagen and an Initiatives Section setting out what should be done .
Under Commitment I agreed in Copenhagen, governments pledged “to create an economic, political, social, cultural and legal environment that will enable people to achieve social and economic development.” The Group of 77 ( the caucus of 132 developing countries and China) sought to insert language that would include “the right to development” within the category of “human rights and fundamental freedoms” while the EU proposed deleting the reference to the right to development .
Paragraph 7 was also contentious. As drafted, it would give the ECOSOC effective means to exercise its present mandate to play an active role in shaping the social policies of the international financial institutions like the IMF and the World Bank The concept was to introduce democratic governance into the management of the international financial institutions .
The US and some other industrialised countries oppose the provision as ECOSOC, unlike the IMF and the Bank are controlled by the developing country majority at the UN General Assembly .
The paragraph dealing with proposals to transfer knowledge and technology to developing countries as well as increasing and improving the access of products from developing countries including “the elimination of non-tariff barriers” was also in dispute as. the US and the EU wanted the paragraph deleted .
Paragraph 39, proposed a study “to better understand the social dimensions of globalisation, including the relationship among trade, development, poverty and labour issues” and to develop an integrated approach to the problem .
One of the bitterest disputes centred on Paragraph 80 in which developing countries were seeking approval of language that would, in effect, give them access to cheaper AIDS drugs .
The G 77 proposal is that “intellectual property rights under the TRIPS Agreement should not take precedence over other human rights to the highest attainable standard of health care…nor the ethical responsibility to provide life saving medications at affordable cost to developing countries and people living in poverty.” The proposal was opposed by the US, Japan, Australia and Canada while the EU delegate proposed language that they hoped would accommodate G-77 concerns .
Most AIDS victims live and die in Africa and South Africa has been a leading advocate for the G77 position .
Read TerraViva
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Has the world lived up to its 1996 commitments..?
Solidarity 2000 starting 17th of June!
MS's big summer event Solidarity 2000 will start very soon now, with a week-long variety of debates and arrangements. The activities range from encounters between young people from Balkan, Africa and Central America to big conferences on the planet's social development and environment.
Judge by yourself:
The 1996 Copenhagen Social Summit final report in English, French and Spanish.