UNANZ NEWS
UNANZ NEWS SEPTEMBER 2012
ISSN 1179足8009 (print)
ISSUE No 2
ISSN 1179足0817 (online)
UNANZ News UNANZ NEWS SEPTEMBER 2012
ISSUE No 2
Contents In this issue:
The UN and the Olympic Truce 3 UN Report: NZ government's performance on economic, social and cultural rights 11
Five things we've learnt from Rio+20 16
Eliminating the extremes of Poverty and Wealth
UN Regional Groupings need to reshuffle the deck 22
Who broke the UN
4 5
Weathering uncertainty in the Arctic 9 Sustainability:Rio+20 and beyond
11
Responding to the two global crises 15
Upcoming events:
UN calls for international tax to raise $400 billion to finance development needs 19 NZ's report to CEDAW
24
President's Column
23
Branch reports 24 UN Youth President's Report 31
UN INTERNATIONAL YEAR
UNANZ EVENTS
21 September: International Day of Peace. R2P roundtable, 5:3, Rutherford House
22 September: National Council Meeting. 11am St Andrew's on The Terrace, Conference Room 24 October: United Nations Day, 5:30 at Premier House
10 December: Human Rights day THE PEOPLE'S MOVEMENT
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all parts of the world in the greatest of international sports events, the Olympic Games, and it aims to promote the maintenance of peace, mutual understanding and goodwill — goals it shares with the United Nations. As an expression of these common objectives, in 1998 the International Olympic Committee decided to fly the United Nations flag at all competition sites of the Olympic Games. The United Nations for its part, is expanding its cooperation with the International Olympic Committee and the Olympic family at large through a number of agreements and partnerships. Its relevance today
SecretaryGeneral Ban Kimoon speaks at an event dedicated to the Olympic Truce, ahead of the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, Canada. With him is the Premier of British Columbia, Canada, Gordon Campbell. (UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe)
The ancient Greek tradition of the ekecheiria, or ‘Olympic Truce’, was born in the eighth century B.C., serving as a hallowed principle of the Olympic Games. In 1992, the International Olympic Committee renewed this tradition by calling upon all nations to observe the Truce. Through its resolution 48/11 of 25 October 1993, the General Assembly urged Member States to observe the Olympic Truce from the seventh day before the opening to the seventh day following the closing of each Olympic Games. This appeal was renewed in the Millennium Declaration. The Olympic movement aspires to contribute to a peaceful future for humankind through the educational value of sport. It brings together athletes from THE PEOPLE'S MOVEMENT
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Taking into account the global context in which sport and the Olympic Games exist, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided to revive the ancient concept of the Olympic Truce with the view to protecting, as far as possible, the interests of the athletes and sport in general, and to encourage searching for peaceful and diplomatic solutions to the conflicts around the world. Through this global and symbolic concept, the IOC aims to : mobilise youth for the promotion of the Olympic ideals;
use sport to establish contacts between communities in conflict; and offer humanitarian support in countries at war; and more generally to create a window of opportunities for dialogue and reconciliation. The IOC undertakings for the Olympic Truce extend beyond the period of the Olympic Games and have led to the implementation of a series of ‘sport for peace’ activities through its National Olympic Committees.
“Sport alone cannot enforce or maintain peace. But it has a vital role to play in building a better and more peaceful world.” 3
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Who Broke the U.N.?
Long a target for ‘reform,’ the United Nations has taken heat for a bloated bureaucracy and gridlocked Security Council. Foreign Policy surveyed top experts about what role it should play in today's evermoretangled global conflicts, with Madeleine Albright guiding us through the results. BY MADELEINE K. ALBRIGHT
The amount of time that has been spent in think tanks and inside the U.S. State Department trying to figure out whether and how to reform the United Nations would be impossible to calculate. The refrain of ‘U.N. reform’ is heard over and over, yet infighting and gridlock continue to block bolder U.N. action, as the latest situation in Syria makes clear.
Like any organization, the U.N. does need to be reformed — from the structure and procedures of the Security Council, which 28 percent of Foreign Policy's survey respondents identify as the part of the U.N. most in need of rethinking, to the body's staffing, leadership, and budget. But reform is not an event; it is a process. Although people tend to blame ‘the U.N.’ fundamentally it is a collection of nation states, often with competing interests. No wonder more than 40 percent of the respondents consider this fact the greatest internal obstacle preventing the institution from being more effective. Although twothirds of respondents endorse the idea of enlarging the Security Council, the reality is that finding a way to do so is like trying to solve a Rubik's cube. For example, when I served at the U.N., THE PEOPLE'S MOVEMENT
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European Union states often voted together. The logical move would have been to give the EU one permanent seat on the Security Council, but it's hard to visualize the British or the French giving up their individual seats. At that time, the United States supported Germany and Japan as additions to the Security Council's permanent members; respondents to The FP Survey list Japan and Germany as candidates for Security Council seats today. Their top choice by far, however, is India, which U.S. President Barack Obama has now also endorsed for a permanent seat. So the Rubik's cube continues to shift — and yet the council's membership is unchanged.
Individual countries can take the lead on pushing for reforms, but they must be willing to adapt. When I was at the U.N., the United States pushed hard for management reform. At the very same time, we unilaterally decided we would pay only 25 percent of the peacekeeping budget (our allotment was more than 30 percent). We also drew criticism because of the way our fiscal year begins in October, while many other countries pay their bills in January. There I was, constantly saying, “You need to reform on this; you need to tighten your procedures; you need to do projections on what peacekeeping operations will cost,” when everyone else was saying, “So when are you paying up?” It got to the point that our best friends, the British, stood up in the General Assembly and delivered a line they had waited more than 200 years to deliver: “No representation without taxation.” The issue of how to deal with Syria has once again prompted questions about not just the U.N.'s structure and procedures, but also its purpose — whether and in what circumstances it has the ‘responsibility to protect’ and whether its member states should ever take up that mantle on their own. I agree with the threequarters of respondents who think the U.S. military should not intervene unilaterally in Syria. The reality is that there are always other channels. During 4
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negotiations over Kosovo in the 1990s, the Russians made very clear to me that they were going to veto whatever the United States was going to do. I then went back to my hotel room in Moscow and called every single ambassador backing intervention — and then we went to NATO. Every situation is slightly different, but many options are on the table. I'm the first one to say it would be better to get a U.N. mandate for military action, but ultimately I am for what I have always called the ‘doability doctrine.’ Americans tend to dislike the word ‘multilateralism’ — it has too many syllables and ends in an ‘ism.’ The reality, however, is that the U.N. is the world's most visible multilateral organization and has the most members. No one country, even the United States, can tackle the bundle of issues the world faces — from terrorism to nuclear proliferation, economic inequality to environmental degradation.
I often tell my students that American decisionmakers only have a handful of tools in the toolbox to achieve the kind of foreign policy they want: bilateral diplomacy and multilateral diplomacy; economic tools; threat of the use of force and use of force; law enforcement; and intelligence. That's it. I don't believe in multilateralism as an end in itself. But I believe in it as an important instrument of policy. If we start thinking that the United Nations doesn't work, that we don't have to pay our bills, or that everything in diplomacy will turn out exactly the way we want it, we are leaving out an indispensable tool. Source: Foreign Policy website
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/201 2/08/13/who_broke_the_un?wpisrc=obinsi te
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ELIMINATION OF THE EXTREMES OF POVERTY & WEALTH
Just prior to the UNANZ AGM on 19 May a forum was held to consider the views of NGOs and the spiritual communities on RIO+20. Izolda presented the Bahá’í International Community’s contribution to the 50th Session of the United Nations Commission on Social Development Poverty eradication programs have generally focused on the creation of material wealth. While these measures have improved living standards in some parts of the world, inequality remains widespread. In its 2005 Report on the World Social Situation, the United Nations highlighted the growing chasm between formal and informal economies, the widening gap between skilled and unskilled workers, and the growing disparities in health, education as well as in opportunities for social, economic and political participation. It has been well documented that the focus on growth and income generation has not necessarily translated into significant social improvements, and that growing inequality has rendered the global community increasingly unstable and insecure.
The Bahá'í International Community wishes to contribute to the Commission’s discussion of poverty eradication by considering the related phenomena of the extremes of poverty and wealth. While the goal of poverty eradication is widely endorsed, the notion of eliminating extremes of wealth is challenging to many. Some fear that it could be used to undermine the market economy, to stifle entrepreneurship, or to impose income 5
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equalization measures. This is not what we mean. To be sure, material wealth is of critical importance to the achievement of individual and collective goals; by the same token, a strong economy is a key component of a vibrant social order. We propose that recognition of the problem of the extremes of poverty and wealth concerns itself, in essence, with the nature of relationships that bind individuals, communities and nations. Today, most of the world’s people live in societies characterized by relationships of dominance — whether of one nation over another, one race by another, one social class by another, one religious or ethnic group by another, or one sex by another. In this context, a discourse on the elimination of the extremes of poverty and wealth presumes that societies cannot flourish in an environment that fuels inequitable access to resources, to knowledge, and to meaningful participation in the life of society.
In this contribution, we briefly reflect on the manner in which the following aspects of society contribute to these extremes: a materialistic worldview, assumptions about human nature, the means of generating wealth, and access to knowledge. We propose an alternative set of assumptions and consider how these might advance a more equitable economic environment. The dominant model of development depends on a society of vigorous consumers of material goods. Endlessly rising levels of consumption are cast as indicators of progress and prosperity. This materialistic worldview, which underpins much of modern economic thinking, reduces concepts of value, human purpose and human interactions to the self interested pursuit of material wealth. The inevitable result is an unfettered cultivation of needs and wants which has led to a system dependent on excessive consumption by the few, while reinforcing exclusion and poverty for the many. As most would acknowledge, however, the materialistic worldview does not capture the totality of human experience. This THE PEOPLE'S MOVEMENT
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includes expressions of love and self sacrifice, the quest for knowledge and justice, attraction to beauty and to truth, the search for meaning and purpose, to name but a few. In fact, the progress and vitality of the social order requires a coherent relationship between the material and spiritual dimensions of human life. Within such an order, economic arrangements support the development of just and peaceful human relations and presume that every individual has a contribution to make to the betterment of society. Consider that nearly 800 million adults cannot read or write; that two and a half billion people lack basic sanitation; that nearly half of the world’s children live in poverty. At the other extreme, a mere handful of individuals (approximately 500 billionaires) controls 7% of the world’s GDP. We have an economic system that generates extreme inequality. Many assume that such inequality, while undesirable, is necessary for the generation of wealth. If the process by which wealth is accumulated is characterized by the oppression and domination of others, how, in such an environment, can we hope to mobilize the material, intellectual, and moral resources needed to eradicate poverty?
Many would acknowledge that the legitimacy of wealth depends on how it is acquired and how it is expended. Wealth is commendable to the highest degree if it is acquired through earnest effort and diligent work, if the measures to generate that wealth serve to enrich society as a whole, and if the wealth obtained through those measures is expended to promote knowledge, education, industry, and, in general, to advance human civilization. The principle of justice can be expressed on different levels related to the process of the acquisition of wealth. Employers and their employees, for example, are bound to the laws and conventions that regulate their work. Each is expected to carry out his or her responsibilities with honesty and integrity. At another level, we can consider 6
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whether the measures generating the wealth are serving to enrich society and to promote its wellbeing. The various approaches to obtaining wealth must enter into the discourse on poverty eradication, so that measures which involve the exploitation of others, the monopolization and manipulation of markets, and the production of goods that promote violence and tear at the social fabric can be fully explored and scrutinized by the generality of the people. Alongside this discourse, the eradication of the extremes of poverty and wealth will require no less than a knowledge revolution. Such a revolution will need to redefine the role of every individual, community and nation in the generation and application of knowledge. It will need to acknowledge both science and religion as two complementary systems of knowledge, which throughout history have made possible the investigation of reality and the advancement of civilization. As these processes unfold, they will help to transform the quality and legitimacy of education, of science and technology, as well as patterns of consumption and production. The masses of the world’s people cannot continue to be regarded only as consumers and endusers of technology originating in industrial countries. Such an orientation suffocates the necessary levels of human enterprise and creativity needed to address today’s pressing challenges. The development of capacity to identify technological need, to innovate, and to adapt existing technologies is vital. If successfully developed, such capacity would serve to break the unbalanced flow of knowledge from North to South, from urban to rural, and from men to women. It would help to expand the concept of ‘modern’ technology to one characterized by locally defined needs and by priorities that take into account a community’s material and spiritual wellbeing. As expressed in the introduction to this document, the eradication of poverty cannot be conceived in terms of improving the material wealth of the poor alone. It is THE PEOPLE'S MOVEMENT
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a larger undertaking rooted in relationships that define the interactions between individuals, communities and nations. We invite others actively working to establish a more just and equitable social and economic order to engage with us in dialogue about these underlying issues in order to learn from each other and to collectively advance efforts towards these ends. We conclude with a number of questions for your consideration: What is the purpose of an economy? What assumptions about human nature underlie our understanding of the purpose of an economy? How do we understand the concept of wealth? In what ways do the extremes of poverty and wealth stifle development, empowerment and healthy relationships? What kinds of identities are formed with the existence of these two extremes (e.g. dependent, selfrighteous, consumer, producer, etc.)? How do these identities perpetuate inequality?
What is the role of knowledge — derived from both science and religion — in transforming our economic structures and processes?
How can we conceptualize the nature and purpose of work, wealth, and economic empowerment beyond notions of utility maximization on the part of selfinterested individuals? What are the roles of the individual, the community, the corporate sector and elected leaders visàvis the elimination of the extremes of poverty and wealth? What does this look like in practice?
What are the entry points for making changes in the economy? What motivates individuals, communities, corporations and governments to reform economic structures and processes? From where do they derive their purpose and commitment? What widely held conceptions or beliefs hinder our ability to transform the economic systems we have today? How can these be overcome? Izolda Kazemzadeh. 7
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Document.
Each panellist addressed a fundamental reality: ultimately, it is not solely wealth generation that improves our wellbeing. The nature of the relationships between individuals, communities, and institutions are of primary importance in securing and shaping our collective life. The purpose of the green economy, or any economy, then, must be to facilitate human wellbeing without sacrificing that of future generations. Societal progress requires the development and implementation of economic models which reflect the central role that relationships play in human life.
izolda.kazem@yahoo.com This from Report in Outreach Rio daily journal prepared by Stakeholders Forum. At Rio the Brazilian Bahai Community hosted a side event on the inextricable relationship between the extremes of wealth and Poverty. It was held on the first day and attracted a large audience.
They presented the paper produced above but linked it to the Rio Document extending the discussion to the links between extreme concentrations of wealth and poverty globally.
Dr Steven Stone of UNEP, Farooq Ullah of Stakeholders Forum, Daniella Hiche of the Brazilian Bahai and Professor Michael Dorsey of Dartmouth College each gave informative and impassioned perspectives on this pressing issue. Ideas were shared regarding the purpose of development, the importance of individual initiative, and intergenerational fairness. Dr Stone asked “what is economic progress?” – a question that must be answered if the negotiations are to produce a visionary Outcome THE PEOPLE'S MOVEMENT
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Certain consequences of extreme poverty are well known, including reduced access to healthcare and education, Likewise, the impact of extreme concentrations of wealth have a profound impact on human relationships; such extremes undermine economic vitality, thwart participation in decisionmaking in public life, obstruct the flow of knowledge and information, and isolate people and communities. There is much to learn about both extremes of the povertywealth spectrum, as well as the relationship between them, and discussion around the green economy can provide such an opportunity... To be effective and relevant, the Outcome Document and the institutional arrangements it legislates for, must acknowledge that every economic transaction has a social dimension, and give due consideration to the relational dimensions of our economic life. Guided by this insight, the economy can shift beyond removing the ills of poverty to address a greater purpose: providing the means for all of humanity to participate fully in the construction of a more just global order. Comment: Sadly the final document will not deliver on this unless we are prepared to reform our economic system so we can have a truly inclusive global society. Robin Halliday 8
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Weathering uncertainty in the Arctic ©UNESCO/D.Nakashima Inuit on Ice, Arctic
One of the most novel developments since the last report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) appeared in 2007 has been the growing collaboration between indigenous peoples and scientists in assessing the impact of climate change on the environment. Nowhere is this change taking place more rapidly than in the Arctic, where temperatures are rising at a rate twice the global average. The following excerpt from Weathering Uncertainty, a UNESCOUNU publication launched at the Rio+20 Conference, focuses specifically on Arctic peoples. It highlights their remarkable observation skills but also their distress at a phenomenon which is threatening their millennial way of life. For over two decades, Arctic indigenous men and women have been reporting increasingly erratic weather conditions that confound their efforts at weather prediction. Mabel Toolie of St Lawrence Island expressed this unsettling circumstance by saying that ‘the Earth is faster now’. Yup’ik from the Bering Sea coast of southwestern Alaska give voice to their dismay by declaring that ‘the weather is becoming an incessant liar’. No matter how it may be expressed, the THE PEOPLE'S MOVEMENT
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phenomenon of increasingly variable and unpredictable weather resonates from one Arctic community to the next across the circumpolar North. These changes have been particularly evident to Inuit hunters of Clyde River in Nunavut (Canada) since the 1990s. Experienced traditional weather forecasters remark that they feel they have ‘lost their skills’. Some hunters now pack additional gear when heading out on the land, recognizing that the weather may suddenly and unpredictably change. Reports by hunters of a specific turning point in weather predictability since the 1990s coincide with recent meteorological analyses.
One change inscribed in the landscape relates to what the Inuit refer to as uqalurait, snowdrifts that form parallel to the wind and that serve as a navigational aid for hunters. In the past, uqalurait pointed in a consistent direction dictated by the dominant wind. When visibility was poor, hunters could plot a reliable course in relation to the orientation of the uqalurait in order to arrive at their destination. Today, however, the dominant wind is reported to have shifted and wind direction is more variable. Hunters now only rely on uqalurait for navigation if they have been on the land on a regular basis and have kept track of shifts in wind and in the orientation of uqalurait. Young or inexperienced hunters risk getting lost because they may not be aware of this recent variability and may assume that the uqalurait are as reliable as in the past. Indigenous observing systems
One of the most innovative developments since the last IPCC report in 2007 has been a multiplication of collaborative research efforts involving indigenous peoples and natural and social scientists. These emerging partnerships build upon a long history of joint research and management that, in the Arctic, date back several decades to the land claim processes in northern North America in the 1970s and 1980s. 9
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One example of continuous observation of ecological change is provided by the Nenets in Northwest Russia, who report increases in the height of willow and alder shrubs in the tundra zone. The reports from the Nenets are independently confirmed by groups of herders on both sides of the Polar Urals, travelling along traditional migration routes used for decades. They are also linked to discernible changes in reindeer management in response to gains in shrub height. Specifically, herders now in their fifties observe that shrub thickets, which were mostly less than 1m tall in the 1970s, in many cases now top the antlers of their reindeer (>2m). This obliges them to keep their animals out of the tall, dense thickets to avoid losing sight of them during the rapid summer migration. In other words, indigenous observers have their own good reasons to develop and maintain observations of their environment, which may not be quantitative but are no less accurate and detailed. Krupnik and Weyapuk (2010) report over 120 Inupiaq terms for sea ice and associated vocabulary from Wales, Alaska, including almost 75 terms for types of sea ice and ice conditions. Each term is used to designate a meaningful and distinct phenomenon, and thus illustrates the refinement and subtlety with which Inupiat perceive and interact with their local ice environment. Sea ice vocabularies of similar magnitude and sophistication are reported from Inuit communities across the circumpolar North. These elaborate vocabularies also constitute particularly finegrained and highresolution conceptual frameworks for observing ice environments and noting subtle transitions and trends. Many sea ice terms are bundled with information about hazardous conditions and potential sources of danger.
Safety and survival on the sea ice is in part managed through the group’s ability to share critical information rapidly and efficiently. Being sitespecific, local languages serve as vehicles for sharing THE PEOPLE'S MOVEMENT
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knowledge and experiences about a dynamic and potentially risky environment that is now subject to rapid and unpredictable climate change.
In a project within the International Polar Year called Igliniit, Inuit hunters recorded their observations of wildlife, sea ice, weather or other environmental phenomena as they travelled across the land. These observations were systematized, made spatially accurate and registered on the spot through the development of a minicomputer equipped with a global positioning system that hunters affixed to their snowmobiles. Another project involved the establishment of daily ice and weather observations by indigenous monitors in Alaska, Canada and Russian Chukotka, thus providing an uninterrupted record of indigenous observations covering four consecutive ice seasons. Collaborative initiatives such as these, which bring together indigenous and scientific knowledge, make an important contribution to climate change monitoring and adaptation. They provide meticulous and systematic local observations that are informed by indigenous experience and understanding. These observations are all the more precious in that they are enriched with information related to subsistence livelihoods and community concerns and needs. Douglas Nakashima
Extract of the article 'Weathering uncertainty in the Arctic', published in A World of Science Vol 10 n°3 Weathering Uncertainty. Traditional knowledge for climate change assessment and adaptation.
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controlling Ozone Layer depletion. Since then there have been many conferences to address Climate Change with the control of greenÂhouse gasses but with only limited success to date. While climate change is the most pressing environmental challenge to sustainability, sustainability represents a wider range of issues including issues such as population control, biodiversity, lifestyles, energy resources and the economic system. Rio+20 Conference on Sustainability
Rio+20 was the major UN conference of the year, attended by almost all of the 194 countries of the world and around 50,000 people. It involved a wide range of activities with many aspects: 1. The formal outcomes document. This document was the focus of the official program, was developed by consensus over a year’s process of negotiations, and was approved by all state delegations.
Sustainability
Rio+20 and beyond Introduction
This report is a result of an interest in the development of the Rio+20 conference, engagement with MFAT during its preparation, following the conference remotely, attending the debriefing sessions on the 9th August as well as holding interviews with several relevant parties. It is intended as a general overview of the issues and activities, and not as a complete analysis.
Sustainability, the ability for human society to continue on the planet, is the most critical issue facing us today, and Rio+20 is a hallmark event in the progression of that issue. Formal activity on the topic has consisted of a long series of conferences reaching back to the Stockholm Conference in 1972, with a major advance at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992. There was also major achievement with the Montreal Convention in 1987 in THE PEOPLE'S MOVEMENT
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2. Side programs of sessions on a wide range of related issues, ranging from local sustainability initiatives to concepts of a new economy. These including the innovative Dialogues process which allowed members of civil society to vote on issues that they considered to be most important to the Rio+20 agenda. 3. Exhibitions, principally by NGOs, with around 500 displays on related activities as well as demonstrations of various types.
4. Youth Blast to enable youth to share their ideas and experience local sustainability initiatives. 5. Business programs involving around 1000 businesses, including involvement in the UN Global Compact, which brings together businesses around the world to raise the standards of business.
6. Congresses and symposiums contributing to Rio+20 immediately preceding or running parallel to the official Programme e.g. the ICLEI World Congress 2012 for Local Governments or the World Symposium of Sustainable Development at Universities. 11
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7. Commitments – over 700 commitments involving well over half a trillion dollars were made between governments, business, civil society groups, universities etc.
8. Online activities before, during and after the event involving people around the world.
The outcomes document The Future We Want is a formal agreement amongst virtually all the world’s governments. This has considerable legitimacy as it is agreed to by consensus. The document included, as part of sustainability, issues such as the eradication of poverty, equity, the green economy and integration of environmental, economic and social perspectives. The document has 283 clauses and is a wealth of valuable information. Amongst continuing programs prescribed were the development of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (para 245251) to take over from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2015, and negotiations to address Sustainable Production and Consumption (para 226). Another was the High Level Political Forum to replace the discredited Commission for Sustainable Development created in 1992 (para 84 86). At the same time the document is seriously deficit in many areas. Agreement was achieved in the last days before the final summit by removing many sections which represented an intractable conflict. Deficits include its lack of firm commitments to decisive action in addressing environmental threats and its weakness in such areas as population control and CO2 emissions. The document is far short of prescribing the actions needed to ensure a sustainable future. Some talked of ‘a failure of international governance’ and one described the note as ‘the longest suicide note in history’. Youth commented that the outcomes document was rather removed from reality. At best it is an important basis for progress, but there was common agreement that there is much more to be done by nations, business and civil society following on from THE PEOPLE'S MOVEMENT
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A more detailed account of the negotiations and the outcomes is provided by Vitae Civilis.
While the official outcomes document attracted the main attention of analysts, the broad range of other activities at Rio+20 indicated diverse outcomes that are very difficult to specify, and lie largely in the experience of those involved. Non official delegates attributed value to the networking and educational opportunities afforded at a summit of this scale. Unfortunately, many of the negotiators were preoccupied with reaching agreement in a limited time frame and had little time to engage with the side activities. New Zealand’s Contribution
NZ’s preparation for the Rio+20 conference was a relatively lowkey process with minimal publicity and limited consultations with NGOs, business and the community. The key issues that were focussed on included the management of the oceans, elimination of inefficient fossil fuel subsidies, and agricultural emissions. There was little that addressed NZ’s mainstream economy. The official delegation was led by the Minister for the Environment, Amy Adams, and contained several departmental representatives as well as a civil society member. Various NGOs collaborated to form a Civil Society platform group, the NZ NGO Rio+20 Platform, coordinated by ANGOA, CID, ECO, UNANZ and UNICEF, which nominated the delegate on the official NZ delegation and supported delegates with information, publicity and meetings. There were also youth contingents, and a delegate from business, farming, iwi business journalist and several from local government. Also, the person selected by a group of global organisations to represent youth worldwide, Brittany Trilford, was from New Zealand.
NZ distinguished itself in its contribution to the Fossil Fuel Subsidy Reform Group, campaigning against fossil fuel subsidies (which account for ~$600 billion 12
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expenditure). Unfortunately the statement achieved (para 225) was disappointingly weak. NZ also contributed to a substantial section on oceans (para 158 – 177) as well as a very much strengthened content on health. It was reported that NZ’s negotiators were very professional and dedicated, and were generally supportive of progress. However, some expressed concern that the policies promoted at Rio+20 were not wholly consistent with domestic policies. Brittany Trilford also contributed substantially in representing the interests of global youth in urging decisive action. There was concern about the low level of political representation from NZ and the lack of business representation. Followup from Rio+20
The challenges of sustainability were considered to be extraordinarily difficult by the policymakers and bureaucrats interviewed. One saw it as ‘the first truly global challenge’. While the ozone hole had global dimensions, it affected only a few industries. Sustainability, however, affects the whole of society, potentially involving substantial cultural change and stresses multilateral institutions. It was important to recognise that many of the solutions lay outside government and NGOs had important contributions to make.
The formal responsibility for followup lies principally with the Ministry of the Environment which is linking the Rio+20 outcomes with national legislation in the light of the concerns of the various stakeholders. One of their main challenges is the complexities involved and the task of promoting the involvement of nonstate actors such as business and NGOs. Many other activities are talking place as well. The following are examples of activities that support the outcomes of Rio+20, but may predate them. 1. The government had developed an Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) to control carbon emissions, and a green growth strategy to encourage business to become more sustainable. THE PEOPLE'S MOVEMENT
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2. There was work in developing economic systems that were more sustainable, with Statistics NZ working on indicators of wellbeing to offset the focus on GDP, and Treasury is developing higher living standards. Treasury was also addressing resilience in the national infrastructure, including public transport, as well as resilience in organisations. The issue of consumption patterns seemed to be a sensitive one, however.
3. Local governments such as Wellington City Council were active on both mitigation, such as promoting electric cars, and adaptation in responding to increasing sea level.
4. NGOs are being coordinated through a number of centres, particularly through the NZ NGO Rio+20 Platform (see ANGOA). Diana Shand (ECO and NZIUCN) provides a slide show on Rio+20, outlining a suggested basis for cooperation.
5. Unions are active through a Union Climate Change Action Network, as well as the development of an Alternative Economic Strategy. The NZCTU, which has a statement on climate change, was associated with the Green Alliance in the UK, and its youth wing worked with groups such as Generation Zero and 350.org.
6. Maori are addressing the indigenous perspectives in caring for nature and were looking at the Bolivian initiatives in ensuring the rights of nature. 7. A Charter of Responsibilities was being developed to better present the contribution that we can all make to sustainability, as well as other issues. We need to promote a sense of ‘stewardship of the commons’. 8. There are moves to enhance education to better prepare youth to deal with the issues, and to use social media more effectively. Organisations such as EnviroSchools were active in the area. 9. A proposal for achieving strong global action through the UN Security Council and the General Assembly was proposed by Kennedy Graham. This 13
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proposal is being promoted nationally and internationally through the United Nations Association. 10. The Hikurangi Foundation and Sustainablity Trust are just two examples of important local initiatives for sustainability. Recommendations:
Amongst the many activities, there were several issues which warranted more attention:
Awareness of environmental risks and costs of delay. It appeared that few people were paying adequate attention to the nature of the environmental risks, the time constraints on action and the costs of delay. This was also a feature of the Rio+20 outcomes document. Consequently the pace of action seemed to be more a matter of what was politically or practically possible, rather than what was necessary to protect the environment. A catastrophe? Some referred to a need for a catastrophe to precipitate the level of action required to significantly reduce environmental degradation. There was uncertainty about what the catastrophe might be (perhaps collapse of the economic system), or what the response might be (although Kennedy Graham suggested action through the UNSC and GA). This is a theme explored in considerable detail by Paul Gilding in ‘The Great Disruption’. Engagement of the community. There was a need to engage the broader community in appreciating the need for change and preparing them to participate. It would be difficult for politicians to take strong initiatives without sympathetic public responses. However, the number of press releases were very limited, as was the media coverage. There appears that there were significant emotional factors involved in the public reaction to climate change discussion, with denial being a common phenomenon. We were also informed that the media had become tired of the confusion and uncertainty about the topic, with seemingly endless debate about THE PEOPLE'S MOVEMENT
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scientific conclusions and chaotic and unsatisfactory international conferences. There is a need to develop a promotion strategy recognising these emotional factors in communication.
Economic growth and sustainable consumption need careful consideration. While sustainable growth was a major theme of the outcomes document, driven largely by the desire of developing countries to raise their standards of living, it is not clear that continued growth is viable in developed countries. It is important to ensure that consumption does not unnecessarily use resources. However, excesses may be difficult to control in our current economy in which consumption is promoted by sophisticated marketing techniques. Conclusion
Rio+20 represents a global recognition of the challenges of sustainability as well as many of the issues that need to be addressed. However we seem to be far short of the legal, political or institutional frameworks required to drive the changes needed for succeeding generations. There is much more work to be done! Resources:
Occupy World Street A Global Roadmap for Radical Economic and Political Reform by Ross Jackson The Stiglitz Report: Reforming the International Monetary and Financial Systems in the Wake of the Global Crisis Joseph E Stiglitz The Price of Inequality: How Today's Divided Society Endangers Our Future Joseph E. Stiglitz The Stockholm Resilience Centre.
Note: This is a work in progress, and expected to be supplemented following a forthcoming visit to Australia. I welcome additions and corrections, that will be considered for any upgrading. Gray Southon, gray@southon.net 14
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Responding to the Two Global Crises: Thoughts on the Rio+20 Conference Dr Kennedy Graham
Humanity today faces the first truly global crisis in its 5,000year political history. As we enter the Anthropocene period: Our ecological footprint, surpassing Earthshare (bioproductive capacity per capita) in 1981, recorded an overshoot of 18% in 1992 and 50% in 2010. Humanity is grossly overconsuming the planet’s resources, engaging in permanent ecological theft from the next generation. If each human pursues the consumer lifestyle of North America, the sustainable population is some 2.2 billion; at present, we are 7 billion, heading to 9. Biodiversity loss continues, at 100 to 1000 times the natural rate.
Our emissions continue to rise, portending serious anthropogenic climate change with average global temperature rise between 2°C (difficult) and 6°C (intolerable).
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configured along Westphalian lines of national sovereignty, is failing the global community of peoples, who existentially embody the common interest. Our 193 UN member states competitively strive to maximise national interests through international negotiation. By definition, that cannot resolve a global problem. In addition, we have a dysfunctional interface between the scientific and policymaking communities – wherein the integrity of objective and impartial science is impugned by direct consumption, even intrusion, from political interest. So we have a two global crises: an ecological crisis and a governance crisis.
It is a question of cognitive framework. If this were a normal problem, it would not matter – these things would be resolved at evolutionary pace. But if it is of an imminence and magnitude that constitute a crisis, then a qualitatively different cognitive framework is necessary.
As early as 1982, UNEP observed: ‘At the [1972] Stockholm conference, it was generally assumed that the world’s system of national It is not clear that governments, regional we have the groupings and international foresight and resolve agencies, had the power to to get through the take effective action. … By ecological crisis the early 1980s, there was successfully. less confidence in the The international capacity of national and community responds international managerial to this situation systems to apply known through the means principles and techniques or of UN conference in the effectiveness with machinery. I have which international debates attended the most lead to action. … Twenty critical of these – the years after Stockholm, it is Rio Earth Summit in still not possible to … say '92, Cairo '94 on with confidence that the population, Governments of the world Copenhagen '09 on have the knowledge or the Dr Kennedy Graham climate change, and political will to deal with the Rio+20 on sustainability. global problems which we already know exist’. (Saving Our Planet, p. 165). Our contemporary machinery is proving incapable of solving global problems. The Forty years after Stockholm, twenty years international community of states, after the Earth Summit, Rio+20 validated THE PEOPLE'S MOVEMENT
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that prescient insight, with its limp declaration of 283 platitudinous paragraphs.
Popular attention focuses on climate change. Yet the Global Ecological Crisis is comprised of an interlocking series of nine planetary boundaries. Three are already exceeded: climate change, biodiversity loss, and nitrogen removal from the atmosphere. A fourth (stratospheric ozone depletion) is recovering from boundary excess. Three others (freshwater, ocean acidification, land use) are approaching the boundary. With the final two (chemical pollution, atmospheric aerosol loading) we lack sufficient data to be certain. International negotiations have bequeathed framework conventions for ozone depletion, climate change and biodiversity. Their subsequent binding protocols proved successful with ozone but manifestly inadequate with the other two. With the six other boundaries, little or no policy development has occurred to date. Rather than international legislative negotiations, we need global executive action. This would be based on a creative interpretation of the UN Charter, for the sake of the (imperfect) legitimacy we have devised to date. It might take the following form: the UN Security Council declaring the Ecological Crisis a threat to international peace and security, triggering its binding powers on behalf of the total UN membership; an empowered SecretaryGeneral, taking more personal initiative (already sanctioned under the Charter);
an independent highlevel panel, on behalf of the SG, acting as intermediary between the scientific community and the policymaking community, making analytical and prescriptive input into the Security Council.
The next few decades may be all we have left to take decisive action on the crisis we are in. THE PEOPLE'S MOVEMENT
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Dr Graham is a New Zealand MP. He was formerly a NZ diplomat, UN official and university lecturer.
Five things we’ve learnt from Rio+20 Ton Bigg, 3 July 2012, International Institute for Economic Development
Two weeks after the event it is still too soon to assess the value of the Rio +20 Summit. This hasn’t stopped pundits from either labelling it a disaster and the final agreement ‘283 paragraphs of fluff’, or flagging up reasons for optimism and perspective.
All global summits are written off in the immediate aftermath. While the outcomes from Rio +20 may not currently give grounds for much optimism, its value is likely to be in less tangible, longerterm changes in attitudes and understanding.
Debate at a meeting on the sustainable development of the Amazon at Rio+20. Credit: Fora do Eixo
Here are five things I think we have learnt from the Rio process, which will shape those longerterm assessments and frame key issues that need to be followedup over the news few years: 1. Sustainable development is still a long way from the top table of policy and power.
One of the most striking images of the Summit weekend was of Angela Merkel celebrating another German goal against Greece in Warsaw. She had no problem finding time to watch her national football team, but there was no likelihood of Mrs Merkel taking a detour from the G20 meeting in Mexico to be in Rio. 16
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UNANZ NEWS SEPTEMBER 2012 If anything, the Summit constituted a step back in the decadeslong effort that started with the Brundtland Commission in the late 1980s, to place equity, sufficiency and international collaboration at the heart of global and national policy. Many governments are still represented by environment or development ministers, while their counterparts from finance, planning and business are few and far between. By contrast, heads of corporations such as Unilever, Puma, and the biggest Brazilian companies were ubiquitous in Rio, some bullishly asserting that if governments won’t take steps to fix global problems then they will step into the gap. Twenty years on from the original Earth Summit it’s a major indictment of sustainability wonks and advocacy organisations that our leaders still don’t ‘get’ the basic significance of sustainable development, and also that it’s so easy for them to relegate it to a policy footnote. 2. Southern governments are more assertive and have clear agendas – even if, for some, this currently only entails saying ‘no’.
Thirty months ago in Copenhagen, European governments had a blunt awakening when they were sidelined in the climate change negotiations by a stitchup between the US, China and India. This shift in power was less evident in Rio+20 – perhaps because there was thought to be less at stake. But the growing influence of the G77 countries was a striking feature of the event. The governments of Colombia, the United Arab Emirates and Guatemala were closely associated with the Sustainable Development Goals. African countries expressed strong interest in the notion of ‘green economy’ as a potential means to plan their future development trajectories; and China focused on the potential impact that a greater focus on environmental wellbeing could have on job creation. On the flip side, many Latin American countries vociferously rejected what has been termed the ‘commodification of THE PEOPLE'S MOVEMENT
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ISSUE No 2 nature’ through policy tools, such as payments for ecosystem services and valuation systems, which put a monetary worth on environmental resources, while the G77 collectively turned down EU efforts to introduce targets and timetables into the negotiated text. Perhaps the most positive reflection to draw is that as middleincome countries, which are outside the G20 continue to grow, they increasingly need an effective and stable multilateral system to provide the rules and systems they require. Unlike the biggest countries, they can’t secure this stability through their own influence alone. This seems to lie behind Colombia’s push for clear goals and commitments, and there is surely potential for this positive critique to spread more widely in future. 3. The UN multilateral process doesn’t work – at least not for a global negotiation on sustainable development. The Rio +20 juggernaut was set on a two year course for failure from day one. It certainly didn’t help that many countries were suspicious and confused by the agenda which emerged from the UN General Assembly. This was particularly evident in the poorlydefined ‘green economy’ elements, which could have been a positive and new area for exploration, but were never satisfactorily explained or put in context.
But the more fundamental problem is with the UN consensus process itself. As Virgilio Viana of the Brazilian organisation Fundação Amazonas Sustentável (FAS) put it, if UN negotiators had to decide whether they should all have coffee or a beer then they would never reach agreement. So imagine how much more challenging it is to arrive at a set of strong, collective commitments across the broad agenda set for the Summit – with entrenched vested interests, suspicions and ideological differences to accommodate. The process is also severely hampered by a lack of credibility: governments conveniently removed any assessment of the (lack of) progress in implementing previous global 17
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commitments, or attention to trends heading dangerously away from stability and fairness.
Despite all these shortcomings, governments still failed to reach agreement on the final outcome document; a day before their heads of state arrived only 28% of the text had been finalised. The Brazilians cut the Gordian knot by substituting in a ‘take it or leave it’ communique which stripped out any strong commitments but (as a result) could be endorsed by all. This was enormously attractive because it avoided a Copenhagenstyle collapse and allowed leaders to talk glibly about the successful outcome. But the Rio+20 agreement is of little value going forward – it is woefully thin on commitments or agreed actions; it doesn’t actually reflect hardwon consensus across governments; and it fails to establish better governance arrangements to tackle these global challenges. On the plus side, this should represent the death knell for these overblown UN processes, but it’s less clear how something more positive can take their place. 4. We need a narrative for systemic change; ‘natural capital’ and green economy approaches could provide the framework.
It’s hugely frustrating that Rio+20 didn’t present sustainable development as the best means the world has to tackle economic volatility, social unrest and inequality, and the dangers posed by exceeding environmental limits and reaching system tipping points. This once inageneration global event failed to resonate with anyone beyond those directly involved or interested. ‘We can’t claim on any major indicators that we’ve turned the corner, but underneath the global metalevel of analysis there is extraordinary innovation and practice,’ said the head of the UN Environment Programme, Achim Steiner. ‘We’re inventing a million times the different solutions, but unless we can THE PEOPLE'S MOVEMENT
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create the structures and systems to promote change we will remain the laboratories and test grounds to show what could be done.’
Such initiatives must engage and challenge the mainstream. The emerging alliance focused on ‘Natural Capital,’ an approach that extends the economic notion of capital to natural ecosystems, has the potential to build momentum for change.
The transformative effects of a green economy approach were discussed in detail at IIED’s Fair Ideas conference prior to Rio+20. One of the conference’s key conclusions was that a green economic approach has the potential to lift people out of poverty through a better use of natural resources, and wouldn’t act as an anticompetitive brake on development, as many fear. Yet the concerns expressed by many in Rio are wellfounded, and a green economy approach which doesn't prioritise poverty reduction, equity and environmental stability in the interests of the poorest countries and people would constitute a major setback. 5. Sustainable Development Goals must track improvements and increase accountability.
The Sustainable Development Goals could chart a course to a fairer and more sustainable world. To do so, they must pinpoint problems with the unsustainable current economic model which the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon called an environmental ‘global suicide pact’, and they must track improvements and increase accountability at all levels of governance. This is a tall order. It will mean directly challenging powerful vested interests and putting longterm wellbeing above short term benefits.
How to get from an idealistic vision to an agreed set of goals is far from clear. Meaningful goals won’t emerge from a negotiation between governments – and they will be of most value initially to those advocating major change rather than to 18
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those locked into political constraints and tradeoffs. The relationship between the SDGs and a postMillennium Development Goals framework for international development assistance is another thorny problem to address.
Many obstacles lie along the way, but if current thinking is challenged and new, measurable environmental goals get set to track progress, then the Summit could leave an important legacy. Themes:
• Moving beyond the preamble to creating a new story at Rio+20 • Defining the agenda for Rio+20: my analysis
• Earth Summit 2012: crucial opportunity that needs broader buyin The item contains the author’s personal views and does not represent the view of IIED.
IIED is one of the world’s most influential policy research organisations working at the interface between development and environment.
UN calls for international tax to raise $400 billion to finance development needs
Financial needs of developing countries have long outstripped the willingness and ability of donors to provide aid
New York, 5 July 2012 –The United Nations is proposing an international tax, combined with other innovative financing mechanisms, to raise more than $400 billion annually for development and global challenges such as fighting climate change. In its annual report on global development, World Economic and Social THE PEOPLE'S MOVEMENT
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Survey 2012: In Search of New Development Finance, (WESS 2012) launched today, the UN says, in the midst of difficult financial times, many donor countries have cut back on development assistance. In 2011, for the first time in many years, aid flows declined in real terms. The survey finds that the financial needs of developing countries have long outstripped the willingness and ability of donors to provide aid. And finding the necessary resources to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and meet other global challenges, such as addressing climate change, will be tough, especially for least developed countries.
The need for additional and more predictable financing has led to a search for new sources – not as a substitute for aid, but as a complement to it. A number of innovative initiatives have been launched during the past decade, mainly to fund global health programmes aimed at providing immunizations, AIDS and tuberculosis treatments to millions of people in the developing world. The UN survey finds that while these initiatives have successfully used new methods to channel development financing to combat diseases, they have hardly yielded any additional funding on top of traditional development assistance.
‘Donor countries have fallen well short of their aid commitments and development assistance declined last year because of budget cuts, increasing the shortfall to $167 billion,’ according to the lead author of the survey, Rob Vos. ‘Although donors must meet their commitments, it is time to look for other ways to find resources to finance development needs and address growing global challenges, such as combating climate change.’
‘We are suggesting various ways to tap resources through international mechanisms, such as coordinated taxes on carbon emissions, air traffic, and financial and currency transactions,’ Mr. Vos said. ‘Such taxes also make economic sense, as they help stimulate green growth and 19
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mitigate financial market instability. In short, such new financing mechanisms will help donor countries overcome their record of broken promises to their own benefit the world at large.’ Realizing the potential
The WESS finds the scope for scaling up or replicating existing initiatives is too limited to meet the needs for development financing in the coming decades. Hence, new sources will need to be tapped. Experts who carried out the survey see potential to raise over $400 billion per year through the following mechanisms: a tax on carbon dioxide emissions in developed countries: a tax of $25 per tonne would raise an estimated $250 billion per year, collected by national authorities, but earmarked for international cooperation;
a tiny currency transaction tax of one half of a ‘basis point’ (0.005 per cent) on all trading in four major currencies (the dollar, euro, yen and pound sterling), which could yield an estimated $40 billion per year for international cooperation;
earmarking a portion of the proposed European Union financial transaction tax (which is expected to raise up to €55 billion or $71 billion per year) for international cooperation;
regular allocations of IMF special drawing rights (SDRs) and use of ‘idle’ SDRs could yield about $100 billion per year for the purchase of longterm assets which would then be used as development finance. The survey says such mechanisms are technically feasible and economically sensible. They could readily provide the means of meeting urgent global development financing needs. Vos said that ‘realizing the potential of these THE PEOPLE'S MOVEMENT
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mechanisms will require international agreement and corresponding political will, both to tap sources as well as to ensure allocation of revenues for development.’ The survey also suggests other options which could be explored but would require further technical elaboration, such as a billionaire’s tax, which would consist of a small tax of, say, 1 per cent on individual wealth holdings of $1 billion or more with the revenue destined to finance internationally agreed global development purposes. ‘The survey provides important
suggestions to generate solid financial underpinnings for the actions to be undertaken in follow up to the agreement reached at the recent United Nations Rio+20 Conference to achieve global sustainable development’, according to Sha Zukang, UnderSecretaryGeneral of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs.
The survey points out that the design of appropriate governance and allocation mechanisms is crucial for innovative financing to ultimately meet development needs and contribute to financing the post2015 development agenda. The beginnings of innovative development finance – health as a testing ground
In recent years, a number of mechanisms have been developed under the rubric of 20
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innovative development finance, mostly in the field of health. These include the International Finance Facility for Immunization, Advance Market Commitments for pneumococcal vaccine, the Affordable Medicines Facility – malaria, Debt2Health and Product Red.
The social survey confirms that these mechanisms have improved aid effectiveness and incentivized research; contributed significantly to the financing of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and especially UNITAID and GAVI; and they have contributed to fighting AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and vaccinepreventable diseases. However, the survey also finds that the funds channeled through these programmes have mainly come from existing aid budgets, rather than generating additional resources. Overall, a total of $5.8 billion has been channeled through these innovative mechanisms since 2006, but only a few hundred million dollars can be counted as additional to existing aid.
To date, innovative financing resources in the field of health have generally been allocated for vaccines and pharmaceutical products to fight specific diseases, such as HIV, tuberculosis and malaria. This has brought important benefits to specific areas of disease control. The WESS warns, however, that in some cases these global funds have bypassed broader national health priorities in developing countries and contributed to the fragmentation of international support to health systems in lowincome countries. The survey concludes that instead of an array of disease specific funds, it would be better to focus on finding new resources for more general budget support for health systems in developing countries in need and consolidate the existing diseasespecific disbursement mechanisms into a single ‘global fund for health’.
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fighting climate change, according to the survey. Innovative development finance mechanisms have raised about $1 billion for climate change, although disbursements have, so far, been relatively limited. Innovative financing for climate change has the potential to increase substantially in the coming years, as the European Union shifts to auctioning emissions allocations, potentially generating some $20‒35 billion in annual revenues. However, with the exception of Germany, European Union members have, so far, been unwilling to commit to allocating a specified proportion of these revenues to international programmes, in part due to domestic financial pressures. Nonetheless, $3‒5 billion per year could be raised if other countries were to match Germany’s commitment. Increasing finance for climate change related uses in recent years has given rise to a proliferation of separate climate funds, with limited coordination among them. The WESS says it is important to avoid further fragmentation as traditional and innovative financing increase. As in the case of health, a more effective approach would be to consolidate disbursement mechanisms. The survey concludes that the international agreement to establish the Green Climate Fund could serve as the starting point for such a consolidation. Background:
The World Economic and Social Survey is an annual report produced by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Each year, it focuses on a different issue. The report is available at http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/ policy/wess/index.shtml A USB drive with the report and previous editions of the WESS can be requested by sending an email to dpad@un.org
Climate financing mechanisms
The potential for innovative development finance is particularly high in the area of THE PEOPLE'S MOVEMENT
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The UN’s Regional Groupings Need to Reshuffle the Deck Ramesh Thakur PassBlue 20 June 2012
CANBERRA — Come October, Australia will be competing with Finland and Luxembourg for two of the elected two year seats open on the United Nations Security Council, starting next year. Why against Finland and Luxembourg and not others also contesting for the five seats up for grabs? Well might you ask.
Most public debate on UN structural reform is focused on the council. Arguably, an even greater historical anomaly is the UN’s system of regional groupings that shapes so many of its entities and activities.
The founders of the UN system believed they were providing fair and reasonable opportunity for all members to share in the management of the system through periodic elections to key decisionmaking bodies, including the Security Council. So they divided the UN’s original 51 members into regional groups. The five groups of the current 193 members are: Africa (54 members), Asia (53), Latin America and the Caribbean (33), Western Europe and Others (WEO, 29) and Eastern Europe (23). Kiribati, an island nation in the Pacific Ocean, does not belong to any group.
compete with Europeans, who begin with a 47strong Council of Europe or a 27strong European Union, is semi disenfranchisement. The equilibrium is inequitable but stable because it has developed entrenched interests. But the increasingly idiosyncratic and anachronistic system of regional groups has major consequences. Failure to change is damaging the UN’s capacity to be relevant and responsive to its members. The deep disenchantment and distance of member countries from important decisionmaking bodies not only erodes UN authority, but it also undermines its effectiveness and risks moving it to the periphery of world affairs.
One immediate anomaly is Israel. Because it is persona non grata, so to say, in its own region, it is located in the WEO group. But so, too, are Australia and New Zealand, with Canada and the United States making up the remaining ‘others’. Notions of equity, national identity and geopolitics have changed dramatically since 1945. For Australia and New Zealand to be considered representatives of Europe today is bizarre. For the ‘others’ to have to THE PEOPLE'S MOVEMENT
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The electoral groupings remain a critical pillar of UN legitimacy. The current configuration negates the UN Charter principle that all countries should be able to take part in the key UN institutions based on fair rotation. The present system does not produce such an outcome, and the result hurts the legitimacy of the system and the decisions that are made.
The unfairness arises first from the wide disparity in the size of regional groups, which range from 23 to 54. The disparity is worse in terms of population weights. The Western and Eastern European groups were also transformed substantially when the cold war ended. Another question is, does ‘equitable’ refer to opportunities or to outcomes? What about countries that are permanently disenfranchised, most notably Israel?
Geographical representation and distribution also applies to UN staffing arrangements. In most groups, contests for quota seats to elected positions is real and sometimes bitter and divisive, even hovering on the margins of questionable practices.
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Ironically, a consensus for change could develop from the discomforts or disappointments with the existing groupings.
Any new system must also demonstrate mutual benefits through “winwin” results. This can be achieved by increasing the number of groups and thereby shrinking the size but strengthening the homogeneity of each. The secretarygeneral could begin the process by canvassing member countries’ views through a simple resolution of the General Assembly. Or a highlevel panel could study the issue and make recommendations within one year. Meanwhile, three of the five permanent members come from the Council of Europe: Britain, France and Russia. Azerbaijan, also in the Council of Europe, is on the Security Council until the end of 2013. If Australia loses in October, 6 of the 15 Security Council members will hail from Europe: a vast overrepresentation, given its population of 800 million in a world of 7 billion.
Reorganizing the number and composition of electoral groupings would enhance the representational credentials of the UN system, consolidate its legitimacy and improve its efficiency. Reflecting the quadrupling in numbers since 1945, the membership could be split into eight regional groups of 25 to 35 each, say. For example: subSaharan Africa; Asia; Middle East and North Africa; Western Europe; North America and the Caribbean; Eastern Europe and Central Asia; Latin America; and Oceania (including Australia and New Zealand). The work of redoing the groupings should be separated from the debate on the reform of the Security Council composition, yet it could feed into it. Such an approach might also help revive the momentum for council reform. There is always the fear, of course, that linking the issue of group restructuring to council reform will kill both efforts. THE PEOPLE'S MOVEMENT
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New Zealand's Dialogue report to the UNHCHR Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) by Beryl Anderson, UN Women When a country (a States Party) ratifies a human rights treaty, they are committed to a reporting process which is usually every four years. New Zealand presented its seventh periodic report to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in New York in July 2012. Publicly available reports can be found at http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/ced aw/cedaws52.htm.
The NZ delegation was led by Jo Goodhew, Minister for Women’s Affairs, with support from Ministry of Women’s Affairs (Kim Ngarimu and Deb Moran), the Permanent Mission to the United Nations (Jim McLay, Juliet Hay, Tara Morton, and Nathan Crombie), and Rebecca Tane from the Minister’s office. NCWNZ (1), Women’s Health Action (2), Shakti (4), and Pacific Women’s Watch (1) had representatives in New York. These organisations had facilitated or prepared shadow reports to provide the Monitoring Committee with information. Two other NGOs, the Auckland Coalition for the Safety of Women and Children and the International Disability Alliance submitted written reports. Oral statements were presented by Beryl Anderson (for the NCWNZ facilitated report) and Christie Parker (for the Pacific Women’s Watch THE PEOPLE'S MOVEMENT
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ISSUE No 2 report), covering violence against women, the gender pay gap, labour force participation, participation in political and public life, sexual health, a women’s action plan, forced and underage marriage, reproductive choices, and the adoption of the recommendations from the transgender inquiry. The NGO representatives held a meeting with the Monitoring Committee, and were able to present additional information to them both orally and in writing. The Human Right’s Commission, which had submitted a written report and made an oral statement, was represented by Judy McGregor and Sylvia Bell. Lobbying of the Committee members also occurred.
The Minister opened the country dialogue with a statement outlining the key issues from the Government report. Committee members then questioned the Minister, with the questions grouped by the Articles of CEDAW. Many of these questions referred to ‘alternative sources’ and ‘data we have received’ being references to the information provided from shadow reports, oral statements and lobbying activities. The Minister fielded over 100 questions throughout which there was reference to NZ’s impressive background in women’s human rights and that while the Committee members had high expectations of improved equality in NZ they saw the current status as being different from that being reflected in global indicators.
Following the country dialogue there is an opportunity for the NGO representatives to submit a gap analysis. This included comments on the staffing of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, gender impact statements on Cabinet papers, gender impact statements under the NZ Bill of Rights, disaggregated data, human rights treaty promotion, the use of the 10 key goals as a de facto action plan for women, temporary special measures, refuge services, women in the judiciary, gender pay gap, trades training, seasonal worker access to paid parental leave, and forced marriages. 24
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The Concluding Observations of the Committee were issued in draft form within two weeks. It is an excellent and comprehensive report that provides details of the principal areas of concern and makes recommendations for the State Party including: •Increased dissemination of the State party report as well as the Committee’s concluding observations and recommendations to all Parliamentarians •Consideration be given to establishing a Human Rights Select Committee in Parliament to strengthen Parliamentary oversight on human rights generally and especially on women’s rights and gender equality
•Incorporation into the constitution and/or other legislation, of the principle of equality between women and men •The relevance and usefulness of temporary special measures
•Four recommendations on the trafficking of women and girls •Measures to increase the number of women in decisionmaking positions at all levels and in all areas, in the light of the Committee’s general recommendation No. 23 on women in political and public life
•Disseminate information on the Convention to increase awareness and understanding of the meaning and content of substantive equality of women and men •Review the targets, goals and time frames set for the advancement of women in decisionmaking positions to ensure that they sufficiently enhance progress in women’s representation
•To ensure that parents understand the voluntary nature of payments requested by schools and monitor schools’ practices regarding the collection of fees from parents •To collect data on the real cost of education to parents.
•To implement measures to decrease dropout rates among Māori girls and to reintegrate them into the educational system THE PEOPLE'S MOVEMENT
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•To introduce measures to desegregate gender thematic subjects with a view to ensuring that women and girls equally access nontraditional thematic subject areas •Effectively enforce the principle of equal pay for work of equal value
•Introduce appropriate legal measures to ensure parental leave, including paid parental leave for men as well as paid leave for seasonal or fixedterm workers with multiple employment relationships •To eliminate occupational segregation, both horizontal and vertical
•Carry out an independent evaluation of the gendered impact of the reform of collective bargaining and ensure that it does not negatively affect women’s employment and trade union rights
•Ensure that there is a monitoring institution for gender pay inequity within the State party’s administration •Provide in its next report data and information on the situation of women with disabilities, rural women, older women and women from ethnic minority groups, including with regard to their access to education, employment and healthcare services •Ensure that the ongoing welfare reforms do not discriminate against disadvantaged groups of women and that an independent evaluation of their gendered impact is made
•Ensure the gender mainstreaming of policies relating to the process of recovery from the 2011 earthquake, and engage in analysis of their gender impact by using data disaggregated by sex, age, ethnicity and other status •Revise the legal minimum age of marriage to 18 years without any exceptions for parental consent
•Introduce legal measures to prohibit underage and forced marriages and promote measures to protect women harmed by polygamy and dowryrelated violence As well as these recommendations, there were requests for information on the Beijing 25
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Declaration and Platform for Action, the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, and the dissemination of the Concluding Observations in New Zealand. The State Party will need to report on progress against these recommendations in its next periodic report. As well it is requested to provide, within two years written information on the steps taken to implement the three recommendations affecting disadvantaged groups of women and the two on marriage.
The NGO sector will need to actively monitor the State Party’s progress against these recommendations and be prepared to comment on both the information to be provided within two years and the next periodic report, which is due for submission in 2016.
National President Graham Hassall
President's Column Global society faces a range of critical issues at the current time that defy easy solution by international gatherings of nation states. Whilst some of us emphasise the apparent lack of leadership on environmental stewardship, others point to the extent of not merely human rights abuses but failure to protect life itself by those in authority, and others still to the condition of the world’s banking and financial system. All of these issues and more were brought to the fore at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development held in Rio de Janiero, Brazil, 2022 June 2012, twenty years after a conference on Environment and Development held in that city in 1992. 172 governments and 2,400 representatives of NGOs attended the 1992 ‘earth summit’, and at least 17,000 THE PEOPLE'S MOVEMENT
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others attended a parallel NGO Global Forum.
The 2012 conference was larger, as are the challenges. Whereas the 1992 event generated the anticipatory ‘Rio Declaration on Environment and Development’, the outcomes document of the 2012 meeting ‘The Future We Want’ provides a comprehensive list of needs at global level without a matching set of global commitments, and has generated for some communities a post conference mood of foreboding. In this context UNANZ looks to its National Council meeting on 22nd September to examine how best to promote the ideals of the United Nations in the New Zealand context in the near future, both nationally and through the activities and outreach of its branches in the North and South Islands, and through its collaborations with both government and nongovernment partners.
The 2012 National Conference of the United Nations Association of Australia, held in Brisbane 2224 August, provided an excellent opportunity to network with our Australian colleagues, and gain insights into Australian perspectives on global and Pacific issues. We were given a warm welcome by President of the Queensland Branch Virginia Balmain, and I was given the opportunity to introduce the small New Zealand contingent (Gray Southern, Robin Halliday and myself) at the conference’s opening session. One distinct impression gained from the Australian conference was the mutual respect between the UN Association and various branches of government. The Conference opened by the Governor of Queensland Penny Wensley AC, herself a former diplomat with extensive experience at the UN, and conference speakers included Queensland Chief Justice Pal de Jersey AC. At an evening reception hosted by the Mayor of Brisbane the long association between the city council and the United Nations Association was 26
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given appreciation. The Australian Branches have strong support from current and former members of federal and state parliaments, and AusAID is assisting UNAA in fostering UN associations in various Pacific Islands. The program also featured notable
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BRANCH REPORTS UNANZ has active regional branches in Auckland, Waikato, Tauranga, Whanganui, Wellington and Canterbury.
The best way to get involved in UNANZ is through your nearest regional branch: Auckland: auckland@unanz.org.nz Waikato: waikato@unanz.org.nz Tauranga: tauranga@unanz.org.nz Whanganui: wanganui@unanz.org.nz Wellington: wellington@unanz.org.nz Canterbury: canterbury@unanz.org.nz CoPresidents: Michael Shroff & Gary Russell NORTHERN BRANCH
Graham Hassall with Pacific Islands delegates to the UNAA conference in Brisbane, 2224 August. Photo: Graham Hassall
academics with interests in international law and with United Nations operations. Another notable feature of the conference was vibrant participation by UN Youth and a newly established Young Professionals division.
This month we are pleased to welcome Ms MarieCharlotte de Lapaillone as an intern with UNANZ National Office in Wellington. MarieCharlotte is preparing a policy paper for UNANZ on refugee policy and practice in New Zealand, for discussion at the National Council meeting on 22nd September. We hope this marks the beginning of systematic consideration of such critical issues, which are being faced not only by this country but by countries worldwide. The ideal of the United Nations is to seek peaceful solutions to crises that otherwise divide us, and commitment to UN ideals through participation in UNANZ activities provides a vehicle for these peacebuilding aspirations within us.
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Each month the Northern Branch invites a relevant speaker along on a topic.
In July we had Bradley MacDonald who showed a film on the Esperanto language development and had questions afterwards. Interesting film added with Bradley knowing many of the people in the film and his added comments made for a more personal journey of understanding of the history of the language. In August we had JeanPaul Ibozzi, from the Auckland Refugee Society who spoke of his personal journey as a refugee out of Africa and the differing complex tribal conflicts that govern central Africa countries. He stated the importance of New Zealand maintaining a presence in this area with support for refugees and the now for more follow up study on the outcome of refugees when they leave the refugee transition centres. There is a need to clearly define the difference between immigrants and refugees. In September we have the UN Peace walk and a Peace art exhibition beginning Sept. 22nd. In October we have Kennedy Graham the Green Party MP who will be speaking to the Northern Branch, thanks to Laurie Ross organising it.
The Branch felt strongly about finding out 27
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what is NZ Government policy towards the UN. It looks to be adopting isolation & limited policy with its aid distribution and little open communication with the UN in not supporting UN agencies and initiatives. The Branch at its next meeting will be discussing our future military role as indications are the NZ Government may still increase its military presence in the Middle East.
Michael Powles and Gray Southon’s letters in response to the NZ Government policy towards UN agencies were indicative of most support from the Northern Branch members. President: Gray Southon TAURANGA BRANCH
In brief in the August month we had Jean Paul Bizoza our Refugee spokesperson speak on the topic of NZ refugee policy and his own personal experiences. Planning underway for the UN Peace celebration Sept 21st, we have a Peace walk to take in Peace designated sites around Auckland. Also supporting a Peace Art exhibition with NZ artist displaying their works with the theme of Peace.
In July we had Bradley MacDonald show a film on Esperanto and he spoke about the future of the Esperanto language.
Also tried to stimulate discussion on what is the National Government policy towards the UN, with the withdrawing of NZ from Aid support to Africa particularly and a nonsustainable global policy of isolation and gain mutual support and aid for all developing nations. President: Mano Manoharan WAIKATO BRANCH
Waikato branch has been involved in organizing this year's Model UN General Assembly. At the moment, 77 students have registered to take part in the assembly. We have allocated 31 countries to the students and have requested THE PEOPLE'S MOVEMENT
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them to come dressed up in the national costume of the country they will be representing.
Model UN General Assembly will be held in the Pricewater House Cooper lecture theatre, Management School, University of Waikato. Senior Lecturer from the University of Waikato will be the acting Secretary General for the day. Hamilton City Council staff and Waikato Museum Education officer will be the judges for the day. A Waikato University student who is doing her masters had agreed to be the time keeper for the day.
The topic is ‘the right of the people of each state to have legal issues affecting them and their state within their state, resolved by their State's court and legal system and that neither the people nor their state shall be subordinated to any other courts or tribunals established under international treaties, whether by foreign corporations or other States, to which they the people and state are not party excepting the international Court of Justice, should they be party to it’. The Model UN General Assembly was held on Saturday 8th September 2012 at 9.00 am. President: Kate Smith
WANGANUI BRANCH
We had a successful Mid Winter Brunch in July with Nelson Lebo as the guest speaker. Nelson is heavily involved in creating low cost, ecofriendly housing with many suggestions for everyday improvements to save money. He writes regularly in the local papers. His topic was:
Essential Food and Energy Solutions: Discourse on Rio+20 and how food and energy inflation disproportionally hurts the poor everywhere, including NZ. Nelson was very willing to answer questions from those present. 28
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At the moment we are busy preparing for the International Day of Peace, 21 September. This year has the added bonus of being the 10th Anniversary of the dedication of Handspan – the peace sculpture to promote a Culture of Peace and NonViolence for the Children of the World. An outline of the events taking place around this time is attached. Our guest speaker will be Dr Kate Dewes who will speak at the afternoon function on the topic: Sustainable Peace for a Sustainable Future. We are working closely with Operation Peace Through Unity on all Peace Day events.
As a contribution to Push4Peace, we will be initiating a project to collect ‘Peace – OneLiners’ from all sections of the community. These will then be prepared into various formats for display, exhibition, viewing on video or DVD by students of the Whanganui School of Design. Contributions will be accepted from groups as well as individuals. More details will be available soon. Project will run from 21 September – International Day of Peace, until 10 December – Human Rights Day. President: Robin Halliday
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Environment spokesperson Dr Kennedy Graham and Diana Shand the Chair of the NGO Rio +20 Platform. They gave a good overall review of the outcomes to a packed lecture theatre at Victoria University. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs official debriefing on August 9th included many of the over 30 New Zealanders in Rio and the Government officials who supported them from Wellington. Dame Laurie Salas, Gray Southon and myself attended. Wellington UNA followed this up with a Roundtable discussion facilitated by Graham Hassall where around 14 of us who had been to Rio gave presentations from our different perspectives and reported on the many side events and forums held in different venues some two hour drive apart. This gave us a wider and I believe more accurate picture than the more negative and limited reports in the mainstream media. It allowed even those of us who were there to learn from each other. There are many informed and to be hoped influential people with experience, proposals, and ideas and if we can harness some of their passion and energy we can have the future we want.
WELLINGTON BRANCH
The focus of the Wellington branch since the last Newsletter has been reporting back on Rio+20. I was fortunate with my husband to attend, as an individual under the Association of Non Governmental Organisations in Aotearoa. I represented UNANZ.
The Non Governmental organisation representative in the official New Zealand delegation was Dr Sudhvir Singh, a former President of Auckland UN Youth. A medical doctor he worked with WHO and Ministers of Health on the health and population areas of the Outcome Document. Wellington members were invited in July to an Institute of Policy Studies Forum on the Outcomes of Rio+20 with Minister for the Environment Hon Amy Adams, Greens THE PEOPLE'S MOVEMENT
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post Rio+20 Roundtable held at St Andrew's Conference Ctr. Photo: Graham Hassall
Contributors to the Wellington Roundtable included Dr Kennedy Graham, Dr Sudhvir Singh, Dr Wren Green, Diana Shand, Dr Betsan Martin, Maryann Greaney, Brittany Trilford, Sophie Goulter, Calum Revfem and the Youth Delegation. Wellington UNA members joined us and ten of us went on to dinner later and a number of 29
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Sophie Goulter, P3 delegate at the Roundtable. Photo: Graham Hassall
resentations are now taking place around the country.
I have spoken to two informal lunches in Wellington and Kapiti and am now going to the UNA Australia Conference where the theme of the Seminar is Rio+20. Discussion Groups are now being planned on Renewable Energy in the Pacific and Financial Transaction Tax both inter related topics. The United Nations of Australia Conference and Annual General Meeting August 22 – 25th
Along with Graham Hassall and Gray Southon I attended the UNAA National Conference and AGM. For me it was a follow up to Rio and a chance to link with another United Nations Association. While much of the programme focussed on follow up to Rio+20, Human Rights Development in the Pacific, Peace and Security and the role of the United Nations were covered in both the workshops and Conference Sessions.
Beginning with a series of four workshops on the Status of Women, Global Systems for Sustainability – which I attended – Human Rights and Climate Change and Sustainability recommendations were prepared for the two day National Conference opened by The Governor of Queensland Ms Penny Wensley.
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researchers. The highlight of the first day was a lively and informed Youth panel. Held in Queensland’s Parliament the conference began with a breakfast and concluded with a gala dinner all very elegantly served and accompanied by interesting speakers.
The Hon Robert Hill President of UNAA for the last three years stood down and Dr Russell Trood, Adjunct Professor in the Defence and Security Program US Studies Centre University of Sydney was elected after a vote. UNAA has divisions in each state some more active than others, a thriving Youth Association who hold Model UNs, a National Trophy debate and international tours to The Hague and East Timor. They also select the Australian youth representative at the General Assembly.
The recently formed but growing fast Young Professionals group in Sydney is hoping to expand to every State. They also have UN Parliamentarians and an Academic Group — something we would like to establish in New Zealand. The programme and a fuller report are available on request. President: Mary McGiven
CANTERBURY BRANCH
The Branch is holding a Model United Nations General Assembly on 25 October and we have eight schools already interested in taking part.
We would also like to have a John Grocott lecture in November. The city has had over 12500 after shocks which has left the city with many spaces and shaken many homes.
The Conference covered a wide range of topics with presentations from distinguished Academics and THE PEOPLE'S MOVEMENT
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ANTON Smith National President,
UN Youth New Zealand anton.smith@unyouth.org.nz It's an exciting time to be involved in UN Youth! Despite having only been in this role for two months, I and the rest of the new officeholders have gotten stuck in and laid the groundwork for the growth of the UN Youth branch. There are new events popping up all over the country and we are looking to be bold in order to develop even further the national and international opportunities we offer young New Zealanders.The question for us is always, ‘what we can do to provide bigger and better chances for young Kiwis to grow?’
Hague International Model UN (THIMUN) to 22 high schools students with various local newspapers and websites running stories about the students who were lucky enough to be selected and what is in store for them in January.
New Zealand Model UN 2012 was recently held in Wellington where UN Youth hosted almost 300 high school and university students from around the country to focus on the theme of ‘Inequality’. Our Pacific Project delegation recently returned from a development week in Vanuatu and a week participating in the very prestigious UN Youth Australia National Conference in Melbourne. And we have recently expanded our delegation to The
The UN Youth branch is so grateful for the support and mentorship of the volunteers of UNANZ nationwide. Every day we witness the results of the absolutely crucial services we provide, together. All the hard work and planning is justified when we see our peers being given the tools they need to go out and accomplish the changes they want to see in their community, whether it be their local community or their global community. Long may it continue.
Our volunteers are constantly looking to take initiative and to ensure that as many young people as possible can learn about the UN and international affairs. Not only are they willing to travel all over the country to run conferences but they are also constantly innovating. Model European Unions, Model Pacific Forums, Model International Courts of Justice and NGO Case Challenges are just some of the examples of how we are pushing ourselves and pushing young Kiwis to consider the complex global context they find ourselves in nowadays.
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Moreover, we are working on diversifying our approach to education in the community. Our youth events have begun to regularly incorporate workshop and outreach components that allow students to challenge their beliefs and understanding of issues like poverty, disability, conflict and human rights. We want to find new and exciting ways to engage with university students, including by supporting the international AsiaPacific Model UN Conference (AMUNC) being hosted in Wellington next year as well as making contact with conferences such as Harvard National Model UN. UN Youth will even be investigating the development of an online Model UN competition that would extend our reach and allow students who for whatever reason cannot participate in the events we produce to learn about global citizenship and the UN in an enjoyable and innovative way.
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UNANZ PEOPLE National Council
National President Graham Hassall
National Vice Presidents
Mary DaviesColley, Lachlan Mackay
UN Youth President Anton Smith
Treasurer Robin Halliday
National Council Representative Izolda Kazemzadeh
Special Officers
Helena McMullin Peace and Security Lachlan Mackay Human Rights Gray Southon UN Renewal Scott Bickerton SO Model UN Gray Southon WFUNA Liaison
Ordinary Members
Izolda Kazemzedah, John Morgan Joy Dunsheath, Lucas Davies
Affiliate Representatives Bradley McDonald (Esperanto) Izolda Kazemzadeh (Baha'i) Joycelyn Foo (Soka Gakki)
UNANZ Membership
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Branch Presidents
Honorary Life Members
Affilate Members
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