Goals of the exhibit include:

• Bearing witness to the suffering of the Earth and its peoples as a consequence of extractive industry abuses;
• Underscoring the necessity of industry standards in preventing mining abuses; and
• Revealing the courageous resistance of peoples all over the world to inadequate extractive industry standards.

At 2:30, there will be a special 15 minute commemoration of those who have been murdered around the world as a result due to their community resistance against the consequences of extractive industry on their communities.

Event details (Download PDF)

]]> http://omiusajpic.org/2012/05/01/impacts-of-mining-exhibit-at-the-un-hosted-by-vivat-international/feed/ 0 http://omiusajpic.org/2012/04/27/unctad-meeting-overcomes-serious-disagreements/ http://omiusajpic.org/2012/04/27/unctad-meeting-overcomes-serious-disagreements/#comments Fri, 27 Apr 2012 20:22:46 +0000 christina http://omiusajpic.org/?p=11392 At a contentious meeting of the UN Commission on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) ending Thursday in Doha, Qatar, the role of the UN organization in examining trade and development was confirmed, but not after a week of hard debate. The Doha Mandate, adopted by consensus by the member States, requests that UNCTAD continue its work along the three pillars of consensus-building, policy research and technical assistance. “UNCTAD remains the focal point in the United Nations for the integrated treatment of trade and development, and interrelated issues in the areas of finance, technology, investment and sustainable development,” reads part of the agreed text.

Profound discord between industrialized nations and developing countries threatened to ruin the UNCTAD meeting in Doha, and endangered the survival of this United Nations body that defends the interests of the developing nations of the South. Disagreements between the blocs, broadly identified as countries of the North and of the South, have arisen mainly from differing views of UNCTAD’s mandate and different visions of development and how it relates to social, environmental, economic and financial variables. 

One important area under discussion involved giving UNCTAD a mandate to investigate the current global financial crisis and its effects on the real economy, something for which developing countries and NGOs pressed, but which industrialized countries rejected out of hand.

On Saturday April 21 at the conference’s inaugural session, 37 international and 137 national NGOs sent a message to participating governments, titled “Strengthen, don’t weaken, UNCTAD’s role in global governance”, highlighting the important role played by UNCTAD “in identifying the key causes” of the global crisis originating in 2008. 

UNCTAD has assisted developing countries in seeking solutions to the impacts of the crisis, and has advocated the reform of global economic and finance policies in order to prevent similar crises from recurring, the NGOs said. 

”UNCTAD is well known for having predicted the crisis in advance, a fact that is to be commended, particularly given its paucity of resources compared to institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Trade Organization (WTO), and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which failed to do so,” the message says. 

Signatories of the message to the governments at the UNCTAD meeting include ActionAid International, the African Trade Network, the Arab NGO Network for Development, CIDSE (an international alliance of 16 Catholic development agencies), the European Network on Debt and Development, and Friends of the Earth International. The Missionary Oblates JPIC Office joined the Hemispheric Social Alliance, the International Trade Union Confederation, Oxfam International, Public Services International, the Third World Network, the Transnational Institute and the World Council of Churches in signing the declaration.

In the negotiations of the conference’s outcome document, China and the Group of 77 (G77) defended UNCTAD’s role. The Group of 77 (G77) is the developing world bloc that was formed after the first UNCTAD conference, held in Geneva in 1964. Today, it is made up of 132 member countries. In addition to the EU, the JUSCANZ (JZ) group, consisting of Japan, the United States, Switzerland, South Korea, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Norway and Liechtenstein, represented industrialized countries at the Doha conference.

UNCTAD Director Supachai’s views clashed with that of the industrialized country groups, and his report, presented to the conference on Saturday, warned against the dangers of globalization and development processes driven by international finance. 

The disagreements between developing and industrialized countries are even more acute in the debate about the accords reached at the previous UNCTAD session four years ago, held in Accra, Ghana. 

The G77 wanted to reaffirm and strengthen the Accra Accord, so that UNCTAD can continue with its present work, following the direction laid down by its secretariat. 

But the JZ wanted all reference to reaffirming the Accra agreement eliminated from the outcome document, and proposed that the accord be reviewed. 

In the end, the Accra Accord was confirmed. China was considered largely responsible for the success in holding firm against the demands of the EU and the JZ countries.

The industrialized countries also wanted to reject paragraphs about the management and resolution of national debts, the responsibilities of lenders and borrowers, and an orderly solution to the debt crisis. 

Yet, the UNCTAD meeting kick started an endorsement process to adopt voluntary principles on sovereign lending and borrowing. The Jubilee USA Director, Eric LeCompte, attended the meetings as this is an area of particular concern to Jubilee USA, of which the Missionary Oblates is a member.

Read the Jubilee principles on responsible lending and borrowing. 

Learn more… (Download PDF of the Recommendations)

The resolution calls on Sri Lanka to “credibly investigate” alleged abuses committed toward the end of the country’s bitter civil war and asks the government to explain how it addresses alleged violations of international humanitarian law, as well as how Sri Lanka would implement the recommendations of an internal inquiry into the war. It also encourages the UN human rights office to provide Sri Lanka with advice and assistance and for the government to accept the advice.

The vote was 24 nations voting in favor, 15 against, and eight abstaining, with non-western governments joining in the US-sponsored resolution. Observers note that the vote was supported by Nigeria and India, as well as a number of Latin American countries, demonstrating that this is not a ‘north’ versus ‘south’ issue. According to Sam Zarifi,  Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific director, ”It highlights broad concern in the international community that the human rights situation in Sri Lanka is moving in the wrong direction.” He said the resolution was an “opportunity to end the longstanding impunity for human rights violations that have marked the country for decades.”

The resolution means that Sri Lanka “needs to live up to its promises like the one made in 2008 to the UNHRC when it agreed to amending the constitution to allow the establishment of independent judicial, police and other related commissions,” said Dr. Jehan Perera, Executive Director of National Peace Council.

The government’s Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) issued recommendations last November, and while the government repeatedly has affirmed its commitment to implementation of the LLRC recommendations, it has yet to take any action. Critics assert that while the LLRC made some important recommendations, the body lacked independence, and did not properly investigate allegations of war crimes. An estimated 40,000 people were killed in the final months of the conflict. Many of these were civilians killed in shelling by government troops. The LTTE has also been charged with war crimes, having used civilians as human shields and preventing people from leaving the war zone, but the insurgent movement has been effectively wiped out.

In the context of the debates on the Sri Lanka resolution in Geneva, a number of outspoken human rights defenders have become the subjects of a violent smear campaign by private and state-controlled media in Sri Lanka. There are serious concerns about their continued safety in light of the recent vote. A number of Oblates signed letters calling for a vote in favor of the UN action, hoping international attention would help end the impunity for human rights abuses and promote genuine reconciliation.

Learn more…

With a world population exceeding seven billion people, food needs are expected to increase by 70% by 2050, with an increasing demand for animal products requiring huge amounts of water.

The paper was also alarmed by the sharp rise in transnational purchase of agricultural land, which increased from 20 million hectares in 2009 to over 70 million today. It was noted that in the agreements signed between countries, water is never explicitly mentioned.

Richard Connor, the lead author of the report emphasizes that these pressures are likely to exacerbate economic disparities between countries at the expense of the poorest. “Water is the pillar upon which the social and economic development rest.”

Learn more…

• States have a responsibility to protect against human rights abuses by third parties, including corporations;
• Companies have a responsibility to respect human rights;
• Victims of human rights abuses must be free to access effective remedies.

Learn more…

In a world of growing inequality this floor is a necessary tool for eradicating poverty. It helps governments to build more inclusive national development plans, which put people at the center.

Please sign the petition in support of this initiative:

• Petition for Social Protection – English
• Piso de Protección Social – Espanol
• Assine a Carta – Portuges
• La Petition sur le Socle de Protection Sociale  - Francais

The Archbishop said, “This global climate crisis poses a great spiritual challenge to all Christians, people of all faiths, and all people of goodwill as it is the consequence of the destruction of God’s creation in which we have all participated in one way or another. It calls for a change of mindset, and a change of lifestyle to reduce our dependence on fossil-fuel energy like coal and oil. We call on all parishes, communities and organizations at local, regional and national levels, as well as individual Catholics:

• To reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions by using your own properties productively to grow trees that will absorb carbon dioxide;
• To grow vegetables and crops organically to reduce the use of chemical-based fertilizers;
• To share the food thus grown with the hungry and malnourished in your midst.”

Read the document (Download PDF)

On July 14th the General Assembly admitted the Republic of South Sudan as the 193rd member of the United Nations, welcoming the newly independent country to the community of nations. South Sudan’s independence from the rest of Sudan is the result of the January 2011 referendum held under the terms of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended the decades-long civil war between the North and the South. Learn more…

World Population Nearly 7 Billion!

As the world population approaches seven billion, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressed in July that ending global poverty and inequality is the key to unleashing the great human potential for prosperity and peaceful coexistence, while protecting the planet and safeguarding the natural resources that sustain humanity. “Later this year, a seven-billionth baby will be born into our world of complexity and contradiction,” Mr. Ban said in a message to mark World Population Day, observed annually on 11 July. Learn more…

UN Reports Progress Toward Poverty Alleviation

Some of the world’s poorest countries have made impressive gains in the fight against poverty, but the least developed countries still lag in efforts to improve living standards, the United Nations said in a report by DESA, showing significant overall progress towards achieving the global targets against extreme poverty.

Read the 2011 MDGs Report.

67 Million Children Deprived of Education

67 million school-aged children are deprived of education, mainly due to financial or social hardship, in many cases stemming from poverty or armed conflict. At the opening of the high-level segment of the ECOSOC Council’ Annual Ministerial Review on 4 July, Deputy Secretary-General Asha Rose Migiro warned that “getting kids into school is only half the battle.”

More information…

Statement on Nuclear Weapons

Papal Nuncio to the UN, Archbishop Francis Chullikatt made a significant statement on the Church’s rejection of nuclear war and nuclear weaponry at the 3rd Session of the Prepatory Committee for the UN Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). Go to: www.holyseemission.org and click on press releases.

The materials were developed on the occasion of activities jointly organized by the UN-Water Decade Programme on Advocacy and Communication (UNW-DPAC), UN-Habitat, the UN-Water Decade Programme on Capacity Development (UNW-DPC) and the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) at Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum (20-22 June 2011). Click on the following links to access the documents:

• A Short Glossary on the human right to water and sanitation which defines frequently used terms.
• A Media Brief presenting the current situation and some examples illustrating how the human right to water and sanitation is being implemented in practice
• A Reader, which provides basic references for easy reading and some of the latest and most relevant United Nations publications on this issue
• Eight Short Facts on the human right to water and sanitation
• A UN Milestones document presenting the UN historical background and evolution of recognition of the human right to water and sanitation

In addition, a new thematic section on the human right to water and sanitation is now accessible from the Water Decade website