A WEDO Press Release
CONTACT: Riptide Communications, Inc. (212) 260-5000
GROUPS SAY BUSH ADMINISTRATION
CONTINUES TO BLOCK PROGRESS AT UNITED NATIONS WORLD SUMMIT
New York, NY September 8, 2005 - Contrary to their assertions, the Bush
Administration has not made significant concessions in the negotiations
for the World Summit. Rather, in the disingenuous style that has marked
the Bolton approach to reaching global consensus, the US is now removing
road blocks that it itself created. "The Bush Administration is
wasting the time of governments and the UN itself by creating problems
and then offering its own solutions to these same problems," said
Françoise Girard, of Development Alternatives with Women for
a New Era (DAWN) and a spokeswoman for the Gender Monitoring Group of
the World Summit (GMG), an alliance of women's organizations focused
on ensuring that voices of women are heard in the forthcoming meeting
of world leaders at the United Nations September 14-16. Also working
with the GMG is the United Methodist Church.
The Bush Administration's so-called "concessions" include
agreeing to references to the fact that other countries have signed
on to the Kyoto Protocol (the environmental treaty) and the 0.7% of
GNP target for official development assistance, and recognizing that
the Millennium Development Goals constitute the development framework
that is currently mobilizing governments and civil society worldwide.
These "concessions" show the utter lack of seriousness of
the Bush Administration's own objections.
"We need to see a lot more than these 'concessions' from the US
if they are serious about wanting to ensure the success of the Summit,"
said Charlotte Bunch of the Center for Women's Global Leadership (CWGL)
and the Gender Monitoring Group of the World Summit. "Contrary
to their claims, they are not negotiating with urgency and in a spirit
of compromise. Women's organizations call on the US to stop wasting
time of governments and the UN," she added.
By tabling hundreds of amendments and asking for line-by-line negotiations
on the entire document, the Bush Administration knowingly opened the
door for a handful of "spoiler governments" to add and delete
text at will, throwing the whole process in chaos and threatening a
successful outcome for the Summit.
Below are specific examples of how the U.SUS. continues to undermine
the summit process:
Environment:
Even in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the US still opposed references
to the significance of the Kyoto Protocol, the environmental treaty.
Now Ambassador Bolton is willing to note that Kyoto is important for
many other countries. Yet the US still won't join the treaty. Why not?
Women's organizations wonder what else needs to happen before the US
gets serious about making a commitment to addressing global warming
and protection of the environment. June Zeitlin of the Women's Environment
and Development Organization and the Gender Monitoring Group of the
World Summit asked: "What other catastrophic events need to happen,
how many more thousands of people must die before the US gets serious
about showing political will to address the links between environment
and poverty in the US and around the world?"
Financial Assistance to Poor Countries for Development:
The Bush Administration overtly states that "we have made clear
that we do not accept the overseas development assistance target of
0.7% of donor gross national product." The Bush Administration
will now agree to note that other countries do accept the target. But
why doesn't the US commit to 0.7% of GNP? It can afford to.
This week-end, during negotiations at the UN, the US actually called
developing countries "greedy" when they asked for more money
for health and HIV. DAWN's Girard wondered: "Is it "greedy"
for less developed states to seek financial assistance from wealthier
states so they can better provide health care to their citizens? Is
it greedy for poor people displaced by a hurricane, some of whom lost
everything but the shirts on their backs, to seek financial assistance
for food and health care?"
Millennium Development Goals:
After objecting strenuously to any mention of the Millennium Development
Goals, the US will now let other countries refer explicitly to the MDGs.
Yet, the question remains: why is the US not embracing the MDGs and
championing them, when the rest of the world, from Europe to Africa,
has already done so?
Disarmament
Meanwhile, the US continues to block any progress in the negotiations
on disarmament and non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, by refusing
to honor disarmament commitments of the last 30 years.
"If they do not reach a meaningful outcome at this Summit, governments
will lose the best opportunity since the creation of the UN to move
forward on combating poverty, promoting human rights of all people,
and taking measures to promote peace and ensure security," said
Zeitlin. Added Bunch: "This is an extremely important time for
the UN - yet the US and a handful of spoilers are playing a "smoke
and mirrors" game by putting forward false concessions and blocking
progress. In doing so, they show how little they care about the world's
worst problems."
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