I
have just arrived to Korea, and I decided to share
my thoughts with you from the airport. It
was a long flight but luckily time flew. You see,
my plane transited in Dubai and to my thrill Lara
and Ibrahim (our current and former representatives
from West Asia respectively) boarded the plane.
It was a good opportunity for us to consult and
discuss the many issues on the Forum's agenda.
We are really excited about seeing all the other
UNEP Global Youth
Advisors again. It is always a good opportunity
to share our thoughts, share experiences and boost
our motivation. The GSCF will also give us the
opportunity to interact with the other "not
so young" civil society representatives,
and High-level government officials attending
the Governing Council's Special Session. But as
Ibrahim emphasised, and Lara and I agreed with
him, one of the most meaningful aspects of the
Forum for youth, is the fact that our Statement
which will be delivered to the Governing
Council was shared with governments all over
the world weeks ago, and they would have had the
opportunity to consider our opinions and views
seriously in the preparatory work leading to the
GC. Our voices have been heard and will be heard
louder than ever. This is an opportunity for us
to make a difference. We'll keep you posted.
Yvonne
Maingey (UNEP Youth Advisor, Kenya)
Saturday,
27 March 2004 |
Water...A
Commodity or a Human Right? |
Tomislav,
Camila, Noah, Lara, Sixuan, and Yvonne finally
joined their colleagues Yvonne and Lara in Jeju.
They updated us with the latest from their end:
Yesterday
evening witnessed the official opening of the
Global Civil Society
Forum, with a dinner ceremony. UNEP representatives
invited Civil Society representatives to actively
participate in the event with their views, opinion
and advice over issues related to water, sanitation
and human settlement. They emphasized the significance
of partnership with civil society especially in
terms of sharing experiences and bringing knowledge
and best-practices to the national and local levels.
The
Civil Society Forum kicked off this morning with
a really interesting presentation by the civil
society representative from Asia Pacific, George
Varughese, who described water as a “human
right”. He said that the world society must
find ways whereby a balance is struck between
water being in many ways a “commodity”
used for profit-making, and a right that all must
share. Varughese also insisted that major civil
society groups, most specially women and youth,
should be an active partner to sustainable development
within their communities. Needless to say his
presentation was met by much consensus from participants
including ourselves.
It
was made clear that much is expected from Youth
participants in addressing the thematic areas
at hand, and that our views and perspectives will
be taken seriously and communicated to decision-makers.
This puts an extra responsibility on our shoulders,
but makes our endeavours all the more worthy.
The
Late Edition
In
the afternoon, we reviewed all the regional reports
presented by delegates on water, human settlements
and sanitation. We listened to presentations from
Africa, Latin America, Europe and North America.
The
issue of the privatization of water resources
was a real bone of contention. Many delegates
felt that privatization of water management was
only a way by which governments rid themselves
of their responsibilities.
The youth delegates are all pretty undecided on
the issue, because on the one hand privatizing
water management means that the state can no longer
regulate sustainability, especially in countries
that suffer from wide-spread corruption. On the
other hand, privatization of water management
means that the poor may no longer be able to afford
water, while the state will be under no obligation
to provide water to the people.
The
matter is multi-fold and we need to examine the
issues involved in the privatization of water
management more closely before we can come up
with a verdict.
As
we debated the matter among ourselves, it was
interesting to find out that despite the geographic,
political, and socio-economic variables, water
remains a pressing issues in most communities,
be that in America, the Middle East or Africa.
During
the Q&A session following the presentation
of the regional reports someone actually stood
up and said he felt the meeting was a waste of
time and that we weren’t coming up with
anything new!! We definitely didn’t agree
with that!!!
We
have learnt so much and shared so much. The meeting
has certainly been worth it from our point of
view!
In the evening we took a walk around the island
and met some Korean youth whom we played basketball
with! It was so much fun, and later we had dinner
at a Korean restaurant. Though we were very hungry,
yet we had a tricky time ordering because we couldnt
speak the language! Once the food was on the table,
we ate our troubles away.
Sunday,
28 March 2004 |
Steps
in the Right Direction |
Today is the last day of the Global Civil Society
Forum. One session we particularly admired was
the Q&A session that took place after UNEP's
Bakary Kante's speech. His presentation highlighted
UNEP's involvement with civil society and the
programme's future plans regarding forging tighter
bonds with civil society organizations. We appreciated
the fact that he specifically mentioned the steps
UNEP's Division of Policy Development & Law)
is undertaking to promote activities with all
major groups, but most specifically, Youth.
The
feedback from this session was especially interesting
because many of the GCSF participants wanted UNEP
to take quick and efficient actions to ensure
engaging Civil Society' in its activities. As
youth representatives, we agree with this position,
but also recognize that while the organization
still needs to take steps forward in order to
promote this process, it has in fact quite a lot
already in the right direction..
We
were also glad for the increased recognition for
youth as a major stakeholder in environmental
matters. This recognition was highlighted when
Lara El-Saad, the west asia youth representative
presented the Tunza Youth
Advisory Council Statement to the participants
of the GCSF. Noting that many children around
the world do not have access to clean water and
sanitation, she urged the other members of civil
society to include strong language requesting
governments to take action and work cooperatively
to promote every human's right to clean, freshwater.
She also encouraged members of civil society to
return to their countries and seek out and empower
youth to participate in developing policies and
programmes to address water related issues.
Of
course, we would not be youth if we didn't add
a little of our flavour to the meetings. Today
we took part in an action organized by the Korean
NGO Host Organizing Committee. This included a
number of organisations, such as Friends of the
Earth, South Korea, who have a rich experience
in organizing direct actions. Like some of the
direct actions that we saw in a video played at
the GCSF yesterday, our action was a performance
about privatisation of water.
We
were encouraged by the level of support and organisation
for the action. The media attention was great!
We can't wait for the next 3 days, especially
March 29th when Camilla Godinho from Brazil will
present the Youth Statement to the government
delegations at the Global Ministerial Environment
Forum. We look forward to the opportunity to engage
the government delegations and encourage them
to work with youth around the world!
The minute her airplane touched the Korean ground,
Yvonne, UNEP's Youth Advisor from Kenya, hurried
to the nearest PC and e-mailed us the latest from
her end: