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LONG-STANDING NORTH-SOUTH DIVISIONS CROP UP

by Gustavo Capdevila

Geneva, 26Jun 2000 (IPS) -- The opening speeches at the Special Session of the  United Nations General Assembly on social development Monday in Geneva demonstrated broad agreement on the aims of eradicating poverty, unemployment and social exclusion.

But once the debate got underway, the long-standing differences between the industrialised North and developing South wasted no time in reappearing.

The discrepancies were immediately apparent in Working Group I, which is discussing formulas for putting into practice the most politically sensitive commitments assumed at the 1995 World Summit for Social Development in Copenhagen.

The clause that triggered the most heated debate at the working group’s first session referred to the development of “guidelines on sound principles and good practices in social policy.”

The countries of the developing South expressed their fear that underpinning the proposal was an attempt at setting conditions in social areas.

The draft document under debate proposed that the guidelines be used “in the development of all social and economic policies of national Governments, international financial institutions and other relevant international institutions.”

The working group also discussed a clause that declared “peace and security and full respect for all human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the right to development” as “crucial for social development.”

But the touchiest issue referred to the inclusion of “the various religious and ethnic values and cultural backgrounds” as “crucial for social development” as well.

The Canadian delegation urged that the term “values” be replaced, while the European Union and Turkey demanded that the entire clause be eliminated.

The countries of the industrialised North refused to accept any reference to “religious and ethnic values” due to problems with minorities and religious denominations in several nations, said a source close to the working group. But that difference could be surmounted by mentioning “religious and ethnic diversity” instead of “values,” he added.

Despite the discrepancies, the chairperson of the working group, Chilean diplomat Christian Maquieira, said he felt the atmosphere was positive on the first day of work.

Maquieira said that although the group had been presented with a number of serious problems, the delegates fully intended to resolve them.

Working Group II, presided over by Dutch diplomat Koos Richelle, is discussing the commitments adopted in Copenhagen that refer to questions linked more closely to the social and humanitarian aspects of development.

British trade unionist Bill Brett said he was “disappointed by the way the committee goes around and around and around the same point, making no progress.”

Brett, the chairperson of the bloc of workers in the International Labour Organisation (ILO), said that “for the moment” Working Group II was “organizing about how to describe children in conflicts. They spent 45 minutes” debating without coming up with an agreement on terminology, he complained.

In Working Group I, an initiative sponsored by Indonesia to include a requisite that social policies must be “consistent” with the concept of national unity failed to prosper. The Group of 77 (G-77), to which Indonesia belongs, did not endorse the proposal because it was presented without previous consultation.

The Special Session of the General Assembly, “Copenhagen Plus Five”, was inaugurated Monday in this Swiss city by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who underlined that “social and economic welfare are not separate concepts.”

The chairperson of the General Assembly session, Namibian Foreign Relations Minister Theo-Ben Gurirab, said “the main challenge facing humankind today is represented by the awesome force of globalisation.  What the world actually needs is globalisation with a head, a heart and a human face.”

Maquieira, also the chairperson of the Special Session’s preparatory committee, added a sense of urgency to those sentiments, pointing out that the United Nations found itself at a crossroads, and that the path to be taken towards social development would be charted at this week’s gathering.

Referring to the ministerial conference of the World Trade Organisation late last year, he said “the message of Seattle was not only a challenge from the street addressed to the Bretton Woods institutions.  In a way, it was also a challenge to the UN itself to re-prove its relevance.”

The draft of the final declaration, which sets forth proposals for making good on the commitments assumed five years ago in Copenhagen, reflects the same contradictory positions that habitually divide the two blocs of countries in international fora.

The bloc of developing nations, represented by the G-77 -- currently presided over by Nigeria—continues to demand debt relief, particularly for medium and low-income countries; an increase in development aid from foreign donors; and market access for its exports.

The countries of the North, on the other hand, want to condition all commitments to the fight against poverty on respect for the principles of good governance and effective social policy practices.

The industrialised nations are pushing for greater participation by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, as well as the application of sanctions in case the basic principles are violated.

The General Assembly, meeting through Friday, has drawn 1,047 delegates, 487 representatives of NGOs, and 245 accredited reporters.-SUNS4696

 


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