NAM urged to go beyond traditional issues

21 Feb 2003 (Kuala Lumpur)

By Chee Yoke Heong, Third World Network

The 114-member Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) was urged to adopt issues of concern to its member countries that are not currently part of the  agenda of the grouping in order that it remain relevant.

“NAM must go beyond its traditional concern. It must address a wide range of issues of vital importance to its members. It must take a sensible and hardnosed approach to resolving global problems, such as the effects of globalization on developing countries, the structure of the international system, reform of the international financial architecture, the international trade regime, external debt,. the threat of terrorism, poverty, South-south cooperation and dangerous diseases such as HIV/AIDS,” said the Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi at the opening of the ministerial meeting today.

Echoing the views of many delegates who spoke on the sidelines of the summit, the minister noted that the post-cold war world has created a unipolar world that is threatening multilateralism and said that NAM has a duty to change this world order and to ensure the continued primacy of the multilateral process” in international affairs.

As one approach towards achieving it, he called on members to forge alliances with those who are committed to multilateralism such as the European Union while also to coordinate more closely with its sister organization of the South, the G77.

He added that having a total number of 114 members, about two-thirds of the membership of the UN, NAM has the political and moral legitimacy to speak on behalf of the developing countries but said that numbers alone will be meaningless if NAM is unable to speak and act in unison.

In the same session, a warning that the Bandung principles (setting the vision of the NAM that were cristalised at a conference held at and named after the city in Indonesia in 1955????) are under threat.

“Respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all nations; equality of all races and equality of all nations large and small; and the settlement of all international disputes by peaceful means in conformity with the UN Charter are at risk,” said the South African Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nkosazana Clarice Dlaminizuma in handing over the chairmanship of the NAM to Malaysia.

She said that though the world has changed, ie. the demise of the Cold War and the inequity generated by the process of globalization, many problems that were faced by the founders of the movement remain and continue to pose serious challenges to the grouping. For instance, the majority if the homeless, the sick, the illiterate and the unskilled of the world are citizens of NAM while the highly indebted nations are all members of NAM.

Joining the chorus on the call for the upholding of multilateralism, she said NAM ‘must assert the centrality of the UN’ in settling matters such as the situation of Iraqi, as ‘multilateralism is critical for our very survival,’ adding that attention and energies should be dedicated to ensure the full implementation of the goals set out in the Millennium Declaration and the outcomes of conclusions of the World Conference against Racism, the Financing for Development conference, the Doha Development Round and the World Summit on Sustainable Development.

The ministerial level meeting starts today during which foreign ministers from the representing countries will divide themselves into four working groups to deliberate on the summit’s theme of revitalization and are also expected to engage in bilateral talks. Also expected to be on the discussion table is the question of the setting up of a permanent secretariat for NAM which Malaysia is said is likely to raise. It has been a matter that is not on the official NAM agenda but discussed constantly on the sidelines but because of the differing views on it, members have not come to an agreement about its formation.

Meanwhile, Senior Officials of the Non-Aligned Meeting (NAM) ended the second day of discussions on Friday with the Economic and Social committee having cleared most of the paragraphs of the draft Final Document pertaining to it while the Political Committee though has made much progress, still has before it a number of issues such as the situation in Iraq, that need to be ironed out, the Malaysia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Syed Hamid Albar said at a briefing.

Those issues in the draft Final Document that need consensus to be formed include matters pertaining to the review of the international situation, the role of the non-aligned movement, the paragraph on the strengthening and restructuring the movement, the democratization of the UN, financial situation of the UN, post-conflict peace building activities and matters pertaining to the right to self-determinism and decolonization, disarmament and international security.

If necessary, the committee will continue working on the Final Document and to come to a consensus on those outstanding issues until the meeting of the Head of State and Government next week to finalise the document.

The Final Document will represent the positions of the NAM members on a wide ranging set of issues that covers politics, international relations, economic, social and environment and development.

According to a high-ranking official who is the leader of his delegation for the talks in the Political Committee, the issue of Palestine, Iraq and disarmament ran into difficulties with many outstanding sticking points due to the diverse views and perspectives of delegates, adding that difficulties were also faced in discussions on terrorism while the meeting of South Asian countries were embroiled over the issue of Kashmir which Pakistan wanted it to be included in the talks but that was rejected by India.

It is expected that countries will call for the condemnation of the use of the threat of armed forces against a member country in the name of combating terrorism. The Palestinian issue, which is a long standing matter that NAM has been deliberating over the years, will continue to receive support from member states for the establishment of an independent State of Palestine, according to a source.

On the economics front, delegates continued to discuss long-standing issues that are of concern to NAM members that has and continue to remain on the movement’s agenda, according to a delegate.

Officials discussed the need for a reform of the international financial architecture to ensure that it is democratic and promote the effective participation of developing countries in the rules setting and decision-making of the financial system as well as touches on the issues of greater transparency and openness in the international financial system, he said.

On the issue of sustainable development there was a call to developing countries to meet their commitments according to the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, he added.

In view of the financial and economic crisis that hit a number of developing countries in recent years, the senior officials are expected to discuss the need to have mechanisms in place that will prevent such occurances and on how to protect countries from the adverse impact of future financial crises.