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Africa: Civil Society NAM Statement, 2
Africa: Civil Society NAM Statement, 2
Date distributed (ymd): 980908
Document reposted by APIC
+++++++++++++++++++++Document Profile+++++++++++++++++++++
Region: Continent-Wide
Issue Areas: +political/rights+ +economy/development+ +security/peace+
Summary Contents:
This posting and the previous one contain the declaration from a meeting
of civil society groups gathered preceding the 12th Non-Aligned Summit
in Durban, South Africa. The 400K official statement by the governments
gathered at the Summit can be found at the South African government web
site (http://www.nam.gov.za/finaldocument.html).
+++++++++++++++++end profile++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
For more information contact:
The Foundation for Global Dialogue
PO Box 32571 Braamfontein
Johannesburg, South Africa 2017
Tel: 27-11-339-6585; Fax: 27-11-339-6616
E-mail: fgd@icon.co.za
Web: http://sn.apc.org/fgd
(continued from part 1)
SOUTH-SOUTH CO-OPERATION AND SOLIDARITY
Noting that:
NAM is a movement not an organisation with a permanent secretariat,
and it is therefore unable to enforce its decisions,
South-South co-operation has been a principle since the Bandung Conference
but its successes have been limited, eg. to solidarity in the United Nations
General Assembly,
The principle of South-South solidarity is an excellent one to deal
with the impact of globalisation,
The North is using human rights issues to extract concessions in multilateral
trade agreements.
The Conference calls on the NAM and its member states to:
Develop a framework for regional co-operation vis-a-vis the global economy.
Work together to promote transfer of technology to each other.
Promote the principle of beneficiation within the South of its members'
natural resources.
Engage the North in debate on policies before the G8 meetings.
Be sensitive to the impact on regional economies of North-South trade
agreements, for example, the impact on Southern Africa of an EU-South Africa
trade agreement.
Strengthen regional economic bodies such as the Southern African Development
Community, Southern Common Market, Economic Community of West African States,
Association of South East Asian Nations, South Asian Association for Regional
Cooperation and the Arab Maghreb Union to mobilise global economic change.
Struggle for reform of multilateral organisations.
Address the issue of North-South cooperation jointly.
Identify and oppose laws which impose extra-territoriality on the South,
for example the United States' Helms-Burton law.
Debate and seek parliamentary mandates prior to settling NAM declarations.
Promote the formation of people-to-people solidarity within and between
NAM countries.
Defend human rights everywhere whenever they are violated.
Calls on CSOs to:
Adopt appropriate oppositional or co-operative roles when engaging NAM
member governments.
Educate themselves better on the political and technical aspects of
South-South co-operation so as to be better able to take informed positions.
Learn and know our own history for effective participation and building
people-to-people solidarity.
Establish a permanent committee focussed on the principled issues of
South-South co-operation and NAM.
Resolve to hold parallel summits to each NAM Conference, comprising
NGOs from the NAM member countries.
Campaign in NAM countries on treaties and conventions agreed in international
fora and to challenge NAM member governments when they do not ratify such
agreements.
State their opposition to unilateral and selective sanctions against
NAM member countries such as Cuba, Iraq and Libya.
Ensure that the benefits from South-South co-operation are visible in
the areas of gender, environment, children, and human rights.
THE CHALLENGE OF BUILDING PEACE IN A CHANGING WORLD ORDER
Many, if not most, of the political conflicts arising in the world today
take on a regional or international character even if they begin at the
local or national level. This is due to the involvement of other countries
in providing arms or funds or to the impact on neighbouring countries due
to refugees crossing borders. Some conflicts are also due to international
economic interests, eg. countries or companies protecting investments in
contested zones, or to conflict fuelled by groups competing for control
of scarce resources. The economic priorities dictated by globalisation
have direct consequences in the violation of human rights. Peacekeeping
and building challenges have therefore become more complex and are not
being adequately dealt with by existing fora and institutions.
UNITED NATIONS REFORM
The Conference calls on the NAM and its member states to:
Reaffirm the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
as well as their effective implementation, and if the Charter is to be
reviewed, a new basis for representation which involves direct inputs from
society be contemplated.
Call for the Bretton Woods institutions to be brought under the authority
of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) as mandated in the UN Charter.
Simultaneously, NAM should call for the strengthening and democratising
of the UN's social and economic agencies. The encroachment by the Bretton
Woods institutions and the WTO on these agencies and their spheres of influence
should be stopped immediately.
Promote both the full democratisation of the United Nations and the
full democratisation of member states.
Call for the democratisation of the Security Council by (1) eliminating
the veto, (2) all members being democratically elected, and (3) broader
democratic geographical representation.
Call for human and environmental rights to be incorporated into all
aspects of United Nations activity especially gender, economic, social
and environmental rights now and in any review process of the UN.
Call for civil society participation to be actively facilitated and
promoted especially in terms of the Secretary General's proposed Millennium
Assembly in the Year 2000.
Ensure that Southern CSOs are empowered to obtain accredited access
to both the UN and the NAM including the right to make presentations and/or
interventions, and NAM should support such CSO accreditation.
Call on the United States and other states who do not pay their United
Nations dues to do so in full and on time.
Condemn the refusal of some states to sign the Treaty on the Creation
of an International Criminal Court.
Call for the UN headquarters to be moved from New York to enhance its
symbolic and strategic significance.
PEACEKEEPING AND PEACE BUILDING
Noting that:
The peace and security crisis in the Great Lakes and the bombings in
East Africa and counter-bombings in Sudan and Afghanistan were seen as
underlining the need for NAM to give priority to peacekeeping and peace-building,
The tendency for current conflicts to involve children as soldiers --
in some cases by abduction and force -- was highlighted as a serious human
rights, conflict resolution and peace issue,
The need for NAM governments to develop guidelines which contextualise
the principles of non-intervention and national sovereignty in light of
intra-state and regional conflicts that compel external intervention through
humanitarian and peace initiatives because of their wider regional and
international destabilising implications,
This Conference supports what has been resolved at NAM summits to date
regarding peacekeeping and conflict resolution, but stresses the need for
member governments and NAM as a whole to initiate specific actions to implement
past resolutions regarding early warning systems, preventive diplomacy,
mediation, conflict management and resolution.
The Conference calls on the NAM and its member states to:
Reaffirm the regional and sub-regional competencies of organisations
like Organisation for African Unity, the South African Development Community,
the Economic Community of West African States and Association of South
East Asian States to implement peacekeeping and conflict resolution within
the framework of the United Nations Charter.
And in particular South Africa, as the chair of NAM over the next three
years, to develop a focused strategy for working with other NAM governments
in implementing the NAM agenda.
Inspire an international campaign within the NAM member states and the
North against the use of child soldiers and give priority to UN resolutions
opposing the use of children in conflicts and support amended Resolution
2 of the Child Rights Convention.
Give priority to conflict resolution in the Middle East, Kashmir and
the Great Lakes and surrounding countries -- flashpoints of conflict that
threaten destabilisation beyond these specific localities of conflict.
Regulate and set norms for multinational corporations operating in their
countries against lending financial or other support to rival forces in
an internal conflict.
Call on CSOs to:
Establish a permanent NAM/CSO committee to facilitate and manage networking
among NAM CSOs regarding the issues and recommendations emerging from this
conference.
SMALL ARMS
Noting that:
The proliferation and use of small arms in NAM states and regions is
of grave concern and an ongoing source of conflict and instability,
Most illegal arms have their origins in the legal arms trade,
Despite NAM governments' concerns the problem of small arms are being
exacerbated by the continuing influxes of weapons into our countries and
regions,
The proliferation and use of small arms contributes to poverty and economic
marginalisation,
Militarisation does not resolve conflicts, and demobilisation and poverty
alleviation programmes are more effective means of conflict resolution.
However, the numerous peacekeeping and demobilisation efforts in NAM states
and regions have not adequately addressed the proliferation of small arms.
The Conference calls on the NAM and its member states to:
Call for the establishment and strengthening of transparent national
and regional arms registers, and call on the United Nations to expand the
UN Arms Register to include all types of small arms.
Support increased bilateral and multilateral agreements and mechanisms
within and between NAM states to address small arms proliferation and trafficking.
Support the implementation of national and regional projects that aim
at (1) siphoning small arms out of our communities, and (2) addressing
socio-economic priorities.
Initiate peacekeeping operations that aim to (1) comprehensively disarm
combatants, (2) focus on the provision of policing services after the completion
of the disarming process, and (3) increase resources and social programmes
for demobilised soldiers.
Calls on CSOs to:
Support the proposed International Campaign on Small Arms.
ON LANDMINES PROLIFERATION:
Noting that:
Landmines are an abhorrent and indiscriminate weapon posing a daily
threat to humanity, to sustainable economic and social development, and
to environmental conservation, and they perpetuate poverty especially among
the rural poor and women in NAM member states,
The recently concluded Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling,
Production and Transfer of Anti-personnel Mines and on their Destruction
is the best means of achieving an end to the disastrous humanitarian consequences
of landmines,
74 NAM member states (i.e. 65%) have so far signed the Convention,
This CSO Conference, however, expresses its deep concern that current
language in the draft NAM declaration is contrary to the historic role
of individual NAM member countries who together with the International
Campaign to Ban Landmines developed a new way of doing diplomacy (the Ottawa
process) -- civil society and like-minded governments working together
-- and who have accepted the need to put an end to use of this inhumane
weapon,
We reject outright the notion that national security interests outweigh
the negative humanitarian consequences of the continued production and
use of anti-personnel landmines,
We are disturbed to learn that mines continue to be laid in several
NAM states, including Angola, India, Guinea and Sri Lanka by government
troops, opposition forces or criminals, and that some NAM countries such
as Egypt, India, Pakistan, Iran and Iraq continue to produce anti-personnel
landmines.
The Conference calls on the NAM and its member states to:
Endorse unequivocally the call for a total and immediate ban on anti-personnel
landmines.
Ratify as soon as possible the Convention on the Prohibition on the
Use, Production, Stockpiling and Transfer of Anti-personnel Landmines and
on their Destruction if they have signed this Convention.
Express their commitment to a mine-free world by signing the Convention
on the Prohibition on the Use, Production, Stockpiling and Transfer of
Anti-personnel Landmines and on their Destruction if they have not already
done so.
Increase greatly resources for mine clearance and victim assistance.
Divert a percentage of military budgets for mine action and call on
donor countries to primarily use military budgets rather than diverting
funds from development aid.
This CSO Conference endorses the Convention and calls on CSOs to:
Fully support the need for a call for (1) increased resources for the
rapid demining of affected areas, (2) increased resources for the socio-economic
reintegration of mine victims and survivors, and (3) the Treaty's implementation
to be monitored by civil society globally, regionally and nationally.
Support the view that these increased resources must not be taken from
development aid budgets but should be primarily derived from defence budgets.
DISARMAMENT
Noting that:
The nuclear arms race cements existing power disparities and wastes
huge resources to the detriment of the poor,
South Africa, the current NAM chair, has set an example by giving up
their nuclear capability. This can serve as an encouragement to the other
NAM members to follow suit,
The majority of the population of the South are the victims of the global
arms race and a pervasive culture of violence,
The need for a decisive programme for the closure and conversion of
the arms industry (including retraining of workers).
The Conference calls on the NAM and its member states to:
Eliminate completely all nuclear weapons by the year 2005.
Sign and ratify the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the Comprehensive
Test Ban Treaty immediately, if they have not done so already.
Sign and ratify the Convention on Biological Weapons immediately, if
they have not done so already.
Facilitate and take responsibility for the establishment of an international
system of inspection and verification for nuclear and chemical and biological
weapons.
Take the necessary initiatives to formulate and implement the decisive
and rapid reduction of conventional arms. The final aim must be total disarmament.
To ensure this, NAM member states should further develop instruments of
peaceful resolution of conflicts, such as confidence-building measures
and dialogue.
Implement a strict code of conduct not to export arms to countries in
conflict regions, countries which violate the human rights of their people,
and countries where governments or non-government militias recruit or abduct
children for use as soldiers, if they are engaged in arms exports. NAM
should adopt such a code of conduct to be binding for all its members.
Give annual progress reports on all of these measures for the reduction
of conventional arms.
MOVEMENT OF PEOPLE
Noting that:
The global population movement is in the main a result of economic and
violent destabilisation in various regions,
Economic and gender oppression also lead to traffic in women and children
with no serious opposition from governments of countries involved, although
this impacts negatively on recipient countries,
All NAM positions have largely dealt with South/North population movements
but the majority of the population migration is in the South,
Stringent emigration laws and xenophobia are not only experienced in
the North but also in the South,
The transnational prostitution of young girls / women and child labour
is increasing in the NAM states,
Not all NAM countries are open to input from civil society and many
therefore lack civil society input in resolving issues around migration,
internally displaced people and asylum seekers,
The migration strategies of the North might not be applicable in the
South.
The Conference calls on the NAM and its member states to:
Refocus attention on the movement of people between countries of the
South and not to use the cloak of national sovereignty to avoid addressing
root causes of this migration.
Uphold regional and international instruments on the movement of people
and give effect to their implementation, monitoring and to ensure that
their national laws conform to these instruments.
Address the root causes of involuntary population movements through
sustainable development and viable environmental regimes which are linked
to human security and democratisation. Civil society needs to be involved
in addressing these root causes, and in assisting in tackling the negative
impacts of migration. To this end, NAM should form partnerships with different
social movements.
Calls on CSOs to:
Develop strategies that address the issue of migration in the South.
This material is being reposted for wider distribution by the Africa
Policy Information Center (APIC), the educational affiliate of the Washington
Office on Africa. APIC's primary objective is to widen the policy debate
in the United States around African issues and the U.S. role in Africa,
by concentrating on providing accessible policy-relevant information and
analysis usable by a wide range of groups individuals.
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