ENB:10:42
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MAIN COMMITTEE - AFTERNOON
The Main Committee heard comments from NGO delegates and heads of UN agencies during an afternoon session. Bella Abzug (Womens' Environment and Development Organization) said that the Women's Caucus and NGOs will ensure that governments read and implement the Summit Declaration. Dirk Jarre (International Council on Social Welfare) stated that the new language articulated by the Summit may lead to a new culture of shared resources, opportunities, power and responsibilities. Fatoumata Sire Diakite (African Caucus) called for upgrading African expertise and technologies and attention to the cultural dimension of development. Roberto Bissio (Development Caucus) stated that the poor do not want help, they want work. Max van den Berg (NOVIB) noted that social elements of development are on the international agenda and called for greater governmental accountability. Pauline Cantwell (Peace Caucus) stressed the need to clear land mines and halt their production and sale. Kandeh Yilla (International Organization of Free Trade Unions) stated that trade unions on all continents will ask their governments to translate the Summit into tangible results, including resource commitments. Jan Birket-Smith (organizer of the NGO Forum) stated that movements toward selfishness, xenophobia, racism and fear will be substituted with freedom of the individual and the family and by solidarity between people. Peggy Antrobus (DAWN) said that the realization of a new vision of development requires the transformation of gender relations.
Lalita Balakrisnan (Forum for Energy and Development) noted the need to integrate environmental and social development and encouraged technology transfer that includes knowledge transfer and the use of indigenous knowledge. Ellis Envall (International Federation of Social Workers) called for national strategies to contain specific targets related to food, health, social services, family rights and employment. James Gustave Speth (UNDP Administrator) stated that UNDP can deliver a country-driven response in those countries in which it works, and promised to support implementation as a primary objective.
Francisco Vio Grossi (Peoples' Alliance for Social Development) expressed concern that the root causes of social problems are not dealt with in the Summit documents. Federico Mayor (UNESCO Secretary-General) said that UNESCO, in cooperation with WHO, other partners of the UN system, and NGOs, will promote activities to achieve social justice and to counter social exclusion. Nafis Sadik (UNFPA Executive-Director) stated that Commitment 6 gives attention to gender disparity, one of the principle focuses of the Cairo Programme of Action. Carol Lubin (International Federation of Settlements and Neighborhood Centers) said that NGOs should have more specific roles in follow-up, as contractors with specialized agencies. Richard Jolly (UNICEF Acting Executive-Director) stressed: the importance of national strategies for development; the need to build alliances for implementation; and the importance of serious follow-up and monitoring. Ibrahim Samba (WHO Regional Director for Africa) said that he took seriously the challenge of NGOs to plan together with UN agencies to alleviate the plight of the unfortunate. Carlos Fortin (UNCTAD Secretary-General) noted that, according to UNCTAD's findings, the extent to which the process of international trade liberalization will reduce poverty in the Third World will not be even .5 percent. To close the afternoon session, Amb. Somavía lead delegates in a minute of silence in honor of the late Jim Grant, whose vision made the Summit possible.