Highlights from Friday 30 June

The ENB summary issue of the UGASS will be available Monday 3 July

Chair Maquieira met with delegates throughout the day on Friday in informal consultations to resolve outstanding paragraphs and negotiations on the Political Declaration met into the early morning hours..Throughout the day on Friday, Chair Maquieira held closed informal consultations with delegates. In the morning, the group cleared approximately 7 paragraphs. As the group grew and rooms changed to accommodate the growing number of people in the negotiations, progress reportedly slowed. Chair Maquieira then held informals in his office with heads of delegations to try to reach consensus on outstanding paragraphs. He reported back to the an informal COW at approximately 10:00 pm to announce agreements reached in the informals: 1 bis--pending, 16 (c)--delete reference to the Global Compact; 17--delete; 66 bis--delete; 97--delete parentheses; 112 (c)--use language on ODA from Beijing; amendments to the package of paragraphs 38 (a)--"making continuing efforts toward ratification", 40--delete "and promote" and 47--"strongly consider"; 39--delete; 39 ter settled; 69--no agreement; 116--agreed; 119--delete; and 124--deleted. Chair Asadi then took over negotiations of the Political Declaration and presented proposals on the remaining outstanding paragraphs. Some delegates objected to some of the proposals and the group broke into informals at approximately 11:00pm and met into the early morning hours. During the Special Session, the General Assembly heard 181 statements from: 8 Heads of State; 7 Vice-Presidents; 1 Crown Prince; 11 Heads of Government; 11 Deputy Prime Ministers; 11 Deputy Prime Ministers; 78 Ministers; 18 Vice-Ministers; 26 Chairpersons of delegations; 2 nonmember States; 10 observers; and 9 NGOs. Plenary statements can be found on the Internet at: http://www.unog.ch/ga2000/socialsummit/speeches/speeches.htm.

Photo on right: Chair Cristian Maquieira, and John Langmore, Director, Division for Social Policy, DESA, during the informal consultations; Left: Chair Bagher Asadi

Click here for the updated version of Part III on Further Initiatives

See below for coverage of the NGO Press Conference, including photos and RealAudio

See below to listen to Nigerian President Olusbgun Obasanjo's statement to Plenary

Negotiations: Informal Negotiations led by Chair Maquieira continued throughout the day

Working Group III Chair Bagher Asadi with John Langmore, Director, Division for Social Policy, DESA

Statement from Nigerian President Olusbgun Obasanjo to the General Assembly

Press Conference with NGO Caucuses: NGO's first assessment of the possible outcome to Geneva 2000

Jocelyn Dow, Women's Environment and Development Organization (WEDO) and Women's Caucus (left), said the Special Session was an important benchmark for assessing progress made since Copenhagen. She said the downside of globalization has had a profound effect on reaching targets, and lamented the shifting of meeting targets to 2015. She emphasized a positive relationship between NGOs and noted and Chair Maquieira. Joy Kennedy, Ecumenical Team, Anglican Church in Canada/Canadian Council of Churches stressed the importance of mechanisms to monitor the impact of globalization on women and lamented debt cancellation still has strings attached. Roberto Bissio, Social Watch and Development Caucus (right) said it was important that the issue of globalization and other issues were being discussed at the UN level and not resolved in the fora where they are usually resolved, such as the G-7, the WTO and the international financial institutions.

Click here for ENB's coverage of the informals, which includes the Summary Report of WSSD+5 Informal Consultations held from 17-23 May 2000 (also in PDF and Text formats)

Click here for ENB coverage of the second PrepCom held 3-14 April in New York.

The results of the consultations can be found in the versions dated 23 May of the two main negotiation documents:
L5 Rev.3 (Part I), as of 23 May 2000, 4:15 pm - Draft political declaration to be adopted in Geneva. Also available in MS Word version.
L.5/Rev.3 (Part III), as of 23 May 2000, 1:00 PM - Further actions and initiatives to implement the commitments made at the Summit. Also available in MS Word version

Secretariat web site for the Special Session, which includes information on the speakers list, agenda and programme, Chairman's panels, practical information and latest news

The Geneva 2000 Forum, held in conjunction with the Special Session, will be a platform for sharing experiences through panels, discussions, exhibitions, video, etc., with new and innovative approaches in social and economic development policies and activities, and provide a fertile ground for new ideas. The Forum is organized and hosted by the Government of Switzerland. No less than 150 side events are being planned as part of the Geneva 2000 Forum.