PHA-Exchange> WSSD and Health issues : 10 words hold up an agreement at summit - (News-clip from Internatioanl Herald Tribune)

[UNNIKRISHNAN P V (Dr)]

      10 words hold up an agreement at summit 
     
     Barry James International Herald Tribune  
 
JOHANNESBURG An unexpected dispute over religion and human rights - and especially issues affecting the treatment of women - threatened Tuesday to derail the UN World Summit on Sustainable Development, conference sources said. 
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Agreement on just 10 words proposed by Canada stood in the way of an action plan on environmental and developmental issues that organizers described as a successful program for implementation but activists dismissed as inadequate. 
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The dispute at least briefly overshadowed the announcement by Russia that it expected to ratify the Kyoto pact on global warming soon. Moscow's signature virtually ensures that the pact will take effect. 
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Negotiators worked into the night to resolve the clash over a clause that would commit governments to "strengthen the capacity of health care systems to deliver health services to all" in a manner "consistent with national laws and cultural and religious values." 
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Judging this to place too much weight on religion and not enough on basic human rights, the Canadian delegation, strongly supported by South Africa, the European Union and Mexico, called for the addition of the words "and in conformity with all human rights and fundamental freedoms." 
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"Women's rights are human rights," said the South African foreign affairs minister, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma. 
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Speaking on condition of anonymity, sources within the conference seeking to resolve the issue said the U.S. delegation objected to the word "services" because it could be interpreted to mean abortion. 
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Conferences sources said the Canadians were under heavy pressure to accept moving the amendment to a paragraph referring to women's rights in more general terms. 
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Some delegates argued that without a reference to human rights, countries that favor boy babies, such as China, could justify withholding health care to girls. 
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The sources said that if the Canadian proposal were rejected, it would mark a step backward from language adopted at the UN General Assembly meeting on children as recently as May. 
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The European Union earlier dropped its demand for a timetable for the replacement of fossil fuels with renewable forms of energy, removing another important roadblock to an agreement. 
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An EU spokesman said the Union was outflanked by a coalition of oil interests that included the United States, Japan, Middle East petroleum producers and many developing countries that want to put economic progress ahead of protecting the environment. 
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"This is not what we wanted, but it is not a total disaster," the spokesman said, noting that the final document would include a strong call for renewable energy, even if it set no targets. 
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Delegates were heartened as Russia's prime minister, Mikhail Kasyanov, said Moscow might ratify the Kyoto protocol on global warming this year. Moscow's signature would bring the agreement into effect without the participation of the United States, which has rejected it as damaging to its economy. 
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In all, a record 190 countries were represented at the meeting. Colin Powell, the U.S. secretary of state, was to speak for the United States on Wednesday in the absence of President George W. Bush. Delegates said they expected Powell to place emphasis on possible war with Iraq during bilateral meetings with other countries. 
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Nitin Desai, secretary-general of the conference, said the summit was intended to create a sense of urgency about tackling the problems of the environment and development that have worsened since the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro 10 years ago. 
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"I think we have succeeded in creating a sense that we will act now and not at some time in the future," Desai said, adding that regional groupings could follow specific targets on energy. "The hooks are there, although we would have liked them stronger." 
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Despite the lack of a timetable on energy, Desai said the implementation plan would express a commitment by all countries to switch to the more efficient use of carbon fuels and to renewable forms of energy. But recognizing that the plan would not be approved until the health issue was decided, Desai remarked, "It is not over until it is over." 
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Anna Kajumulo Tibaijuka, executive director of the UN Habitat program on urban issues, said that despite the lack of targets and timetables, the conference had forged "a new consensus that would take hold over time. As a consensus-building forum, I think it has helped us put these issues on the agenda and put pressure on those still not convinced. But it is an incremental process." 
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Although the implementation plan calls for "a substantial increase" in renewable energy such as solar, wind or water power, "The Americans, Saudis and Japanese have got what they wanted," said Steve Sawyer, climate policy director of Greenpeace. 
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Several other activists assailed the conference as an inadequate response to the mounting problems of poverty and environmental degradation. 
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"It just shows a lack of courage," said Tim Carmichael, executive director of the California-based Coalition for Clean Air. "But I am getting inspiration from the nongovernmental environment organizations and local governments here. That is where the energy is." 
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The World Wildlife Fund said the conference should be renamed "The World Summit of Shameful Deals" because it had "failed dramatically to take action needed to reduce the patterns of unsustainable production and consumption that are impoverishing our planet and the people who live on it." 
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Claude Martin, the organization's director-general said, "Apart from some limited commitments to protect our oceans and fish stocks and provide sanitation, the summit will do almost nothing to help reduce our damaging global footprint." 


News-clip forwarded by:

Dr. Unnikrishnan PV
Co-ordinator: Emergencies & Humanitarian Action, OXFAM INDIA
E-mail: unnikru at yahoo.com 
Mobile: 91 (0) 98450 91319
 
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