Civil Society Reactions to the UN Summit on the Financial and Economic Crisis

In this final issue of the “10 Days of Action” alerts, the following items are covered:

1. Women’s groups react: High Diplomacy and Fragile Consensus,…
2. Scorecard:  Governments Fail the Test
3. Civil Society issue Key Recommendations and Background Document
4. Civil Society Voice Unhappiness with Proposed Solutions for Economic Crisis
5. Strategizing on Next Steps -
• CSO Strategy Session held Saturday, June 27, 2009
• Civil Society Statement at the General Assembly on Monday, June 29th
6. Government reactions to the Outcome Document and Conference
7. In the news

For follow-up on the Economic Crisis, please continue to check www.ffdngo.org website.  Sign up for the Global Social Economy Group list serve at www.ffdngo.org/contact

High Diplomacy and Fragile Consensus Limit UN to Development Cooperation

No Commitments to Reforming the Financial Architecture!!!

Statement Issued by the Women’s Working Group in Financing for Development

The outcome document of the UN Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis and its Impact on Development was formally adopted by member states at yesterday’s final session amidst a sober climate in the General Assembly. Overall, the text opens up possibilities but genuine reforms were not secured. The central role of the United Nations, or the G192, in economic governance nearly vanished!

On the upside, the text contains some progressive language. There are ideas related to financial, structural, and systemic reforms, including debt relief, respect for policy space, right of countries to adopt countercyclical measures, reform of the global reserve system, need for effective regulation and oversight of the financial system, and more balanced trade, to name a few. Women’s rights advocates welcome language that recognizes women as facing “greater income insecurity and increased burdens of family care” (para. 3) and of women and children had been mostly impoverished by the crisis (para. 7). The document further recognizes that responses to the crisis needs to have a gender perspective (para. 10), mitigation measures should take into account gender equality, among others (para. 21), and leadership appointments in the International F inancial Institutions (IFIs) should take regard of gender balance (para. 49).

The big disappointment is the lack of any strong commitment to follow-up. Paragraph 54, for example, simply states: “We invite the General Assembly to establish an ad hoc open-ended working group of the General Assembly to follow-up on the issues contained in this outcome document, and to submit a report on the progress of its work to the General Assembly before the end of the 64th Session.” And, Paragraph 55 is similarly weakly worded, to wit: “We encourage the President of the General Assembly to make the world financial and economic crisis and its impact on development a main theme of the General Debate of the 64th Session of the United Nations General Assembly.” These invitations and encouragements do not provide strong commitment to a way forward.

Furthermore, the consistent reference to a “United Nations Development System” throughout the text represents a disciplining of the UN’s role to a limited arena of humanitarian assistance and development cooperation. This is a clear attempt to shut out the G-192 from the global economic governance system.

Women will continue to demand for economic justice and gender justice in the United Nations!

For more information, see www.ffdngo.org/gender-financing-development

Scorecard:  Governments Fail the Test

At the closing of the UN Conference governments adopted an outcome document reflecting months of negotiations. The following analysis looks at 7 key issues that civil society deems crucial. Although some progress was made on a few issues, the overwhelming majority of outcomes falls far below what is necessary to provide developing countries with the resources and tools they need to deal with the crisis.

Take a look at the entire Scorecard here:
www.ffdngo.org/news/gseg-press-release-26-june-09-civil-society-scorecard-governments-fail-test

Below is a summary of the key scores:

Debt : World Bank estimates 40 countries heading for debt crisis   Score:  2 of 5

Conditionality: Rich countries can borrow and spend billions to stimulate economies and pay for social safety nets. Poor countries are forced to freeze wages and cut social spending    Score:  1 of 5

Tax: Over $500 billion in revenue is lost by developing countries through corporate tax evasion and avoidance     Score:  3 of 5

Additional resources: According to DESA $1 trillion extra is needed to cushion the blow of the crisis to the developing world     Score:  1 of 5

Financial architecture reform: The same institutions that created the crisis are now back in business without sufficient reforms in sight     Score:  2 of 5

Global governance: The global economy must be overseen by a representative and accountable institution     Score:  0 of 5

Follow up to the conference: A strong follow up mechanism is needed to ensure that the outcome document goes beyond just nice words      Score:  2 of 5

Civil Society final Key Recommendations and Background Document

Civil society organizations issue the final version of the Civil Society Background Document and Key Recommendations developed over the past weeks and reviewed at the Parallel Event: Civil Society Forum  earlier this week on Tuesday, June 24th. 

Documents are available in: Arabic English French and Spanish (soon to be uploaded)

Key Recommendations: English French Spanish (soon to be uploaded)

Civil Society Voice Unhappiness with Proposed Solutions for Economic Crisis

After months of negotiations, the United Nations Conference on the Financial and Economic Crisis and its Impact on Development came to a close yesterday, June 26th, 2009. In a final run of advocacy and organizing, civil society organizations expressed their disappointed in the results of the Conference and the official outcome document. In no way did the results of the Conference measure up to the actions needed to address the scale and depth of the economic meltdown, most evident in the jobs crisis, particularly in developing countries.

Read the full article: http://tendays.socialwatch.org/?p=469 

Strategizing on Next Steps  -   CSO Strategy Session:fighting the crisis

Civil society organizations held a strategy meeting today, Saturday, June 27th to do a political assessment of the past few days and identify key issues, processes and actions for civil society in the follow-up process to the UN Conference.  More detailed notes will be circulated. Highlights are below:

Key tasks identified for immediate future work:

• political mapping to continue
• organizations/networks invited to share assessments
• analysis of outcome document vis-à-vis the G20 Communiqué
• continue with affiliate/network list servs yet try to create one focal point for dissemination of information

Key issue areas identified for immediate future work:

• Debt/ conditionality/
• Tax/innovative resources of finance
• Governance reform-UN+/ad hoc panel, open-ended WG/F-up
• Cross-cutting issues:
• Gender
• Labor
• Climate Change

• Other areas discussed - Stiglitz Commission Report, Youth/Children
  

Key opportunities for engagement:

• General Assembly speech by civil society (Monday, June 29th)
• ECOSOC High Level Segment (July)
• G8 Meeting (July, Italy)
• G20 Meeting (Pittsburgh, Sept.)

General Assembly statement by civil society –  Gemma Adaba (ITUC) was selected to present the civil society statement for the UN Conference on Monday, June 29th at the General Assembly.  The statement will use as its foundation the Civil Society Recommendations and Background Document developed at the CSO Forum.

Check out the webcast at:  http://www.un.org/webcast/

Check out:  Government reactions to the Outcome Document and Conference at the final session of the UN Conference http://www.un.org/webcast/archive.htm

In the news

http://www.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUSN26510167._CH_.2400
http://lta.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idLTASIE55P23I20090626 (Spanish version)
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2009/06/2009626195424388692.html
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-06/27/content_11609037.htm
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47380
http://oglobo.globo.com/mundo/mat/2009/06/26/encontro-da-onu-pede-reforma-financeira-eua-criticam-756543323.asp (Spanish)
http://www.finanzas.com/noticias/economia/2009-06-27/179407_compromete-impulsar-polemica-reforma-arquitectura.html
http://www.elfinanciero.com.mx/ElFinanciero/Portal/cfpages/contentmgr.cfm?docId=197862&docTipo=1&orderby=docid&sortby=ASC

Providing analysis of the UN Conference, speakers include:  Gemma Adaba of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC); John Foster of the North-South Institute; Magda Lanuza of the Women’s Working Group on Financing for Development; and Vitalice Meja of the African Forum and Network on Debt and Development (AFRODAD)

Stay tuned:
For follow-up on the Economic Crisis, please continue to check www.ffdngo.org website.  Sign up for the Global Social Economy Group list serve at http://www.ffdngo.org/contact

 

10 Days of Action: Countdown to Commitments (June 16 – 26) was a collaborative effort by organizations and networks advocating for a more just, equitable and sustainable global economy during the UN Conference on the Financial and Economic Crisis and its Impact on Development (June 24-26). Organizations and networks which collaborated include the Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP), Feminist Task Force-GCAP, Social Watch, ITUC, ICAE, ENLACE, Women’s Working Group on Financing for Development, IBON Foundation, NGO Committee on Financing for Development, International Network for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Loretto UN Office, and the major global coalitions of the Global Social Economy Group and the Global Crisis group, among others.

This is the last action alert for the 10 Days of Action.  For information on previous alerts, contact Rosa Lizarde, ENLACE/Feminist Task Force GCAP at 10DaysofAction[at]gmail.com.