5 September 2002: CRINMAIL 407: Special Edition on the World Summit on Sustainable Development - Johannesburg 2002 **************************************************** CRIN will be producing a series of CRINMAILs throughout the duration of this important event and is very keen to receive information about recent publications, including papers, reports, and websites, in addition to news and projects that link the issues discussed at the World Summit on Sustainable Development with children. We would especially like to hear from CRIN members, and other CRINMAIL subscribers, in the South. To contribute, complete the form at the bottom of this document and email us at info@crin.org. Please note that we are unable to respond to emails addressed to crinmail_english@domeus.co.uk **************************************************** - PARTICIPATION: Children's Speech to the World Leaders at the World Summit on Sustainable Development [speech] - WORLD SUMMIT: What Has Been Achieved [news] - CHILDREN: What Happened to the Rio Summit Children? [news] - HEALTH: Earth Summit: Dispute on Abortion Holds up Agreement [news] - HEALTH: Earth Summit Agrees Health Care is Human Right [news] - POVERTY: Poor People Scoff at Grand Ideas Crafted at UN Summit - SOUTHERN AFRICA FAMINE: Death on the Doorstep of the Summit [news] **************************************************** - PARTICIPATION: Children's Speech to the World Leaders at the World Summit on Sustainable Development [speech] [Johannesburg, 2 September 2002] - My Name is Mingyu Liao from China and we are three children from 3 different continents to talk to you about children's concerns for the environment. I would now like to introduce you to Justin Friesen from Canada and Analiz Vergara from Ecuador. We are representatives from the International Children's Conference of the United Nations Environment Programme that took place in Victoria, BC, Canada just over three months ago. More than 400 children from over 80 countries attended the conference. WE all had PLENTY to say, but the number one thing that all delegates were concerned about is that most leaders don't listen. We were just babies when you met 10 years ago in Rio. What we are about to say is basically the same thing you heard then, and many times since. This is because children are close to the ground and to the environment and suffer more from problems in the world. The children of the world are disappointed because too many adults are too interested in money and wealth to take notice of serious problems that affect our future. Think about your children, nieces or nephews and maybe even grandchildren - what kind of world do YOU want for them? Should they not have the same or even better opportunities that you had? Our voices should not go unheard. Today we are gathered here because we want you to listen - to listen to everybody. We need you to put aside your differences. Make those choices that will allow ALL of us to live happily. For the full speech, visit: http://www.unicef.org/exspeeches/02esp19_wssdchildren.htm --------------------------------- - WORLD SUMMIT: What Has Been Achieved [news] After 10 days the World Summit on Sustainable Development in South Africa has come to a close. Countries from around the globe have come up with an action plan. But environmentalists say a huge opportunity to help the poor and save the planet has been lost. The list below are just guidelines and none of the countries are under any obligation to carry out these aims. ? Water They aim to halve (to one billion) the number of people who need clean and safe water. Using clean water will reduce killer diseases such as cholera. Every week, 30,000 children die from illnesses related to a lack of clean water. ? Energy They aim to increase the amount of renewable energy, e.g. wind and wave power, to help save the world's oil resources. This area has been the biggest disappointment to campaigners, who wanted more solid commitment for change. ? Global warming A global warming treaty agreed in 1997 will now come into force because Russia has agreed to it. But the USA is still opting out. ? Endangered species They aim to reduce the number of endangered species that are being killed - with an agreement signed by 2015. This includes a limit on the amount of fish that can be caught. Countries are aiming to reduce fish stocks so fish populations are begin to thrive once again. Some parts of oceans will become specially protected so endangered species have a better chance of recovery. ? Health They aim to stop companies having a copyright on drugs - such as AIDS drugs - which could help poorer countries. ? Poverty They aim to step up a poverty fund made from voluntary donations. But many think this won't be effective, as it isn't being enforced. [source: Children?s BBC. http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/world/newsid_2234000/2234124.stm] ---------------------------------- - CHILDREN: What Happened to the Rio Summit Children? [news] [September 1, 2002] - Their names may mean nothing. Erodo, Kay Kay, Visumzi, Panjy - four unknown children born when world leaders met in Rio de Janeiro a decade ago to draw up resolutions to solve the planet's woes. But as thousands of delegates reconvened in Africa yesterday to try to put right what they failed to achieve in Brazil, the children's stories graphically illustrate the task facing officials deadlocked at the latest Earth Summit. The children were among a group of eight tracked in a United Nations study to measure the effects on their lives since 1992, the year of the earlier summit and their births. The officials in Johannesburg - hurrying around last night with sheaves of documents, earnestly huddling in corners of the convention centre - would do well to study their stories. [source: The Observer. http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldsummit2002/story/0,12264,784347,00.html] ----------------------------- - HEALTH: Earth Summit: Dispute on Abortion Holds up Agreement [news] [4 September 2002] - Ten words proposed by Canada to halt female circumcision and safeguard abortion rights became the final stumbling block to a deal at the Earth Summit. The problem was over a paragraph calling for better health services "consistent with national laws and cultural and religious values", a form of words the United Nations had wrongly recorded as agreed in preliminary negotiations in Bali in June. Some countries feared the wording could endorse the practice of genital mutilation, a practice common in the Horn of Africa. Canada wanted to add the words "and in conformity with all human rights and fundamental freedoms", but the United States, the Vatican and Some Developing Countries said the phrase could allow women to choose abortion in places where it is outlawed. Advocates of the new wording said linking health to human rights could also help to slow the spread of AIDS, because governments would no longer be able to make decisions on contraception on religious grounds alone. [source: The Independent. Visit: http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/story.jsp?story=330254] --------------------------------- - HEALTH: Earth Summit Agrees Health Care is Human Right [news] [4 September, 2002, Johannesburg] - Earth Summit negotiators agreed that a World Trade Organisation treaty on patents should not prevent poor countries from providing medicines for all, a key issue for those that cannot afford costly AIDS drugs. They also agreed that access to health care should be consistent with basic human rights as well as religious and cultural values, a measure that humans rights groups said enshrined women's rights to reproductive health care. [source: Reuters http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20020904/hl_nm/summit_righ ts_dc_1] ------------------------------------ - POVERTY: Poor People Scoff at Grand Ideas Crafted at UN Summit [news] [September 4, 2002, Soweto] - At Mshenguville squatter camp, hope quickly yields to despair over daily struggles to survive. Talk of ending the world's poverty plague prompts derisive laughter or scowls. That's the way life is for the poor ? those still hungry, still trekking to communal taps for water and still dreaming of jobs. That's the way it is in vast swaths of South Africa, away from the neighborhoods of nearby Johannesburg where delegates at the UN development summit ate, drank and squabbled for 10 days over timetables for change. In the end, they took few immediate steps to fight poverty globally beyond stressing the need to help the poor. "The future is already beyond these children," said Zwandinle Mdingi, 57, gesturing to a swarm of children, most in soiled or ragged clothes, as they played on a dirt patch where sewage from neighboring houses often runs. "Now our hope is for their children. Maybe they will have things, like food and jobs. Every year we hear that we will get help. But look at us. That talk is a waste of time." [source: Associated Press. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020905/ap_wo_en_po/world _summit_poverty_plague_1] ------------------------------ - SOUTHERN AFRICA FAMINE: Death on the Doorstep of the Summit [news] As thousands of delegates converge on Johannesburg to discuss the future of sustainable development, almost 13 million people in Southern Africa face severe food shortages and famine. The focus of the UN summit is 'people, planet and prosperity', yet at the same time Johannesburg is the staging post for millions of tonnes of UN food aid. It is difficult to imagine a starker example of failed development than this crisis on the doorstep of the summit. The food crisis has many causes, which vary in magnitude from country to country. Climate, bad governance, HIV/AIDS, unsustainable debt, and collapsing public services have all contributed. However, one major cause of the food crisis is the failure of agricultural policies. This paper asks why, after years of World Bank and IMF designed agricultural sector reforms, do Malawi, Zambia, and Mozambique, face chronic food insecurity. The simple answer is that the international financial institutions designed agricultural reforms for these countries without first carrying out a serious assessment of their likely impact on poverty and food security. Far from improving food security, World Bank and IMF inspired policies have left poor farmers more vulnerable than ever. The paper is available in pdf format at: www.oxfam.org.uk/policy/papers/29doorstep/29doorstep.pdf [source: Oxfam. http://www.oxfam.org.uk/policy/papers/29doorstep/29doorstep.html] **************************************************** The CRINMAIL is an electronic mailing list of the Child Rights Information Network (CRIN). CRIN does not accredit, validate or substantiate any information posted by members to the CRINMAIL. The validity and accuracy of any information is the responsibility of the originator. ****************************************************
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