Eurostep WeeklyRegular News Update from Eurostep, N° 502 07 April 2008 Strong concerns over progress towards Millennium Development Goals
More than half way toward the target year for the achievement of the UN's Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), 2015, the UN has warned of critical new threats, including skyrocketing food and fuel prices, increasing transportation costs, a decline in development aid and a shortage of health workers. While some progress has been made towards the MDGs, particularly in the provision of health care, many of the recent statistics on world poverty show little progress.
Srgjan Kerim, President of the UN General Assembly, draws attention to UN statistics which show that absolute number of poor in Sub-Saharan Africa is continuing to increase, and is projected to stand at 360 million in 2015. Furthermore, 72 million primary age children are not enrolled in schools, and every year, more than half a million women die in child birth, while 10 million children die before the age of five.
Rises in the price of foodstuffs, including staples such as bread and rice, have exacerbated the problem of hunger in many developing countries, particularly in Africa. This threatens the achievement of MDG 1: reduce by half the proportion of people who suffer from hunger.
This week Development Commissioner Louis Michel claimed that the world’s top donor countries were “failing to stick to their cash commitments to ensure that the world's poorest people can have a better future.” He wrote: “The annual development aid figures for 2007 are way off target. Last year, European official development assistance (ODA) fell from 0.41% to 0.38% of gross national income. In real terms this means that the world's poor were more than €1.7bn worse-off than in 2006. The target figure for 2015, set within the framework of the millennium development goals (MDGs), is 0.7%. Last year was a serious failure.”
Commissioner Michel added that “the European Commission will be proposing, on April 9, new measures on aid volume and efficiency to ensure that we come up with the promised amounts and that we disburse them in a way that improves the lives of the poorest populations.”
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EU Parliament rules ACP countries have the right to renegotiate EPAs
The European Parliament’s legal service has ruled that the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries have the right to renegotiate their interim Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with the EU. However, the European Commission is strongly opposed to the possibility of revising the agreements.
The interim agreements were initialled by 16 ACP countries, including Zimbabwe, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, during the closing weeks of 2007 and came into force on 1 January. However, the negotiation process was criticised by NGOs and ACP governments for being rushed and containing “injurious clauses” which undermine national sovereignty.
Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson has stated his intention that the final EPAs to maintain the provisions contained in the interim agreements, which concern trade in goods. He has rejected all calls for revision of the terms already agreed.
The Parliament’s legal service has concluded that the countries who signed interim EPAs were not granted sufficient time to consider their implications, and should therefore be allowed to renegotiate these agreements. It also states that the Commission has no legal basis for refusing the countries this option, as “nothing in those agreements prohibits the parties from renegotiating certain elements already agreed to in the interim agreement during the on-going negotiations for a final EPA”.
The legal opinion also stresses that Parliament must give its assent to both the interim and the final EPAs before negotiations on them can be formally concluded.
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Polish Parliament clears EU Treaty bill
On Tuesday 1 April, the lower assembly of the Polish Parliament ratified the Lisbon Treaty, putting an end to weeks of wrangling between Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s government and the opposition, led by former Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski and his brother, President Lech Kaczynski. For weeks, the opposition’s calls for additional legal guarantees to protect what they saw as Poland's national interests had threatened to halt the progress of the Treaty, which must be ratified by all 27 Member States in order to enter into force in 2009.
President Lech Kaczynski had argued in a televised address to the nation that the Treaty could open the door the legalisation of gay marriage in Poland, and the restitution of properties lost by Germans after the Polish-German border was redrawn by World War II Allies in 1945.
The ratification process was completed when the Senate approved the Treaty the following day.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso congratulated Poland on its ratification of the Treaty. He released a statement saying: "I am delighted by the vote, which shows that the treaty unites more than it divides and is a subject to common agreement by both the Polish government, the President and among most members of the Parliament as well." "I am convinced that the other member states will follow the example that has been set by Poland and the other six member states which have ratified the Treaty so far."
Poland becomes the seventh Member State to ratify the Lisbon Treaty, after Bulgaria, France, Hungary, Malta, Romania and Slovenia.
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EU Parliament debates annual human rights report
On Tuesday 1 April, MEPs debated the European Parliament’s annual report on the world’s human rights situation. The report, drafted by Italian Liberal MEP Marco Cappato, examines the progress made toward the protection of human rights by the EU and internationally during 2007.
The report gives particular attention to human rights abuses in China, Iran and Russia. It stresses that “despite promises made by the [Chinese] regime with a view to the forthcoming Olympic Games, the situation on the ground regarding human rights has not improved", and brings attention to the fact that China "still carries out the greatest number of executions worldwide". With regard to Iran, the report states that "respect for fundamental rights in Iran, especially freedom of expression and assembly, continued to deteriorate in 2007" and condemns the arrest of thousands of men and women on grounds of "immoral behaviour". With regard to Russia, attention is drawn to the ongoing situation in Chechnya, to the persecution of journalists, human rights defenders and political prisoners and to Russia's resistance to allowing independent election observers.
The report recommends the adoption of Gandhian non-violence as a method for promoting human rights. Explaining this proposal, Cappato said: “This concept does not only mean non violence but it's something active like not collaborating with an authoritarian regime, a hunger strike or the sabotage of violence acts against the population. There are some successful stories like Gandhi, Martin Luther King and the Orange Revolution. I propose to declare 2010 the year of the non-violence in order to help all who fight for democracy and human rights to have the appropriate tools and capacity to allow the most efficient fight in favour of non-violence.”
The report further calls on all EU states that have so far failed to sign certain international human rights conventions to do so as soon as possible. It mentions the Czech Republic as "the only remaining EU Member State not to have ratified the Rome Statute" on the International Criminal Court, and urges Romania to revoke its Bilateral Immunity Agreement with the United States on the ICC.
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Commission launches €80 million fund to boost energy efficiency and renewables in developing countries As part of its strategy for combating climate change, the European Commission has announced the launch of a new Global Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Fund (GEEREF), aimed at encouraging private investments in energy efficient and renewable energy projects in the developing world and in transition economies. Currently renewal energy projects in the developing world struggle to attract private capital. It is hoped that the GEEREF will contribute rectify this situation through providing new risk-sharing and co-financing options. Instead of providing finance directly to projects, the fund will create or develop regional sub-funds. The Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid Louis Michel and Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas, both stressed that: "Developing countries must have access to affordable and clean energy supplies: this is a prerequisite for sustainable development. This fund can foster private investments and become a real source of sustainable development, especially in Africa”. The Commission will start the fund off with €80 million over the next four years. It is expected that total initial funding from public and commercial sources will reach between €150 and 200 million, which should mobilise a further €300 million in risk capital, and possibly as much as €1 billion in future. The fund has already attracted interest from the European Investment Bank (EIB), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and private-sector investors and financial institutions. Sources:
Tsvangira urges “strong action” as Zimbabwe election chaos continues
Eight days after the Presidential elections in Zimbabwe, the electoral commission has still not announced the final results, and calls are mounting for the resignation of President Robert Mugabe.
Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai called for “strong action” from the international community to remove Mugabe. He wrote: “We urge the International Monetary Fund, at its meeting this week, to withhold the £1bn of aid to Zimbabwe unless the defeated ex-president accepts the election results in full and hands over the reins of power. This is also the time for firm diplomacy. Major powers here, such as South Africa, the US and Britain, must act to remove the white-knuckle grip of Mugabe's suicidal reign and oblige him and his minions to retire.”
Unofficial tallies by independent monitors suggest that Tsvangirai won more votes than Mugabe, but not enough to secure the 50% plus one vote required to avoid a run-off election.
Zimbabwe's High Court has announced that it will declare a ruling on Monday concerning the opposition’s request that it order the immediate release of the delayed presidential election results.
Tsvangirai reaffirmed that, if elected, his government would not pursue Mugabe legally through government offices. He stated: “Our agenda is to restore the rule of law and good governance; to face up to our dire health problems, including an HIV-Aids epidemic; to reconstruct our once cutting-edge education system; to bring our abundant farmlands back into health; to tackle rampant inflation and over 70% unemployment; to encourage foreign investment and public works spending; to depoliticise our security services; to stamp out corruption and graft. Every day the new government is denied, these problems each get worse.”
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