Source:
NGO Committee for Social Development
This study examines the current situation of CSOs as indicated by responses from 640 civil society organizations worldwide. It also asks what strategies they are undertaking to cope with a drop of revenues and how to strengthen social-service delivery capacities of CSOs during crisis periods. February 2010 (pdf).
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The mandate for the United Nations Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis and its Impact on Development was decided at the International Conference on Financing for Development in Doha in December 2008 (paragraph 79 of the Doha Declaration A/CONF.212/L.1/Rev.1). Negotiations on the ‘modalities’ of the UN Conference began in February and were completed in early April.
After a slight change of date, the conference finally took place on 24-26 June 2009 at the UN Headquarters in New York. Governments agreed to hold the Conference at the 'highest level' (i.e. Heads of States and Heads of Governments), comprising four consecutive thematic roundtables involving participation of other stakeholders, including civil society, and resulting in an intergovernmentally agreed outcome document.
In view of the New York Conference, several civil society organizations produced statements and organized campaigns pushing for leaders to give the due importance to this conference and ensure that its outcome works for the people and planet. “At this critical moment, we must all join our efforts to prevent the global crisis, with its myriad faces, from turning into a social, environmental and humanitarian tragedy,” General Assembly President Miguel D’Escoto said at the start of the Conference.
Civil society organizations (CSO) were seriously disappointed with the result of the Conference and the official outcome document. According to Social Watch, an international network of citizens’ organizations monitoring national, regional and international commitments to eradicate poverty, "In no way do 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." The outcome document did not go beyond an appeal for strong global fiscal stimulus measures, the delivery of aid promises, debt sustainability and additional grants. The necessity for counter-cyclical policies - also in developing countries - is mentioned, but agreements on concrete actions have not been reached.
However, in the opinion of Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz, the outcome was positive since the agreement by all the 192 UN states members acknowledged their global interdependence. "It also demonstrated why it was important to have an inclusive process: the G192 were willing to raise key issues that the internal politics of the G20 may have made too sensitive. For instance, while the G20 focused attention on the role of bank secrecy in tax evasion, the UN agreement highlights corruption."
The Conference established one working group to deal with follow-up on the agreements of the Outcome Document.
The following is a letter of the President of the UN General Assembly on the conference follow-up. It includes a draft resolution on establishing a working group of the
General Assembly to follow-up on the issues contained in the Outcome of the
Conference. (PDF). July 2009.
The top United Nations rights official has joined several of the world body’s independent experts in calling on delegates attending a high-level General Assembly summit to prioritize human rights in formulating a response to the global financial slowdown. 25 June 2009.
The food, environmental and economic crises have challenged civil society organizations and the communities they serve. A broad-based survey, financially supported by the UN, measured the impact of the crises on the operating capacity of CSOs around the world and their expectations as they look ahead.
After months of negotiations, the United Nations Conference on the Financial and Economic Crisis and its Impact on Development closes today, June 26th, 2009. Civil society organizations are seriously disappointed in the result of the Conference and the official outcome document. In no way do 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. 26 June 2009.
The first major conference on the financial and economic crisis to involve all countries ended with rich countries blocking substantive reforms demanded by developing countries. The UN conference did however push key issues up the international agenda, such as the need for a better system of international reserves, and for genuine policy space for developing countries. 26 June 2009.
Today, at the closing of the UN Conference on the Financial and Economic Crisis and its Impact on Development, governments will adopt an outcome document reflecting months of negotiations. The following analysis looks at 7 key issues that civil society deems crucial for the success of the conference. 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. 27 June 2009.
As the current financial and economic crisis deepens, developing countries and many non-governmental organizations [NGOs] are calling for immediate action from the international community to help poorer countries recover from the crisis. 24 June 2009.
The upcoming event was an opportunity of which the world could not afford not to take advantage, General Assembly President Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann said, adding that the Summit of world leaders would be both timely and historic. 15 May, 2009.
Among those organizing around and participating in the Conference was the Women’s Working Group (WWG) on Financing for Development (FfD), an alliance of women’s organizations and networks, of which AWID is a part, that advocates for the advancement of gender equality, women’s empowerment and human rights in FfD-related UN processes. Anne Schoenstein, who attended the conference as part of the Women’s Working Group, shared her thoughts. July 2009.
On June 23, a UN conference focusing on the global economic crisis and its impact on developing countries reached a consensus both about the causes of the downturn and why it was affecting developing countries so badly. It outlined some of the measures that should be considered and established a working group to explore the way forward, possibly under the guidance of a newly established expert group. July 2009.
This UN Conference has been intensively vilified and cleverly manipulated into virtual irrelevancy by rich and powerful UN member states, who at the same time attempted to steer global legitimacy away from the United Nations and toward the Group of Twenty (G20). July 2009.
Last week, something unusual happened: the international community, coming together at the UN to discuss the global financial crisis and its impact on the developing world, reached a consensus on an agreement. June 2009.
During an open dialogue with representatives of civil society, Prof. Joseph Stiglitz, Chair of the Commission of Experts of the President of the UN General Assembly on Reform of the International Monetary and Financial System, detailed many of the recommendations proposed by that Commission and in particular called for a “new intellectual framework” which can lay the basis for a new global financial architecture. 24 June 2009.
That everyone has a stake in financial regulation seems to be a lesson that the poorest countries are not willing to forget easily — even as developed countries that profited from the system try to play up the signs of recovery and quickly get back to the status quo. June 2009
UN conference was convened to find new ways of dealing with the global financial and economic crises and give voice to those most affected by them. But the rich countries have opposed any real change, and the result is an anemic UN document. 25 June 2009.
The United Nations General Assembly is convening a "summit" conference in New York later this month on the World Financial and Economic Crisis and its Impact on Development. The conference, a grand-child of the 2002 Monterrey World Conference on Financing for Development, is the result of pent-up frustrations on the part of many of the 172 countries, deeply affected by the crisis, but left out of the invitation-only G-8 and G-20 "clubs." June 2009.
It is currently impossible to say how this conference is going to end. However, according to the process that led to this conference -with two main experts like D’Estoco and Stiglitz- and to the contents of its negotiation, we can probably say that it will mark a moment in history. June 2009.
Apart from pumping obscene amounts of money into their financial sectors to restore confidence in a broken system, what exactly have industrialised nations done to contain the global financial crisis and make sure it doesn't happen again? June 2009.
This New South Centre paper, authored by the Centre's Special Economic Advisor, Dr Yilmaz Akyuz, deals with the global financial crisis and developing countries. The first part is on what is needed to support the required policy response in developing countries. The second part is on the required reform to the international financial architecture. A summary of policy conclusions and proposals is at the end. June 2009.
Signs of economic recovery should not be an excuse for rich countries to abandon stimulus spending or ignore calls for reform. A UN meeting will not turn its back on economic reality and the world's poor, but who will listen or care? From 24-26 June, the UN will hold an official high-level conference on the World financial and economic crisis. For this meeting the UN has put together an inclusive and rigorous set of analyses and recommendations regarding the cause of the crisis, its impact on the world's poor and what to do about it. June 2009.
Diplomats from the so-called Group of 20 large developed and developing economies criticized U.N. General Assembly President Miguel D'Escoto Brockmann and called the June 24-26 summit a "joke," a "tragedy" and a "waste of time." 9 June 2009.
At the closing of the UN Conference on the Financial and Economic Crisis and its Impact on Development, governments adopted an outcome document reflecting months of negotiations. The following analysis looks at 7 key issues that civil society deemed crucial for the success of the conference. 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. 1 July 2009.
Some Key Points for Member Groups of the Our World Is Not For Sale Network [OWINFS] at the United Nations Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis and its Impact on Development, June 22-24, 2009.
The UN Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis and its Impact on Development, taking place in New York between 24 and 26 June 2009, gathers for the first time all 192 UN member countries to discuss the most pressing issues related to immediate crisis mitigation measures and long-term structural reform of the global economic system. Less inclusive fora, such as the G8 or G20, have so far dealt with the issues of crisis response, leaving those who have been hit hardest - the developing countries - outside the playing field. 25 June 2009.
Roberto Bissio speaks on behalf of civil society at the Roundtable 1 - June 24, 2009 .
Roberto Bissio speaks on behalf of civil society at the Roundtable 1 - June 24, 2009.
In the midst of the global economic crisis, ongoing negotiations at the UN over the Outcome Document for the conference on the Financial and Economic Crisis, June 24-26th, 2009 are betraying age-old power fault lines. Rich, industrialized countries are attempting to underplay the legitimate role of the United Nations in the ongoing process of global economic system reform. June 2009.
A call for structural, sustainable, gender equitable and rights based responses to the global financial and economic crisis. "We call on all Heads of State and Government to constructively engage in the UN Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisisand ensure that the Conference has an effective follow up mechanism. It is only through a more inclusive approach that the search for solutions can move beyond double standards, the perpetuation of moral hazard, the inequitable distribution of resources, and disproportionate burdens on the most vulnerable". June 2009.
A statement calling upon governments not to take procedural arguments as an excuse to further delaying the substantive negotiations on the urgently needed global policy responses to the current crisis is being circulated to negotiators at the UN. May 15, 2009.
