Do any PEN-Lers know if UNCTAD did decent work on the world economic
crisis, especially after Yilmaz Akyuz left? This is one of the stances
below I'm a bit doubtful about...
*Final Statement of Civil Society on the Outcome of UNCTAD XIII*
April 26, 2012
As civil society groups present at the UNCTAD XIII, we welcome the final
Declaration of the conference, which provides consensus-based support
for a strong mandate for UNCTAD's vital work on financial and related
crises that have already damaged and continue to threaten the lives and
livelihoods of women and men in both developed and developing countries.
At the same time, we lament the weakening, by the same developed
countries whose deregulated financial markets resulted in the crises, of
the Declaration's policy analysis on the negative impacts of the global
economic and related crises.
We have closely monitored the official negotiations. In each successive
iteration of the negotiating text, we witnessed outrageous attempts by
developed countries to change the policy basis and mandate of UNCTAD's
work with respect key areas, such as the financial crisis, macroeconomic
policy, debt management, the World Trade Organization (WTO) and other
trade agreements, intellectual property, industrial policy, investment
and other issues, toward reflecting more the interests of developed
country corporations and investors, rather than maintaining historical
policy commitments to assist developing countries toutilize trade and
investment for inclusive and sustainable development.
Developed countries even pushed hard to try to prevent the final
document from reaffirming the Accra Accord of the previous UNCTAD XII
conference. While this should not have even been a point of contention,
given that it represents previously accepted commitments, we are pleased
to note that the achievements of Accra were affirmed in the end. The
Accra Accord mandates UNCTAD to work on key issues of interdependence,
policy coherence, and macroeconomic policies. We look forward to seeing
all governments, and specifically the Trade and Development Board,
implement this commitment to ensure that this work is maintained as a
key aspect of the work plan for UNCTAD agreed at Doha.
We welcome that the most extreme positions of the developed countries
were neutralized in the final outcome document. The Declaration
acknowledges the financial crisis and theneed for adequate regulation to
avoid future crises. The most controversial paragraph, 17 (d), now calls
for UNCTAD to "continue, as a contribution to the work of the UN,
research and analysis on the prospects of, and impact on, developing
countries in matters of trade and development, inlight of the global
economic and financial crisis." As civil society, we celebrate that this
Declaration language gives a clear mandate to UNCTAD tocontinue its
excellent and highly lauded work on the global economic crisis.
Our own Civil Society Declaration
<mailto:http://unctadxiii.org/en/SessionDocument/td463_en.pdf>, which
was presented to the delegates during the first plenary meeting,
provides a much more comprehensive and accurate representation of the
current dynamics in the global economy. For the billions of people
around the world who suffered the consequences of the global financial
crisis and ongoing debt crises, it is critical that UNCTAD continues to
provide analysis of the root causes of crises -- including inadequate
financial regulation, the trends in the global economy that affect
developing countries, and to promote solutions to avoid new crises.
As representatives ofcivil society, we vow to hold UNCTAD and its
members accountable to the fulfillment of this robust mandate.
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