NGOs Decry the Puff Pastry Summit

By Thalif Deen

A coalition of more than 10 international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) yesterday collectively declared that the final draft plan of action to be adopted by heads of government Wednesday falls far short of expectations.

Antonio Hill of Oxfam said the “so-called plan of action” was a grave disappointment overall because of the failure of the summit to come up with anything substantial.

“How can more than 100 world leaders look us in the eye and shower us with platitudes while their governments have retracted from the many commitments made at, and after the Rio Summit, including pledges to reach the 0.7 percent gross domestic product target to meet official development assistance (ODA),” he asked.

The NGOs which criticised the Johannesburg plan of action included Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth International (FoEI), World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Consumers International, Eurodad , Danish 92 and Oxfam International.

“In the view of this coalition, the draft plan of action is a travesty of a global sustainable development programme which leaders will pledge their support to,” Hill told reporters.

Although there is a commitment to increase ODA, it is a commitment with no figures, Ted Van Hess of Eurodad said. “The big loser in this summit is poverty and sustainable development,” he added.

The language in the document is all “pre-authorised and even pre-Rio”. He also said that 10 years ago in Rio, Western donors pledged to reach the 0.7 target for ODA. And now 10 years later, they are singing the same tune.

Daniel Mittler of FoEI told TerraViva that the document was “very weak” because “governments have yet to show their commitment to deliver”.

He said that if resources are taken as a yardstick, there are no new firm commitments on increased funding. In that sense, he said, WSSD was a failure.

Mittler also said that one key issue was the need for a U.N. conference on corporate accountability. He admitted that there are several references to “corporate responsibility”, but not to “corporate accountability”.

As the 71-page draft plan of action was on the verge of being finalised late last night, the summit was limping its way to a final conclusion.

Lowell Flanders, a senior U.N. official tracking negotiations, told reporters that discussions will continue until all remaining issues are wrapped up.

All of the disputed issues, including global governance, the creation of a world solidarity fund to eliminate poverty, and globalisation, have been resolved, he said.

Nitin Desai, secretary-general of WSSD, hailed the agreement on sanitation as a major step forward. At the end of the talks Sunday, governments agreed to commit themselves to a target of 2015 for reducing the numbers of people who lack access to proper sanitation.

“This is an historic commitment,” Desai said, “because for the first time, the world has made the issues of water and sanitation a high level political priority. We need this political commitment, and now we need the practical measures and partnerships to ensure that the new goals are met,” he added.