Report on United Nations Summits in the Context of Seminar Titled
"Global Ethics: Deep Foundation for International Legal Norms"
September 5, 1997
at XLI Congress
Union Internationale Des Avocats
International Association of Lawyers
Philadelphia, PA
By Jonathan Granoff
United Nations Representative of Lawyers Alliance for World Security
and
Board Member Global Dialogue Institute
Introduction
Colleagues, friends, ladies and gentleman, how good to be with an international community. Yet, "international" still fixes our identities with nations. I believe that for many of us our identity and sense of ethical accountability has already become global and planetary and our language will catch up soon. We are part of one human family with numerous layers of political identities, ranging from local to global.
Although not formally recognized as such, global ethical dialogue has been taking place in the context of the UN since its inception. In the 1990's global ethical dialogue accelerated rapidly and dramatically with the UN's convening of a series of world summit conferences. These conferences assumed that human suffering can and must be addressed globally and that world security can be understood in the context of human rights and sustainable development.
These conferences addressed the increasing disparity of wealth between the developed and underdeveloped world highlighted by the fact that between 25 and 30 thousand children starve to death each day, and over a billion and a half people live with uncertainty as to whether they will have enough calories in the next few days to survive;
These conferences addressed the global aspects of our environmental crisis highlighted by the fact that a hydrofluorocarbon molecule emanating from a refrigerant in Chile recognizes no national boundaries in its destruction of the fragile ozone layer.
The inter-relatedness between such issues as environmental protection and the well being of children, unemployment and crime, and population growth and the rights of women became apparent. We have begun to recognize that so many of our problems are global and affect us all: organized crime, trafficking in children and drugs, the AIDS epidemic, protecting biological diversity, ozone depletion, malnutrition, illiteracy, inadequate housing, unemployment, racism, ethnic and religious strife, violence against women, massive violations of human rights, the extraordinary expenditures in conventional weapons, and the threats posed by weapons of mass destruction.
These conferences provided a forum where civil society partnered with governments. Each conference marked the culmination of months of consultations among member states, non-governmental representatives, and United Nations experts who reviewed vast amounts of information and shared knowledge and experience. Each conference forged agreements on specific issues and commitments from member states. Imagine the difficulty of obtaining consensus on anything amongst so many nations! Significantly, non governmental organizations organized caucuses around themes such as values, peace, women, and the environment, often raising moral perspectives and decrying lack of commitment by governments.
To those of us, like myself, who participated in these conferences, it became clear that human security no longer is coterminous with the security of sovereign states. Human security is global security. This calls for a higher ethical perspective and for a global dialogue. These summits can be understood in the context of that dialogue.
The Children's Summit
Conference: World Summit for Children (WSC)
United Nations, New York, 29-30 September 1990
Informal name: The Children's Summit
Number of Governments participating: 159, including 71 heads of Government
Conference Co-chairmen: Brian Mulroney, Canada, and Mussa Traore, Mali
Organizers: The six initiating countries (Canada, Egypt,Mali, Mexico, Pakistan,Sweden) with the support of UNICEF and other UN agencies under the auspices of the United Nations Secretary-General
Principal themes: Goals for the year 2000 for children's health, nutrition, education, and access to safe water and sanitation
NGO presence: 45 non-governmental organizations participated in the Summit
Resulting document: World Declaration and Plan of Action on the Survival, Protection and Development of Children.
Follow-up mechanisms: Mid-decade review, with Secretary-General's progress report presented at the 1996 General Assembly session on the anniversary of the Children's Summit; IN Inter-Agency Task Force, the Joint Committee on Health Policy and the Joint Committee on Education; National Programmes of Action for Children within each national Government; UNICEF is the lead UN agency
Appropriately, the series of summits began with The Children's Summit at the United Nations in New York in 1990. Its principal theme set forth goals to be reached by the year 2000 for children's health, nutrition, education and access to safe water and sanitation. Many of these commitments are being met. Already 89 countries have reached the end decade target of over 90% immunization coverage, and the achievement of the goal of the eradication of polio by the year 2000 is in sight. There has been a dramatic improvement in the management of diarrhea saving the lives of at least a million children annually. The program for iodine deficiency control has led to over 1.5 billion more people consuming iodized salt in 1995 than in 1990, and as a result 12 million infants are protected from mental retardation each year. The population without access to safe drinking water has fallen by about one-third since 1990 helping in excess of a billion people. Also, there has been major progress in meeting the mid decade goal for the promotion of breast feeding.
The Earth Summit
Conference: United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development (UNCED)
Rio de Janeiro, 3-14 June 1992
Informal name: The Earth Summit
Host Government: Brazil
Number of Governments participating: 172, 108 at level of heads of State or Government
Conference Secretary-General: Mr. Maurice Strong (Canada)
Organizers: UNCED secretariat
Principal Themes: Environment and sustainable development
NGO presence: Some 2,400 representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs); 17,000 people attended the parallel NGO Forum
Resulting documents: Agenda 21, the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, the Statement of Forest Principles, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity
Follow-up mechanisms: Commission on Sustainable Development; Inter-agency Committee on Sustainable Development; High-level Advisory Board on Sustainable Development
Previous conference: UN Conference on the Human Environment, Stockholm (1972)
The Earth Summit convened in 1992 Rio de Janeiro. The Summit culminated in the adoption of Agenda 21, a wide ranging blueprint for action to achieve sustainable development world wide. At its close, Maurice Strong, the Conference Secretary-General, called the Summit a "historic moment for humanity". Indeed, it examined the relationship between the environment and human rights, population, social development, women and human settlements, and the need for environmentally sustainable development. In fact, the World Conference for Human Rights, which was held in Vienna the next year, underscored the right of people to a healthy environment and the right to development, controversial demands that had met with resistance from several member states until Rio. Nevertheless, the problems such as ozone depletion, global warming and water pollution continue to grow in seriousness and Agenda 21 remains the only globally accepted comprehensive outline to respond to our planetary crisis.
World Conference on Human Rights
Conference: World Conference on Human Rights
Vienna, 14-25 June 1993
Informal name: The Human Rights Conference
Host Government: Austria
Number of Governments participating: 171
Conference Secretary-General: Mr. Ibrahim Fall, Assistant Secretary-General,
Human Rights
Organizer: Centre for Human Rights (Conference Secretariat)
Principal themes: The promotion and protection of human rights
NGO presence: More than 800 non-governmental organizations
Resulting documents: The Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action
Follow-up mechanisms: Commission on Human Rights and its sub- commissions; High Commissioner/Centre for Human Rights; Human Rights Treaty monitoring bodies; Special Rapporteurs; Commission on the Status of Women
Previous conference: International Conference on Human Rights
Tehran, Iran, 1968
In 1993, the World Conference on Human Rights met in Vienna. The Vienna Declaration and Program of Action set forth the universality, indivisibility, and interdependence of civil rights, cultural, economic, political, and social rights as the birthright of all human beings and the first responsibility of governments. It made clearer the essential relationship between development, democracy and the promotion of human rights. Despite sensitivity regarding respect for national sovereignty principals, it was agreed that within the framework of the purposes and principals of the Charter of the United Nations, promotion and protection of all human rights is a legitimate concern of the international community. The Declaration welcomed the convening of emergency sessions of the Commission of Human Rights to respond to acute violations of human rights. Also, the legitimacy of the right to development, previously a controversial issue among member states, was reaffirmed as an integral part of fundamental human rights. The Vienna Convention, in many ways, marked the end of the Cold War's false ideological division between civil rights and economic rights.
The Population Conference
Conference: International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD)
Cairo, 5-13 September 1994
Informal name: The Population Conference
Host Government: Egypt
Number of Governments participating: 179
Conference Secretary-General: Dr. Safis Nadik, Executive Director,
UN Population Fund (UNFPA)
Organizers: UNFPA, the Population Division of the UN Department for Economic and Social Information and Policy Analysis (DESIPA)
Principal themes: Population, sustained economic growth and sustainable development
NGO presence: 4,200 representatives of over 1,500 non-governmental organizations from 113 countries attended the independent NGO Forum '94 held parallel to the official conference
Resulting documents: Programme of Action of the ICPD
Follow-up mechanisms: UN Commission on Population and Development; ACC Task Force on Basic Social Services for All (BSSA)
Previous conferences: Rome (1954), Belgrade (1965), Bucharest (1974),
and Mexico City (1984)
The Population Conference took place in Cairo in 1994. It was agreed to make family planning universally available within the next generation, or sooner, as part of a broadened approach to reproductive health and rights, thus reducing infant, child and maternal mortality levels. A commitment was made to integrate population concerns into policies and programs aimed at achieving sustainable development and the empowerment of women and girls by providing them with more choices through expanded access to health and education services and employment opportunities. The Conference Program of Action, its adopted document, reaffirmed that population policies are the sovereign right of each nation and that couples and individuals have the right to decide freely and responsibly the number and spacing of their children.
.
The Social Summit
Conference: World Summit for Social Development (WSSD)
Copenhagen, 6-12 March 1995
Informal name: The Social Summit
Host Government: Denmark
Number of Governments participating: 186 States participated, 117 at the level of heads of State or Government
Chairman of the Preparatory
Committee: Ambassador Juan Somavia (Chile)
President of the Conference: Mr. Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, Prime Minister of
Denmark
Organizers: Social Summit Secretariat in the Department for Policy Coordination and Sustainable Development (DPCSD)
Principal themes: Social development, with three core issues: eradication of poverty, expansion of productive employment and reduction of unemployment, and social integration
NGO presence: About 4,500 representatives from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) attended the parallel NGO Forum '95, while 811 NGOs participated in the Social Summit itself, represented by 2,315 individuals
Resulting document: Copenhagen Declaration on Social Development and Programme of Action
Follow-up mechanisms: Commission for Social Development, the Economic and Social Council and the General Assembly; and the UN Inter-Agency Task Forces
The World Summit on Social Development took place in Copenhagen in 1995. The Social Summit represented a landmark shift in perspective by governments to support a people-centered framework for social development and justice. In many ways the Social Summit remains the centerpiece of the global conferences of the 1990's, particularly from an ethics perspective. The Summit declaration set forth ten commitments each followed by specific recommendations for action at national and international levels. They include, in part: the eradication of poverty in the world with policies addressing the root causes of poverty giving special attention to the needs of women and children and other vulnerable and disadvantaged; the promotion of full employment and social integration by fostering social stability and justice based on non discrimination, tolerance and the protection of human rights; the achievement of equality and equity between women and men, the promotion of universal and equitable access to quality education and health care; and the acceleration of the economic, social and human resource development of Africa and the least developed countries through the promotion of democratic institutions, and addressing problems such as external debt, economic reform, food security and commodity diversification.
The Women's Conference
Conference: The Fourth World Conference on Women: Action for Equality, Development and Peace
Beijing, 4-15 September 1995
Informal name: The Beijing Women's Conference
Host Government: China
Number of Governments participating: 189
Conference Secretary-General: Mrs. Gertrude Mongella, Assistant Secretary-General, Division for the Advancement of Women
Organizers: The Commission on the Status of Women, with the United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW) serving as the Conference secretariat
Principal themes: The advancement and empowerment of women in relation to women's human rights, women and poverty, women and decision-making, the girl-child, violence against women and other areas of concern
NGO presence: More than 5,000 representatives from 2,100 non- governmental organizations and 5,000 media repre-sentatives attended the Conference and nearly 30,000 individuals attended the independent NGO Forum '95
Resulting document: The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action
Follow-up mechanisms: In addition to the national mechanisms, the primary UN bodies include the Commission on the Status of Women; the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW); the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM); the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW); and the Division for the Advancement of Women
Previous conferences: The World Conference of the International Women's Year (Mexico City, 1975); the World Conference of the United Nations Decade for Women (Copenhagen, 1980); the World Conference to Review and Appraise the Achievements of the United Nations Decade for Women; Equality, Development and Peace (Nairobi, 1985)
The 4th World Conference on Women and Action for Equality, Development and Peace, took place in Beijing in 1995. The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action embodies the commitment of the international community to the advancement of women and to the implementation of a program ensuring that a gender perspective is reflected in all policies and programs at national and international levels. It redefined women's rights as human rights, asserting women's rights to "have control over and decide freely and responsibly on matters related to their sexuality, including sexual and reproductive health, free of coercion, discrimination and violence". It made clear the rights of women to inheritance by calling for the enacting of legislation guaranteeing equal rights to the succession of property, even in the face of traditional legal structures that dictate otherwise. The platform emphasizes the importance of the family as a basic unity of society and calls upon religions to contribute to fulfilling women's and men's moral, ethical and spiritual needs and realizing their potential in society. The level of government commitments arising from Beijing were quite specific. For example, India agreed to increase investment in education to 6% of its gross domestic product with a major focus on women as well as to set up a Commissioner for Women's Rights. The United States launched a six year, $1.6 billion initiative to fight domestic violence and established a White House Counsel on Women to plan for the effective implementation within the United States of the Platform for Action with full participation of NGOs.
The City Summit
Conference: Second UN Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II)
Istanbul, 3-14 June 1996
Informal name: The City Summit
Host Government: Turkey
Number of Governments participating: 171
Conference Secretary-General: Dr. Wally N'Dow, Assistant Secretary General, UN Centre for Human Settlements
Organizers: Habitat II secretariat, based in the UN Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat)
Principal themes: Sustainable human settlements development in an urbanizing world; adequate shelter for all
NGO presence: NGOs participated as partners in Habitat II to an unprecedented degree; some 8,000 people from 2,400 organizations attended the NGO Forum parallel to the Conference
Resulting documents: Habitat Agenda, Istanbul Declaration on Human Settlements
The City Summit (continued)
Follow-up mechanisms: UN Commission on Human Settlements;
UN Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat)
Previous conference: UN Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat),
Vancouver, 1976
The City Summit, Habitat II, took place in Istanbul in 1996. The agenda of Habitat II - sustainable human settlements - brought together many of the themes of the previous world summits. It recognized that inadequate living conditions are a primary cause of social conflict and the governments of the world agreed to specific commitments such as adequate shelter for all, sustainable human settlements, financing human settlements, international cooperation, and a review of progress in the future. Reports were received from over 500 mayors and key municipal leaders constituting the World Assembly of Cities and Local Authorities. It also convened NGOs group in forums which included The World Business Forum, The Foundations Forum, The Academies of Science and Engineering Forum, The Professionals and Researchers Forum, The Parliamentarians Forum, The Labor Union's Forum, The Forum on Human Solidarity, and even The Wisdom Keepers Forum. It highlighted the necessity of communicating best practices on successful techniques for resolving human settlements problems. The Conference highlighted the fact that by the year 2010 over half the world's population will be living in cities with at least 20 mega cities. We are ill prepared to deal with the social repercussions of such a dramatic transformation, but the Conference Secretary-General, Wally N'Dow, put it simply, "The resources exist to put a roof over the head and bring safe water and sanitation for less than $100 per person, every man, woman and child on this planet.
Judicial Dimension and Disarmament
Behind all these conferences are commitments adopted by consensus of the governments of the world which, in turn, need to be set forth in applicable legal regimes.
It is clear that for these commitments to be fulfilled, juridical regimes will ultimately become necessary on national and global scales. International law will have to be strengthened. We are the advocates for the rule of law. We have work. A precondition for a rule of law is that bodies with adjudicatory responsibility have requisite authority and powers such as compulsory jurisdiction.
Compulsory jurisdiction of The International Court of Justice, usually called the World Court, is accepted by only one permanent member of the Security Council presently, the United Kingdom. The World Court's authority is inadequate for the job it must perform. For example, in July of 1996 the World Court issued an advisory opinion on the legality of the threat or use of nuclear weapons pursuant to a request by the United Nations General Assembly from December of 1994.
The advisory opinion stated, in relevant part, that the threat or use of nuclear weapons is generally unlawful. The Court could not definitively conclude whether the threat or use of such weapons could be lawful or unlawful under the present status of international law in an extreme circumstance of self defense in which the very survival of a state would be at stake.
In a coda to its opinion the Court stated that "In the long run international law and with it the stability of the international order which it is intended to govern, are bound to suffer from the continuing difference of views with regard to the legal status of weapons as deadly as nuclear weapons. It is consequently important to put an end to this state of affairs: the long promised complete nuclear disarmament appears to be the most appropriate means of achieving that result." The Judges unanimously concluded, "There exists an obligation to pursue in good faith and bring to conclusion negotiations leading to nuclear disarmament in all its aspects under strict and effective international control."
The highest court in the world has called for complete elimination of nuclear weapons through a negotiation process. The United States government's official position is that it is "committed to the ultimate elimination of nuclear weapons." The United Kingdom's former Foreign Secretary, Malcolm Rifkind, in September of 1996 at the signing of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty said, "I hope that others will join us in pledging both moral and material support to the International Court. The more we accept that international law must be the foundation of international relations the safer we shall all be." Yet, on October 29, 1996, at the UN, when 23 nations sponsored a resolution calling for fulfillment of the Court's dictate and "by commencing multilateral negotiations in 1997 leading to an early conclusion of a nuclear weapons convention prohibiting development, production, testing, deployment, stockpiling, transfer and threat or use of nuclear weapons and providing for their elimination (Advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on the Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons, A/C. 1/51/L.37) the vote came up 115 yes and 22 no, with 32 abstentions. The no's included four nuclear weapons states -- United Kingdom,Russia, the United States and France. China,India and Pakistan voted yes and Israel abstained.
The unambiguous mandate to end what the President of the International Court called "the suspended sentence of humanity living under the threat of nuclear weapons" was ignored. I would contend that it is now the specific duty of lawyers to promote the strengthening of the international rule of law and there is no clearer example upon which we might focus our energies than in the area of nuclear disarmament. The Court has spoken and the Resolution set forth before us.
There needs to be a consensus on the ethical articulation of these issues to translate them effectively into law. The Global Dialogue Institute is committed to furthering that discussion. The Earth Charter, by articulating of collective responsibilities to the earth, is committed to making tangible the ethical principals arising from this ongoing dialogue.
There is a shared responsibility for the well being of the earth community based on human rights and the respect for all life that needs to be articulated in the form of responsibilities. The Earth Charter takes on this task. Lawyers are uniquely positioned to engage in this process because in essence, law is the interpretation of ethical principals into practical application. Those of us engaged in these global ethical and legal issues call upon your involvement. We ask you to join us. We ask for your inspiration, intelligence, experience and, most of all, wisdom.
Respectfully submitted,
Jonathan Granoff, Esq.
United Nations Representative of Lawyers Alliance for World Security
1901 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Suite 802, Washington, DC 20006
(202-667-0444; e-mail: laws@earthlink.net) and
401 City Ave., Suite 612, Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004
(610-668-5470; e-mail: JGG786@aol.com
(This presentation excerpted the descriptive material of the Summits and relied strongly on an excellent UN Briefing Paper, The World Conferences, Developing Priorities for the 21st Century, ISBN:92-1-100631-7, UN Publication, Sales No. E.97.I.5, information current as of March 1997)
For Further Information:
Global Ethical Dialogue
Global Dialogue Institute
c/o JES
Temple University, 1114 W. Berks Street, Philadelphia, PA 19122
http://astro.temple.edu/~dialogue; e-mail: dialogue@vm.temple.edu
Earth Charter:
The Earth Council, P.O. Box 2323-1002, San Jose, Costa Rica
Tel. (506-223-3418) http://www.ecouncil.ac.cr - see The Earth Charter Electronic
Forum and The Earth Charter Consultation Page and Professor Steven C.
Rockefeller, P.O. Box 648, Middlebury, Vermont 05753, fax 802-388-1951
On World Court Decision on Nuclear Weapons and Model Nuclear Weapons Convention:
The Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy
666 Broadway, Suite 625, New York, New York 10012
Tel.: 212-674-7790; fax: 212-674-6199
|
