10 Days of Action: Countdown to Commitments

June 26, 2009 (Part 1: Morning version)

CIVIL SOCIETY VOICE UNHAPPINESS WITH PROPOSED SOLUTIONS FOR ECONOMIC CRISIS AT THE UN

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.

During the negotiations civil society urged governments to make social justice the goal of all crisis-related measures, with fulfillment of human and environmental rights as well as gender justice as key elements. This UN Conference could have been the beginning of a process for systemic change, crisis resolution and significant movement towards economic justice between developed and dev eloping countries and economies in transition. Although the unique role of the UN in coordination has been affirmed, the historic opportunity to start a longer-term inclusive process for fundamental transformation of the economic and financial system has yet to be achieved.

The document does 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. There is an appeal for greater flexibility, but no measures to end to the practice of policy conditionality. On these issues, as well as on IMF reform, the Outcome Document failed to go beyond existing inadequate agreements (e.g. the Doha Declaration and the G20 recommendations). The danger remains of reverting to the same export-led growth model based on unsustainable over-produc tion and over-consumption patterns.

Civil society welcomes th e agreement to strengthen the Committee of Experts on International Cooperation on Tax Matters and the proposal to create a new Global Panel on Systemic Risks in the World Economy to become an advisory body for the UN, bringing together academics, civil society and policy makers. We regret, however, that the vague formulation leaves its implementation up in the air. Totally missing is the proposal to establish a Global Economic Council within the UN system - as a globally representative forum to comprehensively address areas of concern in the global economic system.

The Conference established one working group to deal with follow-up on the agreements of the Outcome Document. Civil society is prepared to collaborate with the working group to reach concrete commitments for an intergovernmental, time-bound, follow-up process towards long-term structural reforms in order to prevent future financial bubbles and economic busts. All that is needed now is polit ical leadership.

Take Action: Watch representatives of civil society at today’s press conference:

www.un.org/webcast

Providing analysis of the UN Conference, speakers include: Gemma Adaba of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC); John Foster of the North-South Institute; Magda Lanuza of the Women’s Working Group on Financing for Development; and Vitalice Meja of the African Forum and Network on Debt and Development (AFRODAD)

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"10 Days of Action

10 Days of Action: Countdown to Commitments is a collaborative effort by organizations and networks advocating for a more just, equitable and sustainable global economy and includes the Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP), Feminist Task Force-GCAP, Social Watch, ITUC, ICAE, ENLACE, Women’s Working Group on Financing for Development, IBON Foundation, NGO Committee on Financing for Development, International Network for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Loretto UN Office, and the major global coalitions of the Global Social Economy Group and the Global Crisis group, among others. If you want to support this effort or have an event to post, please send info to address below.

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