IHEU at the UN, New York
Report from IHEU Representatives
IHEU’s NEW NGO STATUS WITH ECOSOC
Jean S Kotkin
In January I testified before the Committee on NGOs of the ECOSOC to upgrade IHEU's status from "Roster" to "Special." (This Committee is composed of 19 States members of the United Nations which meets every year. The Committee recommends to the ECOSOC which organizations should be granted one of three categories (General, Special, and Roster). This recommendation then goes to the ECOSOC, with the full ECOSOC making the final decision.)
IHEU’s up-grade from Roster status comes with additional responsibilities as well as privileges for IHEU. It is the "General" and "Special" Status organizations whose headquarters must submit a quadrennial report to the NGO Section of ECOSOC. The privileges for "Special" status organizations are that these organizations in addition to being invited to attend conferences, attend ECOSOC meetings, can also circulate statements (500 words) at ECOSOC meetings. They can circulate statements of 1500 words and can speak at ECOSOC subsidiary bodies' meetings.
Jean Kotkin, Head of IHEU Delegation made the following statement to the Committee on NGO's of the ECOSOC for clarifications concerning the meaning of "supernatural" that Algeria, Pakistan and Sudan had asked for.
"The International Humanist and Ethical Union believes that everyone is entitled to live in peace and harmony with one another. We strive to protect the earth on which we are solely dependent and that the most important thing on earth is how we treat our fellow human beings.
"The moral and social issues that concern us are:
- Freedom of Religion and Belief
- Equal distribution of wealth and resources
- Education and opportunity for all
- No discrimination on grounds of gender, race, age or sexual orientation
- Elimination of poverty
"Everyone has the right and responsibility to give meaning and shape to their own lives. We embrace and promote a code of ethics and responsibility that are often contained in major religious traditions, but we do so without making specific reference to a personalized being."
I was also asked what IHEU actually does and where our funding came from. I answered questions for about twenty minutes. At that time Ireland, India and Chile made very positive statements that our voice needed to be heard. The consensus of the committee was to recommend to ECOSOC to move IHEU from "Roster" to "Special" status. This result was made possible by the aid and assistance of Margaretha Jones.
Multicultural prayer Service
Every year on the occasion of the opening of the GA the religious NGO's hold
a MULTICULTURAL Prayer Service. In September 1999 at the opening of the 54th
UN Session, I again spoke for the Humanists.
by Sylvain Ehrenfeld
The issue I am involved in, as an NGO representative, are Population and Development. It is now increasingly recognized that these are strongly inter-connected with other actors such as poverty, education, health, culture, and most importantly the condition of women and children.
Currently, the UN system is actively preparing for a review progress since the last major conference took place in Cairo in 1994 with 180 nations participating. This special session will begin at the end of June. The Cairo conference 5 years ago was both controversial and a watershed. After heated and difficult debate a new consensus was reached, emphasizing the status of women.
Previous conferences in Bucharest 1974, and Mexico City 1984, emphasized numerical population targets. The language used was significant to many people. For example "population control," seems to imply coercion. Men trying to control women, industrialized countries trying to weaken developing countries, or whites reducing the future numbers of people of color. Another example is the term "overpopulation." If we have too many people, who is unneeded? The poor often felt that they wealthy were referring to them.
The consensus reached in Cairo, based on extensive research as well as lobbying, is that the key to stabilizing world population is the status of women. The plan adopted calls for increased investments in human development, especially for women, during the next 20 years. This point of view was controversial since it raises sensitive and divisive issues such as abortion, contraception, family planning, sex education for teenagers, and women's rights. These are important issued for humanists.
In the preparatory meetings leading to the June U.N. Assembly Session, all these issues are again being strongly debated and the Cairo consensus is being challenged.
The UN Population Division prepares long range projections every two years covering the period from 1950 to 2150. They provide several projections depending on assumptions regarding future scenarios for fertility rates (the number of children women have during their life time).
As we approach the next century, we know the population size will continue to grow, today at the rate of 80 million per year. Most of the growth will take place in less developed countries. The eventual size of the world's population will depend mostly upon how many children today's youth will have in their lifetime, and in part, on changes in life expectancy, especially in developing countries.
Most of the population increase will be in less developed countries, since they have more young people and higher fertility rates than more developed countries. Currently less developed countries have about 2 billion young people below 20 years, giving momentum to population increase. Less developed countries now constitute 80% of the world's population, and by the year 2025 are projected to include 85%. The world's population is currently about six billion.
Since 1950 there have been dramatic developments in the fertility rate and life expectancy. Only 30 years ago a typical woman in the world had 5 children during her lifetime. Today the figure is 2.7 and expected to drop further. In developed countries it has gone down to 1.6, well below replacement level (2.1). From 1960 to the late 90ties for example, the fertility rate in Mexico went from 6.8 to 2.8, in India from 5.7 to 3.1.
The reasons are due to a behavioral revolution relating to the position of women, changes including later births, urbanization, feminism, female participation in the work force, acceptance of birth control and rise in family planning. Urbanization is important. Today 37% of the population in developing countries are urban dwellers. By 2025, according to UN estimates, this will rise to 57%.
The other dramatic development is the increase in life expectancy which has climbed 210 years to its current level of 66 years. This is only partly due to a reduction in infant mortality. In the developed countries life expectancy is now 77 years. This progress owes much to public health measures, hygiene and nutrition.
In spite of all this progress there are still vast unmet needs and disparities. For example, 2.6 billion people still lack basic sanitation, 1.3 billion have no access to clean water, 1.1 billion lack adequate housing, and well over 1 billion live in debilitating poverty. Existing large disparities are increasing both in the world and within countries. In 1960 the richest 20% of the world's population claimed 70% of all income, goods and services.
In 1997 their share had risen to 86%. On the other hand, the poorest fifth saw their share fall from 2.3% to just 1.3%, a shocking drop for an already impoverished group.
The main UN population projections depend on fertility assumptions, the number of children women would have, on average, by the year 2050. In the median scenario, women would average 2 children, and world population would rise 9.4 billion by 2050 and then stabilize at 11 billion. If on the other hand, women averaged 2.5 children, the high scenario, world population would reach 11.2 billion by 2050, and continue to grow indefinitely passing 27 billion by 2150. If fertility were 1.5 children per woman, the low scenario, world population would go into decline in the 21st century, peaking at 7.7
billion in 2050 and then dropping to 3.6 billion by 2150. The median scenario is thought to be the most likely, and is almost 1 billion less than the previous UN projections in 1992. It is important to notice that a very small difference in fertility has large demographic outcomes, underscoring the critical importance of current policies and actions for the long run future of the world population.
What we do now matters!
In the past few decades, and especially recently, nations and the world community have been concerned with he extensive economic, social and political consequences of the phenomena of aging on a massive scale. Currently 1 out of 10 is 60 years or older. By 2050 it is estimated to be 1 out of 5 and by 2150 the projection is 1 out of 3. In fact, 1999 is the UN International Year of Older Persons.
The aging phenomena is particularly prominent at present in most developed countries where fertility rates are well below replacement. In just 30 years from now 1 out of 4 people in the developed world will be 65 or older. In the underdeveloped countries the aging phenomena will appear much later. The current situation is that the underdeveloped countries have many young people and the developed countries have a rapidly increasing number of older people.
In an aging world, every sphere of social life will be affected. More resources will be needed for medical care. How will decisions about resources be made? As the number of elderly swells, will senior benefit lobbies lay claim to an ever larger share of public budgets? Will young people remain silent facing increasing taxes to cope with these demands? Will global aging change people's outlook on life?
I recently attended a combined meeting of the NGO Committee on Aging and the Committee of Religious NGOs. A fascinating discussion of meaning in later life ensued. The average age of retirement has dropped sharply in many Western countries. Comparing 1960 to 1995, in France it has dropped from 65 to 59, in Italy from 65 to 61, in the US from 67 to 64. Since people live longer, they have more time to grapple with meaning, being, and doing. Research shows that health care and income security, though important, do not meet other important needs of older people. There is a trend to expand choices for older people which can enrich both them and the community. As an example, Silver Human Resource Centers in Japan offer the services of older people for a wide variety of functions. These new dimensions of human potential offer a great opportunity for humanists.
As an NGO representative of the IHEU, participating in meetings I can present a humanist perspective on the many issues which arise.
by Dr. Phyllis Ehrenfeld and Dr. Sylvain Ehrenfeld
During the last decade the international community has tried to come to grips with global development problems in an unprecedented series of United Nations Conferences. From the Children's Summit (1990), the Earth Summit in Rio (1992), the Population Conference in Cairo (1994), the Women's Conference in Beijing (1995), to the Social Summit on Social Conditions and Poverty in Copenhagen (1995), it has become clear that the issues regarding children, the environment, population, poverty, and the status of women are all interrelated.
Currently the UN is preparing for a follow-up conference to the Social Summit +5 to be held June 2000 in Geneva to assess, after five years, progress on social conditions and poverty. In 1995 the Copenhagen conference was attended by 186 countries with 117 heads of State. Commitments were made, and targets were set. Unfortunately, progress in poverty reduction has been limited. There are still around 1.5 billion people in absolute income poverty, defined as less than $1 per day.
However, there has been progress in alleviating some of the human fallout of poverty. More children are in school, adult illiteracy is down, and more people have clean water. There has been a marginal reduction in the number of people without adequate sanitation.
In the past the thinking was that poverty would diminish with economic growth. Studies in recent years have shown that what is needed is pro-poor growth, producing jobs and social support for the bottom sections of society. Global economic growth has led to a rise in the standard of living for many people, although is benefits have not been universal. Some developing regions owe their rapid growth to international trade, others, especially those dependent on export of primary commodities have been in trouble. In the 1990's more than 1.5 billion people experienced declining incomes. Developing countries lose about $60 billion a year from agricultural subsidies and barriers to textile exports maintained by industrial nations. Free trade does not necessarily translate into fair trade. The recent protests in Seattle to the WTO (World Trade Organization) shows that trade cannot be isolated from other social or human rights issues.
The greatest benefits of globalization have been garnered by a fortunate few. A rising tide of wealth is supposed to lift all boats, but the liners still swamp the canoes. The financial turmoil in East Asia in 1997-99 generated by the sudden outflow of international capital, demonstrates the potential chaos inherent in globalization, unless some regulatory mechanism is introduced. Finance ministers have said that the financial crisis, in Indonesia for example, is over since money and markets have been stabilized. Indonesia had made much progress in poverty reduction, but the harsh structural adjustment
programs of the IMF (International Monetary Fund) and the associated reduction in social spending is reversing much of the past progress.
Many assert that eradication of poverty is not affordable. In a world economy of $25 trillion this argument is false. According to recent UN data, the costs of eradicating poverty are far less than people imagine, only about 1% of global income! The estimated cost of achieving universal access to basic social services in education, health and nutrition, reproductive health, low cost water supply and sanitation is about $40 billion a year of 10 years. This can be sustained by a pro-poor growth policy. What is needed is constant focused attention and political will.
The next conference will be a tumultuous one, Some people believe these conferences are exercises in futility. We believe that the constant monitoring of social issues and the reiteration of human rights is of vital importance. The potential chaos of globalization and its related fallout crosses national borders. It can become as problematic to the rich countries as it is already harmful to the poor.
SUMMARY OF NGO COMMITTEE ACTIVITIES
By Dr. Myles K. Ren
Disarmament: Unlike other NGO Committees, the Disarmament Committee operates
like a board of directors with elected members. All current directors represent agencies that are directly involved in disarmament matters for many years. The level of technical knowledge of the directors is very high and the discussion is quite sophisticated at the monthly meetings. I attend as a guest of the Board as I have a strong interest in disarmament issues. I do participate on the Program and Publication Committees. (IHEU is listed under publication committee in the "Disarmament Times")
The original goal of the committee was to inform and to stimulate interest in disarmament issues on the part of UN members. Over the last five or so years the committee has broadened its mandate to educate NGOs, the university community, lay and religious groups and the public. The current modus operandi involves the holding of seminars and the widest possible distribution of Disarmament Times.
Human Rights: The committee has unrestricted membership. Agencies represented
are a mixed bag. Monthly meetings usually consist of updates of the UN Commission on Human Rights' activities or reports by experts on the human rights problems on countries that are in violation of the charter.
Sustainable Development: The membership of this committee is also a mixed bag. Most agencies represented have not had any development experience in the developing world. There seldom is any discussion among members about the various sectors subsumed under sustainable development (farming, fishing, water, rain forests, credit, etc. ). The meetings are worth attending because experts are invited to talk and much useful information can be gleaned from them. Since I have had some experience in managing third world development projects, I enjoy these meetings.
Social Development: This is a one-year committee spun off from Sustainable Development by persons who represent the world of social work, both religious and lay. Meetings usually revolve around experts from health, education, social work, etc. and reports from such groups as WHO, ILO, FAO.
Ageing: Because of the strong support of such powerful groups as AARP and other international agencies working on behalf o the world's ageing, this committee is extremely well managed with AARP seconded staff and resources. There is no program budget however.
The main goal of the committee is to increase the consciousness of the UN about the problems of the ageing throughout the world as well as to emphasize the social utility of an ageing populations. The committee is trying to build up an extensive network of international groups dealing with the many issues concerning ageing, but without a substantial budget this effort, so far, has had limited success.
An Observation: Because the NGOs, as a group, want to have greater impact on UN program planning, all NGO committees spend a great deal of time trying to carve out some role at PrepComs and the meetings of the various UN Commissions. This work usually revolves around the developing of policy statements or critiques to be read and published at these UN meetings. Strong pressure is brought to bear on the NGO section of ECOSOC to provide time for NGO statements to be read from the floor. In my view the NGO section has been very cooperative in finding a time slot for us and rooms for NGOs to meet.
I have suggested number of times to Richard Holbrooke that he should support greater NGO access to UN operations. I am encouraged by the fact that, as president of the Security Council for January 2000, he invited the American NGOs to attend the important meeting on the African refugee problem. It is the first time that such an invitation has been extended to NGOs.
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