| MONTERREY,
Mexico -- Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)
at the UN's first International Conference on
Financing for Development in Monterrey criticized
the Monterrey
Consensus Friday, saying it was limited and failed
to sufficiently stress a human rights framework.
In a joint statement, hundreds of NGO representatives
at the conference said, "The NGO Caucus
states that we are not part of the Monterrey
Consensus.
We do not consider it a sufficient basis for
combating poverty or for advancing economic,
social and cultural
rights." They said governments had talked
about reforming the World Bank and IMF and WTO
but this was not reflected in the Consensus.
Greenpeace,
one of the world's largest NGOs, said it was dissatisfied. "The
10 years since the Rio summit have been a decade
of failed promises, and it looks like this failure
will continue with the Monterrey Consensus which
is simply an agreement that enables governments to
rubber-stamp ongoing environmental degradation and
increasing disaffection by billions of poor people," Greenpeace
campaigner Paul Horsman said.
Horsman
said it was clear American aid was contingent
on "which
of those countries will adjust their politics
and their economy as dictated
by the US."
"If there is a consensus it is limited,
or not a true consensus," said John Foster
of North/South Institute, a Canadian NGO. Laura
Frade, a representative from Mexico Women's Eyes
on the Multilaterals, said, "You have refused
to listen to our view of how to build a human
rights framework."
While
she applauded the efforts of the United Nations
to include
members of civil society in
roundtable discussions, she said that fine-tuning
would be necessary to "improve the dialogue
and increase inclusiveness." UN officials
said NGO representatives had addressed the meetings
in Monterrey this week.
Gemma
Adaba of the International Confederation of
Free Trade
Unions in Trinidad and Tobago said, "If
you have not heard us it is because you have
refused to listen. We've advocated tirelessly
for a concrete plan of action, yet we are left
with no clear road map for the future." Diplomats
said her view reflected widely those of representatives
of some of the world's poorest nations in Monterrey
this week.
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