Leaders Gather In Denmark To Sign Poverty-Fighting Agreement Protesters Marching In Copenhagen Say Summit Is ‘Anti-Social’
Hoping to add political weight to vague promises for the poor, leaders from 120 countries started pouring into Copenhagen on Friday to sign an agreement on fighting poverty.
Bilateral talks among the arriving world leaders may bring more action than the weeklong U.N. Summit for Social Development.
During a week of talks, delegates rejected firm promises of aid to narrow the gap between rich and poor.
South African President Nelson Mandela, speaking to a packed audience at a concert hall, said he hoped the summit would be remembered “as one which made a difference to the quality of life around the world.”
“It is more than three decades since we began to recognize the economic gap … as the world’s most critical challenge,” Mandela said, to cheers and a standing ovation.
Nonetheless, many see the summit’s final 80-page declaration, to be signed Sunday, as a watered-down compromise that puts the onus of action on individual nations and private groups - many of whom accuse rich countries of shirking their duty.
About 1,000 people, most of them young leftists, marched through Copenhagen late Friday to protest against the summit, chanting that the “summit is anti-social.”
Wealthy nations refused to be tied down to spending more money, although some, including Austria, were expected to announce aid packages during weekend meetings, delegates said.
Hoping to set the pace, summit host Denmark announced last week $166 million in debt relief for poorer countries. The United States said it will spend $100 million on eradicating illiteracy in the Third World.
Already rankled by accusations of mismanagement and overspending, the United Nations body ran the risk of inviting more criticism at the summit. Vice President Al Gore was expected to discuss proposed U.N. reforms during his speech Sunday.
U.N. organizers, however, said that big changes in policy require long periods of time.
They call the summit a starting point, and point out it took nearly two decades since its first environmental conference to get the world to grasp environmental issues.
“The summit is a point of departure. We now have to run with the ball,” said Chilean U.N. Ambassador Juan Somavia, who spearheaded plans for the summit over the last three years.
The summit was drawing an array of leaders, including Cuban President Fidel Castro, Chinese Premier Li Peng and Japan’s Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama, all of whom arrived Friday.
French President Francois Mitterrand and German Chancellor Helmut Kohl were among 45 scheduled to speak Saturday.
Outside the summit, Gore was to talk with Croatian President Franjo Tudjman, with the likely topic being Tudjman’s threat to expel 12,000 U.N. peacekeepers when their mandate expires this month.
The Chinese and Japanese prime ministers also were to have their own meeting.
Delegates agreed in talks this week to call on governments and private lenders to consider handing out more foreign aid money.
But the call set no timetable or specifics. The United States, which had opposed any call for more handouts, signed off on the provision with reservations and stated it would not be giving out any more foreign aid money.
Instead of setting hard percentages to be allocated to social programs, the summit will call on rich and poor countries to work things out on a case-by-case basis.
Danish Development Minister Poul Nielson said the final agreement represents an “a la carte” arrangement that lets countries pick and choose.
Delegates to an alternative summit at a Copenhagen naval yard issued a protest declaration, fuming at what they see as the U.N. conference’s failure to fully address social ills.
xxxx ADVICE FOR NATIONS
The main points in a draft of the final document of the U.N. Summit for Social Development. Nations should: Eradicate poverty by improving health care, sanitation and availability of food. Increase official development assistance (United States abstains), and reduce or cancel debts to poorer nations on a case-by-case basis. Strive to fulfill goal by richer nations to spend 0.7 percent of their GNP on foreign aid. Try to agree between interested parties to spend average of 20 percent of official development assistance, and 20 percent of domestic budget, on basic social programs. Accelerate economic growth and social development by creating free markets, and improving legal frameworks. Promote gender equality by removing restrictions on women’s rights and giving men and women equal access to income and resources. Encourage democracy, the rule of law and tolerance of migrants and refugees. Improve international and regional cooperation by strengthening U.N. and other agencies, and by refraining from unilateral coercive measures (United States abstains). Fight illiteracy, particularly among women and girls, and improve education of indigenous peoples.