DOCUMENTS/ARTICLES

Presented by Mr. Arjun Kumar Karki and Monica Vincent

The NGO Caucus would like to begin by expressing our appreciation to the Mexican government for its compliance with UN guidelines in providing facilities for civil society work. It sets a precedent that all governments should seek to follow in the future.

But 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.

We note that in the Roundtables many governments themselves agree with us. So why has this document been adopted. The governments have talked about reforming the World Bank and IMF and WTO but this is not reflected in the Consensus. Why Not ?

In terms of process, we hope that you have noticed that the adoption of a declaration in advance is undermining the credibility of the process itself: why are we here if not to negotiate the document ?

We appreciate the establishment of the Roundtables as a first step, although we disagree with efforts to us e the process to legitimize the Monterrey Consensus. Obviously there will need to be a great deal of fine-tuning to improve dialogue and increase inclusiveness. And if this process is to have any meaning in the future, we will have to see some follow-up actions based on the discourse.

The NGO Forum Declaration was presented to this same plenary just last Monday. All our demands are included there and were reported continuously at the Roundtables. We have advocated these positions throughout the Financing for Development process and for decades before in previous UN international conferences so we do not have to mention them here.

To those of you who say we have not been efficient in putting forward our demands, we say if you have not heard us it is because you have refused to listen.

We have advocated tirelessly for a concrete plan of action towards building a human rights framework a different view of the world that is based on economic, social and cultural concerns and that puts people before profits.

We intend to stay engaged in all efforts to achieve the Millennium Goals. But we must all acknowledge that, even if met, we will still have more than half a billion people living in abject poverty.

The Special Session in Children, The World Food Summit, The World Summit on Sustainable Development will be opportunities for you to show us that we are wrong in our assessment of your will to deliver.

We hope you will be spurred by the reality of the thousands of women, men and children who will die from preventable causes and in endless wars and conflicts before we get to Johannesburg in August.

We will be watching and we will continue to mobilize our constituencies for implementation of the commitments you have made over the last decade.