ACTIVITIES OF SECRETARY-GENERAL IN SWITZERLAND, 4 - 6 JULY
Press Release
SG/T/2188
ACTIVITIES OF SECRETARY-GENERAL IN SWITZERLAND, 4 - 6 JULY
19990707 On Sunday, 4 July, the Secretary-General flew to Geneva to open the annual meeting of the Economic and Social Council on the morning of Monday, 5 July. The President of the Council, Francesco Paolo Fulci, in preliminary remarks, said of global poverty, "Enough is enough!" The rich are getting richer, he observed, while the number of poor continues to rise.In his statement, the Secretary-General said that the cost of universal access to basic social services would be $40 billion a year. (See Press Release SG/SM/7058). That's about what people in the developed world spend on cigarettes in a year, and one third of what developing country governments spend on the military. He offered a three-pronged policy prescription for poverty-alleviation: First, industrialized nations need to promote higher and more balanced rates of world economic growth. Two per cent growth per year will not be enough. Second, the global community must give priority to the anti-poverty agenda, with developing countries bearing primary responsibility. Third, a special effort should be made to lift women out of poverty. "You can no more be half equal than half free", he said.
There followed a "High-Level Dialogue" involving Michel Camdessus of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), James Wolfensohn of the World Bank, Rubens Ricupero of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and David Hartridge, Director-in-Charge of the World Trade Organization.
Ambassador Fulci then hosted a luncheon in honour of the Secretary- General and welcomed his guests to what he called "the new ECOSOC".
After lunch, the Secretary-General addressed a conference marking the closure of the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (Press Release SG/SM/7060). "We must, above all", he told the assembled delegates, "shift from a culture of reaction to a culture of prevention." He stated that the international community had to strengthen and broaden programmes which reduced the number and cost of disasters in the first place.
The Secretary-General then addressed a meeting of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) which he had convened to review progress on the business initiative he had launched at Davos, Switzerland, in January of this year. Heads of a number of United Nations agencies were present, along with top corporate executives from around the world.
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He asked the business representatives to implement his Davos Global Compact encouraging good corporate citizenship in the area of human rights, the environment and core labour standards. He also asked them to identify best practices and to establish their own benchmarks by which to measure progress, and to work directly with relevant United Nations agencies to translate the principles into corporate practice.
At a press conference following the meeting, the Secretary-General said that he was pleased that the business community had taken up the challenge of the Global Compact he had proposed at Davos. He also said that they had made good progress in improving investment prospects for African and least developed countries. "It is my hope that pilot studies undertaken jointly by UNCTAD and the ICC", he said, "will ... put African countries back on the investment-location map." (See Press Release SG/SM/7062.)
In the evening, the Secretary-General attended a concert and then a reception hosted by the Swiss and Geneva authorities.
On the morning of Tuesday, 6 July, the Secretary-General addressed a mixed audience of delegates and children at what he called "a birthday party" to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. "... children's rights can no longer be seen as optional", he said. "Respecting them is not an act of charity. It is a binding obligation." (For full text, see Press Release SG/SM/7061.)
He then met with his newly named Special Representative for Kosovo, Bernard Kouchner, to review the responsibilities of his mission. Carl Bildt, the Special Envoy for the Balkans, joined part of that meeting. At a press encounter after that meeting, the Secretary-General said Mr. Kouchner would be travelling to New York for a few days of consultation and would then be leaving for Kosovo, probably early next week. Mr. Kouchner commented: "I have the feeling ... that this will undoubtedly be a very heavy and a very difficult task, but we can move forward and the United Nations Organization can reinforce peace and provide a future for these people."
The Secretary-General then met with Mary Robinson, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. They discussed her recent visit to the Russian Federation and the human rights situation in Kosovo and Sierra Leone, among other things.
His final meeting of the day was with his other Special Envoy for the Balkans, Eduard Kukan, with whom he met one on one.
He and his party then left for Dakar, Senegal, via Paris, to begin a five-day tour of West Africa.
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