PRESS CONFERENCE ON MILLENNIUM FORUM

Press Briefing

PRESS CONFERENCE ON MILLENNIUM FORUM

By holding the Millennium Forum in advance of the United Nations Millennium Summit and Assembly this year, civil society hoped to be able to provide more input in those events, Techeste Ahderom, co-Chairman of the Millennium Forum, told correspondents at a Headquarters press conference this morning. In the past, non- governmental organization forums had been held simultaneously with major United Nations conferences, making it difficult for civil society to have interaction with the United Nations.

He said that the upcoming Millennium Forum, which is going to take place 22 to 26 May as part of the preparations for the United Nations Millennium Assembly in September, would be centred around six main themes of: peace, security and disarmament; eradication of poverty; human rights; sustainable development and the environment; the challenges of globalization; and the need to strengthen and democratize the United Nations and other international organizations. For the first time this year, the Forum would be devoted not to thematic, but to cross- boundary, issues.

The organizers of the Forum had been seeking the views of civil society from all over the world on the six main subjects of the event, he continued. A draft paper had been prepared, which integrated the many suggestions, as well as comments, on the items of concern. The document provided full support to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, where he deserved it. However, "where we feel he has not gone far enough, we have been bold enough to make our own suggestions", he said.

On the subject of the eradication of poverty, for example, the Secretary- General of the United Nations had suggested that, by the year 2015, the international community should cut poverty in half, he continued. Of course, civil society welcomed such a goal. However, it was known that more than 890 million people went to bed hungry every night. If 15 years were needed to cut poverty in half, it would take another 15 years to address the remaining half of the problem. "Are we going to wait 30 years, then, for the eradication of poverty?" he asked. “We feel that, at this critical time in the history of our planet, we should be able to at least get rid of extreme poverty in the areas of adequate provision of food and other essential needs way before the year 2030."

Consultations on the draft paper had been conducted with the help of the Internet and other media, he said. To date, over 1,800 non-governmental organizations had been accredited to the Millennium Forum. Out of those, close to 1,200 had confirmed that they would be represented in New York during the Forum. The purpose of the Millennium Forum would not be to produce more documentation, for existing consensus documents could already "fill this room". "What we hope to achieve at the Millennium Forum is to create awareness and to highlight the implementation of what has already been achieved, promised and committed to", he said.

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The representatives of civil society would address the question of what governments should do in light of the existing commitments. Although encouraging in certain areas, the ongoing review process of major international forums, including "Beijing + 5" and "Copenhagen + 5", had been very disappointing in terms of achievements. About one such review process, for example, it had been said that rather than "Rio plus 5", it should be called "Rio minus 5". In certain areas, the international community had gone backwards.

Another area of discussion would focus on what civil society could do on its own, without the governments, he said. A global network should be created to address integrated issues. The third item concerned the role of the United Nations. The world had changed, and the Organization had grown. "Are the present structures of the United Nations suitable to the kind of commitments that Member States have made and to what it is expected to do?" he asked.

Citing the question of rapid deployment forces as an example, he said that currently the threshold for triggering the peacekeeping mechanism was very high. Thousands had to die in a crisis before any action was taken. Once a decision was made, it took a long time to mobilize the necessary forces. For that reason, it was absolutely necessary for the United Nations to institute the rapid deployment mechanism. Civil society also had its views on the reform of the Security Council, the veto power and the possibility of the Council's expansion.

Answering the question about the proposals contained in the draft declaration regarding the Security Council reform, Mr. Ahderom said that the text was still a draft. Following the discussion during the Forum, it would be disseminated among those who had been unable to attend the event, although accredited to it. At present, the document contained proposals to expand the Security Council and to address the question of the power of the veto. The draft also questioned the permanent membership.

Would the Forum address the upheaval in Africa? a correspondent asked. Mr. Ahderom answered that civil society was very concerned about the situation on that continent. It was impossible to talk about the eradication of poverty, while Member States were buying arms at the expense of their populations. There must be a mechanism within the United Nations to guarantee territorial integrity and sovereignty of nations without spending a lot of money. Serious attention should be given to searching for solutions.

To a question about what the Forum could do if the governments disagreed, he said that at present the Forum had only moral influence. However, it could mobilize public opinion. It was an important force to be reckoned with, for it had a broad base among all the non-governmental actors.

Was the draft declaration suggesting that the Charter of the United Nations should be revisited as far as the power of veto was concerned? a correspondent asked. Mr. Ahderom replied that for the last five years there had been a working group on the Security Council, where the idea of expanding the membership in that body had been put forward. At the moment, the permanent members were not willing to cede any of their rights. However, he hoped that over the coming decade, civil

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society would be able to send a message that selfish national interests should not be the only governing principle by which the procedures of the Security Council should be addressed. There were other alternatives.

Asked about the obstacles encountered during the discussions on the possibility of non-governmental organizations addressing the plenary of the Millennium Assembly, he said that he did not want to prejudge the outcome of the consultations. The notion that civil society should have input in the Assembly had the full support of the Secretary-General. There was a general awareness that any discussion about the future of the United Nations without full involvement of civil society was bound to fail. It was still not clear how that would be done.

It had been suggested that an interactive session should be held, he continued. That was also being planned for the Millennium Forum. Statements should be widely distributed on the Internet. Civil society should have opportunities to provide substantive input, for five minutes on the podium would not be enough.

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