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Programme Number: 040
Week of: 20th March 2005
Recording Date: Thursday, 24thMarch 2005
PRESENTER: Hello and welcome to United Nations Radio
from New York.
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under narration.)
PRESENTER:
This is, UN and Africa. I'm Ransford Cline-Thomas.
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hold under)
PRESENTER:
This week United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan
presented his much anticipated report with proposals
on strengthening the world organization to better meet
the challenges of this century.
CLIP-1: Kofi Annan.
"It is aimed at making sure that the commitments
made to fight poverty are really carried out. It is
aimed at healing wounds left by the Iraq war. And it
is aimed at restoring the credibility of the United
Nations as the leader in the worldwide struggle for
human rights."
PRESENTER:
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan speaking
there to journalists after presenting his report to
the General Assembly. So what exactly is Mr. Annan proposing
in his report? And why has he decided to launch it now?
You'll hear from him in a moment.
And, the Central African forest is disappearing at an
alarming rate. What is causing this rich resource of
the continent to shrink, and is there anything that
is being done to preserve it?
CLIP-2: Sekou Toure.
"If forests are not managed in a proper manner
so that any company, anybody who is going to be cutting
trees should be given permit on the basis of a management
plan so you can damage tremendously the forest ecosystem."
That was Sekou Toure, the Director of the UN Environment
Programme's Regional Office for Africa We will hear
more from him later in the programme.
So stay tuned to UN and Africa.
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sentence.)
STING/JINGLE: UN AND AFRICA THEME
PRESENTER:
CUT 1- KOFI ANNAN
This hall has had enough high sounding declarations
to last us for some decades to
come. We all know what the problems are, and we all
know what we have promised
To achieve. What is needed now is not more declarations
or promises, but action to
fulfill the promises already made. ( APPLAUSE)
(Keep applause under the PESENTER and fade out on cue)
PRESENTER:
United Nations Secretary-General presenting what could
arguably be called a historic report to the UN General
Assembly early this week. The report itself entitled
"In Larger Freedom: Towards Security, Development
and Human Rights for All" contains a number of
proposals for dealing with poverty, terrorism, human
rights and the reform of the United Nations. Noting
that there may be a temptation to treat his report as
a menu from which to select only those proposals that
people fancy, Mr. Annan urged member states to take
them as a package. Diane Bailey has more.
NARRATOR:
Explaining why he has decided to issue his report at
this time, the Secretary-General recalled that the General
Assembly asked him five years ago to review progress
that has been made in the implementation of the Millennium
Declaration adopted at that time. Now world leaders
are expected to meet in New York in September this year
for that review, which gives them six months to study
the report. However, the Secretary-General says more
than a review is needed in order to do justice to the
present world situation.
CUT 2- KOFI ANNAN
I feel strongly that there are decisions which urgently
need to be taken in the areas of development, security
and human rights, and changes that need to be made in
the structure of the United Nations itself if we are
to make the most of the opportunities in the next ten
years and save millions of people from death and disaster.
NARRATOR:
The first part of the report is entitled "Freedom
from Want" and proposes specific decisions to validate
an agreement reached between developed and developing
countries in Monterrey, Mexico three years ago. The
Secretary-General is asking developing countries, among
other things, to improve their governance, uphold the
rule of law, combat corruption and allow civil society
and the private sector to play their full roles in development.
Regarding what should be done by developed countries,
he says they should increase the amounts they spend
on development and provide debt relief. He also asks
them to complete trade negotiations no later than the
year 2006 and, as a first step, to give immediate duty-free
and quota-free market access to all exports from the
Least Developed Countries and he has proposed that by
2015 developed countries should make sure they are spending
0.7 per cent of their gross domestic product on official
development assistance.
CUT 3- KOFI ANNAN
I am encouraged by recent developments. About five countries
in Europe have already met the target, and many other
donors have come up with a timetable for meeting that
target. So we are really moving in the right direction,
and I would urge others who have not done so to do so.
But it is not enough to increase development assistance.
It has to be "front-loaded" so that we will
be able to meet the Millennium Development Goals by
2015.
The Secretary-General is also recommending the creation
of a one billion dollar voluntary fund in order to be
able to bring rapid and effective relief to victims
of sudden disaster, whether natural or man made.
On the issue of terrorism, Mr. Annan is asking states
to agree on a new consensus by which they commit themselves
to treat any threat to one of them as a threat to all
of them. He is urging them to cooperate to prevent catastrophic
terrorism, stop the spread of deadly weapons, end civil
wars and build lasting peace in war-torn countries.
The Secretary-General is proposing that states complete
and sign a convention on terrorism. Regarding the possibility
that that some members of the Security Council may be
reluctant to sign a convention on terrorism or to agree
on the definition of terrorism because they too may
be accused of terrorist acts, the Secretary-General
says that issue is already taken care of under international
law.
CUT 4 -KOFI ANNAN
International law prescribes how States can and should
use force and if they break the law, they can also be
held to account. What we need to do is to come up with
a definition that is generally acceptable. I hope we
can all agree that deliberate targeting of innocent
civilians and non-combatants is simply not acceptable.
NARRATOR:
On the second part of his report, entitled, Freedom
to Live in Dignity, the Secretary-General is urging
all states to take concrete steps to strengthen the
rule of law, human rights and democracy. In particular,
he is asking states to embrace the principle of the
responsibility to protect as a basis for collective
action against genocide, ethnic cleansing and crimes
against humanity. He is calling on them, among other
things, to ratify and implement all treaties related
to the protection of civilians and to contribute to
a Democracy Fund at the United Nations. Such a Fund
would provide financial and technical assistance to
countries that want to strengthen their democracy.
In the final part of his report, the Secretary-General
is making specific proposals to strengthen the United
Nations. He is arguing that in order to do its job,
the organization must be brought fully into line with
today's realities. Mr. Annan notes that the General
Assembly has suffered from declining prestige and calls
on its members to reverse this by adopting a package
of reforms and resolving to focus their agenda on major
substantive issues of the day. He is also urging them
to establish mechanisms through which the General Assembly
can engage fully and systematically with civil society.
He is then recommending a system of three Councils dealing
with international peace and security, economic and
social issues as well as human rights. He is proposing
strengthening the two Councils that already exist, namely,
the Economic and Social Council and the Security Council.
The third Council dealing with human rights could replace
the Commission on Human Rights. He notes that the Human
Rights Commission has become contentious as governments
get named to it either to protect themselves or to ensure
that others are brought to the dock.
CUT 5 - KOFI ANNAN
In the process, the rights of the individual and the
human rights that they are there to protect often get
lost. I think if we are able to transform that into
a council with members elected directly by the General
Assembly, two thirds majority, with an understanding
that those elected must have credentials in the human
rights area and commitment to be able to uphold the
human rights standards, we are likely to do better.
NARRATOR:
One reform issue that has been under discussion for
a while now is the enlargement of the Security Council
to make it more representative of the international
community and the geopolitical realities of today. Reporting
for UN Radio, I am Diane Bailey.
STING/JINGLE: UN AND AFRICA THEME
TREATY TO PROTECT CONGO BASIN FOREST
PRESENTER:
NARRATOR:
One of Africa's major resources is its massive Congo
Basin rainforest. But it is shrinking and is doing so
at an alarming rate of 8,000 kilometres per year as
a result of illegal logging and poaching. Well, to address
this problem, African leaders met recently in Brazzaville,
the capital of the Republic of Congo where they signed
a treaty to protect the continent's forest. Heads of
state and government of Congo-Brazzaville, the Democratic
Republic of the Congo, Chad, the Central African Republic,
Sao Tome and Principe, Guinea Bissau, Rwanda and Burundi
all signed the treaty which was the culmination of a
process that started in 1999 when Central African countries
adopted the Yaoundé Declaration, committing themselves
to conserving the biodiversity and ensuring sustainable
development and management of the forest ecosystem of
the Congo Basin. The African leaders also appointed
Nobel Peace Prize winner, Wangari Mathai of Kenya as
the goodwill ambassador for the protection of the forest.
UN Radio's Derrick Mbatha discussed this issue with
Sekou Toure, the Director of the UN Environment Programme's
Regional Office for Africa who says the summit in Brazzaville
had a number of achievements.
ST: One is that they agreed that the tropical forests
of central Africa are very very important for the socio-economic
development of the region. So there was a major political
commitment as indicated by the level of attendance of
the summit. All the countries were represented at the
level of Heads of State and Prime Ministers and also
because they adopted an action plan for the proper management
of the ecosystems of central Africa. In addition they
signed a treaty establishing what they call a Commission
on the Forests of central Africa, the forest ecosystems
of Central Africa. And this COMIFAC was expanded --
initially they had about six countries.
DM Yes. If I may just jump in there, COMIFAC, What
is that?
ST: COMICAC is actually the conference of the ministers
in charge of forestry in Central Africa. One of the
things that they realized is that a conference of ministers
has no legal standing. It is just a forum for Ministers
to meet. And if they wanted to engage their partners
to increase resource mobilization, to have an effective
way of implementing the programmes they run into a legal
difficulty. So they decided now to have a treaty establishing
the Commission, and this is now the Commission on the
Forest Ecosystems of Central Africa.
DM: Yes. You said forests are very important for the
economic development of that region. Could you elaborate?
What's the importance of these forests?
ST: Forests have the ability to sequester carbon. And
as the UN Environment Programme, this is very important
for us in our fight on climate change. In fact, during
the discussion, countries of the region insisted that
because of this carbon sequestration ability, we should
really help them access additional resources under the
Kyoto Protocol because by absorbing carbon, they can
buy carbon emission from developed countries and from
elsewhere in the system. Secondly, they retain water.
They provide safeguards against flooding, against erosion.
And you know very well that the genetic resources found
in forests are really really the basis for many advances
in medicine. And we also know that forests also provide
a wide range of livelihood and other benefits. These
are fertile lands. They provide bush meat for the population
living in the area, and a good management of forests
resources, logging for example
DM: Yes. Now you mentioned logging. Now let's talk
about what's threatening the forests. I understand one
of the threats is logging.
ST: Of course, I mean if forest ecosystems are not
managed in a proper manner that you do not have a management
plan per se so that any company, anybody who is going
to be cutting trees should be given a permit on the
basis of a management plan so that they manage it in
such a way that when they cut you can plant some trees
etc. If you don't do that, of course, you can damage
tremendously the forest ecosystem.
DM: You also mentioned that forests provide bush meat
to people. I have heard of a concern that some of the
rare species, animal species in the forests are disappearing
because people are slaughtering and eating them. Could
you comment on that?
ST Of course, what we call sustainable management of
these ecosystems includes also the animals that live.
People have to live off this. But at the same time conditions
have to be created for the preservation of the species.
If you kill them all, you will not have the bush meat
that you need. But if you do it in such a way that the
species itself is preserved, then you can have a permanent
source of protein.
PRESENTER:
That was Sekou Toure, the Director of the UN Environment
Programme's Regional Office for Africa talking to UN
Radio's Derrick Mbatha.
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PRESENTER:
You've been listening to, UN and Africa, from United
Nations Radio in New York.
Thank you for listening to the programme and thanks
also to the team here in our studios. That's our Producer
Derrick Mbatha, Production Assistant Eloisa Ugalde and
our studio engineer, Rosie Starr.
And from me Ransford Cline-Thomas bye for now.
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