Editor's note:
After weeks of negotiations, the conclusion of the UN High Level
Conference on the Financial and Economic Crisis (24-26 June) was a
huge disappointment, writes Sylvia Borren, co-chair of the Global
Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP) and Worldconnectors.
In this article, Borren writes that most developing nations feel
they have been railroaded into accepting a very weak compromise
with only an ad-hoc UN working group to continue the process. Civil
society is angry that no concrete bailout measures have been agreed
on for the most affected: women and the socially marginalised.
According to the UN Millennium Campaign, world leaders spent ten
times more money last year on bailing out the financial world than
they spent in 49 years on development aid. The world's most
powerful political leaders are maintaining their disregard for
human rights by not taking responsibility for the effects of the
economic and climate crises that they have caused.
The good news of this UN conference is that there are many
transformative solutions being brought to the table, all pointing
in the same direction: investment in people. The bad news is the
notable lack of urgency and political will to move boldly on the
many solutions put forward.
(*) Sylvia Borren, co-chair of the Global Call to Action Against
Poverty (GCAP) and Worldconnectors. At the UN High Level Conference
on the Financial and Economic Crisis she represented the 170
million workers of the International Trade Union Confederation
(ITUC).
(END/2009)
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