*** 06-Apr-0* ***
Title: POLITICS-EU/AFRICA: Civil Society Presses For More
Inclusion
By Brian Kenety
BRUSSELS April 6 (IPS) - civil society activists have reiterated
the 'inextricable' link between democracy, good governance, human
rights and poverty eradication.
A declaration from the Africa-Europe Civil Society, presented
to the Africa-Europe Summit in Cairo this week, underscored the
need for a genuine partnership between European governments to
engage Africa at both government and civil society levels.
"We commit ourselves to lobbying European governments to
engage Africa on the basis of what Africa needs and not on the
basis of what Europe thinks Africa needs or wants," stated the
declaration.
The declaration was presented to the summit by a small
delegation of civil society activists.
The delegation represented the Africa-Europe Civil Society
Forum, a group of 80 persons from 34 countries, that were forced
to meet in Lisbon over the weekend after organisers "had not been
granted conditions to hold it in Cairo," according to the Council
of Europe's North-South Centre (NSC).
The NSC and the EU Commission had sponsored the alternative
meeting in the Portuguese capital.
The historic Cairo Summit was the first time the 15 EU and 52
OAU member states had met at the head of state and government
level.
However, Egypt, which had initially granted the Africa-Europe
Civil Society Forum permission to hold a meeting in Cairo parallel
to the Summit, said at the eleventh hour that it could not be held
due to "security concerns," though EU and other sources said that
OAU states had been against it.
In an open letter to the Prime Minister of Portugal, whose
country now holds the rotating EU presidency, the New York-based
organisation Human Rights Watch said it was "alarmed to learn that
the (OAU) prohibited the Civil Society Forum from taking place."
The international watchdog group said that the emergence of a
"vibrant civil society is among the most important developments
sweeping the (African) continent, yet remains precarious and
vulnerable in many countries."
Noting that the Forum's impact would be "diminished" by the
forced relocation to Lisbon, Human Rights Watch called on the EU
and its member states to "commit themselves to work with African
governments and civil society actors throughout the continent to
ensure that human rights forms a cornerstone of (bilateral)
relations."
The delegation consisted of David Gakuzi (Burundi), an expert
in conflict resolution; Muriu Muthoni (Senegal), of the African,
Caribbean and Pacific group (ACP) Civil Society Forum; Fatima
Proenca and Ahmed Zaki (Portugal), Platform of Portuguese NGOs;
Koffi Toussah (Togo), the RAJ youth forum; and Said Cherchira
(France) of the Migrant's Forum.
The Forum's declaration covered four main areas: the
eradication of poverty and impoverishment and the work towards the
development of social well-being; economic and globalisation
issues; human rights, democracy, the rule of law and the good
management of public affairs; and the role of civil society.
It stressed both the "external and internal obstacles to the
eradication of poverty, the promotion of well-being and the
achievement of sustainable development."
The external obstacles include Africa's staggering 350-billion
US dollar debt, "incoherence between the development and other
policies of the EU and other donors" and the "progressive,
illegitimate concentration of non-democratic power" in the major
international institutional lenders and the World Trade
Organisation.
The declaration called on the EU member states to respect a
commitment made during various United Nations conferences to
earmark 0.7 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) towards the
development of the world's poorest countries, while noting that
"economic growth alone cannot satisfy the poverty reduction
objective."
The declaration stated that absolute poverty exists throughout
the African continent and that of the 590 million people in sub-
Saharan Africa, 250 million do not have access to potable water,
205 million lack access to health care, and 220 million people
struggle to survive on less than one US dollar per day.
Therefore, the eradication of poverty "should be the
overarching goal ... central to the formulation of development
policies and strategies," it says.
"We maintain that the unfettered and unmanaged liberalisation
of trade between countries and regions with highly unequal levels
of development is inimical to poverty eradication," says the
declaration obtained by IPS.
"Moreover, we note with concern that globalisation leading to
economic disparities and inequality fuels conflict in Africa." In
this regard, the Forum welcomed provisions within the new trade
and aid Partnership Agreement between the African, Pacific and
Caribbean (ACP) states and the EU that include "the financing of
trade promotion (for the ACP states) including fair trade."
However, the Forum noted that current agreements between the EU
and South Africa and the ACP states "are likely to lead to a
weakening and fragmentation of existing regional structures" and
the subsequent advance of bilateral relations with the EU.
It appealed to African leaders to "take action or carry on
their efforts at redefining their economic policies in order to
take into account, in an effective way and in the spirit of 'good
governance' ... the interests, economic and social rights of
communities particularly affected by poverty."(END/IPS/bk/sm/00)
Origin: Harare/POLITICS-EU/AFRICA/
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[c] 2000, InterPress Third World News Agency (IPS)
All rights reserved
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