Workshop 2
Co-chairs: Carola Donner-Reichle, German NGO Forum on the WSSD
  Nigel Tarling, European Officer, National Council for
                          Voluntary Organisations, UK


An Enabling Environment and the Copenhagen Agreements

    The workshop related to Commitment 1 of the Copenhagen agreements.

    The workshop participants discussed a number of different areas concerning human rights, especially focusing on economic and social rights, and resources for the follow-up to Copenhagen. Throughout discussions, however, three important strands became evident which cut across all the subject areas: co-ordination, coherence and transparency.

The need for co-ordination
It was agreed that the NGO community needs to be well co-ordinated in its approach to governments on the follow-up to Copenhagen. For example, it was generally recognised that lack of resources was a key factor to holding back government action over the follow-up to Copenhagen. A means which has been discussed is the Tobin-type currency transaction tax. It is important that the NGO sector agrees on its position before approaching governments.

The need for coherence
As was reiterated by Derek Osborn (UNED-UK), there has been a plethora of international conferences and declarations. A key role for the NGO sector is to monitor and draw attention to potential overlaps or even the incompatibility of decisions which are made in different forums. It was noted that there are conflicting messages being sent with the European Commission’s development funding programmes.

Transparency
It is essential that NGOs not only ensure that governments are transparent and involve NGOs in discussions (full dialogue in planning, implementing and monitoring) but also that the NGO sector itself is transparent.

Recommendations

  • NGOs should be well-co-ordinated in their deliberations and lobbying, and should lobby individual governments as well as international forums and decision-making bodies.
  • NGOs need to be transparent and accountable;
  • International agreements/declarations need to be coherent and funding programs need to be coherent and compatible.
  • There is a need for resources to be identified to take forward the Copenhagen agreements;
  • The setting of human rights benchmarks for development strategies, policies and all programs is an important method of ensuring programs and policies address the needs of people.
  • The HIPC fund should be revised so that the conditions for highly-indebted countries are improved. There should be a shorter period for implementation.