Press release of the Inter-Parliamentary Union
Windhoek, 6 April 1998
N° 4

SPEAKER OF NAMIBIAN ASSEMBLY ELECTED PRESIDENT OF WINDHOEK CONFERENCE

Dr Mosé P. Tjitendero, Speaker of the National Assembly of Namibia, was unanimously elected President of the 99^th Inter-Parliamentary Conference when it opened its working session in Windhoek today.

The Conference, organised by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the world organisation of parliaments, is taking place at the invitation of the Namibian Parliament in the Safari Court Conference Centre from 6 to 10 April 1998. A total of 598 parliamentarians from 120 countries were registered as attending.

At its first session of work, the Conference decided on a supplementary item of debate: Foreign debt as a factor limiting the integration of the Third World countries into the process of globalisation. It was proposed by Venezuela and received the required two-thirds majority as well as the highest number of positive votes (1,037 in favour, 191 against and 217 abstentions).

The debate on this item will take place on Wednesday 8 April, starting at 9.30 a.m., and a resolution will be presented for adoption at the Conference's final plenary session on Friday 10 April, starting at 3 p.m.

The topic was chosen after receiving more votes than competing proposals on the ratification of the chemical weapons convention, from Italy (977 for, 144 against and 335 abstentions) ; ratification of the convention on anti-personnel mines, from Norway (810 for, 184 against and 457 abstentions) ; the need to lift the embargo on Libya, from Libya (617 for, 329 against and 496 abstentions) ; a nuclear-weapons-free zone in the Middle East, from Iran (550 for, 326 against and 580 abstentions) ; and on pollution by slash-and-burn farming, from Germany (459 for, 400 against and 587 abstentions). Proposals on a treaty banning the production of fissile material (Australia), on possible disputes over water shortages (Kuwait), and the MOU between Iraq and the United Nations (Iraq) were withdrawn by their sponsors.

The Conference then voted to add an emergency supplementary item to its agenda : The situation in Kosovo - Measures to ensure a durable and peaceful resolution of the crisis. This proposal received 697 votes in favour, 113 against and 346 abstentions, obtaining the required four-fifths majority of positive and negative votes. A resolution on this topic will be prepared by a small drafting committee to be set up by the Conference's first committee on political questions, international security and disarmament, and then presented for adoption at the Conference's final plenary session.

Before the opening of the Conference, the Inter-Parliamentary Council (IPU governing body), held its first sitting during which it adopted a Declaration on declining official development assistance (ODA) and financial aid in general. The Declaration pointed to the " urgent need " to reverse the decline in ODA, and pursue strategies to improve the performance of development assistance and restore donor support. " We propose that national parliaments launch a debate in plenary on the subject of declining ODA with a view to fostering a broader public understanding and support for official development assistance and consequent government action, " the Declaration said. Specific parameters for the debate were laid out in the Declaration.

The Declaration was part of the report of the IPU's Committee for Sustainable Development, which had met in Geneva in March. The report suggested that whereas economic policy and the issues of globalisation and trade liberalisation were high on the agenda of governments, social development received much less attention. Therefore, the Council adopted a political Declaration on the need to give substance to the social development commitments undertaken at the Copenhagen Summit.

The report also reviewed the results of the special session of the UN General Assembly in June 1997, which appraised progress on implementation of Agenda 21, adopted at the Rio Conference on Environment and Development in 1972. This special session was the first occasion at which the IPU, through its President, had been able to address the UN General Assembly.

The Committee said that " much greater efforts and a significantly stronger political will are urgently needed to foster progress towards sustainable development and to translate the spirit of Rio into reality. "

It also said that " parliaments need to develop and promote greater understanding and awareness of the concept of sustainable development as an integrated policy framework aimed at achieving the triple goals of economic growth, social development and equity and the protection of the environment. "

Parliaments also need to " exert pressure on their respective governments, at all levels, to implement their commitments made au UNCED and reconfirmed in the Programme for the Further Implementation of Agenda 21, " which was adopted by the special session.

In other decisions, the Council elected Ms O.A. Starrfelt (Norway) to fill the vacant seat on the IPU's Committee on Middle East Questions.

It also took note of the discussions in the IPU Executive Committee on the situation of the IPU Group of Congo. The Executive Committee " deplored the violent events and loss of life last year in that country " and " took note of the creation of a multiparty National Council of Transition which has emerged from a National Forum of Reconciliation, and heard the representatives of this Council ". The Committee " hopes that all efforts will be made in the country for the drafting of a Constitution to be put to a popular referendum and that the National Council of Transition can soon be replaced by an elected legislature. "

In a letter read to the IPU Council by Mr Martínez, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mrs Mary Robinson, called on parliamentarians to work towards ratification of all international human rights treaties within the next five years.

" I wish to address national parliaments with a specific call for universal ratification of human rights treaties, " Mrs Robinson said in the letter addressed to the Conference. " Since the adoption of the Universal Declaration in 1948, the United Nations has developed an impressive body of international human rights law, " she said, citing issues such as racial discrimination, discrimination against women, the rights of children, the rights of migrant workers, torture, and the death penalty. " However, this complex system of laws and procedures will benefit all individuals only when the international human rights treaties are finally ratified by all countries. "

She called the present situation " far from satisfactory, " with only two-thirds of the countries having ratified the International Covenants to date, and said universal ratification was " feasible " within five years. " But to achieve this goal, steps in this direction should be taken right away. "

She also said that ratification would be " meaningless unless efforts are made to harmonise national laws, regulations and practices with the international norms and standards laid down in the treaties. "

" I prefer to commemorate the 50th anniversary with a call for action and with the hope that by the time of the 100^th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration, our children will have reason to celebrate, " Mrs Robinson concluded.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, contact at the Safari Court Media Centre:

tel. (264 61) 257.840; fax: 255.337
IPU Information Officer: Robin Newmann; Namibian Press Officer: Francis Xoagub