March 2008 - Global Perspectives

Transcription

GLOBAL GOVERNANCE
ZWISCHEN UTOPIE & REALITÄT
www.ipsnews.net
INHALT | CONTENTS
EDITORIAL
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DIE WELT BESSER VERSTEHEN
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OPINION | ANSICHT
Small-Scale Tourism Yields Large-Scale Benefits
By Gülden Türköz Cosslett
'Investment in Transport Infrastructure Most Important'
Zoltàn Dujisn interviews Albanian Minister Sokol Olldashi
As Civil Wars End, Child Soldiers Decline
Radhika Coomaraswamy talks to Nergui Manalsuren
WINDOW ON EUROPE
First Aid, Second Option
By Frans Bieckmann
Independence Will Not Improve Kosovo´s Economy
By Vesna Peric Zimonjic
Challenged State Faces an Uncertain Future
By Zoltàn Dujisn
Bulgariens Bürger gegen Pipeline
By Claudia Ciobanu
Letter from Brussels
By David Cronin
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As Civil Wars End, Child Soldiers Decline
Interview with UN Under-S
Secretary-G
General
Radhika Coomaraswamy
The number of child soldiers, who
are forcibly pressed into military
service in conflicts worldwide, has
declined: from about 300,000 in
1997 to an estimated 250,000 now,
says UN Under-Secretary-General
Radhika Coomaraswamy. The primary reason for the decline, she
points out, is the end of civil wars
in Liberia and Sierra Leone, which
depended on child soldiers as frontline fighters.
Page 10-11
The Role of the South in Global Resource
Governance
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"Global governance has become
one of the most favourite concepts
in international politics as a way of
ensuring the establishment of best
practices in the way the world is
run. Critics describe global governance as an international socioeconomic arrangement championed by Western countries to control developing countries. In other
words, the concept lacks clarity,"
says former Ghanian minister Joyce R. Ayree.
Pages 24-25
Dem Gemeinwohl internationale Geltung verschaffen
COVER STORY | TITELTHEMA
Global Governance: New Players, New Rules
By James M. Boughton and Colin I. Bradford, Jr.
The Global System Needs A Makeover
By Carin Smaller
The Role of the South in Global Resource Governance
By Joyce R. Aryee
DEVELOPMENT DEADLINE
MDG-Bewertungsskala irreführend
Von Abra Pollock
How the Millennium Development Goals are Unfair to
Africa by William Easterly
Dem Gemeinwohl internationale Geltung verschaffen
Von Inge Kaul
KONFLIKTGEBIETE | CONFLICT AREAS
Gaza Border in Political Limbo
By Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani
UN Inaction Threatens "Mass Killings" in Africa and Asia
By Thalif Deen
Children Look At The Brighter Picture
By Mona Alani
IMPRESSUM
GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES | MARCH 2008
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"Wir leben in einer zunehmend
offenen und von Krisen gerüttelten Welt. Wie wäre es möglich,
zu grösserer Stabilität zurückzufinden und nachhaltige globale
Entwicklung zu fördern? Erwünschte Politikresultate in diesen
Problembereichen - etwa die Stabilisierung des globalen Klimas - lassen sich nicht allein durch nationale Massnahmen erreichen, egal wie
mächtig ein Land sein mag,”
schreibt Entwicklungsexpertin Inge Kaul.
Seite 28-30
Deutsche Redaktion
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31
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Karina
Böckmann
Heike
Nasdala
Grit
Moskau-P
Porsch
Bildredaktion, Layout & Graphik: Birgit Weisenburger
Titelbild-P
Photos: www.pixelio.de | UN
www.ipsnew.net
www.ipseuropa.org
www.ipsnews.de
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EDITORIAL
Dear Reader,
We have been inspired by the Development and Peace Foundation (SEF) to
make Global Governance the theme of the cover story this time. The Foundation,
set up at the initiative of Nobel laureate Willy Brandt 22 years ago, is helping to
drive forward the German and international debate about policy responses to globalisation.
With this in view, it launched in September 2006 a conference series titled
'Global Resource Management - A Challenge for Peace, Development and
Environmental Policies', which analysed the conflict potential associated with the
relative scarcity of many mineral resources. The concluding conference last
October focussed on the opportunities and prospects of global governance in the
field of mineral resources, including energy raw materials.
The key issues in this context were: to what extent is a global system of
resource management, or 'global resource governance', required to make sustainable, peaceful and equitable development possible? How much potential do new rules, institutions and regimes offer as a solution to
the problems facing international resource policy?
The conference documents are available at www.sef-bonn.org. This edition of Global Perspectives offers
excerpts from a stimulating paper titled 'The Role of the South in Global Resource Governance' presented by
Joyce R. Aryee, a former Ghanaian Minister and now CEO of the Ghana Chamber of Mines in Accra (pages 2425), at the SEF conference last May.
Another paper excerpted from IMF's quarterly magazine, Finance & Development, explains at length why
the 20th century model of global governance needs makeover (pages 18-21). A slightly abridged version of an
article from the Trade Insight also takes up cudgels in favour of revamping the global system (pages 22-23).
There are many more thought-provoking reports. Read the contribution titled 'Dem Gemeinwohl internationale Geltung verschaffen' (pages 28-30) in which Inge Kaul, an eminent development expert, pleads for
universal enforcement of the concept and values of common welfare. In the Development Deadline section
read William Easterly's analysis of how and why the Millennium Development Goals are unfair to Africa.
The opinion column on pages 10-11 presents an interview with UN Under-Secretary-General Radhika
Coomaraswamy on decline in the number of child soldiers in the aftermath of the end of civil wars in Liberia
and Sierra Leone, which depended on them as frontline fighters.
We also offer you a window on Europe (pages 12-17) presenting a panoramic view of a critical assessment
by an indpendent panel of the Netherlands development policy and of the EU heading for a new secirity deal
with Israel.
Enjoy reading! We will be happy to have your feedback.
Ramesh Jaura
Chief Editor
We focus on global affairs that include issues related to development cooperation but go farther.
We offer the perspectives of the global South - the South in both the developed and developing countries.
We give voice to the voiceless.
We are open to all arguments and examine these carefully.
We offer in-depth perspectives based on facts.
Support us in our mission: contact@global-perspectives.info
Subscribe. Advertise. Donate.
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KOMMUNIKATION GLOBAL | MÄRZ 2008
Millenniumskampagne
eröffnet Regionalbüro in Rom
Rom - Die Kampagne zur Durchsetzung der UNMillenniumsziele (MDGs) hat in Rom ihr drittes Regionalbüro eröffnet. Ziel ist es, mit Hilfe einer möglichst
breiten europäischen Öffentlichkeit die Regierungen
der Region in die Pflicht zu nehmen, ihre im Jahr 2000
auf dem Millenniumsgipfel in New York gegebenen
Versprechen zur Armutsbekämpfung einzuhalten. Wie
Marina Ponti, die stellvertretende Leiterin der globalen Kampagne und neue Direktorin des Regionalbüros
in Rom, gegenüber IPS betonte, seien die MDGs nach
wie vor erreichbar. Allerdings müsse Europa der
Armutsbekämpfung mehr Ressourcen zur Verfügung
stellen und die Effizienz ihrer Hilfe steigern. "Dazu
werden die Regierungen jedoch nur bereit sein, wenn
sie den Druck der europäischen Bürger zu spüren
bekommen. Diese werden wir mobilisieren."
Die MDGs sind acht konkrete und überprüfbare
Ziele, die Vertreter der Vereinten Nationen, der Weltbank, der Organisation für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung (OECD) und mehrere
Nichtregierungsorganisationen aus der UN-Millenniumserklärung hergeleitet und fixiert haben. Von 189
Staaten anerkannt, beinhalten die Ziele die Halbierung von Hunger und Armut bis 2015, Grundschulbildung für alle Kinder, die Gleichberechtigung der
Geschlechter und Stärkung der Rolle der Frau, die
Senkung der Kindersterblichkeit, die Verbesserung
der Gesundheitsversorgung von Müttern, den Kampf
gegen HIV/Aids, Malaria und andere schwere Krankheiten, die Sicherung der ökologischen Nachhaltigkeit und den Aufbau einer globalen Entwicklungspartnerschaft. Nach dem Aufbau von Regionalbüros
in Afrika (Nairobi) und Asien (Bangkok) ist die Millenniumskampagne nun auch in Europa mit einer
offizielle Plattform präsent.
Die Wahl des südeuropäischen Landes als neuen
Standort begründete Ponti, eine ehemalige Sozialaktivistin der in Uruguay angesiedelten NGO 'Social
Watch', mit der Mitgliedschaft in der Gruppe der sieben größten Industrienationen (G-7) und der dort
"überaus aktiven Zivilgesellschaft" und Friedensbewegung. "Hier nehmen die Menschen Armutsbekämpfung, Umweltschutz und den Aufbau eines gerechteren internationalen Handelssystems wirklich ernst."
Die Expertin bedauerte die derzeitige politische
Instabilität des Landes. "Wir hoffen, dass die Millenniumsziele im bevorstehenden Wahlkampf einen bedeutenden Platz einnehmen und die nächste Regierung auf dem aufbaut, was ihre Vorgängerin an tatkräftiger Entwicklungskooperation erreicht hat."
Inselstaaten fordern Strafen für Klimasünder
New York - Die vom Klimawandel besonders bedrohten kleinen Inselstaaten haben den UN-Sicherheitsrat aufgefordert, hart gegen Klimasünder vorzugehen. Auf einem Treffen der Vollversammlung verlangten sie bindende Obergrenzen für Treibhausgasemissionen und Sanktionen für Staaten, die diese
überschreiten. "Der Sicherheitsrat ist verpflichtet,
eine Verschärfung der Situation zu verhindern", sagte
im Namen der Kleinstaaten Stuart Beck, der Vertreter
Palaus bei den UN. Schon jetzt seien viele Menschen in
der pazifischen Region gezwungen, ihre Heimat zu
verlassen, weil der steigende Meeresspiegel ihnen die
Lebensgrundlage entziehe. "Wir mögen noch nicht alle
Antworten haben, sehr wohl aber haben wir die
Gewissheit, dass der exzessive Treibhausgasausstoß
der Grund für die Bedrohung unserer Existenz und ein
Risiko für die internationale Sicherheit ist", so Beck
weiter. Große Staaten könnten sich durch Deiche
schützen und die Bevölkerung in höher gelegene Regionen umsiedeln, die kleinen Inselstaaten aber nicht.
"Wir sind zum Abwarten gezwungen und müssen zusehen, wie unsere Kultur nach und nach verschwindet."
Ähnlich hatte sich schon im letzten Jahr der papuanische UN-Botschafter Robert Aisi geäußert. Auch er
sieht den Sicherheitsrat in der Pflicht. Aisi erkennt im
Klimawandel für die Inselstaaten eine Gefahr, die
nicht kleiner ist als gewalttätiger Auseinandersetzungen für größere Staaten. Wie er betonte, stehen
die pazifischen Inselstaaten vor einer Vertreibungswelle, die genau so brisant ist wie die von Konflikten
ausgelösten Flüchtlingsströme. Deutliche Worte kamen jetzt auch vom Präsidenten der UN-VollversammGLOBAL PERSPECTIVES | MARCH 2008
Srgjan Kerim | Photo: UN
lung, Srgjan Kerim. Er hatte über 100 Delegierte zu
dem von ihm organisierten Treffen am 11. und 12.
Februar eingeladen und verspricht sich von der Tagung
neue Impulse für die Klimadiskussion nach dem Weltklimagipfel vom letzten Dezember in Bali. Dort hatte
sich die internationale Gemeinschaft auf einen zweijährigen Verhandlungsprozess über die Nachfolge des
2012 auslaufenden Kiotoprotokolls zur Klimarahmenkonvention geeinigt. "Viele Staaten können
nicht warten, bis die Klimabemühungen Wirkung zeigen", warte Kerim. "Wir brauchen sowohl konkrete
Ziele als auch sofort anzuwendende Maßnahmen, die
den besonders anfälligen Staaten bei der Anpassung
helfen." Als besonders wichtig hob der Gastgeber die
Suche nach Möglichkeiten zur Verbindung des
Kampfes gegen den Klimawandel mit Entwicklungszielen hervor.

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Hotspot der Biodiversität Indiens in Gefahr
Bangalore - In Indien droht einem der artenreichsten Gebiete der Welt neue Gefahr. Die Westghats, eine Bergkette mit einer Ausdehnung von fast
160.000 Quadratkilometer im Westen des Subkontinents, geraten zusehends unter Druck, obwohl sie
zu einem guten Teil unter Naturschutz stehen. Die
Westghats verlaufen auf einer Länge von etwa 1.600
Kilometer durch die sechs westindischen Staaten
Gujarat, Goa, Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka und
Wetghats bei Kerala | Photo: www.greavesindia.com
Tamil Nadu und werden in ihrer ökologischen Bedeutung mit dem Amazonas verglichen. 5.000 Blühpflanzen, 139 Säugetier-, 508 Vogel und 179 Amphibienarten leben in den Feuchtwäldern. Mindestens
325 der Arten gelten als bedroht.
Weitgehend unberührt ist die Natur im Nationalparkgürtel Nagarahole-Bandipur-Mudumalai der indischen Unionsstaaten Karnataka, Tamil Nadu und
Nordkerala. Dort lebt mit 1.500 Exemplaren die größte indische Elefantenpopulation. 2006 organisierte
die Nichtregierungsorganisation (NGO) 'Prakruthi',
die sich für eine umweltverträgliche Nutzung der
Wälder und der nicht an Holz gebundenen Produkte,
die sie hergeben, einsetzt, eine Expertenmission. Sie
machte sich auf den Weg durch die Westghats und
traf allerorten auf gedankenlose Entwicklungsprojekte. In Maharashtra sind Siedlungen, aber auch
Stahl- und Kraftwerke bis in die Westghats vorgedrungen, in Goa der Bergbau, die landwirtschaftliche
Monokultur und der Tourismus. In Karnataka bedrohen Staudämme, Energieprojekte und linke Rebellengruppen die Wälder. In Tamil Nadu und Kerala sind
Plantagen, die Urbanisierung und die Umweltverschmutzung auf dem Vormarsch. "Ganz offenbar
liegt der Geist des Westghats-Entwicklungsprogramms auf Eis", bedauert Prakruthi-Gründer
Pandurang Hegde. Der Aktivist kämpft seit den
80er Jahren für die Rettung der Westghats und konnte die indische Regierung damals zu einem Einschlagverbot für Schutzgebiete drängen.

Mit traditionellem Wissen Feuchtgebiete retten
Johannesburg - In Südafrika läuft ein Pilotprojekt,
das die Möglichkeiten traditioneller Methoden zur
nachhaltigen Bewirtschaftung von Feuchtgebieten
untersucht. Eine Rückbesinnung auf das alternative
Wissen der Gemeinden, so die These der beteiligten
Wissenschaftler, könnte den Druck auf das fragile
Ökosystem verringern. Das 'Mbongolwane Community
Wetland Project' in der Provinz KwaZulu Natal im
Osten des Kapstaats ist ein Gemeinschaftsvorhaben
der staatlichen Wasser- und Forstbehörde, der lokalen
Umweltorganisation 'Working on Wetlands' und der
privatwirtschaftlichen Initiative 'Mondi Wetlands
Project'. Es befähigt die lokale Bevölkerung dazu, ein
Zehntel des Feuchtgebietes nachhaltig zu nutzen.
"Die Gemeinschaften halten sich dabei an bestimmte
Regeln", erläutert der Projektbeauftragte Donovan
Kotze von der Universität von KwaZulu Natal. "So werden die in dem Habitat beheimateten Pflanzen nur zu
bestimmen Zeiten gepflückt, um ihnen Zeit zu geben,
sich zu regenerieren."
Riedgräser, die die Anrainer zu Hängematten verknüpfen, werden deshalb ausschließlich im Zeitraum
Dezember bis Juni geerntet. Außerdem ist es üblich,
Schilf, aus dem die örtlichen Gemeinschaften ihre
Dächer fertigen, frühestens ab Mai zu schneiden. Dieser zeitlich kontrollierte Zugriff auf die Pflanzen dient
dazu, potenzielle Schäden möglichst gering zu halten.
Um die Menschen bei Laune zu halten, erzählen die
Dorfältesten Geschichten aus alten Zeiten, die sich um
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den Schutz der Feuchtgebiete drehen. Abschreckend
wirkt zudem der überlieferte Glaube, Männer, die ins
Wasser urinieren, verwandelten sich in Frauen und
umgekehrt. Unvorstellbar war ferner die Vorstellung,
Krokodile zu jagen oder zu essen. Sie gelten als
Wächter der Vorfahren, die der Überlieferung zufolge
zornig werden, wenn die in Feuchtgebieten endemischen Fischarten über Gebühr abgefischt werden.
Die Feuchtgebiete, die sechs Prozent der Erdoberfläche bedecken, sind ökologisch besonders wertvoll. Sie dienen Wasservögeln als Rast- und Winterplätze, als Wasserfilter und Überschwemmungsschutz
und spielen als CO2-Senken im Kampf gegen die klimaschädlichen Treibhausgase eine weitere wichtige
Rolle. Feuchtgebiete sind auch hochproduktive Ökosysteme. Viele der dort wachsenden Pflanzen sind für
den menschlichen Verzehr geeignet. Die stärkehaltige
Knollen der Taro-Pflanze (Colocasia esculenta) zum
Beispiel, die seit mehr als 2.000 Jahren kultiviert
wird, lassen sich wie Kartoffeln kochen. Die mineralund vitaminreichen Blätter und Stiele des Gewächses werden als Gemüse gegessen. Aus Riedgräsern, Flechten und Schilf lassen sich Körbe und
Matten herstellen. Kotze bedauert, dass in einigen
Gemeinschaften die von einer Generation zur nächsten vermittelten Webkenntnisse verloren gegangen
sind. Eine Wiederentdeckung der traditionellen
Aktivitäten könnte seiner Meinung nach die Menschen
dazu ermutigen, die Feuchtgebiete zu schützen.
US-Waffen für Mexikos Drogenmafia
Mexiko-Stadt - Täglich gelangen rund 2.000 Waffen und Tausende Stück Munition illegal nach Mexiko.
Wichtigste Abnehmer der zu 90 Prozent aus den USA
stammenden Waffen sind die immer mächtiger werdenden Drogenbarone. Sie verfügen mittlerweile
über Arsenale, die einer modern ausgestatteten Armee würdig wären. Unter den Schmuggelwaffen sind
Panzerabwehrakten vom Typ M72 und AT4, MGLGranatwerfer, RPG-7-Raketenwerfer und HerstalMaschinengewehre. Erst am 7. Februar fanden Soldaten im nordmexikanischen Bundesstaat Tamaulipas
nahe der Grenze zu den USA ein Waffenversteck mit
89 Sturmgewehren und über 80.000 Schuss Munition.
Vier Tage später konnten im westlichen Bundesstaat
Sinaloa und dem benachbarten Nuevo León 44 weitere hoch moderne Waffen sichergestellt werden. Am
13. Februar flog in Mexiko-Stadt ein Lager mit zehn
Splittergranaten und einer Anti-Air-Waffe auf. Bereits
im Januar waren in der mexikanischen Hauptstadt
Waffenhändler mit 20 Sturmgewehren und zwölf
Granatwerfern im Gepäck dingfest gemacht worden.
Der Verteidigungsausschuss des mexikanischen
Abgeordnetenhauses geht davon aus, dass in den
Amtsjahren von Staatspräsident Vicente Fox von
2000 bis 2006 4,3 Millionen Waffen illegal ins Land
kamen. Konfisziert werden konnten nicht mehr als
29.360 der Geschosse. Auch 2007, nach Übernahme
der Regierungsgeschäfte durch Felipe Calderón, wurden gerade einmal 4.205 Sturmgewehre, 4.433 kleinere Waffen und 518 Granaten aus dem Verkehr gezogen. Für die Sicherheitsexpertin Georgina Sánchez
von der staatlichen autonomen Metropolitan-Universität in Mexiko-Stadt ist die Verbreitung der illegalen Waffen in Mexiko ein Problem, dessen Ausmaß
von den Behörden kaschiert und von der Öffentlichkeit nicht wahrgenommen wird. Auch der US-Senatsausschuss für auswärtige Angelegenheiten räumt ein,
dass der Waffenschmuggel nach Mexiko trotz aller
Bemühungen von US-amerikanischer Seite in den
letzten Monaten massiv angezogen hat und sich die
Drogenkartelle längst einen Rüstungswettlauf liefern. Bereits im Januar hatte der US-amerikanische
Justizminister und Generalstaatsanwalt Michael
Mukasey bei einem Besuch in Mexiko bestätigt, dass
die meisten Waffen im Besitz der mexikanischen
Drogenmafia aus den USA stammen.

Chile strebt OECD-Mitgliedschaft an
Santiago de Chile - Chile bemüht sich
seit 2004 um eine Mitgliedschaft in der
Organisation für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung. Die Regierung gibt sich optimistisch, denn die
Wirtschaft in dem Andenstaat boomt.
Doch beim Umweltschutz sieht die OECD
Nachbesserungsbedarf. Es gebe keine
großen Hindernisse für den Beitritt Chiles
zur OECD, erklärte der chilenische
Finanzminister Andrés Velasco Ende
Januar nach einem Besuch am Sitz der
Organisation in Paris. Er rechne mit
einem Zeitraum von etwa zwei Jahren,
bis dass Chile den Status eines ständigen
Mitglieds erhalte. Seit 1997 hat das südamerikanische Land bei der OECD einen
Beobachterstatus. Bereits vor vier Jahren
unter der Regierung von Präsident Ricardo Lagos beantragte Chile die Vollmitgliedschaft in der 1961 gegründeten
internationalen Organisation. Diese zählt
derzeit 30 Mitgliedsstaaten, darunter alle Industrienationen. Aus diesem Grund gilt die Organisation in
Chile denn auch als "Club der Reichen".
Die wirtschaftlichen Prognosen des Andenstaates
sind dabei durchaus positiv. Chile hat die Rezession
überwunden, in die das Land nach der Asienkrise
1997 eingetreten war. Das Bruttoinlandsprodukt
wuchs in den letzten Jahren kontinuierlich und liegt
inzwischen bei 6,1 Prozent. Unter Präsidentin
Michelle Bachelet verabschiedete das Parlament im
Jahr 2006 den größten Haushalt, den das Land je zur
Verfügung hatte: 22 Milliarden US-Dollar. Vor allem
die weltweit hohen Kupferpreise und die Abwertung
des Dollar trugen zu einer Erholung der Wirtschaft
Santiago de Chilé | Photo: www.pixelio.de
bei. Doch damit nicht genug. Ermutigende Berichte
der OECD aus den Jahren 2003 und 2005 bescheinigen Chile ein hohes Maß an wirtschaftlicher Solvenz,
Transparenz und ein wirksames Vorgehen gegen die
Korruption. Doch je mehr sich der Markt öffnet,
umso mehr wächst bei Kritikern die Skepsis. "Die Öffnung der chilenischen Wirtschaft kann auch eine größere Verletzlichkeit hervorrufen. In den Augen der
OECD ist das vielleicht ein Vorteil, aber wir werden
noch sehen, was wir davon haben", meint Hugo Fazia
vom Zentrum für Nationale Studien für Alternative
Entwicklung (CENDA), einer Nichtregierungsorganisation mit Sitz in Santiago de Chile.

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OPINION | ANSICHT
Small-Scale Tourism Yields Large-Scale Benefits
By Gülden Türköz Cosslett
I
Gulden Turkoz-C
Cosslett
is the UNDP Resident
Representative in Albania.
n a world of pre-packaged products we have
become accustomed to authenticity being
sacrificed for convenience. Even recreation and
tourism are increasingly being processed and packaged, to the detriment of what makes individual experiences (or even countries) unique and fun. Albania
is a beautiful and fascinating country. It has a wide
range of historic, cultural, and natural attractions
that are of great interest to international tourists.
The country is safe, and its people are welcoming.
Most important, the country is still authentic: it
remains largely unspoiled. Innovative national leaders and forward-looking planners from around the
world have proven that tourism that features authentic culture, nature, and experiences creates more
opportunities in local communities than any other
type of tourism. At the village or town level, nature
and culture-oriented tourism permits small-scale
businesses to be successful tourism operators based
on their own knowledge and experience, and with
relatively low capital investment. Tourist spending is
local, and tends to stay in the community, spread
across a number of individuals in the community, and
circulating in the local economy.
Strong growth potential in tourism
Castle in Shkodër, Albania
Photo: Klaus Friedl
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A study carried out in Costa Rica found that the positive economic impact of nature and culture tourism
on a small community can be 5 to 10 times greater
per dollar of tourist spending than for an all-inclusive
mass tourism destination. Nature and culture tourism
requires less public infrastructure and lower levels of
private investment, per visitor. And the price is determined by how good Albania is at providing these unique experiences to guests, whereas in mass sun &
sand tourism, the price is set by how cheaply other
high-volume destinations can sell their competing
tourism products. Last year, the World Economic
Forum launched its first ever Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2007. This study is a detailed examination of the underlying factors that are likely to
determine Albania's ability to compete successfully in
international markets. The country ranked 90 out of
124 countries from around the globe, ranking ahead
of many countries with long-established and successful tourism sectors. The ranking indicates that
Albania has strong growth potential in tourism, and
that its potential can be realised through concrete
action by policy makers and the collective efforts of
the private, civil, and governmental sector.
However, it also points to very troubling weakness
that could limit severely Albania's competitiveness if
not addressed in a coherent manner across many sectors and ministerial portfolios. Reflecting long-established trends in the tourism industry, the top-
ranking countries were noted for not only their beautiful attractions but also for their stringent environmental regulations which protect that beauty. This
emphasis strongly validates the Albanian government's decision to focus on nature and culture tourism
across the country. Albania ranked 43rd in the world
in its Natural, Cultural and Human Resources.
However, it ranked very low on environmental protection. Perhaps the most positive result from this study
shows that Albania is already very strong in areas that
are difficult and require a long time to change, while
most of its weaknesses are in areas that can be improved quickly with political will and concrete action.
The study confirms that Albania is a welcoming country. Travel restrictions are non-existent (tied for 1st),
and the country ranked 4th in ''tourism openness'', a
measure of citizen, government, and private sector
openness to foreign visitors. The country ranked very
high in human resource issues - 35th in the world.
A number of weaknesses are pointed out in the
study, in particular property rights (116th), and infrastructure (particularly airport, roads, and Internet,
all greater than 110th). These are well-known problems, understood to be long-term, which the country is addressing through increased efforts. These will
improve over time with continued national efforts.
The country could improve its competitiveness (and
its rankings) by addressing a number of issues that
appear to be within direct control of policy-makers.
Investment climate: rules regarding foreign
ownership (113th) and direct investment (110th)
are seen as obstacles. While the government is
engaged in significant recent efforts, tourism
investment has a number of complexities that
require special attention.
Natural resource management: The country's
weak system for solid waste management, control
of deforestation and land use, coupled with its
limited designation of protected areas (87th), and
unstable (113th) and non-stringent (124th) regulatory system make this area the country's ''Achilles
Heel'' for tourism and other critical economic sectors.
Overall Albania has ranked well in tourism competitiveness and has also made important strides in
peace, stability, safety, infrastructure, and entrepreneurship. With a concerted effort by policy makers to
make nature and culture the focus of its tourism
investment and marketing, the country could create
extraordinary development opportunities for its people, and be a recognised ''star'' in international tourism for a very long time.
IPS | GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES
OPINION | ANSICHT
'Investment in Transport
Infrastructure Most Important'
Zoltàn Dujisn interviews Albanian Minister for Public Works Sokol Olldashi
R
oads, railways, ports and airports are being
upgraded in a country where in spite of the
challenges posed by poverty, investment in
infrastructure has been dramatically increased.
Albania's minister for transport explained to IPS correspondent Zoltán Dujisin why the country's ambitious
bid to link itself with Europe's trade and tourism routes is so important to a previously isolated nation.
Some excerpts:
IPS: How important is transport infrastructure investment for Albania?
Sokol Olldashi: It is the most important investment in
the country. During the communist period our infrastructure was very poor, especially in the road and
railway sector, and now we are trying to catch up.
Comparing to 2004 we are investing six times more in
road infrastructure. In 2004 we spent 65 million euro
and in 2008 we will invest 470 million.
IPS: Isn't this is a huge strain for the budget? How do
you find funds for this?
Sokol Olldashi: We've had a very good fiscal performance in the last few years, incomes are increasing,
we took important measures against corruption, and
this has helped the state budget. We are privatising
and we have a six percent GDP growth, and all this
while lowering taxes. We have lowered the tax on
labour; we are applying a 10 percent flat tax which is
very attractive for investors. We also receive loans
from several banks.
IPS: Which sectors are benefiting from these large
investments?
Sokol Olldashi: We have increased investments in all
sectors of infrastructure: ports, aviation, railways. We
are building the basic network of roads in the country
starting from the north-south axis, which will soon be
completed and connect Greece to Montenegro
through Albania. The road to Macedonia is already
built, and the biggest project will connect us to the
border with Kosovo. The highway is under construction
right now and represents the greatest infrastructure
project, because the terrain is very difficult, going
through various mountains, and there will be 12 kilometres of tunnel and 25 bridges.
IPS: The section connecting to Kosovo has been highly
controversial, your predecessor was accused of approving the project before the cost was known, and critics say the tender was not open, and costs could
increase again.
Sokol Olldashi: It was a fully transparent project.
Everything was done in consultation with different
foreign institutions, international bodies evaluated
the offers, and five big companies from abroad were
part of the tender, with none of them having even a
single remark against the process.
IPS: Are you also developing smaller roads that will
lead to so far inaccessible beaches deemed so important to making the most of the country's tourism
potential?
Sokol Olldashi: We are building several of them, connecting the north-south axis to the sea, such as the
one connecting Vlora to Saranda along the coast, and
which has only touristic purposes.
IPS: What do you expect to gain from all these improvements in infrastructure?
Sokol Olldashi: It will serve many purposes; industry
growth, to facilitate the movement of people and
goods, boost tourism, and bring development to the
most remote parts of the country. In April we will start
a very important project for tourism and agriculture,
which will consist of building 4,000km of rural roads;
this will be a huge step forward in solving the problems of rural areas.
IPS: Will this stop the massive movement of the population from rural to urban centres?
Sokol Olldashi: It will slow it down but not stop it.
When in the early 1990s communism collapsed we had
73 percent of the population living in rural areas, now
this number is down to 50. The tendency will be to
come closer to the European average.
IPS: Albanian roads are considered very unsafe and
constitute a big public health issue.
Sokol Olldashi: This is a very complex problem. It's not
enough to just take measures to make roads safer. If
we look at statistics and compare ourselves to other
countries in the region, our numbers are quite average. In my view our weakest point is the procedures for
licensing new drivers. We have to improve the control
and quality of driving schools. Almost 80 percent of
road accidents occur during the day, in good weather
conditions and on our best roads, so it's mostly a problem of speeding.
IPS: Driving is still quite a novelty for most Albanians.
Sokol Olldashi: This can have an influence. We must
consider that motorisation among Albanians is still low
for European standards, but traffic will increase permanently in future years together with the rate of
motorisation. We have 10 vehicles per 100 inhabitants, and I believe the European average to be at
around 60 per 100 inhabitants.
IPS: But this increased rate of motorisation is catching
some cities off guard and causing traffic congestion
and environmental problems.
Sokol Olldashi: We are also helping the local governments invest in city infrastructure. For example, in
Tirana we are cooperating with the city authorities to
financially assist them in important infrastructural
projects, such as the building of a ring road.
Sokol Olldashi
9
OPINION | ANSICHT
As Civil Wars End,
Child Soldiers Decline
UN Under-Secretary-General
talks to Nergui Manalsuren
Photo: Jonas Ekströmer, WCC
T
he number of child soldiers, who are forcibly
pressed into military service in conflicts worldwide, has declined: from about 300,000 in 1997 to
an estimated 250,000 now, says UN Under-SecretaryGeneral Radhika Coomaraswamy. The primary reason
for the decline, she points out, is the end of civil wars
in Liberia and Sierra Leone, which depended heavily
on child soldiers as frontline fighters. "The United
Nations came in, and demobilised children, put them
into rehabilitation programmes," said Coomaraswamy,
the UN Special Representative for Children and Armed
Conflict, in an interview with IPS correspondent Nergui
Manalsuren. Coomaraswamy also said that religious
organisations have played a very important role in the
rehabilitation and education of the more than 50,000
children who have been demobilised from military service. Excerpts from the interview:
IPS: Human Rights Watch says the UN Security Council
(SC) should impose sanctions against government and
rebel forces that persist in using child soldiers.
However, in the Security Council's open debate China a veto wielding permanent member - along with Libya,
Indonesia, and Vietnam are opposing sanctions. Under
these circumstances, are sanctions feasible at all?
Radhika Coomaraswamy: The SC's resolution 1612,
speaks about imposing targeted measures against
persistent violators… China and all these countries
agreed on it at that point. I feel that if these violators continue to persist, and do not respond at all in
the coming years, that possibility of sanctions is
there. But we will have to convince the countries to
impose sanctions. We must remember that these are
the member states and sanctions are the most extreme measures that the UN can take. Therefore, they
feel that the countries were only reviewed once, and
there should be more opportunities to get into action
plans, and those kinds of measures should be tried
first before we move to sanctions.
10
IPS: In a recent report, Secretary-General Ban Kimoon said he is concerned about the increasing use of
children in suicide attacks in Iraq and Afghanistan. Is
there anything the UN can do to prevent or eliminate
this practice?
Radhika Coomaraswamy: I think this is a very difficult
area because it requires the UN have access to the
non-state actors, and be able to persuade them that
they shouldn't engage in this. This is very difficult.
Firstly, it is difficult to meet these non- state actors,
who are seen as terrorist groups. Secondly, they themselves have a very negative view of the UN due to particular history. So this is very difficult point. I don't
think that naming and shaming would work because
they don't accept the UN as a shaming mechanism.
They come from another worldview. So, I think we
have to keep working at the grass-roots level. We have
to try to get communities to put pressure on them and
to stop them. So at the moment, we have to work
through local communities.
IPS: How far has the UN succeeded in rehabilitating
and re-integrating child soldiers? Are there any specific programmes for this? And does the UN have enough
funding?
Radhika Coomaraswamy: Well, this is a big issue
because re-integration programs are things that are
under-funded. Basically UNICEF [The UN Children's
Fund] and other organizations who deal with these
programmes have realized that just demobilizing a
child, and sending him home, or keeping him in an
orphanage if there are no parents is not an answer.
Actually, you have to take them home, and you have
to develop the community to receive them. This is a
more complex process. In the funding world - there is
emergency assistance and development assistance -the two are in different categories. But in the case of
child soldiers, demobilisation is an emergency issue,
but reintegration must be seen as a development
OPINION | ANSICHT
issue. So often there is money to demobilise but the
development agencies do not get involved fast enough
for reintegrating child soldiers successfully. On issues
like this we should think more holistically and what is
best for the child.
IPS: Can we say that it is poorly funded?
Radhika Coomaraswamy: Yes, it's poorly funded. The
long time re-integration is poorly funded, but actual
demobilization is all right.
IPS: The Tokyo based Global Network of Religions for
Children will be focusing on children under siege,
including child soldiers, at an international conference in Hiroshima in May highlighting the role of education, ethics and religion in the rehabilitation of children. What are your thoughts on this? Would interfaith dialogue help?
Radhika Coomaraswamy: Well, religious organizations
play a very important role because whatever said and
done in the end UNICEF funds local groups to do the
rehabilitation. UNICEF itself doesn't do the rehabilitation. So, the local groups involved in these programmes - many of them are religious - some of them are
very dedicated workers. So, religious NGOs are very
important, but I think that it is also true that the education is important. We are trying to make safety
zones so that even in the war zones children can continue to study and play. So, I think that all faiths are
against child soldiers. The issue is not one of dialogues
so much, but that the faith organizations that work
with child - soldiers and who have done a good job,
should be supported.
IPS: What, in your view, are the root causes of child
soldiering? How many of the children offer themselves voluntarily, and how many are forced into military conscription?
Radhika Coomaraswamy: This is a very interesting
question. Of course in certain wars they were hit on
their heads and abducted. They were forcibly taken
away - like most of them in Sierra Leone and Liberia.
It was recruitment through abduction. But in many
parts of the world children voluntarily joined these
groups. There has been some research done. One reason appears to be of course that some of them are
orphans in poverty and these groups are the place
where they can find a home and a meal.
Secondly, many join because of ethnic wars, and
their families and communities feel that it is noble to
fight for a cause even if you are child - sometimes
due to political ideology such as in Colombia. Sometimes because these men with guns are role models
for the children - they also want to have guns and
sunglasses, and some kind of masculinity model.
There are all sorts of reasons why children may join
so-called 'voluntarily'. But as we know those are not
truly voluntary choices - they are not provided any
other options sometimes - it's more what the war reality produces.

Facts About Child Soldiers
Although there are no exact figures, hundreds of
thousands of children under the age of 18 serve in
government forces or armed rebel groups. Some are as
young as eight years old.
Since 2001, the participation of child soldiers has
been reported in 21 on-going or recent armed conflicts in
almost every region of the world.
Children are uniquely vulnerable to military recruitment because of their emotional and physical immaturity. They are easily manipulated and can be drawn into
violence that they are too young to resist or understand.
Technological advances in weaponry and the proliferation of small arms have contributed to the increased
use of child soldiers. Lightweight automatic weapons are
simple to operate, often easily accessible, and can be
used by children as easily as adults.
Children are most likely to become child soldiers if
they are poor, separated from their families, displaced
from their homes, living in a combat zone or have limited
access to education.
Many children join armed groups because of economic or social pressure, or because children believe that
the group will offer food or security. Others are forcibly
recruited, "press-ganged" or abducted by armed groups.
Both girls and boys are used as child soldiers. In
some countries, like Nepal, Sri Lanka and Uganda, a third
or more of the child soldiers were reported to be girls. In
some conflicts, girls may be raped, or given to military
commanders as "wives."
Once recruited, child soldiers may serve as porters or
cooks, guards, messengers or spies. Many are pressed
into combat, where they may be forced to the front lines
or sent into minefields ahead of older troops. Some children have been used for suicide missions.
Children are sometimes forced to commit atrocities
against their own family or neighbors. Such practices
help ensure that the child is "stigmatized" and unable to
return to his or her home community.
In some countries, former child soldiers have access
to rehabilitation programs to help them locate their families, get back into school, receive vocational training, and
re-enter civilian life. However, many children have no
access to such programs. They may have no way to support themselves and are at risk of re-recruitment.
In 2000, the United Nations adopted an Optional
Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on
the involvement of children in armed conflict. The protocol prohibits the forced recruitment of children under the
age of 18 or their use in hostilities. To date, it has been
ratified by more than 110 countries.
The ILO Convention on the Worst Forms of Child
Labor prohibits the forced or compulsory recruitment of
children under the age of 18 for use in armed conflict. It
has been ratified by over 150 countries.
Source: Human Rights Watch
was appointed UN Special
Representative for Children
and Armed Conflict in 2006.
Ms. Coomaraswamy, is an
internationally known
human rights advocate and
has done outstanding work
as the UN Special Rapporteur on ‘Violence against
Women’ (1994-2003).
11
First Aid, Second Option
By Frans Bieckmann
I
s Africa sick? Some Africans may suffer from
diseases, but to refer an entire continent to
the sickbay makes no sense. There are problems, to be sure. Corruption, a bad business climate and the disadvantages of being landlocked
can all be easily diagnosed. As can some harmful
conditions imposed from the outside, such as
market access restrictions, or at the other extreme, too much liberalization. But just as with the
infamous 'Dutch disease', no diagnosis can ever
fully capture the complexity of an organism such
as human society. The Netherlands continued to
function quite comfortably during the years it
suffered from this serious illness.
Too many doctors around the patient
how things are going. That is what the Policy and
Operations Evaluation Department (IOB) of the
Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs has done.
It conducted an ambitious evaluation of eight
years of Dutch development cooperation with
Africa, which accounted for 5.8 billion euro, or
about half of the entire bilateral aid budget.
The special report* gives an overview of the evaluation. Here we point to just some of the remarkable conclusions. In particular, there is the implicit conclusion that the provision of general budget support
(GBS) and the focus on specific sectors in African
countries have achieved, at best, mixed results. The
decisions to introduce budget support and the sectoral approach were perhaps not so strange. As some
respondents point out, many other progressive donors
Development studies, like medical science, have
evolved in recent decades. Development practice, which started with sticking plasters and
other simple forms of first aid, now knows more
or less how to perform more complex operations
such as fixing a broken leg, and even to examine the internal workings of the nervous system.
However, changing circumstances generate new
diseases, and knowledge about the complex
workings of state and society is still far from
mature - or is ignored. Often too many doctors
gather around the patient, each forcing their
own prescriptions and, at times, medicines from
their own drug companies. When lives are at
stake, it is essential to scrutinize continually
*The Broker was granted exclusive access to the draft
report. The full texts of their responses, and of the summary, can be found on the website: www.thebrokeronline.eu.
The Broker invites all readers to contribute to the debate.
12
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Slovenia, Dimitrij Rupel (left) and
the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, Bernard
Rudolf Bot | Photo: NATO International
Photo: www.pixelio.de
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WINDOW ON EUROPE
Between 1998 and 2006, 90 percent of the 1100 million euro
spent on debt relief was in fact used to cancel export credit
debts - rather than for poverty reduction.
chose this same path. The sectoral approach facilitates the very necessary donor coordination and cuts
down on bureaucracy. The IOB and many of the
respondents praise Dutch development cooperation
for taking the lead in this.
One unintended consequence of the sectoral
approach is that agriculture was quietly dropped from
the Dutch development policy. Not only the rural
poor, but also civil society appear to have become
victims of the increasing focus on only one or two sectors in a country. The IOB report correctly asks whether sector support fits with 'good governance', the
dominant theme of Western development thinking
over the past decade. If civil society is excluded, good
governance is reduced to a very narrow conception of
building the capacity of state apparatus.
The IOB report praises the Dutch coherence policy, and the government's efforts to integrate defence
and development policies. Moreover, the IOB concludes that it is partly thanks to Dutch aid that many
more Africans now have access to health care and to
education. Recent calls for more independent assessments imply that the IOB evaluations are not critical
enough. This evaluation of the Dutch Africa policy
does not support this view. In the report, the IOB with one foot inside and the other outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs - shows that it is not at all
afraid to criticize past and present policy choices.
Questions can be asked, however, about the premise
of the evaluation, and whether IOB has been able to
see beyond the current development paradigm.
defence' (3D) are to be taken seriously, then such
an evaluation approach seems the only appropriate
one.
The IOB report gives one astonishing example of
the lack of coherence (although not phrased as
such) in Dutch foreign policy. Between 1998 and
2006, 90 percent of the 1100 million euro spent on
debt relief was in fact used to cancel export credit
debts, rather than for poverty reduction. And, via a
complicated process, 5-10 percent of this amount
ends up in the coffers of the Dutch Ministry of
Finance, providing a windfall of 500 million euro in
2008. The picture that emerges is of a doctor who
treats the patient's broken arm one year, a bad back
the next, and later maybe a head injury. Never the
whole body. Nor the environment in which the
patient became ill. It is even less likely that the
doctor entertains the possibility that he himself
might have been the cause of the patient's recurring physical problems.
One last question: who should assess the treatment itself? Here the IOB evaluation offers some
help: in most cases the Dutch government paid 'little more than lip service' to ownership, and development cooperation is still mainly 'donor driven'.
Maybe next time the 'patients' themselves should be
allowed to judge their doctor's treatment?
THE BROKER | GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES

Lack of coherence
Some financial conclusions
1998-2006
In fact, what has been investigated is whether policy
intentions were put into practice and have yielded
the desired results, measured as short-term outputs.
Such an approach in the best case will affirm chosen
policies. If the results are not optimal - which is inevitable given the complex mingling of national and
international political, economic and societal processes - one can only point out policies that should not
be chosen again. And, accordingly, move on to the
next policy hype, or partial solution, together with
the herd of other (progressive) donors.
A different kind of evaluation is needed, one
that includes a much more integrated analysis of
national and regional dynamics - (geo)political,
economic, societal, environmental, etc. - in the
South, coupled with an analysis of which external
factors (development policies are only one of them)
may have influenced matters either positively or
negatively. Analytical tools for this have yet to be
developed. If the Dutch government's efforts to
achieve 'policy coherence for development' and an
'integrated policy of development, diplomacy and
Two-thirds of the total €5.8 billion bilateral aid
for sub-Saharan Africa was spent in the 15 partner countries, a quarter went to non-partner
countries, while the remainder was spent regionally.
Annual fluctuations in aid allocations are substantial. Partner country Ghana received €38
million in 2003, €92 million in 2004 and €20
million in 2005. Non-partner country Cameroon
received €4.5 million in 2000, €50.5 million in
2001 and €3 million in 2002. These fluctuations
raise questions about the allocation system and
put the predictability of Dutch aid in an unfavourable light.
Debt cancellation was the largest spending category of Dutch aid in Africa. As a result, non-partner country DR Congo received the third largest
amount of Dutch aid over the period 1998-2006
(€435 million), after partner countries Tanzania
and Ghana. Non-partner Nigeria came fifth with
€369 million.

Frans Bieckmann is Editor in
Chief of the bimonthly magazine The Broker - funded by
the Netherlands Foundation
for the Advancement of
Tropical Research (NWO /
WOTRO Science for Global
Development) and the
Netherlands Ministry of
Foreign Affairs.
Contact to Frans Bieckmann:
editor@thebrokeronline.eu
13
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Independence Will Not Improve
Kosovo’s Economy
By Vesna Peric Zimonjic in Belgrade
T
he proclamation of independence
in Kosovo has brought widespread
celebrations among its ethnic Albanians, but also a realisation that economic
difficulties remain - and could worsen.
Kosovo, the long disputed southern province of Serbia, declared independence Feb
17. The bulk of its population of two million is ethnic Albanian. The economy of
Kosovo has been idle for decades now. The
reason goes beyond any negligence by the
United Nations administration (UNMIK)
that has run the province since 1999, or, as
Belgrade often says, the indolence of local
people. The roots of economic hardships
go back to the times of former Yugoslavia.
Billions of dollars were invested in Kosovo,
of services jobs. Thousands went abroad,
looking for a better life. The World Bank
says the average annual salary in Kosovo is
only about 1,800 dollars, and the per capita gross domestic product less than 1,000
dollars. It says that 37 percent of the population lives in poverty, on less than two dollars a day. Children, elderly people, families without male breadwinners, the disabled, the unemployed, and non-Serb ethnic
minorities like the Roma are the most vulnerable.
A particular problem is the lack of electricity produced by outdated and poorly
maintained coal-run plants. "In order to
improve production or even agriculture,
Kosovo needs a good supply of electricity,"
Kosovo celebrates its independence | Photo: www.theage.au
but economic activity collapsed when former Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic
abolished the autonomy of Kosovo in 1989
and introduced direct rule from Belgrade.
Survival through farming
Thousands of ethnic Albanians in the
mining, energy or transportation systems
were laid off. They could not be replaced
by local Serbs, who lacked the skills for
these jobs. In any case the 250.000 Serbs
in Kosovo then were too few for the job.
Fifteen billion tonnes of deposits of coal,
and millions of tonnes of deposits of zinc,
lead and bauxite remain under the
ground. Ordinary people turned to survival
through farming, small trade or all kinds
14
economist Ibrahim Rexhepi wrote in the
daily Zeri. "Apart from the millions of dollars coming from people living abroad, we
badly need foreign investment." Foreign
investment has been low, due to the unstable situation, and lack of proper regulation. The Kosovo government is currently
examining bids for a 4 billion dollar contract to build a new coal-fired power plant.
But that is expected to be fully operational
only by 2012, Rexhepi said.
The international media widely speculated that Serbia would cut supply of electricity to Kosovo as a reprisal measure for
the proclamation of independence, but this
did not happen. Serbia is obliged by international agreements to supply electricity to
Kosovo within the regionally combined grid
that includes Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina,
Bulgaria, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia and
Montenegro. Any shutdown of the Kosovo
supply would disrupt or even shut down
supply elsewhere. Nor has Serbia imposed
any trade embargo. "Serbia cannot impose
an embargo against a part of its territory,"
trade minister Predrag Bubalo told Serbian
media, following the official line that it
would not recognise an independent
Kosovo. "Apart from that, the embargo
would have a heavy impact on Serbs living
in the province."
Billions of dollars "stolen"
Economists say this explanation is just a façade. "Exports to Kosovo make 5.7 percent
of Serbia's export in total," Goran Nikolic
from the Serbian Chamber of Commerce
told Belgrade B92 TV. "That is an important
item, as the exports to Kosovo have reached
535 million dollars in 2007. The goods are
mostly food, medicines and construction
material." Rodoljub Draskovic, head of the
largest Serbian food company SwisslionTakovo says his goal is to remain in the
Kosovo market. "Our exports were worth
more than 22 million dollars last year,
Kosovo customers are used to our products," Draskovic told IPS. "This should not
be changed." The Serbian government
meanwhile talks of the billions of dollars
"stolen" from Serbia by Kosovo. Screaming
headlines speak of 'robbery worth 200 billion dollars' or 'theft of billions'.
"The fact is that there is no real record or
real calculation of what Serbia does 'possess' in Kosovo, as the whole of former
Yugoslavia invested in it," analyst Misa
Brkic told IPS. "Such talk only serves the
purpose of provoking animosities, frustration and anger among Serbs." The Serbian
government has not reacted to a statement
from the Kosovo government at the time of
declaration of independence that the plans
proposed by Finish negotiator Marti
Ahtisaari will form the guidelines for Kosovo. Under this plan, all the formerly stateowned property in Kosovo will remain with
Kosovo, in line with the succession agreements on property after the disintegration
of former Yugoslavia (Bosnia, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Slovenia). Serbia
has rejected the Ahtisaari plan.
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Challenged State
Faces an Uncertain Future
By Zoltán Dujisin in Pristina
A
s the euphoria over the proclamation of independence slowly dissipates, Kosovars will have to focus on
the enormous political and economic challenges corruption, poverty and an angry
Serbia will pose to statehood. On Feb. 17
Kosovo, the long autonomous and much
disputed southern region of Serbia, made a
unilateral declaration of independence that
was quickly recognised by Western powers
but deemed illegitimate in Serbia, Russia
and China. Full sovereignty will only come
after a period of supervised independence
by international orgnisations. "Kosovo has all
the conditions to become a failed state," a
high-ranking official at one of the major international organisations in Kosovo told IPS
on condition of anonymity. "But any formation of a new state is a risky venture and
requires international support." Over 90
percent of Kosovo's population of two million is composed of ethnic Albanians whose
individual and collective human rights were
violated under the tenure of late Serbian
and Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic
(1989-2000), culminating in a North Atlantic
Treaty Organisation (NATO) military intervention in 1999.
Human rights violated
Presently about 5 percent of the population
is Serbian. Depending on the source,
70,000 to 200,000 Serbs are believed to
have left Kosovo due to reprisals by the
majority population following NATO's intervention. During Milosevic's era Albanians
developed a series of parallel institutions
to ensure their educational and other social needs, often resorting to corrupt practices and creating an atmosphere of acceptance of corruption. After 1999 the United
Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) took
over administrative functions and began
rebuilding the region's institutions from
scratch, following Western models.
The international presence in Kosovo
brought a duality of institutions which has
damaged accountability and the system of
checks and balances, making the country's
institutions more prone to corruption.
Moreover, "international and domestic organisations claimed successes for themselves
while nobody took responsibility for failures," the official said, though noting that
independence could make responsibilities
clearer. Even international institutions have
not been immune to corruption, and the
government's failed anti-corruption policies
have left powerful foreign perpetrators
mostly unscratched. As with many other
areas begging for action, anti-corruption laws
are in place, but their implementation leaves
much to be desired. Furthermore, it remains
unclear whether there is, or will be, political
will to fight corruption. "There are connections between Kosovo's political class and the
Albanian mafia, especially with regards to
women trafficking," the official said.
Lulzim Peci, director of the Kosovar
Institute for Policy Research and Development, says Kosovo's status as a European
hub for drugs and human trafficking is not a
phenomenon rooted in the country but rather a result of its previously unclear international status. "There was no visa regime, but
now we will be able to control our borders,"
the analyst told IPS. Kosovo's police has
been cited as an example of a corrupt-free
and successfully established institution, but
the country's weak judiciary has been unable to curb corruption elsewhere, and could
be jeopardising the success of other institution-building processes.
Surveys show that 57 percent of the
public perceives the judiciary as very or
somewhat corrupt, though other countries
in the region do not differ dramatically in
this sense. Government officials still have
reasons to be optimistic. "Independence did
not happen out of the blue, little has been
left to fortune," Adri Nurellari, advisor to
Prime Minister of Kosovo Hashim Thaci told
IPS. Nurellari admits that "privatisation has
been highly corrupt," but believes that "with
the resolution of Kosovo's status people will
start following rules, and foreign investment will grow." Foreign capital inflows have
so far been discouraged by endemic corruption, energy shortages, a shady privatisation
process and property disputes. This has affected an impoverished population. Kosovo currently lacks sustainable economic development. Its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per
capita is estimated at around 1000-1200
euro. GDP annual growth has been low or
even negative in recent years. Unemployment hits all ethnic communities in what has
historically been the poorest region of former Yugoslavia. Different estimates put it at
40 to 60 percent, and many survive on
remittances from relatives abroad.
As important has been international
assistance, but donors are criticised for
focusing excessively on media and democratisation while neglecting education and
farming in a country where most are
employed in the agricultural sector, and 60
percent of the population lives in rural
areas. The amount donated to Kosovo until
2005 stood at 5 billion euro, but numbers
have declined on a yearly basis, and by now
Kosovo's budget relies mostly on domestic
revenue. However, close to 70 percent of
the countrys budget in 2006 was collected
in import duties at the borders, and if
Belgrade acts on its recently voiced threats
of placing an embargo on Kosovo, Pristina's
public administration could be dealt a
heavy blow.
Kosovo rich in minerals
and fertile land
"If they go for an embargo, they will de
facto recognise secession, and besides, this
would also damage Serbia economically,"
Nurellari told IPS. However, the government
official admits that Belgrade has proven in
the past it is willing to "sacrifice economically for Kosovo." But Kosovo also boasts some
comparative advantages. It is rich in minerals and fertile land; it could exploit energy
resources, and there is a young workforce
with experience abroad. Keen to keep its
influence in the province, Belgrade, which
already commands parallel education,
mail, judicial and police structures in
Serbian-inhabited parts, will nevertheless
continue to encourage its ethnic kin to
ignore the new state's institutions.
While some international officials present in Kosovo go as far as predicting a new
military conflict, the official who spoke to
IPS says a likely scenario is the emergence
of another frozen conflict in Europe. "I
believe there could be an institutional, and
eventually territorial secession, but it
won't be recognised." Pristina also faces
obstacles in getting full international recognition. Strong opposition by key global players will harm its chances of gaining a seat in
the United Nations and other international
organisations. Still, Nurellari decided to play
the issue down. "It will become indifferent
if the UN recognises us or not because all
countries with which there are political,
social and economic exchanges will recognise Kosovo, except Serbia," he told IPS.
15
Bulgariens Bürger gegen Pipeline
Von Claudia Ciobanu | Deutsche Bearbeitung: Oliver Scheel
I
m bulgarischen Burgas wächst der
Widerstand gegen Pipelinepläne zur
Versorgung der griechischen Hafenstadt Alexandroupolis mit Erdöl aus dem
Kaspischen Meer. Bürger und Behörden
sind gleichermaßen alarmiert: Sie fürchten um ihre Haupteinnahmequelle, den
Tourismus. Burgas liegt an der Küste des
Schwarzen Meeres und ist wegen seiner
schönen Strände und den niedrigen Preisen ein beliebtes Touristenziel. Viele der
220.000 Einheimischen teilen die Sorge,
dass die Pipeline Verschmutzungen und
eine negative Presse mit sich bringen und
die Besucher von der Stadt fernhalten
wird. Der Hafen von Burgas ist der größte
Bulgariens. Die Pläne der Regierung sehen
vor, das Öl aus dem Kaspischen Meer mit
Tankern nach Burgas und von dort aus via
einer Überlandleitung nach Alexandroupolis zu transportieren. Dort wird das Öl
wieder in Tanker gepumpt und nach
Europa und Nordamerika gebracht. Durch
das Vorhaben soll der ohnehin schon stark
befahrene Bosporus entlastet werden.
16
Der bulgarischen Regierung würde die
Pipeline, die spätestens 2012 betriebsbereit sein soll, etwa 35 Millionen US-Dollar
pro Jahr einbringen. Darüber hinaus sind
mit dem Projekt 1.000 neue Jobs verbunden. Für Kalin Rogatschew, Vizeminister
für regionale Entwicklung, steht außer
Frage, dass die Pipeline die wirtschaftliche
Situation der lokalen Bevölkerung deutlich
verbessern wird.
Nachhaltigkeit zweitrangig
Doch Petko Kowatschew von der Umweltorganisation 'Grüne Politik Bulgarien'
spricht den Behörden mangelndes Gespür für die tatsächliche Gefahren ab
und moniert, das Projekt sei ohne vorherige Umweltverträglichkeitsprüfung beschlossen worden. Der Hinweis von Behörden und dem russischen Unternehmen 'Transneft', das zu 51 Prozent an
dem Projekt beteiligt ist, dass eine
Entscheidung
über
die
VerladeTechnologie noch nicht getroffen sei,
vermag die Umweltbewegung des osteuropäischen Land nicht zu
beruhigen. Sie befürchten, dass man sich letztlich für die billigste Variante entscheiden werde.
Vertreter der ‚Bürgerinitiative zur Rettung der
Bucht von Burgas und des
Schwarzen Meeres' gehen
davon aus, dass der Verladeterminal etwa sieben
Kilometer vor der Küste
auf offener See gebaut
werden wird und nicht im
Hafen an einem eigens
gebauten Pier, was aus
umweltschutztechnischen
Gründen sicherer wäre.
Den Naturschützern zufolge werden bei
einer Kapazität von 35 bis 50 Millionen
Tonnen Öl pro Jahr etwa 200 bis 300
Tonnen ins Meer auslaufen. Da das
Schwarze Meer nur eine schwache Strömung und einen geringen Wasseraustausch hat, wird es ihrer Meinung nach
sehr lange dauern, bis sich die Ölflekken zerstreuen.
Urlaub mit Tankerblick
Befürchtet werden negative Auswirkungen auf den Fremdenverkehr. Allein
schon der Anblick der riesigen Tanker fünf
Kilometer vor der Küste könnte die Besucher abschrecken. "Wenn nur fünf Prozent weniger Touristen als 2007 kommen,
liegen die Verluste für die Region um das
Dreifache höher als die Einnahmen aus
dem Pipelinevorhaben", rechnen die Leitungsgegner vor. Sie weisen ferner darauf
hin, dass die versprochenen Jobs zeitlich
befristet sind und nach dem Ende der
Bauphase wegfallen. Schon zweimal sind
die Bürger von Burgas gegen das am 11.
Januar schriftlich besiegelte Projekt auf
die Straße gegangen. Zudem bestätigt
eine Umfrage, dass in Burgas mehr als 96
Prozent der Einwohner gegen die Pipeline
sind. Angesichts einer Beteiligung von 27
Prozent immerhin 50.000 Stimmen. Für
den Staatspräsidenten Georgi Parwanow
hätten weniger Menschen in Burgas gestimmt, so der Bürgermeister der Hafenstadt, Dimitar Nikolow von der oppositionellen Partei 'Bürger für eine europäische
Entwicklung Bulgariens' (GERB).
Nicht nur Burgas, auch der benachbarte Touristenort Sozopol wehrt sich gegen
die Pipelinepläne. Widerstand kommt
zudem aus der griechischen Region Ewros,
in der Alexandroupolis liegt.
IPS | KOMMUNIKATION GLOBAL
Badebucht von Burgas | Photo: www.pixelio.de
WINDOW ON EUROPE
Jerusalem | Photo: www.pixelio.de
WINDOW ON EUROPE
Letter from Brussels:
Heading for a New Security Deal with Israel
By David Cronin
T
he European Union is considering
new steps to deepen its cooperation on scientific research with
Israel, despite admitting that previous
funds earmarked for that purpose have
gone to firms operating illegally in the
Palestinian territories. Between now and
2013, the Israeli government is to contribute 440 million euros per year so that it can
participate in the EU's so-called framework
programme for research. An unpublished
document prepared by EU diplomats reveals that because much of the joint research
will relate to security issues, Israel has
requested a formal assurance that any
information it gives to Brussels will be treated confidentially. The document, seen by
IPS, says that the Israeli authorities have
indicated that there is a need for an agreement with the EU because the "exchange of
classified material may be necessary."
Dated Feb. 15, the paper suggests that EU
governments should open negotiations with
Israel in order to conclude a "security of
information" accord.
Request for confidentiality
Israel's request for confidentiality follows
an admission by the EU that some firms
based in the occupied Palestinian territories had received money under an earlier
research programme funded by European
taxpayers. In a 2006 memo, the EU's executive, the European Commission, blamed
"administrative errors" for how firms based
in illegal Israeli settlements in the West
Bank and Gaza had benefited from such
funding. The Commission promised at that
time that it would be "very vigilant" in
monitoring the future use of the EU's research budget, which totals 50 billion euros
over the next seven years. Sandrine
Grenier from the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network said that any support
for companies in the Palestinian territories
"violates the EU's own obligations."
The EU's relations with Israel are based
on an 'association agreement' that entered
into force in 2000. It commits both sides to
uphold human rights and democratic principles. Yet despite the mass killings of Palestinian civilians by Israeli forces in recent
years, the EU has not imposed sanctions
against Israel. B'Tselem, the Israeli human
rights organisation, has calculated that of
the 810 Palestinians killed by the occupying
forces in Gaza in 2006 and 2007, just 360
belonged to an armed organisation. Eoin
Murray, the Middle East programme officer
with the Irish anti-poverty organisation
Trócaire, said that the human rights clause
in the association agreement "has to have
teeth". "Until it has teeth, it is meaningless;
it doesn't have any impact at all," he added.
"The EU might have to stop cooperating
with Israel on certain issues because it is
not complying with its legal obligations."
Ton Van Lierop, the Commission's spokesman for enterprise and industry, acknowledged that the joint research with
Israel will have a so-called anti-terrorist
dimension. But he insisted that it will be
focused on "civil security" such as measures
to improve ambulance and fire brigade services. "It is not aimed at the military," he
said. "We always have an ethical review of
our programmes. Human rights are always
at the forefront and are always important
for the European Commission." Security
has been identified as one of the priorities
of the EU's framework programme for research. Projects already approved for funding relate to such matters as boosting efforts to detect explosives at airports and
protecting drinking water from possible
attacks from biological and chemical weapons. Israel was the first non-EU country to
be accepted for joint activities under the
programme. The importance of defence to
the Israeli economy has increased considerably in recent years. Exports of defence
equipment from Israel grew from 1.6 billion dollars in 1992 to 3.4 billion in 2006,
making Israel the fourth largest arms dealer on the planet.
High level of expertise
Some analysts have indicated that drawing
a distinction between civil and military
security in Israel is fraught with risks.
Israel, for example, has a high level of expertise in technology that can be used for
both civil and military purposes. In her
2007 book 'The Shock Doctrine', Naomi
Klein points out that Israel's "technology
sector, much of it linked to security, now
makes up 60 percent of all exports."
Angela Godfrey-Goldstein, a human
rights activist with the Israeli Committee
Against House Demolitions in Jerusalem,
said: "I often ask myself 'what is the glue
binding relations between the EU and
Israel, Britain and Israel and America and
Israel?' One of the things must be the joint
work on what is called anti-terrorism." She
argued, though, that actions taken by
Israel with the official objective of fighting
terrorism are counter-productive. Israel
has cited security reasons for its economic
blockade of Gaza, under which power supplies and basic provisions have been denied
to Gaza's 1.5 million inhabitants. "The talk
of fighting against terror has to be taken
with a large pinch of salt," she said. "It is
very disturbing that the Israeli government is starving people in Gaza, that is has
created ghettoes in Gaza, and that has
created other ghettoes in the West Bank.
It is not doing anything to build trust. It
has not ceased building settlements and it
has not dismantled illegal outposts."
17
TITELTHEMA | COVER STORY
Global Governance:
New Players - New Rules
Why the 20th Century Model Needs a Makeover
By James M. Boughton and Colin I. Bradford, Jr.
W
This article is excerpted from
Finance & Development, a
quaterly magazine of the IMF
(December 2007, Volume 44,
Number 4)
18
hat is global governance? The ideal of global governance is a process of cooperative leadership that brings together national governments, multilateral public agencies,
and civil society to achieve commonly accepted
goals. It provides strategic direction and then
marshals collective energies to address global
challenges. To be effective, it must be inclusive,
dynamic, and able to span national and sectoral
boundaries and interests. It should operate
through soft rather than hard power. It should be
more democratic than authoritarian, more openly political than bureaucratic, and more integrated than specialized. Neither the concept nor the
difficulty of global governance is new. After the
First World War ended, the leaders of the victorious allies gathered in Paris in 1919 for six
months of talks aimed at redrawing many of the
world's national borders and establishing a permanent forum - the League of Nations - to deal
with future issues and problems. More than 30
countries sent delegations to the Paris peace
conference, but the four great powers of the
winning side - France, Italy, the United Kingdom,
and the United States - dominated and controlled the proceedings.
A quarter of a century later, as the Second
World War drew to a close, allied delegations gathered again to set up new institutions to replace
the failed League and to prevent the economic
disasters that had characterized much of the
interwar period. From those storied discussions,
most of which were held in and overwhelmingly
influenced by the United States - at Bretton
Woods, New Hampshire; at the Dumbarton Oaks
mansion in Washington, D.C.; and in San Francisco, California - emerged the multilateral agencies
that would mold economic and political relations
for the next six decades: the United Nations, with
its Security Council and its specialized agencies;
the Bretton Woods institutions - the World Bank
and the IMF; and the General Agreement on
Tariffs and Trade (GATT). This model of global governance, in which the few countries that sat at
the apex of the world economic pyramid invited
others to participate without ceding much control, became the prevailing paradigm for the
postwar era.
The system is out of date ...
This dominance model of global governance was a
reasonable and practical model for much of the
20th century. When the century began, London
was the center of international trade and finance. At mid-century, the center had drifted westward across the Atlantic, but the Euro-American
core had become even stronger. By the end,
however, it was the periphery that was gaining
strength. New regional and even global powers
had risen to challenge the old, but the governance system failed to keep up with these changes.
The five permanent members of the UN Security
Council hold a veto over actions such as the impoKOMMUNIKATION GLOBAL | MÄRZ 2008
Changes in the distribution of votes and influence
have lagged far behind the evolution of the world economy.
sition of multilateral sanctions on states that violate UN resolutions and the sending of multilateral forces to maintain peace in volatile regions.
The membership of that body has not changed in
six decades. Control has broadened a bit more in
other agencies, but far from enough. In the IMF,
for example, in 1946 the United States and the
United Kingdom together held a hair under 50
percent of the voting power on the Executive
Board. Today it takes at least eight Directors
representing 35 or more countries to constitute a
majority. The United States alone has a veto over
major financial decisions, but any coalition of
three or more members with a total vote of 15
percent can do the same. Nonetheless, changes
in the distribution of votes and influence have
lagged far behind the evolution of the world economy, with the consequence that the oversight of
the international financial system has become
less and less accepted as politically legitimate.
... fragmented and specialized
A second issue is that the international system by
which national governments come together to
oversee global issues is fragmented and specialized, without an effective, broad overview. Like
its predecessor, the GATT, the World Trade
Organization deals with trade. The World Health
Organization (WHO) oversees health issues. The
UN Security Council responds to situations that
threaten world peace. The World Bank and regional development banks provide official financing
to developing countries. The IMF oversees the
functioning of the international financial system.
Notwithstanding the extensive consultation and
cooperation that take place regularly among
these and other agencies, each one acts independently within its own sphere.In sum, what we
have today is a multiplicity of independent actors, both public and private, each pursuing its
own objectives and priorities, with its own clientele and constituency, with its own technical
language and organizational culture, with its own
mandate and specialized focus. These attributes
may have been appropriate for a time when
international relations focused on several important issues but just a small number of important
countries. The lasting effect, however, is that we
have inherited a system that is fragmented and
that relies heavily, perhaps too heavily, on market forces, competition, and ad hoc public reactions to try to channel energies and allocate
resources.
In this setting, agencies become more inward
looking, focusing more on how to evaluate and
try to improve their own performance than on
how to work together with partners to achieve
common objectives. The weaker the governance
structures and processes are within specific sectors, the less external orientation and awareness
there is, and the less coherent the activities
among different actors. Each agency becomes
less effective, and the system as a whole suffers.
The problems and the challenges of the 21st century - absorbing demographic change, reducing
poverty, expanding the provision of safe and
clean energy without aggravating climate change, alleviating health risks, and many others require far more coordination than is possible
within such a system. Each of these challenges,
even if addressed locally or nationally, has the
potential to affect the lives of people everywhere. Specialized technical expertise by itself is
unlikely to be fully effective if it is not guided by
a global and holistic vision.
The problems will worsen
The vacuum represented by the lack of a comprehensive system of oversight has been filled in
part by a succession of ad hoc groups of states
purporting to act as a steering committee for the
world economy. That effort began with the formation of the Group of Ten (G-10) main industrial countries in 1962. A subgroup formed in the
1970s as the G-5, which broadened to the G-7 in
the 1980s and to the G-8 in the 1990s. To try to
counter the powerful influence of these groups
of industrial countries, developing countries formed the G-77 in 1964 and then a subgroup, the
G-24, in 1971. In 1999, the G-7 invited a number
of emerging market developing countries to join
them in a new G-20 grouping.
Effective advocates
Most of these groups still meet regularly and
issue pronouncements on how national governments and the various multilateral institutions
should act to deal with a variety of issues, such
as the financial turbulence of 2007. In addition,
nongovernmental organizations have proliferated
to represent the interests of civil society, business, labor, and religions on issues such as environmental protection, property rights, workers'
rights, poverty reduction, financial stability, and
the promotion of democracy and transparency in
19
the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development, and the World Health Assembly
play important roles within the organizations
they guide, but each one represents interests
that are specific to those institutional mandates.
Above those committees, none of the regular
summit groupings is sufficiently representative to
provide legitimate global leadership.
Much attention has been focused recently on
reforming international institutions to make them
both more effective and more politically legitimate. If those reforms are to lead to real improvements in performance, a means must be found
to integrate the sectoral focus of these institutions into a comprehensive framework for dealing
with common global challenges. That consideration suggests a need for a new governance mechanism at the apex of the global system. Designing such a mechanism will not be easy, nor
will it be without controversy. At this time, only
the broad outlines can be plainly sketched.
What can be done?
1. Authorities and leadership
Strengthening the governance of global interactions requires action on three fronts: rationalizing the relationships among sovereign states,
updating the existing multilateral institutions,
and creating an effective oversight body. It is no
longer possible to argue that the current oversight of international relations is adequate for
the 21st century. Ministerial bodies such as the
Development Committee, the International Monetary and Financial Committee, the Council of
The first and most important front is to reform
the process by which national political leaders
come together at the summit or ministerial level
to discuss common concerns. Responsibility for
shaping the global system rests much more with
national governments than with the international
institutions as separate entities. Those institutions are membership organizations that are guided and directed by national authorities, by ministers of finance, energy, health, and develop-
Photo: Dieter Haugk - www.pixelio.de
government. Many of these organizations, both
governmental and civil, are effective advocates
for the interests that they represent, but none
can be said to represent the interests of the
world as a whole. These shortcomings in global
governance, if not addressed, will only worsen in
the years to come and could undermine the progress that globalization has brought. As the historian Harold James (2001) has shown, history is
replete with episodes in which international commerce and finance have flourished and generated
bursts of economic growth and development,
only to be reversed because of popular backlash.
Those who believe in the benefits of globalization
will be more likely to prevail if they engage in a
real dialogue and a partnership with those who
fear that their own interests will be swamped by
the rising tide. To see how these weaknesses are
likely to worsen, consider the ongoing effects of
population growth, rising energy demands, and
global health risks.
20
Photo: Matthias Koranzkj - www.pixelio.de
Much attention has been focused recently on reforming
international institutions to make them both more effective
and more politically legitimate.
ment, among others. Until the interactions
among those authorities reflect the interconnections among the problems of finance, poverty,
health, energy, and security; and until they
reflect the reality of the broadened and globalized world of the new century, no effort to reform
the institutions can possibly make enough difference. Furthermore, it is unlikely that reforming
the international institutions and global governance generally will be fully successful without
expanding the membership of summits and energizing their mandate. Leadership at the highest
level of public responsibility that is uniquely
invested in heads of state is necessary to provide
the strategic guidance required for national and
international institutions to be effective in managing the multisectoral nature of global threats.
Because the only truly powerful group - the G-8
summit - is composed exclusively of rich, industrial countries, mostly from the North Atlantic,
there is a "democratic deficit" in the current
summit grouping and, as a consequence, a void at
the apex of the international system. To bring the
international institutions together in a new configuration to address the pressing issues of our
times coherently, it is essential to expand the
summits to include countries from other major
regions and cultures as equal members.
2. System Update
The second front is to update the system of multilateral institutions. Some, like the IMF, are seen
as efficient but lacking in political legitimacy;
others, such as the UN, are seen as just the opposite. Over the past two years, the IMF has set out
a specific reform agenda that - if it is fully and
boldly implemented - could respond to the questions that have been raised about its political
legitimacy. The principal governance-related elements of this agenda are to shift influence more
toward the dynamic and fast-growing regions and
away from previously dominant countries whose
role in the world economy has waned relative to
the emerging market economies, and to adopt
more open and transparent procedures for selecting its own management.
In addition, the IMF has revised its conditionality guidelines with the aim of becoming less
directive and intrusive and more cooperative in
its dealings with the member countries that
depend on it most heavily. Similarly, in 2004 the
UN initiated an effort to strengthen what Florini
and Pascual (2007) have called "a fundamentally unsound institutional base." Those reforms
included an expansion of the Security Council,
substantial internal management reform, and a
wide range of specific proposals aimed at
making the UN system more coherent. As with
IMF reform, the chief remaining challenge is to
generate the broad political support that is
required to bring these initiatives to life.
3. Generating a new mandate
The third front is to generate a new mandate for
relating the panoply of international institutions to
global challenges. Generating this new mandate
should be a priority task for a new global steering
committee of heads of state. The MDGs provide an
example of a comprehensive, multisectoral approach to fighting global poverty, integrating as they
do goals for gender equality, universal education,
health, and environmental sustainability. The
forthcoming Financing for Development Summit
to be held in Doha, Qatar, in 2008, could provide
world leaders with an opportunity to intensify
the global effort to achieve the MDGs and provide a framework for coordinated action among the
major institutions, agencies, and actors. A reformed, expanded summit grouping, with help from
the institutions themselves, could monitor, evaluate, and guide the implementation actions agenda for the MDGs going forward.
The fragmented international system of today
is composed of multiple institutions, agencies,
and actors with specialized mandates. What is
required is a transition to a global system of
reformed institutions and new governance
mechanisms that can harness diverse energies
and resources in a cohesive way to respond effectively to urgent global challenges in the age of
massive economic and social transformation that
lies ahead. The recent election of new leaders in
the United Kingdom, France, and Japan; the prospect of elections in some other G-8 countries;
and the selection of new heads of the Bretton
Woods institutions and other agencies together
establish an opportunity to move the governance
reform agenda forward to create a global system
congruent with the problems that must be
addressed.
FINANCE & DEVELOPMENT | GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES
James Boughton is IMF
Historian and Assistant
Director of the Policy
Development and Review
Department.
Colin Bradford is Nonresident
Senior Fellow for Global
Economy and Development
at the Brookings Institution.
21
The Global System Needs a
M a k e o v e r
By Carin Smaller
T
his year marks the 60th anniversary of the
international trading system, the creation
of the General Agreement on Tariffs and
Trade (GATT). Sixty years ago was also the year
governments under the United Nations (UN) signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Both agreements were negotiated in the aftermath of World War II. The GATT set out to create
a fair and stable international trading system to
prevent the trade wars and economic rivalry that
had contributed to the Great Depression and the
outbreak of World War II. It was limited to a set
of rules to reduce tariffs on the trade in manufactured goods. Agricultural goods were exempted
through a series of waivers. Governments were
allowed to use tariffs to protect domestic production, but only if they did not export the surpluses.
UN, WTO in crisis
Trade Insight (Vol.4, No.1,
2008), a publication of the
Institute for Agriculture and
Trade Policy.
22
Sixty years on, both the UN and the World Trade
Organization (WTO) are perhaps in greater crisis
than at any other time in their history. The UN is
struggling for political relevance in the face of
hostility on the part of its most powerful member,
the United States (US). This hostility is coupled
with indifference from most of the rest. The UN
is also suffering from a widely shared sense of
malaise and dissatisfaction brought on by the collapse of too many issues into simplistic NorthSouth struggles rather than pragmatic negotiations on how to accommodate diversity while striving for a higher common denominator for multilateral relations. For its part, the WTO's Doha
Agenda is at a standstill. The talks are blocked by
the agricultural politics of the US, the European
Union (EU) and, to some extent, Japan; by the
push to further open markets in the bigger developing countries; and by the failure of the multilateral trading system to provide anything of substance to the poorest developing countries. In
Geneva, trade negotiators continue to work tirelessly towards a conclusion of the Doha Agenda,
but a deal seems further away than ever. Negotiators are slowly chipping away at minute
technical details (sometimes successfully and at
other times not) and ignoring the political reality
that the Doha Agenda is deeply unpopular all over
the world and that there is simply no appetite for a
deal right now.
New vision for 2008
Citizens in Europe and America, many of whom have
been big supporters of a free trade agenda, are
asking more questions about the impact of trade
policies on working conditions, and the damage to
the environment. Citizens in the developing world
have borne the brunt of the WTO's model of trade
for several decades now. Some parts of the developing world have recorded impressive growth rates in
the past decade, in particular China, India and
Brazil, and witnessed a significant reduction in the
incidence of poverty. But others have lost out. They
are opposed to the model of growth being promoted
under the WTO and other bilateral and regional
trade agreements. Growth is being unevenly distributed, increasing inequalities between the rich and
the poor, and taking an enormous toll on the environment. Farmers and small and medium entrepreneurs are hurt by competition from giant multinationals. Workers are forced to accept miserable
Sixty years of multilateralism have been characterized
by a deep disconnect between trade and investment regimes.
conditions. However, trade negotiators in Geneva
continue to produce texts for new trade rules
that do not support a model of development that
most people are asking for. Another set of texts
on agricultural and manufactured goods are
expected to be out early in 2008. They will contain more of the same. Trade ministers could be
invited to Geneva towards the end of March or
beginning of April, but almost no one believes
that an agreement will be reached. Meanwhile,
governments are increasingly turning to bilateral
and regional trade agreements to pursue their
economic interests. And the public has turned its
attention away from the WTO and to other pressing global challenges: climate change, the massive increase in demand for raw commodities
and other natural resources, including biofuels,
and high food and energy prices, which raise
concerns about global food and energy shortages, and economic recession.
These new global challenges make it more
urgent than ever to build a strong system of
international governance to help solve problems
jointly. That includes a strong multilateral trading system that produces a set of rules and regulations to help governments implement the right
mix of policies to build strong economies, which
create decent employment, an equitable distri-
bution of wealth, and in a manner that ensures
the sustainable use of natural resources and the
environment.
The current trading system, and the model of
trade it promotes, needs to change in order to
address some of the negative impacts on employment, human rights and the environment.
Furthermore, today's global challenges present
another set of concerns, which the trading system
cannot afford to ignore. Existing efforts to address
some of these problems are being discussed and
coordinated under the UN system. The World Bank,
the IMF and the WTO must start cooperating with
the UN processes in a more meaningful way - and
also vice versa, for the ministries responsible for
the UN processes cannot afford to ignore what is
happening in trade. The two systems cannot continue to operate in isolation of each other.
The UN Framework Convention on Climate
Change (UNFCCC), for example, is the international
treaty under which governments agreed to coordinate efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
and to reverse or mitigate the effects of climate
change, which has implications for trade. As
governments work towards a new climate change
agreement, the links with trade should be identified and appropriately addressed.
Work has already started
Trade ministers met on the sidelines of the Bali
Climate Change Conference in December 2007.
The US and the EU went to the meeting with a
proposal for the liberalization of environmental
goods and services, arguing that increased trade
in climate-friendly technologies could help combat climate change. The proposal is self-serving.
It focuses on expanding markets for environmental goods and services predominantly produced in
the US and the EU. It avoids any discussion of a
broader debate about trade and the environment, and the possible negative effects of the
existing model of trade on climate change. Trade
ministers should start with an assessment of the
impacts of trade on climate change and then find
pragmatic solutions and, if need be, change the
multilateral trading system, to ensure that trade
does not undermine efforts to tackle climate
change.
WTO Members, on their part, need to work
more consistently with the UN to ensure that
human rights are not undermined in trade agreements. Trade ministries and WTO missions should
look more closely at the work being done by
UNEP, FAO and UN Human Rights Bodies on trade
and use this information to guide future policy
thinking under the WTO. Environment ministries
need to work with trade ministries to identify linkages between trade and the environment and to
devise trade policies that use the environment in
a responsible manner. Employment ministries
need to communicate more clearly to trade ministries about the types of trade measures that are
likely to boost, and those that could threaten,
employment.
It is time to create a global system that acts
together. Multilateral institutions should be capable of taking complicated decisions that involve
other institutions in their work, and that are cognizant of other multilateral obligations. Sixty
years on, the global system needs a makeover.
Why not give the Doha Agenda a makeover at the
same time?
TRADE INSIGHT | GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES

Carin Smaller is associated
with Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
(IATP), Geneva Ofice,
Switzerland.
23
The Role of the South
in Global Resource Governance
By Joyce R. Aryee
her presentation at the Development and Peace Foundation's expert workshop on
Global Resource Management for Sustainable Development in Berlin in May 2007.
G
lobal governance has become one of the
most favourite concepts - if not the most
favourite - in international politics as a
way of ensuring the establishment of best practices
in the way the world is run. But politicians, political
scientists and theorists disagree on what it actually is.
In other words, the concept lacks clarity in definition.
Critics describe global governance as an international
socio-economic arrangement championed by Western
countries to control developing countries. But proponents of the concept think otherwise. They argue that
global governance initiatives are empirical-analytical
problem-solving arrangements based on cooperation
among various actors.
Power without responsibility
Scholars in post-colonial studies agree that the term
neo-colonialism originated with Kwame Nkrumah,
Ghana's first post-independence president. Nkrumah
noted that the attainment of independence and
national sovereignty by African countries were purely token and in no substantial way altered the relationship between the colonial powers and the colonised state: Faced with the militant peoples of the excolonial territories imperialism simply switches tactics. Without a qualm it dispenses with its flags, and
even with certain of its more hated expatriate oficials. This means, so it claims, that it is 'giving' independence to its former subjects, to be followed by
'aid' for their development. Under cover of such phrases, however, it devises innumerable ways to accomplish objectives formerly achieved by naked colonialism. It is this sum total of these modern attempts to
perpetuate colonialism while at the same time talking about 'freedom', which has come to be known as
neo-colonialism.
Nkrumah described neo-colonialism as the worst
form of imperialism, which appears in subtle and
varied forms - in economic, political, religious, ideological and cultural spheres. For those who practice
it, it means power without responsibility and for
24
those who suffer from it, it means exploitation
without redress. Africa is a continent that abounds in
massive resources - it has everything necessary to
become a modern, industrial and powerful continent. Africa's potential is shown to be greater every
day with new discoveries of mineral wealth as well as
oil and gas. Very few countries in Africa are lacking in
resources which could go to making a better life and
in those cases it is possible for two or more states to
come together for their mutual benefit. Notwithstanding this, the people of Africa wallow in extreme
poverty. It is estimated that more than 314 million
Africans, nearly twice as many as in 1981, live on less
than $1 a day. 34 of the world's 48 poorest countries,
and 24 of the 32 countries ranked lowest on the
UNDP's Human Development Index are in Africa - no
wonder Africa is perceived as resource cursed.
Poor people in a rich continent
In order to understand the present economic conditions in Africa, one needs to know why Africa has realized so little from its resources and also why so much
of its present wealth goes to Western countries, otherwise known as the North. Old fashioned colonialism
has by no means been completely abolished in Africa.
In place of colonialism as the main instrument of imperialism, Africa has today neo-colonialism expressed in
various Western concepts, including resource exploitation, trading and governance initiatives, to ensure that
African countries are still controlled by their former
colonial masters. Authors in Western countries rarely
do any objective assessment of why Africans have not
benefited from the exploitation of their resources. The
reasons that one often finds in books and other forms
of literature are that Africans do not benefit from their
resources because of corrupt leaders and that revenues from natural resources are used to finance insurgents or some warlord-like activity. This is as if to say
that things were much better-run in the colonialism
days. These authors write about Africa's corrupt leaders and conflicts and its killings without telling reaKOMMUNIKATION GLOBAL | MÄRZ 2008
Senegali woman walking along rice fields | Photo: UNESCO
ders the people pulling the strings. It is no secret that
countries and corporations in the West manipulate
Africans and their leadership to get or keep control
over Africa's resources. Some Western companies have
been known to be tied to civil wars in resource-rich
African countries. These companies, allegedly, help
finance a group of fighters who will then occupy the
mineralproducing regions of their country and sell the
minerals cheaply. In cases where Western countries do
not directly finance rebels, they secretly buy the
minerals that fund the conflict. The North enjoys a
monopoly on Africa's natural resources. It would, therefore, not be unusual for their corporations to be funding parties engaged in a civil war in resource rich
countries. In fact, financing a war is a small price to
pay to stay in control. The movie "Blood Diamonds"
tells a story of some western influence in the civil wars
of Africa.
The West ignores important elements
of resource governance
Market in Tansania | Photo: Claus Bünnagel - www.pixelio.de
One of the common means by which the North exploits Africa is through global trade initiatives. The principles of a free market theory propagated by the
World Trade Organization (WTO) are nothing but
plots for more western exploitation of Africa's resources to enable the North to sustain its economic
growth and remain wealthy. Whereas Africa practices a free market economy, in its true sense, the
West imposes unfair trading restrictions. Ghana and
other cocoa producing countries, for instance, can
only export raw cocoa to Europe. They cannot sell
cocoa as chocolate because of high tariff barriers.
Consequently, Ghana continues to sink into poverty.
It is deceptive for anyone to state that Africa's relation with the North is one based on partnership when
the latter actually own the means of production.
When multinational companies own the land and the
mines of Africa, this is the most direct way of draining the continent. Foreign investments ensure that
the natural resources and the labour of Africa produce economic value which is lost to the continent.
How natural resources should be accessed, how contracts are to be negotiated, and how economic
benefits from mineral resources are to be managed
and used for sustainable development are elements
of resource governance which the West ignores completely. But these are crucial to the poverty alleviation struggle in Africa.
In many African countries, governments issue
mineral concessions without consulting traditional
leaders who are custodians of lands on which these
minerals are found. The social structures of Africa
are deeply entrenched in foreign hegemony and exploitative notions of development that African states
have no other recourse but to be part of that system.
From the time when Europeans set foot on the soil
of Africa to the present time, Africans have gone
through a cultural and psychological crisis which has
led many to accept the Western version of things.
This means that the African himself doubts his capabilities to manage his own affairs. With such doubts,
the African has given his consent to Western structured intergovernmental organisations to experiment
various concepts and theories in Africa. The form of
foreign investments in Africa has become more subtle and dangerous. Beside the fact that the continent
literally hands over the factors of production to
foreigners, Africa is made to believe that it lacks skilled personnel to make an industrial economy function. Western corporations as well as African governments therefore turn to recruit foreign experts at
unbelievable costs - from consultants to managers
and to non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
SEF | GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES
Joyce R. Aryee is former
Ghanaian Minister and now
CEO of the Ghana Chamber
of Mines in Accra.
Unlike the West, Africa practises a free market economy
in its true sense.
25
MDG-Bewertungsskala irreführend
Von Abra Pollock in Washington | Deutsche Bearbeitung: Karina Böckmann
D
die Verbesserung der Gesundheitsversorgung von Müttern, die Bekämpfung schwerer Krankheiten wie
HIV/Aids und Malaria, die Sicherung der ökologischen
Nachhaltigkeit und den Aufbau einer globalen
Entwicklungspartnerschaft zwischen den Ländern des
Nordens und Südens.
ie Maßstäbe zur Bewertung der Erfolge bei
der Umsetzung der Millenniumsentwicklungsziele (MDGs) werden den Leistungen Afrikas im Kampf gegen die Armut nicht gerecht, sondern
verstärken das stereotype Bild eines sterbenden Kontinents. Dies ist das Ergebnis einer neuen Untersuchung, die auf einem jüngsten Seminar einer unabhängigen US-amerikanischen Denkfabrik - der 'Brookings Institution' - in Washington vorgestellt wurde.
"Wir haben diese unsägliche MDG-Bewertungsmaschine, die gute Nachrichten über Afrika in schlechte
umwandelt", so der Autor der Studie, der Wirtschaftswissenschaftler William Easterly. "Afrika hat schon
ohne die internationalen Organisationen und
Aktivisten, die die afrikanischen Fortschritte klein
reden, genügend Probleme." Easterly weist darauf
Bei der Präsentation der Studie am 6. Februar in
Washington monierte Easterly, dass sich die jährlichen
UN-Berichte über Fortschritte bei der Umsetzung der
Ziele einzelnen Regionen und Ländern widmeten. Im
Fall von Afrika südlich der Sahara habe dies zu der verzerrenden Schlussfolgerung geführt, dass die Region
ihr Etappenziel für die Hälfte der Wegstrecke nicht
hin, dass die Vereinten Nationen die MDGs ursprünglich als Bezugspunkte zur Überprüfung globaler
Fortschritte bei der Armutsbekämpfung aufgestellt
hat. Sich nun auf Regionen oder einzelne Staaten zu
konzentrieren, lasse deren durchaus erzielten Erfolge
in einem trüben Licht erscheinen. "Eine Beurteilung
der Fortschritte auf dem Weg zu den MDGs kann nur
auf globaler Ebene geschehen", so auch der UN-Mitarbeiter Jan Vandemoortele, der 2001 an der Formulierung die MDGs mitgewirkt hatte, seien auf globale Trends und nicht auf der Grundlage historischer
Entwicklungen für eine besondere Region oder ein
spezifisches Land abgestimmt worden, schrieb der
Experte in einem Beitrag für das UN-Weltinstitut für
entwicklungsökonomische Forschung (UNU-WIDER) im
vergangenen Jahr. Im Jahr 2000 hat sich die internationale Gemeinschaft insgesamt acht Oberziele
gesetzt. Diese MDGs sehen bis 2015 die Halbierung
von Armut und Hunger vor, Grundschulbildung für alle,
die Gleichstellung der Geschlechter und Stärkung der
Rolle der Frau, die Senkung der Kindersterblichkeit,
erreicht habe, monierte er. Doch diese Schlussfolgerung berücksichtigt offenbar nicht, dass die
Entwicklungsländer im Kampf gegen die Armut von
unterschiedlichen Voraussetzungen ausgehen. Denn
Easterly zufolge stehen die ärmsten Länder der Welt,
von denen sich die meisten in Afrika befinden, vor
deutlich größere Herausforderungen als andere besser
gestellte Staaten. Um ein Beispiel zu geben, zieht der
neue Bericht das vierte MDG heran, das eine Reduzierung der globalen Kindersterblichkeit bis 2015
um zwei Drittel unter den Wert von 1990 anstrebt. Ein
Land mit einer Kindersterblichkeit von 150 Todesfällen pro 1.000 Lebendgeburten sei gegenüber anderen Ländern mit einer Kindersterblichkeit von 24 zu
1.000 deutlich benachteiligt. Im ersten Fall müsse ein
Rückgang der Kindersterblichkeit von 100 pro 1.000
und im zweiten Fall um 16 pro 1.000 Lebendgeburten
angestrebt werden. Auch die Bekämpfung der extremen Armut - das übergreifende erste MDG - gestaltet
sich für arme Länder weitaus schwieriger als für besser gestellte Länder. Zwei Staaten, die ein gleiches
Ghana - The Grand Durbar | Photo: UNESCO
Ungleiche Voraussetzungen
26
Anstatt die afrikanischen Erfolge angemessen zu würdigen,
ist vom Scheitern des schwarzen Kontinents die Rede.
Bruttoinlandsprodukt (BIP) über einen gleich langen
Zeitraum erwirtschaften, können je nach Ausgangslage in Sachen Armutsbekämpfung völlig unterschiedlich abschneiden.
Unterschätzter Kontinent
Der Bericht weist ferner darauf hin, dass Afrika 2006
ein stolzes Wirtschaftswachstum von 5,4 Prozent vorzuweisen hatte. Würde sich dieser Trend in den nächsten zehn Jahren fortsetzen, hätte dies zur Folge,
dass sich der schwarze Kontinent zu den weltweit
ersten fünf Ländern mit den höchsten Wachstumsraten in den Zehnjahresintervallen von 1965 bis 2005
aufschwingen könnte. Dennoch moniert ein Bericht
des 'Africa Progress Panel' unter Leitung des ehemaligen UN-Generalsekretärs Kofi Annan, dass die afrikanischen Staaten weit hinter die Zielwachstumsmarke
von sieben Prozent zurückgefallen sind. Eine fortgesetzte Wachstumsrate von sieben Prozent würde dem
Easterly-Report zufolge die afrikanischen Staaten zu
den Top-Zehn des Zehnjahres-BIPs seit 1965 aufsteigen lassen. Anstatt die afrikanischen Erfolge angemessen zu würdigen, sei von einem Scheitern des schwarzen Kontinents die Rede. Um diese Art negativer
Publicity zu verhindern, sei es wichtig, neue Maßstäbe
für die afrikanischen Länder zu entwickeln, meint
Michael Clemens, Wissenschaftler des Thinktank
'Centre for Global Development' in Washington. Was
das zweite UN-Entwicklungsziel angeht - Grundschulunterricht für alle bis 2015 - stünden die afrikanischen Länder besser da, wenn bei der Bewertung
weniger absolute Zahlen, sondern der prozentuale
Anstieg der Einschulungen ins Gewicht fielen, so
Easterly. In einem solchen Fall würde sich zeigen, dass
sich Afrika in dieser Frage in großen Schritten nach
vorne bewege. Diese verborgenen Erfolgsindikatoren
ließen sich viel stärker hervorkehren, wenn sich
Regionen oder Länder eigene Entwicklungsziele stekken würden, betonte Vandemoortele. Es gebe keinen
Grund, die Nase über Staaten wie Kambodscha oder
Vietnam zu rümpfen, die mit ihren CDGs (Kambodscha) und VDGs (Vietnam) eigene und weniger ehrgeizige Ziele verfolgten. Wichtig ist nach Ansicht von
Easterly vor allem, die positiven Leistungen afrikanischer Staaten zu betonen, anstatt die Regierungen,
Hilfsorganisationen und Investoren mit einem
Bewertungsschema zu demotivieren, das die Defizite
herausstellt. "Wenn man sich schon in einem tiefen
Loch befindet", so der Experte, "sollte man mit dem
Graben aufhören."
IPS | KOMMUNIKATION GLOBAL
'How the Millennium Development Goals are Unfair to Africa'
An Extract from Conclusion of William Easterly's 28-page paper
T
he strong conclusion that Africa is missing
the MDGs depends on arbitrary and arcane
choices as to how you set up the MDGs. Although
not necessarily intentionally, they were actually set up in a way that made it more unlikely
that Africa will attain them than other regions.
In sum for each of the seven MDGs:
1. It was less likely that Africa compared to
other regions would achieve a 50 reduction in
poverty over 25 years because it had the lowest
per capita income, which is associated with the
smallest percentage reduction in poverty for
the same rate of growth. In addition, the goal
was backdated to begin in 1990, penalizing
Africa for its worse 1990s growth for a campaign that was announced in 2000.
2. It was less likely that Africa would attain the
Level target of universal primary enrollment
because it started with the lowest initial primary enrollment and completion.
3. Gender equality in schooling is numerically
equivalent to universal enrollment, so other
regions that were closer to attaining goal #2
got to count the attainment of goal #2 twice (at
least for the primary component of goal #3).
4. A two-thirds reduction in child mortality is less likely when you start at very high mortality, as Africa did.
5. Africa was said to be failing the goal of reducing maternal mortality by two-thirds, but there
was no data on maternal mortality trends.
6. Africa was said to be failing to reduce AIDS,
malaria, and TB prevalence, but there was no
data on trends in these prevalence rates.
7. Africa was relatively falling behind on reducing
the percent WITHOUT access to clean water, but
it would have been relatively catching up if it had
been measured the conventional way of percent
WITH access to clean water. The choice of WITH
and WITHOUT is arbitrary.
Hence, the implied picture of general failure in
Africa - that it is failing to meet ALL seven MDGs - is
not fair to Africa. It generates a more negative picture than is justifi ed (not that this paper argues the
other extreme that Africa is doing very well in all of
these areas). The negative picture matters because
it is demoralizing to African leaders and activists,
and because it might have real consequences for
things like private foreign investment to reinforce
the stereotype that "Africa always fails".
GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES

27
Dem Gemeinwohl internationale
Geltung verschaffen:
Von Inge Kaul
* Auszüge aus dem Diskussionsbeitrag anläßlich des
Symposiums ‘Das Gemeinwohl in einer Globalisierten
Welt’ der Konrad Adenauer
Stiftung am 15. Februar
2008 in Berlin.
Schäfer in Ägypten
Photo: UNESCO
28
W
ir leben in einer zunehmend offenen,
interdependenten und von Krisen gerüttelten Welt. Wie wäre es möglich zu grösserer Stabilität zurückzufinden und nachhaltige globale Entwicklung - in Industrie- und Entwicklungsländern - zu fördern? Meine Antwort auf diese Frage
ist, dass sich die Bedingungen für Politikgestaltung mit
zunehmender Globalisierung grundlegend verändert
haben - eine Tatsache, die oft noch nicht völlig
erkannt wird und damit auch nocht nicht gemeistert
werden kann. Neu und anders an der heutigen politischen Situation ist unter anderem die zunehmende
Bedeutung von globalen öffentlichen Gütern - von
Dingen und Sachverhalten wie etwa Klimawandel,
HIV-AIDS, Vogelgrippe, internationaler Terrorismus,
oder auch Finanzkrisen und Regelwerke für internationalen Handel und Transport.
Erwünschte Politikresultate in diesen Problembereichen - etwa die Stabilisierung des globalen Klimas - lassen sich nicht allein durch nationale Massnahmen erreichen, egal wie mächtig ein Land sein
mag. Effektive internationale Kooperation muss heute
integraler Bestandteil nationaler Politik sein. Und
effektive internationale Kooperation verlangt wiederum danach, dem Gemeinwohl internationale Geltung
zu verschaffen - globale Politik fair zu gestalten. Um
dieses Argument zu erläutern, ist es zunächst einmal
wichtig, kurz zu klären: (1) was globale öffentliche
Güter sind und wie sie mit Globalisierung zusammenhängen; (2) warum Fairness bei der Bereitstellung
dieser Güter eine zentrale Rolle spielt; (3) wie Fairness und effektive Kooperation zusammenhängenö
und schliesslich (4) welche Konsequenzen sich aus den
vorherigen Punkten für die Politik ergeben könnten.
1. Globale öffentliche Güter - und wie sie
mit Globalisierung zusammenhängen
Das menschliche Wohlergehen weltweit hängt von
zwei Arten von Gütern ab: privaten Gütern (wie etwa
Brot und Kleidung) und öffentlichen Gütern (e.g.
Recht und Ordnung, Frieden und Sicherheit, öffentliche Gesundheit, oder ein wohl funktionierendes
Rechtssystem). Die Bereitstellung der privaten Güter
kann zumeist dem Markt überlassen werden. Im Fall
der öffentlichen Güter ist in vielen Fällen ein gewisses Mass an staatlicher Intervention notwendig,
damit diese Güter in ausreichender Menge zur Verfügung stehen. Öffentliche Güter sind mithin einer
der Hauptgegenstände und Hauptrechtfertigungen
für die Existenz und die Aktivitäten des Staates.
Während der letzten Jahrzehnte hat die öffentliche
Politik in vielen, wenn nicht in den meisten Staaten
der Welt auf ökonomische Liberalisierung und zunehmende Offenheit nationaler Grenzen hingewirkt.
Dies ist erreicht worden durch eine weitgehende
internationale Harmonisierung von nationalen
öffentlichen Gütern wie etwa der nationalen Handels
und Investitionsregime, der Steuersysteme und
Normen, die ein gutes Geschäftsklima schaffen oder
angeben, was eine gute Arbeits- und Sozialpolitik
auszeichnet. Anders formuliert, ökonomische
Offenheit und grenzüberschreitende marktintegration basiert auf der Harminisierung - oder auch VerGlobalisierung - nationaler öffentlicher Güter.
Fortschreitende Marktintegration führte zu
einem Anstieg grenzüberschreitender ökonomischer
Aktivitäten - Handel, Tourismus, Kommunikation.
Allerdings brachten diese Aktivitäten oft nicht nur
Zur Bereitstellung globaler
öffentlicher Güter
die erwünschten Dinge mit sich sondern auch
Unerwartetes - neue Kultureinflüsse und Informationen, aber auch Krankheiten, Drogen, und Kriminalität. Diese unerwarteten Effekte - Externalitäten,
wie Ökonomen sagen - führten zu einer weiteren
Ver-Globalisierung von öffentliche Gütern. Öffentliche Gesundheitsverhältnisse, Finanzstabilität, Recht
und Ordnung und anderes hängen nun nicht mehr nur
davon ab, was Politiker und Regierungen national
unternehmen sondern auch davon, was in anderen
Ländern an Politik und Entwicklung erzielt wird -
del, Verlust von Biodiversität; Wasserknappheit; und
die wachsende Kluft zwischen Arm und Reich.
Natürlich gibt es auch viele Dinge, deren Bereitstellung durchaus zufriedenstellend verläuft. Beispiele
sind die Vereinheitlichung technischer Normen und
Standards wie etwa der im Bereich der Zivilluftfahrt
und des Postwesens oder auch Produktnormen. Die
globalen öffentlichen Güter, die in angemessenem
Masse zur Verfügung stehen, sind zumeist die, die
aufgrund ihrer Natur eine recht gleichmässige
Verteilung von Kosten und Nutzen erzeugen und auch
oder auch nicht. Mithin zeigt sich, dass wirtschaftliche Globalisierung auf globalen öffentlichen Gütern
basiert; und dass sie in ihrer Folge zu weiterer Verglobalisierung von öffentlichen Gütern führt. Aber es
gibt auch öffentliche Güter, die von Natur aus global
sind. Dazu gehören etwa die Atmosphäre oder auch
die Ozonschicht. Nur, im Gegensatz zu vielen anderen öffentlichen Gütern sind diese Gemeinschaftsgüter nicht unbegrenzt benutz- und belastbar.
Daraus ergibt sich die viel diskutierte "tragedy of the
commons".
für alle einen klaren Nutzengewinn erzeugen. Es sind
Güter, die nicht viele Politikinterventionen Korrekturmassnahmen - gebrauchen. Die sich im
Krisenzustand - im Zustand der Unterproduktion befindlichen globalen öffentlichen Güter sind im
Gegensatz dazu oft die, die nicht von allen Betroffenen in gleicher Weise als prioritär und nutzbringend angesehen werden. Diese Güter beinhalten
Verteilungsprobleme, die es zu lösen gilt. Das Beispiel, das gegenwärtig als erstes in diesem
Zusammenhang in den Sinn kommt, ist Klimawandel
und die Frage, wie in diesem Fall die Kosten der notwendigen Korrektur- und Anpassungsmassnahmen
gerecht verteilt werden könnten, so dass sie von
allen akzeptiert werden und alle motiviert sind, notwendige Reformen auch wirklich zu unternehmen.
Investionen in globale öffentliche Güter müssen
genauso wie Investionen anderer Art (etwa die in
Privatgüter) Sinn machen - ökonomisch, politisch
oder anderweitig. Und um diese Bedingung zu erfüllen, müssen sie einen klaren und gerechten Gewinn
für alle erbringen.
2. Die angemessene Bereitstellung
globaler öffentlicher Güter
In der Tat befinden sich heute viele globale öffentliche Güter in einem Krisenzustand.Sie unterminieren
unser Wohlergehen statt es zu verbessern. Man
denke nur an die diversen globalen Kranheitem, die
sich in der Welt verbreiten; die gegenwärtige
Finanzkrise, die Gefahren einer globalen Rezession
heraufbeschört; den "Krieg gegen Terror"; KlimawanGLOBAL PERSPECTIVES | MARCH 2008
Markt in Kairo
Photo: UNESCO
29
Farm in Senegal
Photo: UNESCO
Inge Kaul ist Adjunct Professor
an der Hertie School of Governance in Berlin und frühere
Direktorin des Büros für
Entwicklungsstudien des
Entwicklungsprogramms der
Vereinten Nationen in New
York. Kommentare und
Anmerkungen zu diesem
Beitrag können gerichtet werden an inge-kaul@t-online.de.
30
3. Globale Fairness als Grundlage
effektiver internationaler Kooperation
Globale öffentliche Güter sind nicht nur öffentlich in
dem Sinne, dass sie oft uns alle - die gesamte
Menschheit oder aber doch zumindest weite Teile der
Weltbevölkerung - betreffen, sondern auch in dem
Sinne, dass sie oft nicht in angemessenem Masse
durch nationale Politikmassnahmen allein bereitgestellt werden können. Sie verlangen nach internationaler Kooperation - konzertierter nationaler Politik
und gemeinsamer Politik auf internationaler Ebene.
Ihre Produktion ist zumeist ein komplexer Prozess,
der viele - private und staatliche Akteure sowie mehrere Ebenen und Sektoren umspannt.
Es ist aber gerade diese Komplexität, vornehmlich die Tatsache, dass oft alle Länder einen Beitrag gewisse Politikresultate - erbringen müssen, die Gerechtigkeit und Beachtung des globalen Gemeinwohls
so wichtig machen. Gerechtigkeit in der Kosten- und
Nutzenverteilung ist ein ganz wichtiger Bestandteil
von "policy ownership" und der Bereitschaft, freiwillig zu kooperieren, ohne die ja internationale Zusammenarbeit zwischen souveränen Staaten nicht
auskommt. Wenn es an Gerechtigekit und damit an
dezidierter Kooperation mangelt, besteht das Risiko,
dass notwendige Politikmassnahmen nicht oder nur
unzureichend stattfinden, Probleme ungelöst bleiben
und sich verschärfen mit dem Resultat, dass es letztlich allen schlechter geht und Krisen sich weiterhin
vervielfältigen.
Mithin ist es im aufgeklärten Eigeninteresse aller
zu bedenken, dass ein gemeinsames Ziel der meisten
Akteure ist, anzuerkennen, das Verhandlungspartner
auch ein Interesse an verbessertem Wohlergehen
haben - oder wenn sie mitbezahlen, dann doch in fairer Weise belastet werden möchten. "Power politics"
und andere Formen der Machtausübung und des "arm
twisting" sind zumeist ineffektiv, wenn es um die
Bereitstellung von globalen öffentlichen Gütern geht.
Es bringt sehr wenig, militärische Waffen gegen SARS
(Vogelgrippe), Verletzung von Menschenrechten,
oder Finanzkrisen einzusetzen. Es führt auch nicht zu
bnachhaltigen Veränderungen, wenn Sozial- und
Umweltstandards als Konditionen in bilaterale Handelsabkommen mit armen Ländern eingefügt werden. In diesen und ähnlichen Fällen hilft eigentlich
nur konstruktive Unterstützung zu offerieren für
systematische Investionen in die Beförderung zum
Beispiel von Erziehung, Gesundheit und Wachstum.
4. Mögliche Konsequenzen für die Politik und warum mehr Demokratie auf internationaler Ebene wünschenswert ist
Aus den vorhergehenden Überlegungen lassen sich
einige Schlussfolgerung für die Politik, auch für die
deutsche Politik ableiten. Zunächst wäre es vielleicht
wichtig zu diskutieren, dass es heute ganz klar einen
neuen Strang der internationalen, operativen Kooperation gibt, nämlich die Bereitstellung von globalen öffentlichen Gütern. Fairness hat einen Preis.
Diese Tatsache führt dazu, dass faire Lösungen, wenn
sie kurzfristig betrachtet werden, oft teurer zu sein
scheinen als "power politics" Lösungen. Mittel- und
langfristig sind sie jedoch billiger - effektiver, nachhaltiger, und deshalb auch effizienter. Denn unfaire
Kooperation lässt, wie erwähnt, Probleme oft fortbestehen. Wie jedoch Berechnungen gezeigt haben, ist
Nichts-tun, d.h. Probleme aussitzen, oft um Vieles
teurer (manchmal 400 mal so teuer) wie entschiedene Problemkorrektur. Es wäre mithin ebenfalls interessant und Kooperations-befördernd, Studien über die
Effizienz gerechterer internationaler Kooperation für
konkrete Verhandlungsfälle erstellen zu lassen und so
die Motivation für die Beachtung des Wohls aller zu
stärken. Aber es wäre auch wichtig, sich daran zu
erinnern, dass der Verkäufer von Ware im Markt auch
nicht alleine die Preise bestimmt. Preise im wirtschaftlichen Markt ergeben sich aus dem Zusammenspiel von Angebot und Nachfrage. Warum sollte
politiches Ver-Handeln anders funktionieren? Deshalb
wäre wohl eine weitere Politikreform notwendig,
nämlich die Förderung von mehr Demokratie auf
internationaler Ebene, so dass es mehr politischen
Wettbewerb geben kann, mehr Interessenausgleich,
mehr quid pro quo, und letztlich, mehr Fairness, mehr
effektive Kooperation--und weniger globale Krisen.
Fortschritt in dieser Hinsicht könnte zum Beispiel
erzielt werden durch eine Revision des Quotensystems
des Weltwährungsfonds und der Weltbank oder der
Erweiterung der G-8.
KOMMUNIKATION GLOBAL
Gaza Border In Political Limbo
By Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani in Cairo
O
ne month after throngs of Palestinians
flooded into Egypt's Sinai Peninsula from
the Gaza Strip, the flashpoint Rafah border
crossing remains tightly shut. But according to
some opposition figures, the breach - viewed by
many as a victory for Palestinian resistance faction
Hamas - signalled the need for new border protocols
consistent with shifting political realities. "The recent
crisis will inevitably lead to calls for a new EgyptPalestinian security agreement regulating the border
crossing at Rafah," Abdel-Halim Kandil, political analyst and former editor-in-chief of opposition weekly
al-Karama told IPS. On Jan. 23, an estimated half million Palestinians flocked into northern Sinai after the
14-kilometre wall separating Egypt from the Gaza
Strip was destroyed in a series of explosions. Suffering
under an almost two-year Israeli embargo of the territory, most of those crossing into Egypt seized the
opportunity to buy essential foodstuffs and medicines.
"Let them come in and buy food"
All other means in or out of the Gaza Strip, governed
by Hamas since June, have been hermetically sealed
by Israel following the latter's "disengagement" from
the territory in 2005. Citing Egypt's humanitarian concern for the besieged strip's roughly 1.5 million inhabitants, Cairo initially tolerated the influx. "Let them
come in and buy food, as long as they aren't carrying
weapons," President Hosni Mubarak said on the first
day of the breach. Nevertheless, the border was resealed on Feb. 3, after the bulk of itinerant Palestinians - most having stocked up on vital necessities
unavailable in Gaza - had returned to their homes. As
the Rafah crossing was officially closed in coordination
with Hamas-affiliated police officers, limited clashes
erupted at the border between some Palestinians and
Egyptian security forces. The breach contravened a
2005 U.S.-brokered security arrangement between Tel
Aviv and the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority
(PA) regulating the administration of the Palestinian
side of the Rafah crossing. The agreement, to which
Cairo is not a signatory, mandates the presence of
European observers at Rafah to monitor all movement in and out of the territory, and allows for constant surveillance of the crossing by Israel.
The mandated EU observers, however, have been
absent from Rafah since June, having departed only
days before Hamas took over governance of the Gaza
Strip. Citing security concerns, they have not returned since, completely paralysing all cross-border traffic. Prior to the recent breach, Cairo - over the protestations of Hamas - had for the most part kept the
Rafah crossing sealed in deference to the Israel-PA
border understanding. Local critics of the arrangement, however, say the deal relegates Egypt to the
role of doorkeeper and makes Cairo complicit in
Israel's siege of the territory. According to Kandil, the
recent dramatic - if temporary - border breach could
signal a chance for Egypt to "regain a measure of
sovereignty" over its border with the Gaza Strip.
"Egypt could benefit by coming to a new, more realistic border agreement with the Palestinians,"
Kandil said. "It might also be a chance for Egypt to
increase the size of its sorely limited forces on the
border." Under the current terms of the Egypt-Israel
Camp David peace agreement, the Egyptian security
presence on the border with the Gaza Strip is limited
to a maximum of 750 border police.
Since the re-closure, Cairo has held separate talks
with representatives of both Hamas and the PA, but
has so far failed to reach a definitive border arrangement with either party. PA officials insist on maintaining the 2005 agreement, and refuse to countenance
a supervisory role for Hamas at the border. Hamas
officials, meanwhile, have consistently denounced
the agreement, and steadfastly reject an Israeli role
in the administration of the crossing at Rafah.
Although the crossing remains tightly sealed, some local commentators say the recent border crisis yielded substantial political gains for Hamas. Along with
physically breaking the Israel-imposed siege, they
say, the incident has also compelled Cairo to hold
talks with the resistance group. "Cairo hasn't officially recognised Hamas authority in Gaza until now,
preferring instead to support the U.S.-backed PA in
the West Bank," Gamal Zahran, political science professor at Suez Canal University and independent leftist MP, told IPS. "But after the border breach, Egypt
realised that it must deal with Hamas - unofficially
at least - to secure the border."
No agreement was reached
On Feb. 23, Hamas representatives met with
Egyptian security officials in the town of al-Arish,
some 40 kilometres west of Rafah. While no definitive agreement was reached on new border protocols,
Hamas officials announced shortly afterwards that
Cairo had promised the release of scores of Palestinians recently detained in northern Sinai. Other local observers, however, downplayed the notion that
the political position of Hamas had been bolstered by
recent events. "Hamas didn't reap any gains from the
border crisis," Emad Gad, analyst at the semi-official
al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies,
and expert on Israeli affairs, told IPS. "Hamas merely
forced a fait accompli on Egypt by unilaterally forcing open the crossing, but the border was quickly
re-sealed." As for recent dialogue between Cairo and
Hamas, he added: "Egypt, as a supporter of the
Palestinian cause, is obligated to talk with Hamas
about the border situation - the government won't
stand idly by while Gaza starves."
31
UN Inaction Threatens
"Mass Killings" in Africa and Asia
By Thalif Deen in New York
Iraq, July 2006 | Photo:
www.alternativenews.org
32
T
he international failure to respond aggressively to the killings in Sudan, and more
recently in Kenya, is threatening the spread of genocide and ethnic cleansing in other
parts of Africa, a London-based human rights
organisation warns. Mark Lattimer, executive
director of Minority Rights Group International
(MRG), predicts that "mass killings" will continue
in 2008 - if the international community refuses
to take decisive action. He says that over half of the
20 countries in the world where people are most
under threat of genocide are in Africa, including
Somalia, Sudan, Ethiopia, Chad and the Central
African Republic. Chad, one of the new trouble spots
in Africa, has risen 14 places up the rankings table
since 2007. Widening inter-communal violence in
the eastern part of the country has seen civilian
communities targeted in the fighting between black
toroboro militias and Arab fighters - a cruel replic of
the ethnic conflict now familiar across the border in
the Darfur region of neighbouring Sudan, according
to MRG. In Asia, MRG singles out three countries Burma (Myanmar), Afghanistan and Pakistan - as
potentially dangerous, while Iraq is described as the
"most dangerous" in the Middle East.
In its 2008 global ranking of "Peoples Under
Threat", MRG says that "alarmingly, states widely
described to be stable, such as Kenya, have been
catapulted up the table - disputed elections in December 2007 exposing the tribal fault-lines in
Kenyan society where competing political interests
overlapped with ethnic differences." In the rioting
and "ethnic cleansing" that followed a contentious
election, more than 1,000 Kenyans were killed. But
neither the United Nations nor the European Union
(EU), both of which expressed concern over the killings, took any concrete action. Pakistan and Iran,
both bordering Afghanistan, have risen significantly
in the rankings this year. "The fallout from military
interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq continues to
spread to neighbouring states," says Lattimer, "and
is now engulfing whole new communities in the
threat of violent conflict."
Disastrous in preventing war crimes
The threat of mass killings comes at a time when the
United Nations is seeking to implement the principles
of "Responsibility to Protect" (R2P), adopted by the
192-member UN General Assembly at the 2005 World
Summit in New York. The R2P concept originated in a
2001 report of the International Commission on
Intervention and State Sovereignty. William Pace,
executive director of the New York-based Institute
for Global Policy, told IPS that after the "historic and
very surprising endorsement" of R2P by the heads of
all states, and the backing of R2P in two Security
Council resolutions in 2006, R2P lost momentum in
2007 due to a variety of reasons. This, he points out,
was mostly connected to "the always difficult transition from one (UN) secretary-general to a new
one"-- from Kofi Annan who ended his term in
December 2006 and Ban Ki-moon who took over in
January 2007. However, with the appointment by
Secretary-General Ban of Francis Deng from Sudan
as the new special advisor/representative for the
prevention of genocide, and Ed Luck from the
United States as special advisor to advance the
implementation of R2P inside the UN institutions,
"We expect important progress in 2008".
Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are also
taking important steps forward, said Pace, who is
also the Convenor of the Coalition for the International Criminal Court (CICC). He pointed out that
In the rioting and "ethnic cleansing" that followed
a contentious election, more than 1.000 Kenyans were killed.
But neither the United Nations nor the European Union
took any concrete action.
the recent launching of the new Global Centre for
R2P, with Andy Knight from Barbados as its new leader, is the first of several major NGO initiatives to
support R2P, "in what is hoped will become a vital
new tool for peace in our new century." "The first
decade, so far, has been as disastrous and unsuccessful in preventing war crimes, ethnic cleansing, genocide and crimes against humanity," said Pace.
However, civil society from all regions are committed
to making old peace tools, like the United Nations,
and new tools like the International Criminal Court
(ICC), and R2P work, so millions of lives will be
saved, he added. The new global institute, dedicated to improving international responses to genocide
and mass atrocities, was inaugurated on Feb. 14. It
is housed at the Ralph Bunche Institute for
International Studies at the Graduate Centre of the
City University of New York. Described as an independent research and advocacy organisation, it says it
"will make this doctrine (R2P) a reality." In a statement issued during its inaugural, the Centre said:
"The Responsibility to Protect (R2P) is a call to
action on behalf of populations at risk, and seeks to
eradicate a legacy of inaction that has led to the loss
of millions of lives during the Holocaust and in
Cambodia, Rwanda, Srebrenica, and Darfur."
Armed or forceful intervention
Since Feb. 8, according to Human Rights Watch,
Sudanese government troops and Janjaweed militias
have attacked and bombed villages in West Darfur,
killing hundreds of civilians and displacing tens of
thousands more, with little response so far from the
UN Security Council. Asked if the UN appointments of
Luck and Deng would advance the cause of R2P,
Lattimer of Minority Rights Group International told
IPS: "The UN special representative on the prevention of genocide and now the new special advisor on
R2P are the first UN mechanisms with a specific
mandate on genocide prevention and have a great
potential to focus early UN action to prevent killing". Their ability to make a difference will of course depend on the availability of accurate early warning information on groups under threat, he said.
Perhaps the first practical example of the United
Nations acting to implement R2P is in the current
situation in Kenya, he argued.
Although much of the debate around R2P has
focused on armed humanitarian intervention, the
greatest chance for the United Nations in general,
and these two posts in particular, to make a difference is in preventive diplomacy at an early stage to
stop mass killing before it starts. Asked about "unilateral" UN interventions to prevent genocide,,
Lattimer said: "The United Nations is a multilateral
organisation composed of member states, so it can't
intervene 'unilaterally'." But if the question is about
armed or forceful intervention, then there have been
a number of such interventions, he pointed out. They
are authorised under Chapter VII of the UN Charter
and need to be mandated by the Security Council
acting "to maintain or restore international peace
and security" - not quite the same as preventing genocide or mass killings, but the Council has explicitly agreed that deliberate targeting of civilian populations in armed conflict may constitute a threat to
international peace or security.
Lattimer also said that past Chapter VII interventions include Kuwait, Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, Rwanda
and East Timor. In Rwanda and Bosnia, he said, the
UN missions were unable to stop genocide. By contrast the mission in East Timor was widely seen as
successful, bringing to an end a widespread pattern
of gross human rights violations by the Indonesian
army and by militias. Some current UN peacekeeping
missions, which have Chapter VII enforcement powers, play a vital role in preventing ethnic killings,
including those in Cote d'Ivoire and in the Democratic
Republic of Congo, although their record of success
is mixed, he declared.
Refugee Camp in Chad | Photo: www.tearfund.org
33
Children Look
At The Brighter Picture
By Mona Alami in Beirut
O
n the outskirts of Beirut, narrow alleyways
cut through the Chatila Palestinian refugee
camp. A maze of electricity cables connect
one concrete block and another. Sewage pours continuously through a small grey construction, filling
the street with nauseating stench. Not a pretty sight,
unless you have a camera, and skill. They say that a
picture is worth a thousand words, and that familiar
idea motivated the Lebanese NGO Zakira to bring the
art of photography to the children here. It's another
way of looking at a world of enormous piles of rubbish, where gunmen and fratricidal wars are common, and where a permanent state of lawlessness
reigns. A group of Lebanese photojournalists now
gives these children the opportunity to forget their
surroundings through the world of photography.
Zakira's founder Ramzi Haidar, an AFP photographer,
looked at violence while on assignment in Iraq
through the eyes of Iraqi children who had no creative outlet to express their curiosity, emotions or frustrations. His experience in the war-torn country
inspired him to make a difference in his native
Lebanon. "On Haidar's return to Lebanon, he decided
to bring the art of photography to Lebanon's most
marginalised community - the children in Palestinian
refugee camps," says Rima Abou Chakra from Zakira.
Basic photography skills
Photos: UNHCR
34
Through 'Lahza' (glimpse), its first project, the NGO
seeks to identify young Palestinians with talent, and
help them develop their skill. "Around 500 children
from all Palestinian refugee camps across Lebanon
have acquired basic photography skills through this
programme," says Abou Chakra. "Most of these kids,
who live in unimaginably harsh conditions, have
been asked to portray life in the camps as they see
it." The NGO provides children from ages seven to 12
with disposable cameras and basic guidance. "We
learned to use the camera, focus and pick our subject. It was very exciting," says Hiba, 10, from the
Chatila camp. "Photographers Oussama Ayoub and
Bilal Jawish came to the Dbayeh camp (situated
north of Beirut in a mainly Christian area) and trained the children," says Mayssa Basho, a volunteer at
the Committee for Development and Support (CDS),
a non-profit organisation at the Dbayeh camp.
Thirty-five children were selected in the Dbayeh
camp to join the programme. They were first asked
to draw paintings, to determine their likes and dislikes, and what appealed to them before they were
given a camera. "The pictures were unusual for a
Palestinian camp, they depicted scenes inspired by
nature, the Lebanese army and the Lebanese flag,"
said Basho. "This is partly because kids from the
Dbayeh camp identify with the Lebanese, and are
very well integrated, unlike in other camps."
Robert, a bright 12-year-old in Dbayeh is hugely
enthusiastic. "I took pictures of the camp's Christmas tree and our community in church. I chose to
show the artistic and beautiful side of people and
objects," he says with astounding maturity. But his
pictures do not show just the bright side. "My favourite picture is one of a broken sewage pipe," he
adds.
Differences in living conditions
The pictures taken in the various camps around
Lebanon have highlighted differences in living conditions from one camp to another. "For instance,
photographs taken by children in urban camps, such
as Chatila or Ain el Helweh, differed to a great
extent from ones taken in Dbayeh or Rashidiyeh,
which are both rural camps," says Abou Chakra.
"While children in the Dbayeh camp portrayed scenes of nature, others from Ain El Helweh either
portrayed militia men in the street, or family
members, who were photographed indoors. The
simple explanation is that many Ain El Helweh
children are not allowed to roam freely around
the camp for fear of shootouts." Hiba, from
Chatila, focused on the grim aspect of life. "Most of
my work shows the mountains of garbage spread
around the camp. It is a very ugly sight that everyone should see," she says, her eyes void of any
expression.
On the other hand, her nine-year-old friend
Rowan enthuses: "I loved taking pictures of my
family, especially my grandfather who is my favourite person!" The young girl also took pictures of a
carpenter at work. "I wanted to show how hard he
works at carving the wood." The NGO will hold
exhibitions of the children's work around Lebanon
and the Arab world, and in Europe and North
America. It also plans to publish a book featuring
120 of the best photographs. "Our long-term goals
include strengthening photography skills of the
most talented children through extensive training,
and proceeds from the book will hopefully be used
to fund a children's photography school," says Abou
Chakra. Despite the differences between the children in the different camps, they all share an affinity for their homeland. "All the kids showed great
attachment to their origin and history," says Abou
Chakra. "We asked them how they would portray
Palestine, a country they had never known. One
simply answered: 'from pictures, naturally'."
GLOBAL COOPERATION COUNCIL (Nord-Süd-Forum) e.V. - GCC Forum - advocates dialogue for international understanding and interaction for change in the interest of a genuine worldwide cooperation. It was founded
under the name "Nord-Süd-Forum" on February 25, 1983.The newly emerging world calls for a departure from
the entrenched patterns of thinking. Instead of clinging on to enforcing military security, for example, there is
need to help usher in global human security.
Precisely this is what GCC Forum endeavours. While serving as a platform for dialogue, it facilitates - within
the framework of HumAN Development Services - HANDS - an exchange of practical experiences. Thereby we
are supported by several institutions and organisations as well as committed individuals, on whom we could
always rely since the inception of the North-South-Forum, the precursor of the GCC Forum.
Contact: 0700 - 47738767 | E-Mail: contact@gccforum.org
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