Today I represented the Council of Canadians in a press conference with Oxfam, The International Trade Union Confederation and Green Peace in demanding respect for human right in the Rio+20 negotiations.
My message was direct and aimed at those governments which have been systematically deleting rights and safeguards from the Rio+20 negotiating text, leaving people vulnerable to an ill-defined corporate ‘Green Economy’.
Below is the announcement of the press conference and here is the link if you would like to watch it –
http://www.unmultimedia.org/tv/webcast/2012/03/press-conference-civil-society-organizations-on-negotiations-for-rio20.html
UNITED NATIONS PRESS CONFERENCE
Tuesday, 27 March 2012
11.00 A.M.
Dag Hammarskjold Library Auditorium
Civil Society Organizations Warn of Serious Reversals on Agreed Rights to Water, Energy, Food and Development
Coalitions React to Governments’ Positions at Rio+20 Negotiations
A coalition of leading international environmental NGOs, Trade Unions, Women’s groups and development organizations will review the critical issues emerging in the ‘Rio+20’ negotiations on a draft declaration for the UN Conference on Sustainable Development [UNCSD], in June 2012.
They will challenge an apparently systematic effort by particular governments to delete virtually all references to well-established rights to water, energy, food and development – and to basic principles agreed at the original “Earth Summit” in 1992.
The speakers will announce a letter to the Conference Secretary-General and to member States decrying the potential abandonment of not only the tenets of sustainable development, but of core values embedded in the UN charter.
With 110 governments having announced attendance by their heads-of-government or -state, and ministries, the Conference has in effect achieved status as a global Summit.
Speakers
Mr. Tim Gore, Oxfam International
Ms. Nathalie Rey, Greenpeace International
Ms. Anabella Rosemberg, ITUC (International Trade Union Confederation)
Mr. Anil Naidoo, The Council of Canadians
Ms. Sascha Gabizon, Women in Europe for a Common Future
