“Wake Up to Poverty”

September 10, 2005

This time, the GCAP theme was “wake up to poverty,” reminding leaders not to ignore the abject poverty that plagues most of the world’s population. The reason the World Assembly was chosen as an optimum campaign point was because the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were about to be reviewed. This was when the Committee would grade its own progress – to see how well UN member states were doing in achieving the MDGs five years after the Millennium Declaration. Main GCAP demands here were debt cancellation and more and better aid.

WHITE BAND DAY II occurred on September 10, 2005. The GCAP theme was “wake up to poverty” reminding leaders not to ignore the abject poverty that plagues most of the world’s population. The reason the World Assembly was chosen as period for campaign is because the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were to be under review – how well are UN member states doing in achieving them five years after the Millennium Declaration. Main GCAP demands here were debt cancellation and more and better aid.

Results:

There was little or no review of the MDGs because new US Ambassador to the UN Bolton spent much time prior to the Summit, disagreeing with the text and therefore the only achievement that was made was that he finally agreed to the MDGs. [as a sidebar, Kofi Annan’s ambitious draft outcome document had made the demands of Freedom from Want; Freedom to live in Dignity; Freedom from Fear (terrorism); and Reform of the UN. The US wanted to discuss only Freedom from Fear and members of the Security Council did not want to discuss Reform of the UN as one of the request put through was to have the Security Council being representative of Member nations.

The World Trade Organization

(WTO) came into being in 1995 and has 149 member states. One of the newest of the international organizations, the WTO is the successor to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) established in the wake of the Second World War. The system was developed through a series of trade negotiations, held under GATT. The first rounds dealt mainly with tariff reductions but later negotiations included other areas such as anti-dumping and non-tariff measures. The last round – the 1986-94 Uruguay Round – led to the WTO’s creation.

White Band Day II was said, by all respondents, to have far less success than the first. Results of the assessment were minimal – little or no review of the MDGs occurred because the new American Ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, spent much time prior to the Summit, disagreeing with the text and therefore the only achievement that was made was that he finally agreed to the MDGs.

On December 6th, 2005, in Germany, Santa Claus and one of his reindeer handed over the German Campaign's demands for fair trade to Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul. Campaign demands, ahead of the WTO meet in Hong Kong included better access to markets for developing countries and the reduction of export subsidies.