World Leaders and Civil Society Groups Meet on Global Financial Crisis
Readers:This week fourteen heads of state and a host of other national leaders will join together at the United Nations in New York for a summit meeting on the global financial crisis. In association with those meetings a series of 'side meetings' and public forums will be taking place, in which citizens and civil society organizations from around the world will also be talking about the financial crisis and what needs to be done to defend the interests and well-being of average people.
Below is a Blog by Kris Hannigan-Luther of the Democracy Center about those events, including one that the Democracy Center is co-hosting this evening.
Jim Shultz
World Leaders and Civil Society Groups Meet on Global Financial Crisis
Written by Kris Hannigan-Luther
Watch for news coming out of New York this week on the United Nations Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis and its Impacts on Development. During this three-day summit of world leaders the aim is “ to identify emergency and long-term responses to mitigate the impact of the crisis, especially on vulnerable populations, and initiate a needed dialogue on the transformation of the international financial architecture, taking into account the needs and concerns of all Member States, “ according to the U.N. website.
In and around the New York headquarters of the U.N., a broad-based coalition of international, national, and local civil society organizations and networks, is organizing the “Peoples´ Voices on the Crisis” side events in order to showcase the real human and environmental impacts of the crisis, as well as to provide a space for civil society activists to discuss how to build a global movement to ensure that these potential solutions to the crisis are built upon the principles of respect for human rights and the promotion of environmental sustainability.
The Democracy Center will be participating with our U.S. partner, Institute for Policy Studies, to bring attention to the related issue of trade agreements' foreign investor rights. Our team here at the Center has invested many hours over the past several months on this issue of excessive “investor protections” in bilateral trade agreements and investment treaties.
If you live in the New York area, join us for a panel discussion at 7:30 at the Brecht Forum. The title of the panel discussion is “Towards a People-Centered Economy: Alternative responses to the Crisis.“ The panelists include: Sarah Anderson from Institute for Policy Studies and Pedro Paez, Ex-Minister of Economic Coordination, Ecuador and member of Commission of Experts of the President of the UN General Assembly on Reforms of the International Monetary and Financial System.
During the summit, Fundación Solon, the Institute for Policy Studies(IPS) and the Democracy Center are hosting a strategy meeting to discuss how to advance the global campaign to close the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), and challenge unjust investment agreements.
We have recently learned that both President Correa (Ecuador) and President Morales (Bolivia) have confirmed their attendance and participation in a Thursday evening side event focusing on the secretive trade court tribunal, the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). With the participation of these Heads of State, we are confident that together we can challenge these unjust investor protections. Stay tuned for updates from this week’s summit and information on how you can get involved!
Watch for more information here on our upcoming launch of a new clearing house website to encourage participation and coordination between groups in the Global South and the Global North working to challenge the structure of excessive “investor protections.”
posted by The Democracy Center at 1:07 PM
The Democracy Center, based in Cochabamba Bolivia and San Francisco California, works globally to advance human rights through a combination of investigation and reporting, training citizens in the art of public advocacy, and organizing international citizen campaigns. If you like the Blog, consider becoming a subscriber to The Democracy Center's free e-newsletter by sending us an email at 
24 Comments:
If ICSID is such a secretive court, how come all of their documents are available online? ICSID also does not set laws nor does it force any countries into doing anything against their will, it simply rules on whether or not the parties in the conflict have abided by their contract or by the BIT that the contract seeks to be protected under. Other than that, the BITs have not been forced upon countries, but a agreements. Have you guys even read a single BIT? a single ICSID decision? So you favor sending troops to a country to enforce a contract?
Closing ICSID and rolling back BITs would only benefit develop countries since the costs for investment in 3rd world economies would only go up and the only safe place for capital would be in developed countries. Thus the goals you state above would only result in further poverty, fewer opportunities, and would not allow for insertion protections that are not allowed to citizens of a particular country via BITs. A better solution would be to submit BITs to voter revision and approval, however I doubt very much that you would be able to improve them much.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions, but the road to salvation is harsh and uneven.
The UN conference is going to be a Neo-Commie love fest led by the two stooges... Chavez and Morales. I don't consider Correa a moron like the other two just idiologically mistaken. NEO-Cons do suck but NEO-commies are worse.
They also need to invite Fidel Castro so they can kiss his rearend in public.... and rant on about how he has all the solutions to the world ills and ignore the abuse of freedom and human rights violations his totalitarian dictatorship has unleashed on the Cuban people.... Oh don't forget ignoring the current violatons going on in Iran.
As they should, they will blame Uber-Capitalism that has gotten out of control in the west.... But going full left-swing is not the answer either.... Just ask Eastern Europe that has suffered WAY more under the Iron Fist of the dictatorial Soviet Union than South America ever has under the shadow of Uncle Sam. Beside many of South America's 20th century ills were self-inflicted.... First corrupt societies (not just governments), Racism, Nepotism, Machismo, and plain Ignorance.
It is good to see ICSID staff joining this debate, per the first comment here. But you see, if a corporation had to make its claim against a country in civil court, the people expected to pay the bill would be able to attend, hear the testimony and offer amicus briefs if need be. Not in ICSID, that's all secret.
As for seeing the papers in public and the decisions. What a great gift, to be able to read things after the deed is done. It is like getting a report from a thief after he robs your house. Yeah, that's valuable.
Great work folks. This is a really important issue, as demonstrated by the sharply defensive reactions typically displayed by those associated with the arbitration industry. They have money and markets to lose when horrifying concepts like democracy and openness are reasserted. Support constitutional choice; say no to investment treaties.
p.s. ICSID keeps plenty of information secret that the courts would normally disclose, e.g. the text of many arbitration awards, but other arbitration centres are even worse in that they often hide even the existence of claims and identity of the arbitrators.
Chavez and Morales are nobodies stooges - unlike Mexico's Calderon, Peru's Garcia, Colombia's Uribe or my own prime minister Kevin Rudd. All of which will do the will of Washington whoever is President there. My Prime Minister who upon attaining the leadership of the so called Labor Party immediately caught a plane to see the US ( and once Aussie) magnate Rupert Murdoch, and his hero and world No. 1 terrorist Mr George Walker Bush.
Just ask Eastern Europe that has suffered WAY more under the Iron Fist of the dictatorial Soviet Union than South America ever has under the shadow of Uncle Sam.
Why way more? Operation Condor imposed dictators on countries all over Latin America. Hundred of thousands of people were "disappeared" or killed by regimes put in place by the United States during the Cold War period.
The early years of Pinochet's Chile were as bad as Czechoslovakia, for instance.
What you probably mean is that the Iron Curtain was a lot more obvious about their human rights abuses than the States, which preferred to use proxies and wash their hands of their murders - much like the US drone bombing of a Taliban funeral yesterday that killed only "militants".
I would certainly have preferred living in Iron Curtain Hungary, for instance, than Condor Argentina.
Bowsie
You're misinformed and/or lying. Hungary experienced one of the harshest dictatorships and foreign occupations in Europe since WWII.
In Chile... the Pinchet regime, however brutal, was still nothing compared to the Soviet crushing of the Hungarian rebelion in 1956 with over 150,000 troops and tanks. A quarter of a million people escaped in that year alone, including my wife's aunt (as child)... forced labor camps, read the history... ask any Hungarian that was able to escape, or Hungarians who lived under Soviet rule. I was a NATO advisor in Hungary and Bulgaria, lived in Bolvia, Chile, and Argentina.
Prior to the '56 revolt and after Axis alligned (fascist) Hungary was invaded by, and surrendered to the USSR in WWII, forced labor camps were established.
Obvious or not...Add up all the Condor dead/disapeared, imprisoned, and exiled... and compare to the Iron Curtain/Communist since WWII and it is not even close. Not to mention those that fled.
Don't forget there was a small thing called the Cold War being waged with the USSR and Cuba on the offensive in Latin America. Also in Chile and Argentina there had been a Soviet and Cuban led guerilla murder campaign/war before Pinochet or the Videla ever came to power in those counries. There is no proof that Plan Condor was a US led project, even though the US turned its head and had contact with intel from those countries.
Both sides committed human rights violations..... but similar to the NEO's comparision (commie and conserv.)... I stated before... the commies worldwide were and are FAR WORSE than the west/US. Still doe not make it right that the US has commited human rights violations.
Bowsie, you must be a masochist. I would have much rather lived in Condor Argentina or Chile than Iron Curtain Hungary, Chech rep, Bulgaria, Romania, Yugoslavia, Eastern Germany(German Democratic Republic GDR - what a lie!), North Korea, North Vietnam, Cuba, China, or even the USSR.
Compare how many of the 100s of thousands that escaped from behind the Iron Curtain to the WEST... to the numbers that escaped from the Condor Countries to the Iron Curtain countries.
Although after living on both continents... It is interesting from a historical sense that even though there is a lot (some deserved!) of Anti-Americanism/distrust througout Latin America... it is similar to... but a lot less intense than the fear and loathing in Eastern Europe of Russia and the USSR.
Both Chavez and Morales are Fidel Castro's stooges... and Chavez is an Moumoud fan: Let's respect Iran's "very big and important victory."
And Morales IS a stooge of Chavez, a shitty father, and pedophile.
T Puentes
TPuentes:
I have a bridge to sell. If you believe all that you may be a good customer to purchase any monument or bridge.
To T. Puentes:
I am sure that your analysis will be of great comfort to the women raped by German Sheapards, and of course those killed in the Santiago Stadium.
You are another example of how some people let their ideology get in the way of simple humanity.
Condor vs Iron Curtain Deaths... Not including Declared War (Guerilla deaths in Condor numbers and rebellion deaths in Iron Curtain)
Pick almost any european Iron Curtain country and it outnumbers all of Condor. Don't forget Cuba has significant numbers
ARGENTINA: Pinochet regime (1973-90)
Official documents in Argentia 9,000, Some estimates from HR orgs: 30K
Argentine Military investigations in 2002 estimate 22,000
Other reliable estimates Up to 30,000
Numbers include Extrajudicial executions and deaths under torture: 2,095 and disappearances: 1,102
Bolivia (1971-78)
Military Regime under Hugo Banzer 200 including disappearances and murders
1973-85: 200 political prisoners disappeared,
61 Tupamaro rebels KIA
50 soldiers/police KIA
BRAZIL:, Military Regime (1964-85) 1700
CHILE: Estimates vary largely but the average reported from 12 different sources below:
Median: 2,800-5,000
Mean: 12,500
Paraguay (1954-89) Alfredo Stroessner regime
200-400 estimates ranged
Uruguay, Military Regime (1973-85)
201 political prisoners / disappeared
61 Tupamaro rebels KIA
IRON CURTAIN:
USSR Alone:
50 million killed 1924-53, excluding WWII war losses. 33 Millon pre-war and 17 Million after 1939.
Another estimate:
1946-54: 15,613,000
TOTAL: 51,755,000 and 3,333,000 allowed famine deaths
Czechoslovakia (1948-89) Communist Regime (numbers very accurate)
Officially Executed: 260
Killed during arrests, in camps and prisons, etc.: 9,000-10,000
Disappeared: 1,800
Czech TOTAL: 11,560 ± 500
East Germany (1949-89): Communist Regime (numbers very accurate)
100,000 died in captivity or were executed for political offenses in E.G. (citing an official report by the unified German govt.)
Including 65,000 in or on way to post-war Soviet camps
1948-52: 6,162 political executions,
1,065 died fleeing E. Germany; 227 died in Berlin, 190 after the construction of the Wall.
East German TOTAL: 100 000
Hungary
1956 alone: 40,000 deaths
political executions, 1953-57: 2,587;
1948-87: 27,000 executions
Poland
1946-49 30,000 as Stalinists crushed opposition.
1956 Uprising: 31,082 political executions + 536 deaths by violence
Romania (1948-89): Communist Regime
1949-53: 100,000 peasants and prisoners perished in prison or building the canal.
75,000 executed during 1st 4 years of Communism.
Romanian court found Ceausescu guilty of genocide, with 60,000 victims.
Romanian TOTAL: 435,000
Yugoslavia: Tito's Regime (1944-80): estimates vary but medium is 100,000-250,000
One estimate claims 1,250,00 but that includes immediate aftermath of WWII (570,000 in that est after 1949)
Cuba: (1958- present)
2,113 political executions 1958-67, 7, 000 by 1970
From the Cuban Information Service, In 1963:
2875 executed after trial
4245 executed w/o trial
2962 led fighting Castro's regime.
Caldeville’s estimate in 1969: 22,000 killed or died in jail, 2,000 drowned fleeing or killed by Cuban Navy
Rummel’s estimates (1959-87):
Executions: 15,000
Boat people drowned or killed by Cuban Navy: 51,000
Died in prison: 7,000 His TOTAL: 73,000
Now look at Commie ASIA:
China: Mao's alone (1949 to 1975) 40 million
Tibet under Chinese oppression (1950 to date) 600,000
North Korea (1948 to 1987) 1,663,000 (not including Korean War deaths)
Mongolia 35,000 to 100,000 estimated
Another useless summit in which lazy bureaucrats enjoy themselves at the expense of the taxpayers money.
1159 Moron....
I never said the things that the right wing dictators did were justified. All human rights violations commited by left or righht are wrong.... But if i had to choose the lesser of two evils the West or the US wins out.
I consider myself a centrist social democratic loving individal.
You are an example of how your bias blinds your judgement
12:54 HIT IT ON THE NOSE. SPOT ON
1:16
Deep breaths, deep breaths...
...."During the summit, Fundación Solon, the Institute for Policy Studies(IPS) and the Democracy Center are hosting"....
My oh my ! Perhaps a more appropiate name for this summit should be The Soros Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis and its Impacts on Development and how to make billions along the way....
I follow this Blog regularly but have never posted a comment until now. As for my support of the Democracy Center, I consider it the best spent $10 million I have given to a group. Without the Center's support my plan for global domination would never have succeeded, as you know.
George Soros
"Beat it", "Billie Jean", and "Thriller" keeping playing over and over in my mind.
Rest in peace, Michael.
Michael Jackson: 1958-2009
T Puentes.
Sorry the Hungary comparison was a terrible comparison on my part. Thanks for correcting me.
When people talk of the Iron Curtain they are referring to Winston Churchill's phrase that refers to post-WWII Soviet Countries - so the Stalinist purges don't count. We are comparing Cold War proxy wars here.
But this is a silly argument, and I've myself to blame for making a very poor point. If I can offer any defence it's the silliness of the "their repressions and murder was so much worse than ours" argument.
T Puentes.
Don't forget there was a small thing called the Cold War being waged with the USSR and Cuba on the offensive in Latin America. Also in Chile and Argentina there had been a Soviet and Cuban led guerilla murder campaign/war before Pinochet or the Videla ever came to power in those counries. There is no proof that Plan Condor was a US led project, even though the US turned its head and had contact with intel from those countries.
I've agreed with most of your points. But the above paragraph is pure fantasy and silly justification.
No proof it was a leader in Plan Condor? Have you ever heard of Henry Kissenger? Turned it's head to Pinochet's coup? Don't be silly T Puentes.
It never ceases to amaze me how there surface falsehoods, lies and misinformation to cover up the CIA and US military-industrial complex's evil acts. For example consider how "TPuentes" wildly and FALSELY claimed WITHOUT factual support: "There is no proof that Plan Condor was a US led project, even though the US turned its head..."
Whereas the facts establish the following:
'Operation Condor, which took place in the context of the Cold War, had the tacit approval of the United States. In 1968, U.S. General Robert W. Porter stated that "In order to facilitate the coordinated employment of internal security forces within and among Latin American countries, we are...endeavoring to foster inter-service and regional cooperation by assisting in the organization of integrated command and control centers; the establishment of common operating procedures; and the conduct of joint and combined training exercises." Condor was one of the fruits of this effort.
The targets were officially armed groups (such as the MIR, the Montoneros or the ERP, the Tupamaros, etc.) but in fact included all kinds of political opponents, including their families and others, as reported by the Valech Commission... There were also many cases of child abduction.[c
On December 22, 1992 a significant amount of information about Operation Condor came to light when José Fernández, a Paraguayan judge, visited a police station in the Lambaré suburb of Asunción to look for files on a former political prisoner. Instead he found what became known as the "terror archives", detailing the fates of thousands of Latin Americans secretly kidnapped, tortured and killed by the security services of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay. Some of these countries have since used portions of this archive to prosecute former military officers. The archives counted 50,000 persons murdered, 30,000 "desaparecidos" and 400,000 incarcerated.'
from Wikipedia
This post has been removed by the author.
The '50,000 persons murdered, 30,000 "desaparecidos" and 400,000 incarcerated' just like the over 100,000 deaths directly or indirectly caused by Bush-Cheney in Iraq were for the sole purpose of increasing: 1) corporate profits and the wealth of the wealthiest. It was not for a more free world or for the benefit of democratic governments.
Recent data shows that during the short lived Bush-Cheney economic expansion, the US's middle class became poorer while the wealthiest became more rich as corporate profits boomed. What kind of democracy existed under Bush-Cheney? Was it not a government of the people for the benefit of the corporations and the wealthiest few instead of for the people?
The infamous summitt ended in a complete and embarrasing failure. Not even Chavez showed up and at the last minute he ordered Morales not to attend either (problems with the venezuelan plane my ass)
D' Escoto should resign inmediately. It is unfortunate that the UN has been turned into a completely useless organization that only serves the interests of human rights violators like Cuba and other cruel dictatorships.
I'm sure it would have helped, but we couldn't get there in time:
http://www.p-ced.com/about/background/
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