GSO News Volume 2 Number 4

GSO News Volume 2 Number 4, May 2006
Katherine A. Hagen - Managing Director

GSO News is a subscription service provided by the Geneva Social Observatory. We report on developments at WHO, WTO, ILO and many other Geneva-based organizations, as well as other selected developments on global social issues. We hope you enjoy our news service, and we invite your comments and suggestions (please send them to gsonews@gsogeneva.ch). We welcome subscriptions and are now offering a wider choice of subscription payment options. Connect to our subscription page at http://www.gsogeneva.ch/subscribe.asp. We encourage you to share the information on how to subscribe with others. Thank you for your support. The detailed news follows the table of contents below.

GSO News Digest May 2006

2. Accelerating the Election of a New Director-General at the WHO
A new timetable has been approved by the WHO Executive Board to elect a new Director-General for the WHO.

3. Human Rights Council Elections
The first elections to the 47 seats of the new Human Rights Council were held by the UN General Assembly on 9 May. GSO News reports on the winning candidates.

5. UNAIDS Report and UN General Assembly Special Session
The UNAIDS 2006 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic was issued just prior to the Special Session of the UN General Assembly to review progress on the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS made at the High-Level Session of 2001.

6. WTO negotiations update
The refocus of deadlines for WTO negotiations is now on end of June for “modalities” in agriculture and NAMA spurs. GSO News comments on some of the political dynamics of this next phase in deadline-setting as we see it from our multistakeholder GSO perspective.

7. WHA Actions of Note
The World Health Assembly, starting slowly as a result of the tragic loss of Director-General Lee Jong-Wook, moves ahead on IP, avian influenza, HIV/AIDS, infant and child nutrition and other issues.

8. Internet Governance Forum consultations
The second round of multistakeholder consultations in preparation for the forthcoming Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Athens from 30 October to 2 November 2006 were held in Geneva on 19 May.

9. Proposal for Negotiating a new Broadcast Treaty at WIPO
Technological changes involving the Internet and ICT are also embroiling the discussions at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

10. Looking ahead to the ILO Conference
The International Labour Conference starts on 31 May and continues through 15 June in Geneva.

11. Personnel Changes
GSO News reports on recent changes in Geneva-based international organizations.

12. Forthcoming Events
A listing of events in June and July 2006 taking place in Geneva unless otherwise indicated.

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GSO News May 2006

1. The Loss of Dr. Lee Jong-Wook

The sudden loss of Dr. Lee Jong-Wook, the Director-General of the World Health Organization on 22 May 2006 was a sad and traumatic shock for Geneva and the world community. He passed away following emergency surgery for a blood clot to the brain. Above and beyond the suddenness of the loss, the 61-year-old Dr. Lee was active in many sports and appeared to illustrate the kind of attention to fitness and good health that one would expect from the head of this global health organization. Dr. Lee served as Director-General from 2003 to 2006 and introduced such innovative and ambitious programmes as the 3 by 5 initiative to get 3 million people onto anti-retroviral therapy for AIDS by 2005. Although skeptics argued that this was too ambitious a target, he is credited with stimulating the kind of action that was urgently needed to make significant improvements in the upscaling of treatment programmes for HIV and AIDS. As the WHO joins in a revised target of universal access to treatment by 2010, his legacy will include the recognition that he pushed the treatment issue to be a top global priority.

Similarly, his tenure at the WHO saw his leading the charge for heightened attention to tuberculosis and malaria, to polio eradication, to the reduction of deaths and disabilities attributable to chronic diseases, and to tobacco control. Dr. Lee also sought to increase awareness of the linkages between poverty and ill health and to manage a process of dialogue on how to stimulate more research and development on the diseases that disproportionately affect developing countries. Dr. Lee’s funeral at the Basilique Notre Dame of Geneva was a moving experience including soothing songs of parting from the Book of Psalms and three eulogies by his son on behalf of his family, by his chief of staff on behalf of his friends and colleagues and by the Minister of Health from Korea, Dr. Lee’s home country, on behalf of the global health community. It was a modest, sincere and eloquent ceremony, much as the man himself was in life. See www.who.int for the eulogies and report. The GSO joins in expressing our condolences to Dr. Lee’s family, friends and colleagues.

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2. Accelerating the Election of a New Director-General at the WHO

A new timetable has been approved by the WHO Executive Board to elect a new Director-General for the WHO. The Board met in emergency session on 23 May 2006 to approve the designation of Dr. Anders Nordström (Sweden) as Acting Director-General of the WHO. Some concerns were raised about a surprise letter from November 2003 in which Dr. Lee had authorized the promotion of Dr. Nordström from Assistant Director-General to Deputy Director-General on the occasion of Dr. Lee’s incapacitation and then to serve as Acting Director-General. This effectively raised Dr. Nordström to the most senior position in the WHO management, in lieu of any other means of calculating seniority among otherwise equal assistant directors-general, including the six regional directors. The Board, however, approved his appointment, with further agreement that an accelerated timetable would be considered for the formal election process for a new Director-General. Dr. Nordström made it clear that he would not be a candidate.

When the Board then met in its regular 118^th session immediately after the World Health Assembly on Monday, 29 May, the newly expanded Board of 34 members reviewed various options for waiving the rules to act quickly. The following day, the Board approved a timetable for receiving proposals for nomination from Member States by 5 September 2006, sending out the names to Member States by 5 October, convening the Executive Board in special session on 6 to 8 November to nominate a new Director-General, and convening a special session of the Health Assembly on 9 November 2006 to appoint a new Director-General. Both the Member States of the EU and of the African region expressed concern about an earlier closing date for proposals, given the August holiday cycle in some parts of the world and the desire to have some input from the WHO regional meetings, which are normally held in September. Regional “sponsorship” of candidates is not part of the formal process, but one can expect quite a bit of regional clustering at this stage.

No candidates have yet been identified, but speculation circles around previous candidates like Peter Piot of Belgium (the Executive Director of UNAIDS), or Julio Frenk of Mexico (the Mexican Health Minister), David Nabarro of the UK (a former Assistant Director-General), but new candidates are also likely to be presented for nomination. Speculation on new candidates includes Ruth Dreifuss of Switzerland (former President of Switzerland and Chair of the WHO Commission on Intellectual Property, Innovation and Public Health) and Christopher Murray of the US (head of the Harvard Initiative for Global Health). At the request of the US, an amendment was approved to request the Acting Director-General to “consider placing officers and staff members who are candidates on temporary leave” during the period of their candidacy. One can expect a number of candidates from within the WHO or its six regions.

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3. Human Rights Council Elections

The first elections to the 47 seats of the new Human Rights Council were held by the UN General Assembly on 9 May. GSO News reports on the winning candidates.

As reported in our April 2006 newsletter, the UN General Assembly was scheduled to elect the first members of the new UN Human Rights Council on 9 May in New York. Although the new Council is only slightly smaller than the widely criticized Human Rights Commission it will replace (from 53 to 47 members) and although regional quotas were retained, all candidate countries had to be elected on their individual merits by a majority of the General Assembly. Each region did have more than their allocated quota of candidates, and all successful candidates did attain their respective majorities. Nonetheless, many human rights organizations expressed concern about the election of such countries as Cuba, Russia and Saudi Arabia. In any case, the new format calls for a review by the Council of the human rights performance of each of its members, a new practice that allows for global scrutiny without having to be triggered by a specific complaint. The new Council has its opening session in Geneva on 19 June. Herewith are the winning candidates, along with their term lengths as determined by lottery after the election to ensure a rotation of one-third each year:

2007:

Africa: Algeria, Morocco, South Africa, Tunisia

Asia: Bahrain, India, Indonesia, Philippines

E. Europe: Czech Republic, Poland

Latin America & Caribbean: Argentina, Ecuador

Western Europe & Other: Finland, Netherlands

2008:

Africa: Gabon, Ghana, Mali, Zambia

Asia: Japan, Pakistan, Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka

E. Europe: Romania, Ukraine

Latin America & Caribbean: Brazil, Guatemala, Peru

Western Europe and Other: France, United Kingdom

2009:

Africa: Cameroon, Djibouti, Mauritius, Nigeria, Senegal

Asia: Bangladesh, China, Jordan, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia

Eastern Europe: Azerbaijan, Russian Federation

Latin America & Caribbean: Cuba, Mexico, Uruguay

Western Europe & Other: Canada, Germany, Switzerland

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4. Policy Space at UNCTAD

The UN Conference on Trade and Development was recently embroiled in a heated debate about the importance of “policy space” for developing countries during the first session for its “Mid-Term Review” of the Sao Paulo Consensus. Sao Paulo is where, in 2004, UNCTAD had its latest Quadrennial Conference, slated to occur every four years as UNCTAD’s highest decision-making body. Interesting aspects of this latest conference were four sub-themes: development strategies in a globalizing world economy; building productive capacity and international competitiveness; assuring development gains from the international trading system and trade negotiations; and partnership for development. This last sub-theme has stimulated a significant outreach by UNCTAD to NGOs and the private sector. GSO has been following this outreach as an important avenue for public/private partnerships.

Meanwhile, the idea of “policy space” had been included in the carefully negotiated text of the Sao Paulo Consensus as a factor for developing countries to integrate into their development strategies. At the Mid-Term Review, the G77 plus China proposed the incorporation of “policy space” throughout the UNCTAD work programme, whereas the United States argued that this concept was not accepted policy for UNCTAD. Both sides were reportedly quite determined, but it is reported by some that the G77 group offered to negotiate, while the US took the position that the issue was non-negotiable. The session ended without agreement, even as efforts were made by others late into the last night of the session to hammer out a compromise. This friction remains an issue at UNCTAD and can be expected to permeate other deliberations as well. However, there is a second round for the Mid-Term Review on 12 to 16 June. The G77 Group is working on a strategy for compromise but continues to be smarting over the US refusal to negotiate. Efforts are underway to hammer out an agreement with the “B Countries”, as the industrialized countries are called, if not directly with the US itself. The G77 has been an active channel for developing country concerns in New York, but it is a relatively new feature of the Geneva scene.

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5. UNAIDS and the Special Session of the UN General Assembly

The UNAIDS 2006 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic was issued just prior to the Special Session of the UN General Assembly to review progress on the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS made at the High-Level Session of 2001. See: http://www.unaids.org/en/HIV_data/2006GlobalReport/default.asp. The Special Session meets in New York from 31 May to 2 June. While the report notes that there is at last a leveling off in the global rate of HIV and AIDS, certain disturbing trends continue to be part of the picture – the continuing high rates of infections in Southern Africa and the increasingly female demographic of the disease. Over $8 billion was mobilized for the campaign to fight the pandemic in 2005, which is within the targeted goal for resource mobilization, but future requirements remain daunting if one is to achieve a genuine pulling back and ultimate stamping out of the pandemic. For information on the 2006 Special Session, see http://www.un.org/ga/aidsmeeting2006/.

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6. WTO Negotiations Update

The refocus of deadlines for WTO negotiations is now directed to the end of June for agreement on “modalities” or the formulas to be applied to reduce barriers to trade in agriculture and industrial goods. GSO News comments on some of the political dynamics of this next phase in deadline-setting as we see it from our multistakeholder GSO perspective. Negotiating deadlines are frequently not met in the trade world and seem to operate as artificial targets to facilitate the kind of multiple, last-minute trade-offs that are a central feature of trade negotiations. The various deadlines that have come and gone in the Doha Round, launched in 2002, have not yet been met, nor have they yet had the effect of declaring the end of the Round. The focus now is on a new deadline – end of June if one believes WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy, or end of July if one listens to others. The REAL deadline seems to be early 2007, since the only definitive cut-off point for rescheduling deadlines seems to be the end of the US congressional deferral to the executive branch of its Trade Promotion Authority. The TPA expires on 1 July 2007 but requires a three-month notice of any negotiated agreement for Congress to review prior to 1 July 2007, or 1 April 2007. Nonetheless, Director-General Lamy has received the support of key negotiators for a ministerial meeting starting on 26 June in Geneva.

The three main negotiating groups – the EU, the US and the G-20 large developing countries –have traded their latest signals. EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson has suggested that more concessions might be possible on cutting EU farm import tariffs, while the US has countered by saying these appear to be inadequate “sweeteners” and that the EU needs to come up with a more substantial offer. Meanwhile, the French Agriculture Minister Dominique Bussereau asserts that no further concessions whatsoever are possible. But there seems to be a lot of posturing that the EU could persuade its member states of a Doha deal if the G-20 comes through on a decent offer on industrial goods but, more importantly, if the US takes further steps to “reverse” a 2002 farm bill that had significantly increased US farm subsidies. Although these three parties, the EU, the US and the G-20, are currently the central players, there are a further number of “numbered” groupings (G-10, G-33, G-90, etc.), as well as individual country interests, that will need to have their concerns addressed by the end of the process. So it is a very multi-dimensional juggling act.

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7. WHA Actions of Note

The World Health Assembly, starting slowly as a result of the tragic loss of Director-General Lee Jong-Wook, moves ahead on IP, avian influenza, HIV/AIDS and nutrition, assessments of the state of infant and child nutrition and the launching of a new Global Task Force for Human Resources. What was expected to be the most contentious issue this year, pertaining to the role of intellectual property rights in promoting innovation for public health, was side-stepped by consensus on the formation of an inter-governmental working group to develop a strategy and action plan for promoting research and development of products for treating “neglected diseases” in developing countries. In fact, the very term “neglected diseases” was avoided in the final resolution, by referring instead to the need for treatments pertaining to diseases that predominantly affect people in developing countries. The Dreifuss Report from the WHO Commission on Intellectual Property, Innovation and Public Health (covered in the April 2006 issue of GSO News) makes some fifty recommendations on how to improve the situation. The new working group will take these recommendations into consideration as it develops an action plan over the next two years. The pharmaceutical industry was out in force, working mostly with their allies in government delegations of the US, the EU and Japan, while the NGOs seeking a change in the intellectual property regime, mostly in the form of a new treaty on research and development for health or a new “global framework” for R&D were led by three visible groups, Consumers International, Medecins sans Frontieres and Third World Network.

Elsewhere, the World Health Assembly addressed a range of inter-related issues pertaining to nutrition and the heightened campaign against chronic diseases – nutrition and HIV and AIDS, nutrition and infant formula, child and adolescent nutrition, and the Global Strategy on Nutrition, Physical Fitness and Health. Another important new initiative came out of the 2006 World Health Report describing the serious shortages in human resources for health, leading to the launching of a new Global Task Force on Human Resources and a resolution to stimulate more training of health professionals. The avian flu epidemic and accelerated compliance with revised international health regulations also were featured, but the level of anxiety appeared less than the previous Assembly or Executive Board deliberations of pandemic preparedness. Documents and press releases from the WHO on resolutions adopted by the WHA are at www.who.int.

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8. Internet Governance Forum Consultations

The second round of multistakeholder consultations in preparation for the forthcoming Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Athens from 30 October to 2 November 2006 were held in Geneva on 19 May. The consultations were followed by the first meeting of the IGF Multistakeholder Advisory Group on 22 and 23 May to set the agenda for the Forum. Appointed by Secretary-General Kofi Annan and chaired by his Special Advisor for the World Summit for the Information Society Nitin Desai, the Multistakeholder Advisory Group has 47 members from governments, business, civil society, academic and technical communities. The Group agreed on an over-riding theme of “Internet Governance for Development” for the forthcoming Forum, with four sub-themes of openness, security, diversity and access. A cross-cutting priority will address capacity-building. The Secretariat for this Forum is headquartered in Geneva. See: http://www.intgovforum.org/. The Forum is the outcome of negotiations at the World Summit for the Information Society in Tunis last November, as reported in previous issues of GSO News.

Meanwhile, the Secretary General has announced a separate but apparently complementary initiative called the Global Alliance for ICT and Development, which is intended to address a “broader array of issues relevant to the use of ICT for advancing development”. This, too, will have multistakeholder oversight in the form of a “Strategy Council” open to all, including governments, business, civil society, media, academia and the broad ICT and development communities. Its inaugural meeting will be in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia starting on 19 June. It will be a “multi-stakeholder, cross-sector platform and forum that will bring together all stakeholders representing relevant constituents.” See: http://www.unicttaskforce.org/. There reportedly are also discussions within the UN about convening an inter-governmental group on “enhanced cooperation on core Internet resources”.

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9. Proposal for Negotiating a New Broadcasting Treaty at WIPO

Technological changes involving the Internet and ICT are also embroiling the discussions at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). From 1 to 5 May, the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights discussed how to proceed with a draft treaty on broadcasting to fight signal piracy. The intent of the draft treaty is to control retransmission of broadcasts, but opposition has emerged from civil society groups as well as the telecommunications industry with regard to the potential of such a treaty to restrict retransmission of content as well as broadband and Internet access. The US and EU both expressed interest in including webcasting or simulcasting in the proposal for a diplomatic conference on the matter. No decision was reached by the end of the week’s deliberations, but the Committee is scheduled to meet again in early September prior to the annual WIPO assemblies at the end of September to prepare a proposal focused exclusively on traditional broadcasting and cablecasting. Good summaries of these deliberations can be found at the IP-Watch Website (www.ip-watch.org), and reports of the meetings can, of course, be found at www.wipo.org. Although the WIPO deliberations tend to be very technical, the policy ramifications of these deliberations would suggest that linkages will emerge with the policy dialogues underway at the Internet Governance Forum and the Global Alliance for ICT and Development (see previous story).

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10. Looking Ahead to the International Labour Conference

The International Labour Conference starts on 31 May and continues through 15 June in Geneva. Typically attracting over 3,000 delegates, the ILC is considerably larger than the World Health Assembly or any other UN conference in Geneva. This year, the Conference will feature a concluding round of negotiations on a new approach to standard-setting in the area of occupational safety and health and a cautious approach to revisions of policy on the “employment relationship.” The eradication of child labour will be addressed in a special global report to the Conference, “The End of Child Labour: Within Reach” and in a special event on 12 June (see forthcoming events below). GSO News will report on the outcome of the Conference in our next issue. Meanwhile, daily calendars are available on the ILO website at www.ilo.org.

11. Personnel Changes

GSO News reports on recent changes at various Geneva-based international organizations. The tragic loss at WHO and adaptations to selecting a new Director-General have been reported separately this time. We have also noted changes that are forthcoming at the ILO and Global Fund in previous issues. Top personnel remain relatively unchanged elsewhere, with the exception of some jockeying underway at WIPO. Four Deputy Directors-General and one Assistant Director-General have contracts that are due to expire on 1 December. We already reported on the US Government’s announcement nominating Michael S. Keplinger from the US Patent and Trademark Office to take the place of Deputy Director-General Rita Hayes as the top-ranking American at WIPO. However, the process of reappointing or replacing all of the senior management is in the hands of Director-General Kamil Idris, to be presented for formal approval to the WIPO Coordination Committee on 19 to 20 June. It is expected that Deputy Directors-General Francis Curry from Australia and Philippe Petit from France will be reappointed, while there is a prior agreement to replace Deputy-Director-General Geoffrey Yu from Singapore with Narendra Kumar Sabharwal from India. The current Assistant Director-General Ernesto Rubio from Uruguay is expected to leave this post, which will then be filled with someone from the African Region. Meanwhile, both China and Japan have proposed candidates. It is possible that an additional Assistant Director-General position will be created for the Chinese candidate, Wang Binying. GSO News appreciates the in-depth reporting from IP-Watch on these candidacies. See http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/index.php?p=287&res=1024&print=0

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12. Forthcoming Events

A listing of events in June and July 2006 taking place in Geneva unless otherwise indicated.

31 May World No-Tobacco Day, theme ‘Tobacco: Deadly in Any Form or Disguise’

31 May-2 June High-Level Meeting on AIDS, UN General Assembly (New York)

31 May – 16 June ILO 95^th Session of the International Labor Conference

5 June World Environment Day, theme ‘Deserts and Desertification: Don’t Desert the Drylands!

12 June World Day against Child Labour

12-13 June WTO TRIPS Council (Special Session)

14-15 June WTO TRIPS Council (Regular Session)

12 and 16 June ILO 296^th Session of the Governing Body

12-16 June UNCTAD Trade and Development Board (Mid-Term Review, Second Session)

12-23 June UNDP and UNFPA Executive Board Meeting

12-23 June WTO Rules Weeks

19-30 June First session of the Human Rights Council

19-30 June WTO Services Weeks

19-20 June WIPO Coordination Committee

19-20 June Global Alliance on ICT and Development (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)

20 June World Refugee Day

26 June WTO High-Level Ministerial Meeting (tentative)

3-28 July Economic and Social Council

11 July World Population Day

17-21 July WTO NAMA Week (Industrial Goods negotiations)

27-28 July WTO General Council

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