Table ronde

XII AG MIAMSI

Malte 2008

Our Mission at the UN

Good afternoon,

I am very pleased to be here for this round table session during the 12th General assembly of the MIAMSI. It is a good opportunity to inform the participants on the advocacy work the small team at Geneva perform. In fact, our team follows the work done at various entities in the UN at Geneva.

The nest picture has been taken from a presentation made by our friends from SAL i.e. the South America Movement of the MIAMSI. The questions raised at the last general assembly in Madagascar by our friends are still valid:

- What are we doing as an international movement?

- What are the link between our movement and the others organisations?

I will answer theses questions during the course of this presentation and also explain the major change made at the UN during the last past years. To start, I want to call back the decision taken at the end of the General Assembly at Fiuggi late 2000:

The final message from the MIAMSI adopted by all the participants called for:

- Advocacy for the Human rights

- Advocacy for the fight against the poverty

- The option for the poor's.

- Advocacy for the right to good governance.

This decision was adopted because poverty is a scandal: A violation of the Human Rights, a contradiction with both the united Nation Chart and the Universal Declaration of the Human Rights.

I want to express my appreciation for the commitment of the participants at the general assembly in Fiuggi for having adopted this vision and take this decision.

A Special thanks to Gilbert Rossary who should be here at Malta, for having taken the risk to start this beautiful but somewhat risky task of beginning the advocacy work at the UN.

During the past 14 years, the MIAMSI, trough the team in Geneva, did follow the work of the following UN entities:

- Human Rights Commission and sub-Commission

- Human Rights Council (begin its work in 2007)

- Economic, social and cultural Rights committee

- Working group in charge of the Universal periodic Review (UPR)

I am very proud to show you today some details of the work done during the last period in addition to the work done since the MIAMSI has got its accreditation at the UN. I want just to mention some of the intervention made so far:

Concerning the Human Right Commission we have send both written and oral statements, starting with:

- Claim for a really good governance from the all the nations,

- Ask for more progress to achieve the Objectives of the Millennium development Goals (MDG). Theses 18 Goals should be reached until 2015. There is no more time to move on. Let's do the job!

- Thanks the contribution of young people from the France movement, we did send a contribution to ask the States parties on the Commission of Human Rights to do their best to keep the planet as clean as possible.

- We did co-sign a written contribution to request the members of the Commission to ask the multinational company to respect the law not only in the country of their headquarter, but also respect the local law where their plants are installed. Since this intervention the multinational companies build an ONG to follow the debate. Yours may see this as a positive result of our advocacy work!

- Following the Tsunami event, we have send a written contribution to support the proposal of the former General Secretary of the UN asking for building a emergency humanitarian force in such case. We did develop this idea and ask for a worldwide humanitarian Tax to support the cost of such emergency corp.

Both the Commission and the sub-Commission has stop their work at the end of 2006 after the decision from the UN General Assembly to build a better entity to protect the Human rights : the Human Rights Council is now the place where we should make both oral or written contribution to the UN.

We take the opportunity during the build-up process of the Council to participate at various sessions in order to influence the Human Rights council Working Group on the organisation of this new entity. The rules concerning the NGOs have been adopted under pressure of many NGOs! The main result is the fact that NGOs still may intervene during the Human Rights session:

At least we did follow the building mechanism for the first series of Universal Periodic Report (UPR) foreseen at the beginning of 2008.

The Universal Periodic Report requests every country to pass an examination on the subject of Human Rights on its own country. This new mechanism open a new way for our movement to send written contribution to the expert of the UPR: as we known the date each country will go under the scrutiny of its record, we may call the Miamsi movement involved to react.

The final report at the end of the process will contain all the comments of all third party States but also the submitted statements of the No's. We think that our movement will have with this enough information's to ask afterwards their government in their country. Our team in Geneva will also transmit to the movement the results of the examination after the end of the process.

As a example, we did submit in February 2008, based on a proposal from the French Movement, a written statement concerning the issue of detention in France and especially on the subject of a new proposed law concerning the detention of old offender in France.

After the first session at the beginning of 2008, we did provide the final report of UPR for France, Marco, Argentine and India to the concerned movement of the MIAMSI to inform them.

As the UPR look to the human rights situation in the country under review, the committee on economic, social and cultural rights look ask for all States under review to inform on the state of progress made on all those rights during the last past 5 years. During the past 3 years we have send the questions and answers send to the committee by many countries, i.e. Italia, India, Benin, Portugal, France, Mexico, Costa Rica and Belgium.

Each movement of the MIAMSI as yet the possibility to know the exprimed view of its country on this subject. This offer an excellent opportunity to ask the representatives of the country if any discrepancy is found between the official view and the information available inside the country!

The Work performed at Geneva may have not been done only with our own forces. To ensure adequate weight of our written or oral statements, we did work with some others NGOs especially the international catholic organisations (ICOs): Good cooperation have been established with the FIMARC, Pax Romana, Caritas International, MCII, and Franciscans International, organisations who made their Advocacy work at the UN and at the international organisations in Geneva to influence the decision makers.

Our team in Geneva did also participate in various training or information sessions organised, since 2006 under the leadership of the representative of the Holy See at the UN in GENEVA. This give us the opportunity to share experience with many others representatives of many ICOs and also to share view with the Holy See representatives at the Human Rights Council.

Links and contacts have been established with others NGOs who work in Geneva to defend the Human Rights in Geneva (Amnesty International for example).

This activity give us the necessary links to permit our team to be invited at many sessions organised by big NGOs, with presence of representatives from some of the States accredited at the Human Rights Council. Theses meetings have been very helpful to discuss various topics like the status of NGOs at the Human Rights Council or to find a solution to avoid problems that rose during the first sessions of the Human Rights Council.

But it is important to note that the activity of our team in Geneva is only possible if very close relationship exist with both the international Buro of the MIAMSi and the movements of the MIAMSI all over the world. The network created with all movements thanks the representatives of each region of the world is of tremendous importance! Thank you for the help theses correspondents did give to me.

A special Thanks to the movements who did send us comments, and answer to our request in the past years! The Geneva team only activity is to transmit your voice but cannot do anything if you, the movements are not active.

After 8 years, I am still asking me this question:

Has the advocacy work at the international organisations at Geneva the necessary priority in the work program of the movements of the MIAMSI?

Remember what one of the panellists say at Madagascar: you are just like a farmer, you put a seed into the ground and you will have to wait may be long… but sometime the seed will be a beautiful and magnificent tree…

In the advocacy work, there is no place for questions on efficiency or results… but we should speak about testimony and statements made on behalf of the poor's and most vulnerable. Yes, we can do a better work … I am calling you to do more!

All the MIAMSI movements should work with the International organisation and the UN to influence the decision taken in favour of the poor's ands the most vulnerable.

The MIAMSI is already engaged to appeal to the decisions makers and all the leaders' presents at the UN to work for justice, peace, care of the creation and the promotion of human rights. A new team is ready to develop the advocacy work of the MIAMSI at the UN!

I wish them a lot of success and to end this presentation, wish to thanks the International Buro, the MIAMSi secretary Ella for the help extended to me, especially for the Internet site updating, and last but not least, my colleagues working with me in GENEVA.

DD/ version 01/ anglais/ Août 2008