On
Post 2015 Text
Omitting SIDS,
Age &
Migrants
Rights, ICP
Asks
Facilitators
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 3 --
After multiple
postponements
and back-room
deals, the
Post-2015
development
agenda was
declared
"officially
adopted" or
agreed to at
6:25 pm on
Sunday by
Kenyan
Ambassador
Macharia
Kamau, with
the Group of
77 and China
asking for a
later
"technical
change" to
included Small
Island
Developing
States.
On
August 3,
Inner City
Press asked
Kamau about
G77's
statement on
the omission
of SIDS from
Goal 13.B, and
about
migration
status and age
being dropped
from human
rights
paragraph 19.
Video
here.
Kamau
ascribed the
SIDS issue to
the OWG, and
noted that
migrants are
mentioned
elsewhere in
the text, as
Irish
Ambassador
Donoghue said.
Kamau
specified: 14
times. But
what about
age?
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon came
to the press
conference and
read a speech,
then left
before taking
any questions.
Inner City
Press asked
his spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric why:
Inner City
Press: the
Secretary-General,
he’s going to
be here at
1. Why
can’t he stay
to take a few
questions?
Spokesman
Dujarric:
Well, he’s
here.
He’s going to
speak to… he’s
going to
speak,
obviously, to
the… to the
agreement that
was… that was
taken.
Ms. Mohammed,
USG Wu will be
here to answer
your
question.
This is
something
we’ve added on
and squeezed
into the SG’s
schedule at
the very last
minute.
And that’s the
way it’s
organized.
But watch Ban
Ki-moon brag
to US
President
Obama on
August 4.
On
August 2, the
US joined
consensus
while saying
it would later
raised issues
it left
unspecified.
Also on
August 2, the
Permanent
Representative
of Benin, who
early Saturday
morning lashed
out at the
document and
process for
selling out
the Least
Developed
Countries, now
said he liked
the document.
Sudan
for the Arab
Group joined
consensus; as
Inner City
Press reported
on Saturday,
the main
Sudanese focus
was to ensure
that criticism
of unilateral
sanctions
remained in
the text (it
did).
Bangladesh's
Permanent
Representative
Monem, to his
credit,
questioned the
omission of
migrants from
Paragraph 19
(see below).
Mexico joined
in this
criticism. Who
speaks for
age? Why was
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon not
present,
represented by
his chief of
staff?
Human rights
for migrants
and by age
were dropped
from the
"final, final"
draft
Post-2015
development
agenda text
released at 2
am on Sunday,
to be debated
or even
gaveled and
approved at 11
am Sunday.
Among
many most
involved in
the process
there was an
outcry, even
after the
bland logic
for the
omission
emerged: to
stick to
"previously
agreed
language." If
that's all
that's being
done, sticking
with the past,
why do it?
Some
asked, Where
is Ban Ki-moon,
the UN
Secretary
General whom
one can
imagine
bragging about
the text when
he holds a
photo op with
US President
Barack Obama
on August 4?
He or his
spokesman invited
only friendly
correspondents
to cover that
"gaggle," at
which these
questions will
almost
certainly not
be asked.
Back on
July 31 -
August 1,
already past
the deadline
for the
Post-2015
development
agenda text,
Kenyan
Ambassador to
the UN
Macharia Kamau
kicked off
what was
support to be
the past
session,
saying it
would take a
couple of
hours.
South Africa
for G77 began,
saying for
example that
debt
sustainability
should go back
in. The
Maldives for
AOSIS and
Belize for
CARICOM also
spoke for
re-inclusion.
The European
Union
followed,
calling for
the deletion
of Paragraph
44 saying the
International
Monetary Fund
should
“respect the
policy space
of each
country.”
Benin upset
the apple
cart, for the
Least
Developed
Countries,
saying that
the LDCs were
being sold
out,
through-out
the UN system.
Ambassador
Kamau stayed
cool, joking
“what would I
do without
you?” There is
not enough
laughter at
the UN.
Before
the session
started, Inner
City Press
spoke with
some who
stayed to
defend
Paragraph 29
against
unilateral
economic
measures --
sanctions --
and others
opposed (and
others for)
Paragraph 33
on foreign
occupation.
Could this
deal be
reached? Watch
this site. Follow @innercitypressFollow @FUNCA_info
, 
