Bad
Omens
for Rio +20 as
Votes Called
on Israeli
NGOs, "All
States"
Foregone
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
May 21 -- The
bad omens for
the Rio Plus
20 conference
continued to
accumulate
Monday in the
UN General
Assembly,
where
contentious
votes were
held on
whether to
accept a list
of NGOs which
included,
according to
Syria and
others, two
Israeli groups
which
claim to
operate in
Occupied
Terrritories.
It
was a rainy
morning with
no turn out;
US ally
Liberia was in
the chair.
When
Syria spoke up
asking for a
delay of the
vote,
supported
immediately
by Cuba,
Nicaragua and
Egypt, the
Liberian
chairwoman
said this is
time-sensitive
and should be
be delayed.
The Rio
conference is
in a
month.
Syria
named the
two groups,
and said they
had been
rejected for
accreditation
in the
UN's Economic
and Social
Council and
were now
getting in the
backdoor.
Notwithstanding,
votes were
held, with
this low
turnout.
Algeria's
Permanent
Representative,
the chair of
the Group of
77 and China,
came rushing
toward the GA
Hall. He
stopped and
told Inner
City Press
"we had the
votes for the
'All States'
format but
didn't push
for a GA vote,
but now they
do this." He
noted that the
chair of
the session
was "the
Liberian PR."
He went in and
promised
repercussions.
Afterward
more
than one
Permanent
Representative
complained to
Inner City
Press as
one of them
put it that
since "they
pushed for a
vote on this,
they shouldn't
expect
consensus in
Rio." So who
is being
short-sighted?
Afterward
Algeria's
Permanent
Representative
and then
others
explained that
under the
usual "All
States"
format,
Palestine "and
two islands"
would have had
full
participation
in Rio. But as
an
accomodation,
they said --
perhaps as
UNESCO
membership
fall out? --
they agreed
not to call
for a vote,
but to accept
the MDGs
format, in
which
Palestine is
an observer.
Will they ask
to reverse
this?
On
Syria's motion
to defer
action, 33
votes with
Syria, 53
against with
seven
abstaining.
On
Syria's motion
to amend the
resolution to
delete the two
NGOs at issue,
28 voted for
-- including
for example
both Sri Lanka
and Jordan,
which have
another
disagreement
-- with 58
against.
Should this
turn out be
sufficient?
Afterward
a series
of non-ALBA
Latin American
countries
explained that
their votes
did
not mean they
changed their
position on
Israel and the
Occupied
Territories.
The Democratic
People
Republic of
Korea -- that
is,
North Korea --
complained
that its vote
had been
registered as
that
of the
Democratic
Republic of
the Congo.
Only at the
UN. Watch this
site.
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