At
UN, Right to
Info Stripped
from Rio + 20,
Extra Week
Set,
Indigenous
Silenced?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
May 4 -- In
the run up to
the Rio + 20
conference, on
Friday
evening at the
UN yet another
week of
negotiations
was arranged,
for
May 29 to June
2.
Four hundred
paragraphs
remain without
agreement;
Inner City
Press asked
about those
dealing with
the "right to
information,"
switched by
the US to
"legitimate
access"
to
information,
limited by
trade secrets,
patents and
copyright.
After
Friday
night's
deferral, the
nine "Major
Groups" were
given two
minutes each
to speak. The
Indigenous
group, which
started
speaking
in Spanish
about la Madre
Tierra or
Pachamama, was
cut off by the
chair and told
to speak in
English.
Ultimately
this was
translated by
the Local
Authorities
group.
Still
the Groups
hit hard, with
Farmers
criticizing
the mention of
the World
Trade
Organization
in the
agriculture
section, and
the Youth
group
denouncing
greenwashing
(if not
Blue-washing,
in a week
where
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon in
Myanmar
congratulated
a company
involved in
spying
technology, as
exposed by
Inner City
Press.)
At
the front of
the room was
outgoing DESA
chief Sha
Zukang, urging
that at least
90%
of the text be
agreed before
Rio begins. China has put
in two names
to replace
Sha, but
Brazil is
pushing hard
now for the
DESA post,
as
Inner City
Press
exclusively
reported
yesterday.
Now,
this update:
China might
accept the top
post at the
Department of
General
Assembly
and Conference
Affairs as
long as it
also got the
Number Two
post in
DESA, at the
Assistant
Secretary
General level.
But then what
would
sub Saharan
Africa get?
The Department
of Public
Information
has, as
Inner City
Press
reported, been
promised to a
European. And
so it
goes at the
UN.
At
a press
conference
Friday
afternoon,
Inner City
Press asked
about the
right
to information
that was in
Rio Principle
10. The
response, from
Neth
Dano of the
ETC Group of
the
Philippines,
was that "one
delegation"
pushed to
limited the
right to only
"legitimate"
information.
Inner
City Press
asked her to
name that
delegation,
but she
declined.
Afterward she
said it was
the US, "from
the State
Department."
Meanwhile, the
US was
expected to
make a
statement on
Friday night
about no more
funding - will
that now come
on June 2?
Will
Obama go to
Rio? Watch
this site.
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