September 2000
World leaders backslide since UN's 50th anniversary World leaders broke 20 out of 50 promises made at the 1995 United Nations Summit, and kept barely 17, according to analysis carried out by Charter 99, the campaign for global democracy. Little or no progress was made on 13 promises.
Charter 99's analysis produced a 'Summit Scorecard' which gave one point for promises kept, and minus one point when a promise had been broken. The analysis gave a grand total of Â3. This scorecard shows the true extent to which World Leaders make promises in public but then prove unwilling or unable to keep to them once the attention is turned away from them. Will the result be the same from the special UN Millennium Summit which starts next week on September 6th?
As today's leaders prepare for the UN Millennium Summit in September, Charter 99 is sending Tony Blair a scorecard of the 1995 Declaration. Many of the same themes will re-appear in the Declaration for September, because so little progress has been made.
The biggest broken promises are:
The sidelining of the UN in favour of western-controlled institutions such as the IMF,World Bank, Bank of International Settlements, OECD and G7;
The bombing of Afghanistan, Sudan, Chechnya and Kosovo in violation of international law and without Security Council approval;
Testing of nuclear weapons by India and Pakistan;
Failure to deal with numerous wars and violent ethnic conflict in many parts of the world;
Continuing inequality between rich and poor worlds: the richest 20% consume over 80% of world resources, while half the world lives on less than $2 a day;
A sharp drop in international aid, while the debt burden on the poor has grown;
Among the achievements of the past five years are :
The landmines ban and Conventions on Chemical and Biological weapons
Adoption of Statute for an International Criminal Court, although opposed by the US, China and a number of other states
Increase in number of democracies to 113 and ratification of international human rights by more than half of all countries
Decline in international terrorism
Increased participation by non-governmental organisations
Charter 99 is campaigning for the UN Millennium Summit to set up a rigorous review process with strong accountability mechanisms to ensure that commitments are kept and the UN can carry out its mandate as the central forum for the world's people.
Notes for Editors
Charter 99 is an international campaign with supporters in 120 countries. It is calling for democratic accountability in all international decision-making. For background information on Charter 99 and the campaign email; This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or call 020 7219 3825 For information about the Millennium Summit and a more detailed analysis of the broken promises from the 50th Anniversary contact Simon Burall on 020 7219 3825
