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To: Right to Water <right-to-water@lists.iatp.org>
From: mfiil@citizen.org
Date: 2004-09-24 17:06:55
Subject: NGO Report on the first meeting of the UN Secretary-General's Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation
FYI 22-23 July, 2004, New York Prepared by Public Services International (PSI) and Women's Environment
& Development Organization (WEDO) Background On World Water Day on March 22, 2004 the UN Secretary-General's (S-G)
office issued a press release announcing the formation of the S-G
Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation. This development alarmed many
civil society representatives the following month at the 12th session of
the Commission on Sustainable Development, which began its two-year work
plan on the critical issues of water and sanitation. The S-G Advisory
Board's terms of reference were inadequate, its mandate was unclear,
and its composition had a strong presence of primarily government (and
former government) and corporate representatives. Civil society groups mobilised at CSD12 to resist this unilateral
action from the SG's office. CSO actions included information gathering,
coordinating a common position, lobbying governments and presenting our
concerns to the UN SG's office. The CSOs issued a statement noting that
"the membership of this board, the majority of whom publicly favour
privatization, contradicts the leadership role of the UN in protecting
the human right to water for the world's poor, the majority of whom are
women and children." And CSOs proposed new terms of reference for the
Board demanding that the Board's mission be grounded on: MDG key
commitments and JPOI, and respected principles of social justice, gender
equity, human rights, health and environmental sustainability (see doc
attached). Subsequently a dialogue ensued between civil society and the S-G's
Office regarding the Board's mandate, terms of reference, and
composition. As a result, additional civil society members were
appointed to the Board, comprised of representatives from CSD major
groups Women (Jocelyn Dow) and Labour (David Boys) and local government
public municipal water utilities (Antonio Miranda). Opportunities to
include Indigenous and Youth representatives did not materialize. The Board now has 19 members who will work under new terms of reference
issued by SG. The members of the Board (see Appendix I) serve in a
personal capacity, and they do not represent the UN nor are they part of
the UN system (under UN rules, constraints, etc). The new terms of
reference allude to JPOI and MDGs and include: (1) to assess what
progress has, and has not been made, toward achieving the water and
sanitation goals; (2) to raise political visibility of water and
sanitation issues, by increasing public awareness, and by being
advocates for action with governments, civil society and in the media;
(3) to mobilize more human and financial resources to press forward the
water and sanitation agenda; and (4) to encourage governments and the
organs of the international organisations to maintain and upgrade the
quality of data and statistics, and to strengthen their capacity to
monitor policies and actions. The first meeting The first meeting of the Board was convened on 22-23 July at UN
headquarters in New York. The Board Chair is Ryutaro Hashimoto, former
Prime Minister and Finance Minister of Japan. Secretary-General Kofi
Annan attended briefly, giving opening remarks (see Appendix III) laying
out his expectations for the Board which referred to the terms of
reference. He encouraged the Board to give open, honest and independent
advice. The members of the Board were invited to discuss the following topics:
financing needs, political will and governance, water and sanitation in
National Development programs, role of private sector, public-private
partnerships, national coordination, global complementarity of efforts,
and monitoring progress (see a draft issue paper to prepare for the
first meeting that was sent to the members previously (see Appendix II).
The Chair let the discussion range over the topics in an effort to let
members share their viewpoints before arriving at a common work plan.
Civil society interventions brought up the following points:
* Water is a human right. The process of water commodification and
privatization has not been successful in meeting the needs of the poor.
It has especially harmed poor women in developing countries. It does not
constitute an effective model for ensuring access for all, it does not
deliver new services, or 'lever' new finance.
* U.N. commitments made during the last decade in the water and
sanitation sector should remain as the guidelines for the Board's
mission and advice. These include principally: meeting the needs of
women and the very poor, providing and transferring technology, and
promoting capacity building at the national and local levels.
* The only sustainable solution is to be found at the local level,
in a systematic involvement of citizens, workers and public utility
managers. Public-public partnerships (PUPs), should be supported as an
effective way to increase capacity towards meeting the MDGs. No reference was made in the draft materials or opening presentations
to any of the UN human rights instruments or agreements, including the
UN Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights' significant
November 2002 General Comment 15 (GC 15), which affirmed water as a
human right. Civil society members were successful in making the human
right to water part of the Board's discourse, and it became one of the
sub-themes members will be exploring in greater depth over the coming
months. The Board developed an organizational structure, which includes three
thematic working groups comprised of ten sub-themes: (1) Commitment
(sub-themes: political will and governance; human rights; technology,
and data/monitoring); (2) Mobilisation (sub-themes: financing; capacity
building; partnerships, and public/private sectors); and (3) Integrated
Water Resources Management & others (sub-themes: IWRM and disasters,
trans-boundary waters, others). Members will be divided into these three
working groups. However, a clear sense of how the Board can provide added value to the
work of the UN, its agencies, CSD and all of the other organisations
working on water is still lacking. There was no official statement from
this meeting, but that doesn't rule out statements from subsequent
meetings. The Chair will provide a summary to the S-G. It was agreed that the
Board members could provide advise on the content of statements that the
S-G could make to the UN General Assembly and other venues. The Board
also agreed to make some recommendations to the S-G, including ideas not
found in the draft materials and agenda. Some recommendations included
for the UN to support the plan to create an international association of
public water operators and to work systematically with workers and their
unions to improve public services (including through the ILO). Next steps While the UN currently doesn't have a budget for the work of the Board,
they are exploring funding options with the Japanese government and the
European Commission. UN DESA and the Japan Water Forum will provide
logistical support to the Board. There is no financial support for the
functioning of the Board. The Board agreed to meet through 2006, when the S-G will decide whether
to extend its duration. The second meeting will be held December 9-10,
2004 in Tokyo directly following the International Conference on
Integrated Water Resources Management. The members will then determine
future meeting dates. Within the next month, members will provide concise views on each of
the sub-themes, particularly on how the Board can advise the S-G on
these issues. The Board members may also submit a list of documents
related to the ten sub-themes and overall. WEDO will provide evidence
about: i) women's participation in the sector as managers and consumers;
ii) lessons learned about positive and negative impacts of current
policies including privatization; iii) best practices making reference
to public partnerships established with grass-roots women's groups; and
iv) the implementation of governmental commitments in water and
sanitation at the national level, especially in developing countries. PSI, WEDO, and the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions
will continue to work to advance a human rights water agenda on the
Board, and to ensure that voices of major groups not present have input
into the Boards' dialogues and outcomes. We welcome continued input and
collaboration with other civil society groups invested in promoting
strong UN mechanisms to ensure the human right to water. Interested
CSOs should contribute analysis and other material for inclusion in the
work of the Board. WEDO and PSI will set up a mail list for groups
interested in contributing, will post materials to the list members, and
will accept and endeavour to integrate views expressed. For more information contact: David Boys (david.boys@world-psi.org) and
Marcela Tovar (marcela@wedo.org). Appendices
I. Final Members of the Secretary-General's Advisory Board on Water and
Sanitation
II. Secretary-General's remarks at the first meeting, July 22 Appendix I
Final Members of the Secretary-General's Advisory Board on Water and
Sanitation Initial composition:
* (Chair) Mr. Ryutaro Hashimoto, former Prime Minister of Japan
* Mr. Michel Camdessus, Special Representative of the President of
France for Africa and former Managing Director of the International
Monetary Fund (IMF)
* Mr. Gérard Payen, President, International Committee of the of
Scientific and Technical Association for Water and Environment, France
and former Senior Executive Vice-President, Suez
* Mr. Peter Woicke, Executive Vice-President, International
Finance Corporation, United States
* Ms. Olivia la O'Castillo, Chair and President, Asia Pacific
Round Table for Cleaner Production and Director of Entrepreneurial
Management Program, University of Asia and the Pacific, Philippines
* Mr. Eric Odada, Director, Department of Geology, University of
Nairobi, Kenya
* Ms. Judith Rees, Deputy Director, London School of Economics and
Political Science, United Kingdom
* Ms. Uschi Eid, Parliamentary Secretary of the Federal Ministry
for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany
* Ms. Christie Todd Whitman, former Administrator, Environmental
Protection Agency, United States
* H.E. Mr. Mahmoud Abou Zeid, Minister of Irrigation and Water
Resources of Egypt
* H.E. Ms. Juanita Castaño, former Vice-Minister for Foreign
Affairs of Colombia *
* H.E. Mr. Angel Gurria, former Minister of Finance for Mexico *
* H.E. Mr. Ronnie Kasrils, Minister of Intelligence Services and
former Minister for Water Affairs and Forestry for South Africa Members added:
* Mr. Yordon Uzunov, Head, Department Bio-Indication and
Environmental Assessments and former Deputy Minister of Environment,
Bulgaria
* Mr. Poul Nielson, Commissioner of the European Union for
Development and Humanitarian Aid
* Ms. Margaret Catley-Carlson, Chair of the Global Water
Partnership, Sweden
* Mr. Antônio da Costa Miranda Neto, Director for International
Affairs, Brazilian Association of Municipal and Sanitation Services
(ASSAMAE), Brazil
* Mr. David Boys, Utilities Officer, Public Services International
(PSI), France
* Ms. Jocelyn Dow, Co-Founder, Red Thread Women's Development
Collective, Guyana and former President, Women's Environment and
Development Organization (WEDO)
Appendix II
DRAFT ISSUE PAPER
First Meeting of the SG Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation
22-23 July 2004 I. Objectives The purpose of the Advisory Board is to provide strategic advise to the
Secretary General of the United Nations as how to accelerate the
progress towards achieving internationally agreed water and sanitation
goals. II. Key Issues for Discussion Financing Needs: Many international fora have repeatedly emphasized the
need for additional funding to be able to meet the internationally
agreed goals and targets. Over the years it has been observed that such
funding is just not forthcoming, neither from the domestic sources nor
through the international development cooperation and Overseas
Development Assistance (ODA), in particular. Thus, the challenge of
meeting water and sanitation goals is becoming more and more daunting.
What practical approaches and strategies are required to mobilize
financial resources? Political Will and Governance: There is a gap in the perceptions
between the countries of the North and South. Both have valid
reservations. In general, the North's perception is that lack of
political will and inadequate governance in developing countries are
major obstacles to meeting the water and sanitation goals. On the other
hand, the South's opinion is that, despite improved political will and
enhanced governance, flow of ODA to developing countries has not been in
line with the promises made by the North to the international community.
What will the Board's advice be: (i) to bring these two positions closer
to each other (ii) to ensure that countries demonstrating improved
political will and governance do receive international assistance? Water and Sanitation in National Development Programs: By and large,
the water and sanitation agenda including strategies to reduce water
related disasters receive very little attention in the national
development programs, including the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers
(PRSPs). Despite increased recognition by the international community
of the role that water and sanitation play in poverty alleviation and
sustainable development this situation continues to persist. What would
be the Board's recommendation to ensure that Governments and their
external partners do not neglect the water and sanitation agenda in the
national development programs? Role of Private Sector: The role of the private sector has been
recognized as vital to meeting internationally agreed development goals,
but it has thus far invested very little in the water and sanitation
sectors. Two key issues are involved: (i) lack of understanding in
developing countries with regard to the difference between
"privatization of the resource" and "privatization of the services"; and
(ii) high perceived risk of investment. What would be the Board's advice
to stimulate private sector investment in water and sanitation,
especially in rural area and, under what modalities? Public-Private Partnerships: The water and sanitation agenda is huge.
While recognizing that implementing this agenda is a collective
responsibility, the WSSD emphasized the need for building public-private
partnerships at all levels and among all stakeholders (Governments,
private sector, financial institutions, local communities and civil
society). Partnerships are emerging but the pace is slow. What will the
Board's advice on encouraging the promotion and scaling-up of
partnerships at national and local levels? National Coordination: A large number of global and regional networks,
programs and initiatives are at work in the water and sanitation sector.
In the absence of an adequate national Integrated Water Resources
Management (IWRM) framework, coordination of these initiatives at the
national level remains a major challenge. Moreover, water and sanitation
problems are local in nature and thus require local solutions. What
could possibly be done to develop an interface between the global/
regional initiatives and the country level actions, and how could
UN-Water contribute in this process? Global Complementarity of efforts: Various international agencies and
non-governmental bodies continue to work towards the achievement of MDGs
within the framework of their respective mandates, but there is a
perceived lack of coordination among them, if any. The result in many
cases is duplication of efforts and inefficient use of scarce resources.
Presently, there is no mechanism to ensure complementarity of efforts.
In the absence of such mechanism, there is a serious risk of not
maximizing the benefits of these initiatives. Thus, the challenge at the
global level to enhance complementarity and coherence of efforts is as
important as it is at the national level. What will the Board's advice
be to improve global complementarity of efforts and initiatives? How
could UN-Water contribute to this effort? Monitoring Progress: Reporting of the progress towards international
water and sanitation goals is based on the information and data
collected and processed by the Joint Monitoring Program (JMP). However,
the current program has its own limitations. Given that reliable data is
needed to make the appropriate policy choices and decisions. How could
this monitoring mechanism be further improved? Appendix III
New York, 22 July 2004 - Secretary-General's remarks at the first
session of his Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and dear friends, welcome. It is
indeed a pleasure to see you all here.
I'm grateful to you, Prime Minister Hashimoto, for agreeing to Chair
the Board on Water and Sanitation, as I am to each and every one of you
for agreeing to serve as Board Members. You are a diverse and
high-profile group, and each of you brings something unique to the
table.
We all know the terrible cost of unsafe drinking water and poor
sanitation in our world. Today, one person in six will drink unclean
water. One person in three will not have access to proper sanitation.
And around 10,000 people will die today as a result of this preventable
situation.
That is unacceptable. The world has recognized that it is unacceptable.
And it has also recognized that if we don't address water and sanitation
issues, we can't have effective development strategies. That's why
commitments were made in the Millennium Declaration in 2000, and at
Johannesburg in 2002. The commitments were to halve by 2015 the
proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water
and basic sanitation, and to develop integrated water resources
management and water efficiency plans by the year 2005.
As the recent High-Level Segment of the Commission on Sustainable
Development concluded, a considerable number of countries are on track
to halve the proportion of their population without access to safe
drinking water by 2015. But many others will fail to meet the goals
unless progress is stepped up. And a large number of countries are not
on track to reach the target of halving the proportion of people without
access to basic sanitation by 2015, either in rural or urban areas,
unless there is a dramatic increase in resources and efforts. Also, a
considerable number of countries are expected to reach the target of
developing integrated water resources management and efficiency plans by
2005. But many others will need more technical assistance if they are to
reach that goal.
Of course, a lot of good work is being done on water and sanitation
issues. Locally, the best work is being done where there is effective
and accountable public administration, where governments involve
communities in decision-making and project implementation, and where
there is a genuine commitment to equity. There's also quite a lot being
done through the international system. The UN is heavily involved and
the NGOs are working hard. The private sector has an important role to
play too.
But while all this work is admirable, it clearly isn't enough, and it
could be better focused to have greater impact. That's where I turn to
you to make a difference. I am convinced that the agreed targets for
water and sanitation are achievable in the timeframes laid down. The key
is to get measurable improvements more quickly and in more places. That
requires political will, strengthened governance at all levels, and the
more effective mobilization and use of resources. My hope is that, with
an integrated strategic approach, you can help generate some of those
missing ingredients.
I have asked you to focus on four areas:
- First, it is important to assess what progress has, and has not been,
made towards achieving the water and sanitation goals.
- Second, I need your help to raise the political visibility of water
and sanitation issues, by increasing public awareness, and by being
advocates for action with governments, civil society and in the media.
- Third, I look to you to help mobilize more human and financial
resources to press forward the water and sanitation agenda.
- And finally, I ask you to encourage governments and the organs of the
international system to maintain and upgrade the quality of data and
statistics, and to strengthen their capacity to monitor policies and
actions.
- The name of the game is not to come up with new plans, but to help
step up efforts to implement existing plans and meet agreed targets. Mr.
Ocampo, the Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs,
will work with you, and he will oversee the Secretariat's support for
the Board.
You are, of course, all very busy people, and you will only be meeting
once or twice a year. You will obviously have to organize your work in a
way that gives it the most impact. I will leave it in your capable hands
to work out how best to do so. However you proceed, I ask you always to
provide me with the most open, honest, and independent advice.
Thank you once again for agreeing to take up this difficult and
critically important task. I will be relying on you for your help, and I
hope that together, we can make a real difference.
Thank you very much.
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