NGOs protest and withdraw support from Rio+20 final document

Yesterday, June 20, at the first plenary session of the Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development, speaking in name of some 1,000 NGOs, the representative of the Climate Action Network (CAN), Wael Hmaidan, declared that the Rio+20 final document that was presented on June 19, would no longer be endorsed by NGOs.

Hmaidan delivered his message in a speech that lasted less than five minutes. The message to the more than 100 heads of state and government and their representatives was that the text does not meet basic demands by NGOs with regard to social and environmental questions.

Representatives of NGOs participate at Rio+20 as observers. Hmaidan explained that there were four problems with the document: there was no mention of reproductive rights of women, no mention of limits on the use and generation of nuclear energy, no details were presented on rules governing the oceans, and, finally, a lack of specific goals and deadlines in general.

The Rio+20 final document will be signed by heads of state and government or their representatives at the end of the conference on June 22. The final draft of the final document was presented on June 19 and, according to negotiators, proposals by NGOs, along with other proposed changes by some ten different panels, totaling at least 30 recommendations for changes in the text will be under discussion today and tomorrow.

Brazil’s Foreign Minister, Antonio Patriota, while recognizing the right of NGOs to disagree, refuted their criticism of the draft document. He called it the result of a new order that was more inclusive, pointing out that NGOs had a more active participation in Rio+20 than at any other UN conference.

“The Brazilian government created the most inclusive conference in the history of the UN. Here, in Rio de Janeiro, we have given NGOs and the private sector a voice so they can express themselves. It is natural that they want more,” declared the minister, adding that by putting 193 NGOs together from different countries there will be problems finding a common denominatior. “People must understand that the intergovernmental process is different from civil society processes,” concluded Patriota.

Multimedia coverage of Rio+20 is provided on the EBC website (in Portuguese): Acompanhe a cobertura multimídia da Empresa Brasil de Comunicação (EBC) na Rio+20.