NAM civil society conference final declaration

Civil Society Conference on the
Priorities and Challenges for the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in the
Next Millennium AUGUST 1998
DECLARATION

Representatives of civil society from the South gathered in Durban on 19 - 21 August 1998 at
the University of Durban-Westville prior to the XII Summit of the
Non-Aligned Movement to consider the priorities and challenges facing
the global South in the next millennium. The conference was organised
by the Foundation for Global Dialogue (South Africa) and the
International Institute of Non-Aligned Studies (India) in co-operation
with the South African National NGO Coalition, the Co-operative for
Research and Education, the Group for Environmental Monitoring, the
South African Campaign to Ban Landmines and the African Centre for the
Constructive Resolution of Disputes. It considered a range of issues
relating to sustainable development and peace-building.

CONTEXTUALISING THE NAM AND THE ROLE OF GLOBAL CIVIL SOCIETY
In a post-cold war era, the Non-Aligned Movement is faced with a
unipolar strategy aimed at maintaining the hegemony of the North over
the South. Civil society in both the South as well as the North has a
vital role to play in ensuring democratic governance of the state and
regular, free and fair elections, and in serving as a vital partner in
the socio-economic development and the elimination of poverty,
disease, hunger and malnutrition in all countries of the world, but
especially the poorer ones. Just as civil society organisations have
voiced their views and had a substantive impact in policy forums at
the national level and at the international level, e.g.. in various
United Nations organs and conferences, it is important that the
Non-Aligned Movement also takes the perspectives and positions of
civil society into account in its deliberations. As the international
economy has become globalised, so inevitably have civil society's
efforts to ensure that social, political and economic justice prevail
and that disadvantaged and neglected peoples and countries are
included in global progress. Noting that: The NAM political agenda is
not in the public domain, and There is presently no mechanism for
civil society organisations (CSOs) to qualitatively participate in NAM
processes. The Conference calls on the NAM and its member states to:
Give civil society full participation in all deliberations of NAM and
full access to information about NAM activities, including receipt of
draft documents before NAM meetings. Mechanisms have to be found for
civil society organisations (CSOs) to make presentations or other
inputs to NAM deliberations. Give civil society full accreditation to
all future NAM summits, including the 12th Summit. Enshrine and
protect the right of people's movements to represent their legitimate
interests without persecution. Some NAM states are using either
para-military clandestine groups or are openly using their defence
force for the oppression and eradication of legitimate people's
movements through the sustained use of state repression as a matter of
policy in low-intensity conflict. These states are: Afghanistan,
Algeria, Burma, Colombia, Indonesia, Iraq, Mauritania, Morocco,
Nigeria, Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Sudan.

Calls on CSOs to:
Create a follow-up CSO interim committee to establish a mechanism
which will monitor the execution of NAM agreements and responses to
this CSO declaration and to ensure a follow-up to this Conference.
Calls on South African CSOs to: Take the opportunity presented by
South Africa's presidency of NAM to build a NAM CSO Alliance. The
Steering Committee which organised this Conference should develop a
network of CSOs from NAM states. This Southern bloc of CSOs should
conscientise Northern CSOs on the Southern priorities and solutions.

THE CHALLENGE OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
IN AN ERA OF GLOBALISATION
For the market, the future is an alien concept. In recent months, the
currency markets in the NAM countries have been ravaged by
speculators. The market has shown that it has no social conscience,
takes no cognisance of the environment and is ignorant of the concepts
of international responsibility and social justice. For over two
years, the OECD has debated the Multilateral Agreement on Investment.
This agreement has been nothing but a bill of rights for global
corporations and banks. Universal insecurity has resulted from the
role played by global capital. Today, financial globalisation is a law
unto itself, manipulated by unprincipled speculators acting as
proxies for their powerful but masked masters. The International
Monetary Fund's programmes consist of no new strategies but rather the
usual prescriptions for lay-offs, higher interest rates, privatisation
and further belt-tightening for the poorest members of the population
and those most vulnerable and least able to defend themselves. The
disastrous effects spill across the continents in Latin America, Asia
and Africa. This unbridled and uncontrolled speculation must be
harnessed and preferably disarmed. The opportunity for introduction
of the Tobin tax has never been better than now. This tax envisaged a
modest tax on all exchange transactions to stabilise markets and
generate revenue for international development. Civil society
organisations including trade unions in every country need to be
consulted in all phases of the discussions about the new free trade
zones being speculated about in many parts of the globe. The
envisaged Free Trade Area of the Americas from Alaska to Tierra del
Fuego poses unimagined threats. Increasingly, in the name of
globalisation, employers are guilty of social, wage and eco- dumping,
all of which foster social insecurity, poor health and poverty.
Global resources -- production, distribution and exchange -- therefore
need to be shaped in such a way that they are fair to the people --
both workers and consumers. The profits of the global market must be
used for the benefit of the world community, not an isolated and
irresponsible few. What is required is an Alliance for Work, bringing
together all the social partners to reach a consensus and recognise
the need for closer relations between those who steer the tax policy
at government level and those who pay the taxes. The conference noted
the key problems in the following commissions and made recommendations
as to how to address them.

POVERTY
Noting that:
Poverty is a key challenge in developing countries creating a crisis
situation in their economies, Poverty is rooted in historical
processes which impact on the access to and distribution of resources
and power, Poverty has social, cultural, psychological, health,
economic and environmental dimensions, and The state has a key role to
play in poverty eradication measured by levels of employment, control
of resources, meeting of basic needs and equity of resource
distribution. The Conference calls on the NAM and its member states
to: Protect and promote human rights (including social and economic
rights), Distribute resources equitably, Ensure administrative
efficiency, Prioritise resource distribution to the poor and ensure
equality of access to all, Divert military spending to meet social
needs, Invest in basic need programmes, eg. education, Invest in rural
areas, Play an active role in the delivery of services and
redistribution of assets to the poor, Provide an enabling environment
and support for, inter alia, the informal sector, women (through
micro-credit), and South-South co-operation and trade, Invest in
non-conventional alternate technology, Eliminate overtime in order to
facilitate greater job opportunities,

DEBT
Noting that:
Debt repayment limits government expenditure on services and
undermines development. The debt crisis is deepening and its impact on
government expenditure and development is intensifying. Various
initiatives to address the debt crisis have been undemocratic, have
failed or are failing, The Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC)
Initiative is inadequate; the HIPC countries are defined by the North,
pitting Southern countries against each other; and the HIPC Initiative
will only bring limited relief to at most 6 countries by 2000. The
HIPC criteria for debt relief are unacceptable, notably the
determination of debt sustainability in terms of projected estimates
of export earnings, and intensification of structural adjustment
conditionality. The origins and deepening of the debt crisis are
primarily a political, and not technical, problem. The debt crisis is
interrelated with the environmental crisis, including irreversible
environmental destruction, and it is imperative that these crises are
addressed as a matter of urgency. The NAM has failed in its efforts to
ensure an international conference on debt.

The Conference calls on the NAM and its member states to:
Call for the cancellation of Third World debt and support Jubilee 2000
in its call for the cancellation of Third World debt. Call for the
scrapping of loan conditionality, in particular structural adjustment
programmes. Call for a mechanism for international regulation of debt
which (1) involves peoples' organisations and movements, (2) acts
according to the principle that governments cannot cut services to
meet the requirements of creditors, and (3) addresses the issues of
odious debt in post-war societies. Call for South-South co-operation
in developing a multilateral approach to creditors, and a framework
for multilateral negotiations. Improve its efforts to call for an
international conference on debt within the United Nations framework.
The conference agenda should include (1) the role of the IMF and World
Bank, notably with regard to the IMF bailout of Northern creditors in
the Asian crisis, and to the IMF and World Bank being absolved of
responsibility for failed projects; (2) South-South co-operation with
regard to potential sanctions on Northern countries who do not fulfil
their international development commitments; and (3) the double
standards of Northern countries which have benefited from debt relief
but are unwilling to grant debt relief to Southern countries. Call for
the active involvement of civil society in the various mechanisms for
international regulation of debt, at the national and South-South
levels.

TRADE AND INVESTMENT
Noting that:
The inequitable effects of the liberalisation of trade and investment
(through bilateral / national structural adjustment programmes or
multilateral / global agreements) are evident, Privatisation of
national assets causes unemployment and reinforces foreign ownership
and influence, Imbalances between developed and developing countries,
especially the least developed, will be reinforced by predatory
'reciprocal' free trade agreements / areas now being extended over all
other countries and regions by the main economic powers, The use of
trade as a lever in the World Trade Organisation through implementing
global regulatory regimes to serve primarily the requirements of
transnational production, services and financial corporations, is
highly damaging to weak or vulnerable economies, The utilisation of
trade sanctions in the World Trade Organisation as a weapon for the
defence / promotion of specific economic / political / strategic
interests, is equally damaging, The radical deregulation and global
integration of financial markets are contributing to the vast economic
inequalities and financial instabilities in the world today, The
promotion of environmental, labour, social, gender, human rights, and
other important standards throughout the world is a vital
responsibility of all governments and civil society, Transnational
corporations enter developing countries both at the invitation of
governments of those countries and in pursuit of their own economic
interest, The Conference calls on the NAM and its member states to:
Oppose energetically the continuing marginalisation of the interests
and needs of developing countries in the emerging globalising economic
system. This includes ending the protectionist barriers and other
impediments against developing country trade and development. It also
includes the elimination of the self-serving and unfair practices and
policies of the highly developed countries. As part of campaigning
against the negative impacts of globalisation, to cease forthwith the
privatisation of all basic services, with particular reference to
water transnationals which are currently operating in developing
countries to the detriment of the communities. Impose trade sanctions
only on the basis of calls from the legitimate representatives of the
people of the country concerned. Re-establish firmly the regulatory
role and responsibility of democratic national and international
institutions over irresponsible, volatile, and destabilising financial
operations and operators. Note that the use of trade levers and
threats in the World Trade Organisation is not the appropriate or most
effective method to achieve improved standards in the areas of
environment, labour, and human rights, and other areas. Oppose
energetically the Multilateral Agreement on Investment, whether in the
OECD or the WTO, as it promotes the full rights of entry and operation
of investors into all countries, thereby creating a charter for the
recolonisation of the world by transnational corporations. Oppose the
anti-democratic concentration of wealth and power within corporations
and managerial, technocratic and political elites, Apply full
democratic principles and practices in the International Monetary
Fund, the World Bank, the WTO and all other United Nations
institutions. Similarly, the principles of transparency and
accountability -- as well as social and environmental responsibility
-- also have to be applied to transnational corporations,
international banks and other such organisations. Uphold vigorously
such political principles and practices within their own countries and
in their inter-governmental relations, if they are to play a role in
relation to the above.

ENVIRONMENT
Noting that:
There is limited collaboration amongst Southern CSOs and no common
agenda on the environment, Eighty percent of global resources are
consumed in the North, Women bear the brunt of environmental
degradation, NAM has no proposals to address gender inequality or
participation, There is a strong correlation between debt and
environmental mismanagement, The present system of global governance
is not dissimilar to South Africa's past regime of apartheid, which
was declared 'a crime against humanity'. The Conference calls on the
NAM and its member states to: Redefine sustainable development in
terms of specifying agreed limits to critical resource consumption
globally. These limits can only be politically established and
sustained by common global consent when they are based on the
establishment of the principles and then the practice of equal rights
to the consumption of such resources on a globally per capita equal
basis both within and between societies and nations, and the
generations to come. Promote a culture of gender equality in
decision-making and implementation of all their policies. Support the
inclusion of environmental rights in the UN Declaration of Human
Rights as well as the national constitutions of its members. Promote
and lobby for the dismantlement of global apartheid, including the
elimination of racial, social, political and economic discrimination
and exclusion globally. Become more accountable to their people.
Reject all attempts by some developed countries to link their
ratification of the Kyoto Protocol to United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) with the question of
participation by developing countries in the reduction of greenhouse
gas emissions. It should call on all countries to undertake urgent
and effective steps to implement their existing greenhouse gas
emission reduction commitments through domestic action. It should
promote corrective actions based on a deliberate convergence to a
point of equal per capita shares globally by a date to be set by
UNFCCC. Emissions trading for implementation can only commence after
these initial allocations have been agreed. Promote the revision of
Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) in order to allow
countries to exclude life forms and bio-diversity-related knowledge
from intellectual property rights monopolies under the jurisdiction of
the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Reinforce the defence mechanisms
of local communities who are highly vulnerable to unbridled
bio-prospecting and to the introduction of genetically engineered
organisms. Prepare a comprehensive listing under the Treaty on Prior
Informed Consent of all chemicals that are restricted by one or more
countries due to their harmful effects on human health or other
species. 'Green the accounts' to reflect true economic growth /
contraction so that better decisions can be made regarding resource
use and development. Promote the 'structural alignment' of Northern
countries to principles of sustainability, in particular to reduced
consumption and waste production and an end to eco-dumping. Ensure the
transfer of environmentally sound technologies as promised by the
North in several multilateral environmental agreements.

SOUTH-SOUTH CO-OPERATION AND SOLIDARITY
Noting that:
NAM is a movement not an organisation with a permanent secretariat,
and it is therefore unable to enforce its decisions, South-South
co-operation has been a principle since the Bandung Conference but its
successes have been limited, eg. to solidarity in the United Nations
General Assembly, The principle of South-South solidarity is an
excellent one to deal with the impact of globalisation, The North is
using human rights issues to extract concessions in multilateral trade
agreements. The Conference calls on the NAM and its member states to:
Develop a framework for regional co-operation vis-à-vis the global
economy. Work together to promote transfer of technology to each
other. Promote the principle of beneficiation within the South of its
members' natural resources. Engage the North in debate on policies
before the G8 meetings. Be sensitive to the impact on regional
economies of North-South trade agreements, for example, the impact on
Southern Africa of an EU-South Africa trade agreement. Strengthen
regional economic bodies such as the Southern African Development
Community, Southern Common Market, Economic Community of West African
States, Association of South East Asian Nations, South Asian
Association for Regional Cooperation and the Arab Maghreb Union to
mobilise global economic change. Struggle for reform of multilateral
organisations. Address the issue of North-South cooperation jointly.
Identify and oppose laws which impose extra-territoriality on the
South, for example the United States' Helms-Burton law. Debate and
seek parliamentary mandates prior to settling NAM declarations.
Promote the formation of people-to-people solidarity within and
between NAM countries. Defend human rights everywhere whenever they
are violated. Calls on CSOs to: Adopt appropriate oppositional or
co-operative roles when engaging NAM member governments. Educate
themselves better on the political and technical aspects of
South-South co-operation so as to be better able to take informed
positions. Learn and know our own history for effective participation
and building people-to-people solidarity. Establish a permanent
committee focussed on the principled issues of South-South
co-operation and NAM. Resolve to hold parallel summits to each NAM
Conference, comprising NGOs from the NAM member countries. Campaign in
NAM countries on treaties and conventions agreed in international fora
and to challenge NAM member governments when they do not ratify such
agreements. State their opposition to unilateral and selective
sanctions against NAM member countries such as Cuba, Iraq and Libya.
Ensure that the benefits from South-South co-operation are visible in
the areas of gender, environment, children, and human rights. THE
CHALLENGE OF BUILDING PEACE IN A CHANGING WORLD ORDER Many, if not
most, of the political conflicts arising in the world today take on a
regional or international character even if they begin at the local or
national level. This is due to the involvement of other countries in
providing arms or funds or to the impact on neighbouring countries due
to refugees crossing borders. Some conflicts are also due to
international economic interests, eg. countries or companies
protecting investments in contested zones, or to conflict fuelled by
groups competing for control of scarce resources. The economic
priorities dictated by globalisation have direct consequences in the
violation of human rights. Peacekeeping and building challenges have
therefore become more complex and are not being adequately dealt with
by existing fora and institutions.

UNITED NATIONS REFORM
The Conference calls on the NAM and its member states to:
Reaffirm the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
as well as their effective implementation, and if the Charter is to be
reviewed, a new basis for representation which involves direct inputs
from society be contemplated. Call for the Bretton Woods institutions
to be brought under the authority of the UN Economic and Social
Council (ECOSOC) as mandated in the UN Charter. Simultaneously, NAM
should call for the strengthening and democratising of the UN's social
and economic agencies. The encroachment by the Bretton Woods
institutions and the WTO on these agencies and their spheres of
influence should be stopped immediately. Promote both the full
democratisation of the United Nations and the full democratisation of
member states. Call for the democratisation of the Security Council by
(1) eliminating the veto, (2) all members being democratically
elected, and (3) broader democratic geographical representation. Call
for human and environmental rights to be incorporated into all aspects
of United Nations activity especially gender, economic, social and
environmental rights now and in any review process of the UN. Call for
civil society participation to be actively facilitated and promoted
especially in terms of the Secretary General's proposed Millennium
Assembly in the Year 2000. Ensure that Southern CSOs are empowered to
obtain accredited access to both the UN and the NAM including the
right to make presentations and/or interventions, and NAM should
support such CSO accreditation. Call on the United States and other
states who do not pay their United Nations dues to do so in full and
on time. Condemn the refusal of some states to sign the Treaty on the
Creation of an International Criminal Court. Call for the UN
headquarters to be moved from New York to enhance its symbolic and
strategic significance.

PEACEKEEPING AND PEACE BUILDING
Noting that:
The peace and security crisis in the Great Lakes and the bombings in
East Africa and counter-bombings in Sudan and Afghanistan were seen as
underlining the need for NAM to give priority to peacekeeping and
peace-building, The tendency for current conflicts to involve children
as soldiers -- in some cases by abduction and force -- was highlighted
as a serious human rights, conflict resolution and peace issue, The
need for NAM governments to develop guidelines which contextualise the
principles of non-intervention and national sovereignty in light of
intra-state and regional conflicts that compel external intervention
through humanitarian and peace initiatives because of their wider
regional and international destabilising implications, This Conference
supports what has been resolved at NAM summits to date regarding
peacekeeping and conflict resolution, but stresses the need for member
governments and NAM as a whole to initiate specific actions to
implement past resolutions regarding early warning systems, preventive
diplomacy, mediation, conflict management and resolution. The
Conference calls on the NAM and its member states to: Reaffirm the
regional and sub-regional competencies of organisations like
Organisation for African Unity, the South African Development
Community, the Economic Community of West African States and
Association of South East Asian States to implement peacekeeping and
conflict resolution within the framework of the United Nations
Charter. And in particular South Africa, as the chair of NAM over the
next three years, to develop a focused strategy for working with other
NAM governments in implementing the NAM agenda. Inspire an
international campaign within the NAM member states and the North
against the use of child soldiers and give priority to UN resolutions
opposing the use of children in conflicts and support amended
Resolution 2 of the Child Rights Convention. Give priority to conflict
resolution in the Middle East, Kashmir and the Great Lakes and
surrounding countries - flashpoints of conflict that threaten
destabilisation beyond these specific localities of conflict. Regulate
and set norms for multinational corporations operating in their
countries against lending financial or other support to rival forces
in an internal conflict.

Call on CSOs to:
Establish a permanent NAM/CSO committee to facilitate and manage
networking among NAM CSOs regarding the issues and recommendations
emerging from this conference.

SMALL ARMS
Noting that:
The proliferation and use of small arms in NAM states and regions is
of grave concern and an ongoing source of conflict and instability,
Most illegal arms have their origins in the legal arms trade, Despite
NAM governments' concerns the problem of small arms are being
exacerbated by the continuing influxes of weapons into our countries
and regions, The proliferation and use of small arms contributes to
poverty and economic marginalisation, Militarisation does not resolve
conflicts, and demobilisation and poverty alleviation programmes are
more effective means of conflict resolution. However, the numerous
peacekeeping and demobilisation efforts in NAM states and regions have
not adequately addressed the proliferation of small arms. The
Conference calls on the NAM and its member states to: Call for the
establishment and strengthening of transparent national and regional
arms registers, and call on the United Nations to expand the UN Arms
Register to include all types of small arms. Support increased
bilateral and multilateral agreements and mechanisms within and
between NAM states to address small arms proliferation and
trafficking. Support the implementation of national and regional
projects that aim at (1) siphoning small arms out of our communities,
and (2) addressing socio-economic priorities. Initiate peacekeeping
operations that aim to (1) comprehensively disarm combatants, (2)
focus on the provision of policing services after the completion of
the disarming process, and (3) increase resources and social
programmes for demobilised soldiers. Calls on CSOs to: Support the
proposed International Campaign on Small Arms.

ON LANDMINES PROLIFERATION:
Noting that:
Landmines are an abhorrent and indiscriminate weapon posing a daily
threat to humanity, to sustainable economic and social development,
and to environmental conservation, and they perpetuate poverty
especially among the rural poor and women in NAM member states, The
recently concluded Convention on the Prohibition of the Use,
Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-personnel Mines and on
their Destruction is the best means of achieving an end to the
disastrous humanitarian consequences of landmines, 74 NAM member
states (i.e. 65%) have so far signed the Convention, This CSO
Conference, however, expresses its deep concern that current language
in the draft NAM declaration is contrary to the historic role of
individual NAM member countries who together with the International
Campaign to Ban Landmines developed a new way of doing diplomacy (the
Ottawa process) -- civil society and like-minded governments working
together -- and who have accepted the need to put an end to use of
this inhumane weapon, We reject outright the notion that national
security interests outweigh the negative humanitarian consequences of
the continued production and use of anti-personnel landmines, We are
disturbed to learn that mines continue to be laid in several NAM
states, including Angola, India, Guinea and Sri Lanka by government
troops, opposition forces or criminals, and that some NAM countries
such as Egypt, India, Pakistan, Iran and Iraq continue to produce
anti-personnel landmines. The Conference calls on the NAM and its
member states to: Endorse unequivocally the call for a total and
immediate ban on anti-personnel landmines. Ratify as soon as possible
the Convention on the Prohibition on the Use, Production, Stockpiling
and Transfer of Anti-personnel Landmines and on their Destruction if
they have signed this Convention. Express their commitment to a
mine-free world by signing the Convention on the Prohibition on the
Use, Production, Stockpiling and Transfer of Anti-personnel Landmines
and on their Destruction if they have not already done so. Increase
greatly resources for mine clearance and victim assistance. Divert a
percentage of military budgets for mine action and call on donor
countries to primarily use military budgets rather than diverting
funds from development aid.

This CSO Conference endorses the Convention and calls on CSOs to:
Fully support the need for a call for (1) increased resources for the
rapid demining of affected areas, (2) increased resources for the
socio-economic reintegration of mine victims and survivors, and (3)
the Treaty's implementation to be monitored by civil society globally,
regionally and nationally. Support the view that these increased
resources must not be taken from development aid budgets but should be
primarily derived from defence budgets.

DISARMAMENT
Noting that:
The nuclear arms race cements existing power disparities and wastes
huge resources to the detriment of the poor, South Africa, the current
NAM chair, has set an example by giving up their nuclear capability.
This can serve as an encouragement to the other NAM members to follow
suit, The majority of the population of the South are the victims of
the global arms race and a pervasive culture of violence, The need for
a decisive programme for the closure and conversion of the arms
industry (including retraining of workers). The Conference calls on
the NAM and its member states to: Eliminate completely all nuclear
weapons by the year 2005. Sign and ratify the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty
immediately, if they have not done so already. Sign and ratify the
Convention on Biological Weapons immediately, if they have not done so
already. Facilitate and take responsibility for the establishment of
an international system of inspection and verification for nuclear and
chemical and biological weapons. Take the necessary initiatives to
formulate and implement the decisive and rapid reduction of
conventional arms. The final aim must be total disarmament. To
ensure this, NAM member states should further develop instruments of
peaceful resolution of conflicts, such as confidence-building measures
and dialogue. Implement a strict code of conduct not to export arms to
countries in conflict regions, countries which violate the human
rights of their people, and countries where governments or
non-government militias recruit or abduct children for use as
soldiers, if they are engaged in arms exports. NAM should adopt such
a code of conduct to be binding for all its members. Give annual
progress reports on all of these measures for the reduction of
conventional arms.

MOVEMENT OF PEOPLE
Noting that:
The global population movement is in the main a result of economic and
violent destabilisation in various regions, Economic and gender
oppression also lead to traffic in women and children with no serious
opposition from governments of countries involved, although this
impacts negatively on recipient countries, All NAM positions have
largely dealt with South/North population movements but the majority
of the population migration is in the South, Stringent emigration laws
and xenophobia are not only experienced in the North but also in the
South, The transnational prostitution of young girls / women and child
labour is increasing in the NAM states, Not all NAM countries are open
to input from civil society and many therefore lack civil society
input in resolving issues around migration, internally displaced
people and asylum seekers, The migration strategies of the North might
not be applicable in the South. The Conference calls on the NAM and
its member states to: Refocus attention on the movement of people
between countries of the South and not to use the cloak of national
sovereignty to avoid addressing root causes of this migration. Uphold
regional and international instruments on the movement of people and
give effect to their implementation, monitoring and to ensure that
their national laws conform to these instruments. Address the root
causes of involuntary population movements through sustainable
development and viable environmental regimes which are linked to human
security and democratisation. Civil society needs to be involved in
addressing these root causes, and in assisting in tackling the
negative impacts of migration. To this end, NAM should form
partnerships with different social movements. Calls on CSOs to:
Develop strategies that address the issue of migration in the South.