OFFICIAL MINUTES OF THE ISC – MONDAY, 30 July 2001, from 3 pm
1. ATTENDANCE AND APOLOGIES
18 out of 20 members with voting rights present, M. Parsons and S. El Bikri were absent.
2. WELCOME AND OPENING
Myrna Cunningham as the Chair of the meeting declared the meeting opened.
- AGENDA OF THE MEETING
The agenda was adopted as follows:
- Information from the opening session of the 3rd PrepCom
- Adoption of the minutes from the last ISC meeting
- Progress report on scholarships
- Youth Summit
- Programme of the NGO Forum
- WCR Draft Declaration and Plan of Actions
- NGO Forum Declaration and Plan of Action
- Miscellaneous
- INFORMATION FROM THE OPENING SESSION OF THE 3RD PREPCOM
- The one and only NGO challenged by the governments – Ilnt’l Lesbian and Gay Org. (ILGA) – was denied accreditation for WCAR at the session, gaining only 43 votes. ISC feels concerned by that and expresses its solidarity with ILGA. Mercia will write a statement letter to the WCR Secretary General in order to find ways how to enable ILGA to take part in WCAR.
- Some paragraphs concerning Dalits, Roma and Palestinians have disappeared from the WCR Draft Declaration and Plan of Action. Laurie Wiseberg believed it was caused merely by a technical error and the paragraphs will be returned into the document.
- ISC should make efforts to be able to assure the NGOs present that the decision of the 2nd PrepCom, to give NGOs 15 minutes for their presentations at the beginning of each session, be followed also during the 3rd PrepCom.
- ADOPTION OF THE MINUTES
The minutes were adopted after observations. They may be distributed to observers thereafter only.
- PROGRESS REPORT ON SCHOLARSHIPS
- Asia/Pacific: 12 – 15 places have been kept for the Middle East. The final information will be handed to the UN Liaison Unit by the 3rd August 2001.
- Africa: 300 scholarships (from South African development Agency) should go to South Africa, 250 ones (from the Danish Government) to the 14 SADC countries. Berhane raised the question concerning the fair distribution of 250 scholarships among all other African countries, not only to SADC. Thandiwe negotiated with Moshe to ask the Danish Government to allow for this solution. Stella Makanya promised to hand the list of grantees by Wednesday, 9th August.
An application has been sent to OXFAM to cover the francophone Africa.
- Europe: 3 volunteers finished the selection. Laurie has got the list. To be discussed later.
- General remark: Victims and members of the targeted groups do not apply for scholarships because the lack of information (they are not a part of the process, have no access to the Web) and capacities. All regions should provide information to ISC about the quotas of youth, women and indigenous peoples among the grantees.
- Explanation: for the cost estimation, a 13-day stay in Durban is considered. The funds will be distributed according to the real length of stay (if shorter).
- Funding of ISC work in Durban (not taken from the scholarships):
- Frej will take care that the expenses of ISC members during the 2nd and 3rd PrepCom be reimbursed during their stay in Geneva – then it will be clear what money is left for Durban.
- ISC members are asked to provide Frej (office 3019) with calculation of their travel costs to the 2nd and 3rd PrepComs as well as for WCAR in USD by tomorrow noon
- The Liaison Unit will give the first estimation to ISC by 31st July 5:30 pm
- ISC may reconsider its decision (not to use funds for scholarships for ISC) on 1st August.
- The media scholarships go via UN Media Office in N.Y. and are exclusively for journalists.
- YOUTH SUMMIT
Mohamed tabled the following papers on behalf of the Int’l Youth Committee (IYC):
- Framework of the International Youth Summit
- Youth Summit Descriptive Program
- Descriptive schedule of Events
The Youth Declaration and Plan of Action are being drafted and consolidated during the 3rd PrepCom. Inputs from different constituencies are still arriving. Numbers of attendees and funding are not complete clear yet. The capacity is 1500 (young) people. There is a new application form.
Laurie explained that there is a bare budget of ca 120.000 USD for 350 participants – 90.000 USD for the organizational costs of the Youth Summit and the food for its participants should be managed by SANGOCO. Canada should confirm on 31st July if it grants money for the organizational costs of the Youth Summit, the Francophone should provide money for French translations. There should be 30 scholarships for young people from countries having belonged to the Commonwealth since before 1945. There is a need to use the NGO Forum interpretation and translation facilities. The Cuban interpreters can probably be used for the Youth Summit, too.
Berhane would like to see young people from migrant communities at the Youth Summit.
Monica Alemán expressed the concerns of IYC that it has not got any support for its organizational work or for to bring its organizers to Durban.
IYC asks ISC to provide space for to co-ordinate political issues and strategies towards WCAR.
ISC congratulated Mohamed and IYC for their excellent. The IYC members should be included in the scholarship grantees.
11. NEXT MEETING
The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, 31st July from 10 am to 1 pm and from 3 pm to 6 pm in the Room XXII. ISC members are asked to come to the NGO briefing daily at 9 am in the Room XVII.
- CLOSURE
The Chair closed the meeting at 6:05 pm.