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United Nations Report

Johannesburg Summit Petition:
Put People's Freedom First!

August 19, 2002

We the undersigned call on world leaders and others gathered at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa, in August 2002, to recognise that true sustainable development can only occur when people are free, both economically and politically.

For this to occur, the following fundamental human rights must be respected in all nations:

• The right to own and exchange property without bureaucratic intervention

• The right to associate and to contract freely with others

• The right to freedom of speech

• The right to legal remedies when harm is inflicted on person or property

• The right to equitable treatment by courts of law

In addition, governments must decentralise ownership and control of natural resources and other assets. Decentralised ownership, when combined with respect for private property and the rule of law, will encourage entrepreneurship and environmental protection. The result will be sustained economic growth and environmental improvement. As economies grow, people will be able to afford better technologies, clean water, superior energy sources, better healthcare, and insurance. The result will be sustainable development.

There is a risk, however, that sustainable development could be undermined by green imperialism. International environmental treaties, especially those predicated on the precautionary principle, such as the Stockholm Convention, the Kyoto Protocol, and the Biosafety Protocol, are supposed to improve human health and the natural environment. In reality, these treaties pander to vested interests in the rich world. If they were to enter into force, they would act as restraints on open, rules-based trade, and keep poor people poor.

We call on you to reject any attempt to ratify these and other international treaties that are predicated on the precautionary principle, which is antiscientific and blocks vital new technologies that can improve the lives of billions of people.

We also implore leaders to end other forms of neo-imperialism, especially those promoted by the World Bank, the IMF and bilateral aid agencies. For far too long these agencies have implemented inappropriate and unworkable policies at great cost to taxpayers around the world, and have supported and sustained governments that abuse basic human rights.

We urge you to recognise that true prosperity can only be achieved when individual freedoms are guaranteed. Environmental treaties and global agencies that undermine these freedoms in favour of neo imperialism and centralised power will only perpetuate poverty and environmental destruction.


Deadbeat diplomats:

Rudy wanted them kicked out of town

Deadbeat diplomats at the United Nations have been a problem for so long that former Mayor Rudy Giuliani considered kicking the UN out of New York.

A diplomatic license plate comes with a lot of clout and non-payment of parking tickets was never one.

Eleven Canadian diplomats at the UN are listed on the diplomatic cheapskate list. They have denied charges by New York that they have misused their diplomatic privileges by failing to pony up some US$2,200 in outstanding parking fines.

Splitting hairs in the argument, the Canadians argue that the actual amount owing is $1,700.

According to Canada’s National Post, a spokesman for the Canadian consulate in New York admitted one of its diplomats had flouted consular policy by failing to pay US$358 in fines on a private vehicle carrying a diplomatic license plate.

"The person in question has been told to pay the fines immediately," said the spokesman, Peter Lloyd.

Echoing Rudy’s exasperation with deadbeat diplomats, his replacement Mayor Michael Bloomberg has ordered some cars towed-- starting now.

New York City contends that delinquent diplomats citywide owe more than US22-million in unpaid parking fines since 1997, with the worst offenders coming from
Egypt, Kuwait and Nigeria.

Consular diplomats owing more than US$230 will be the first targeted for towing because they have less diplomatic protection than UN diplomats, and so are less likely to win court challenges to having their cars impounded.

New York City’s zeal to collect is not shared by the U.S. state department, where a senior official warned that towing diplomats’ cars would "raise serious international legal concerns" and could provoke retaliatory measures overseas.

The principle of diplomatic immunity is enshrined in international treaties, in which countries agree not to seize the property of other nations or their officers.
Last year, the State Department, which issues D license plates to UN diplomats and C plates to consular officials, agreed in principle with the Giuliani administration on how countries could be coaxed into paying fines.

The new deal was to have been inked on Sept. 15, but was forgotten after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Talks resumed under the Bloomberg administration but broke down in July. In a recent radio address, Bloomberg said that the State Department "doesn’t want to do anything" about the problem.



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