NATIONAL SUMMIT ON AFRICA: TOP TEN PRIORITY RECOMMENDATIONS During the National Summit, delegates deliberated and adopted the following 10 priority recommendations (two for each of the National Summit on Africa's five themes) for immediate action, and to serve as the anchors to the National Policy Plan of Action for U.S.-Africa Relations in the 21st Century. Economic Development, Trade and Investment, and Job Creation: 1. The U.S. should take the lead in providing prompt and meaningful debt relief for Africa by forgiving all Africa public sector debt owed to the U.S. The U.S. should also support and encourage the favorable renegotiation, restructuring or cancellation of African debt held by private and multilateral creditors, as well as that held by other creditor nations. 2. It is absolutely necessary for the U.S. to stimulate direct trade and investment between Africa and the U.S. because without it democracy will fail and the human needs of the people cannot be met. This should be done with particular emphasis on small- and medium-sized businesses between Africans and African-Americans. There must be support for the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act in order to foster trade and investment in Africa and enable African countries to develop mutually beneficial partnerships with the U.S. so as to accomplish these goals. Sustainable Development, Quality of Life, and the Environment 3. In the interest of sustainable development and the goals of self-sufficiency and economic independence in Africa, the U.S. should support and strengthen access to potable water and waste management; the prevention, control, and eradication of infections and diseases through the use of non-traditional, traditional, and herbal medicines. Prevention of all major diseases in Africa should be supported in partnership with African governments, civil society and non-governmental organizations, the private corporate sector and other multi-lateral and bi-lateral donor agencies. Moreover, the U.S. must champion debt cancellation so African governments can redirect those resources toward these efforts. The U.S. should work collaboratively with organizations in Africa to support efforts to provide disability, refugee, and mental health services. HIV/AIDS should be given special emphasis. These collective actions will also ensure the future of Africa's children. 4. The U.S. should invest in and support African initiatives to provide basic necessities through the development of sustainable infrastructure. Addressing these issues requires commitment to human capital, gender issues (with emphasis on women), education, capacity building, participatory development involving the inclusion of non-governmental organizations, community-based organizations, and reliance on expertise from Africa, as well as establishing linkages with African-Americans. All existing and future U.S. government projects, U.S. non-governmental organizations and businesses should adhere to the same environmental protection standards that they would need to meet in the U.S. and should be required to sign on to a list of principles that promote sustainable utilization of land, water, forest, wildlife, marine, biodiversity, and coastal resources. The U.S. should strictly enforce the prohibition of transporting, selling and dumping of toxic and hazardous substances. Therefore, the U.S. through its Department of State, agencies, and Congress can play key enhancing roles by: 1) increasing the foreign assistance budget; 2) sustaining and expanding information technology infrastructure 3) using its relational leverage with other donors to boost the livelihood of grassroots communities; and 4) supporting efforts at land reform which sustains small holder agriculture and food security. Peace and Security 5. The U.S. should support United Nations and regional organizations’ peacekeeping and conflict prevention efforts in Africa, including timely financial and logistical support. The U.S. also should fully pay, without conditions, its current United Nations dues and arrears and its assessments for peacekeeping operations. 6. The U.S. should increase financial, technical, and logistical support for African and multilateral initiatives and institutions (including civil society) aimed at crisis prevention, conflict resolution, peace enforcements, and humanitarian assistance. Any action should incorporate an intensive education program. The U.S. should increase efforts to enact the optional protocol on child soldiers; to protect African citizens against conscription, to inform American consumers of the origins of African products and resources in order to prevent the sale of those products from financing war, conflict, and corruption. The President should immediately sign, and the U.S. Senate should ratify, the Treaty to Ban Landmines without reservation. The U.S. should expand financial support for mine clearance, victim assistance and rehabilitation, environmentally sensitive de-mining, and landmine awareness. The U.S. should end all production and sales of landmines and should support international initiatives to make producers of landmines financially accountable for property and human losses therefrom. Democracy and Human Rights 7. The U.S. government, public and private sectors should make the promotion of democracy and respect for human rights central to their policies towards Africa. The U.S. should increase support towards existing and emerging institutions that do not violate human rights. U.S. foreign assistance including trade benefits, security assistance, finance, and logistics should be available on a preferential basis to those that respect human rights. This assistance must include human rights training. To this end, the U.S. should be committed to bringing all Americans, particularly African Americans, to the forefront of discussions, planning, and implementation of all initiatives. 8. To promote African democracy and human rights in this era of globalization, the U.S. government should require U.S.-based corporations and international finance institutions, particularly the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and World Trade Organization, to advance these goals in policy and practice. A corporate code of conduct must make democracy and human rights central to doing business in Africa. The charters of international institutions should be amended so that they can no longer offer support and legitimacy to illegitimate governments, and to democratize the institutions to allow for more African representation. The U.S. should support Africa's quest for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, should triple the number of African refugees admitted to the U.S., increase aid to 0.7% of GNP, and ratify all pending human rights conventions. Education and Culture 9. The U.S., including African-American educational institutions, should seek equitable partnerships with African professionals, institutions, and communities to include opportunities for international exchange, training, research, technology, knowledge transfer, information sharing, and arts and culture. The U.S. should fund and support efforts of all countries to provide basic education, all types of literacy programs, and HIV/AIDS education for children (particularly girls) adults, and persons with disabilities. 10. It is imperative that action be taken consistently and accurately to educate the U.S. public on Africa through mass media, cultural institutions, and school curriculum. The U.S. must encourage African ownership while discouraging multinational institutions from destabilizing, displacing, or competing unfairly with indigenous media. Policymakers must 1) promote change in American knowledge and attitudes toward Africa; 2) emphasize Africa's role in the history of global civilization. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Next meeting Wed., April 26, 7 to 9 PM, location to be announced, Seattle. To post a message: [log in to unmask] To subscribe sending a blank message to [log in to unmask] To unsubscribe send a blank message to [log in to unmask] For complete information on the Washington State-Africa Network visit: http://www.ibike.org/africasummit ------------------------------------------------------------------------ @Backup- Protect and Access your data any time, any where on the net. 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