---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2001 20:34:44 -0800 From: Charlotte Utting <[log in to unmask]> Reply-To: [log in to unmask] To: [log in to unmask] Subject: [wa-afr] FW: ADNA draft policy priorities document for Hill visits I think the following shows the kind of useful work that ADNA does on behalf of all of us in Washington DC-- ---------- From: [log in to unmask] Organization: Africa Policy Information Center Reply-To: [log in to unmask] Date: Wed, 14 Mar 2001 17:34:27 -0500 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: ADNA draft policy priorities document for Hill visits Dear ADNA members, Following find the draft of the policy priorities document incorporating all of the revisions that have been submitted and the discussion of the last ADNA DC area groups meeting last week. We hope that we are near final on this so that we can begin planning the visits to Members of Congress and the Administration shortly. Many thanks to all those who contributed to this process. We urge you to review this and clear it with your organizational leadership quickly so that it may be used as a document reflecting the Advocacy Network for Africa as a whole, rather than with individual organizations signing on. Unless we receive a large number of messages from you all saying otherwise, we will be distributing this as a document which represents common concerns of the majority of the network rather than exact mandates of specific signatories. Deadline for your replies to be received is Wed March 21, close of business. Thank you in advance for your prompt attention to this. Regards, Vicki Ferguson, policy doc editing cmte ADNA Communications Facilitator ADVOCACY NETWORK FOR AFRICA US/Africa Policy Priorities for 2001-2002 The Advocacy Network for Africa calls upon the 107th Congress and the Administration of President George W. Bush to... 1. Advance Africa's Right to Health: by increasing US support for rebuilding the basic health infrastructure and African governmental responsibility and capacity to deliver adequate nationwide health care and services; by authorizing and appropriating new funding levels at a minimum of $1 billion total for HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, and $725 million to $1 billion for other global health crises;* by working with the G-7 and other wealthy nations to meet 100% of the external need in new grants, not loans, without reducing general development funding levels; by following the lead of Great Britain in untying aid, as recommended by the OECD, thereby saving an estimated minimum of 25% on programming costs, which can be reinvested in the expansion of AIDS response programs; by eradicating bilateral and multilateral policy and regulatory obstacles to the rapid and successful implementation of comprehensive, multisectoral, scale-up of prevention, care and treatment, and impact mitigation programs necessary to address the AIDS pandemic and the wider health crisis it represents; and, by ensuring that the US Government not retalliate against African nations seeking to acquire or produce HIV/AIDS medications at the lowest possible cost. 2. Prioritize Economic Justice: by canceling the US Government-held debt for sub-Saharan countries and taking leadership among the G-8 in pressing for cancellation of the multilateral debt held by the World Bank and IMF; by limiting the debt service of all African countries to no more than 5% of government revenue, to ensure that more money is available and spent on health care and education than is spent in making debt payments. by ending structural adjustment style programs as policy conditions for assistance and loans and supporting African initiated models for economic development; by making measurable poverty eradication the guiding principle for US bilateral and multilateral economic policies related to Africa; by increasing US development assistance to sub-Saharan Africa $1 billion for general development without reducing commitments to other poor countries and regions, with an emphasis in the areas of poverty alleviation, agriculture, education, and human capacity- building, with the objective of ending human suffering and increasing Africa's ability to compete in the global market; by promoting fair trade relationships that are respectful of African and American labor, human rights and environmental concerns and that help to decrease the economic disparities that exist between the developed and developing countries; by respecting and supporting the fundamental principles of the "African Model Legislation for the Protection of the Rights of Local Communities, Farmers and Breeders, and for the Regulation of Access to Biological Resources" developed by the Organization of African Unity (OAU); by assisting in the implementation of African economic and development policies that are informed and shaped by domestic constituencies, increase transparency, and prioritize poverty eradication; and, by supporting the African position at the World Trade Organization in termsof a broad reaching review of TRIPS, with no new round of TRIPS negotiation. 3. Promote Peace and Security throughout Africa: by increasing US financial, material, and diplomatic support for African and United Nations initiatives to prevent and resolve conflicts; by acceeding to and implementing the Landmine Ban Treaty, ratifying and implementing the Child Soldiers Protocol, and adopting controls on the illicit trade in conflict diamonds in the formof the Clean Diamonds Act; and keep a high priority on the needs of the most vulnerable of populations - refugees and internally displaced persons of conflict situations: by increasing funding for Migration and Refugee Assistance within the foreign assistance budget by $100 million, from $700million to $800 million, returning it to the inflation-adjusted level of 1995; by reducing the unethical disparity in aid that goes to African refugees compared to refugees in other regions of the world; by bolstering the number and training of protection officers within the UNHCR in Africa; and, by strengthening the UN's mandate and ability to assist and protect internally displaced populations, who often face even greater dangers than refugees; and by engaging in serious international negotiations in building treaties aimed at curbing the illicit and monitoring and regulating the licit trade of small arms and light weapons. 4. Respect and Support African Democratic and Human Rights Initiatives: by supporting African governmental institutions and civil society efforts that are accountable to the citizenry, and that promote and protect the full spectrum of human rights; by providing financial support for United Nations Human Rights monitors and special rapporteurs in areas of conflict and concern; by increasing funding for democratically conducted elections, including especially the involvement of civil society groups in the training and participation domestic election observers; by supporting newly elected democraticgovernments through strengthening mechanisms of government conduct and transparency, and through development of assistance for projects that support the immediate stabilization of newly elected governments; by publicly and diplomatically affirming the right of human rights workers to work freely and without fear of harassment in accordance with the international human rights standards; by supporting and facilitating the training of Africans, in particular human rights defenders, to makebest use of national, international and regional mechanisms established for the protection of human rights; by calling upon all States to respect and ensure the respect of the full spectrum of human rights; by acting to encourage all States to bring national legislation into accordance with international human rights standards and to ensure the independence of the judiciary and other mechanisms for the defence of human rights; by urging all States to adopt special measures to ensure the protection of women's rights; by working to ensure that the intergovernmental, international and regional organisations forcefully and publicly intervene to promote and protect human rights; by demanding that all bilateral and multilateral organs and authorities of economic cooperation, ensure in their programs respect for and promotion of the full spectrum of human rights; and, by demanding and enforcing all multinational companies ensure that their strategies and projects do not violate or undermine human rights, particularly environmental rights, in their areas or operation. *HIV/AIDS: Given the alternative calculation methods for needed funds to combat HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa (UNAIDS - $3 billion/year for 'basic' prevention and care only, the Economic Commission on Africa - $10 billion/per year, and Jeffrey Sachs, Harvard Economist - $10-15 billion/year the latter numbers including costs of Antiretroviral medicines and necessary infrastructure rebuilding for service delivery the projected US share calculated at the 1/6 burden-sharing level for funding HIV/AIDS response is between $2.5 and $3 billion/year for Africa alone. *** This message from the editing committee of the ADNA policy priority is distributed through the Advocacy Network for Africa (ADNA). Vicki Lynn Ferguson Advocacy Network for Africa Communications Facilitator c/o Africa Action (a merger of the Africa Fund, the Africa Policy Information Center, & the American Committee on Africa) 110 Maryland Ave, NE #508 Washington, DC 20002 Ph: 202-546-7961 Fax: 202-546-1545 E-mail: [log in to unmask] Web: http://www.africapolicy.org/adna ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-~> Make good on the promise you made at graduation to keep in touch. Classmates.com has over 14 million registered high school alumni--chances are you'll find your friends! http://us.click.yahoo.com/l3joGB/DMUCAA/4ihDAA/DdbVlB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------_-> Our next meeting is Wednesday, March 28, Safeco Center, E Main and 23rd, Suite 200, Seattle 7:00 PM WSAN business meeting 8:00 PM Program: GambiaHELP We usually meet the last Wednesday of the month. 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