PLANET OR DEATH! | G8/G20 Communique | Rejection of Failed System that Places Profits over Mother Ea

PLANETA O MUERTE! | PLANET OR DEATH!

G8/G20 Communique | Rejection of Failed System that Places Profits over Mother Earth and People

Joan Russow, Global Compliance Research Project

Cory Morningstar, Canadians for Action on Climate Change

Gordon Brown, in his press conference, arrogantly equated the G-20 states as being 'the world" when he made statements such as: Now the world has agreed [the same arrogance has been present for years with the self anointed G7and G8]. In June, statements from the G8 and G20 will be released; it will be presumably nothing more than tinkering with the economic system. If the current global situation is to be changed, there must be more than status quo measures to prop up the current capitalist system. Instead the G8 and G20 could reverse the years of contributing to war and conflict, of violating human rights, of denying social justice, and of devastating the environment, and could draft the following communique:

We, the G20 and above all the G8 states recognize that we have for years been part of the problem and have contributed to a state of global urgency.

No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it - Albert Einstein

No self-anointed group of 20 countries can solve the urgency of the global crisis.

We now commit to do the following:

1. Reduce the global military budget and security by reallocating military security expenses and transferring the savings into global social justice as undertaken through numerous UN Conference Action Plans and UN General Assembly Resolutions.

2. Abandon the pre-emptive/preventive attack policy that has resulted in aggressive attacks on sovereign states and that has been in violation of the UN Charter Article 2 and international law as being the 'supreme' international crime of war of aggression.

3. Withdraw immediately from any military involvement and occupation of sovereign states, including Iraq and Afghanistan.

4. End the practice of mollifying public opposition by couching aggressive acts in euphemistic "operations" such as "Operation Just Cause", Operation Iraqi Freedom, "Operation Enduring Freedom", etc.

5. Undertake to sign and ratify all Geneva Protocols, including Protocol V, which requires the removal of remnants of war.

6. No longer perceive justice in terms of revenge through military intervention and to instead seek justice through the International Court of Justice.

7. No longer misconstrue Art. 51 (self-defence) of the Charter of the United Nations to justify premeditated non-provoked military aggression, or to use various such pretexts for invading other sovereign states.

8. Not engage in and to oppose any attempt to undermine the international resolve to prevent the scourge of war; this would include not engaging in intimidation or in offering economic incentives in exchange for support for military interventions.

9. Be willing to be judged by an international tribunal for any actions that might be deemed to violate international law, to be crimes against the peace, to be war crimes, or to involve genocide.

10. Not misuse UN "peacekeeping" forces to clean up aggressive acts of destruction and occupation of other states.

11. Close and convert to peaceful purposes all foreign military bases in sovereign states around the world.

12. Undertake to respect the mandatory jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice, and to abide by its decisions.

13. End the production and circulation and berthing of nuclear powered or nuclear arms-capable vessels throughout the world.

14. No longer engage in "war games" or "military exercises" such as Exercise Trident Fury.

15. Discontinue propping up and financing military dictators.

16. Abandon the practice of targeting or assisting in the assassination of leaders of other sovereign states, and of engaging in "regime change" or covert destabilization of democratically elected leaders of or any leader of a sovereign state; to end the interference in the democratic process through state-funded non-governmental organizations.

17. Invoke Chapter VI - the peaceful resolutions of disputes - and be prepared to be judged by the International Court of Justice.

18. Abide by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and immediately implement Article VI of the Treaty, (Article VI: commits all parties to pursue negotiations in good faith on measures to end the nuclear arms race and to achieve disarmament).

19. End the production of all weapons of mass destruction such as nuclear, chemical, and biological, as agreed to in UNCHE in 1972, and in specific conventions.

20. Be equally critical of all states, including Israel, which possess nuclear weapons, and to recognize the destabilizing impact of the Middle East as a result of the possession of nuclear weapons.

21. Reaffirm the obligations under the 1967 Outer Space Treaty to ensure that exploration and use of outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, shall be carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all countries, irrespective of their degree of economic or scientific development, and shall be the province of all mankind [humanity];

22. Discontinue the research, development and installation of Ballistic Missile Defence technology.

23. Make a full commitment to disarmament and oppose the continued profit-making from the sale of arms.

24. Prohibit all international arms trade sales.

25. Implement obligations to reduce the trade in small arms.

26. Collaborate with the ILO to fund a fair and just transition program for workers currently working in the arms trade.

27. End the destabilization of states and regions through the sale of arms, including through the guise of "foreign aid".

28. End the production of land mines and to sign and ratify the Convention for the Banning of Land Mines, and affirm a commitment of funds and continuous effort to remove land mines from all areas of the world where land mines are known to exist.

29. Suffocate the production of uranium.

30. Call for the accession of all states to the Non- proliferation treaty (NPT), support  the Middle East Nuclear Weapons free Resolution, and  revoke Article IV which guarantees the "inalienable right of all states to the 'peaceful" use of nuclear energy.
 
31. Prohibit the production and use of weapons such as depleted uranium and cluster bombs that would be prohibited under the Geneva Protocol II.

32. Oppose NATO'S first strike policy, and support the disbanding of NATO and NORAD and all other military based institutions.

33. Abide by the Geneva Conventions on the treatment of civilians, and respect international human rights and humanitarian law.

35. Abide by the Convention against Torture through Cruel, Inhumane or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

36. End the practice of rendition of citizens and to abide by the Geneva Conventions.

37. Eliminate cruel and inhumane punishment such as capital punishment, which violates accepted international norms.

38. Abandon institutions and agreements which promulgate globalization, deregulation and privatization; these institutions and agreements undermine the rule of international public trust law, and condone and actively facilitate corporations benefiting and profiting from war.

39. Oppose the promulgation, globalization, deregulation and privatization through trade agreements, such as the WTO/FTAA/NAFTA/ SPP and bilateral agreements etc. that undermine the rule of international public trust law and international norms, and to support global fair trade.

40. Disband the WTO, abrogate NAFTA and end negotiation of the Security and Prosperity Partnership Agreement.

41. Oppose all proposals such as those in the Security and Prosperity Partnership, which will result, through the practice of harmonization, in standards' and regulations' not achieving the highest tenable principles, but arriving at the lowest common denominator.

42. Abandon the IMF Structural Adjustment Program which has led to the violation of human rights, has exploited citizens in the developing world and has adversely impacted on vulnerable and indigenous peoples around the world.

43. Oppose the privatization of public services such as water, sewage and health care, daycare etc.

44. Increase funding to universities to counter the corporate funding of education, including the corporate direction of research, and declare that research must be arms-length and not tied to government or corporations.

45. Implement the long-standing international commitment to transfer .7% of the GDP for overseas aid, and to cancel Developing World debt.

46. No longer subsidize and invest in corporations that have developed weapons of mass destruction, that have violated human rights, that have denied social justice, that have exploited workers, and that have destroyed the environment.

47. Implement the commitment made to ensure that corporations, including transnational corporations, comply with international law, and that they pay compensation for any previous health and environmental consequences of their actions.

48. Revoke charters and licences of corporations that have violated human rights, including labour rights, that have contributed to war and violence, and that have led to the destruction of the environment.

49. Abandon the capitalist, exploitative, competitive economic model, and embrace cooperative forms of economic entrepreneurship.

50. Support Mandatory International Ethical Normative (MIEN) standards and enforceable regulations to drive industry to conform to international law, and to oppose corporate "voluntary compliance".

51. Enforce the provisions in the Convention to prevent disasters, and to not embrace the acceptance of weaker proposals which would result in "reducing disasters".

52. Ban substances and activities that contribute to environmentally-induced diseases and sickness and deterioration of health and well being. 

53. Address poverty-related health problems and ensure universal access to a publicly-funded not-for-profit health care system.

54. End the production of toxic, hazardous, atomic waste.

55. Prevent the transfer to other states of substances and activities that are harmful to human health or the environment as agreed at the UN Conferences on the Environment and Development, 1992.

56. Ban the production, approval and promotion of genetically engineered foods and crops which have led to a deterioration of the food supply, and to loss of heritage seeds; and;

57. Oppose all proposals such as to supply genetically-engineered food and crops to address the issue of poverty, or to contribute to the mitigation of climate change.

58. Promote plant based organic agriculture, and institute a fair and just transition program for workers and communities affected by the conversion to organic agriculture.

59. Protect biodiversity by signing and ratifying the Convention on Biological Diversity and oppose "megadiversity"- resulting from genetic engineering.

60. Be forthright in acknowledging that the Biosafety Protocol is a disguised trade agreement, and serves to promote the acceptance of genetically modified living organisms.

61. Accept the warnings of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change, and to no longer disregard obligations under the Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Protocol to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, to preserve carbon sinks, and commitments made under Habitat II Agenda to move away from car dependency.
 

62. Undertake to comply with all the provisions of the Peoples Agreement out of Cochabamba, including 1) preventing the temperature from rising above 1 degree C, and requiring the ppm to return to 300 ppm, and move towards pre-industrial level. [There is no possibility whatsoever of staying below 1C (or even 1.5C %u2013 2C) without reaching zero carbon emissions. Therefore there must be an emergency reversal of GHG emissions.] (ii) abandoning of the false market based solutions and offsets (iii) transferring at least 6% of GDP for climate finance in developing countries. The viability of mobilizing this amount of finance is evident %u2013 developed countries spend an equivalent amount each year on national defence. In addition, developed countries have mobilized trillions of dollars (equivalent to five times the 6% GDP proposed) to bail out failed banks and speculators. This is a question of political will, and the priority given to effectively combating climate change and protecting Mother Earth (Peoples Agreement).

63. To urge the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change to investigate and estimate the full impact on greenhouse gas emissions by the military and demand that each state release information related to the greenhouse gas emissions from the production of all weapons systems, military exercises, from war games, weapons testing, military aviation, environmental warfare, troop transfer, military operations, waste generation, reconstruction after acts of violent interventions etc.

64. Counter the deniers of the issue of climate change by i) citing the precautionary principle contained in the legally binding Framework Convention on Climate Change; which reads that where there is a threat of climate change, the lack of full scientific certainty should not be used as a reason for postpone measures to prevent the threat [a paraphrase].

65. Oppose any suggestion that civil nuclear energy or biofuel is the solution to climate change [civil nuclear energy and biofuel violate the principle that a solution should never be equally bad or worse than the problem it is intended to solve], end the misappropriation of agricultural land for the growing of biofuel and support socially equitable and environmentally sound renewable energy. Conserve energy, and phase out fossil fuel, especially end the production from tar sands, and prohibit off shore drilling, and oil tanker traffic.

66. Oppose the practice by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of promoting civil nuclear energy as a solution to climate change [in violation of the principle that a regulator should not a promoter be].

67.  Address the contribution of the alteration of the hydrological cycle and biodiversity to climate change and the impact of climate change on the hydrological cycle and biodiversity. 

68. Support a Forest Protocol to be linked to the Convention on Biological Diversity and to the Framework Convention on Climate Change.

69. Reject the proposal for REDD which will impact on indigenous forests.

70. Repeal Patriot act/Anti-terrorism Acts etc., because it violates civil and political rights, and results in racial profiling.

71. Abandon the "no-fly" list.

72. Oppose "slap suits" against public participation.

73. No longer target, intimidate and discriminate against activists on the grounds of political and other opinion (a listed ground in the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights).

74. End all discrimination on the following grounds:

- race, tribe, or culture;

- colour, ethnicity, national ethnic or social origin, or language; nationality, place of birth, or nature of residence (refugee or immigrant, migrant worker);

- gender, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, or form of family, [including same-sex marriage]

- disability or age;

- religion or conviction, political or other opinion, or - class, economic position, or other status.

75. End the discrimination against immigrants and refugees.

76. Sign and ratify the Convention for the Protection of Migrant Workers and their Families; and the Convention on Refugees.

77. Offer amnesty to all those who are war resisters.

78. Fully abide by ILO Convention related to Indigenous rights.

79. No longer engage in practices that destroy the lands of Indigenous people or that are deemed to be inappropriate as agreed to in Agenda 21 (UNCED);

80. Adopt and implement the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

81. Respect women's reproductive rights, and abide by commitments made under the International Conference on Population and Development, and the Beijing Platform, and to sign and ratify the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women, and its Protocols.

82. Ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

83. Sign and ratify all of the ILO Conventions, including the provisions related to the right to strike, and the right to equal pay for work of equal value.

84. Support the institution of an International Court of Compliance linked to the International Court of Justice; The Court of Compliance will hear evidence from citizens of state non-compliance.

85. Support the establishment of an International Court of Compliance where citizens can take evidence of state and corporate non-compliance, and where, in the absence of compliance, charters and licences of corporations can be revoked.

86. Discharge obligations incurred through conventions, treaties, and covenants; and act on commitments made through conference action plans related to common security - peace, environment, human rights and social justice.

87. Sign, ratify, and enact the necessary legislation to ensure compliance with, or respect for Common Security international Conventions, Covenants and Treaties.

88. Affirm a commitment to multilateralism and oppose unilateral actions that undermine global common security.

89. Affirm that true security is not "collective security" or "human security", which has been extended to "humanitarian intervention", and used along with the "responsibility to protect", and NOW THE LATEST EUPHEMISM WILL TO INTERVENE with a view to justifying military intervention in other states. True security is "common security", not as defined in the SPP, but in documents prepared by Olaf Palme, and which entrench peremptory norms related to the following actions:

90. Promote and fully guarantee respect for human rights including labour rights, civil and political rights, social and cultural rights - right to food, right to housing, right to a universally accessible, not-for-profit health care system, right to education and social justice; to this end, to ratify the international Covenant on Social Economic and Cultural Rights.

* to enable socially equitable and environmentally sound employment, and ensure the right to development [as per Convention];

* to achieve a state of peace, social justice and disarmament; through reallocation of military expenses, and eradication of poverty

* to create a global structure that respects the rule of law ; and

* to ensure the preservation and protection of the environment, respect the inherent worth of nature beyond human purpose, reduce the ecological footprint and move away from the current model of over-consumptive development and toward forms of economic cooperation.

91. Ratify the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, under which Article 53 has the provision that a treaty is null and void if the treaty violates international peremptory norms.

92. Oppose religious extremism and proselytizing including the spread of Evangelical Christianity around the world, which has undermined local indigenous cultures, instilled fear through the dangerous, belief in the "rapture", "Armageddon" and "left behind", has promulgated dispensationalist "end times" scenario which has serious irreversible consequences and has led to the denigrating of other established beliefs, cultures and practices.

93. No longer undermine the notion of democracy by couching a plutocracy/theocracy in democratic notions of "freedom";

94. End the interference in the democratic process through government-funded non-governmental organizations.

95. Reverse the practice of undermining years of international obligations incurred through treaties, conventions and covenants.

96. Reverse the practice of undermining international commitments made through UN Conference Action Plans.

97. Reverse the practice of undermining international expectations created through UNGA Declarations and Resolutions.

98. End the practice of proselytizing of religion which undermines other religions and Indigenous cultures.

99. Ensure the separation of state and religion.

100. Publicly acknowledge the fact that the G8 and the majority of the G-20 states have been responsible for the perpetuation of global crises, and  support the dissolution of both the G8 and the G20, and the UN Security Council which violates a fundamental principle in the Charter of the United Nations: the sovereign equality of states and give power to  the UN General Assembly which is the best expression of the sovereign equality of states. Establish a new voting procedure for the UNGA at Conferences and COP- striving for consensus with a back up of 75%.

"Either capitalism dies or Mother Earth dies"

Evo Morales, April 21st, 2010, The World People's Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth