Montreal, Wed. 21 Feb., 1996

I. HABITAT II PREPCOM III REVIEW:

The third and last PrepCom in preparation for the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) was held from February 5 - 16, 1996 in New York.

Tibetan NGO delegates to PrepCom III were:

Ms. Johanne Abonader, Canada Tibet Committee, Montreal (Feb. 4 - 9)

Mr. John Ackerly, Int'l Campaign for Tibet, Washington DC (Feb. 5)

Ms. Yodon Thonden, Int'l Committee of Lawyers for Tibet, San Francisco (Feb. 5 - 8)

Ms. Kunzang Yuthok, Tibetan Rights Campaign, Seattle (Feb. 5 - 9)

The PrepCom was preceded by a weekend of NGO preparatory meetings. Tibetan delegates attended the meetings of the Supercoalition (comprised mainly of women's groups) and Human Rights Caucus and began the network and lobby process.

The tasks undertaken by the delegation included drafting proposed amendments, participating in NGO Caucuses and their drafting groups, lobbying caucuses and governments on the draft Global Plan of Action and accreditation of the two Tibet NGOs that had applied, networking for activities to be held in Istanbul.

Overall representation by NGOs from the South was very poor. It was discussed in the Women's Caucus and the general assumption for the reason was the lack of funding for yet another conference right after the heels of Beijing. Conspicuously missing were NGOs representing occupied and indigenous peoples. The Tibetan delegation was usually alone to voice the inclusion of the rights of "people living under foreign occupation". Although initial drafts of proposed amendments by the Caucuses did not reference this group in particular, there was support for such language when advocated.

Tibetan delegates mainly worked through the Women's Caucus and Human Rights Caucus. The Women's Caucus was the most organized Caucus. They had begun their meetings on the previous Friday to draft proposed amendments. By Monday, they had a complete document which was something many governments let alone other Caucuses or NGOs did not have ready for distribution. Outreach was also done with other Caucus, in particular, the Value's Caucus, Rights of the Child Caucus, Peace Caucus and the International Facilitating Group (NGO and Caucus representatives working to facilitate adequate arrangements and access for NGOs at the NGO Forum and Conference in Istanbul).

Tibetan delegates were given the opportunity to make presentations of their position at the Women's Caucus and Values Caucus.

THE DRAFT GLOBAL PLAN OF ACTION

At the PrepCom:

Building on the Beijing Platform for Action, the delegates issued their proposed amendments and worked for the inclusion of language which considered the rights of "people living under foreign occupation" as well as "access to land", "protection of land rights and tenure" and "preservation of cultural and heritage sites".

Tibetan paper was presented to governments and NGOs with particular reference to the corresponding paragraphs from the Beijing PFA which cited "foreign occupation". The delegation was successful in having the Human Rights Caucus and Women's Caucus include "foreign occupation" language in their proposed amendments.

Results from the PrepCom III:

Foreign Occupation language:

Language referencing "foreign occupation" which was already in the draft GPA was bracketed (to be negotiated later). We need to do more lobbying for the language by linking with other NGOs that represent occupied people, people in areas of war / armed conflict and indigenous people and submitting to governments, NGOs and Caucuses, our proposed amendments to the new draft negotiated at the PrepCom III.

Land Rights and Tenure language:

Distribution of new draft of this section is awaited.

Cultural Preservation and Heritage Sites language:

Distribution of new draft of this section is awaited.

ACCREDITATION:

The two Tibetan NGOs that had applied for accreditation to the inter-governmental conference were: Canada Tibet Committee-Montreal and Tibetan Rights Campaign-Seattle. Initially, the Conference Secretariat had recommended the TRC for accreditation. In fact, TRC executive director, registered for the PrepCom under TRC. During the course of the PrepCom, it was evident that the Chinese delegation had influenced the Secretariat and the TRC was removed to the negative list which included only four NGOs. The were, CTC, TRC, TIA and Federation of Westtrace Turks in Europe.

By the end of the PrepCom, the Federation of Westtrace Turks in Europe was granted accreditation. There are now only three NGOs on the negative list. It is reported that the accreditation issue was referred to another UN body. Confirmation on the status of these NGOs is expected by Tuesday, February 20, 1996.

CONCLUSION:

Tibetan delegates to PrepCom III were successful in raising the issue of Tibet in the halls and meeting rooms of the United Nations. NGOs were supportive of Tibetan NGO participation. We believe this is directly a result of the two and a half years of work that went into the Beijing Conference on Women. The Women's Caucus and Human Rights Caucus included some of our proposed language in their document. Government delegations included individuals who had work the Beijing women's conference and so were aware of our concerns although no government sponsored our proposed language on "people living under foreign occupation".

Additional Tibet NGOs and representatives are needed to join in the activities of the Habitat II Forum and Conference.

II. TIBETAN NGO REPRESENTATIVES TO WORK TOWARDS HABITAT II CONFERENCE NEEDED:

Is your TSG interested in working towards or is currently involved in work related to settlements, cultural and heritage site preservation, etc.? We would like to hear from you.

As mentioned, the number of TSGs and representatives at the PrepCom III was too few to effectively cover all aspects. If you are interested in participating or would like to get information about how you and your TSG can play a role in the Habitat II Forum and Conference, please contact us:

Ms. Carole Samdup - CTC Montreal

Email:

Ms. Kunzang Yuthok - TRC Seattle

Email:

Following deadlines for accommodations and Forum application are:

Feb 29, 1996 - Accommodations

Apr 15, 1996 - NGO Forum (includes attending, reserving workshop space & booth)

Contact us for copies of application forms if you need them.

III. RECOMMENDED TIBETAN NGO STRATEGY FROM NOW UNTIL ISTANBUL:

The following are recommendations for discussion from CTC-Montreal and TRC-Seattle for Tibet NGO structure and participation for Habitat II. These are based on our experiences from the UN Fourth World Conference on Women and the recent PrepCom III for Habitat II. Your comments are welcome.

Recommendations:

1. Tibetan NGO Delegation to Habitat II

Comprised of a list of Tibetan NGOs actively working on this initiative. This would also include those organizations who do not plan to send delegates to Istanbul but support the initiative.

2. Establish two working groups:

(a) NGO Forum activities

(b) Conference activities

(a) NGO Forum Working Group would:

reserve booth for Tibetan NGOs

develop presentations

schedule workshops and presentations (either own or with other NGOs)

network with other individual NGOs and Caucuses

seek out other NGOs representing occupied and indigenous peoples

who will be in Istanbul

(b) Inter-governmental Conference Working Group would:

draft proposed amendments for the draft GPA distribute proposed amendments to governments, NGOs, etc. before Istanbul

lobby governments before Istanbul and at Istanbul

There is not much time to put all this together. Interested TSGs are requested to contact us to join together in this initiative.