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Al-Ahram Weekly 22 - 28 April 1999 Issue No. 426 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 22 - 28 April 1999 Issue No. 426
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Special Travel Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters The symptom and the disease
By Sami Metwali
Menacing developments in the war-torn province of Kosovo and the tragic humanitarian disaster unfolding there overshadowed proceedings at the 101st Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Conference which took place in the Belgian capital Brussels between 10 and 16 April. The Conference was opened by His Majesty King Albert and Queen Paola of Belgium, and was attended by over 1,300 parliamentarians from around the world, representing 136 countries.
Fathi Sorour and other members of the Egyptian parliamentary delegation
Deliberations continued for a week and covered a wide range of topics -- foremost among them, the ongoing impasse in the Middle East, the NATO airstrikes over Yugoslavia and the Kosovo crisis. Also discussed were ways of lifting the embargo on Iraq and alleviating the suffering of the Iraqi people.
High on the agenda was the issue of human rights violations and democratisation, along with issues pertaining to debt relief for poor developing countries. One particular theme that was discussed in great depth was urban deprivation.
A seminar was devoted to this subject, under the title, "The Problem of Metropolitan Areas: A Global Challenge To Which Parliamentarians Must Respond In Terms of Urban Civilisation and Democracy". The mushrooming of cities, especially in the developing countries of the South, has engendered many problems, including housing shortages, environmental pollution, traffic congestion, water scarcity the deterioration of the built environment and the architectural heritage, poor infrastructural development, high unemployment, rising crime rates, food insecurity, the insufficiency of basic social services and problems of access to educational facilities and health care.
The IPU conference also discussed problems facing women the world over, such as their insufficient participation in political decision-making, particularly in local government, which inevitably means that decisions are taken without reference to women's specific needs.
Delegates also reviewed the present situation of working women, who are still frequently relegated to inferior jobs and are not paid equitably. Many women face sexual harassment in the workplace. Economic restructuring has had a profound impact on women's employment in many Third World countries.
At the same time, women continue to carry most of the burden of housekeeping and family care. Yet despite these facts, most social programmes are not adapted to the dual role of women as paid workers and home-makers.
High on the agenda was writing off the national debt of heavily-indebted poor countries (HIPCs). The 101st IPU conference acknowledged with gratitude the HIPC initiative launched by the major donor countries, through the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, to provide some measure of debt relief for those with the greatest burdens. But delegates also expressed their concern at the slow and limited implementation of the initiative.
Moreover, the situation is not improving. Several poor countries are currently unable to service their foreign debts, and the burden this imposes on them inhibits -- in some cases, totally prevents -- economic growth, as well as the delivery of vital socio-economic services.
The IPU Conference also noted that widespread poverty and deprivation is the principal source of instability and conflict within countries, regions and internationally, and the major obstacle to the attainment of world peace. Like the debt burden itself, this poverty is the direct result of colonisation, post-colonial foreign domination and the continuing ruthless exploitation of Third World countries. The conference thus invited the international community to attend not only to the present symptoms of this suffering, such as the war in the Balkans, but even more to redressing the underlying historic injustices. This is the only way in which we can try and prevent more such wars breaking out in the future.
