Dear Friends,
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Millennium People's Assembly at the Hague
5/20/99 Report
Dear Friends,
Greetings, I am happy to report that the Millennium People's Assembly at the Hague was very much a success. We are well on our way now to the next stage in our development. I am including herein a copy of a Declaration and Petition don for a Global People's Assembly that we drafted and began to circulate during the Conference. Please feel free to circulate it and to ask for signatures and sponsors; it can be sent to our New York office on completion. MPAN's Interest Sheet can also be used at the same time to sign up people that show further interest and we also encourage you to enroll people in your own work.
The Declaration was read at a Rally on friday evening that was Chaired by Rashmi Mayur and hosted by Adidam Peace and One World Now, focusing on UN reform. We intend to submit the Petition to the Millennium Forum and Secretary-General along with our formal proposal for a permanent Global People's Assembly, which we will be developing over the upcoming months.
I am sorry that this is the first report we have been able to give about our Hague activities. Unfortunately, it was much more difficult to get access to a computer than we had thought. The computer room at HAP closed at 10:00 in the evening and didn't open until 9:00 in the morning. We were in meetings and planning sessions almost all day and into the evening, so I had almost no time to work on the computer and had to focus all of my time on the working documents that we were developing. I just returned home yesterday; but as I say it was a fantastic trip and very worthwhile. I will issue a fuller report in the next day or two. I want to invite other conference and people's assembly attendees to write about your experiences and post them on Passem as well.
Meanwhile, we had excellent participation in all of our meetings. Quite a few people volunteered to serve as contact people and organizers for different regions around the world; and there is a lot of new enthusiasm for what we are doing. There were about 25 delegations represented, coming from most of the continents. We formed a Delegates Council that will continue on into the future. Now we need to firm up participation and develop long distance procedures and operating processes. LeTagaloa Pita (Parliamentarian & UNA Samoa) and Rhyl Jansen (National President of UNA New Zealand) were selected to Co-Chair the Delegate's Council meetings and will continue in this capacity, with myself, Lucile Green, and Sue Zipp acting as Advisors to the Council.
Finally, we reached agreement that the Global Millennium People's Assembly will be held in Apia,
Samoa from April 3-7, 2000. It will have a two fold focus, (A) considering the options for and
developing the on-going structure and processes for a permanent Global People's Assembly and (B)
developing and giving input to both the Millennium Forum and the UN Millennium Assembly &
Summit. I imagine that we will probably include at least a strong thematic focus on the areas of
Peace and Global Disarmament; UN Reform and Global Governance; and Economics and
Development (including Eradicating Poverty). There is a strong organizing team already in place in
Samoa; and much enthusiasm for what we are doing. The projected cost for participation is $500
plus airfare. This will cover everything - food and lodging, transportation, conference fees, etc. So
start saving up or raising your money. I understand that Samoa is the place to be in the spring time.
Also, we are planning for a two to three day Preparatory Millennium People's Assembly to be held right after the September DPI/NGO Conference at the UN in New York this fall. This will provide us with a really good opportunity to discuss the issues and options for a permanent assembly in depth; to agree on a full strategy plan for establishing it; and to complete our Formal Proposal. The theme for the DPI/NGO Conference this year is "Globalization".
More to come soon about our HAP/MPA activities and the Hague Appeal for Peace Conference.
Rob Wheeler, MPAN Chair and Coordinator.
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