------- Forwarded Message Follows ------- Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2000 22:06:35 +0100 (MET) From: jan willem goudriaan <jwg.eo at glo.be> Subject: PSI says no to profits on water www.world-psi.org click on: no to profits on water for further details
Dear Colleague,
Please find attached (and below) a highly critical press release on the World Water Forum in The Hague. I kindly ask you to forward it to those concerned with the issue and give it wide publicity. (We apologise for cross-postings)
Further background appears that analysis how a small circle of people aim to shape the world water vision, how transnational companies influence this process, how corruption plays a role and how companies in developed countries seek to make profits on the drinking water of the world's poor, please go to our website: www.world-psi.org click on No profits from water and you will find the relevant material.
Kind regards Jan Willem Goudriaan PSI
*** 20 Million Member Public Services International Slams World Water Forum Advocates of Big Business
Representatives of 20 million public service workers worldwide will be making their critical presence felt at the party for water privatisation organised in the Hague this week by the World Bank and multinationals.
Along with dozens of delegates from NGOs, environmental organisations and others, they will be insisting on delivering a message that has been suppressed by the organisers - that commercialisation of water is unpopular, unnecessary, and undemocratic.
The global Public Services International confederation has denounced the whole World Water Vision exercise, including the Forum, as undemocratic and unrepresentative of ordinary people. It is a multinational's vision, organised by the "politburo of privatisation."
The PSI has released a dossier of briefings, based on detailed research using a global database, which lays out the hard, practical experiences of the problems created by water privatisation in developed and developing countries alike, over the last decade.
"This is no longer the future, it is a 10-year old experiment with a dubious past. We agree with the slogan 'it cannot be business as usual' - private business has proved itself to be no friend of families, communities, or workers." Hans Engelberts, PSI General Secretary.
There is an alternative, says the PSI: that the public needs for water and sanitation should be met by public sector water organisations, as is done efficiently and sensitively, with minimal extraction of profits, in many countries in the world - including the Netherlands itself.
Says Cees Vrins, president of the Dutch union ABVAKABO FNV: "It is hard to believe that these people can organise a Forum for water privatisation in a country whose public sector water services are famous for their efficiency and effectiveness - and organise not a single presentation on the lessons to be learnt from the host country. Will the Crown Prince tell the final ministerial conference that his own country rejects the formula of privatised commercialisation of water?"
PSI is bringing representatives from every continent - representatives of hundreds of thousands of ordinary water workers and their communities, who would have otherwise been excluded by the extravagant entrance fees to this rich men's club.
"We will be standing up in key sessions, insisting on making our voices heard, insisting on presenting the evidence of what's wrong with commercialisation, insisting on presenting a different vision, for water and sanitation by the people, for the people." - Ferdinand Gaite, President, COURAGE/Philippines.
The World Bank and other funding agencies are critcised for using their funds to promote the expansion of the multinationals. "This is money which is ultimately guaranteed by the citizens of every country in the world, which is expected to be used to benefit developing countries - yet the agencies are using it to support the expansion of multinationals seeking to extend the profits they make from water. It is an abuse of public trust, it is a misallocation of resources."
PSI is joined by many members of civil society in opposing the direction and composition of the Forum, and its proposals to impose market forces on water. Under the banner the Blue Planet, these groups will present an alternative session on the evening of 20 March where Forum participants and the media can debate the issues that the Forum organisers aren't willing to deal with directly.
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Public Services International (PSI) is the International Trade Union Federation which represents public sector trade unions in 145 countries around the world. The affiliated unions, 560 in number, cover some 20 million public sector members. PSI is an autonomous body which works in association with Federations covering other sectors of the workforce and with the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU). PSI is an officially recognised non-government organisation for the public sector within the International Labour Organisation and has consultative status with ECOSOC and observer status with other UN bodies such as the UNCTAD and UNESCO.
Contacts: David Boys: + 33 45040 1165 or email: d.boys at world-psi.org Jan Willem Goudriaan: +32 2 2501080 or email jwgoudriaan at epsu.org