Protestors surround the conference centre (Photo: Martin Kunz)

The QPSW delegation meets West African cotton farmers (Photo: Martin Kunz)

Saturday 17th December. Waiting……and waiting


Today it seems as everyone – in the NGO and press centres at least have been playing a waiting game and at the moment it looks like this is set to continue.

There has been a marked difference in the mood of the meetings – both inside and out of the centre. Inside, yesterday’s many press and NGO briefings have turned into almost total silence on the part of the delegations as they work to bring about a successfully completion to these meetings by tomorrow afternoon. A number of press conferences have been cancelled at the last minute and the few that have actually happened have been fairly brief. It really does seem that everyone is locked down inside the negotiating room for the foreseeable future.

As the waiting continues, some of the campaigning groups here have been busy handing out merchandise promoting their positions. The most popular seem to be the ‘no deal is better than a bad deal’ tags which are like large ribbon necklaces and are being attached to people’s official conference badges. Others are wearing ‘no to annex C’ stickers referring to the text on services that has been so unpopular with the G90 grouping of developing countries. The African cotton producers are also doing the rounds and handing out small bags of raw cotton in bags proclaiming that “Subsidies of the North Kill the South Economies.”

It is clear that as we approach the end of the conference, almost everyone is getting weary. I’ve seen several people, press, NGOs and delegates catching the odd forty winks at the back of lecture theatres and even on the floor. Almost everyone in the NGO centre seems to have bags under their eyes. I assume at least that we NGO people are getting more sleep than the negotiators so it’s anyone’s guess how people are feeling in the greenrooms at the moment.

The big news came just after lunchtime when word got out that there was a new version of the ministerial text making its way around the centre. According to the people behind the documentation desk at that time, there was no public, official version of this so quite where it came from is anyone’s guess. However, whatever the origin it wasn’t long before what seemed like every photocopier in the conference centre was whirring away and had a backlog of people queuing to use it to make sure they got their own copy. Not long afterwards, some of the larger NGOs started producing statements, mostly opposing what they had seen.

In the areas that QUNO and QIAP are working on, the new text has seen a little progress, although not as much as developing countries would have liked. The Indian proposal that negotiations should begin on rules which would help to prevent bio-piracy (by requiring companies or individuals patents position on genetic resources to register the country of origin of the resource in question and any traditional knowledge on which it is based) has received some attention. The text as we have seen it does not mean that new rules will be definitely negotiated but the issue has been put on the agenda and must be now be discussed.

We are told that the heads of each delegation met this evening at 7pm and that after that negotiations about making final amendments to the text will continue through the night and into tomorrow. Some of the press can be heard gearing themselves up to take interviews at three or four in the morning.

As I write this most delegations seem to be assessing the new draft and preparing their responses to it. We have heard the G20’s initial assessment that on agriculture that there have been some “micro steps forward” but that their key demand that a date be set for the elimination of agricultural export subsidies has not been met. Brazil claims that the EU and US are busy blaming each other as to why a deal cannot be made here. We have yet to hear from either of those delegations since the new text came out so have no first hand information on their real assessments.

When we went outside the centre this afternoon to grab some lunch, we noticed that the already high levels of civilian security staff and police have been joined by what looks like hundreds of military personnel, a relatively high proportion of whom (well at least more than I expected) appear to be women. Dressed in full riot gear and some carrying full-length shields, they were marching in formation up the main street outside as another layer of barriers were hastily erected. Just a couple of hours later as crowds gathered round South Korean TV’s live feed in the press room, it became clear why. More protesters were being fished out of the harbour outside and soon after we were seeing pictures of what looked like a full scale riot going on outside. What we have seen looks quite vicious – on both sides and tear gas has been used in an attempt to disburse the angry crowd.

At one point this evening we were informed that the conference centre had been sealed and we would be stuck there until the blockades were lifted. Looking out the window, in the distance and behind the speedily erected security cordon there were huge crowds, mainly we were told consisting of Korean farmers determined to disrupt the meetings. After some waiting and much speculation about what was going on and that there was a route out through one of the luxury hotels attached to the conference centre, we Quaker delegates that were left decided to try and make it home. In the end it wasn’t actually a problem but it was clear that much of the area around the conference centre was sealed off and that the military was remaining prepared from the worst.

Its clearly going to be a long night for those left in the conference centre but for the rest of us, we’ll just have to wait to see what tomorrow brings.

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To see reflections from other Quaker representatives at the Hong Kong talks, see the website of the Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO) http://www.quno.org/economicissues/Dispatches.htm