WRITTEN QUESTION P-2442/99 by Christopher Heaton-Harris (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Beijing + 5 UN conference.
18. 7. 2000 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 203 E/173 The NHS and John Moores University, Liverpool, are jointly paying £ 10 000 to send 40 lecturers and 20 students to attend a conference on drug culture and clubs in the Dutch city this week. The EU is also subsidising the visitors. Apart from lectures about the supposed health benefits of drug-induced átrance dancingí the programme also includes visits to nightclubs where drugs illegal in Britain are tested for purity at the door rather than confiscated. What does the Commission know about this, and is it true that EU funds are being used to cofinance the project? Answer given by Mrs Reding on behalf of the Commission (13 January 2000) Following detailed internal involvement in the activities cited by the Honourable Member. inquires, the Commission has been unable to discover any Community (2000/C 203 E/224) WRITTEN QUESTION P-2442/99 by Christopher Heaton-Harris (PPE-DE) to the Commission (13 December 1999) Subject: Beijing + 5 UN conference Will the Commission financially support NGOs which will want to attend Beijing + 5 meetings next year in New York? What criteria will these NGOs have to fulfil to receive such support? Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission (5 January 2000) The special United Nations (UN) session Women 2000, Gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century ü Beijing 2000í will serve as a forum to reaffirm the commitment and assess the progress achieved by governments in the implementation of the forward-looking strategies from 1985 and the Beijing declaration and platform for action from 1995. The Member States of the UN appoint their delegations for participation at UN world conferences and meetings. Governments are not requested formally to include non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in their national delegations but, in view of the unanimous recognition of the important role played by womenís NGOs in the Beijing follow-up process, NGO representatives are increasingly included in national delegations. The responsibility for funding NGOsí participation lies first of all with the voluntary sector itself and then with government at national level. The Commission does not have at its disposal resources for funding NGOs wanting to attend the Beijing + 5 meeting. The Community, represented by the Commission, in spite of being a signatory of the Beijing declaration and platform for action, has the status of observer before the UN