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Lack of clarity on role of industry for UN NCD meeting

NGOs express concern over conflict of interest

Published 23. 06 2011 by Øystein Bakke

79 NGOs from various sectors have issued a statement of concern to the President of the UN General Assembly. The NGOs are concerned about the lack of clarity of roles for the industry sector in the recently held UN interactive hearing for civil society and the UN High Level Meeting on non-communicable diseases (NCD) in September.

The statement was addressed to Dr. Joseph Deiss, President of the UN General Assembly, Ambassador Sylvie Lucas, Permanent Representative of Luxembourg, and Ambassador Raymond Wolfe, Permanent Representative of Jamaica. All are key actors in the ongoing process on NCD in UN.

The 79 signatories draws from various fields of interest, including Baby Milk Action, alcohol, tobacco, essential medicines, consumers groups and various health groups. While the organisations strongly support the objective of raising the profile of NCDs globally they express concerns over the lack of clarity regarding the role of the private sector.

The NGOs call on the UN to:

  1. Recognise and distinguish between industry including business-interest not-for-profit organisations (BINGOs) and public interest non-governmental organisations (PINGOs) that are both currently under the ‘Civil Society’ umbrella without distinction.
  2. Develop a ‘code of conduct’ that sets out a clear framework for engaging the food and beverage industry and managing conflicts of interest, and which differentiates between policy development and implementation.
  3. Address and acknowledge these concerns ahead of the UN High Level Summit in September.

Read the full NGO Statement on Conflicts of Interest

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