UN-Habitat and Spanish Foreign Policy

Since the Spanish Prime Minister is held by José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero the Spanish foreign policy is conceived from multilateralism. To participate in International Organizations is, for present Spanish Government, one of the main activities and needs. However, this way to visualize the participation and how to participate on international agenda it is not the most appropriate way.
Spanish Government has been involved in many projects since 2004. For the Government, international cooperation –and its funds- is to donate art for the United Nations offices in Geneva, but also and mainly, to get involve in the international agencies and programs.
Three years ago, the Government, through a collaboration agreement with UNDESA and with the participation of Aragon Regional Government and the City of Saragossa, opened the United Nations Office to support the Water Decade (2005-2015). This office shows the willingness of Spanish Institutions to be a relevance international actor on Millennium Development Goals tasks, especially on water issues. Currently, the Office is still working –despite the controversy on local politics about it and the misunderstanding of Saragossa civil society- and, about the international agenda on water; everything shows that Spanish Government is still looking for welcome water international programs and agencies. Even though the Spanish incoherence in General Assembly, where Resolution about Human Right to Water and Sanitation did not receive, past July, Spanish diplomacy’s support.
In addition to physical presence on Spanish territory of international institutions, the Government has another goal: to place Spanish people in the Direction and Coordination of international programs and agencies. In 2008, Inés Alberdi was appointed Executive Director of UNIFEM, the United Nations Fund for Women. This nomination was surrounded by some controversy when part of international civil society considered the Indian Gita Sen as a better qualified candidate and because it has consider that the UNDP support Inés Alberdi due to the Spanish promise to increase its contribution to the budgets of UNIFEM. In any case, the current Executive Director already had extensive experience and knowledge about the work of UNIFEM through its Chair in Sociology from the Complutense University of Madrid, where she is a specialist in women's issues and family.
But now, Spanish Government promotes Joan Clos as new UN-Habitat Executive Director. In August 23th, the UN General Secretary, Ban Ki-Moon elects former Barcelona’s Mayor and former Spanish Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourist, Joan Clos replacing Anna Tibaijuka.
The differences between those appointments –Inés Alberdi and Joan Clos- are notorious. While UNIFEM is just a fond directed by UNDP, UN-Habitat is an agency, an institution recognized worldwide as a major player in development issues. Its mission is to promote socially and environmentally sustainable town and cities with the goal of providing adequate shelter for all. This mission requires highly qualified professionals that make UN-Habitat an international reference in development issues. And for this, the Spanish Government has decided to exert pressure and promote Joan Clos.
A brief look to the Joan Clos CV shows that he is a Doctor. He ascended into Catalonia Socialist Party –PSOE in Catalonia- as a council member until, following the resignation of Pasqual Maragall as Mayor of the city, Joan Clos was promoted. As Barcelona Mayor, his main project was the celebration of the 2004 Forum of Cultures; an enormous reconstruction of the city which instead of solving social problems related to marginalization, housing and drugs, what he did was to expulse those problems few kilometers away from Barcelona. Joan Clos was rewarded for his party and became –like other former Barcelona’s Mayors- Ministry. It should be mention here that Barcelona is a place selled by the Council to the tourist industry –low cost tourists- which is fighting against their owns citynships. The best shop around the world, says the slogan.
This is Joan Clos, who from next October will be the new Executive Director of UN-Habitat. He will have to develop political and technical actions that develop cities for their citenships; he will have to work on Human Right to housing. He will have to end the marginalization of poor. If he follow the line started in Barcelona, this will be a disaster. Furthermore, he will be compared with Anna Tibaijuka, human shelter and Food Security expert with a great prestige in international politics who has done a very good work for UN-Habitat and its mission.
Spanish Government, quite rightly, has opted for multilateralism. But it has to be conceived as an opportunity to work with other international actors -States, International Organizations and Global Civil Society- and not merely as a political marketing resource and a way to promote their old politicians –an elephant’s graveyard. Until Spanish Government doesn’t takes seriously the International Institutions, develop a coherence foreign policy and support candidates that not necessarily has to be Spanish or Spanish socialists, the international politics will not take seriously the Spanish foreign policy. Spain can bring more and better solutions to the International Agenda, but not for this way.