Word: secretariat
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...priests, concluded that 20% of the nation's Catholic clergy are gay, half of those sexually active. Sipe also estimates that 4% of priests are sexually attracted to adolescents and an additional 2% to children under 13. Responding last month, David Brinkmoeller, director of the U.S. bishops' secretariat on priestly life, questioned the validity of the figures...
...name it -- stacked with ivory to the roof." But Burundi did not keep its promise to get out of the business; instead it accumulated another 90 tons. Says Joe Yovino, former head of the CITES ivory unit: "No question, we got snookered." Yet four months ago, the CITES secretariat agreed to arrange for the sale of about 28 tons that had been seized by Burundi authorities. Jacques Berney, the deputy secretary-general of CITES, says he is convinced that the new Burundi government, which came to power in a 1987 coup, is sincere about keeping the agreement to halt additional...
Conservationists suggest that the secretariat's protrade policies may have something to do with its source of funding. Since its founding in 1985, CITES' ivory unit has received two-thirds of its budget -- some $237,468 -- in contributions from ivory traders. Japan's trade association has contributed $139,701 to CITES' ivory unit, making it the largest single contributor. After CITES registered the Singapore ivory, much of which belonged to Hong Kong's Wang, he contributed $10,000 to the organization. "When I saw my salary was coming from K.T. Wang, that just did it," said Yovino, then head...
...secretariat defends its cozy relationship with the ivory business. Eugene Lapointe, CITES secretary-general, says inadequate financial support from governments left the group little choice but to turn to the trade for money. CITES, he says, has no enforcement authority and should not be held accountable for policing. That, he says, is the responsibility of the individual nations. As for the amnesty granted the Singapore and Burundi ivory, the secretariat says a 1985 vote by its member nations empowered it to register all stocks...
...Will the secretariat's campaign to block the ban succeed? Probably not, since the international momentum to do something for the elephant is strong. But little is certain. "I foresee chaos," says a spokesman for Botswana. In the final days leading up to the meeting, lobbying efforts by both sides reached a frenzied level. The vote in Lausanne will not be unanimous, and any prohibition of ivory trading will be at best a patchwork. As long as southern African nations such as Zimbabwe and Botswana refuse to accept the ban, ivory will be available for sale...