FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY PREPARATORY COMMITTEE DEFERS CONSIDERATION OF FINAL REPORT
Press Release
ANV/222
FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY PREPARATORY COMMITTEE DEFERS CONSIDERATION OF FINAL REPORT
19951117 The Preparatory Committee for the Fiftieth Anniversary of the United Nations this afternoon deferred consideration of its draft report to the General Assembly, as well as action concerning publication of the statements made at the special commemorative meeting of the General Assembly held from 21 to 24 October.The Committee Chairman, Richard Butler (Australia), said the draft report was incomplete and inaccurate in several key respects. For example, Lebanon had not been included among those expressing reservations to the text of the declaration. In addition, some of the versions of the statements made were erroneous, including his own. The documentation was not acceptable to him and should not be acceptable to the Committee, he said.
Concerning publication of the proceedings of the special meeting, Mr. Butler recalled that the cost estimate given previously by the Secretariat concerning publication of the full texts of statements translated in all languages and in a bound volume, was $1 million. However, an alternative approach involved publication of 7,000 copies of a compendium similar to the Blue Book series, which would include the texts delivered from the podium and would be available in all languages. The estimated cost would be $71,000.
In discussion of the proposed publication, some representatives, such as China, favoured publication of the full text of statements. The United Kingdom, on the other hand, said that it could not support publishing the full-text version and Ukraine's representative said the Blue Book format would be most appropriate. The representative of France said that the document format suggested by the Chairman would be "quite worthy" as a presentation of the fiftieth anniversary speeches while Algeria's representative noted that the Assembly had earlier decided to publish the full-text version of the speeches. The representative of the United States asked the Chairman to explore alternative funding sources outside the United Nations system to assist with publication of the document.
Anniversary of UN - 2 - Press Release ANV/222 33rd Meeting (PM) 17 November 1995
As proposed by the Chairman, the Committee deferred a decision on the book pending publication of a formal statement of financial implications.
Addressing the follow-up to the fiftieth anniversary, Mr. Butler said a trust fund had been established for the anniversary into which voluntary contributions had been made and some $4 million still remained in that fund. The Organization had a legal obligation to dedicate those funds to education and communication. The fiftieth anniversary secretariat was a graphic illustration that the anniversary commemoration had not ceased on 24 October. Requests continued for information, videotapes and other materials and information on the anniversary was still being transmitted over the Internet. A secretariat was still needed to fulfil the commemorative programme through the end of 1996 to ensure that the spending of those funds was carried out properly.
After the Chairman asked the Committee to take a decision to that effect -- that the funds should be used for education and communication and that a small staff would be required to continue United Nations outreach to the international community -- several delegations requested further information on the composition of the reduced secretariat, including a detailed breakdown of costs associated with its continuing work.
In other matters, the Committee decided to commission a photograph of Permanent Representatives not dissimilar to the photograph taken of heads of State on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary, with the cost borne by delegations.
The Preparatory Committee will meet again at a date to be announced.
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