ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL CALLS ON UN SYSTEM TO REVIEW IMPLEMENTATION OF DECLARATION ON DECOLONIZATION

26 July 1996

Press Release
ECOSOC/5686

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL CALLS ON UN SYSTEM TO REVIEW IMPLEMENTATION OF DECLARATION ON DECOLONIZATION

19960726 Also Takes Action on Israeli Settlements, Poverty Eradication, Economic and Social Rights Covenant, INSTRAW, UN Major Conferences

The Economic and Social Council this morning recommended that specialized agencies review the implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples by the terms of a resolution adopted by a vote of 29 in favour to none against, with 20 abstentions. (For details of the voting, see Annex I.)

Under other terms of that text, the Council requested specialized agencies and other organizations of the United Nations system and international and regional organizations to strengthen assistance to the remaining Non-Self-Governing Territories.

The Council voted 44 in favour to 1 against (United States), and 5 abstentions (Belarus, Central African Republic, Côte d'Ivoire, Romania, Russian Federation) to reaffirm that Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territory, including Jerusalem, were illegal and an obstacle to economic and social development. It also reaffirmed the inalienable right of the Palestinian people and the population of the Syrian Golan to their natural and all other economic resources. (See Annex II.)

Acting without a vote, the Council took note of a set of agreed conclusions on the coordination of the activities of the United Nations system for poverty eradication. The agreed conclusions address, among others, a definition of a poverty-eradication strategy; resources for poverty eradication; cooperation with the Bretton Woods institutions; and mainstreaming a gender perspective into United Nations poverty-eradication strategies.

The remaining resolutions were also adopted without a vote.

By one of those texts, the Council noted that the provisions concerning the monitoring of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights were not consistent with other human rights treaties, and requested the Secretary-General to submit to the Council's resumed 1996 substantive session

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a report on the legal procedure necessary to bring the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in line with other similar human rights treaty bodies.

The Council also adopted, as orally revised, a resolution on the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women, which called upon States, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations to contribute through voluntary contributions and pledges to the Institute's Trust Fund.

Under the provisions of another resolution, the Council called upon all relevant organizations of the United Nations system to integrate the results of major international conferences into their programme of work. The Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC) was invited to take into consideration the Council's decisions, resolutions and agreed conclusions and those of its functional commissions as the basis for follow-up to those conferences.

The Economic and Social Council will meet again at 3 p.m. today to take action on all outstanding proposals before its substantive session.

Council Work Programme

The Economic and Social Council met this morning to take action on proposals before it, concerning, among others, coordination of activities for poverty eradication; operational activities for development; social, humanitarian and human rights questions; economic and environmental questions; regional cooperation in the economic, social and related fields; permanent sovereignty over national resources in the occupied Palestinian and other Arab territories; coordination questions; non-governmental organizations; and new and innovative ideas for generating funds.

Action

GERHARD WALTER HENZE (Germany), Council Vice-President, introduced, and described minor editorial changes, to the text of draft-agreed conclusions regarding the coordination of policies and activities of the United Nations system in poverty eradication (document E/1996/L.30).

According to the draft, at the major United Nations conferences in the 1990s the international community had committed itself to poverty eradication. The United Nations system had an essential role to play in those efforts, complementary to those of governments which had primary responsibility for poverty eradication. The implementation of the global commitments by the international community was essential, because poverty was not only a national problem, but also had origins in the international environment.

Regarding the coordination of United Nations support and the availability of resources for poverty eradication activities at the field level, the conclusions state that poverty eradication strategies differ among countries. Governments had primary responsibility for assessing poverty and defining eradication strategies. The participation of civil society, including people living in poverty, local empowerment, and a feeling of "ownership" by government and local communities were essential for poverty eradication strategies. The United Nations system had a complementary role to play, assisting governments and orienting support activities, according to their priorities, through collaborative exercises, such as the country- strategy note, when the government intended to apply that mechanism.

Regarding poverty eradication resources, the text notes a decline in concessional resources for multilateral development institutions. In that context, it expresses particular concern at the incomplete fulfilment of commitments to the tenth replenishment of the International Development Association. There was an urgent need to fulfil the agreed target of 0.7 per cent of the gross national product (GNP) of the developed countries for official development assistance (ODA), the agreed conclusions state. It calls for new ways of generating resources, such as by reducing excessive military expenditures, including global military expenditures, the arms trade,

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and investments for arms production and acquisition, taking into consideration national security requirements. The Council took note of the work which interested countries had undertaken regarding the 20/20 concept, by which interested developed and developing country partners agreed on a mutual commitment to allocate 20 per cent of ODA and 20 per cent of the national budget, respectively, to basic social programmes.

Regarding the mainstreaming of the gender perspective in United Nations poverty-eradication activities, the conclusions call for integration of the gender perspective into the coordinated follow-up to major United Nations conferences; a cohesive effort by the United Nations system, including the Bretton Woods institutions, to promote a gender perspective in policy formulation; information exchanges between United Nations organizations concerned with poverty eradication and those concerned more specifically with women; the use of research data disaggregated by sex; the elaboration of standardized indicators capable of measuring the gender dimension; gender impact analysis of the design and implementation of policies and programmes; integration of a gender perspective into the evaluation of operational activities; dissemination of information on the mainstreaming of a gender perspective; and training on gender issues to United Nations personnel.

The conclusions place primary responsibility for the follow-up to and review of the implementation of the World Summit for Social Development on the Commission for Social Development. That Commission should provide an integrated approach to national and international poverty-eradication strategies. The other relevant functional commissions had valuable contributions to make in addressing poverty eradication from their particular perspective and within their own mandates, while avoiding unnecessary duplication and overlap.

Acting without a vote, the Council took note of the agreed conclusions on coordinating poverty-eradication efforts of the United Nations system.

Mr. HENZE (Germany) then introduced a draft resolution on follow-up to major United Nations conferences (document E/1996/L.43) submitted on the basis of informal consultations on previously introduced texts (documents E/1996/L.21 and E/1996/L.39).

Under its terms, the Council would decide to continue to ensure, on a regular basis, the harmonization and coordination of the multi-year work programmes of relevant functional commissions by promoting a clear division of labour and providing clear policy guidelines. It would invite the Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC) to take into consideration the decisions, resolutions and agreed conclusions of the Council and its functional commissions as the basis for follow-up of the major conferences.

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In addition, the Council would invite the ACC to present reports on the work of its task forces and on the inter-agency committees on sustainable development and women and gender equality to its 1997 substantive session. The Council would also call upon all relevant organizations of the United Nations system to integrate the results of major international conferences into their programme of work and to contribute relevant information to the consolidated report of the Secretary-General. The Secretary-General would be requested to present reports in a timely manner and in a concise format.

That draft was then adopted without a vote.

The representative of Canada said the issue of coordination had not been adequately dealt with during the current session and must be reconsidered at the resumed substantive session.

The Council then took up the draft resolution on implementation of the Declaration on decolonization by the United Nations system (document E/1996/L.42).

That draft would have the Council request specialized agencies and other organizations of the United Nations system and international and regional organizations to strengthen existing measures of support and formulate programmes of assistance to the remaining Non-Self-Governing Territories. Administering Powers would be requested to facilitate the participation of representatives of Non-Self-Governing Territories in conferences of the agencies and organizations so that they may benefit from the related activities of the specialized agencies.

In addition, the Council would recommend that the executive heads of specialized agencies and organizations formulate proposals for the full implementation of relevant United Nations resolutions for submission to their governing and legislative organs, and would encourage Non-Self-Governing Territories to establish and strengthen disaster preparedness and management institutions and policies.

The text is sponsored by Cuba, Lebanon, Papua New Guinea, Syria and the United Republic of Tanzania.

The representative of the United States requested a recorded vote on the text.

The resolution on the implementation of the Declaration on decolonization was adopted by a vote of 29 in favour to none against, with 20 abstentions. (For details of the voting, see Annex I.)

The representative of Zimbabwe said her country had meant to vote in favour of the text.

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The representative of the United Kingdom said his country supported the valuable work carried out by the United Nations in Non-Self-Governing Territories. It cooperated with such work in British-administered territories. However, the United Kingdom did not accept the link between those Territories and the Declaration. Further, it did not support the provisions in the text calling for consultations between the President of the Council, who was of considerable importance, and the Chairman of the Special Committee on decolonization, who was of negligible and, indeed, declining importance.

The representative of the Russian Federation said consideration of the issue of decolonization did not contribute to the depoliticization of the Council, which was necessary for it to serve its policy coordination role. The topic of decolonization was beyond the Council's immediate competence and should be reviewed by the appropriate United Nations bodies. A number of provisions in the resolution did not correspond to established United Nations procedures. The Russian Federation had, thus, abstained on the resolution.

The representative of the United States said his country recognized the responsibilities of the United Nations in a variety of fields, as well as the challenges faced in the Non-Self-Governing Territories. The United States would have supported a resolution supporting those simple facts. The resolution just adopted unnecessarily and inappropriately made a link between the work of the specialized agencies and the Declaration. The time for such a link, if indeed it ever had existed, was long past.

The representative of Portugal expressed support for the work of the United Nations in the Non-Self-Governing Territories. Portugal considered that the decolonization process was not yet complete, and, thus, the Special Committee still had an important role to fulfil.

The representatives of Chile, Costa Rica and Guyana said that, had they been present during the voting, they would have voted in favour of the text.

EMILIA CASTRO DE BARISH (Costa Rica), on behalf of the "Group of 77" developing countries, introduced the revised draft resolution on follow-up to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (document E/1996/L.38/Rev.1).

Under its terms, the Council would note that the provisions concerning the monitoring of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights are not consistent with other human rights treaties. The Secretary- General would be requested to submit to the Council's resumed 1996 substantive session a report on the legal procedure necessary to bring the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in line with other similar human rights treaty bodies.

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The representative of the United States said that on this and other texts to be examined today, it was the understanding of his delegation that unless a budgetary impact was announced by the Secretariat, the resources needed for mandates adopted would come from existing resources. He asked for confirmation of that.

MARGARET KELLEY, the Council Secretary, said that the Secretariat would take the floor if there were any programme budget implications of any draft. If no such statement was made, then it could be assumed that there were no budgetary implications.

The text was then adopted without a vote.

The representative of Canada said that it would be desirable for the members of the Committee to be elected by the States parties, but it would be necessary to receive a legal opinion on the matter prior to any action on that issue. The aim of the draft was to seek a report which would clarify such questions and enable the process to move forward.

The representative of Japan said her country had joined the consensus on the resolution's adoption, it was of the view that any amendment of the Covenant should first be considered by its States parties. Japan would have preferred language which would not prejudge the outcome of consideration by States parties.

The representative of Australia said it was important for the members of the Committee to be elected by the States parties, but Australia remained to be convinced that it was necessary to amend the Covenant for that purpose. It would be studying the report on the subject.

A draft resolution on the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (document E/1996/L.36) was before the Council for action.

That draft would have the Council call upon States, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations to contribute through voluntary contributions and pledges to the Institute's Trust Fund. The Council would commend the work of the Institute on issues addressing the economic and political empowerment of women; statistics and indicators in gender issues; women, natural resources and sustainable development; and issues related to the elderly, displaced, refugees and migrant women.

In addition, the Council would commend the Institute for its efforts to further develop cooperation with specialized and related agencies of the United Nations system. It would also reiterate the importance of maintaining the level of resources devoted to independent research and training activities that are crucial to the empowerment of women.

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The draft is sponsored by Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Guatemala, Lebanon, Mongolia, Morocco, Nigeria, Tunisia, Turkey and the United Republic of Tanzania. LUIS FERNANDO CARRANZA CIFUENTES (Guatemala) introduced oral revisions to the text, including one which would delete the phrase "with satisfaction" from the first operative paragraph. Also, the fifth operative paragraph would be deleted. The resolution on the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women was then adopted without a vote, as orally revised.

The representative of Ireland, speaking on behalf of the European Union, said he wished to recall, for the record, the statement he had made on the subject of the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women.

The Council then took up the draft concerning the economic and social repercussions of the Israeli settlements on the Palestinian people in the Palestinian territory, including Jerusalem, occupied since 1967, and on the Arab population of the occupied Syrian Golan (document E/1996/L.23).

Under its provisions, the Council would reaffirm that such settlements were illegal and an obstacle to economic and social development. It would also reaffirm the inalienable right of the Palestinian people and the population of the Syrian Golan to their natural and all other economic resources, and would regard any infringement thereof as illegal. The Secretary-General would be requested to report to the fifty-second session of the Assembly, through the Council, on the text's implementation.

The draft is sponsored by Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Mauritania, Qatar, Sudan, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

Mr. HENZE (Germany), Council Vice-President, said, unfortunately, no consensus had been reached on the text.

The representative of the United States said his country believed that the draft had become an anachronism. The reiteration of the one-sided views expressed in the text was a tradition divorced from the historic advances in the peace process. Some were trying to look back to the polarized past, rather than fully join the spirit of the present. The United States rejected that approach. The Council should support the negotiations and encourage the parties to resolve their differences. Under the Declaration of Principles, the issue of settlements and that of Jerusalem were to be negotiated. Prejudging the outcome of those negotiations could hardly be regarded as a positive contribution to the peace process. Because the draft was one-sided, the United States would vote against it. The United States was fully committed to reaching a just, comprehensive and lasting peace in the Middle East.

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The representative of Algeria said the text being put to the vote was the same as last year. It had not been changed since last year; only the date had been updated. He wanted to make that clear to all delegations.

The representative of Lebanon said it remained the duty of the international community to restate at every occasion the main principles guiding relations among States and peoples. The Council also had the duty to restate that in no way should an occupier benefit from the acquisition of land by force. That was a well-accepted and established principle of international law. Unfortunately, certain principles were being covered under the pretext that negotiations were under way. That action actually hindered the peace process, rather than helping it. Those who really wanted peace should send the message that the principles were central to a just and lasting peace. Lebanon would support the draft.

The draft resolution on the economic and social repercussions of the Israeli settlements on the Palestinian people in the Palestinian territory, including Jerusalem, occupied since 1967, and on the Arab population of the occupied Syrian Golan was then adopted by a vote of 44 in favour to 1 against (United States), with 5 abstentions (Belarus, Central African Republic, Côte d'Ivoire, Romania, Russian Federation). (See Annex II.)

Speaking after action, the representative of the Russian Federation said his country had abstained on the vote. Consideration of that question in the Council only politicized its work, negatively impacting the climate of partnership and practice of consensus. The question must be resolved through bilateral Arab-Israeli negotiations. The Madrid Conference must be the starting point for such negotiations, as well as the relevant resolutions of the Security Council. Israel and the Palestinians must carry out their obligations under the Declaration of Principles.

The representative of Israel said the ritual adoption of the resolution year after year did not make it more true or more relevant. The Council was irrelevant to the subject matter discussed in the resolution. The resolution itself made it clear that the place to deal with the settlements issue was within the framework of the peace process in the Middle East. The resolution would not bring peace closer. Rather, it was the closeness of the Palestinians living together who would work out the matter of peace.

Speaking on a point of order, the representative of Lebanon said he rejected the statement made by Israel, which was unfortunately against the spirit of statements usually delivered in the Council by Member States.

The observer for Palestine thanked all of those delegates who had supported the resolution, which was dealing with an issue critical not only to the people in the occupied territories and the Syrian Golan, but to the peace process in general. The Israeli settlements violated international law, many

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resolutions of the Security Council and the peace process itself. The parties had agreed to negotiate in phases, but no attempt must be made to change the situation on the ground. The recent Israeli actions were casting doubt on Israel's sincerity towards peace.

The representative of Algeria said his country would like to thank all delegations that had supported a communiqué issued by Algeria on behalf of the Arab Group on 15 July.

The representative of Syria said the adoption of the draft clearly reflected the profound conviction of the international community concerning Israeli settlements, which violated international law and the resolutions of the Security Council on which the peace process was based. The Council must adopt resolutions such as that adopted today, because it had a responsibility towards those who had been mistreated and who had suffered injustice. Without the restoration of international law, the problem in the occupied territories would persist forever. He thanked those who had supported the resolution, for they were the supporters of the peace process.

(annexes follow)

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Economic and Social Council Press Release ECOSOC/5686 51st Meeting (AM) 26 July 1996

ANNEX I

Vote on Declaration on Decolonization

The draft resolution on implementation of the Declaration on decolonization by the United Nations system was adopted by a recorded vote of 29 in favour to none against, with 20 abstentions, as follows:

In favour: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Central African Republic, China, Colombia, Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Egypt, Gabon, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Jamaica, Jordan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Paraguay, Philippines, Senegal, South Africa, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Venezuela.

Against: None.

Abstaining: Belarus, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States, Zimbabwe.

Absent: Bangladesh, Chile, Costa Rica, Guyana, Sudan.

(END OF ANNEX I)

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ANNEX II

Vote on Israeli Settlements

The draft resolution on Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territory was adopted by a vote of 44 in favour to 1 against, with 5 abstention, as follows:

In favour: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Egypt, Finland, France, Gabon, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guyana, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Paraguay, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Senegal, South Africa, Sweden, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, United Kingdom, United Republic of Tanzania, Venezuela, Zimbabwe.

Against: United States.

Abstaining: Belarus, Central African Republic, Côte d'Ivoire, Romania, Russian Federation.

Absent: Bangladesh, Congo, Costa Rica, Sudan.

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