TWO-DAY UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE FOR DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES OPENS AT HEADQUARTERS
Press Release
DEV/2123
GA/9153
TWO-DAY UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE FOR DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES OPENS AT HEADQUARTERS
19961104 Channelling of Resources through Special Funds, Should not Occur at Expense of Core Resources, Says Secretary-GeneralMember States and observers pledged contributions for the development activities of the United Nations system, as the annual two-day United Nations Pledging Conference for Development Activities opened this morning.
In his opening statement to the Conference, Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali expressed concern that overall levels of resources were declining, just when there was renewed consensus on policies and commitments at the highest levels of the Organization. "Resources for development are lagging, while the United Nations is seeking to carry out an expanding roster of tasks and mandates", he said. There was also a growing discrepancy between resource flows and demands.
Voluntary contributions to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the World Food Programme (WFP) amounted to $4.5 billion in 1995, which was $108 million less than 1994, and $268 million less than in 1992. While the Secretary-General welcomed increased resources channelled through trusts and other special purpose funds, he said that should not occur at the expense of core resources.
Pledged this morning were made for activities of the UNDP, UNICEF, UNFPA, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat) and a number of United Nations trust funds. The total amount of pledges made or indicated this morning will be available tomorrow at the end of the Conference. Later in this press release pledges made today are listed in alphabetical order of countries making pledges.
Also addressing the Conference this morning, its President, Jean-Louis Wolzfeld (Luxembourg), said the increased requests for peace-keeping activities addressed to the United Nations, should not shroud the fact that
peace-keeping, as well as humanitarian assistance, was not a substitute for sustainable development. He stressed that development and democratization were the best acts of conflict prevention.
Pledges were made this morning by the representatives of the Netherlands, Thailand, Samoa, Myanmar, Maldives, India, Republic of Korea, Austria, Mongolia, Viet Nam, Cyprus, Algeria, China, Peru, Bulgaria, Singapore, Central African Republic, Benin, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Portugal, Tunisia, Gambia, Mauritania, Morocco, Chile, Ethiopia, Kuwait and Monaco. Provisional pledges subject to approval by national parliaments were made by the representatives of Liechtenstein, Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium, Mexico and Indonesia. The Observer for the Holy See made a pledge and a provisional pledge was made by the observer for Switzerland. The representatives of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Italy also spoke.
At the outset of the Conference, Julio Armando Martini Herrera (Guatemala) was elected as Vice-President.
The United Nations Pledging Conference for Development Activities will reconvene at 10 a.m. tomorrow, 5 November.
Statement by Secretary-General
Secretary-General BOUTROS BOUTROS-GHALI, addressing the joint opening of the United Nations Pledging Conference for Development Activities and the United Nations/Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Pledging Conference for the World Food Programme (WFP), said that joining the two pledging conferences provided Member States with an excellent opportunity to reaffirm their support for individual programmes and funds, and the overall process of multilateral cooperation for development.
The United Nations operational activities for development continued to be in high demand, he said. Those efforts aimed first and foremost to build self-reliant capacity to fight poverty and disease. They were essential in ensuring that global agreements led to concrete achievements at the country level. They were undergoing extensive reform as a result of initiatives in the context of the General Assembly's reforms adopted in its resolution 50/227.
He said that voluntary funds freely pledged were essential to cooperative efforts. "It is in this spirit of partnership and solidarity, that we must continue to explore ways of ensuring the provision of increased resources on a more predictable, continuous and assured basis", he said. The effort provided an opportunity for governments to demonstrate their continued commitment to the international development agenda, the global partnership for development, and to the process of reform and renewal.
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He said the level of resources provided for United Nations operational activities for development reflected political choices, particularly by donor countries. Contradictory signals needed to be addressed by the international community. The overall resources were declining, at the same time that renewed commitments were being made at highest summits. The gap was growing between resource flows and demand, and resources for development were lagging as the United Nations sought to carry out an expanding roster of tasks and mandates.
In 1995 voluntary contributions to the UNDP, UNICEF, the UNFPA and the WFP amounted to $4.5 million, $108 million less than in 1994 and $269 million less than 1992. Another disturbing trend was the decline in core resources, at a time of renewed consensus on the need for greater coordination and multi-disciplinary response to global problems. "Increases in the resources channelled through trusts and other special-purpose funds are welcome, but this should not occur at the expense of core funding", he said.
He said that the UNDP continued to be the Organization's largest supplier of funds for development and the main mechanism for coordinating development assistance. As a result of significant reforms, it had placed the eradication of poverty at the centre of all its work, focusing on environmental regeneration, job creation and the advancement of women. It had also changed the way funds were allocated -- in June 1995, its Executive Board had approved a new three-year programming framework of $3.3 billion for planning purposes for the three-year period beginning in 1997. "With your support, the UNDP can become an even more powerful force for development", he said.
The UNICEF had continued to concentrate the bulk of its efforts on combating the "silent emergencies" facing children of the world, the insidious combination of malnutrition, disease and poverty, he said. The Fund's decentralized structure allowed it to respond rapidly to the changing needs of children and women. The Fund's cooperation in many countries was guided by national programmes of action prepared in response to the 1990 World Summit for Children.
He had already reported in September on "encouraging trends towards achievement of the majority of the goals of the World Summit". However, it was also acknowledged that there had been no significant progress in relation to some of those goals. "The challenge now is to enhance UNICEF's capacity to support countries to improve this record", he said.
The UNFPA, as the lead United Nations organization for follow-up to the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development, had worked vigorously with many developing countries to incorporate the Cairo Programme of Action into development plans. It had also spearheaded an Inter-Agency
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Task Force to ensure system-wide collaboration and had been a global advocate for women's empowerment. At the national level a great effort was also being made to expand reproductive health services. Last year, UNFPA had increased its income by 17.8 per cent over 1994, however, the momentum had not been maintained during 1996.
The WFP had established a target of $1.3 billion in development resources for the 1997-1998 biennium, a reduction from previous bienniums owing to a shortfall in attainment of its previous targets, he said. Currently only 54 per cent of programmes had been met, which prevented the WFP from responding to many deserving requests for food aid in support for development, rehabilitation and disaster preparedness.
During the last two years, WFP had made important efforts to strengthen its financial management and accountability systems, he said. It was reorganizing and streamlining. It maintained two principle instruments to meet the needs of victims of emergencies: the International Emergency Food Reserve had a minimum annual target of 500,000 tons, although annual resources averaged 1 million tons; and the Immediate Response Account, which had a target of $35 million in cash. To meet pressing needs of victims of disasters, the Protracted Relief Operations programme category would also again require a minimum of 550,000 tons of food annually during 1997-1998.
While donor support for WFP activities aimed at displaced persons, refugees and victims of natural and man-made disasters was strong, the decline in WFP development activities was a matter of concern, he said. The joining of the two Pledging Conferences provided an opportunity to address the implications of that trend for the overall effectiveness of developmental assistance.
"Developing countries are deeply aware that they bear the principal responsibility for their development", he said. Their individual and collective efforts deserved, and could not succeed without external support. The international community must recognize its responsibility in that regard. "In that spirit, let us reverse recent trends of stagnant and declining contributions", he said. "Let us demonstrate our commitment to the development mission of the Organization, and to the funds and programmes that are the main agents of this mission." Stating that development was the most important task facing humanity, he stressed that he would continue to do his utmost to sustain the global momentum in favour of development activities. He urged countries to do their utmost in areas of their concern, interest and expertise.
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Statement by President of Conference
The President of the Pledging Conference for Development Activities, JEAN-LOUIS WOLZFELD (Luxembourg), said that since the beginning of the decade requests for peace-keeping addressed to the United Nations had increased substantially. However, the efforts that the Organization was making in that direction and in the area of humanitarian assistance should not shroud the fact that those were not a substitute for sustainable development. As the Secretary-General had stated, development and democratization were the best acts of conflict prevention. Making development durable was not simply an act of generosity and solidarity, it was an investment in the preservation of international security.
While each country bore the primary responsibility for its development, the international community had an important role to play in those efforts, he said. A partnership between developed and developing countries was crucial, as was the role of the agencies of the United Nations system and the international financial institutions. Recently, the contributions to funds for development had declined. He emphasized that the series of major world conferences had led to specific commitments and had paved the way for global action on development. It was now up to the United Nations funds and programmes to make a substantial contribution to that process. A focus on long- and medium-term efforts was required, along with the availability of resources on an assured and predictable basis.
Pledges Made
Algeria
UNDP $100,000 UNFPA 300,000 dinars UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture $5,000 UN Central Revolving Emergency Fund for Humanitarian Assistance $10,000
Austria
UNDP 141,000,000 schillings UNICEF 21,000,000 " UNFPA 6,000,000 " " $800,000 in kind Training Institute for Advancement of Women $10,000 UNIFEM $70,000 UN Habitat 980,000 schillings UN Fund for Drug Abuse Control 5,000,000 "
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Austria (cont.)
UN Capital Development Fund 600,000 schillings UNITAR 440,000 " UN Volunteers Programme 780,000 " UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture $20,000 UNEP 6,000,000 schillings
Belgium
UNDP 660,000,000 Belgian francs UNICEF 100,000,000 " UNFPA 100,000,000 " UNIFEM 15,000,000 " UN Capital Development Fund 30,000,000 " UN Volunteers Programme 50,000,000 " UN Habitat 10,000,000 " Fund of the UN International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) 10,000,000 "
Benin
UNDP $4,500 UNICEF $3,500 UNFPA $2,500 UNEP $1,000 UNHCR $1,500 Special Measures Fund for Least Developed Countries $1,000 Account for Financing Plan of Action to Combat Desertification $1,000
Bulgaria
UNDP 1,214,000 leva " (additional contributions) 90,000 " UNDP Local Office 55,000 " UNDP Office in Sofia $50,000 UNICEF 130,000 leva UNFPA 75,000 " UN Fund for Drug Abuse Control $9,000
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Central African Republic
UNDP $5,000
Chile
UNDP $650,000 UNDP Local Office $250,000 UNICEF $70,000 UNICEF Local Office $6,000 UNFPA $5,000 UN Institute for Advancement of Women $5,000 UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture $10,000
China
UNDP $2,930,000 " Office in China 2,500,000 RMB yuan UNICEF $1,100,000 UN Capital Development Fund $30,000 UN Revolving Fund for Natural Resources Exploration $20,000 UNITAR $10,000 UN Volunteers Programme $30,000 UN Organization for Industrial Development $200,000 " " " 350,000 RMB yuan UNCTAD/General System of Preference $10,000 UN Disaster Relief Organization $20,000
Cyprus
UNICEF 500 Cyprus pounds UNFPA 500 " " Training Institute for Advancement of Women $1,000 UNIFEM 500 Cyprus pounds UNITAR 750 " " UN Volunteers Programme 1,000 " " UN Trust Fund for Ageing 500 " " UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture 500 " "
Ethiopia
UNDP $144,928 plus 60,000 birr UNICEF $49,276 UNFPA 30,000 birr
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Gambia
UNDP $5,000
Germany
UNDP 123,000,000 deutsche mark " funds in trust 900,000 " UNICEF 12,000,000 " " funds in trust 3,700,000 " UNFPA 46,000,000 " UNIFEM 1,600,000 " UN Volunteers Programme 3,500,000 " UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture 200,000 " UN Interregional Crime & Justice Research Institute 5,000 " Special Voluntary Fund on participation in negociations on the Convention to Combat Desertification 300,000 " UN Drug Control Programme 1,800,000 " " " " funds in trust 5,000,000 " UN Educational and Training Programme for Southern Africa 166,000 " UN Trust Fund for Ageing 40,000 "
Holy See
UNDP $2,500 UN Fund for Drug Abuse Control $1,000 UN Trust Fund for International Year of Disabled Persons $2,000 UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture $1,000 WHO Multicentre Infant Growth Reference Study $1,000 India UNDP $4,450,000 UNICEF 31,000,000 rupees UNFPA 9,000,000 " UNIFEM 509,000 " UN Habitat $100,000 UNEP $100,000 UN Fund for Drug Abuse Control $60,000 UN Volunteers Programme $15,000 UN Educational & Training Programme for Africa $2,000 UN Crime Prevention $3,000 World Food Programme $1,920,000 UNRWA 225,000 rupees
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Kuwait UNDP $570,000 UNICEF $200,000 UN Fund for Drug Abuse Control $5,000 UNITAR $20,000 UNEP $200,000
Liechtenstein UNDP 10,000 Swiss francs UNICEF 5,000 " UNFIFEM 8,000 " Un Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture 10,000 " UN AIDS 10,000 "
Luxembourg UNDP 15,000,000 francs UNICEF 30,000,000 " UNFPA 10,000,000 " Training Institute for Advancement of Women 600,000,000 " UNIFEM 10,000,000 " UN Habitat 2,000,000 " UN Fund for Drug Abuse Control 2,000,000 " UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture 40,000 " UNEP 1,000,000 "
Maldives UNDP $5,000 UNICEF $5,000 UNFPA $2,000 Training Institute for Advancement of Women $500 UNIFEM $1,500 UN Capital Development Fund $1,800 UNEP $1,500
Mauritania
UNDP $14,000 UNICEF 100,000 ouguiyas UNFPA 500,000 "
Mexico
Training Institute for Advancement of Women $10,000 UNIFEM $10,000
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Monaco
UNDP 25,000 francs UNICEF 90,000 " UN Revolving Fund for Natural Resources Exploration 100,000 " Account for Financing Plan of Action to Combat Desertification 25,000 " UN Trust Fund for African Development 25,000 " UN Voluntary Fund on Disability 60,000 " UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture 60,000 " UN AIDS 30,000 "
Mongolia
UNDP $17,000 equivalent in local currency UNICEF $10,000 " " UNFPA $4,000 " "
Morocco
UNDP 1,750,000 dirhams UNICEF $75,000 UNFPA $8,000 Training Institute for Advancement of Women $2,000 UN Habitat $5,000 UN Fund for Drug Abuse Control $3,000 Transport and Communications Decade in Africa $5,000 UN Volunteers Programme $5,000 UN Fund for Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice $2,000 WFP $2,000 UNEP $10,000 UNRWA 228,000 dirhams
Myanmar
UNDP 1,080,000 kyats UNFPA 60,000 " UN Capital Development Fund $5,000
Netherlands
UNDP 165,000,000 guilders UNICEF 50,000,000 "
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Netherlands (cont.)
UNFPA 77,000,000 guilders Training Institute for Advancement of Women 600,000 " UNIFEM 6,400,000 " UN Habitat 1,000,000 " UN Capital Development Fund 15,000,000 " UN Volunteers Programme 500,000 " Trust Fund for UN Centre on TNCs 600,000 " UN AIDS 11,000,000 "
Peru
UNDP $350,000 UNICEF $30,000 UNFPA $10,000 UN Fund for Drug Abuse Control $10,000
Portugal
UNDP $1,400,000 UNICEF $100,000 UNFPA $40,000 UNFPA (additional for 1995-1996) $50,000 UNIFEM $20,000 UN Habitat $20,000 UN Fund for Drug Abuse Control $11,000 UN Trust Fund for Sudano-Sahelian Activities $25,000 UNEP $40,000
Republic of Korea
UNDP $3,037,227 UNICEF $1,800,000 UNFPA $525,000 Training Institute for Advancement of Women $20,000 UNIFEM $25,000 UN Capital Development Fund $30,000 UN Fund for Science and Technology for Development $7,000 UN Volunteers Programme $225,000 UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture $20,000 UN Habitat $30,000 UN Fund for Drug Abuse Control $153,846 UN Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Fund $15,000 UNEP $150,000
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Samoa
UNDP $6,000 UNFPA $5,000 UNIFEM $1,000
Saudi Arabia
UNDP $3,500,000 UNICEF $1,000,000 UNFPA $30,000 UN Fund for Drug Abuse Control $50,000
Singapore
UNDP $255,000 UNICEF $40,000 UNIFEM $20,000 UN Drug Control Programme $5,000 UNEP $15,000
Switzerland
UNDP 56,000,000 Swiss francs UNICEF 17,000,000 " UNFPA 9,000,000 " UNIFEM 500,000 " UN Drug Control Programme 900,000 " UN Capital Development Fund 2,500,000 " UN Volunteers Programme 500,000 "
Thailand
UNDP $865,112 UNICEF $112,500 " 2,080,500 baht UNFPA $96,000 Training Institute for Advancement of Women $3,000 UNIFEM $3,000 UN Fund for Drug Abuse Control $10,000 UN Capital Development Fund $2,500 UNITAR $2,000 UN Volunteers Programme $3,000 UN Fund for Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice $3,000 UNEP $10,000
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Tunisia
UNDP 150,000 dinars UNIFEM 5,000 " UN Habitat 976 " UN Fund for Drug Abuse Control 1,000 " UNITAR 1,960 " UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture 1,500 " UN Trust Fund for Social Defence 1,500 " UNHCR 5,000 " UN Fund for Indigenous Population 1,000 " UNRWA 12,000 " UN Office in Tunis 150,000 " Equipment Expenses 2,732 "
Turkey
UNDP $770,000 " Study Programme $30,000 UNICEF $120,000 UNFPA $90,000 Training Institute for Advancement of Women $20,000 UNIFEM $10,000 UN Volunteers Programme $50,000 UN Fund for Drug Abuse Control $150,000 UN Fund for Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice $25,000 UNEP $15,795
Viet Nam
UNDP $26,884 UNICEF $12,794 UNFPA $3,436
* *** *
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