ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL GRANTS CONSULTATIVE STATUS TO 134 NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS
Press Release
ECOSOC/5737
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL GRANTS CONSULTATIVE STATUS TO 134 NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS
19970724 Discusses Restructuring and Revitalization Of United Nations in Economic, Social and Cultural Fields(Reissued as received.)
GENEVA, 23 July (UN Information Service) -- The Economic and Social Council this afternoon granted consultative status to 134 non-governmental organizations and discussed the restructuring of the United Nations in the economic, social and cultural fields.
The non-governmental organizations with consultative status may send observers to public meetings of the Council and its subsidiary bodies and may submit written statements relevant to the Council's work. There are three categories of consultative status. Category one applies to organizations concerned with most of Council's activities; category two concerns organizations with special competence in specific fields of activity of the Council, while the Roster comprises organizations that can make an occasional contribution to the Council, its subsidiary organs or other United Nations bodies. The 134 groups admitted today were listed in the report of the Council's Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations. The United States disassociated itself from the decision due to the presence on the list of five Cuban groups the American delegation said did not fit the definition of independent.
The Council then took action on other proposals submitted by the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations, voting to recommend that the General Assembly provide the necessary human, financial and technical resources to strengthen the Non-Governmental Organizations Section of the United Nations Secretariat.
Also this afternoon Cuba introduced a draft resolution on the implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples by the specialized agencies and the international institutions associated with the United Nations. This followed the introduction of a report on the subject by the representative of the Special Committee on the situation with regard to the implementation of the Declaration.
Also during the afternoon session, Sarbuland Khan, Officer-in-Charge , Division for Policy Coordination and Economic and Social Council Affairs, introduced the report of the Secretary-General on restructuring and revitalization of the United Nations in the economic, social and related fields. According to that document, progress has clearly been made, although further work was needed in resource mobilization and in enhancing the complementarity between the work of the General Assembly and that of the Council, among other areas.
Mr. Khan also presented the report of the Secretary-General on new and innovative ideas for generating funds, which identifies two main avenues to be explored: public-private partnerships in mobilizing finance for achieving development objectives; and national charges and fees drawing particularly upon national experiences in the past few years in the area of environmental protection.
The Council also heard from representatives of the Russian Federation, Luxembourg (on behalf of the European Union), United Republic of Tanzania (on behalf of the "Group of 77" developing countries and China), Malta, the World Bank, Mexico, United States, Canada, Australia, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Philippines, the Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations and Norway.
The Council will resume its meeting Thursday morning at 10 a.m. to discuss "permanent sovereignty over national resources in the occupied Palestinian and other Arab territories". It is also expected to act on outstanding draft proposals.
Action on Draft Resolutions and Decisions
The following proposals were contained in the report of the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations (document E/1997/990).
The Council adopted a resolution on enlargement of the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations which requests the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations to present its views on the enlargement of the Committee to the Council. The Council decided to take a decision on this matter in 1998.
In a resolution on strengthening of the Non-Governmental Organizations Section of the United Nations Secretariat, the Council requested the Secretary-General to submit a report to the General Assembly at its fifty-second session setting out specific proposals to ensure that the current and foreseeable workload of the Non-Governmental Organizations Section could be met effectively and efficiently. The Council recommended that the General Assembly provide the necessary human, financial and technical resources to the Non-Governmental Organizations Section.
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Through a decision on applications for consultative status, the Council recommended granted consultative status to 134 non-governmental organizations (for a list see document E/1997/90).
The Council, through a decision on resumed 1997 session of the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations, decided to authorize the Committee to hold a resumed session for a period of one week in January 1998 in order to complete the work of the 1997 session.
By a decision on meetings of the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations, the Council authorized the Committee to hold a maximum of three sessions with a total duration of three weeks in 1998 and, unless the Committee subsequently recommended otherwise, in subsequent years; authorized the Committee to hold informal meetings prior to each session in 1998 and subsequent years; authorized the Committee to meet for five days prior to its 1998 session to consider enlargement of the Committee and issues related to its methods of work.
And by a resolution on participation of non-governmental organizations accredited to the Fourth World Conference on Women in the work of the Commission on the Status of Women, non-governmental organizations accredited to the World Summit for Social Development in the work of the Commission on Social Development, and non-governmental organizations accredited to the International Conference on Population and Development in the work of the Commission on Population and Development (see document E/1997/45), the Council invited non-governmental organizations that were accredited to the Fourth World Conference on Women or the World Summit for Social Development to attend the forty-second session of the Commission on the Status of Women or the thirty-sixth session of the Commission for Social Development, provided that they had started the process of applying for consultative status; invited non-governmental organizations that were accredited to the International Conference on Population and Development to attend the thirty-first session of the Commission on Population and Development, provided that they had applied for consultative status; requested the Secretary-General to draw the attention of the non-governmental organizations accredited to the Fourth World Conference on Women, the World Summit for Social Development or the International Conference on Population and Development to the provisions of the present decision.
Documentation
As it took up the issue of the implementation on the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples by specialized agencies and the international institutions associated with the United Nations", the Council had before a report of the Secretary-General on assistance to the Palestinian people (document E/1997/69), which covers such topics as work of the local and international coordination mechanisms,
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education, employment generation, health, infrastructure and housing, institution-building and aid to the private sector. It also lists ongoing programmes, unmet needs and proposals for additional assistance.
A letter to the Secretary-General from the Chairman of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (document E/1997/76), which describes a seminar on assistance to the Palestinian people held at Amman, Jordan from 20 to 22 May 1997. Among other things, the document describes round table discussions held on sustainable human development as a basis for nation-building; promoting poverty eradication and sustainable development; and promoting gender equality and the full participation of women in society.
Statements
HUMBERTO RIVERO ROSARIO (Cuba), the representative of the Special Committee on the situation with regard to the implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, introduced the report of the Secretary-General (document A/52/185) on the subject, praising the continued contribution of the specialized agencies and international institutions to the implementation of the Declaration.
Mr. Rivero said there were still peoples who had not been able to exercise their right to self-determination. The remaining territories on the list of the Special Committee were small islands located for the most part in the Caribbean and Pacific regions. The international community should enhance its moral and material support to the peoples of Non-Self-Governing Territories to enable them to overcome the challenges and to allow them to genuinely exercise their rights to self-determination. There were a number of areas where assistance should be improved and increased, including the environment, natural disaster mitigation, public health, education, food self-sufficiency, fisheries, prevention of crime and illicit trafficking.
SELMA ASHIPALA-MUSAVYI (Namibia) said there was a need for continued and increased assistance to people in non-self-governing territories through the specialized agencies and other organizations; the economic and social well-being of such people should be seen, among other things, from the point of view of their being environmentally vulnerable; technical cooperation by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) with Non-Self-Governing Territories was welcomed. It was important to view all assistance within the overall aim of allowing such peoples to exercise their right to self-determination.
SARBULAND KHAN, Officer-in-Charge, Division for Policy Coordination and Economic and Social Council Affairs, introduced the report of the Secretary-General on restructuring and revitalization of the United Nations in the economic, social and related fields (see documents E/1997/155-E/1997/68
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and Add.1) and said that significant progress had clearly been made in carrying forward the goals of General Assembly resolution 50/227. However, further progress was needed in the areas of resource mobilization, streamlining of agendas and related documentation, and in enhancing the complementarity between the work of the Assembly and the Council. A separate note provided information on the initial steps taken for a joint United Nations/Bretton Woods institutions exploratory review as called for in the resolution.
Y.N. ISAKOV (Russian Federation) said the report on restructuring and revitalization of the United Nations seemed to be more an inventory than an analysis of efforts undertaken. With regard to the General Assembly, measures were necessary to streamline documentation and issue it on time; genuine interaction between the Second and Third Committees needed to be established; the volume of resolutions should be decreased and efforts should be made to keep monologues from dominating debates. Self-restraint in demanding new reports for the General Assembly should be exercised. For the council, it was necessary to reassess working methods often and realistically; coordination questions were not discussed properly to date, and heads of funds, programmes, and agencies were as a rule absent during consideration of this agenda item; the Council furthermore was still overburdened with marginal agenda items. More analysis was needed of interaction between ECOSOC and funds and programmes.
BEATRICE KIRSCH (Luxembourg), on behalf of the European Union, said resolution 50/227 was an important stage in the reconstruction of the United Nations in the economic, social and cultural areas. The experience of recent weeks showed that diligent efforts had to be made in the processing of the agenda of the Council. The European Union found the report on cooperation between the United Nations and the International Monetary Fund constructive.
ALI MCHUMO (United Republic of Tanzania), speaking on behalf of the Group of 77 and China, said it was the view of the Group that the debate on the review of several subsidiary bodies, including the Commission on Science and Technology, the Committee for Development Planning, the Committee on New and Renewable Sources of Energy and Energy for Development, and the Committee on Natural Resources, should be continued during the resumed session of the Council, as no clear consensus had yet emerged. The Group felt the Commission on Science and Technology and the energy panel should be retained; it felt that water resources should be referred to the Commission on Sustainable Development; and it was of the opinion that the Committee for Development Planning should have its mandate continued, but terms of reference should include, among other things, analysis of themes chosen for the High Level Segment of the Council and themes submitted by other United Nations bodies. It also should continue its work on categorization of least-developed countries.
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JACQUELINE AQUILINA (Malta) said discussion on resolution 50/227 should take into consideration the Secretary-General's recent report on the renewal of the Organization. Malta agreed with the recommendations of the Secretary-General and proposed that action on decisions by subsidiary bodies of the Council should be taken as soon as possible to ensure that his reforms proceeded on schedule.
ALFREDO STEIR-YOUNIS, of the World Bank, said cooperation and the formation of effective partnerships were two essential components of any future strategy in relations between the Bank and the United Nations. Overlapping had to be minimized; cooperation needed to recognize various mandates and relative comparative advantages; and, as all organizations were undergoing reforms, attention should be focused not on the past but on the future. At the policy level the Bank's instruments of cooperation were sophisticated and numerous; at the institutional level they were oriented towards adopting the most suitable arrangements to maximize the synergies at all levels of decision-making; at the operational level the Bank was cooperating on a large number of fronts, a familiar example being the Special Initiative for Africa, of which the Bank was a full partner. The Bank also recently had created a database on Bank/United Nations cooperation.
GERARDO LOZANO ARREDONDO (Mexico) said the country supported the process of the restructuring of the United Nations in the economic, social and cultural spheres. Mexico had always advocated an increase in the efficiency and effectiveness of inter-governmental structures to avoid the duplication of efforts; it regretted, however, that a document by the Secretariat only provided a numerical assessment of the Council's work. Mexico wanted other elements assessed, like the implications of the current rotation of Council meetings between New York and Geneva.
SETH D. WINNICK (United States) said full implementation of the United Nations restructuring programme was of great importance. There was altogether too much of substance to discuss here; other issues needed to be discussed at a resumed session. As for the difficult question of subsidiary bodies, the Council needed to do a much better job of providing guidance to those bodies to avoid overlapping of their work -- more year-round communication was needed with them, for example. Cooperation between the United Nations and the international financial institutions also was important -- the work had at least begun, although there were few results to date. With resources so tight, it was inconceivable that work on development carried out by all should not be coordinated so that maximum impact was achieved. It seemed ironic that the IMF report on the topic was produced without participation of other agencies -- it was a report on cooperation carried out without any cooperation.
ROSS HYNES (Canada) said the Council's meeting was the first full session since the adoption of the resolution on restructuring and
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revitalization of the United Nations in the economic, social and cultural fields. The work on the relationship between international financial institutions and the United Nations was still at an early stage and more could be done.
AMANDA HAWKINS (Australia) said the delegation wished to see further follow-up and more data on the United Nations restructuring programme at the resumed session of the Council later this year, as it felt this matter, and its application to subsidiary bodies, was extremely important.
J.B. ZULU, of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), said the institution valued its collaboration with the United Nations system as enriching to its policy focus. The IMF was amending the agreements it concluded to implement an additional mandate which allowed it to liberalize the capital account. The IMF, like the United Nations, was in a state of change and that should be considered when discussing collaboration.
LIBRAN CABACTULAN (Philippines) said the report on restructuring and revitalization indicated that more time and effort needed to be applied by the Council to the matter; consultations and dialogues with the Bretton Woods Institutions, already well-begun, should be continued, and thought had to be given to how to achieve this and what to concentrate on. Operational activities for development were of vital importance -- the Council should recommend that programmes and fund review and monitor their funding with a view to making funding more secure, especially core funding, so that stated objectives should be achieved; these programmes and funds should report back to the Council on the matter.
Mr. WINNICK (United States) said his delegation disassociated itself from the decision granting five Cuban-based non-governmental organizations consultative status. The groups were the Felix Varela Center; the Federation of Cuban Women; the Latin American and Caribbean Continental Organization of Students; the National Association of Cuban Economists; and the National Union of Jurists. Those groups did not meet the definition of independence, and there were doubts as to what their contribution to furthering the goals and principles of the United Nations could be.
PEDRO LUIS PEDROSO (Cuba) said the five non-governmental organizations mentioned by the United States were independent organizations that operated in the true interests of the Cuban people and deserved the accreditation they had just received from the Council.
The representative of the Conference on Non-Governmental Organizations (CONGO), said that underlying the decisions taken by the Council were larger questions which affected the relationship between the United Nations and non- governmental organizations. These questions were conceptual, political and practical. On the conceptual issue, the Charter gave non-governmental
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organizations consultative status, but there were presently serious questions on the definition of non-governmental organizations and civil society; care had to be taken of this. On the political issue, the Council had invited the Conference last year to give its views on new applications of non-governmental organizations or whether a non-governmental organization should continue to retain consultative status. For the first time, the Conference would use this invitation and address the case of the American National Rifle Association, which had been to the Roster last year, scandalizing many non-governmental organizations. The Conference now intended to change its rules of membership. Not only would consultative status with the Council now be required, but non- governmental organizations would also have to "accept the aims of the Conference". On the practical issue, the Conference approved the reinforcement of the United Nations staff which worked with non-governmental organizations.
Mr. KHAN, Officer-in-Charge, Division for Policy Coordination and Economic and Social Council Affairs, introducing a report of the Secretary-General on "new and innovative ideas for generating funds for globally agreed commitments and priorities" (E/1997/85), said the report had been prepared in close collaboration with the UNDP and was based on the premise that the funds so generated should neither be viewed as a source for financing the regular nor the peacekeeping budgets of the United Nations. The report confined itself to proposals considered viable and feasible, of which two main areas had been identified: public-private partnerships in mobilizing finance for achieving development objectives; and national charges and fees drawing particularly upon national experiences in the past few years in the area of environmental protection. Specific recommendations for consideration by the Council were provided for both areas, and the document recommended a course of action: that these ideas should be pursued in the context of the work of the relevant functional commissions where mobilization of resources could be related to specific programmes and goals as a key element of the strategy for the implementation of the outcomes of the United Nations conferences. Expert bodies should examine these issues in greater depth.
ARMAN AARDAL (Norway) said the late appearance of the report on new funding ideas had made a thorough discussion difficult, and the scarcity of replies to the issues raised did not provide enough basis for drawing such categorical conclusions as appeared in paragraph 10 of the report. Norway also felt other options had not been considered sufficiently. In March in Stockholm a seminar had been held on "A New Paradigm of Financing Development and Cooperation", which had concluded that private finance for such activities was not a contradiction in terms. Any funds raised by new ideas should be used to strengthen UN activities in the field and should be additional to official development assistance and not used for core purposes -- they should aim at specific purposes. Taxes designed to shift unsustainable consumption patterns to sustainable ones could very clearly have sustainable development dividend components, and could include taxes on aviation fuel, international
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air tickets, use of credit cards, use of non-renewable energy, use of international telecommunications, and international financial transactions. Further exploration of these possibilities was deserved.
Mr. WINNICK (United States) said the delegation agreed with the underlying premises in the Secretary-General's report on innovative ideas for generating funds. In particular, the idea of the private sector as the primary source of financing for development was key. The idea of micro-credit mechanisms had considerable potential for development as well.
SYLVIE SCHOSSELER (Luxembourg), speaking on behalf of the European Union, said the paper on new or innovative funding ideas had been published too late for serious discussion. The European Union had already notified the organization of some ideas; it also had already indicated that such funds should be kept clearly separate from core funding and from standards United Nations programmes. The private sector's potential and the question of environmental protection received some attention in the document, but unfortunately a limited number of countries had provided their views on the matter before the report was printed.
Mr. MCHUMO (United Republic of Tanzania), on behalf of the Group of 77 and China, said recent United Nations conferences and summits had arrived at a broad understanding of international goals and commitments to foster development in the developing world. However, it was becoming increasingly clear that those commitments and goals were being ignored. For instance, official development assistance had declined sharply, and was being directed to humanitarian emergencies rather than to development. The Group of 77 understood the theories behind suggestions to address these problems, but had some concerns nevertheless. The report of the Secretary-General was proposing innovative ideas for generating funds from the marketplace; however, developing countries believed that the emphasis on development had to remain on official development assistance and innovative ideas for generating funds could only compliment that.
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