SECRETARY-GENERAL CALLS ON ALL COUNTRIES TO REVERSE DECLINE IN CONTRIBUTIONS TO UNITED NATIONS OPERATIONAL ACTIVITIES FOR DEVELOPMENT
Press Release
SG/SM/6378
GA/9346
SECRETARY-GENERAL CALLS ON ALL COUNTRIES TO REVERSE DECLINE IN CONTRIBUTIONS TO UNITED NATIONS OPERATIONAL ACTIVITIES FOR DEVELOPMENT
19971104 In Statement to 1997 UN Pledging Conference for Development Activities Kofi Annan Says through Development UN Seeks To Fulfil Its Commitment to PeaceFollowing is the text of Secretary-General Kofi Annan's statement to the 1997 United Nations Pledging Conference for Development Activities, which was delivered this morning by Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Nitin Desai:
The 1997 United Nations Pledging Conference for Development Activities takes place at a critical juncture. I need not remind you that in 1996, official development assistance (ODA) dropped to its lowest level ever. We therefore have a collective obligation to reaffirm our commitment to multilateral development cooperation.
The combined total resources channelled through United Nations funds and programmes, comprising core and non-core resources, have remained relatively stable over the past four years at around $4.5 billion per year. But the funding through voluntary contributions is not generating enough core resources to meet agreed programme targets and requirements.
Non-core, earmarked resources now make up more than half the total funds available for United Nations development cooperation. Core contributions have declined and become unpredictable. I have therefore recommended to Member States a new core resource system of voluntary contributions and negotiated pledges appropriated in multi-year tranches.
United Nations funds and programmes continue to focus on responding to national goals in building a self-reliant capacity to fight poverty and underdevelopment.
They give special attention to the neediest countries and the most vulnerable groups. Increasingly, they link humanitarian assistance to reconstruction and development. They work in peace-building and in critical post-conflict activities, including demining and the rebuilding of essential institutions. The unique strength of United Nations development cooperation remains its neutrality and its relationship of trust with recipient countries. This translates into activities that are critical to recipient countries and involve sensitive areas of cooperation without preconditions. United Nations development cooperation is country-driven. Funds and programmes emphasize national ownership. Operational activities are fully integrated into national efforts. They also draw on the capacities of civil society, the private sector, the Bretton Woods institutions and other partners in development, in accordance with the specific requirements and requests of recipient governments. To render them more efficient and effective, and to make them more responsive to the changing needs of countries, operational activities are undergoing significant reforms. As I outlined in my reform proposals in July, the General Assembly has stressed on a number of occasions that the separate funds, programmes and specialized agencies must work together to integrate assistance into the development process of the recipient countries in a fully coordinated manner. I therefore decided, as part of my reform proposal, that the resident coordinator system led by the United Nations Development Group should continue. But this system needs an adequate resource base to carry out the role envisaged for it in a meaningful way. I would now like to make a few comments on the specific requirements of the United Nations funds and programmes.
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP): The UNDP has embarked on an exciting new path of reform and change, UNDP 2001. The ultimate goal is to bring decision-making capacity and substantive functions closer to the programme countries the UNDP serves. In accordance with ground-breaking decisions by its Executive Board in 1994 and 1995, the UNDP's mandate is now focused on helping countries develop the capacity to achieve sustainable human development. The overriding priority is poverty eradication. The UNDP currently allocates 60 per cent of its core resources to the least developed countries, and nearly 90 per cent to countries with annual per capita incomes of $750 or less.
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The heart of the UNDP's anti-poverty work, which receives nearly 40 per cent of core resources, lies in empowering the poor. This includes support in accessing productive assets such as credit, skills, job opportunities, and links to national and international markets. Thirty-two per cent of core resources are related to democratization, including electoral assistance and strengthening of the judiciary. About 21 per cent are directed to programmes focusing on the environment.
As part of its reform process, and in line with General Assembly resolution 50/227, the UNDP has significantly improved its governance through its new Executive Board. The process of consultations has become more businesslike, more substantive and more results-oriented. In order to improve its effectiveness in the programme countries, the UNDP has sharpened the focus of its interventions in support of sustainable human development. In 1995, an incentive-based system was introduced for allocating core resources to countries to replace the previous entitlement-based method.
Since 1992, the UNDP has also made significant progress in building a leaner and more accountable organization. It has reduced the total number of regular staff by 15 per cent and the number of headquarters staff by 31 per cent. Efficiency measures have included a sharply reduced administrative budget and enhanced decentralization to country offices.
Despite this significant progress, core resources have declined dramatically -- from just over $1.1 billion in 1992 to just under $848 million in 1996.
Although we are exploring other, and non-traditional, sources of funding, the governments of Member States remain the primary source of core resources. The responsibility to secure adequate and predictable levels of funding rests not only with those countries we call the traditional donors. It rests with all Member States.
United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA):
Population assistance is one of the development success stories of the twentieth century. Compared with 25 years ago,
-- men are living 7.5 years longer, women 9 years longer; -- child survival is up, maternal mortality down; -- women are bearing an average of three children instead of six; -- six out of 10 couples use family planning, compared with one in seven; -- annual population growth has slowed from 2 per cent to 1.4 per cent.
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This progress is a tribute both to the efforts of developing countries and to the success of international cooperation. The role of the UNFPA has been vital.
Three years after the historic International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo, the UNFPA is working in partnership with governments, non-governmental organizations and civil society to implement the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Programme of Action.
The UNFPA-supported programmes involve all parts of the United Nations system, development banks, national aid agencies and international non- governmental organizations.
Today people in the developing world are making noticeable progress in putting the ICPD agenda into operation. Many countries have reoriented their population policies and family planning programmes to reflect the ICPD goals.
Experience shows that the ICPD goals can be met, provided we have adequate resources. The financial target agreed to at Cairo called for a level of $17 billion by the year 2000. Approximately one third, or $5.7 billion, was expected to come from the donor community. Developing countries are increasingly committing their own resources to population programmes.
But it is estimated that donors are committing less than $2 billion to population, or only a few per cent of all ODA.
The UNFPA estimates its income for 1997 will be down approximately 8 to 10 per cent from its earlier projection. The consequences of a lack of adequate resources will mean that critical demands for reproductive health will not be met -- including family planning and sexual health services, especially for the large numbers of women in their childbearing years. This will have consequences beyond the population field. Continued rapid population growth will wipe out gains already made in other crucial areas, such as extending school systems, improving primary health facilities, providing affordable housing, expanding communications infrastructure and managing critical natural resources.
I appeal to all countries to demonstrate their commitment to the goals of the ICPD Programme of Action and to the work of the UNFPA by making a contribution to the highest level possible for each of you.
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United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF): Through programmes in most developing countries, the UNICEF serves the world's most vulnerable populations: children and women. It is also an important advocate, globally, for the needs and rights of children and women. The strength and effectiveness of UNICEF is based on the country programme process. The UNICEF programmes are built around cost-effective and decentralized approaches to health, water and sanitation, education, nutrition, and children in need of special protection measures. They encourage restructuring of public expenditures towards basic social services for children and needs of women. The increasing emphasis on human rights, and the near universal ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, provide a major opportunity to advance work on child protection. The Convention provides a framework for programming and a holistic approach to the children's agenda that will involve all sectors. The unprecedented number and scale of emergency situations in the past few years have commanded significant attention from governments and the public, as well as from UNICEF. But the bulk of UNICEF's efforts has been combating the "silent emergencies" facing children around the world -- the insidious combination of diseases, malnutrition and poverty -- through activities with a long-term perspective. With aid levels plummeting, the number of people trapped in absolute poverty continues to rise. The mission of UNICEF -- and that of the whole United Nations system -- is more urgent than ever before. Never has development aid -- especially multilateral aid -- been more needed globally. Never has evidence of its past success been more compelling. It is a paradox that the decline occurs in an era of unprecedented attention to human rights; at a time when the Convention on the Rights of the Child --- the most widely embraced instrument in human rights history -- commits donor countries to ensuring the economic and social rights of all children through international cooperation. For their sake, UNICEF counts on your support. The United Nations development mission responds to the needs of the largest group of United Nations Member States. Through development, the United Nations seeks to rid the world of social and economic injustice and fulfil our commitment to laying the foundations of peace. It is our essential mission. I call on all countries to translate that commitment into action: to reverse the decline in contributions.
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