ASSEMBLY WOULD CONVENE THREE-DAY SPECIAL SESSION IN 1999 TO REVIEW ICPD OUTCOME, HOLD ANOTHER SESSION IN 2001 ON HABITAT AGENDA
Press Release
GA/EF/2806
ASSEMBLY WOULD CONVENE THREE-DAY SPECIAL SESSION IN 1999 TO REVIEW ICPD OUTCOME, HOLD ANOTHER SESSION IN 2001 ON HABITAT AGENDA
19971205 As Recommended by Second Committee Drafts; Text on UNITAR also ApprovedThe General Assembly would decide to convene a three-day special session from 30 June to 2 July 1999 to review and appraise the implementation of the Programme of Action adopted by the International Conference on Population and Development (Cairo, September 1994), by the terms of one of three draft resolutions approved without a vote by the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) this afternoon.
That draft text on population and development would also have the Assembly decide that the Commission on Population and Development should serve as the preparatory body for the final preparations for the special session.
By the terms of another draft resolution, the Assembly would decide to hold a special session in the year 2001 for an overall review and appraisal of the implementation of the outcome of the second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) (Istanbul, June 1996). Also, the Secretary- General would be requested to address the serious management and financial situation at the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements in order to meet its responsibilities in implementing the Habitat Agenda.
Under the provisions of the third draft approved this afternoon, the Assembly would appeal to all governments and to private institutions to contribute financial and other resources to the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). It would also urge those States that had suspended their voluntary contributions to resume them, in the light of the Institute's successful restructuring and revitalization.
Although the Committee had been scheduled to conclude the current phase of its work this evening, the Committee Chairman, Oscar de Rojas (Venezuela), decided to postpone action on the remaining draft resolutions until early next week to allow more time for negotiations. He took that decision after briefly suspending the meeting to look into the status of the remaining draft texts, including the questions of lack of consensus on several texts and the absence of documents in all official languages.
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The Committee is scheduled to meet again on Tuesday, 9 December, to take action on all outstanding draft resolutions.
Action
First the Committee took up the draft resolution on population and development (document A/C.2/52/L.43), submitted by the Vice-Chairman of the Committee, Hans-Peter Glanzer (Austria), on the basis of informal consultations held on a draft contained in document A/C.2/52/L.15.
Under its terms, the Assembly would decide to convene a three-day special session from 30 June to 2 July 1999 to review and appraise the implementation of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (Cairo, September 1994). It would also decide that the Commission on Population and Development should serve as the preparatory body for the special session.
The Assembly would further decide that the thirty-second session of the Commission shall be open-ended to allow the full participation of all States. It would also decide to invite non-United Nations Member States which are members of specialized agencies to participate in the work of the special session in the capacity of observers. The Secretary-General would be requested to submit to the Assembly's fifty-third session a progress report on the preparations for the special session.
Before action, MARGARET KELLEY, Secretary of the Committee, read out a statement on the financial implications of the draft as contained in document A/C.2/52/L.50. According to the statement, should the Assembly adopt the draft, additional requirements of $120,000 would arise under section 7A (Economic and social affairs) of the proposed programme budget for the biennium 1998-1999. She also said that subsequent to the issuance of the statement contained in document A/C.2/52/L.50, the Executive Office of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) had indicated that the Fund would be in a position to meet the cost of $120,000 for the travel of one representative from each of the least developed countries to the special session. Consequently, there would be no need for an appropriation from the regular budget 1998-1999.
Mr. GLANZER (Austria), Vice-Chairman of the Committee, introduced the new text on population and development (document A/C.2/52/L.43).
The Committee then approved the draft resolution without a vote.
In light of the adoption of draft resolution A/C.2/52/L.43, draft resolution A/C.2/52/L.15 was withdrawn by its sponsors.
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Next, the Committee took up a draft resolution on the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) (document A/C.2/52/L.52), submitted by the Vice-Chairman of the Committee, Adel Abdellatif (Egypt), on the basis of informal consultations held on the draft resolution contained in document A/C.2/52/L.32.
Under its provisions, the Assembly would appeal to all governments and to private institutions that had not yet contributed financially or otherwise to the Institute to give it their financial and other support. It would urge States that interrupted their voluntary contributions to consider resuming them, in light of the successful restructuring and revitalization of the Institute.
In addition, the Assembly would stress the need for an effective division of labour among the main training and research institutions of the United Nations system, taking into account the distinct and complementary mandates of the United Nations University, UNITAR and the United Nations Staff College project, and in that regard would note the recommendations of the Joint Inspection Unit (JIU).
The Assembly would invite the Institute to further strengthen its cooperation with other United Nations institutes and relevant national, regional and international bodies. It would request the Secretary-General to explore all possible ways and means to provide additional facilities to the Institute for conducting programmes and training courses that are provided at no cost to States, and to their representatives accredited to United Nations offices in New York, Nairobi, Geneva and Vienna. It would also request the Secretary-General, in consultation with UNITAR, as well as with the heads of United Nations funds and programmes, to explore ways and modalities to systematically utilize the Institute in the execution of training and capacity-building programmes.
Mr. ABDELLATIF (Egypt), Vice-Chairman of the Committee, submitted the draft text on UNITAR, and the Committee then approved it without a vote.
The representative of China said there were mistakes in the Chinese version of the text and that those mistakes should be corrected when the draft was reprinted.
The Committee then approved the draft resolution without a vote.
In light of the adoption of the draft resolution contained in document A/C.2/52/L.52, the text on document A/C.2/52/L.32 was withdrawn by its sponsors.
Next, Mr. GLANZER (Austria), Committee Vice-Chairman, submitted a draft resolution, which was not yet an official document, based on an earlier
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version of a draft on protection of global climate for present and future generations of mankind (document A/C.2/52/L.21). According to an earlier version, sponsored by the "Group of 77" developing countries and China, the Assembly would decide to include in the calendar of conferences and meetings for the biennium 1998-1999 the sessions of the Conferences of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. It would also decide to maintain the arrangements regarding personnel and financial matters established in regard to the provision of administrative support to the secretariat of the Convention.
The representative of the United States said his Government was opposed to calls for United Nations regular budget funding for various conventions. The costs associated with the operation of those conventions must be borne by the parties to the convention. The United States was prepared to increase substantially its voluntary contributions to international climate programmes during fiscal year 1998. Part of those contributions could be used to support conference costs which the United States believed should not be funded by the United Nations regular budget on a continuing basis. The United States dissociated itself from operative paragraph 5 of the resolution.
The representative of the Sudan asked if the Committee would be voting on the document that had been circulated in the conference room, which had no official symbol. He had no objection but hoped the Committee was not setting a precedent.
OSCAR DE ROJAS (Venezuela), Chairman of the Committee, said he was in the hands of the Committee. If it did not want to take action on that draft text, they could postpone action until a later date. If it did decide to act, it would not set a precedent for the Committee or any other Committee.
The representative of the United Republic of Tanzania said it was his understanding that an agreement had been reached at the informal session on the draft resolution on climate change. He wanted to know from the Chairman what should be done in view of the present disagreement by the United States.
The CHAIRMAN said the representative of the United States said he was disassociating himself from operative paragraph 5 not that he was against the draft text.
The representative of China said the draft resolution represented a consensus of the Committee at the informal meeting. But with the present lack of consensus at the formal meeting, China proposed that action should not be taken on the draft resolution until the text was available in all languages.
The CHAIRMAN said that, in light of comments made, the Committee was not ready to take action on that draft. It should wait until the text was available in all official languages. He said the same problem would be
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encountered with the draft on the Convention on Biological Diversity, which was only available as an unofficial text. He asked to adjourn the meeting in order to determine the status of the remaining resolutions in the setting of an informal meeting.
The meeting was suspended at 4:55 p.m.
When the meeting resumed 30 minutes later, Mr. GLANZER (Austria), Committee Vice-Chairman, introduced the draft resolution on the implementation of the outcome of the second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) (document A/C.2/52/L.53), based on informal consultations held on the draft contained in document A/C.2/52/L.18.
Under its provisions, the Assembly would decide to hold a special session in the year 2001 for an overall review and appraisal of the implementation of the outcome of Habitat II, the modalities of which would be decided on at the fifty-third session. The Secretary-General would be requested to address the serious management and financial situation at the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements in order to meet its responsibilities in the implementation of the Habitat Agenda. He would also be requested to submit to the Assembly, at its fifty-third session, a comprehensive and in-depth assessment of the Centre with a view to its revitalization.
Also by that draft text, the Assembly would urge all governments and other actors concerned with human settlements and urban management issues to implement fully and effectively the Habitat Agenda. It would request the United Nations system, and invite the Bretton Woods institutions, to support the implementation of the Habitat Agenda at all levels. The Economic and Social Council would be invited to consider dedicating one high-level segment before the year 2001 to human settlements and the implementation of the Habitat Agenda.
Ms. KELLEY, Committee Secretary, said the decision to hold a special session in the year 2001 would entail conference servicing requirements which would be included in the budget outline for the biennium 2000-2001, which would be submitted to the Assembly at its fifty-third session.
The representative of Indonesia read out the following amendments to the draft text:
-- fifth preambular paragraph, line 5, the world "reaffirmed" should be replaced by the word "request"; and
-- seventh preambular paragraph, line 1, "April 1997" should be replaced by "3 April 1997".
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The Committee then approved the draft resolution, as orally revised, without a vote.
In light of the adoption of draft resolution A/C.2/52/L.53, the text on document A/C.2/52/L.18 was withdrawn by its sponsors.
The Committee then took up the report of the Commission on Human Settlements on the work of its sixteenth session (document A/52/8). The Committee decided to recommend the following resolutions for adoption by the Assembly:
-- resolution 16/1 on the Global Strategy for Shelter to the year 2000; and
-- resolution 16/2 on follow-up to Habitat II and the future role of the Commission on Human Settlements.
The representative of Pakistan said that in the resolution on UNITAR (document A/C.2/52/L.52) the following amendment should have been made:
-- operative paragraph 2, line 3, the words "in relation" should be replaced by "with".
On other matters, the representative of Latvia said that in the vote on resolution A/C.2/52/L.6/Rev.1, on permanent sovereignty of the Palestinian people on the occupied Palestinian territory, Latvia should be recorded as voting in favour and not abstaining.
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