SECRETARY-GENERAL TO ADDRESS ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL ON ITS ROLE IN CONTEXT OF GLOBAL EVENTS AND UNITED NATIONS REFORM

3 February 1998

Press Release
ECOSOC/5747

SECRETARY-GENERAL TO ADDRESS ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL ON ITS ROLE IN CONTEXT OF GLOBAL EVENTS AND UNITED NATIONS REFORM

19980203 President Announces, as Organizational Session Resumes

As the Economic and Social Council resumed its organizational session this afternoon, its President, Juan Somavia (Chile), announced that the Secretary-General would address the Council on Friday, 6 February. He would speak about the Council's role in the context of contemporary global events and the desirable outcome of the critical United Nations reform process currently under way.

Also this afternoon, the Council, at the request of the European Union, included on its provisional agenda an additional item, "Social and human rights questions: advancement of women", to be taken up at its resumed organizational session on 7 and 8 May. It then adopted, as orally revised, its provisional agenda, as contained in document E/1998/2 and Corr.1. The Council also adopted its basic programme of work for 1998 and 1999 as contained in document E/1998/1, as orally amended.

In other action, the Council decided to consider the elections to the Executive Board of the World Food Programme (WFP) at its resumed organizational session in May.

In addition, it decided to resume its organizational session on 1 and 2 July to consider matters relating to the humanitarian affairs segment, which is to be held for the first time during its 1998 substantive session.

Further, the Council decided that at its 1998 substantive session, under the agenda item "Regional cooperation", it will consider the theme "Review and reform of the regional commissions".

Moreover, the Council confirmed nominations by governments to its functional commissions, as follows:

-- Bruno de Risios Bath (Brazil), Nam-Hoon Cho (Republic of Korea), Igor A. Zlokazov (Russian Federation) and Damrong Boonyoen (Thailand) to the 47- member Commission on Population and Development;

-- Gerald Gahima (Rwanda) and Audrey Glover (United Kingdom) to the 53- member Commission on Human Rights;

-- Maria Arseni (Greece) and Christine Umotoni Nyinawumwani (Rwanda) to the 45-member Commission on the Status of Women; and

-- Zhang Yishan (China) to the 40-member Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice.

It also elected the following countries to the Commission on Science and Technology: Bolivia, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Uruguay and Venezuela, for a four- year term expiring on 31 December 2001. Bahamas, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba and Panama were elected for a two-year term expiring on 31 December 1999.

Concerning the Intergovernmental Working Group of Experts on International Standards of Accounting and Reporting, the Council elected Argentina, Spain and Thailand for a term expiring on 31 December 1999.

Romania was elected to the vacant seat from the Eastern European Group of States for a term expiring on 31 December 2000. Algeria was elected from the African States Group to the vacant seat on the Programme Coordination Board of the Joint and Co-Sponsored United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). Elections concerning remaining vacancies were postponed to a future session.

The Council will meet again at 10 a.m. on Friday, 6 February, to continue its organizational session.

Statements

JUAN SOMAVIA (Chile), President of the Council, said that the Council had special responsibility in the implementation of United Nations reform. He expressed satisfaction over the Council's programme of work, drawing attention to its structure and balance that had been achieved without duplicating the work of the General Assembly. Issues selected were genuinely interesting and topical, he noted, stressing that consideration of the subject of access to markets was an opportunity to advance the goal of multilateralism. He stressed the need to reaffirm the commitment to free trade, noting that discussion of globalization would be an opportunity to deal with the outcome of the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations in terms of how it

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could better benefit both exporters and importers and what it meant to the least developed countries.

He stressed that in view of the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, issues of human rights and protection of fundamental freedoms must be accorded priority, and the Council had an important part to play in that regard. On advancement of women, he said the agreements reached at the Beijing Fourth World Conference on Women must be made "a part of our daily lives". He reaffirmed the principle of gender balance in the Secretariat and welcomed the presence of women such as the new Deputy Secretary-General, Louise Frechette; the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson; the Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on the Advancement of Women, Angela King; and the Assistant Secretary-General for External Relations, Gillian Martin Sorensen. He also welcomed the nomination of former Prime Minister of Norway, Gro Harlem Brundtland, for Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO).

He encouraged members to think of the Council as an integrated system, with component parts driving towards the same objective. Drawing attention to the new segment of the Council's substantive session, which would address humanitarian affairs, he described it as a stimulating and interesting area deserving of the attention of all, urging parties to embark on necessary dialogue to enhance agreements.

On the reform of the Economic and Social Council, he said that for the body to function appropriately, there was a need to recognize that it had both a political and an administrative mandate. Looking back at the work of the Council year by year, he pointed out that what was being done now could be done better and more efficiently. If the Council was not managed properly, it could not play its true role as a principal organ of the United Nations.

He urged Council members to keep in mind that the responsibilities of administration and management in the work of the Council would open a special area of specialization that might be described as "management diplomacy", which would enhance the whole approach to management. Although it was always easier to leave things the way they were instead of attempting to change them, he proposed a better attitude that would leave Council members satisfied that they had worked out methods and practices that others outside the Council could look at with admiration.

ANWARUL KARIM CHOWDHURY (Bangladesh), a Vice-President of the Council, reported on informal consultations on matters before the Council's organizational session. At informal consultations held last Friday, a number of changes to the basic programme of work contained in document E/1998/1 had been agreed upon. Among others, it was agreed that the report of the Secretary-General on the implementation of the revised system-wide medium-term plan for the advancement of women, 1996-2001, which would also be before the

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Council under agenda item 14 (a), should be listed under agenda item 3, on United Nations operational activities. The question of the membership of the Executive Board of the World Food Programme (WFP) was to be included as a question for consideration in the item dealing with reports of executive boards.

It was also agreed, he said, that the report of the Commission on Human Rights on its fifty-fourth session, which had been requested to report to the Council on the implementation of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, should be listed under agenda item 4, relating to the coordination segment. With regard to the humanitarian affairs segment of the substantive session -- to be held for the first time -- he said consultations on its timing were still going on and the date would be announced later.

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