ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL, FOR FIRST TIME, WILL REVIEW HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS OPERATIONS OF UNITED NATIONS
Press Release
ECOSOC/5760
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL, FOR FIRST TIME, WILL REVIEW HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS OPERATIONS OF UNITED NATIONS
19980702 Background ReleaseProgress in Strengthening Response Capacity of Organization To Be Discussed during Four-Week Session Beginning in New York, 6 July
The Economic and Social Council -- as part of its four-week substantive session beginning next Monday, 6 July, at Headquarters -- will, for the first time, devote a segment of its work to reviewing the humanitarian affairs operations of the United Nations. During the new two-day segment, the Council will consider progress towards strengthening the Organization's humanitarian assistance capacity, as well as disaster relief operations and special economic assistance. The General Assembly decided to establish this new segment as part of the overall reform and renewal of the United Nations, by adopting resolution 52/12B on 19 December 1997.
The substantive session opens with a three-day high-level segment focusing on the theme of "Market access: developments since the Uruguay Round, implications, opportunities and challenges, in particular for the developing countries and the least developed among them, in the context of globalization and liberalization". The next segment, from 9 to 14 July, will address operational activities by focusing on the advancement of women and the implementation of the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action.
Following the humanitarian affairs segment on 15 and 16 July, the session's coordination segment will be held on 17, 21 and 22 July. The focus of that segment will be coordinated implementation of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, adopted at the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights. From 22 July to the close of the session on 31 July, the Council will hold its general segment to consider the work of its subsidiary bodies.
During the forthcoming session, the Council will introduce an innovation to improve its functioning, by which it will conclude each segment by approving recommendations agreed to during that specific segment. By replacing a tradition of delaying all action until the session's close, the Council President, Juan Somavia (Chile), said that the new method would eliminate a separation of process from product which had characterized past sessions.
The high-level segment will begin on Monday with a one-day policy dialogue with heads of multilateral financial and trade institutions of the
United Nations system on developments in the world economy and international economic cooperation. Those scheduled to participate include the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Michael Camdessus; the President of the World Bank, James D. Wolfensohn; the Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Rubens Ricupero; and the Deputy Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Anwarul Hoda.
Also during the opening segment, the Council will consider the 1998 World Economic and Social Survey and a report from UNCTAD and the World Health Organization (WHO) reviewing market access in the context of globalization and liberation since the conclusion of the Uruguay Round. The report on market access, transmitted to the Council in a letter from the Secretary-General (document E/1998/55), states that tariffs and other traditional barriers to market access remain an issue in a wide range of sectors, many of which are of particular export interest to developing countries, including the least developed countries. The Uruguay Round resulted in significant improvements in the conditions and security of market access. Furthermore, since the establishment of the WTO in 1995, multilateral negotiations have been concluded which have greatly increased market access for information technology products, basic telecommunication services and financial services. Such liberalization in goods and services sectors demonstrates that the WTO provides a forum for continuous negotiation of market access improvements and dispute settlement.
Yet, significant tariff barriers and high variance continue to affect a significant number of products, according to the report. That was true because certain countries in the Uruguay Round offered only small tariff reductions or none at all for some sensitive products. The Uruguay Round negotiations, unlike some earlier negotiating rounds, did not establish specific targets for tariff harmonization. There remains substantial scope for further multilateral trade liberalization. WTO members are committed to new negotiations on agriculture and services by the year 2000. A decision would be required to extend those negotiations to other areas, such as industrial tariffs, although sectoral initiatives may also originate in other forums.
The international economy went through a turbulent year in 1997, according to the World Economic and Social Survey 1998 (document E/1998/50), a major report before the substantive session. The main channels of turbulence were located in the volumes of trade and financial flows, which grew substantially. In addition, the panic caused by the South-East Asian financial crisis prompted rescue efforts for the economies of some countries and policy changes in others. While that panic mainly hit developing countries, some transition economies were also affected.
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The 1998 Survey contains three parts. Part I assesses the current global economic situation, including an analysis of current trends in global financial flows, taking into account, in particular, the "Asian financial crisis", and recommends ways and means to address the volatility of financial flows. Part II examines the prospects for the continuation of the higher growth that had been achieved in the developing and transition economies in the mid-1990s. Part III addresses current issues in the global economy, including international trade, net transfer of resources and aspects of the introduction of the euro. The Survey also includes a statistical annex of economic, trade and financial indicators.
The Survey reports that the Asian financial crisis plunged several of the fastest-growing economies in the world into a severe recession and slowed growth of world output and trade. Individual countries in crisis were facing steep social costs that might be long-lasting and difficult recoveries from depressed economic conditions. A growing number of experts have called for more effective official oversight and market-based controls of financial markets. Yet, there was no consensus on how to achieve that goal.
In 1997, the world output grew 3.3 per cent, the fastest rate of growth since the late 1980s, the Survey says. After sluggish growth in 1996, the volume of world trade increased by 9 per cent. In 1997, 78 per cent of the people living in transition economies were in countries with rising gross domestic product (GDP), which was a great improvement over the 40 per cent in 1996. Average GDP growth in developing countries reached the highest level in almost two decades. Of the 95 developing countries monitored by the Survey, 81 registered an increase in output per capita.
According to the Survey, the value of world merchandise trade -- which had been less than $3.5 trillion in 1990 -- reached $5.5 trillion in 1997. The volume of world trade grew an estimated 9 per cent, which was a considerable increase from the relatively slow growth of the previous year. The strong growth in trade could be attributed to a surging growth of important in all major country groups. Developing countries and economies in transition saw strong increases in import volumes. The most dramatic was the 23 per cent increase in Latin America and the Caribbean, which reflected both the strong growth of GDP and large capital inflows that financed sharply wider trade deficits.
During the new humanitarian affairs segment, the Council will hold a general discussion on efforts to strengthen the United Nations humanitarian assistance capacity. Also during the segment, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Sergio Vieira de Mello, will participate in an informal dialogue on disaster relief assistance. Resident humanitarian coordinators from Angola, Georgia, Indonesia, Peru and Sierra Leone will discuss response to natural disaster and complex emergencies at the field level.
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The Council will also review a Secretary-General's report cataloguing substantial progress in strengthening coordination of emergency humanitarian assistance of the United Nations (document A/153/139-E/1998/67), both at Headquarters and in the field. Despite serious funding constraints facing humanitarian organizations and the worsening security environment in several areas, the Secretary-General reports substantial progress towards reinforcing and improving the humanitarian coordination mechanisms of the Organization. Sighting humanitarian operations in Angola, Georgia, Iraq and Kosovo as examples, the Secretary-General attributes the tangible results to the well- coordinated responses by the United Nations system with the work of international organizations, non-governmental organizations and donor countries. Other notable achievements included a growing recognition of the essential linkages between all aspects of external support for countries afflicted by conflict, whether political, humanitarian, development or human rights.
The report discusses significant changes made in the structure and functions of the Department of Humanitarian Affairs, undertaken as part of the Secretary-General's programme of reforms to renew the work of the United Nations. Those reforms, endorsed by the General Assembly during its fifty- second session, included changing the name of the Department of Humanitarian Affairs to the Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and focusing its functions on policy development and coordination; advocacy of humanitarian issues; and coordination of humanitarian emergency response.
As part of its operational segment, the Council will hold an informal dialogue with heads of United Nations funds and programmes on operational activities to promote capacity-building and resource mobilization for enhancing the participation of women in development. It will also consider the Secretary-General's report on the follow-up to the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women (document E/CN.6/1998/3), which is a mid-term review of the system-wide plan endorsed by the Economic and Social Council in 1995 covering the period 1996 to 2001. United Nations specialized agencies and other United Nations bodies have met with some obstacles to implementing efforts in support of the advancement of women, mainly associated with institutional and financial issues, the Secretary-General states. Nonetheless, United Nations entities have made progress in institutional development and some finance areas along the lines indicated in the Beijing Platform for Action adopted at the close of the Conference.
During the coordination segment, the Council will consider the Secretary-General's report on follow-up to the Vienna Declaration (document E/1998/60). The report notes that the human being and the protection of his/her rights should be the unifying factor of United Nations activities to realize the goals set by the various global conferences and summits. Over the next five years, the United Nations system should build on the progress achieved to date and take bold new steps to promote and protect the rights of
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all people. The message of the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights - "All human rights for all" - is an imperative for all the units of the United Nations. The Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action should guide the efforts directed towards making that imperative a reality.
As part of its consideration of coordinated follow-up to major United Nations conferences during the final general segment, the Council will review the Secretary-General's report on the agreed conclusions of the 1997 coordination segment, which concerns mainstreaming the gender perspective into all policies and programmes of the United Nations system. Also, the Council will receive reports from the Commission on Human Rights, the Commission on Sustainable Development, the Commission on the Status of Women and the Commission on Social Development. It will also take up the annual report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Officers, Membership
The President of the Economic and Social Council is Juan Somavia (Chile). The Vice-Presidents are Anwarul Karim Chowdhury (Bangladesh), Alyaksandr Sychou (Belarus), Roble Olhaye (Djibouti), and Francesco Paolo Fulci (Italy).
The 54 members of the Council for 1998 are: Algeria, Argentina, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chile, China, Colombia, Comoros, Cuba, Czech Republic, Djibouti, El Salvador, Finland, France, Gabon, Gambia, Germany, Guyana, Iceland, India, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Mauritius, Mexico, Mozambique, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Oman, Pakistan, Poland, Republic of Korea, Romania, Russian Federation, Saint Lucia, Sierra Leone, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Togo, Tunisia, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Viet Nam and Zambia.
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