1998 PLEDGING CONFERENCE FOR UN DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES CONCLUDES AT HEADQUARTERS
Press Release
DEV/2193
GA/9498
1998 PLEDGING CONFERENCE FOR UN DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES CONCLUDES AT HEADQUARTERS
19981105 Members States this morning pledged further contributions to the development activities of the United Nations system, as the annual United Nations Pledging Conference for those activities concluded.In concluding remarks, the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), James Gustave Speth, said that despite all the reforms that the Programme had made, the organization's core funding situation for the near future was still in question. He stressed that core resources were essential to maintaining the multilateral character of UNDP's work, and appealed to countries to increase their contributions in 1999 in order to allow UNDP's new Administrator to get off to a good start.
With the overall decline in official development assistance (ODA), the momentum noted after the Cairo International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) had eroded, Hirofumi Ando, Deputy Executive Director for Policy and Administration of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), said. The Fund's income rose sharply following the ICPD, but it was now receiving a smaller percentage of total international population assistance than it was a few years ago.
Anthony Kennedy, Director of the Programme Funding Office of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), said that his organization was working to ensure that children were at the centre of development strategies and was deeply engaged in its own internal reform to enhance its ability to act against problems affecting children at all levels.
Speaking on the relevance of pledging conferences, the representative of the United States said the time had come for change on the funding strategy for United Nations development activities. While her country supported the development activities of the United Nations, it strongly urged that the current mode of pledging conferences be discontinued.
At the conclusion of the three-day Conference, a representative of UNICEF reported that its total pledges were $52.2 million from 48 States. The UNFPA reported that total pledges were $55 million from 40 States. The UNDP reported that 44 States had pledged $44.35 million to it, and UNIFEM reported that 19 States had pledged $5.074 million.
Pledges were made this morning by: Chile, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Malawi, Malaysia, Mongolia, Pakistan, Peru, Romania, Samoa, Singapore, Thailand, Tunisia, Uruguay and Yemen.
The representatives of Andorra, Guatemala, Mexico and the Russian Federation said their countries could not pledge at this time due to their national budgetary processes.
Statement
BETTY KING (United States) said a number of delegations chose not to attend this forum to emphasize their opposition to pledging conferences. Her delegation believed that they were not an efficient way to garner resources. However, it did support the role the United Nations played in development. The United States was committed to United Nations development work, and it was the single largest overall contributor to the United Nations funds and programmes in that regard.
She added that her delegation had repeatedly emphasized over the years that the timing of the Pledging Conference did not coincide with the budgetary cycle of its Government or the cycles of most donor governments. In General Assembly resolution 50/227, there was a strong presumption that the pledging conference system would be eliminated by the fifty-third General Assembly. But far from taking the final steps to replace that outdated system, the Assembly seemed to be largely ignoring the issue.
The time had come for change on the funding strategy for United Nations development activities, she said. Those activities were facing serious funding shortfalls in core resources. Furthermore, the United Nations funds and programmes had begun to address that issue through their respective executive boards in a manner that should prove far more efficient than the current pledging system. In the long run, an effective voluntary pledging system, where donors could see the impact of their donations, could help put United Nations development funding on a sound, continuous and predictable basis. While her country supported the development activities of the United Nations, it strongly urged that the current mode of pledging conferences be discontinued.
Concluding Remarks
ANTHONY KENNEDY, Director of the Programme Funding Office of UNICEF, said that the world had come to recognize that there were no more important resources than those devoted to the development of the child. The UNICEF was working to ensure that children were at the centre of development strategies, and his organization was pleased by the trust in it.
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Eighty per cent of children in developing countries, he said, were covered by immunization programmes for tetanus and measles. His organization was battling polio and guinea worm. Diseases caused by iodine deficiency had been effectively mitigated.
However, he added, there were still problems. Twelve million children under five years of age died every year, most of easily preventable causes. Also, 160 million children were dangerously malnourished, 250 million children were trapped in child labour much of it hazardous and exploitative, and 100,000 thousand children had been slaughtered as soldiers in adult wars. The pandemic of AIDS was causing hardship almost beyond comprehension. The UNICEF had been deeply engaged in its own internal reform, to enhance its ability to act against these problems, at all levels.
HIROFUMI ANDO, Deputy-Executive Director for Policy and Administration of the UNFPA, said his organization launched the 1998 State of the World Population Report in September. It focused on young people that had reached working and child-bearing age and on those over 65. Those groups were challenging societies to provide a number of services such as education, health care and employment. The world population would continue to grow substantially for at least another 50 years. In 1999, it would pass 6 billion. By 2050, the world population would be between 7.7 billion and 11.2 billion. Those population trends depended largely on actions that the world community took today.
Over the past decade, the role of international population assistance had been recognized as an essential part of overall development strategies, he said. Immediately following the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), there were significant increases in the levels of assistance. UNFPA's own income rose sharply after the ICPD, but it was now receiving a smaller percentage of total international population assistance than it was a few years ago. Unfortunately, with the overall decline in official development assistance (ODA), the momentum noted after the ICPD had eroded. The UNFPA had increased its capacity to deliver an expanded programme of assistance as envisaged in the ICPD Programme of Action and to meet country needs. The resources required for that expanded programme were now needed more than ever.
UNFPA's total income for 1997 had again exceeded the $300 million mark ending the year at about $319 million, he said. For 1998, the UNFPA's general resources would most likely decline, in large part, due to currency exchange loss despite the increase in the contributions of nine major donors. The UNDP/UNFPA Executive Board this year adopted a total resource goal of $400 million for 1999. Although the UNFPA was deeply concerned about the 1998 resource picture, he thanked its family of over 80 donors for continuing to support the UNFPA despite severe economic difficulties.
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JAMES GUSTAVE SPETH, Administrator of the UNDP, said that despite all the reforms that the UNDP had made, the organization's core funding situation for the near future was still in question. In order to acquire stable funding and allow for effective planning, extending pledges from covering a single year to covering two or three years, when possible, was necessary. Moreover, countries should be held to firm payment schedules. UNDP's executive board had adopted an annual funding target of $1.1 billion, and the organization would strive towards achieving annual increases until that target was met.
He reaffirmed that core resources were essential to maintaining the multilateral character of UNDP's work, yet, his organization sought to supplement core resources with partnerships with bilateral donors, such as the European Commission. Those partnerships with private entities had been designed in a way to safeguard the UNDP's character. He understood that many countries could not yet announce their pledges due to internal budget processes, and he appealed to those countries to increase their contributions in 1999 in order to allow UNDP's new Administrator to get off to a good start.
Pledges Made
Chile
UNDP $1,225,000 UNICEF $77,000 UNFPA $5,000 UN Habitat & Human Settlements Foundation $5,000 UNITAR $5,000 UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture $10,000
Lao People's Democratic Republic
UNDP $21,168 UNICEF $5,000 UN Capital Development Fund $1,500 UNFPA $600 UNEP $2,000 UN Drug Control Programme $1,000
Malawi
UNDP 180,000 kwacha UNICEF 60,000 " UN Capital Development Fund 60,000 " UNFPA 98,625
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Malaysia
UNDP $385,000 UNICEF $84,000 UNFPA $15,000 UN Drug Control Programme $20,000
Mongolia
UNDP $17,000 UNICEF $10,000 UNFPA $4,000 INSTRAW $500 UNEP $1,000
Pakistan
UNDP 24,400,000 Pakistan rupees UNICEF 2,750,000 " UNICEF local administration 2,750,000 " UNFPA $500,000 UN Drug Control Programme $1,000 UN Fund for Science and Technology for Development 900,000 Pakistan rupees
Peru
Trust Fund for UN Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development for Latin America and the Caribbean $30,000
Romania
UNDP 1,300,000,000 lei UNICEF 100,000,000 " UNFPA 100,000,000 " UN Information Centre, Bucharest 500,000,000 "
Samoa
UNDP $6,000 UNICEF $1,000 UNFPA $5,000 UNIFEM $1,000
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Singapore
UNDP $300,000 UNICEF $50,000 UNIFEM $40,000 UNEP $15,000 UNEP Trust Fund for East Asian Seas $10,000
Thailand
UNDP $865,112 UNICEF $112,500 +2,080,500 baht UNFPA $96,000 UN Capital Development Fund $2,500 UNEP 400,000 baht UNIFEM $3,000 INSTRAW $3,000 UN Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Fund $3,000 UNITAR $2,000 UN Volunteers 100,000 baht
Tunisia
UNDP 257,000 dinars UNDP local office 150,000 " UNICEF 35,000 " UNFPA 25,000 " INSTRAW 10,000 " UN Habitat & Human Settlements Foundation 976,000 " UNITAR 1,960 " UNRWA 12,000 " UNHCR 10,000 " UN Volunteers 5,000 " UN Capital Development Fund 27,322 " UN Fund for Drug Abuse Control 5,000 " UN Voluntary Fund for International Decade of Indigenous People 1,000 " UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture 2,000 "
Uruguay
UNICEF $10,000 UNFPA $25,000
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Yemen
UNDP $40,000 UNICEF $16,730 INSTRAW $2,000 UNIFEM $2,676 UN Capital Development Fund $1,000 UN Habitat & Human Settlements Foundation $575 UNHCR $2,160 UNITAR $2,000 UN Volunteers $160 UN Fund for Science & Technology for Development $3,000 UN Climate Change Convention $2,160 World Food Programme $3,847
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