ISR"LI OCCUPATION PRACTICES MAKE PALESTINIAN LIVES "A DAILY TORMENT", COMMITTEE HEARS IN CONCLUDING NATURAL-RESOURCES DEBATE

Press Release
GA/EF/2892

ISRAELI OCCUPATION PRACTICES MAKE PALESTINIAN LIVES ‘A DAILY TORMENT’, COMMITTEE HEARS IN CONCLUDING NATURAL-RESOURCES DEBATE

Speakers Also Give Views on Report of Economic and Social Council

It had been an innovative and productive year for the Economic and Social Council, Patrizio Civili, Assistant Secretary-General in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) told the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) this afternoon as it considered the Council’s report.

However, he continued, much remained to be done. Ways must be found to reinforce the Council’s support for the General Assembly as well as the Council’s own coordination role. Considerable progress had been made in enlivening the Council’s debates by involving other partners, but a right balance had still to be found. The linkages between the Council’s April meetings with the Bretton Woods institutions and the High-level segment needed to be reviewed and strengthened, so that those two sets of meetings would build more effectively on each other towards concrete policy advances.

The Council had played a valuable role in its High-level segment by highlighting core issues of concern to development and to developing countries, said the representative of Guyana, speaking on behalf of the Group of 77 developing countries and China. It had focused on the critical issue of poverty eradication and on the importance of the empowerment and advancement of women. Next year, it would draw attention to the key role of information technology in the context of international cooperation for development in the twenty-first century. Another distinguishing mark of the Council’s work had been the successful initiative launched to enhance the transparency of its deliberations and to bring greater public awareness to its activities.

One area where continued work was required, he continued, was the question of reports, which formed the basis for the Council’s substantive consideration of issues. The Group was concerned by the tardy submission of reports, which adversely impacted on the quality of preparation and debate on the various issues. There was also a need for more effective streamlining of preparations for the various sessions of the Council, in particular for the substantive session.

Second Committee - 1a - Press Release GA/EF/2892 36th Meeting (PM) 9 November 1999

Speaking on behalf of the European Union and associated States, the representative of Finland said that the focus of the Council’s High- Level Segment on the empowerment and advancement of women was an important element of this year’s session. By highlighting the impact of women’s empowerment on poverty eradication, the segment had succeeded in raising awareness and putting gender issues on the agenda throughout much of the substantive session.

At the same time, he added, the agenda of the general segment needed to be further streamlined to allow the Council to conduct targetted discussions on items which required its particular attention and oversight. While the European Union appreciated the progress achieved so far in making the Council’s discussions more interactive and productive, much still remained to be done to ensure the effectiveness of its coordination functions.

Also this afternoon, the Committee concluded its consideration of the permanent sovereignty of the Palestinian people in the occupied Palestinian territory, including Jerusalem, and of the Arab population in the occupied Syrian Golan over their natural resources. Egypt’s representative said that the practices of Israeli occupation authorities reflected a plan to swallow those territories and present the world with a fait accompli. The economic stranglehold stifled economic development of the Palestinian and Arab people in the occupied territories and ran counter to the most basic rules of respect for human rights. In addition, Israel had made environmental pollution a weapon of racism.

Israel’s security measures made the lives of the Palestinians a daily torment, Lebanon’s representative said. As a country which had suffered from the injustice of Israeli occupation for more than 21 years, it could appreciate the toll of that torment. While Lebanon hoped for the achievement of peace, Israel’s continued occupation and policy of expansion and settlement threatened to strip the peace process of all content, and placed Israel on a collision course with international legality.

The Committee also heard the introduction of a draft resolution on linkages and synergies among environmental and environment-related conventions by the representative of the Russian Federation.

Statements were also made by the representatives of Bahrain, Tunisia, Sudan, Qatar, Pakistan, Russian Federation, Belarus, Ukraine, Venezuela and China.

The Committee will meet again at 10 a.m. on Thursday, 11 November, to hear introductory remarks by the Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

Committee Work Programme

The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) met this afternoon to conclude its discussion of the permanent sovereignty of the Palestinian people in the occupied Palestinian territory, including Jerusalem, and of the Arab population in the occupied Syrian Golan over their natural resources. For background information, see Press Release GA/EF/2891, issued this morning.

It was also expected to begin consideration of the report of the Economic and Social Council for 1999 (document A/54/3). The report states that 1999 was a signal year for the Council both substantively and symbolically. It had conducted oversight, given guidance to subsidiary bodies and substantially increased interrelationship with the Bretton Woods institutions. It had also achieved effective decision-making on a wide range of policy issues and, for the first time in many years, the Council had completed consideration during the session of all substantive issues on its agenda.

There were a number of important events for the Council during the year, the report continues. Foremost was the deepening of the interaction with the Bretton Woods institutions by a visit of the World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors to the Council in February; a high-level meeting of the Council with the Bretton Woods institutions in April; a visit by Council Ambassadors to Washington in May; and a planned visit of the International Monetary Fund’s Executive Board to New York in October. Those activities were a testament to cooperation in achieving development for all humankind, most especially by efforts to eradicate poverty.

The report outlines the resolutions and decisions adopted during the year by the Council with regard to coordination and organizational matters. One of those, related to an integrated implementation and follow-up to major United Nations conferences and summits, focused on the role of employment and work in poverty eradication; operational activities, in particular poverty eradication and capacity-building; and coordination of initiatives on African development. Other resolutions and decisions concerned such issues as non-governmental organizations (NGOs); sustainable development; disaster reduction; advancement of women; social development; crime prevention and criminal justice; narcotic drugs; and human rights, in particular with respect to racism and related intolerance, and to the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, Burundi, Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Myanmar, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, Equatorial Guinea, Rwanda, Congo, and Haiti.

The report details the high-level meeting of the Council with the Bretton Woods institutions held on 29 April, as well as the high-level segment held from 5 to 7 July on the role of employment and work in poverty eradication and the empowerment and advancement of women. It describes operational activities of the United Nations for international development; initiatives on African development considered during the coordination segment; and activities of the humanitarian affairs segment.

Also before the Committee was the report of the Secretary-General on revised estimates for the proposed programme budget for the biennium 2000-2001 resulting from resolutions and decisions adopted by the Economic and Social Council at its substantive session of 1999 (document A/54/443). The Council had adopted a number of resolutions and decisions in which it authorized relevant functional commissions, standing committees or expert bodies to undertake additional activities, including meetings, in excess of those initially programmed in the proposed programme budget for the biennium 2000-2001. The requests contained in Council resolution 1999/61 and decision 1999/287 give rise to requirements for the biennium 2000-2001 under sections 11A -- trade and development -- and 22 -- human rights -- of the proposed programme budget for the biennium 2000-2001. No provisions have been made under these sections of the proposed programme budget to cover the additional requirements.

It was not possible, at this stage, to identify activities within those sections that could be terminated, deferred, curtailed or modified during that biennium to finance the costs of the additional activities recommended by the Council in the above-mentioned resolution and decision, states the report. Consequently, an additional provision of $440,300 would be required over and above the resources proposed under those sections. This provision would represent a charge against the contingency fund and, as such, would require related additional appropriations of $86,900 under section 11A and $353,400 under section 22.

The Committee also had before it a note by the Secretary-General transmitting the report of the Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) on the United Nations Population Award (document A/54/407). A total of 32 nominations were received for the 1999 Award. Of these, 18 were for the "individual" category and 14 for the "institutional" category. In April, within the mandate given to it by the Assembly, and after a thorough review of the nominations, the Committee for the Award selected Dr. Seyed Alireza Marandi of Iran in the "individual" category, and the National Committee for Population and Family Planning of Viet Nam in the "institutional" category, as the laureates for 1999. With regard to financial matters, as at 1 January 1998, the Trust Fund had a total of $736,511. Income from interest was $40,469 in 1998 and expenditures, including the prizes, totalled $30,228. The closing balance as at 31 December 1998 totalled $746,752.

Draft Resolution

The Committee had before it a draft resolution, sponsored by Canada, New Zealand, Russian Federation and Turkey on linkages and synergies among environmental and environment-related conventions (document A/C.2/54/L.22). By the terms of the text, the Assembly would encourage the Conferences of the Parties to and permanent secretariats of the United Nations Framework convention on Climate Change, the Convention on Biological Diversity and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, particularly in Africa, to further examine appropriate opportunities and measures to strengthen their complementarities and to improve scientific assessments of ecological linkages between the three conventions.

Also, the Assembly would stress the need to strengthen further the cooperation among the secretariats of the various environmental and environment- related conventions and other international organizations with a view to facilitating progress in implementation of the conventions at the international, regional and national levels by:

a. Encouraging greater synergy and complementarity of activities undertaken to implement the commitments under various conventions; b. Identifying possible activities with potential multiple benefits and bringing them to the attention of the parties and conferences of the parties in order to promote them; c. Promoting more effective and coherent support from international organizations and financial institutions and mechanisms for national action aimed at the implementation of the conventions, in particular in the area of capacity-building; d. Encouraging further scientific analyses carried out by relevant international organizations, such as the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the secretariats of the conventions and their subsidiary bodies, and the United Nations Secretariat; e. Strengthening the capacity of parties to the conventions to participate effectively in the work of the conferences of the parties and other treaty bodies; f. Addressing practical issues, such as more effective information exchange, enhanced awareness-raising, harmonization of national reporting and formulation of integrated national strategies for sustainable development; g. Facilitating a more integrated and holistic approach to the implementation of environmental and environment-related conventions at the national level; h. Bringing relevant issues to the General Assembly and involved intergovernmental bodies for consideration by Member States, and formulation of agreed policy recommendations with a view to promoting a more holistic approach.

Further, the Assembly would invite the Secretary-General, in close collaboration with the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme and the executive secretaries of the conventions, to prepare an annual report on progress in the implementation of the present resolution, as well as on areas requiring further consideration by the General Assembly.

Introduction of Draft Resolution

DMITRY MAKSIMYCHEV (Russian Federation) introduced the draft resolution on linkages and synergies among environmental and environment-related conventions. He said that the draft was being introduced under Committee agenda item 100 and not under 100a, as stated on the document. The text was the result of informal exchanges of views of interested delegations. He was grateful to partners for their valuable and constructive input. The text sought to continue and build on past efforts by bodies, including the Assembly, to promote the complementarities under the various environment-related conventions. He looked forward to working on the draft with all partners.

Statements

ABDULLA AHMED SALMAN AL-KHALIFA (Bahrain) said that the report emphasized Israeli efforts to expand existing settlements and destroy Palestinian homes. Among Israeli practices in the occupied territories was the expropriation and sale of Palestinian property and the withholding of water from Palestinian lands, without considering the impact of those actions. Israel was pursuing those practices in violation of relevant Security Council resolutions which stipulated the illegitimacy of the Israeli occupation, an obstacle to lasting peace. Israeli practices in the occupied territories did not further the peace process in the Middle East, which could only be achieved when Arabs were empowered to exercise their fundamental rights. The Palestinians’ right to have their own state, with Jerusalem as their capital, must be respected. Also, Israel must withdraw to the 4 June 1967 borders. Israel’s practices were not in keeping with developments in the peace process. He concluded by stressing the right of the Palestinian people and the people in the occupied Syrian Golan to sovereignty over their natural resources.

FADHEL AYARI (Tunisia) said the report confirmed that Israeli authorities were pursuing their illegal practices against the people in the occupied territories. Their actions flew in the face of the spirit of the agreements reached and international law. The report reflected Israel’s continued policy of expansion and occupation. Its practices had kept Palestinians from working on lands which were rightly theirs. Instead they had subjected the Palestinians to the yoke of exploitation and expropriation. The Palestinians were suffering from a frightful lack of drinking water, restrictions on the transport of their foodstuffs, and foreign exploitation of their own natural resources. The people in the occupied Syrian Golan were suffering from similar policies and practices. All the commitments agreed to under the peace process must be respected. He hoped Israeli restrictions would be lifted and respect shown for all commitments made.

AHMED ABOUL GHEIT (Egypt) said that his country continued to be a pioneer in the call for action towards peace in the region. That policy was based on respect for the right of people in occupied territories to have a say over their natural resources. Israel’s policies in the field of settlements and unjust exploitation of natural resources constituted a flagrant violation of the basic rights of the Palestinian people in the occupied territories, including Jerusalem, and the Arab inhabitants of the occupied Syrian Golan. They deprived the rightful owners of their legitimate aspirations towards development.

The practices of the Israeli occupation authorities reflected a plan to swallow those territories and present the world with a fait accompli, he said. The economic stranglehold stifled economic development of the Palestinian and Arab people in the occupied territories. They ran counter to the most basic rules of respect for human rights. The practices of the Israeli occupation authorities and Israeli settlers had made environmental pollution a weapon of racism. The offer of tax breaks attracted polluting industries to the territories. Israel’s restriction of the right to education of the Arab population in occupied Syrian Golan constituted a violation of their natural right to work for a better standard of living. He expressed the hope that the Israeli Government would put an end to those policies, so that those agonizing aspects to the daily life of the population in the occupied territories would come to an end.

MUBARAK HUSSEIN RAHMTALLA (Sudan) said that Israel had established numerous settlements in its various occupied territories, creating serious problems for the development of peace in the region. The occupation brought serious consequences to the Palestinian people of the occupied territories, including Al Quds -- such as deficient health services, or the restrictions imposed by Israel on students, including mandatory inspections, which prevented them from pursuing their studies. The establishment of Israeli settlements had harmful consequences for the quantity and quality of the water supply. There were many sources in the region: they supplied Israel with a lot of water, but very little was provided to the Palestinian inhabitants.

He asked Israel to withdraw from all occupied territories, including Al Quds and the Syrian Golan, and to stop all restrictions on the movement of its inhabitants. He also asked Israel to put an end to all of its other practices in the occupied territories, which destroyed the houses and the lives of the inhabitants, deprived them of control over their own natural resources, and were an obstacle to their economic development.

HUSSEIN MOUSSAWI (Lebanon) said that his country, which had suffered from the injustice of occupation for more than 21 years, could not but share the views of the international community concerning the suffering of the Palestinian people under occupation. Among the continued Israeli practices were the expropriation of Palestinian lands, the demolition of Palestinian homes, the construction of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories, the persistent desire to annex East Jerusalem, the shooting by settlers and soldiers of Palestinian civilians, as well as the grave consequences of the occupation on medical care, education and the environment in the territories. Israel’s security measures made the lives of the Palestinians a daily torment. Only those who had experienced occupation could appreciate that torment.

Israel’s practices also included the diversion of water resources as well as the harassment of the people in the occupied Syrian Golan, he continued. While Lebanon hoped for the achievement of peace, Israel’s continued occupation and policy of expansion and settlement threatened to strip the peace process of all content. That placed Israel on a collision course with international legality. Israel must respect the relevant United Nations resolutions and agreements entered into. Lebanon called on the Assembly to adopt a new recommendation reiterating the permanent sovereignty of the Palestinian people in the occupied territories, including Jerusalem, and the Arab population in the occupied Syrian Golan, over their natural resources.

JAMAL NASSIR SULTAN AL-BADER (Qatar) said the report had revealed just how far Israel had gone in its confiscation of the natural resources of areas it illegally occupied. The peace process had been underway for years. Israel was supposed to have ended its policy of confiscation of Arab lands. United Nations resolutions repeatedly called on Israel to stop the plundering of Arab lands. Security Council Resolution 465 had stipulated that Israel’s occupation was illegal, and resolution 497 had condemned Israel for colonizing the Syrian Golan. He recalled that resolution 53/196, adopted last year by the General Assembly, had recognized the inalienable rights of the Palestinians and Arabs in the Syrian Golan, as well as their sovereignty over their natural resources. He called on Israel to end the confiscation of Arab lands and the exploitation of their natural resources. The peace process should continue with Israel’s withdrawal from the occupied territories.

NAVID HANIF (Pakistan) said that Israel’s relentless occupation of the Palestinian territory had led to serious economic, social and environmental repercussions for the people of Palestine, who were being denied their legitimate rights in their homeland. Most Israeli activities ranging from cutting of trees to generating harmful industrial wastes and running stone quarries, posed serious health risks to the Palestinian people. Those problems were further compounded by the burden of financing health care services and rising unemployment. Frequent border closures had negatively affected trade, particularly exports from the territory. The situation in the occupied Syrian Golan was no different.

He stressed that all provision of the Oslo Agreement and the Wye River Memorandum should be implemented without further delay. The new wave of expansion of settlements should be stopped immediately. Occupied land should be returned to the Palestinians, and the international community should ensure that the Palestinian people could live in their homeland with honour and dignity. History was a witness that the struggle of people against foreign occupation and for the realization of their right to self-determination could not be suppressed for long. In this era of freedom and empowerment, no country should be allowed to occupy and exploit the resources of any territory against the wishes of its people.

Introduction of Report

PATRIZIO CIVILI, Assistant Secretary-General in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, introduced the report of the Economic and Social Council. The Council had had an innovative and especially productive year, he said. It had built on innovations and important improvements introduced in the past few years. Its session of last July had provided it with a new sense of identity and purpose. Thanks to early preparations, the Council had been able to complete all the elements on its agenda during the session. The substantive themes had been shaped to build upon each other, and to contribute from different angles the key goals of poverty eradication and development, which had provided the leitmotif of the session as a whole.

The main contribution of the Ministerial Communiques adopted by the High- level Segment was to integrate the employment and gender dimensions in the struggle against poverty, he said. The Council had made concrete recommendations for achieving those goals. That outcome had greatly benefitted from the one day dialogue with the heads of IMF, the World Bank, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and the leadership of the World Trade Organization. Poverty eradication, together with capacity-building, was also the main focus of the operational activities segment.

An innovative part of the outcome of the general segment had been the resolution that the Council adopted on Haiti, he said. That resolution set out the main features of a long-term programme of support for Haiti encompassing economic, social, political and human rights aspects, and included recommendations on the main features of a continued United Nations presence in Haiti.

But of course much remained to be done, he said. Ways must be found to reinforce the Council’s support for the General Assembly as well as the Council’s own coordination role. Considerable progress had been made in enlivening the Council’s debates by involving other partners, but a right balance had still to be found. The linkages between the Council’s April meetings with the Bretton Woods institutions and the High-level segment needed to be reviewed and strengthened, so that those two sets of meetings would build more effectively on each other towards concrete policy advances.

Statements

GEORGE TALBOT (Guyana), speaking on behalf of the Group of 77 developing countries and China, said that as a principal organ of the United Nations, the Economic and Social Council served as a critical interface between the Organization and the various agencies and bodies of the United Nations system in the economic, social and related fields. He underlined the importance the Group attached to strengthening and deepening interactions, such as those between the United Nations and the Bretton Woods institutions, on issues of global concern. That represented the beginning of a productive relationship and partnership between the United Nations and those institutions, which needed to be nurtured and fully developed. The Group was open to a further exploration of modalities aimed at maximizing the value of interaction between the Organization and the Bretton Woods institutions.

The Council had also played a valuable role in its high-level segment by highlighting core issues of concern to development and to developing countries, he continued. It had focused on the critical issue of poverty eradication and on the importance of the empowerment and advancement of women. Next year, it would draw attention to the key role of information technology in the context of international cooperation for development in the twenty-first century. It was important that the Assembly make provision for a full discussion of the issues of science and technology in its fifty-fourth session. Another distinguishing mark of the Economic and Social Council during the current year had been the successful initiative launched to enhance the transparency of its deliberations and to bring greater public awareness to its work.

One area where continued work was required was the question of reports, which formed the basis for the substantive consideration of issues by the Council. The Group was also concerned by the tardy submission of reports, which adversely impacted on the quality of preparation and debate on the various issues. There was also a need for more effective streamlining of preparations for the various sessions of the Council, in particular for the substantive session. For next year, that process might be helped by the fact that the themes for most of the major segments were already agreed to, with the possibility that the required documentation could be forthcoming in a more timely manner. Beyond that, greater attention should be paid to the logistical aspects of preparation in order to minimize the burden of the process, particularly for smaller delegations, while at the same time enhancing the quality of deliberation and negotiation.

MATTI KAARIAINEN (Finland), speaking on behalf of the European Union and Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Cyprus, Malta and Iceland, said that the focus of the Council’s High-Level Segment on the empowerment and advancement of women was an important element of this year’s session. By highlighting the impact of women’s empowerment on poverty eradication, the segment had succeeded in raising awareness and putting gender issues on the agenda throughout much of the substantive session. In two years, the Humanitarian Segment had become a productive and useful forum for policy dialogue on the provision of humanitarian assistance.

Unfortunately, the substantive session of the Council had been unable to take a decision on the recommendations of the Report of the Committee for Development Policy, he said. Those recommendations included the revised set of criteria which the Committee had proposed to be used in the next triennial review of Least Developed Country (LDC) status. The process of discussing the revised criteria had continued during the autumn, and he hoped that the business of establishing a widely accepted set of new criteria could be concluded as soon as possible, so that the LDC list might be updated.

The agenda of the general segment needed to be further streamlined, to allow the Council to conduct targetted discussions on items which required its particular attention and oversight. While the European Union appreciated the progress achieved so far in making the Council’s discussions more interactive and productive, much still remained to be done to ensure the effectiveness of its coordination functions.

VASSILI A. NEBENZIA (Russian Federation) said that he was satisfied with the Council’s work this year. The meetings held with the representatives of the international financial institutions had been beneficial. It was also interesting and useful to hear discussions held in the high-level segments during the Council’s substantive session. The Communique adopted after the Ministerial segment contained recommendations for Governments to implement their social programmes. The results of the humanitarian segment had also been successful. It was important that the agreed conclusions in that segment emphasized the primacy of international law. Those conclusions stressed that humanitarian assistance must be impartial and must be delivered without compromising national sovereignty and territorial integrity. Also of great importance was the resolution adopted by the Council on Haiti, as well as the agreements reached in the context of the operational and coordination segments of the session. One of the important conclusions of the Council’s report was that the United Nations should and could play a coordinating role with regard to Africa. He was also satisfied with the Council’s work in its general segment. It was continuing to strengthen its role in the socio-economic sector. He was in favour of regular briefings, not only after but also during the Council’s deliberations.

ALEX MOSHUKHOV (Belarus) said that 1999 had become an important milestone for the renewal and enhancement of the efficiency of the Council. Considerable progress had been achieved in most areas, in great part thanks to its President, Ambassador Fulci, Permanent Representative of Italy. The high-level segment had been important in the search for ways and means to combat poverty. The Ministerial Communique had been a considerable contribution by the Council towards that goal. He noted that the trend of streamlining approaches towards economic growth had been continued.

For the first time, meetings had been held with all members of the IMF and the World Bank, which had been very fruitful for the strengthening and coordination of efforts in promoting development. Such action as the Council's adoption of the resolution on Haiti, would help the Council give future support to the Security Council and the General Assembly. The Council's system coordination functions ECOSOC should be strengthened.

VOLODYMYR RESHETNIAK (Ukraine) said that his country attached great importance to Economic and Social Council’s role as a principal United Nations body in the economic and social fields. Resolution 1999/59, adopted at its substantive session, reaffirmed the Council’s important part in economic assistance efforts of the international community and the United Nations system to States confronted with special economic problems, arising from implementation of sanctions imposed by the Security Council. The Council should continue to address those issues, particularly their economic aspects, to identify bold solutions to the special economic problems of such States.

He commended the work done by the Council on enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of its functional and regional commissions and its subsidiary bodies. He also welcomed the participation of the Economic Commission for Europe in the recovery of the countries of Southeastern Europe, as well as its activities aimed at promotion of the market transformation of economies in transition. In that connection, he stressed the need to reverse the declining trend in the level of resources for regional advisory programmes. In addition, greater importance should be placed on rationalization and harmonization of the procedures of the United Nations funds and programmes. Closer links should be forged with the Bretton Woods institutions and other key global partners.

DELMA MIRALLES (Venezuela) said that the eradication of poverty was of special interest to her country. She noted that the issues of jobs and gender had been incorporated in the report. Poverty was not immune to the dynamics of globalization. Linking the problem of poverty eradication with other issues of development -– such as flexible approaches to debt alleviation, support for the family, fighting corruption, and linking poverty to job opportunities -- once again made clear the need to approach development in a holistic way.

The Council had established close ties to the Bretton Woods institutions, which had been a very important step. On the subject of the humanitarian segment, she urged the creation of a flexible consultative machinery to allow for more efficient delivery of humanitarian aid whenever a disaster struck. However, United Nations humanitarian aid should not be provided at the expense of development assistance.

AHMED DARWISH (Egypt) said he was surprised that the Council had adopted three separate resolutions concerning water resources and land management, despite the fact that they were contained in the report of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. He wanted to know why the Council had adopted those resolutions, when they should have been transferred to its subsidiary body, the Commission on Sustainable Development, which was supposed to deal with them. He wondered about the extent to which resolution 47 was consistent with the legislative mandates between the Council and the Assembly. He expressed grave concern at the conflict of mandates and the misuse of a large number of meetings. He also reaffirmed the principle of the sovereign right of States to exploit their natural resources, as well as the Assembly’s inherent jurisdiction in dealing with questions concerning the implementation of the principles of the Charter. Egypt looked forward to the Assembly debate on safe water and health care for all.

LIU JINGTAO (China) said that at a time when globalization was accelerating, the Council had a comparative advantage in solving economic and social problems, and in promoting the integrated and coordinated implementation of major multilateral United Nations conferences and summits of the 1990s. The Council had been improving its working methods, and had achieved positive results in reforms of its subsidiary organs and enhancement of their efficiency.

In evaluating the implementation of the major United Nations conferences and summits, it was important to fully utilize statistics and indicators. The responsibility for producing and utilizing indicators fell mainly on governments, he said. It was necessary for the systems to stop producing separate and different indicators and to simplify and unify their methodology: they would thus free Member States of the burden of providing indicators to more than one organization. Some countries had proposed that the United Nations produce a set of core indicators. However, the Council should take a cautious decision, based on the opinions of the relevant functional commissions.

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