COMMISSION FOR SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT CONTINUES NEGOTIATIONS ON AGREED CONCLUSIONS

Press Release
SOC/4535

COMMISSION FOR SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT CONTINUES NEGOTIATIONS ON AGREED CONCLUSIONS

The lack of consensus on four paragraphs in its key set of conclusions continues to prevent the Commission for Social Development from concluding its thirty-eighth session.

The set of agreements is entitled "Overall review and appraisal of the implementation of the outcome of the World Summit for Social Development (Copenhagen, 1995)". It is to be the Commission's contribution to the General Assembly's upcoming special session to assess progress and develop further initiatives to put the Copenhagen plan into action. This contribution is the Commission's priority theme of its current session.

Despite a series of negotiating sessions late into the night, and more than two weeks after the Commission was scheduled to conclude, the Commission’s Vice-Chairman, Luís Fernando Carranza-Cifuentes (Guatemala), coordinator of the negotiations, this morning announced that consensus on the text had not been reached.

The four paragraphs that are still being negotiated concern: unilateral actions that are not in accordance with international law and the Charter of the United Nations that impede trade and development; official development assistance (ODA); the 20/20 initiative and raising and/or allocating resources; and debt relief.

The representative of Portugal this morning, speaking on behalf of the European Union, said the Union could support the current draft of one of the disputed paragraphs -– that on unilateral actions that create obstacles to trade. The present draft was a good compromise, she said, and called for flexibility and cooperation to allow the Commission to finish its work.

The representative of Algeria expressed disappointment at the lack of consensus, but stressed that a final text must be adopted by consensus, rather than in any other fashion, as a text that did not enjoy consensus support would damage social development efforts.

Commission for Social Development - 2 - Press Release SOC/4535 10th Meeting (AM) 7 March 2000

Nigeria’s representative, speaking for the “Group of 77” developing countries and China, said the current difficulties were merely a temporary setback. The process was important to development objectives, and so the Group preferred a consensus text. He called on all Commission members to be flexible, and to avoid a vote on the matter.

The representative of Cuba expressed extreme disappointment that no agreed text had yet been found. His delegation had shown enormous flexibility, he explained, and found the current state of affairs difficult to accept. Cuba was not prepared to go back on the letter and spirit of Copenhagen.

The United States’ representative said that the Commission officers had done an outstanding job in bringing the sides together, despite the fact that progress was not as fast as Commission members hoped. He hoped for a solution in the not-too-distant future.

The acting Chairman, Didier Le Bret (France), advised the Commission that the Economic and Social Council had extended the Commission’s session for one day. The Commission would hold one additional half-day meeting in which to conclude its session.

The Commission plans to resume its meeting on Monday, 13 March, to act on outstanding items and conclude its session.

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