ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL ELECTS MEMBERS OF SUBSIDIARY BODIES, ALSO EXECUTIVE BOARDS OF UN AGENCIES

Press Release
ECOSOC/5888

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL ELECTS MEMBERS OF SUBSIDIARY BODIES, ALSO EXECUTIVE BOARDS OF UN AGENCIES

In a resumed two-day organizational session, the Economic and Social Council this morning elected members for several of its subsidiary bodies and for the executive boards of some of the United Nations agencies.

The Council approved a draft resolution concerning the second World Assembly on Ageing, and granted consultative status to 62 new non-governmental organizations and two intergovernmental organizations. It also agreed to take action on two draft optional protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, at the request of the Commission on Human Rights, on 10 May.

In a follow-up to the International Year of Older Persons, the Council approved a draft resolution submitted by the Commission for Social Development by which the General Assembly would decide to convene the second World Assembly on Ageing in 2002, on the twentieth anniversary of the Vienna World Assembly on Ageing. The draft stresses that the Assembly should give particular attention to action-oriented measures to be taken by societies in a comprehensive response to the current ageing process. Attention should also be paid to the linkages between ageing and development, and to measures to mainstream ageing within the context of current global development agenda. Appropriate forms of public/private partnership would also be given special attention.

On the basis of a report from the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations, the Council approved the Committee’s recommendation that 62 new non-governmental organizations be granted consultative status with the Council, and that the status of 11 others be reclassified. The Council further approved the Committee’s recommendation that roster status with the Council be given to 15 organizations already accredited to the Commission on Sustainable Development. The two intergovernmental organizations approved for consultative status with the Council were the Asian and Pacific Development Centre and the Inter-American Development Bank. The Committee’s report and its provisional agenda for its 2000 session were also approved.

Elections were held for the following committees and commissions: Statistical Commission; Commission on Population and Development; Commission for Social Development; Commission on Human Rights; Commission on the Status of Women; Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice; Commission on Sustainable Development; Commission on Science and Technology for Development; Commission on Human Settlements; Intergovernmental Working Group of Experts on International Standards of Accounting and Reporting; Committee on Economic,

Economic and Social Council - 2 - Press Release ECOSOC/5888 7th Meeting (AM) 3 May 2000

Social and Cultural Rights; Committee for the United Nations Population Award; and the Committee for Programme and Coordination.

Elections were also held to fill vacancies on the executive boards of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)/United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the World Food Programme (WFP), the Programme Coordination Board of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), as well as the Board of Trustees of the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women.

The Council postponed, until a later date, elections on the remaining seats for some of its subsidiary bodies.

The Council revised the schedule of its upcoming substantive session so that the Coordination Segment will be held from 10 to 12 July and the Operational Activities Segment from 13 July to 18 July, with the high-level meeting on operational activities taking place on 17 July.

At the end of the meeting, the President informed members that the fourth discussion in the series on “Universal Access to Information and Informatics for Human Development” would be held from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. on 10 May. He said Council members, particularly those from developing countries, should make a special effort to participate in those panel discussions. There was no greater priority for the Council than bringing the benefits of information technology to the process of development, he added.

The Council will meet again at 3 p.m. tomorrow, 4 May.

Statement by Council President

MAKARIM WIBISONO (Indonesia), President of the Economic and Social Council, thanked a number of countries and organizations for their invaluable support in sponsoring or supporting a series of preparatory events for the high- level segment of the Council. He mentioned Italy, Norway, India and Brazil and the following organizations: World Bank, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), International Labour Organization (ILO), and United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR).

He announced that he had received two letters from the Chairman of the Commission on Human Rights, Shambhu Ram Simkhada, concerning requests for action on a number of human rights questions by the Council at its current resumed session.

In the 26 April letter (document E/2000/42), the Commission Chairman said that two draft optional protocols had been adopted by consensus by the Commission on Human Rights on 26 April. The Commission recommended that the two optional protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child contained in the annexes to the resolution be adopted early by the Economic and Social Council and the General Assembly. It furthermore recommended that the two optional protocols, after adoption by the General Assembly, be open for early signature and ratification or accession.

In his 27 April letter (document E/2000/43), the Chairman of the Commission on Human Rights referred to resolution 1999/256, adopted by the Council at its forty-second plenary meeting on 27 July 1999, in particular, paragraph (b)(l) approving the recommendation of the Commission that, in its resumed organizational session, the Council include consideration of any proposals regarding special procedures or mandates adopted at the annual session of the Commission.

The Chairman of the Commission informed the Council President that, at its fifty-sixth session, the Commission had adopted five proposals regarding special procedures or mandates. Those were: resolution 2000/82, entitled “Effects of structural adjustment policies and foreign debt on the full enjoyment of all human rights, particularly economic, social and cultural rights”; resolution 2000/9, entitled “Question of the realization in all countries of the economic, social and cultural rights contained in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and study of special problems which the developing countries face in their efforts to achieve these human rights”; resolution 2000/10, entitled, “The right to food”; resolution 2000/61, entitled “Human rights defenders”; and resolution 2000/109, entitled “Procedure for dealing with communications concerning human rights”.

The Council President proposed that the Council consider the matter on 10 May 2000. He also proposed that the five resolutions of the Commission be discussed in informal consultations first, before their official consideration by the Council. He asked Council Vice-President Martin Belinga-Eboutou (Cameroon) to undertake those informal consultations.

The Council approved those proposals.

Elections

The eight members elected to the Statistical Commission were: India, Japan, Czech Republic, Jamaica, Mexico, France, Greece and United Kingdom.

The members elected to the Commission on Population and Development were: Cameroon, Ghana, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Lithuania, Peru, Austria, Belgium, Germany and Turkey. Fourteen seats were available, and the Council decided to postpone elections on the remaining three seats. Following the candidates’ approval by acclamation, the representative of Portugal said the fact that no vote had taken place on the Commission and on the other two Commissions for which Austria was a candidate -- on Social Development and on Human Settlements -- did not mean there had been a change in the policy agreed to by 14 European governments towards Austrian candidates seeking positions in international organizations.

The 17 members elected to the Commission for Social Development were: Gabon, Kenya, South Africa, United Republic of Tanzania, Bangladesh, China, Kazakhstan, Viet Nam, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, El Salvador, Jamaica, Mexico, Austria, Denmark, Italy and Switzerland.

The 24 members elected to the Commission on Human Rights were: Algeria, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Libya, Senegal, South Africa, India, Malaysia, Thailand, Viet Nam, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Russian Federation, Poland, Costa Rica, Cuba, Guatemala, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela, United Kingdom, Canada and Belgium.

The 11 members elected to the Commission on the Status of Women were: Guinea, Tunisia, United Republic of Tanzania, Japan, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Argentina, Peru, Germany, Netherlands and United Kingdom.

The members elected to the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice were: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Togo, India, Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, Bulgaria, Poland, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, France, Netherlands, Portugal and United States. Elections on two remaining seats were postponed to a later date.

The members elected to the Commission on Sustainable Development were: India, Indonesia, Iran, Mongolia, Republic of Moldova, Slovenia, Brazil, Ecuador, Venezuela, Austria, France, Iceland and Switzerland. Elections for four remaining seats were postponed until 10 May.

The members elected to the Commission on Science and Technology for Development were: Cameroon, Ghana, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Brazil, Grenada and Jamaica. Elections for nine remaining seats were postponed until a later date.

The members elected to the Commission on Human Settlements were: Guinea, Madagascar, China, Iraq, United Arab Emirates, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Jamaica, Austria, France, Italy and Sweden. Elections for the remaining seven seats were postponed until a later date.

The members elected to the Intergovernmental Working Group on International Standards of Accounting were: Cyprus, Jordan, Malaysia, Pakistan and Brazil. Elections for the remaining eight seats were postponed until a later date.

The Council next elected members of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. They are: Waleed M. Sa’di (Jordan); Dumitru Ceausu (Romania); Sergei Martynov (Belarus); Rocio Barahoma Riera (Costa Rica); and Kenneth Osborne Rattray (Jamaica). The remainder of the candidates to fill the nine seats on the Committee will be elected at a later date.

The 14 members elected to the Executive Board of UNICEF were: Armenia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Gambia, Madagascar, Morocco, Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Yemen, Colombia, Japan, Norway, Portugal and Sweden. It was also decided that France would complete the term of Spain from January 2001 to December 2001; Germany would complete Turkey’s term from January 2001 to December 2002; Australia would complete the term of Greece from January 2001 to December 2002; and, Cuba would complete the term of Trinidad and Tobago from January 2001 to December 2002.

The 14 members elected to the Executive Board of the UNDP/UNFPA were: Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Mauritania, Mozambique, China,

Iran, Philippines, Bulgaria, Ecuador, Finland, France, Germany and Norway. The Council decided that Denmark would complete the remaining term of Sweden from January 2001 to December 2002, and that Canada would similarly complete the remaining term of Switzerland from January 2001 to December 2001.

The five members appointed to the Board of Trustees of the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women were Boutheina Gribaa (Tunisia), Tahima Hussain (Bangladesh), Norica Nicolai (Romania), Pauline Sukhai (Guyana) and Antigoni Karali-Dimitriadi (Greece).

Members elected to the Executive Board of the WFP were Sierra Leone, India, Pakistan and Russian Federation. The election for the remaining two seats was postponed to a later date.

Members elected to the Committee for the United Nations Population Award were Burundi, Cape Verde, Lesotho, Kyrgyzstan, Republic of Moldova and the Netherlands. The Council agreed to fill the remaining four seats at a later date.

Members elected to the Programme Coordination Board of UNAIDS were Tunisia, Zambia, China, Japan, Romania, Italy and Portugal. Elections to the remaining two seats were postponed to a later date.

The following seven countries were elected to the Committee for Programme and Coordination: Botswana, United Republic of Tanzania, Russian Federation, Bahamas, Mexico, France, United States.

The Council agreed to postpone the appointment of the 24 experts to the Committee for Development Policy until after the substantive session of the Council in July.

The Council agreed also that Germany would complete Ireland’s remaining term on the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations from the date of election to 31 December 2002.

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