ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL ADOPTS DRAFT-AGREED CONCLUSIONS ON FOLLOW-UP TO HABITAT AGENDA GOALS

Press Release
ECOSOC/5919

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL ADOPTS DRAFT-AGREED CONCLUSIONS ON FOLLOW-UP TO HABITAT AGENDA GOALS

The Economic and Social Council this afternoon requested the relevant United Nations bodies and agencies to undertake a review of the follow-up of their commitments on implementing the goals of the Habitat Agenda. The Council took that action as it began the general segment of its 2000 substantive session, as part of the preparatory process for the special session of the General Assembly for an overall review and appraisal of implementation of the outcome of the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II).

The Council’s request for such a review was one of the conclusions contained in the draft-agreed conclusions on coordinated implementation of the Habitat Agenda, submitted by Gerhard Pfanzelter of Austria, Council Vice-President in charge of the coordination segment. The Council adopted the conclusions unanimously.

As part of those conclusions, the Council requested the Secretary-General to consider adopting a Habitat Agenda task manager system to facilitate coordinated implementation of the Habitat Agenda by the United Nations system, and to streamline reporting to the Commission on Human Settlements and to the Council. It also requested the Secretary-General to appoint a full-time Executive Director for the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat), and to fill vacancies for high-level positions in the Centre in order to strengthen its capacity, in particular, in the preparatory process for the special Assembly session.

The Council decided to postpone consideration of the draft-agreed conclusions on assessment of progress made within the United Nations system in the promotion of an integrated and coordinated implementation of and follow-up to major United Nations conferences and summits in the economic, social and related fields.

The Council then turned to consideration of integrated and coordinated implementation of and follow-up to major United Nations conferences and summits.

Introductory statements were made by Sarbuland Khan, Director, Division for Economic and Social Council Support and Coordination of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs; Hermann Habermann, Director of the Statistics Division,

Economic and Social Council - 1a - Press Release ECOSOC/5919 35th Meeting (PM) 21 July 2000

Department of Economic and Social Affairs; and Yvette Stevens, Special Coordinator for Africa and the Least Developed Countries.

Statements were also made by the representatives of Brazil, Belarus, France (on behalf of the European Union and associated countries), Nigeria (on behalf of the “Group of 77” developing countries and China), and China.

The Council will meet again at 10 a.m. on Monday, 24 July, to continue the general segment of its 2000 substantive session by considering its coordination programme and related questions. Issues discussed will include reports of coordination bodies, a proposed medium-term plan for 2002-2005, a long-term programme of support for Haiti, and international cooperation in informatics.

Council Work Programme

The 2000 substantive session of the Economic and Social Council met this afternoon to start its general segment. As part of its consideration of coordination of policies and activities of the specialized agencies and other bodies of the United Nations system, it was expected to review coordinated implementation by the United Nations system of the Habitat Agenda. The Council had before it the draft-agreed conclusions submitted by the Vice-President of the Council, Gerhard Pfanzelter (Austria) (document E/2000/L.13).

According to the document, the Council requests the relevant United Nations bodies and agencies, in particular, the Executive Committee of the United Nations Development Group, to undertake a review of the follow-up of their commitments on implementing the goals of the Habitat Agenda. The review is part of the preparatory process for the special session of the General Assembly for an overall appraisal of the implementation of the outcome of the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II).

By the same text, the Council requests the Secretary-General to review the matter of the participation of the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat) in all aspects of the work of the Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC) and its subsidiary machinery, in the light of its role as focal point within the United Nations system on implementing the Habitat Agenda.

The Council also requests the Secretary-General to consider adopting a Habitat Agenda task manager system to facilitate coordinated implementation of the Habitat Agenda by the United Nations system and to streamline reporting to the Commission on Human Settlements and to the Council.

Further, the Council requests the Secretary-General to appoint a full-time Executive Director for United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat), and to fill vacancies for high-level positions in the Centre in order to strengthen its capacity, in particular, in the preparatory process for the special session.

According to the text, the Council requests the regional commission to facilitate the holding of regional meetings in preparation of the special session. The Council further requests the Secretary-General to call on Member States to make voluntary financial contributions to the Secretariat to help developing countries, particularly the least developed countries, to participate fully in the special session and its preparatory process.

As part of its general discussion of integrated and coordinated implementation of and follow-up to major United Nations conferences and summits, the Council had before it: a report of the Secretary-General on assessment of the progress made within the United Nations system, through the conference reviews, in the promotion of an integrated and coordinated implementation of and follow-up to major United Nations conferences and summits in the economic, social and related fields (document E/2000/57); a report of the Secretary-General entitled Progress report on basic indicators for the integrated and coordinated implementation of and follow-up to major United Nations conferences and summits at all levels (document E/2000/60; a report of the Secretary-General on the role of employment and work in poverty eradication: the empowerment and advancement of women (document E/2000/64); and a report of the Secretary-General on implementation of agreed conclusions 1999/2 on the development of Africa: implementation and coordinated follow-up by the United Nations system of initiatives on African development (document E/2000/69.

Action on Draft-Agreed Conclusions

GERHARD PFANZELTER (Austria), Vice-President of the Economic and Social Council for the Council’s coordination segment, introduced the draft-agreed conclusions. He told Council members he hoped their successful work would give impetus to the negotiations in other segments.

He said the debate on the two themes confirmed that the topics were timely and appropriate. The major conferences of the 1990s had aimed at creating an integrated framework for forward development. National efforts were critical in implementing the conference outcomes, and there was concern that the developed countries were lagging behind commitments made.

Last year had shown that there were costs involved in the review processes, which took up time and energy. It was essential to start a structural process of reviewing and improving the approach to conference follow-up at the global level.

The draft-agreed conclusions made clear that the overarching purpose of well-coordinated and effective conference follow-up was to achieve substantial progress in the implementation of conference goals. The role of statistics and indicators in assessing progress had been emphasized. He underscored the need for the United Nations system to strengthen efforts at the country level to support governments in working towards the conference goals. The involvement of civil society had also been emphasized.

The Council then unanimously adopted the draft-agreed conclusions as contained in document E/2000/L.13.

The Council decided to postpone consideration of the draft-agreed conclusions on assessment of the progress made within the United Nations system in the promotion of an integrated and coordinated implementation of and follow-up to major United Nations conferences and summits in the economic, social and related fields.

Consideration of Follow-up to Conferences and Summits

SARBULAND KHAN, Director of the Division for Support and Coordination of the Economic and Social Council, said the reports before the Council indicated a mixed review of conference follow-up. Some cross-cutting issues needed to be better integrated, as, for example, employment and poverty-eradication. Overall, the question was still open on how the Council would pursue its aim of creating an integrated approach for follow-up of conference goals.

That consideration had led to the establishment of the Inter-agency Task Force and to an important dialogue between the Council and inter-agency mechanisms, he said. One concern that had emerged was how the five-year reviews could be improved. The other question concerned the determination of which steps should be taken at the international level and which at the national. Progress reports on follow-ups to the Social Summit, for example, all pointed to common elements that could be considered together. The indication was that the time had come for the Council to move beyond “process” integration and onto a more substantive basis.

HERMANN HABERMANN, Director of Statistics, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, introduced the progress report on basic indicators for the integrated and coordinated implementation of and follow-up to major United Nations conferences and summits at all levels (document E/2000/60). He said the report addressed five areas: networking and exchange of relevant information and metadata; means of implementation; harmonization and rationalization of conference indicators; identification of a limited number of commonly used indicators; and statistical capacity-building.

The Statistical Commission had intensified its efforts in the area of statistical networking and exchange of data, he said. Work on methods and standards of harmonization had also been intensified. A Web page was being set up with all the information given agencies were producing in terms of indicators.

There had been an intensive effort in the area of statistical capacity- building. Guidelines on good technical cooperation had been published. However, there was no easy solution to the problem of indicators. Statistics were resource-intensive and time-consuming. Building national statistical capacity in line with national policy priorities was the only way to address the problem, he said.

YVETTE STEVENS, Special Coordinator for Africa and the Least Developed Countries, said the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) had worked well on some thematic issues, but that results needed to be better reflected. The UNDAF should be expanded to include a broader venue, with more agencies participating. Some had questioned whether more actors should be involved. However, it could be said that the various actions taken in Africa had been progressively better coordinated.

Statements

ANTÔNIO RICARDO FERNANDES CAVALCANTE (Brazil) stressed that the international community should continue its support for the building of statistical capacity, in particular, for the formulation and adequate application of indicators. The United Nations system should comprehensively review the data used in its reports and information systems, so as to ensure full participation from developing countries, to avoid duplication, and to enhance transparency, consistency and reliability. The roles of the Statistical Commission and the Statistics Division should be strengthened.

ALYAKSEI MAZHUKHOU (Belarus) noted that, although considerable work had been done on statistical indicators, that work was far from complete. He supported the work and would continue to do so. He said that his country attached great importance to the review and assessment process at the national and regional levels. In 1997, Belarus had hosted a regional conference on sustainable development for countries with economies in transition.

He said that in his region new problems had emerged, such as the feminization of poverty. In that area, his country needed analytical support. He welcomed the fact that the Bretton Woods institutions were giving more attention to aspects of social development. The incorporation of social strategies by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) should not be linked too closely to the degree of assistance from other organizations, as there was competition for resources.

He welcomed the steps taken by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in developing strategies and methods of combating social exclusion and poverty, he said. The enlargement of social protection systems was one of its main tasks in developing countries and countries with economies in transition. That approach reflected the reality. Innovative approaches should be reviewed in subsequent reports. He emphasized the importance of technical support on the regional level in the area of migration issues.

DANIEL LE GARGASSON (France) spoke on behalf of the European Union, Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Cyprus, Malta, Turkey and Norway. He said that in the interest of greater coordination of international organizations’ efforts to identify a set of common indicators to improve the consistency of statistical work, the Subcommittee on Statistical Activities of the ACC should serve as a prime forum.

He said the European Union was fully aware of the need to improve statistical capacity in developing countries, particularly in the least developed countries. For data quality, reliable indicators were essential. The establishment in November 1999 of a new international statistical partnership arrangement (PARIS21) was good news.

The Union, he said, attached great importance to following up last year’s coordination segment on implementation and coordinated follow-up by the United Nations system of initiatives on African development. The Secretary-General’s report on the subject made clear the progress made. There remained, however, sizeable difficulties on the ground. They included: an uneven level of dialogue from one country to another between United Nations funds and programmes and the Bretton Woods institutions;, a lack of complimentarity and consistency among the various players’ tools and programmes; and inadequate progress in streamlining and harmonizing procedures.

He called on all parties concerned to redouble their efforts in order to maximise the impact of their operations on the ground. The European Union would keep close watch on those developments, he said.

LILIAN ONOH (Nigeria), speaking on behalf of the “Group of 77” developing countries and China, said the status of the documentation being provided to delegations had become untenable. By the rules of the United Nations, documents were to be made available six weeks ahead of time in the official languages. This year, delegations were increasingly left with only unedited draft texts in a single language, sometimes available only on the Internet. The quality of discussions was markedly poorer because issues could not be addressed.

Mr. LE GARGASSON (France) endorsed Nigeria’s complaint and added that there was a growing problem with securing interpreters. LIU JINGTAO (China) said he welcomed the availability of indicators on the Web through the Statistics Division. Using indicators was one way to evaluate progress and improvements made, even if there were questions on how and when to use them. The Council had requested the Statistics Division to indicate a limited number of indicators in frequent use. Indicators used by 100 countries had been posted, but their identities were not known. China had voiced objections to certain indicators and supported use of Common Country Assessment indicators on a limited basis.

The functional committees reviewing conference follow-up had indicated that the use of indicators was not feasible because country situations were too dissimilar, he said. The Council should assist countries in gathering statistics and developing indicators, as well as assisting in information exchange about them.

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