Economic and Social Council

2007 Organizational Session

10^th Meeting (AM)

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL FILLS VACANCIES ON SUBSIDIARY BODIES

The Economic and Social Council this morning held elections to fill vacancies in 16 of its subsidiary bodies, including the Commission for Social Development, the Commission on the Status of Women, and the Permanent Forum for Indigenous Peoples.

The 54-member Council is the principal organ coordinating socio-economic and related work of the 14 United Nations specialized agencies, 10 functional commissions and 5 regional commissions.  The Council also receives reports from 11 United Nations funds and programmes.  It serves as the central forum for discussing international economic and social issues, and for formulating policy recommendations addressed to Member States and the United Nations system.

Candidates in today’s proceedings were elected on the basis of equitable geographical distribution, according to a specified pattern, and were mostly endorsed by the five geographical groups: African States, Asian States, Eastern European States, Latin American and Caribbean States and Western European and other States.

Since the 16-member Permanent Forum for Indigenous Peoples was the only body for which more candidates had been nominated by Governments than there were vacancies, a secret ballot was held for three of the eight members to be elected by the Council.  The remaining eight members were appointed by the Council President from candidates proposed by indigenous organizations.  Candidates for all other bodies were elected by acclamation.

The list of candidates for the elections, as well as supporting documentation and biographical information, is contained in documents E/2007/9 Addenda 1-10 and E/2007/48.

The Economic and Social Council will meet again tomorrow, 26 April, at 3 p.m., to consider outstanding organizational issues.

Elections, Appointments and Nominations

The Council elected by acclamation Algeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the United Republic of Tanzania to the 24-member Committee for the United Nations Population Award for a term, which would begin today and expire on 31 December 2009. (The Committee was scheduled to meet tomorrow in order to select the laureates for the award, but there were still three outstanding vacancies in the African States group).

As there were eight candidates from the various regional groups for the eight vacancies in the 24-member Statistical Commission, the Council elected without a vote Togo, Sudan, Lebanon, Oman, Belarus, Lithuania, Honduras and the United States for a four-year term, beginning on 17 January 2008.

The Council elected by acclamation Japan, Kazakhstan, Croatia and Colombia to the 47-member Commission on Population and Development for a four-year term, beginning at the first meeting in 2008.

It postponed the election of three members from the group of African States and two members from the group of Western European and other States.

It also elected Spain to fulfil a vacancy for the group of Western European and other States for a term beginning today and expiring at the close of the Commission’s forty-fourth session in 2011.

Elected by acclamation to the 46-member Commission for Social Development were Ghana, Senegal, Sudan, Japan, Pakistan, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Argentina, El Salvador, Guatemala, France, Germany and United States, for four-year terms to begin at the Commission’s first meeting in 2008 and to expire at the close of the Commission’s fiftieth session in 2012.

The Council postponed the election of one member from among the African States and one member from among the Eastern European States.  It was announced that no candidate had been proposed for an outstanding vacancy from among the Eastern European States.

The Council elected to the Commission on the Status of Women, by acclamation, Eritrea, Senegal, China, India, Russian Federation, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Sweden and the United States for four-year terms, beginning at the first meeting of the Commission’s fifty-third session in 2008 and expiring at the close of the Commission’s fifty-sixth session in 2012.  The Commission has a total of 45 members.

With regard to the 33-member Commission on Narcotic Drugs, the representative of Honduras informed the Council that Brazil had withdrawn its candidacy.  The representative of Brazil said the Chair of the Latin American and Caribbean Group had been informed of the withdrawal on 23 April, and that the decision was then conveyed to the Secretary of the Council.

The Council then elected, by acclamation, Botswana, Ethiopia, Morocco, Uganda, Sudan, China, Iran, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Czech Republic, Lithuania, Republic of Moldova, Argentina, Cuba, El Salvador, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, Venezuela, Austria, Finland, Germany, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and the United States.

It would postpone the election of two members from the African States.

The Council elected by acclamation 20 members to the Commission on Sustainable Development for a three-year term, set to begin at the organizational meeting of the Commission’s seventeenth session in 2008, and which would expire at the close of its nineteenth session in 2011.  Those countries are Gabon, Libya, Malawi, Namibia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Estonia, Romania, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Venezuela, Belgium, Canada, Germany and Israel.

It would postpone the election of one member from the African States group and one from the Western European and other States group.  The Commission is composed of 53 members.

As for the Committee for Programme and Coordination, a 34-member body, the Council nominated for election by the General Assembly, Kenya, Libya, Niger, Bangladesh, China, Republic of Korea and Jamaica for a three-year term beginning 1 January 2008.  No nominees had been proposed to fill two outstanding vacancies from Western European and other States.

As set out in Council resolution 2000/22 and decision 2001/316, eight members of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues would be appointed by the President of the Council and eight members elected by the Council.  The term of office for all 16 members is three years, beginning on 1 January 2008.

In a letter dated 17 April to the members of the Council (document A/2007/48), Council President Dalius Čekuolis (Lithuania), had informed the Council that he had appointed Hassan Id Balkassm (Morocco), Margaret Lokawua (Uganda), Victoria Tauli-Corpuz (Philippines), Lars-Anders Baer (Sweden), Elisa Canqui Mollo (Bolivia), Pavel Sulyandziga (Russian Federation), Tonya Gonnella Frichner (United States) and Michael Dodson (Australia) to the Forum.

According to the letter, the candidates had been selected from the seven socio-cultural regions used by the Permanent Forum, namely: Africa; Asia; Central and South America and the Caribbean; the Arctic; Eastern Europe, Russian Federation, Central Asia and Transcaucasia; North America; and the Pacific.  It was understood that the eighth member was nominated from one of the three regions with the largest indigenous populations.

The Council then elected by acclamation Xiaomei Qin (China), Paimaneh Hasteh (Iran), Carlos Mamani Condori (Bolivia), Bartolomé Clavero Salvador (Spain) and Carsten Smith (Norway) from the groups of Asian States, Latin American and Caribbean States and Western European and Other States, as the number of nominated candidates was equal to the number of vacancies for those groups.

As there were three candidates from African States for two seats, and two candidates from Eastern European States for one seat, the Council proceeded with a secret ballot election.

Results for African States

Number of ballots:	53
Number of invalid ballots:	0
Number of valid votes:	53
Number of abstentions:	0
Number of members voting:	53
Majority required:	27
Number of votes obtained:
Simeon Adewale Adekanye ( Nigeria)	31
Ali Daouda ( Niger)	28
Liliane Muzangi Mbella ( Democratic Republic of the Congo)	46

Having obtained the required majority and largest number of votes, Liliane Muzangi Mbella ( Democratic Republic of the Congo) and Simeon Adewale Adekanye ( Nigeria) were elected to the Permanent Forum.

Results for Eastern European States

Number of ballots:	53
Number of invalid ballots:	0
Number of valid votes:	53
Number of abstentions:	0
Number of members voting:	53
Majority required: 27
Number of votes obtained:
Merike Kokajev ( Estonia)	26
A. A. Nikiforov ( Russian Federation)	27

Having obtained the required majority and the largest number of votes, A. A. Nikiforov ( Russian Federation) was elected to the Permanent Forum.

Information on the distribution of seats and biographical data on the candidates nominated by Governments was contained in E/2007/9/Addenda 2, 8, 9 and 10.

Zimbabwe, China, Iran, Romania, Russian Federation, Antigua and Barbuda, Haiti, Australia, Greece, Japan and the Netherlands were elected to the Executive Board of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) for a three-year term, beginning on 1 January 2008.

Also in connection with the 36-member Executive Board of UNICEF, the Council was informed of the resignation of Denmark, Ireland, Portugal, Switzerland and Turkey, effective 1 January 2008.  Austria, Finland, Germany, Norway and Spain were then elected, by acclamation, to assume those five vacated seats.  The terms of office for Finland, Norway and Spain would expire on 31 December 2008, while that of Germany and Austria would expire on 31 December 2009.

Turning to the Executive Committee of the Programme of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the President drew the Council’s attention to General Assembly resolution 61/136 of 19 December 2006, in which it had decided to enlarge the membership of the Executive Committee from 70 to 72 seats.

In that resolution, the Economic and Social Council was requested to elect two new members, which led today to the election of Costa Rica and Estonia, by acclamation.

The President also drew the Council’s attention to a request by Benin and Luxembourg that the Council consider expanding further the membership of the Executive Committee (contained in documents E/2006/92 and E/2007/11).  That request would be considered by the Council at its substantive session in July.

Since the number of candidates from all regional groups was equal to the number of vacancies on the Executive Board of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)/United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the Council elected the United Republic of Tanzania, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Republic of Korea, Azerbaijan, Slovakia, Colombia, Haiti, Australia, Ireland, Italy and the United States for three-year terms, beginning on 1 January 2008. 

The Council had been informed that Belgium, Germany, Greece, Spain and the United Kingdom would resign their seats on the Board effective 1 January 2008.  Therefore, France, the Netherlands and Sweden were elected to complete the terms of Germany, Greece and Spain, which would expire on 31 December 2009, and Iceland and Switzerland were elected to complete the terms of Belgium and the United Kingdom, which would expire on 31 December 2008.

Six members were elected, by acclamation, to the Executive Board of the World Food Programme for a three-year term, beginning 1 January 2008.  Those members were Burundi, Sudan, Thailand, Cuba, Australia and Norway.  New Zealand would resign its seat effective 1 January 2008, and Belgium was elected, by acclamation, to complete that term, set to expire on 31 December 2009.

Turning to the Programme Coordination Board of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the Council elected, by acclamation, Ethiopia, Mauritania, India, Russian Federation, Guatemala, Monaco and the United States for three-year terms, beginning 1 January 2008.  Italy was elected to an outstanding vacancy from the Western European and other States group, for a term beginning today and expiring on 31 December 2009.  The Council agreed to postpone the election of one member from the Asian States group, in the absence of a candidate.

Still on the UNAIDS Programme Coordination Board, the President of the Council announced that Australia, Belgium and Sweden had resigned from the Board.  As a result, New Zealand, Luxembourg and Switzerland were elected by acclamation to assume those seats.  New Zealand would complete its term on 31 December 2008, while the other two new members would complete their terms on 31 December 2009.

The representative of Iran told the Council that his country had submitted its candidacy for a seat on the Programme Coordination Board of UNAIDS, and wished its candidacy to be put to the Council.  At the President’s invitation, the Council elected Iran, by acclamation, to that seat.

The Council then elected to the 58-member Governing Council of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT), Burkina Faso, Kenya, Swaziland, Zambia, Bahrain, India, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Romania, Serbia, Honduras and Germany for a four-year term, beginning 1 January 2008.

In the absence of other candidates, the Council agreed to postpone the election of one member from African States, one member from Asian States, two members from Latin American and Caribbean States and three members from Western European and other States.  The Council was further informed that there remained one vacancy in the Governing Council from Asian States for a term expiring on 31 December 2008, for which no candidate had been proposed.

As there were two outstanding vacancies for Eastern European States on the Executive Board of the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW), the Council elected Belarus and Slovakia for a term starting today and expiring on 31 December 2009.

Finally, the Council was informed that there remained one outstanding vacancy on the Commission on Science and Technology for Development and ten outstanding vacancies on the Intergovernmental Working Group of Experts on International Standards of Accounting and Reporting.

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For information media • not an official record