Economic and Social Council

2008 Substantive Session

40^th & 41^st Meetings (AM & PM)

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL EXTENDS MANDATE OF AD HOC ADVISORY

GROUP ON HAITI THROUGH 2009 SUBSTANTIVE SESSION

Also Adopts Texts Addressing Gender Equality, Palestinian Women,

Development Policy, Habitat Agenda, Harmful Products, among Other Issues

The Economic and Social Council today extended the mandate of its Ad Hoc Advisory Group on Haiti through its 2009 substantive session and adopted three other resolutions and five decisions relating to a range of issues, including gender equality, women and development and the environment, as it continued its general segment.

By adopting a draft resolution on the Ad Hoc Advisory Group’s mandate, which was contained in document E/2008/L.15, the Council also requested the Group to continue to cooperate with the Secretary-General and his Special Representative in Haiti, as well as the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) and Haiti’s international development partners.

While commending the finalization of the growth and poverty reduction strategy paper by the Haitian authorities, the Council, nevertheless, expressed concern over the especially adverse effects of the global food crisis on Haiti and encouraged the international community to continue providing support for the country’s short- and long-term needs for recovery.

Speaking after the vote, Council President Léo Mérorès of Haiti said that one of the difficulties his country had encountered in its somewhat tumultuous history was a lack of a long-term vision for development, and the current Government was attempting to rectify that in cooperation with Haiti’s many partners.  The current resolution -- and the subsequent work of the Ad Hoc Advisory Group -- was part of the Government’s efforts to do so.

The Council also took up issues related to mainstreaming a gender perspective into all policies and programmes of the United Nations, women and development, and the advancement of women.

Opening that discussion, Rachel N. Mayanja, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women, said that, while the Monterrey Consensus of 2002 had recognized gender equality, women’s empowerment and poverty eradication as development goals, it had provided little guidance in the form of concrete action plans or specific policy recommendations to further those goals.  At the country level, promising policy initiatives for gender equality often floundered because insufficient resources were allocated to them.

“If gender equality and women’s empowerment are critical to development, then they must be fully resourced,” she said.  To that end, the agreed conclusions of the fifty-second Commission on the Status of Women on financing for gender equality and women’s empowerment provided guidance and innovative ways to strengthen financing.

Concluding its consideration of the recommendations contained in the report of the Commission on the Status of Women (document E/2008/27, Supp. No. 7), the Council agreed to transmit to the General Assembly those agreed conclusions on “financing gender equality and the empowerment of women” as an input to the preparations for and outcome of the Follow-up International Conference on Financing for Development, to be held in Doha, Qatar, in late November 2008.

It also adopted by a roll call vote of 25 in favour to 2 against ( Canada, United States), with 17 abstentions, the draft resolution on the situation and assistance to Palestinian women in part B of the Commission’s report.

By that text, the Council expressed its concern at the grave situation of Palestinian women from the impact of ongoing illegal Israeli practices, including settlement activities, the continued imposition of closures and restrictions on the movement of persons and goods in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

The Council further expressed grave concern over the increased difficulties Palestinian women faced, including the sharp increase in poverty, soaring unemployment and declining health and education standards as a result of the deterioration in the economic and social conditions on the ground in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.  It reaffirmed that the Israeli occupation remained a major obstacle for Palestinian women’s advancement, self-reliance and integration into the development of society, and called on the international community to continue to provide urgently needed assistance and services in an effort to “alleviate the dire humanitarian crisis being faced by Palestinian women and their families”.

The Council also adopted without a vote the draft decision, as orally amended, contained in Section C of the Commission’s report, by which it took note of the report on its fifty-second session and approved the provisional agenda and documentation for its fifty-third session.

Convening its afternoon session on economic and environmental questions, the Council also considered agenda items on sustainable development; statistics; human settlements; environment; population and development; public administration and development; international cooperation in tax matters; and cartography.

It adopted without a vote a draft decision contained in the report of the sixteenth session of the Commission on Sustainable Development (document E/2009/29), by which it took note of the Commission’s report and several of the decisions that body had taken during its sixteenth session.

The Council also adopted without a vote a draft resolution on the report of the tenth session of the Committee for Development Policy (document E/2008/L.23), by which it took note of the Committee’s report and requested that body, at its eleventh session, to examine and make recommendations on the themes chosen by the Economic and Social Council for the high-level segment of its 2009 substantive session.

By that text, the Council also took note of the proposals made by the Committee regarding its future work programme, in particular regarding the monitoring of the development progress of Cape Verde, and requested the Committee to monitor the development progress of countries graduating from the list of least developed countries and to include its findings in its annual report to the Council.

Taking up the report of the thirty-ninth session of the Statistical Commission (document E/2008/24), the Council adopted without a vote a draft decision on that report, which included the provisional agenda and documentation for that Commission’s upcoming fortieth session.

It also adopted without a vote a draft text on human settlements (document E/2008/L.24), by which it took note of the Secretary-General’s report on the coordinated implementation of the Habitat Agenda, and decided to transmit that report to the General Assembly for consideration at its upcoming sixty-third session.

Adopting without a vote a draft resolution on protection against products harmful to health and the environment (document E/2008/L.21), the Council invited the United Nations Environmental Programme to continue updating the chemicals volume of the “Consolidated List of Products Whose Consumption and/or Sale have been Banned, Withdrawn, Severely Restricted or Not Approved by Governments”, and to report to the Council at its substantive session in 2010.  It also invited the World Health Organization to continue updating the pharmaceuticals volume of the “Consolidated List” and to report to the Council’s 2010 session.

Turing to the report of the forty-first session of the Commission on Population and Development (document E/2008/25), the Council adopted without vote a draft decision contained therein, taking note of that report and approving the provisional agenda and documentation of the Commission’s upcoming forty-second session.

The Council also adopted a draft decision on the Tenth United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names and twenty-fifth session of the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (document E/2008/L.25), taking note of the Conference’s ninth session, held in New York from 21 to 30 August, and endorsing the recommendation that the tenth Conference be convened in 2012.  The Council further endorsed the recommendation that the twenty-fifth session of the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names be convened in the first half of 2009.

The Council also took note of the report of the twenty-fourth session of the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (document E/2007/89) and the report of the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme (document A/63/25), as well as a number of documents on regional cooperation.

Participating in the joint general discussion on the items on the Council’s agenda today were the representatives of Sudan, Iraq, United States, China, Kazakhstan, Republic of Korea, Belarus, Antigua and Barbuda (speaking on behalf of the “Group of 77” developing countries and China), Indonesia, Cuba, Russian Federation, Maldives, Pakistan and Barbados.

Speaking in explanation of vote before the vote on the draft resolution on assistance to Palestinian women, were the representatives of Israel and the United States.  The Observer for Palestine spoke after that vote.

Representatives of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) also participated in the general discussion.

Willene Johnson, Committee for Policy Development, presented that Committee’s annual report; Nikhil Seth, Director of the Office for ECOSOC Support and Coordination in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, presented the Secretary-General’s report on product harmful to health and the environment; and Auxmite Gebre-Egziabher, Director of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) presented the Secretary-General’s report on coordinated implementation of the Habitat Agenda.

The Economic and Social Council will continue its general segment at 10 a.m. Thursday, 24 July, taking up matters related to social and human rights questions.

Background

The Economic and Social Council today continued its general segment, turning to its agenda items on mainstreaming a gender perspective into all policies and programmes of the United Nations, women and development, and the advancement of women.  It was also expected to further consider its agenda item on economic and environmental questions.

As part of its discussion of “Economic and environmental questions”, the Council had before it an updated report of the Secretary-General on the role of the Economic and Social Council in the integrated and coordinated implementation of the outcomes of and follow-up to major United Nations conferences and summits, in light of General Assembly resolutions 50/227, 52/12 B, 57/270 B and 60/265, including resolution 61/16 (document A/63/83–E/2008/77); the relevant sections of the report of the Commission on the Status of Women on its fifty-second session (document E/2008/27, Supp. No. 7); the report of the Commission on Sustainable Development on its sixteenth session (document E/2008/29, Supp. No. 9); the report of the Committee for Development Policy on its tenth session (document E/2008/33, Supp. No. 13); and the report of the Statistical Commission on its thirty-ninth session (document E/2008/24, Supp. No. 4).

Also under that item, the Council will take up the report of the Secretary-General on the coordinated implementation of the Habitat Agenda (document E/2008/64); the report of the Commission on Population and Development on its forty-first session (document E/2008/25, Supp. No. 5); the report of the Secretary-General on products harmful to health and the environment (document A/63/76-E/2008/54); the report of the Committee of Experts on Public Administration on its seventh session (document E/2008/44, Supp. No. 24); the report of the Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters on its third session (document E/2007/45, Supp. 45); the report of the seventh session of the Permanent Forum on indigenous Issues (E/2008/4); the report of the ninth United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names (document E/CONF.98/136); and the report of the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names on the work of its twenty-fourth session (document E/2007/89).

Under its item on “social and human rights questions”, the Council will have before it the report of the Secretary-General on mainstreaming a gender perspective into all policies and programmes of the United Nations system (document E/2008/53); the report of the Secretary-General on future work to strengthen the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW) (document E/2008/62); the report of the Executive Board of INSTRAW on its fifth session (document E/2008/73); and a note concerning the report of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (document E/2008/91).

Under its item on “regional cooperation”, the Council will have before it the report of the Secretary-General on regional cooperation in the economic, social and related fields, which includes two addenda (documents E/2008/15, E/2008/15/Add.1 and E/2005/15/Add.2); the report on economic trends for the economies in the Economic Commission for Europe region, 2007-2008(document E/2008/16); overview of the economic report on Africa, 2008 (document E/2008/17); summary of the survey of economic and social conditions in Asia and the Pacific, 2008 (document E/2008/18); summary of the economic survey of the Latin America and the Caribbean, 2007-2008(document E/2008/19); and summary of the economic and social developments in the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia region, 2007-2008 (document E/2008/20).

General Discussion

The Economic and Social Council began its general consideration with a discussion on mainstreaming a gender perspective into all policies and programmes of the United Nations, women and development, and the advancement of women.

Opening the discussion, RACHEL N. MAYANJA, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women, said that the adoption by the General Assembly during its sixty-second session of resolution 62/208 on the triennial comprehensive policy review, with its strong gender component, had been an important demonstration of the undiminished resolve of Governments to find effective and lasting solutions to the challenges of gender inequality and underdevelopment.

The Council’s successful and interactive high-level segment had further emphasized the importance of gender equality in implementing the internationally agreed development goals in its 2008 Ministerial Declaration, she said.  The report of the Commission on the Status of Women (document E/2008/7), with its emphasis on financing for gender equality and women’s empowerment, and active participation in conflict prevention, management and post-conflict peacebuilding, was particularly relevant to the Council’s work and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

Demands for accelerated implementation of gender equality had increased, making the debate on how to harness financing for the gender equality agenda significantly more important, she said.  While recognizing gender equality, women’s empowerment and poverty eradication as development goals, the Monterrey Consensus had provided little in the way of concrete action plans or specific policy recommendations to further those goals.  At the country level, promising policy initiatives for gender equality often floundered because insufficient resources were allocated to them.

“If gender equality and women’s empowerment are critical to development, then they must be fully resourced,” she said.  The Commission’s agreed conclusions on financing for gender equality and women’s empowerment provided guidance and innovative ways to strengthen financing, she added.

The achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, especially Goal 3 on gender equality, was closely related to the issue of financing for gender equality, she said.  The Millennium Development Goals would not be met unless greater attention and resources were devoted to women’s empowerment and gender equality.  Indeed, while the international community was focused on halving poverty, greater focus should be paid to the third Goal, as it was key in achieving all the others.

Women’s empowerment was also an essential element of the overall human rights regime, she said.  Even as the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was commemorated, more needed to be done to protect the rights of women and girls worldwide.  To that end, the responsibility for servicing the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women had been transferred to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights from the Division for the Advancement of Women, thereby joining the six human rights treaty bodies already based in Geneva.

Violence against women was now high on the international agenda, she said.  Noting that the Secretary-General had launched the “Unite to End Violence against Women” campaign at the opening of the Commission on the Status of Women in February 2008, she said that campaign represented a historic opportunity to galvanize action on one of the most widespread human rights violations in the world, and affirmed the importance of addressing violence against women and girls if progress was to be made on poverty reduction and development.  Although several General Assembly resolutions had intensified efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against women, it continued unabated in all countries at all stages of development.  More needed to be done by Member States, international and regional organizations, civil society, the private sector, women and men to end the violence.

Saying that the emerging issues of climate change and the food crisis affected women and men in different ways, she emphasized that women constituted the majority of the world’s poorest and, as subjects of discrimination, were always facing the greatest obstacles in maintaining their livelihoods in the face of global warming.  Environmental degradation had led to the migration of millions of the world’s poorest and most of those forced to migrate were women.  Women were being further challenged by the food crisis.

Gender equality should, therefore, be central to the discourse on both climate change and food security, she said.  Only by empowering women and harnessing their potential to turn the tide could the world community effectively deal with the serious threats to humanity posed by those new challenges.

The United Nations system had taken steps to strengthen gender mainstreaming in its polices and programmes, including through the efforts of the Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender Equality, which represented more than 30 United Nations entities, she continued.  The Inter-Agency Network had set up four new task forces on following up on the Secretary-General’s campaign to end violence against women and girls; tracking financing of gender work; climate change; and capacity-building for gender mainstreaming.  It was also moving forward in operationalizing the system-wide policy on gender equality and women’s empowerment, and the strategy on gender mainstreaming adopted by the United Nations System Chief Executives Board in 2006, and was attempting to close the gaps between policy and practice in promoting gender equality and the advancement of women.

The successful completion of the Strategic Framework 2004-2007 of INSTRAW had positioned the Institute to contribute to the goals set forth in the development, peace and security, and human rights pillars of the United Nations, she said.  Its next Strategic Framework 2008-2011 outlined an expanded research and training programme for the Institute.  INSTRAW had also secured sufficient funds to finances its core activities in 2008 through increased voluntary contribution and growing confidence among its donors.  That trend needed to be sustained.

Progress on system-wide coherence was also being made, she said, noting that informal consultations in the General Assembly had been held in May and June, and Ambassadors John Paul Kavanagh of Ireland and Augustine P. Mahiga of the United Republic of Tanzania were preparing a paper on institutional options to strengthen the United Nations work on gender equality and women’s empowerment.  Clearly, while it had been slower in some areas than hoped for, the pace of the advancement of women was accelerating at both the national and international levels.  While the primary responsibly for work in that area lay at the national level, national action would only be effective if a supportive international environment existed.  The Council had an opportunity to think creatively about ways in which the gap between commitment and implementation could be bridged, and highlight actions to empower women for the twenty-first century.

NAJLA AWAD HASSAN ABDELRAHMAN ( Sudan) said her delegation was convinced that there was an urgent need for Governments to promote and implement policies aiming to mainstream gender and the empowerment of women.  That was the only way for States to pursue the full implementation of the various resolutions and decisions taken by the main bodies of the United Nations.   Sudan also believed that ensuring the dignity of women was the starting point for their empowerment.  To that end, while keeping its religious beliefs in mind, Sudan had supported the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against women and the Government had adopted legislation to end violence against women.

Legislation was also on the books to ensure better representation for women, and a 2007 law promoted the education of all Sudanese girls, he continued.  Other laws covered the participation of women in political processes and in wider society.   Sudan called on the United Nations and the larger international community to provide assistance so that the country could achieve its goals, especially technical assistance for training and in the area of exchange of information and best practices.

JWAN H. TAWFIQ KHIOKA ( Iraq) said that, after suffering for years under a dictatorship that had purposely kept them from participating in society, women were now making strides to take their rightful place.  Indeed, the Government was trying to restore the balance and help right the wrongs that had led to Iraqi women being regularly raped, brutalized and persecuted.  At the same time, despite those past difficulties and current concerns, Iraqi women did their best to shoulder burdens and fight against terrorism.  As for national strategies for women, the new Government in Iraq had crafted laws and polices to promote the empowerment of women as the cornerstone of society.

Indeed, she said, the new Iraq was considered the most progressive country in the region when it came to women’s rights.  Today, for example, women’s rights were protected when they married foreigners, women were being trained in programmes to serve as diplomats abroad and women did not have to seek permission to travel.  Women were at the vanguard in many areas, particularly in the sciences, she added.  Tremendous efforts had been made to bring about equality between the sexes, but Iraq, nevertheless, needed the continued help of the international community to go even farther.

T. VANCE McMAHAN ( United States) said his delegation took matters related to women’s empowerment and advancement very seriously, and the United States had taken a number of steps, in both multilateral and through its bilateral assistance, to put its commitment into action.  The United States welcomed the relevant report of the Secretary-General before the Council and, although there had not been enough time to carefully consider all the thoughtful and practical proposals therein, looked forward to being able to review and endorse some of those measures at an appropriate time in the near future.

He went on to say that the United States had been at the forefront in combating the international threat posed by trafficking in persons.  Human trafficking not only deprived people of dignity and human rights, it also fuelled the growth of organized crime.  Over the past eight years, the United States had devoted some $500 million to fight human trafficking, and it fully supported the Palermo Protocol to the Convention on Transnational Crime as the best multilateral tool to address the problem comprehensively by preventing trafficking, prosecuting traffickers and protecting victims.

Before concluding, he expressed regret that there were still too few women at high levels within the United Nations.  There were many highly qualified women around the world, and the Secretary-General had tapped some of them to head United Nations agencies.  At the same time, the number of women at D-1 or D-2 levels was disappointing and the United States strongly encouraged more intensive effort to increase the placement of highly qualified women candidates in those positions.

ZHANG DAN ( China) said it was important to ensure that women benefited from development.  A host of issues posed challenges to women in development.  The international community should take practical measures to implement the Monterrey Consensus and overcome institutional barriers for women.  While China’s economy was growing quickly, the Government was paying particular attention to advancing social development, especially taking serious measures to eliminate gender inequalities and create an environment favourable to women.

China had earnestly implemented the Beijing Platform for Action and was actively implementing the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.  From every angle, it attempted to improve national polices aimed at advancing the situation of women.  The Chinese Government was also encouraging women to participate in public administration and had expanded it training programmes for women.  New laws, such as the personal property law, had widened gender equality in the Chinese legislation.

ZHANAR KULZHANOVA ( Kazakhstan) said the outcome documents of the Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing in 1995 and the special session of the General Assembly “Women 2000” had far-reaching significance.  For its part, Kazakhstan had recently held a women’s summit that had sought to promote the role of women in Government and politics.  Over 400 women leaders from around the Eurasian world had attended.

The centrality of gender in development and achieving the Millennium Development Goals was clear, she continued.  But, women continued to suffer from discrimination and violence, and gender equality remained an ongoing concern.  In light of the existing challenges in that area, her delegation believed gender-sensitive budgeting was an effective tool to reduce gender inequality and ensure equal treatment of women and men.  Also, reconciliation between work and family life was needed.  Gender should also be integrated into various international policies, particularly through budget allocations.  Climate change and the food crisis posed particular challenges to women.  Efforts to enhance women’s capacities should include giving them access to microfinance opportunities.  Gender equality had to be mainstreamed into all United Nations policies and regulations.

PARK YURI ( Republic of Korea) said achieving gender equality was one of the core mandates of the United Nations as a critical prerequisite for realizing human rights and ensuring human dignity.  In addition to fundamental value, gender equality and women’s empowerment were major elements in efforts to resolve a whole range of daunting global challenges, including poverty, environmental degradation and even armed conflicts, and held particular value in achieving the Millennium Development Goals.  A gender perspective had to be incorporated into all levels of United Nations policies.  Her delegation particularly commended the Secretary-General’s campaign to end violence against women and girls.

The Republic of Korea also welcomed Security Council resolution 1820 (2008) on women, peace and security, she said.  The Economic and Social Council also played an important role in advancing gender equality, and it should continue to identify the interrelatedness and complementary nature of each functional commission in promoting women’s issues.

To achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment, stronger leadership would be crucial, she said.  Her country supported the creation of the position of Under-Secretary-General on gender issues and mainstreaming gender equality.  It further supported initiatives to strengthen gender entities through capacity-building and funding.  The hybrid model for combining existing gender entities, as put forward in the Deputy Secretary-General’s concept paper on the matter, would bring greater coherence.  Her delegation also valued the agreed conclusion of the priority theme of “Financing for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women” of the Commission on the Status of Women, and expected that the Commission would provide fruitful outcomes and an important foundation for Member States to integrate a gender perspective into national budgets.

TATYANA FEDEROVICH ( Belarus) said her Government had taken great steps to promote and protect the rights of women.  In the civil arena, some 20 public and private organizations actively ensured gender equality.  In Government, Belarus was working hard to ensure women’s representation in Parliament and other decision-making positions.  Indeed, Belarus ranked twentieth among countries in the region, as far as the numbers of women in Parliament.   Belarus would continue to work towards gender mainstreaming and full empowerment of women in the country.

GRAHAM CLOUGH, of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), briefly took the floor to highlight a recent dialogue the agency had held with the Special Adviser and highly successful business women from developing and middle-income countries.  The outcome of that dialogue and more specific details were available on UNIDO’s website

Action on Texts

The Council then turned to the recommendations in the report of the Commission on the Status of Women (document E/2008/27, Supp. No. 7).

Acting on the recommendations of the Commission on the Status of Women, the Council agreed to transmit to the General Assembly the Commission’s agreed conclusions on “financing gender equality and the empowerment of women”, as an input to the preparations for and outcome of the Follow-up International Conference on Financing for Development, to be held in Doha, Qatar, in late November 2008.

The Council then took up the draft resolution on the situation and assistance to Palestinian women in part B of the report.  By that text, the Council would express its concern at the grave situation of Palestinian women from the impact of ongoing illegal Israeli practices, including settlement activities, the continued imposition of closures and restrictions on the movement of persons and goods in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

The Council would also express grave concern over the increased difficulties Palestinian women faced, including the sharp increase in poverty, soaring unemployment and declining health and education standards as a result of the deterioration in the economic and social conditions on the ground in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.  It would reaffirm that the Israeli occupation remained a major obstacle for Palestinian women’s advancement, self-reliance and integration into the development of society, and call on the international community to continue to provide urgently needed assistance and services in an effort to “alleviate the dire humanitarian crisis being faced by Palestinian women and their families”.

Before the vote on the text, MEIRAV EILON SHAHAR ( Israel) said the text had emerged, in part, from other annual, politically motivated resolutions that totally ignored the reality of the situation on the ground.  Indeed, no other resolutions under consideration by the Commission on the Status of Women involved political, geographic or region-specific matters.  It was obvious that the text stemmed from a political situation and was not really aimed at helping Palestinian women.  If it had been, it would have addressed all the obstacles those women faced, especially the “oppressive and persistent internal bias against women imbedded deeply in Palestinian society”.

Clearly, the challenges Palestinian women faced were significant, and Israel supported improving their quality of life and offering them assistance, she continued.  But, the situation inside Palestinian society, which harmed both Israeli and Palestinian women, needed to be addressed with comprehensive measures, not a one-sided resolution.  She called on the Council to oppose the politically motivated text.

LAURIE LERNER PHIPPS ( United States) said her delegation would vote no, because, as drafted, the current text was unbalanced, addressing victims on one side of a conflict, but not on the other.  It ignored purposeful targeting of Israeli civilians by Palestinian terrorists.  The United States was deeply concerned about humanitarian crisis and loss of life in the Gaze Strip.  It was equally concerned that Israeli women and children had lost their lives due to the activities of Palestinian terrorists.

She said the United States was the largest bilateral donor to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and supported all efforts to bolster its position as a stabilizing force in the West Bank and Gaza.  At the same time, she reiterated that the resolution before the Council was unfair, unbalanced and inconsistent with the universal aims of the United Nations.  The United States was committed to working through the diplomatic Quartet on the Middle East peace process to achieve the vision of two States living side by side in peace and security.  The international community should be working towards that shared vision.  Supporting one-sided resolutions only undercut that effort.

The resolution was then adopted by a roll call vote of 25 in favour to 2 against ( Canada, United States), with 17 abstentions.

Speaking after the vote, NADYA RIFAAT RASHEED of the Permanent Observer Mission of Palestine thanked those delegations that had voted in favour of the draft resolution.  The resolution simply reaffirmed respect for international and human rights laws, she said.  It advanced the rights of the Palestinian women who suffered under a brutal, forced occupation.  It was important to send a message from the very organization that had been established to protect them.

Responding to the statement made by the representative of Israel, she said it was shocking that such a statement could be made, as if Israel was not an occupying Power that had repressed generations of Palestinians.  Peace could not be established if the continued violations of all kinds of laws, including Israeli ones, were simultaneously being documented.

Israel, she stressed, had no place talking about any situation inside Palestinian society.   Israel should focus its activities on achieving a peaceful settlement, she said.

The Council then adopted without a vote the draft decision, as orally amended, contained in section C of the report.

The Council then took note of a number of documents under its agenda item on regional cooperation: the report of the Secretary-General on regional cooperation in the economic, social and related fields (document E/2008/15 and Add. 1 and 2); the report on the economic situation in the Economic Commission for Europe region: Europe, North America and the Commonwealth of Independent States in 2007-2008 (document E/2008/16); the overview of the economic and social conditions in Africa 2008 (document E/2008/17); the summary of the economic and social survey of Asia and the Pacific 2008 (document E/2008/18); the report on Latin America and the Caribbean: Economic situation and outlook, 2007-2008 (document E/2008/19); and the summary of the economic and social developments in the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia region, 2007-2008 (document E/2008/20).

Taking up its agenda item on long-term support for Haiti, the Council adopted the draft resolution contained in document E/2008/L.15, by which it extended the mandate of the Ad Hoc Advisory Group on Haiti until the Council’s substantive session in July 2009.

Speaking after the vote, LÉO MÉRORÈS ( Haiti) expressed the sincere thanks of the Government of Haiti to the Council and to the members of the Ad Hoc Advisory Group, particularly Canada.  The resolution was part of the Haitian Government’s efforts to situate the events in Haiti into a long-term perspective.  For example, the Government had recently developed a long-term strategy document.  One of the difficulties Haiti had encountered in its somewhat tumultuous history was a lack of a long-term vision for development, and the current Government was attempting to rectify that in cooperation with Haiti’s many partners.

As the report spelled out, there had been progress, he said.  But, much more remained to be done, and the Government of Haiti was aware of the many problems it faced -- especially those that had sparked rioting in Haiti in recent months.  Saying the Government deplored the rioting, he expressed gratitude to its partners who had come unasked with humanitarian assistance and a commitment to implementing long-term solutions.  In closing, he also thanked the troop-contributing nations to the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH).

General Discussion

In the afternoon the Council began its consideration, as part of its focus on economic and environmental questions, of sustainable development; statistics; human settlements; environment; population and development; public administration and development; international cooperation in tax matters; assistance to third States affected by the application of sanctions; and cartography.

Opening the discussion, WILLENE JOHNSON, expert member of the Committee for Policy Development from the United States, said the Committee’s report addressed three major themes: implementing the internationally agreed goals and commitments in regard to sustainable development, which was also the theme adopted for this year’s Annual Ministerial Review; the need for development-supportive financial architecture; and the methodology for identifying the least developed countries.

On the first theme, she said the Committee’s findings over the last year showed that climate change would exacerbate poverty and seriously hamper development efforts.  It also stressed that adaptation issues needed to be more forcefully addressed and that new partnerships between developed and developing countries were required to confront climate change and sustain development.  In the Committee’s view, access by developing countries to sufficient funds and knowledge, as well as the development of new technologies, was needed to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, while also dealing with climate change.

The Committee’s analysis in the second section of the report suggested that, due to the current worsening economic outlook and the inadequacy of existing compensatory finance instruments, developing countries were suffering from the negative impact of external shocks.  It emphasized the urgent need to reform the existing official compensatory financing architecture to avoid inefficiency and unnecessary cost to developing countries by reducing the need to have high levels of international reserves and by helping to prevent recessive losses in employment and output.  The Committee suggested that the Council address the issue in consultation with the Bretton Wood institutions and ensure that compensatory financial architecture was considered in Doha.

In terms of the methodology for identifying least developed countries, she said the status was based on three criteria:  gross national income (GNI) per capita; and on two indices of structural handicaps to growth and development, the human assets index (HAI) and the economic vulnerability index (EVI).

The Committee had, she said, thoroughly assessed a suggestion to review the way the criteria for identifying the least developed countries was applied, mainly by making it compulsory for a country to meet the EVI threshold for graduation in order to be considered for graduation.  The Committee had come to the conclusion, however, that following such an approach would run against the logic of the established criteria for designating least developed countries, as a country could still attain high economic growth even if it scored a high EVI.  Thus, the Committee reconfirmed its current approach for inclusion in the group of least developed countries; that is, countries falling within the threshold levels on all three criteria were to be recommended for inclusion.

To ensure that any country graduating from the category should be able to continue and sustain its progress with minimal risk of having its development reversed, she said, the Committee applied three rules.  First, eligibility for graduation required that a country fail to meet two, rather than only one, of the inclusion criteria.  Second, thresholds for graduation were established at a higher level than those for inclusion.  Third, to be recommended for graduation, a country had to be found eligible at two successive triennial reviews.

The Committee had also reviewed a number of proposed refinements in the measures it used to establish gross national income, human assets and economic vulnerability, and had concluded no changes to existing measures were needed.  The Committee reconfirmed that the current procedures and criteria for identification as a least developed country relied on the best presently available methods and information.  It had, however, decided that the impact assessment should address the expected implications of the loss of least-developed-country status, in particular in regard to development finance, technical assistance and international trade.  Thus, the cooperation of development partners to provide information on likely treatment if a country was graduated would be needed.

Also reviewing the smooth transition process for graduating countries, the Committee had noted that, although countries identified for graduation often exhibited their reluctance to graduate by expressing dissatisfaction with the criteria, they were more often uncertain about the implication of losing the benefits of the least-developed-country status.  In light of that, she said, the Committee had proposed an expert group be convened to consider the phasing out of special support measures available for those countries in a predictable an orderly manner, with the view to not disrupting the development progress of the graduated country.

Finally, she said the Committee would continue to monitor the development progress of countries that had graduated from least-developed-country status and report to the Council its findings as a complement to the triennial review of the list of least developed countries.

Turning to the issue of harmful products, NIKHIL SETH, Director of the Office for ECOSOC Support and Coordination in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, said the issue had been under discussion by the General Assembly since 1979.  A list had been established in the 1980s as a tool for Member States.  Over the years, that list had become more widely circulated.  The Secretary-General had also begun to include in his annual report efforts to ensure the sustainable transport and disposal of harmful products.

At the same time, the lack of response from any relevant intergovernmental entity dealing with the issue other than the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the very few responses received from Member States on the usefulness of the list –- none particularly positive –- pointed towards the diminishing value attached to the publication.  It had been proposed that the mandate of regularly updating the list be eliminated, he said.

Next, presenting the Secretary-General’s report on coordinated implementation of the Habitat Agenda (document E/2008/64), AUXMITE GEBRE-EGZIABHER, Director of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) Office in New York, said that the report focused on outcomes and results, while it also provided analysis of the underlying rationale and processes on the major decisions taken by the twenty-third session of UN-Habitat’s Governing Council; emerging responses to the challenges of rapid urbanization, human settlements and crises; and initial results of the United Nations “Delivering as One” initiative.

One of the governing body’s key decisions had been the approval of the Medium-Term Strategic and Institutional Plan for 2008-2013, she said.  The six year plan was poised to enhance the coordinated implementation of the Habitat Agenda and other human settlements-related development goals.  The overall vision was to help create, by 2013, the necessary conditions for concerted international and national efforts to realize more sustainable urbanization.  That included efforts to arrest slum growth, setting the stage for a subsequent worldwide reduction in and reversal of the number of slum dwellers.

“Sustainable urbanization is a dynamic and multidimensional process, as it includes not only environmental, but also social, economic and political institutional stability,” she said, noting that the Medium-Term Plan included building the capacity of Governments, local authorities and other Habitat Agenda partners through technical cooperation and training; applying innovative pro-poor mechanisms for the financing of housing and urban development services and infrastructure; and promoting their scaling up by working with appropriate development actors and investors.

She said the most pressing issues that had emerged in the past 12 months –- climate change and spiralling food prices -- were, on closer analysis, related to unsustainable patterns of urbanization.  Indeed, there could be no discussion about adaptation and mitigation of climate change without focusing on cities, which were already home to half the world’s population and accounted for some 75 per cent of all energy consumption and a nearly as substantial amount of waste and greenhouse gas emission.  On the global food crisis, she said that the urban poor, trapped in cities, were unlike their rural counterparts and could not produce food when it became too expensive or scarce. All the food riots that had grabbed headlines last spring had been in cities, she added, calling on the Council to include sustainable urbanization as a cross-cutting issue in its discussions on sustainable development.

CONROD HUNTE (Antigua and Barbuda), speaking on behalf of the “Group of 77” developing countries and China, said sustainable development must be addressed in a holistic manner that incorporated all three pillars of economic development, social development and environmental protection.  He noted that the Group of 77 had participated in the sixteenth session of the Commission on Sustainable Development, which had reinforced the intricate links among agriculture, rural development, land, drought, desertification and Africa.  At that session, the need for a renewed commitment to the Rio Principles had been underscored, as had the urgent need for decisive action on the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation.

While developing countries had made remarkable gains in many issues related to sustainable development, full implementation of commitments were needed to advance the international development agenda, he said.  The confluence of crises facing the international community, including climate change, the food and energy crisis, a looming global economic recession and growing turmoil in financial markets had compounded the challenge of sustainable development.  There was an urgent need to strengthen sustainable development goals, particularly in Africa, the least developed countries, land-locked developing countries and small island developing States.  The food and energy crises had further added to the growing list of multidimensional challenges facing developing economies.

The Council should prioritize addressing long-standing challenges to sustainable development, such as that posed by the continued unfair trading polices in developed countries, particularly related to agricultural subsidies, he continued.  It could serve as a catalyst for greater support by the world community for efforts by developing countries to integrate sustainable development into their economic policy-making and planning.  The Group of 77 hoped that next year’s Commission fulfilled its mandate to review the issues related to financial assistance and technology transfer for sustainable development, by addressing new and old constraints to implementation through action-oriented policy recommendations in these areas.  Closing the implementation gap should be afforded the highest priority in sustainable development and move beyond rhetoric to action.

Turning to the topic of statistics, he said there was a need for a sound legislative framework that fostered a more structured and coherent approach to implementing the Millennium Development Goals and the other internationally agreed development goals.  As the intergovernmental focal point for the elaboration, refinement and review of implementation indicators, the Statistical Commission had an important role to play. So, too, did the Economic and Social Council, as the Commission took direction from it.

Not only should the Commission’s mandate be strengthened, but the Council should promote greater consistency in effectively monitoring the Millennium Development Goals and internationally agreed development goals, he said.  To that end, specific benchmarks should be developed to measure progress on Goal 8 and other goals.  The Council should ensure that the Inter-Agency and Expert Group on the Millennium Development Goals and the Statistical Commission fully addressed the inadequate treatment of Goal 8 on the global partnership for development.

YASER AZIZ MOHAMED ( Iraq) said sustainable development was one of the key ways to guarantee achievement of social and economic development.  Vital to that was the need to carry out and implement environmental impact analysis.  In Iraq, even though much had been done to protect the environment and conserve natural resources, the sector still received less attention than it deserved.  So, for Iraq to press ahead with its sustainable development efforts, resource management and environmental protection strategies needed to be integrated into national plans.   Iraq would need broad cooperation, especially from its neighbours, to not only rebuild its long-neglected and war-wrecked infrastructure, but to reverse years of ecological damage wrought by war, including radiation, pollution and land degradation.  He stressed that Iraq would need help in the transfer of technology and capacity-building, among others, to redress that damage.

AGUNG CAHAYA SUMIRAT ( Indonesia) said that, against the backdrop of today’s parallel crises, the Commission on Sustainable Development had held timely deliberations on its thematic cluster that included agriculture, rural development, land, drought, desertification and Africa.  That body had rightly taken the initiative to identify concrete policy options for further consideration next year.   Indonesia and many other developing countries believed that such issues as mobilization of additional financial resources, technology transfer and capacity-building were other key issues that needed to be taken up by that Commission in its upcoming discussions.

He went on to say that the Commission must take concrete action on matters related to food security and rural development.   Indonesia believed that urgent policy reform at the national and global levels was needed to that end.  Further, more investment, especially for research and technology, was needed to help revitalize the agricultural sectors of developing countries.  Most importantly, the international trade system needed to be overhauled, to end trade distorting subsidies, tariff peaks and price escalation on products of interest to developing countries.

VALIENTE DIAZ (Cuba), endorsing the statement made on behalf of the Group of 77 and China, said there had been general agreement that roots of the global food crisis lay in the rising cost of oil, climate change and the pressures on agricultural production.  Yet, the irresponsible use of grains and cereals to produce biofuels in the United States and Europe had also contributed to the crisis.  According to at least one report, the growing demand for producing biofuels was accountable for 75 per cent of the rise in global food prices.  Moreover, the opulent consumption patterns of some countries were also responsible for the challenges facing sustainable development.

She emphasized the shared but differentiated responsibilities with respect to sustainable development.  Developed countries, which had simply taken a large portion of the world’s resources, were responsible for 75 per cent of the greenhouse gases that had accumulated in the atmosphere.  But, while they should be leading the efforts to fight climate change and help developing countries adapt to it, they were not.  For example, the decrease in official development assistance (ODA) meant that, last year, the poor of the world were receiving less than in years before.  The developed countries should mobilize more resources to aid the countries in the South, particularly in meeting the goals of the Kyoto Protocol.  Indeed, if there was a genuine wish to deal with climate change, the developed world would have to comply with their commitments under the Kyoto Protocol and even establish more ambitious commitments to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by engaging in a global energy revolution.

ANNA B. OVCHARENKO (Russian Federation), stressing that the Commission on Sustainable Development was the main forum to promote sustainable development in all countries, said the main principles of the United Nations system should be applied to its work.  Moving forward, there should be more efforts made in such areas as the training of the bureau and the work of scheduling its policy discussions.  Her delegation was pleased to note that the Commission’s next session would address issues that were more relevant than ever, among them drought, desertification and climate change.

Turning to the importance of statistics, she emphasized the need to adhere to standards. To that end, her delegation welcomed the efforts of the Statistical Commission, and particularly supported the international comparison programme.  Finally, she emphasized that the monitoring the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals should not be done solely from a technical point of view.

AHMED KHALEEL ( Maldives) said that, on 20 December 2004, the General Assembly had decided to graduate his country from the list of least developed countries and, if all had gone well, the Maldives would have completed its three-year graduation process by now.  Sadly, a little more than a week after the Assembly’s decision, the country had suffered extensive damage as a result of the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami.  The Assembly had subsequently decided to defer Maldives’ transition period until January 2008, when it would again begin its graduation process, set to conclude in 2011.  However, emerging challenges, especially environmental degradation, were putting all Maldives’ hard won gains at risk.  Further, the world economic slowdown and parallel food and energy crises were only making matters worse.  “So, setting up a smooth and robust transition strategy would, therefore, be vital to graduation,” he added.

With that in mind, Maldives had already formed a consultative mechanism with its development and trading partners that aimed to formulate a smooth long-term transition strategy, he said.  The first partnership forum had been held in 2006, and the 2007 meeting had examined national adaptation to climate change and investment opportunities in Maldives.  He said that the 2008 forum would focus specifically on Maldives graduation and on formulating economic policies and strategies to help tackle challenges that could emerge once the country achieved middle-income-country status.

IRFAN SOOMRU ( Pakistan) said developing countries faced serious challenges in dealing with the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation, two phenomena to which they had contributed the least.  Developing countries had to balance their broader development needs and efforts with those aimed at addressing environmental protection concerns.  But, they were having difficulty, because no one had shown them a development model that successfully integrated all three pillars of sustainable development -- economic growth, social development and environmental protection.  Despite principled action plans adopted at Rio, Johannesburg and Bali, the international community still had not come up with a development model that led to carbon-free development.  Further, while it was clear that each country needed to develop its own model, there was no guarantee that, if and when they did, the technology to achieve long-term, environmentally friendly development would be affordable or made available to them.  Those were the key issues that needed to be addressed by the Commission on Sustainable Development.

SELWIN CHARLES HART (Barbados), associating himself with the statement made on behalf of the Group of 77 and China, recalled that the international community had formally recognized the special needs of the small island developing States at the Rio Summit.  Subsequently, Barbados had hosted a follow-up meeting for those special States and a unit in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs had been set up to focus on issued related to small island developing States.  Yet, there was a reluctance within the United Nations system to fully staff and fund entities related to small island developing States.  In light of that, he asked how progress could be made on implementation, if those entities were not sufficiently funded.

The situation was occurring at a time when the challenges facing small island developing States had increased, he said.  Climate change and sea level rise posed great threats to those island countries, as did the impacts of the food and energy crises.  Certainly, the commitment of some donors had been beyond reproach and Barbados had been honoured to partner with Iceland to hold the Island Growth Initiative at the Commission on Sustainable Development.  But, more efforts should be made.  While small island developing States held the primary responsibility for their future -- and had undertaken several steps on their own to follow through on that responsibility -- it was only in partnership with the international community that those States could implement their national plans and strategies.  He called on the global community to join with small island developing States to strengthen their efforts.

BORIS FALATAR, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), said that, since its inception, UNESCO had developed several international programmes to better assess and manage the Earth’s resources.  Those included the International Hydrological Programme, which helped manage freshwater resources; the Biosphere Programme, which dealt with conservation and industrial use of biodiversity and ecosystems; and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission.  It also helped reinforce the capacities of developing countries in the sciences, engineering and technology, and provided data, advice and technical assistance to help Governments formulate and implement effective science and technology polices and strategies.

To aid in international efforts to pursue sustainable development and combat climate change, it had established the Global Sea Level Observing System (GLOSS) and was implementing the Adaptation to Climate Change in Coastal Zones (ACCC) project in a number of African countries, he said.  UNESCO also had partnerships with the World Meteorological Organization, the United Nations Environment Programme and the International Council for Science.  Additionally, the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission was engaged in developing early warning systems for tsunamis and other marine hazards.

UNESCO had also promoted the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, he said.  Achieving sustainable growth meant addressing the cultural and social effects of development and certain sensitive and ethical issues.  Thus, it advocated the crucial role of culture in international and national development frameworks, including the United Nations system country programming exercises.

Mr. SETH took the floor to respond to the concerns raised by the representative of Antigua and Barbuda, saying that the Secretary-General had established a Millennium Development Goals Gap Task Force that focused on Goal 8.  It was looking at the indicators surrounding that Goal.  At the high-level meeting scheduled for 25 September, a report would be made on the work of the Task Force. Once that report was ready, there may be a mechanism by which it could be brought before the Council.

Action on Texts

The Council then took up the report of the sixteenth session of the Commission on Sustainable Development (document E/2009/29), and adopted without a vote a draft decision contained therein, taking note of the Commission’s report and several of the decisions that body had taken during its sixteenth session.

Next, the Council adopted without a vote, a draft resolution submitted by its Vice-President, Jean-Marc Hoscheit (Luxembourg) on the report of the tenth session of the Committee for Development Policy (document E/2008/L.23), taking note of the Committee’s report and requesting that body, at its eleventh session, to examine and make recommendations on the themes chosen by the Economic and Social Council for the high-level segment of its substantive session of 2009.

The resolution also takes note of the proposals made by the Committee regarding its future work programme, in particular regarding the monitoring of the development progress of Cape Verde, and requests the Committee to monitor the development progress of countries graduating from the list of least developed countries and to include its findings in its annual report to the Council.

Taking up the report of the thirty-ninth session of the Statistical Commission (document E/2008/24), the Council adopted without vote a draft decision on that report, which included the provisional agenda and documentation for that Commission’s upcoming fortieth session.

It next adopted without a vote a draft text on human settlements (document E/2008/L.24), by which it took note of the Secretary-General’s report on the coordinated implementation of the Habitat Agenda, and decided to transmit that report to the General Assembly for consideration at its upcoming sixty-third session.

Adopting without a vote a draft resolution submitted by Mr. Hoscheit on protection against products harmful to health and the environment (document E/2008/L.21) the Council invited the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) to continue updating the chemicals volume of the “Consolidated List of Products Whose Consumption and/or Sale have been Banned, Withdrawn, Severely Restricted or Not Approved by Governments”, and to report to the Council at its substantive session in 2010.  It also would invite the World Health Organization (WHO) to continue updating the pharmaceuticals volume of the “Consolidated List” and to report to the Council’s 2010 session.

The Council also took note of the report of the Governing Council of UNEP (document A/63/25).

Turing to the report of the forty-first session of the Commission on Population and Development (document E/2008/25), the Council adopted without vote a draft decision contained therein, taking note of that report and approving the provisional agenda and documentation of the Commission’s upcoming forty-second session.

The Council also adopted a draft decision on the tenth United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names and twenty-fifth session of the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (document E/2008/L.25), taking note of the Conference’s ninth session held in New York from 21 to 30 August and endorsing the recommendation that the tenth Conference be convened in 2012.  The Council would also endorse the recommendation that the twenty-fifth session of the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names be convened in the first half of 2009.

Finally, the Council took note of the report of the twenty-fourth session of the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (document E/2007/89).

Before the end of the meeting, the representative of the Philippines informed the Council that his delegation had been out of the room during the vote on the resolution on support for Palestinian women and would therefore like the record to reflect Philippine’s support for that text.

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For information media • not an official record