Economic and Social Council

2011 Substantive Session

51^st Meeting (AM)

Economic and Social Council, Resuming 2011 Substantive Session, Fills Vacancies

in Subsidiary Bodies, Defers Some Elections Due to Absence of Candidates

 

Resuming its 2011 substantive session, the Economic and Social Council elected a Vice-President to its Bureau today and filled vacancies in a number of its subsidiary bodies, having deferred several elections from previous sessions.

In the first order of business, the 54-Member Council elected Enrique Román of Peru Vice-President by acclamation, replacing Gonzalo Gutiérrez Reinel, also of Peru, who left New York in mid-September.

The Council then turned to the Executive Board of the World Food Programme, electing the following six members, by acclamation, to three-year terms beginning on 1 January 2012 and expiring on 31 December 2014:  Zambia (African States); China (Asian States); Japan (Western European and Other States); United Kingdom (Western European and Other States); and Czech Republic (Eastern European States).  It decided to postpone the election of one member from the Latin American and Caribbean States for a similar term.

Filling outstanding vacancies from previously deferred elections, the Council elected Zimbabwe (African States) to the Commission on Narcotic Drugs for a four-year term beginning on 1 January 2012 and expiring on 31 December 2015, filling one of two vacancies.  It decided to postpone the election, to a term of similar duration, of another member of the Group of African States.

The Council next elected Nigeria (African States), by acclamation, to the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice for a three-year term beginning on 1 January 2012 and expiring 31 December 2014.

Israel was then elected by acclamation to the Commission on Sustainable Development for a term beginning today and expiring at the close of the Commission’s twenty-first session in 2014.  Also by acclamation, Sweden was elected to the Commission on Science and Technology for Development for a term beginning today and expiring on 31 December 2014.

Turning to its Committee for Programme and Coordination — the 30-member body tasked with reviewing United Nations programmes, as defined in the strategic framework — the Council nominated Guinea, Guinea-Bissau and Italy for election by the General Assembly for a three-year term, beginning on 1 January 2012 and expiring on 31 December 2014.

In the absence of other candidates for election to that Committee, it postponed the nominations of three members from the Group of Western European and Other States for terms beginning on the date of election by the Assembly and expiring on 31 December 2011; one member from the Asian States for a term beginning on the date of election and expiring on 31 December 2013; one member from the Asian States; and four from the Western European and Other States for a three-year term beginning on 1 January 2012 and expiring on 31 December 2014.

Turning to the Intergovernmental Working Group of Experts on International Standards of Accounting and Reporting — the Organization’s only such body devoted to the international harmonization of national accounting and reporting practices at the corporate level — the Council elected Tunisia to fill one of the two vacancies in the Group for a three-year term beginning on 1 January 2012 and expiring on 31 December 2014.

It then decided to postpone the election to the Working Group of three members from the Group of Latin American and Caribbean States and four from the Group of Western European and Other States for terms beginning on the date of election and expiring on 31 December 2011; four members from the Asian States and one member from the Latin American and Caribbean States for terms beginning on the date of election and expiring on 31 December 2012; and 13 members for a three-year term beginning on 1 January 2012 and expiring on 31 December 2014 — one member from the African States, two from the Asian States, one from the Latin American and Caribbean States, and nine from the Western European and Other States.

In its final action, the Council elected Italy, by acclamation, to the Governing Council of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) for a four-year term beginning on 1 January 2012 and expiring on 31 December 2015.  In the absence of other candidates, it postponed the election to the Programme of two members from the Western European and Other States, for terms beginning on the date of election and expiring on 31 December 2011; two additional members from that Group, for terms beginning on the date of election and expiring on 31 December 2012; as well as two members from the Eastern European States and two from the Western European and Other States for four-year terms beginning on 1 January 2012 and expiring on 31 December 2015.

Turning to issues deferred from July, the Council decided to defer further its consideration of the report on the forty-fourth and forty-fifth sessions of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (document E/2011/22) to a date before the end of 2011.  It also decided to defer action on the draft resolution entitled “Review of United Nations support for small island developing States” (document E/2011/L.52) to a date before the end of 2011.

On the issue of “system-wide coherence”, Council President Lazarous Kapambwe ( Zambia) recalled that the General Assembly, in its resolution 64/289 of 2010, had emphasized the need to establish results-based reporting mechanisms, as well as coherence between the “normative” and “operational” aspects of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women).  In that context, it had requested the Commission on the Status of Women and the Executive Board of UN Women to provide guidance, he said, adding that the Council had been requested to establish linkages between the two bodies during its 2010 substantive session.

Noting that the Council had not been able to take action during its 2010 substantive session since the Executive Board had not yet been established, he said consultations had since begun and were ongoing.  He added that he had attended a meeting in January 2011 in which the Chair of the Commission’s fifty-fifth session, the President of the Executive Board and the Executive Director of UN Women had participated.  A second meeting had taken place in June 2011, when the same participants had said that future linkages should highlight potential synergies, be flexible in nature, and avoid a hierarchical structure.

Wrapping up the meeting, the President called attention to two joint events organized by the Council and the Second Committee (Economic and Financial).  The first — on the global financial and sovereign debt crises — would be held on the morning of Monday, 24 October and the second — on “Investing in productive capacity for job-rich growth” — on the afternoon of Thursday, 27 October.  He added that the Council’s retreat would be held from 11 to 12 November.

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For information media • not an official record