The World Summit Outcome Document recognised “the need for a more effective Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) as a principal body for coordination, policy review, policy dialogue and recommendations on issues of economic and social development, as well as for implementation of the international development goals agreed at the major United Nations summits and conferences, including the Millennium Development Goals.” Specifically the Summit identified that ECOSOC should:
- promote global dialogue and partnership on global policies and trends in the economic, social, environmental and humanitarian fields;
- hold a biennial high-level Development Cooperation Forum to review trends in international development cooperation, including strategies, policies and financing, promote greater coherence among the development activities of different development partners and strengthen the links between the normative and operational work of the UN;
- ensure follow-up of the outcomes of the major UN conferences and summits, including the internationally agreed development goals, and hold annual ministerial-level substantive reviews to assess progress, drawing on its functional and regional commissions and other international institutions, in accordance with their respective mandates;
- support and complement international efforts aimed at addressing humanitarian emergencies, including natural disasters, in order to promote an improved, coordinated response from the UN; and
- play a major role in the overall coordination of funds, programmes and agencies, ensuring coherence among them and avoiding duplication of mandates and activities.
The first informal consultations on ECOSOC reform elements in the Outcome Document began on 22 November 2005. According to ReformtheUN.org, during the initial discussions “internal tensions were growing within the General Assembly between the US, which wants to focus the reform discussions on management issues, and the Group of 77 countries, which are focused more on development issues and feel that the Secretariat is increasingly influenced by US pressures.” In December 2005, Member States discussed an ‘Issues Paper on ECOSOC reform’ provided by the co-chairs, Ambassador Johan Verbeke of Belgium and Ambassador Cheik Sidi Diarra of Mali. This paper presented a number of key questions to address five different issues: the Global Policy Dialogue; the Biennial Development Cooperation Forum; the Annual Ministerial-Level Substantive Reviews; humanitarian emergencies; and overall coordination. In January 2006, the co-chairs released two draft negotiating proposals related to ECOSOC reform and development. According to Martin Khor of the Third World Network (6 April) the two draft resolutions set out measures to improve on development efforts on implementation, coordination and integration, including the follow up to major UN conferences and summits. The draft on ECOSOC reform includes suggestions for a more coherent framework of high-level dialogues with the Bretton Woods institutions, the World Trade Organisation and UN Conference on Trade and Development. There would be a biennial policy dialogue on themes, a biennial Development Cooperation Forum to review trends in international development cooperation, and annual Ministerial-level reviews on follow-up of outcomes of major UN conferences and summits on development issues. Informal consultations held in late March failed to reach agreement on the draft texts. On 12 April 2006, the co-chairs wrote to Member States outlining an approach to resolving the outstanding issues in the draft resolutions. Following the 28 March informal consultation, delegations were requested to submit any further textual contributions on the matters raised during the meeting to the co-chairs by 13 April. The co-chairs appointed Bulus Paul Zom Lolo of Nigeria to act as a facilitator to undertake informal consultations focusing on the text of Operational Paragraph 6bis and the additional comments and contributions made at the meeting on 28 March and received thereafter. The co-chairs have noted that the facilitated consultations will be conducted on the basis of a compilation text. As yet, dates and times of the consultations have not been determined.
Source: UN, 2006
General Assembly follow-up;
http://www.un.org/ga/president/60/summitfollowup/development.html
ReformtheUN.org, 2006; http://www.reformtheun.org/index.php/eupdate/1859
Third World Network, 2006; http://www.twnside.org.sg/title2/twninfo382.htm