By Victoria Clarke
International NGO Task Group on Legal and Institutional MattersDecember 17, 2002
To: NGOs involved in UN Conferences' follow-up processes and the work of the UN General Assembly's 2nd and 3rd Committees
From: The International NGO Task Group on Legal and Institutional Matters (INTGLIM)A GA draft resolution (A/C.2/57/L.28) calling for the establishment of a UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY OPEN-ENDED AD HOC WORKING GROUP ON INTEGRATED UN CONFERENCE FOLLOW-UP was adopted last week as:
"Integrated and coordinated implementation of and follow-up to the outcomes of the major United Nations conferences and summits in the economic and social fields" (A/C.2/57/L.70).
In addition to the important issue of UN conferences' implementation, this GA ad hoc working group had the potential to address many wider UN systemic issues such as: rationalizing the work of the GA's 2nd and 3rd Committees, the role of the ECOSOC and its functional commissions and strengthening the GA.
The working group could have considerable impact on NGOs work and, therefore, while the text was being negotiated, INTGLIM wrote to the Chairs of the 2nd and 3rd Committees requesting that relevant NGOs in consultative status be granted the rights to observe the working group's meetings, receive documentation, and be able to make available our reports and written documents. We did not ask for speaking rights.
OUTCOME
The final resolution (A/C.2/57/L.70) makes no provisions for NGOs. During the negotiations one member state did bring up the issue of NGO participation in the working group, but no other member states supported this consideration.
It is cause for concern that a GA open-ended ad hoc working group on implementation of UN conferences has been established without granting monitor rights to relevant, consultative status NGOs.
Negotiation of L.28 was carried out by the GA's 2nd Committee without sufficient consultation with the 3rd Committee. Reportedly, a number of member states are upset about this procedure and will most likely respond by making this a lame duck working group.
The open-ended ad hoc working group's chair will be the 57th GA President Kavan. The two Vice Chairs are yet to be elected. It is INTGLIM's hope that the President and Chairs will allow NGOs monitoring rights as requested in our letter - including the right to observe the working group's meetings, receive documentation, and be able to make available our reports and written documents. Of all the committees of the GA, it is particularly important that the 2nd and 3rd Committees respect the constructive consultative rights of NGOs in their work as stipulated in ECOSOC Resolution 1996/31 and in over five decades of practice in these committees. E/1996/31: http://www.un.org/documents/ecosoc/res/1996/eres1996-31.htm
INTGLIM believes that it is an understatement to say that informal participation of NGOs in the "open-ended" ad hoc GA working groups of the 1990s could have made a significant contribution and perhaps avoided the widely-perceived failures of these processes.
The Resolution, A/C.2/57/L.70, will be officially adopted this Friday, December 20th. The open-ended ad hoc working group is mandated to make specific recommendations on how best to address the review of the implementation of major UN conferences and summits. It will commence its work in January 2003 and make it's report in June 2003.
INTGLIM will continue to monitor this new GA ad hoc working group and keep you posted on any significant developments in its work.
The Resolution, A/C.2/57/L.70, is pasted below.
Fifty-seventh session
Second Committee
Agenda item 92
Draft resolution submitted by the Chairman of the Committee, Mr. Marco Antonio Suazo (Honduras), on the basis of informal consultations held on draft resolution A/C.2/57/L.28
Integrated and coordinated implementation of and follow-up to the outcomes of the major United Nations conferences and summits in the economic and social fields
The General Assembly,
Recalling its resolutions on the restructuring and revitalization of the United Nations in the economic, social and related fields, particularly its resolution 50/227 of 24 May 1996,
Recalling also its resolution 56/211 of 21 December 2001, as well as Economic and Social Council resolution 2001/21 of 26 July 2001 and its agreed conclusions 1995/1 of 28 July 1995, 2000/2 of 27 July 2000 and 2002/1 of 26 July 2002,
Taking note of the report of the Secretary-General on the integrated and coordinated implementation of and follow-up to the outcomes of the major United Nations conferences and summits, including the Millennium Summit,
Reaffirming that the internationally agreed development goals, including those contained in the United Nations Millennium Declaration and the outcomes of the major United Nations conferences and summits, provide a comprehensive basis for action at the national, regional and international levels with the key objectives of poverty eradication, sustained economic growth, sustainable development and improvement of the living conditions of people everywhere,
Reaffirming further that while each United Nations conference has its thematic unity, major United Nations conferences and summits should be viewed as interlinked and contributing to an integrated framework for the implementation of the internationally agreed development goals, including those contained in the Millennium Declaration, and a global partnership for development,
Recognizing the need to continue efforts to use the existing structure, i.e., the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council and its subsidiary machinery, for a coordinated and integrated follow-up to and implementation of the commitments agreed at the Millennium Summit and other major United Nations conferences and summits, so as to enhance coordination as well as effectiveness and efficiency of actions at all levels,
Reiterating the need to strengthen the role of the General Assembly as the highest intergovernmental mechanism for the formulation and appraisal of policy on matters relating to coordinated and integrated follow-up to United Nations conferences and summits in the economic, social and related fields,
Reaffirming that the Economic and Social Council continues to strengthen its role as the central mechanism for system-wide coordination and thus to promote coordinated follow-up to the outcomes of major United Nations conferences in the economic, social and related fields,
Emphasizing that the relevant functional commissions and, as appropriate, other relevant intergovernmental bodies of the United Nations system, within their mandates, must fulfill their responsibilities as specified in the outcomes of the United Nations conferences and summits, should further enhance their role as the main forums for expert follow-up and review of major United Nations conferences and summits and, in this regard, must strengthen their effort to enhance inter-agency collaboration and coordination to implement the outcomes of the major United Nations conferences and summits,
Recognizing that the process of integrated and coordinated follow-up of the outcomes of the major United Nations conferences and summits should not include renegotiation of any outcomes of those conferences, including their specific institutional arrangements for follow-up,
1. Decides to establish an open-ended ad hoc working group of the General Assembly under the chairmanship of the President of the Assembly, with two vice-chairmen to be elected by the working group;
2. Decides also that the work of the working group should be consistent with the provisions of General Assembly resolution 50/227 and the follow-up mechanisms decided upon by the respective United Nations conferences and summits and should respect the interlinked nature of their outcomes as well as the thematic unity of each conference, and emphasizes that cross-sectoral thematic issues for further consideration throughout the existing structure should be decided upon at the intergovernmental level and focus on implementation, taking into account that the process of the integrated and coordinated follow-up of the United Nations conferences and summits in the economic, social and related fields should be fair and balanced and should respect the principle of multilateralism and the principles contained in the Charter of the United Nations;
3. Decides further that the working group will produce concrete recommendations to ensure an integrated and coordinated follow-up of the United Nations conferences and summits, in the economic, social and related fields, and thus contribute to the implementation of the internationally agreed development goals, including those contained in the United Nations Millennium Declaration,2 bearing in mind the continuing reform process of the United Nations and General Assembly resolution 50/227, as well as the views expressed by the Member States on this question;
4. Decides that the working group will also consider the work of the General Assembly and its Second and Third Committees relevant to the integrated and coordinated implementation of and follow-up to the outcomes of the major United Nations conferences and summits in the economic, social and related fields as well as the modalities of the reports presented to the General Assembly, bearing in mind the respective role of the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council and its functional commissions and its subsidiary organs;
5. Decides also that the working group will submit proposals on how best to address the review of the implementation of the outcomes of the major United Nations conferences and summits in the economic, social and related fields, including its format and periodicity, bearing in mind the need to recognize the active role of all relevant stakeholders in the implementation of the outcomes of United Nations conferences and summits;
6. Decides that future decisions on follow-up to conferences whose ten-year anniversary are imminent shall be kept pending subject to the decisions to be taken by the General Assembly on the report of the working group;
7. Decides further that the working group will consider how to ensure that the outcomes of the major United Nations conferences and summits are integrated in the programmes of work of the United Nations system and are taken fully into account, as relevant, for the operational work and country frameworks of United Nations system organizations, in accordance with national development objectives and priorities, and requests the United Nations System Chief Executives Board for Coordination and the United Nations Development Group to contribute to the reflection on integrated conference follow-up;
8. Decides that the working group will commence its substantive work during the fifty-seventh session of the General Assembly, no later than January 2003, and will submit its report before Friday, 27 June 2003, for consideration by the General Assembly and action before the end of that session in 2003;
9. Decides further that at its first meeting the working group will consider its work programme, including the issue of periodicity and duration of its meetings within the time boundaries established in paragraph 8 above;
10. Decides also to include in the provisional agenda of its fifty-eighth session, as a plenary item, the item entitled "Integrated and coordinated implementation of and follow-up to the outcomes of the major United Nations conferences and summits in the economic, social and related fields".
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