UN REFORM: G-77 URGES POSTPONEMENT OF ECOSOC

UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 001067

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: AORC KUNR
SUBJECT: UN REFORM: G-77 URGES POSTPONEMENT OF ECOSOC
MANDATE REVIEW

REF: USUN 1034


1. (U) The UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) convened
an opening round of informal consultations on a review of its
mandates on May 23 pursuant to the Secretary-General's report
(A/60/733) and General Assembly guidelines for UN mandate
review. Haiti's Permrep Leo Merores, who is ECOSOC Vice
President for the GRULAC Group, indicated he would continue
to convene two such sessions weekly in an effort to provide
ECOSOC's preliminary views by June 14. This compressed
timetable tracks parallel work and deadlines in the General
Assembly and the Security Council. Ambassador Merores
stressed that the President of the General Assembly was
committed to this schedule and noted his desire to conform
the ECOSOC work program with that of the General Assembly and
the Security Council. However, G-77 countries opposed both
the timetable and the methodology.


2. (U) On behalf of the G-77 and China, South Africa
asserted that ECOSOC could not even begin to turn its
attention to mandate review until after the General Assembly
passed two draft resolutions on development followup and the
reform of ECOSOC. Both drafts are currently stalemated. The
Pakistani delegate echoed South Africa's assertion, insisting
that both the pending resolutions were "very important for
developing countries." In fact, the G-77 itself has tied up
the development resolution by insisting upon a radical body
of textual amendments (reftel),while a resolution on the
reform of ECOSOC remains in abeyance pending the outcome of
the development text.


3. (U) Cuba claimed that a June deadline to issue ECOSOC
views on mandates was "hasty and precipitous." Rather than
reviewing mandates, South Africa and Pakistan argued that
ECOSOC needed to focus on the gap between mandates and the
resources required to implement them. In a further stalling
tactic, Cuba said ECOSOC could not begin to move forward
until a complete list of its mandates had been compiled,
categorized and analyzed for action. In fact, some mandates
might need to be strengthened, the Cuban delegate argued,
adding that mandates should be dealt with only in a universal
body like the General Assembly. In an orchestrated refrain,
South Africa and Pakistan continued to say that developing
countries would insist on a sequence in which the development
and ECOSOC reform resolutions must precede a review of
mandates.


4. (U) USUN Ambassador Terry Miller referred to the
understanding that the review of mandates would be conducted
in two phases, and he urged ECOSOC members to "look for
activities where we can all agree" that services can be
improved. He reminded that heads of state had agreed to the
mandate review process in the World Summit Outcome Document,
including a lively exchange among all three principal UN
organs. In a similarly positive vein, South Korea expressed
optimism that ECOSOC should be able to agree on a "roadmap"
for mandate review that highlighted a reduction in reporting
requirements. Ambassador Ozawa of Japan anticipated that
ECOSOC could indeed wrap up a first phase of its review in
time to coincide with reports from the General Assembly and a
working group of the Security Council. The Haitian Chair
concluded by reiterating that a roadmap was achievable, and
he would press ahead along the timetable set by PGA Eliasson.



5. (SBU) Comment: While a cursory review of ECOSOC mandates
is possible to achieve in the next two weeks, the wild card
here - as in every other area of UN reform - remains the
intention of the G-77. End Comment.
BOLTON