ECOSOC RESUMED 2006 SESSION - SIGNIFICANT ITEMS

UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 002288 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR IO/EDA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EAID ECPS EFIN PHUM ECOSOC SUBJECT: ECOSOC RESUMED 2006 SESSION - SIGNIFICANT ITEMS DEFERRED TO 2007 MEETINGS REF: GENEVA 1849 ¶1. Summary: The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) resumed work December 11-15 to tackle a range of issues deferred from the summer session in Geneva (reftel). Of a limited number of items completed in the resumed session, approvals of outstanding NGO applications and of the work related to the expansion of the Commission on Science and Technology for Development stand out. Five items were deferred until the February 2007 Organizational session or later, with LDC graduation for Samoa the most important (see complete list below). Despite active engagement, little closure was reached on prospective themes for the ECOSOC 2007 summer session; discussions will continue in the coming months. We believe New York delegations were fatigued by the just-completed work in Second and Third Committees and thus unable to devote the time and energy needed to resolve the tougher issues of LDC graduation or ECOSOC Themes in this loosely organized one week session, thus requiring a larger number of substantive issues than usual to be deferred to January-February. End summary. Actions Completed -------------- ¶2. ECOSOC met December 11-15 to close out action on its deferred 2006 agenda items. In the formal ECOSOC meeting on December 11, a very limited range of items were resolved, leaving most of the week for a range of informal ECOSOC meetings intended to close remaining gaps. Actions taken on December 11 included: Approval of a decision taking note of the report of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (A/61/41),as well as a range of matters related to NGOs. In this exercise, ECOSOC considered and approved, after voting, the applications for consultative status with ECOSOC of three organizations supported by the EU: E/2006/L.24-Danish National Association of Gays and Lesbians: 23(US)-16-11 E/2006/L.25-International Lesbian and Gays Association ) Europe: 23(US)-17-10 E/2006/L.26-Lesbian and Gay Federation in Germany: 24(US)-16-10 Closing out action on this topic, ECOSOC approved on December 11 decisions taking note of the two regular reports of the 2006 Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations: E/2006/32 Parts 1 and 2. ¶3. In ECOSOC,s December 15 formal meeting, another tranche of open issues was approved, although a number were left unresolved (see Para 4): -- Draft decision E/2006/L.39, which allocates the geographic distribution of the 10 new seats in the enlarged Commission on Science and Technology for Development. -- A perfunctory decision (E/2006/L40) on follow-up to the ECOSOC Strengthening Resolution (61/16) was adopted, acknowledging the contributions of relevant subsidiary bodies to the work of ECOSOC and to its upcoming projects. Most delegations believed this was a harmless decision, and many were not convinced it was needed; the Secretariat pressed heavily to push this through, claiming it was needed to provide direction to the Regional Commissions. -- Issues surrounding the report of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (E/2006/43) were largely resolved once the venue for the sixth session was shifted from Bangkok to New York. This eliminated all PBI concerns and allowed for adoption of the report,s recommendations (draft decisions contained in the report),save for the proposed theme of the ECOSOC 2007 Coordination Segment. The theme will not/not embrace indigenous issues as proposed by the report. -- A range of elections (nine),all by acclamation. (Report septel) Actions Deferred to 2007 -------------- ¶4. ECOSOC deferred a significant number of outstanding decisions to various 2007 meetings, at one point prompting President Hachani to plead with members to work harder to avoid the perception that ECOSOC has limited organizational resolve. Actions deferred: --Removal of Samoa from the list of Less Developed Countries (LDCs),as recommended by the Committee on Development Policy (CDP) (deferred until February 2007). (Note: We anticipate the need for coordination with Australia and New Zealand on a joint demarche to be delivered in Apia in January. End note) --Inclusion of Papua New Guinea in the list of Less Developed Countries (LDCs),pending formal acceptance by its government (deferred until summer 2007). --World Tourism Organization (E/2006/70): Draft Annex on privileges and immunities (deferred until February 2007) --Application of the International Emergency Management Organization for observer status (E/2006/87) with ECOSOC (deferred until February 2007). (Note: USG has requested more information be provided about this organization) -- CSTD: The election of the 10 new CSTD members was deferred until February 2007, as well as the remaining matters contained in the report of the CSTD (E/2006/31), including a draft resolution. ECOSOC 2007 Plans -------------- ¶5. The discussion within ECOSOC on 2007 High level Segment Themes (HLS) has been inconclusive. Since the resolution on Strengthening ECOSOC (61/18) was adopted, there has been no/no agreement on the periodicity of the so-called "Thematic Discussion" be it an annual or semi-annual discussion. This has been made worse by the G77,s insistence that this annual discussion (in their view) become the main topic for the High-Level Segment. In informals held during the week, various formulas were attempted and failed to bridge the gap, with the most promising idea being to develop an overarching theme for the High Level Segment, which would then have two parts ) a Thematic Discussion (when agreed) and the Annual Ministerial Review. Discussions on resolving this issue will continue when ECOSOC resumes work under its first Organizational Session o/a January 17. ¶6. Two key points were agreed in discussions the week of December 11-15 which make it slightly easier to put the remaining pieces in place: The Coordination Segment theme will aim to review the previous year,s HLS theme, so in 2007 it will focus on labor and employment issues ("decent work for all") and specifically how the UN system is following up on ECOSOC,s 2006 Summer Session on this topic. The proposed solution for the Annual Ministerial Review topics will be to review each Millennium Development Goal (MDG) in light of cooperative international efforts (MDG-8, global partnership for development). The emerging idea for 2007 would be to look at MDGs 1 plus 8 in this format: "Strengthening efforts for eradication of poverty and hunger, (including) through the global partnership for development." Again, discussions will resume on this point in mid-January, with the Secretariat pointedly claiming in each meeting held so far SIPDIS that much more time is needed to prepare for the summer 2007 meetings than will be allowed if a decision is not made immediately. Delegations, on the other hand, are not convinced of the need to rush ahead on this decision, with the G77 the most skeptical. WOLFF