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