UN REFORM/SYG HIGH LEVEL PANEL ON DEVELOPMENT -

UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 000396

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON EFIN KUNR SENV
SUBJECT: UN REFORM/SYG HIGH LEVEL PANEL ON DEVELOPMENT -
PURPOSE AND PARAMETERS

REF: USUN 129


1. (U) Summary. At an off-site event hosted by the UN
Missions of Egypt and France on February 24-25, senior UN
officials laid out expectations for the Secretary-General's
High Level Panel on UN System-wide Coherence in the Areas of
Humanitarian Assistance, the Environment and Development.
Projected goals include the need to better integrate UN
humanitarian, development and environmental activities;
overcome fragmentation at the country level and between the
field and headquarters; ensure sustained and predictable
financing, and to imbue all these activities with stronger
strategic vision. SYG Annan's Chief of Staff Mark Malloch
Brown additionally called for the creation of a new agency to
more comprehensively organize environmental policy. End
Summary.

Panel Purpose and Schedule
--------------


2. (U) At a New York retreat hosted by the UN Missions of
Egypt and France on February 24-25, UN officials projected a
schedule and themes for the Secretary-General's recently
established High Level Panel on UN System-wide Coherence in
the Areas of Humanitarian Assistance, the Environment and
Development. Executive Director of the Panel Adnan Amin
emphasized the need to strengthen coordination of
humanitarian and development activities, including the
operations of specialized UN agencies in the field and
communications between UN Resident Country Coordinators and
headquarters. He said the Panel would also consider how to
"mainstream" environmental concerns into decisions on
development. Impediments to "predictable and sustained
financing" of development would need to be analyzed and
overcome. Amin criticized fragmentation at all levels,
including in UN reporting on development, emphasizing that
the Panel would address the "disconnect" between UN norms,
analysis, field operations and country needs in these areas.


3. (U) Regarding a schedule, Amin projected that the High
Level Panel would convene in New York in late March and begin
its work by exchanging views with members of the UN General
Assembly (UNGA). The Panel, or at least some of its members,
would travel to Madrid o/a April 8 to attend the UN Chief
Executive Board meeting. During the ECOSOC session in July,
Panel members would probably travel to Geneva (site of the
session) to interact with ECOSOC members. Finally, he
expected the Panel would meet again in the fall to finalize
recommendations to present to the 61st UNGA session in
September. (Note: This week, the Panel's Secretariat started
to take form with the arrival of a diplomat from the Dutch
MFA who will support economic analysis.)

Calls for Coherence
--------------


4. (U) Several other speakers also stressed the need to
better coordinate UN development activities. UN Development
Program (UNDP) Assistant Secretary General Bruce Jenks
observed that although some 75 percent of the World Summit
Outcome Document text focused on development goals, the UN in
fact lacked a coherent agenda and follow-up strategies. He
challenged delegations and Panel members to undertake
fundamental thinking on such questions as, "What do we want
from the UN and development?" and, "Why does development need
the UN?" While the UN had the potential to serve as an
integrator and a pillar of worldwide development activities,
Jenks contended that it was currently structured in the
antithesis. Programs were fragmented, separate donor and
funding streams impeded effectiveness, and UN resident
coordinators competed with headquarters for separate agendas
and attention.


5. (U) In unscripted dinner remarks, Secretary-General
Annan's Chief of staff Mark Malloch Brown said the High Level
Panel would serve the purpose of adding the best voices to a
GA consensus on how the UN could add value to development.
Money alone would not be enough to build capacity, he said,
although predictable resources would help ensure
intergovernmental commitments. In general, the Panel would
consider how the UN needed to hone its policy advice, unify
its internal governance and develop a strategic vision in
order to prioritize its activities. Malloch Brown suggested
that a first step was to listen to country needs, including
the needs of middle-income countries, in order to cut across
the fractured spectrum of funds, programs and specialized
agencies. He advocated for "high levels of social
investment," including in health and education. Although
contributions to funds and programs already totaled some $12
billion, Malloch Brown said programs were not consolidated
and the Panel would need to recommend how funds could be used


better. In his opinion, official development assistance
(ODA) remained the best vehicle to deliver results, when it
responded to needs defined by recipient countries.


6. (U) Malloch Brown further asserted that UN environmental
activities lacked a strong international architecture and
needed "radical restructuring." He suggested that the UN
Environment Program (UNEP) could be folded into "a more
tightly organized structure" that integrated meteorological
expertise and the activities of other scientific agencies.
While such a new agency would not interfere in country
operations, he said it would provide a more useful umbrella
and coherent environmental vision.

Comments
--------------


7. (U) Comments from member state representatives further
previewed the challenges that the High Level Panel will face.
For example, Germany suggested that the Panel must also
focus on sectors where the UN had less comparative advantage
and where it needed to curtail or even withdraw its
activities. Argentina urged special attention to
middle-income countries that suffered from pockets of
poverty, cautioning against "one size fits all" panaceas.
Denmark commented that the most important reform would be to
consolidate UN activities within countries, deciding in each
case where the emphasis should be. Warning against "drastic
reeingineering for its own sake," India's Permrep maintained
that decentralized entities fulfilled a need and the Panel
would need to refrain from "submerging national priorities."


8. (SBU) USUN Comment. The diversity of views on UN
development coherence, including among delegations and UN
officials, portends an array of controversial challenges that
High Level Panel members will confront. The proposed meeting
of the Panel at the outset with the UN General Assembly is
likely to raise the spectre of further conflicting demands
(note: the U.S. has suggested that the Panel should instead
confer with UNGA toward the end of its study.) However, the
U.S. can also constructively use the Panel as a vehicle to
promote coherence by making high-profile recommendations to
reduce duplicative functions. Regarding environmental
coherence, the UN Secretariat and key Panel members are
likely to try to establish a permanent new body to coordinate
standards and policy. The U.S. will need to continue to make
clear that although we support the improvement of existing
institutions and the strengthening of scientific cooperation,
we must avoid creating a new supranational structure. The
fact that the UN itself has divergent views on the way
forward reflects the need for a careful, considerate approach
to reform. The report that the Panel will produce in
September is likely to generate expectations and set an
agenda for years to come.


BOLTON