MUCH ADO ABOUT PAGE LIMITS IN UN COMMITTEE ON

UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 000845 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: AORC PREL UN UNGA UNGA SUBJECT: MUCH ADO ABOUT PAGE LIMITS IN UN COMMITTEE ON CONFERENCES ¶1. Summary: From 8-14 September 2009, the Committee on Conferences convened in New York to review the draft calendar of conferences and to discuss the administrative and logistical considerations pertaining to conference servicing. Of particular contention were issues relating to the scheduling of the second resumed session of the Fifth (Administrative and Budgetary) Committee of the General Assembly, the provision of interpretation services to meetings of regional and other major groupings of Member States, questions regarding documents management for the Human Rights Council in Geneva, and the work of the UN Interdepartmental Task Force on Documentation. No decision was made to change the schedule of conferences. However, the Committee was able to reach consensus on a draft resolution on the other issues which will be considered by the Fifth Committee during the main (fall) session of the General Assembly. Background on the Committee on Conferences -------------- ¶2. The Committee on Conferences (COC) is a permanent subsidiary organ of the United Nations General Assembly responsible for advising the General Assembly on all matters pertaining to the organization of conferences in the United Nations. It consists of 21 members drawn from across the five regional groups. From 8-14 September 2009, the COC convened in New York for its annual substantive session to review the proposals of the Secretary-General on the draft calendar of conferences and meetings as well as to discuss other issues of concern including conference resource utilization and matters relating to documentation, translation, and interpretation. Schedule of the Second Resumed Session -------------- ¶3. Prior to the meeting of the COC, USUN/MR organized a coordination meeting amongst the representatives of like-minded members of the Committee to discuss a proposal to extend the second resumed session of the Fifth Committee by two weeks. This proposal, first articulated by the Japanese delegation in their closing statement for the second resumed session in June, sought to address the problem of increased work during the second resumed session, which handles the increasingly large and complex UN peacekeeping budget. The EU suggested delaying the start of the main session of the Fifth Committee by two weeks in order to make the proposed change to the schedule cost-neutral from a conference servicing perspective. ¶4. Both proposals were presented to the COC, but no consensus could be reached because of reluctance on the part of members of the Group of 77 (G77) to adjust the schedule of the second resumed session. The G77 were concerned that any adjustment to the schedule of the second resumed session would require an adjustment to the schedule of the Committee for Programme and Coordination. Documentation Management for the Human Rights Council -------------- -------------- ¶5. Documentation management for the Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva was the most contentious issue discussed in the Committee. Thirteen outcome documents of the Universal Periodic Review process were submitted long after the deadline and far beyond the established page limits, prompting the Department of General Assembly and Conference Management to refuse the processing and translating of the documents. This necessitated their consideration and adoption on the basis of the English language text alone. At question was whether the HRC had the authority to allow its Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review to adopt reports that exceed established limits on documentation length set by the General Assembly. On 24 June 2009, the UN Office of Legal Affairs (OLA) issued a formal opinion concluding that the HRC, as a subsidiary organ of the General Assembly, did not have the authority to make such a decision. ¶6. G77 members of the COC made it clear that they were extremely dissatisfied with the situation. In addition to demanding the retroactive issuance of the outcome documents as official documents in the six official languages, they introduced language re-affirming the opinion that the HRC had the authority to determine its own word limits irrespective of the limits established by the General Assembly. After arduous deliberations, The United States, which emphasized the program budget and strategic planning implications of the HRC position, was successful in eventually persuading the G77 to withdraw its language and to tacitly acquiesce with the OLA opinion. As a result, the Committee adopted language in its draft resolution clarifying the applicability of the GA resolutions setting out word limits for subsidiary intergovernmental organizations to the work of the HRC. Other Issues of Contention -------------- ¶7. Members of the G77 raised concerns regarding the decrease in the number of meetings of regional and other major groupings of Member States, such as the G77, for which conference services -- including interpretation -- were provided. The US joined others in reminding the Committee that provision of conference services to groupings of Member States was not an entitlement but rather a courtesy and that any provision of conference services to such groupings was subject to the requirements of the Security Council, the General Assembly, and their subsidiary organs, all of which take precedence. In response to G77 concerns, the COC agreed to include a statement of regret regarding the decrease in conference services provided to meetings of regional and other groupings of Member States in the draft resolution. ¶8. The final issue of contention was the continuation of the work of the Interdepartmental Task Force on Documentation. This body, chaired by the Department of General Assembly and Conference Management, achieved some success during the past year to improve coordination amongst departments of the Secretariat in regards to documents management. Members of the G77 pushed for the institutionalization of the task force as a permanent body, a move that was opposed in particular by the EU delegates. During the eleventh hour of debate, France led a successful push to remove language that would establish the coordination mechanism as a permanent entity while welcoming the efforts of the task force in improving the timely issuance of documentation. Looking Ahead -------------- ¶9. The draft resolution and the report of the COC will be submitted to the Fifth Committee. According to the tentative schedule provided by the Bureau of the Fifth Committee, the recommendations of the COC will be considered in mid-October and are likely to be adopted pro forma. RICE