Economic and Social Council: may become 'as important as Security Council.' (United Nations)

More than 130 resolutions and decisions on human rights, social development, crime, narcotic drugs, the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), women, international economic cooperation, humanitarian aid and other issues were adopted by the Economic and Social Council at its first restructured substantive session (29 June-31 July, New York), deemed as one of the most productive in recent years.

The diversity of matters addressed by the Council was interwoven by strong common threads: that poverty is the biggest challenge facing the international community; that peace and security are inextricably linked to economic and social development; and that UN activities must be reshaped to achieve the integrated approach mandated by the interdependence of those issues.

Stressing these important linkages, Secretary-General Boustros Boustros-Ghali said he hoped "the Economic and Social Council will become as active and important an organ as the Security Council, and will become the Council of the twenty-first century".

"The need for a strengthened role for the United Nations has never before been more compelling", said Ji Chaozhu, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Development, at the session's conclusion. "Future peace, security and global stability will depend upon the world's collective ability to improve the living standards and economic and social prospects for the majority of men and women throughout the world."

Among the highlights of the five-week meeting - the Council's first unified substantive session (two sessions were previously held each year) - were recommendations for convening a World Summit on Social Development in 1995 and adoption of a draft declaration on the rights of persons belonging to national, ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities.

The Council also recommended that the General Assembly proclaim in 1993 a Third Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination. Egypt's offer to host the International Conference on Population and Development was accepted. The global meeting will take place in Cairo from 5 to 13 September 1994.

At a resumed meeting on 18 August, the Council endorsed a text condemning the practice of "ethnic cleansing" and all violations of human rights in the former Yugoslavia, especially in Bosnia, and Herzegovina. The resolution had been adopted by the Commission on Human Rights at an unprecedented special session on 13 and 14 August.

High-level meeting

During a high-level special meeting (6-8 July) held during the session, some 20 Ministers and other senior officials addressed the role of the UN in enhancing international cooperation for development, a theme Secretary-General Boustros-Ghali termed "the most fundamental task of our time".

Mr. Boustros-Ghali said: "All humanity's hopes - for peace and security, for health and prosperity, for justice and opportunity - rest upon sustainable, equitable and dynamic development."

To further an integrated approach, he urged that the Council introduce a "flexible, high-level inter-sessional mechanism", which would enable it to respond in an ongoing and timely way to developments in the economic and social spheres, and provide reports to the Security Council on developments that may threaten international peace and security.

The focus of the UN, he added, should be in the field, "where economic, social and political decisions take effect and where artificial lines between them tend to disappear".

Other speakers during the high-level segment shared a vision of development that was people-centred, equitable and sustainable. They also stressed the need for integrating social goals, including the advancement of women and the protection of vulnerable groups, into adjustment programmers and development strategies.

During the meeting, heads of multilateral institutions, including the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and the UN Conference on Trade and Development, undertook a high-level policy dialogue on international economic cooperation.

AIDS discussion

At a new coordination segment, Council members and heads of UN specialized agencies and other bodies held a dialogue on the difficulties of coordinating UN poverty-eradication efforts and progress at the international level in dealing with the AIDS pandemic.

The AIDS pandemic has created an unprecedented demand for coordinated global, national and community efforts, the Secretary-General reported (E/1992/67).

"AIDS has demonstrated conclusively the close interconnection between the state of the economy and the state of people's health", the Secretary-General reported. "United Nations coordination must reflect this new paradigm in which health status is inextricably linked to development in other sectors."

The Council on 30 July endorsed the World Health Organization's updated global strategy for the prevention and control of AIDS, as well as its recommendations on coordinating activities related to the disease and the human immunodeficiency virus which causes AIDS.

Also discussed were the merits of establishing a system-wide poverty-eradication strategy and the multidimensional nature of the problems surrounding poverty. The need to mitigate the harsh social consequences of structural adjustment programmers, as well as the primacy of treating the social roots of poverty - illiteracy, poor health and subordination of women - were emphasized.

During a three-day operational activities for development segment, Council member stressed that greater coordination at the Headquarters level and a more effective division of labour in the UN system were required for field action to be effective.

Widely discussed was the Nordic countries' proposal for the establishment of a body, functioning as an international development council, to supply policy guidance to the UN system. A revitalized Economic and Social Council was considered by many as the body which should perform that role.

The Council also discussed, but did not act on, post-UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) institutional arrangements. Substantive questions on the Conference's follow-up are to be discussed by the Assembly.

Social Development

A world summit for social development had the "potential to build a network of communications where few bridges or roads exist today", Mr. Boustros-Ghali told the Council, which subsequently recommended that the summit be convened in 1995.

Special Representative Juan Somavia of Chile recommended (E/1992/80) that the summit address a limited number of concisely defined core issues related to the broad concept of social development, including: gender discrimination; adequate food and housing; improved health care and education; problems of vulnerable groups, such as the elderly, children and the disabled; population policies and consumption patterns to alleviate pressure on scant resources; the AIDS pandemic; and implications of migration.

Possible outcomes would include a political statement "underscoring the need to balance economic efficiency and social efficiency through growth-oriented sustainable development policies based on social equity" and a plan of action to ensure the satisfaction of basic needs and the improvement of the quality of life of people in all countries and societies.

The human dimension

Another aspect of the human dimension of development will be dealt with at the International Conference on Pupulation and Development which the Council decided to hold' in September 1994. Its themes will be population, sustainable economic growth and sustainable development.

In other texts on social issues, the Council:

* Decided that a working group of the Commission on the Status of Women should further develop a draft declaration on violence against women;

* Called upon the Preparatory Committee for the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights to take into account discrimination against women in preparing the Conference agenda;

* Adopted an omnibus resolution on operational activities and coordination in the field of crime prevention and criminal justice, designed to serve as a blueprint for the future activities of the UN Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Programme;

* Asked the Secretary-General to continue analysing the impact of organized criminal activities on society.

* Recommended that the Assembly continue the operation of the Voluntary Fund for the UN Decade of Disabled Persons (1983-1992) in the period beyond the Decade, renaming it the UN Voluntary Fund on Disability;

* Asked the Assembly to proclaim an International Day of Cooperatives, to be observed on the first Saturday in July 1995, marking the centenary of the International Cooperative Alliance;

* Took note of an initiative of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to examine the possibility of declaring 1995 - the fiftieth anniversary of UNESCO - the UN Year for Tolerance, and prepare a declaration for adoption on that occasion.

Human rights

Among the 50 texts on human rights was a nine-article draft declaration on the rights of persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities, which was recommended for Assembly adoption. States will be called on to "protect the existence and the national or ethnic, cultural, religious and linguistic identity of minorities".

The declaration, formulated by the Commission on Human Rights at its forty-eighth session, also calls, among other provisions, for minority participation in the country's economic progress and development.

The Council asked the Secretary-General to submit a draft Programme of Action for the Third Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination to be launched in 1993, taking into account the elements of the Programme of Action for the Second Decade that have not been completed. Special attention was to be paid to the situation of migrant workers and their families.

In other action, the Council:

* Asked the Assembly to adopt a draft Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances;

* Endorsed continued sanctions on South Africa; invited the Special Rapporteur to update the list of banks, transnational corporations and other organizations assisting that regime, and asked South Africa to report annually on measures taken to implement recommendations related to trade union rights.

* Demanded the immediate release of all political prisoners, among them women and children, in South Africa and an immediate halt to Israeli settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory.

* Endorsed preparation of a study on the integration of elderly women into development and invited the Special Rapporteur to update his report on human rights and youth, giving special attention to underdevelopment, unemployment, the right to conscientious objection to military service and children in prison;

* Approved the appointment of a special rapporteur to study measures to strengthen respect for the cultural property of indigenous peoples.

* Approved appointments of special rapporteurs on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions and on the situations of human rights in Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Haiti and Myanmar, as well as an independent expert to review the situation in El Salvador;

* Authorized working groups to elaborate a draft optional protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and to continue work on a draft declaration on the right and responsibility of individuals, groups and organs of society to promote and protect universally recognized human rights and fundamental freedoms;

* Asked for a representative to seek information on human rights issues related to internally displaced persons, better coordination among bodies dealing with the human rights of disabled persons and a further report on implementation of recommendations on the suppression of the traffic in persons and of the exploitation of prostitution of others;

* Appealed strongly to all States to become parties to the International Covenants on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and on Civil and Political Rights.

Economic cooperation

Development cooperation can be "an anchor of stability and progress" in a period of great flux and uncertainty, the Secretary-General reported (E/1992/82) to the Council. "It should also serve to underpin the emerging new world order with the ideas of equity and development as the basis for enduring peace and security."

He also outlined the principal development objectives for the 1990s: a decisive strengthening of international development cooperation for sustainable growth in the world economy; a development process that is responsive to social needs, seeks the eradication of poverty and hunger, promotes the development of human resources and is environmentally sound; an improvement of the international system of money, finance and trade; a smooth integration of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet States into the world economy; and a special responsibility to deal with Africa and the least developed countries, and humanitarian relief in emergency situations.

Among 11 resolutions and 7 decisions on development and international economic cooperation, the Council endorsed the Geneva Declaration for Rural Women on economic advancement, the need for an adequate flow of external resources to finance the exploration and development of energy resources in developing countries and a review of the mandate and future role of the World Food Council.

The Programme for the Second Industrial Development Decade for Africa (1991-2000) was recommended to the Assembly for adoption.

Member States were urged to establish or revitalize operations to implement the UN Second Transport and Communications Decade in Africa (1991-2000). The Economic Commission for Africa was urged to strengthen its relationships with African organizations and UN agencies.

The international community was asked to contribute generously to the Second Phase of the Special Programme for Sub-Saharan African Countries Affected by Drought and Desertification. An evaluation report on the proposed Europe-Africa permanent link through the Strait of Gibraltar was to be funded within existing resources.

Other action

In other action, the Council:

* Invited the intensification of African States activities to ensure sustainable development of fishery resources;

* Asked for enhanced technical cooperation activities to help countries in attracting foreign investment for privatization programmers;

* Urged the UN Development Programme and other UN bodies to intensify efforts to build national capacity for human resource development in developing countries;

* Requested the new Transnational Corporations and Management Division to strengthen cooperation in technology transfer and assist developing countries in creating a favourable investment climate, and asked for continued studies on transnational operations in South Africa;

* Strongly deplored Israel's practices in the occupied territories and recommended increased assistance to the Palestinian people, given their economic losses as a result of the Persian Gulf crisis;

* Appealed for contributions and humanitarian assistance for the rehabilitation of the populations in areas of Belarus, the Russian Federation and Ukraine affected by the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster; and

* Called for an integrated approach to UN activities in the Baltic States and the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Economic and social problems faced by the world today are "unprecedented in their magnitude and severity", said Secretary-General Boustros-Ghali on 6 July. "But unprecedented reasons for optimism exist. There is a shared sense of urgency. There is a growing awareness born of experience about which measures do not work and which measures do work. Social development problems can now be recognized as a universal concern. And there is increasing recognition that deeper international cooperation is both necessary and possible."