Economic and development policy is focus of Economic and Social Council at second 1986 session.

Economic and development policy is focus of Economic and Social Council at second 1986 session

Action on a broad range of economicissues dominated the work of the Economic and Social Council at its second regular 1986 session (Geneva, 2-23 July).

Among the 32 resolutions and 33decisions adopted by the 54-member Council were those relating to operational activities for development, regional economic co-operation, human resources, technical co-operation, food problems and energy, as well as transnational corporations, transport of dangerous goods and women in development. Texts on special economic, humanitarian and disaster relief assistance, and drought and desertification were also approved.

Several resolutions adopted by theCouncil concerned assistance to Africa. Assistance to the Palestinians, natural resources in the occupied territories, and a request by Israel to join the Economic Commission for Europe were the focus of other texts.

The Council devoted plenary meetingsduring the four-week session to general discussion of international economic and social policy, including regional and sectoral developments, and approved action on various aspects of the question. After failing to agree on conclusions on the "Inter-related issues of money, finance, debt, resource flows, trade and development", as requested by the General Assembly at its resumed session in 1986, the Council recommended that the Assembly continue discussion of the subject at its forty-first session.

Secretary-General Javier Perez deCuellar, addressing the Council on 2 July, said that although the world economy had recovered from the "depths of the early 1980s" and inflation was largely under control, overall growth remained modest and imbalances still prevailed.

He called for action to correct globaleconomic imbalances, including vigorous steps on debt and finance. Creditor Governments and financial institutions must provide additional public funds, including long-term and concessional funds, the Secretary-General said. "Interest rates must also be reduced", he added, and "in the case of many low-income countries, part of the debt must be written off or paid in local currencies". As the Committee for Development Planning had recommended, a "bolder plan" on a "truly global scale" was needed, Mr. Perez de Cuellar affirmed.

To counteract the deterioration ofcommodity prices--"a key factor in the difficulties faced by many developing countries"--compensatory financing facilites must be enlarged and made more accessible, the Secretary-General stressed. "Now is the appropriate time to consider the dangers of continuing uncertainty in the international energy situation, especially oil", he said.

A third area requiring corrective action,according to Mr. Perez de Cuellar, was the recent increase in trade friction, "attributable to the impact of low overall economic growth and resulting protectionist measures". A successful outcome of upcoming negotiations on textiles, an important export item for many developing countries, would set a "propitious stage" for the September meeting of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) on a new round of trade negotiations, he said. But the "fight against protectionism must be continuous", the Secretary-General warned, "and trade liberalization measures taken as soon as possible".

Finally, the Secretary-General emphasized,"policies more directly aimed at promoting steadier growth in the developed countries are needed".

The modest economic recovery in afew developed countries had failed to reach most of the developing countries, observed Council President Manuel dos Santos (mozanbique), in opening the session on 2 July. Furthermore, he added, the "stream of resource flows" from developed to developing countries had decreased to such an extent it had almost dried up.

Shuaib U. Yolah, Under-Secretary-Generalfor International Economic and Social Affairs, told the Council on 3 July that the widening gap between developed and developing countries underscored the dual task of expanding international co-operation while enhancing confidence in the orderly management of international economic relations. That called, he said, for strengthening the United Nations system as a framework for constructive dialogue and joint efforts in solving international economic, scientific, technological and social problems, especially those confronting the developing countries.

International economic and socialpolicy: Concern about the net transfer of resources from developed to developing countries was reflected in a resolution (1986/56) by which the Council, stressing that recent developments in the world economy had resulted in gains for the developed countries of more than $100 billion because of declining prices of commodities, including oil, emphasized the need to redirect those resources to promote the development of the developing countries.

The text was adopted by a vote of39 to 9 (Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Federal Republic of Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, United States), with 4 abstentions (Finland, Iceland, Japan, Sweden). It states that the net interest paid in external debt-servicing by developing countries amounted to $54 billion in 1985, and the income outflow on foreign direct investment amounted to $13 billion in loans and credit facilities, $14 billion in official development assistance (ODA) and $9 billion in direct investment, "leaving a balance of immense proportions to the detriment of the developing countries".

The Council called on all States andcompetent organizations of the United Nations system to take appropriate measures in the fields of money, trade, and finance, including debt, in order to halt and reverse the net transfer of resources from developing to developed countries. The Secretary-General was asked to prepare a comprehensive report on the transfer of resources, its impact on development, and measures to be taken within the framework of the United Nations to reverse the process.

The Council decided (1986/170) totransmit to the Assembly for its discussion and decision a draft resolution, co-sponsored by the United States, Canada, Japan, Federal Republic of Germany, United Kingdom, and France, (E/1986/L.36 and L.38, as amended, and L.40) that would ask the Secretary-General to prepare a study, for the 1987 session, on the role of entrepreneurship in promoting economic development.

It also decided (1986/171) to transmita draft resolution submitted by the Soviet Union (E/1986/L.37) by which the Assembly would consider that international economic security should promote stable, predictable and peaceful social and economic development of all countries, especially developing countries, and create the most conducive conditions for broad economic, scientific and technological cooperation among them on the basis of equality and mutual benefit.

The Council noted with interest areport (E/1986/73 and Add.1) on confidence-building measures in international economic relations and asked the Secretary-General to keep the matter under review (1986/75).

The report, which contains views ofMember States and international organizations, says the general thrust of their positions is that the United Nations has a major role to play in strengthening confidence in economic relations among States and that "a complex set of actions on the part of the international community as a whole appears to be required."

Confidence building, according tothe report, would call for such supportive measures as reaffirming generally accepted principles, norms and instruments of international economic relations; reviving international cooperation for growth and development, trade expansion, and stabilization of financial and monetary relations; accelerating the development of developing countries; reducing military expenditures; and instituting new international mechanisms for consultation, negotiation and dispute resolution.

"The present disarray in the worldeconomy and poor prospects for future economc growth . . . make more difficult the task of elaborating, effective confidence-building measures", the report states. However, by undertaking negotiations on issues of vital international concern, particularly in the interrelated areas of debt, trade, money, finance and development, "a new beginning . . . could be made."

Operational activities for development:In 1986, the Director-General for Development and International Economic Co-operation conducted a triennial policy review of the United Nations system's operation activities for development (see p.98). The Council, in a wide-ranging resolution (1986/74), decided to intensify efforts to ensure overall co-ordination of operational activities for development, stressing the need to strengthen dialogue between governing bodies of United Nations organizations concerned with such activities, to ensure consistency in policy decisions.

Governments and United Nationsorganizations were strongly urged to provide Resident Co-ordinators with the requisite authority to carry out their responsibilities. The Council also reiterated the need to make greater use of the capacities of the developing countries, through increasing government execution of development projects and employment of local consultants and experts.

The Council expressed deep concernat the stagnation in recent years in real terms of overall contributions for operational activities for development, and urged all countries to increase their voluntary contributions.

The Director-General for Developmentand International Economic Cooperation was asked to conduct further comparative analyses of the relationship between programme delivery and administrative and support costs, with a view to releasing the maximum amount of resources for development activities.

In a resolution on the joint meetingsof the Administrative Committee on Co-ordination and Committee for Programme and Co-ordination (CPC), the Council supported the decision of those two Committees to make the topic for their twenty-second series of joint meetings, in 1987, "Co-ordination of the activities of the United Nations system in human resources development and its contribution to meeting the economic and social objectives of the developing countries" (1986/50).

The Secretary-General was asked,taking into account previous studies as well as discussions to be held at the twenty-second series of joint meetings, to prepare a report for the 1987 General Assembly on human resources development and the activities of the United Nations system as a whole in that area (1986/73).

The Council also endorsed theCPC's recommendations on improving co-ordination within the United Nations system, and stressed the importance of finding an adequate mechanism to ensure follow-up on those recommendations (1986/51).

It decided to transmit to the Assemblya draft resolution on internal evaluation and effective management of programmes of the United Nations system by which the Assembly would endorse recommendations of the Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) establishing principles for integrating the internal evaluation function completely into the management operations of the United Nations (1986/177).

Women in development: In connectionwith the effective mobilization and integration of women in development, the Council asked the Secretary-General to submit to the Commission on the status of Women at its 1988 session a first draft of an updated world survey on the role of women in development, taking into account the three themes--equality, development and peace--of the "Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women" adopted at the 1985 World Conference to Review and Appraise the Achievements of the United Nations Decade for Women, held in Nairobi in 1985 (1986/64).

The Secretary-General was also requestedto make all efforts, through the Statistical Office of the Department of International Economic and Social Affairs and the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women, in co-operation with the specialized agencies and other organizations of the United Nations, to improve the availability and reliability of data on women in the economy for the updated survey.

On strengthening the work of theUnited Nations in integrating women effectively into economic development programmes and activities, the Council asked the Secretary-General to propose activities to implement measures contained in Chapter II of the Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies relating to United Nations work programmes in such fields as employment, education, energy, the environment, food, water and agriculture, housing, settlements, community development and transport, trade and commercial services, science and technology, and communications (1986/65).

The Secretary-General was alsoasked to prepare an intersectoral analysis of United Nations programmes dealing with women, to accompany the system-wide medium-term plan for women and development for the period 1990-1995.

By resolution 1986/71, the Councildecided that the medium-term plan should pay particular attention to programme 2, which includes "activities of the highest priority for integrating women into economic development", access to productive resources, income and employment, and to programme 3, on access to services. It recommended that future medium-term plans of the United Nations and specialized agencies contain intersectoral presentations of programmes dealing with those issues.

Transnational corporations: Inone of five texts on transnational corporations (TNCs), the Council asked the Secretary-General, "without prejudice to the negotiations on the code of conduct on transnational corporations", to study ways and means by which the United Nations Centre on Transnational Corporations could take account of the preambular paragraphs of the resolution in preparing research, analyses and information, and in pursuing other activities, and report thereon to the Commission on Transnational Corporations at its 1987 session (1986/53).

(The preambular paragraphs referto awareness of the "growing interdependence of issues and of the roles of enterprises engaged in transnational operations" and to the "relevance of the activities of such enterprises and the importance of minimizing their negative effects while maximizing their positive effects".)

In connection with ongoing and futureresearch on TNCs, the Council requested the Centre to update its report on "Transnational banks: operations, strategies and their effects in developing countries", taking into account the changes in that field that have occurred during the 1980s (1986/54). The Centre was asked to include in that report an analysis of a number of issues, including the economic elements behind the determination of interest rates by transnational banks within the system of variable rates, the role of transnational banks in the reverse transfer of resources from developing to developed countries, and interaction between the transnational banks and the International Monetary Fund and other agencies in negotiating the external debt of developing countries.

The vote was 39 to 12 (Australia,Belgium, Canada, Finland, France, Federal Republic of Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States), with 1 abstention (Iceland).

By a vote of 42 to 9 (Belgium,Canada, France, Federal Republic of Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, United Kingdom, United States), with 1 abstention (Australia), the Council recommended restoring to the programme budget for the biennium 1986-1987 "adequate provision" for continuing the services of expert advisers to the Commission on Transnational Corporations beyond 1986 (1986/55).

The Council took note (1986/169)of the Commission's report on its reconvened special session, held in January and April 1986, aimed at completing a code of conduct on transnational corporations (E/1986/50 and Add.1). The report indicates that informal consultations conducted by the Commission had yielded no resolution of the outstanding issues relating to the code: non-interference in political affairs; national treatment; settlement of disputes; free choice of law and means of dispute settlement; conflict of jurisdiction; transfer by TNCs of payments related to their investment; and respect for national sovereignty.

In other action of TNCs, the Councilapproved the provisional agenda and documentation for the Commission's 1987 session (1986/168).

Southern Africa: In connectionwith the implementation of the 1960 Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, the Council requested (1986/48) the specialized agencies and other organizations within the United Nations, in light of the intensified liberation struggle in Namibia, to "do everything possible as a matter of urgency" to render increased assistance to the people of the Territory, in consultation with the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and the Council for Namibia.

The agencies and organizationswere asked to increase assistance to the front-line and neighbouring States and the South African liberation movements, and to take all necessary measures to withhold financial, economic, technical or other assistance from the South African Government until it restored the Namibian people's right to self-determination and independence. They were also asked to intensify support for the oppressed people of South Africa and to take such measures as would totally isolate that regime and mobilize world public opinion against apartheid.

The Council condemned SouthAfrica's consistent non-compliance with United Nations resolutions and decisions on Namibia, and declared illegal its installation in June 1985 of a so-called "interim" government at Windhoek. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) was called on to end its "persistent collaboration" with the South African Government.

The Council recommended that aseparate item on assistance to national liberation movements recognized by the OAU be included in the agenda of further high-level meetings of the OAU and United Nations bodies, with a view to strengthening co-ordination to ensure the best use of available resources for assistance to the peoples of the colonial Territories.

The text was adopted by 38 to 1(United States), with 9 abstentions (Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Federal Republic of Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, United Kingdom).

Palestinians: In one of several resolutionson economic and social conditions of the Palestinian people in the occupied territories, the Council urged the international community, United Nations system and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations to disburse aid to occupied Palestinian territories "only for the benefit of the Palestinian people and in a manner which will not serve to prolong the Israeli occupation" (1986/49).

By a vote of 51 to 1 (United States),with no abstentions, the Secretary-General was asked to prepare without further delay the programme of economic and social assistance to the Palestinian people requested in Assembly resolution 38/145, and to convene in 1987 a meeting of relevant United Nations bodies to consider such assistance, inviting the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Arab host countries and relevant intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations to participate. The Council asked that United Nations aid to Palestinians in Arab host countries be rendered in co-operation with the PLO and the consent of the host Governments.

The Council also took note(1986/167) of the Secretary-General's report on economic development projects in the occupied Palestinian territories (A/41/342-E/1986/88). It contains a letter from Israel stating that since 1967 it has undertaken "numerous actions" to foster growth in the areas under its administration, including the establishment of close to 2,500 industrial facilities. According to Israel, industrial exports from those areas increased from $20 million in 1968 to $270 million in 1982.

The Council deferred to 1987 considerationof the Secretary-General's report on Israeli economic practices in the occupied Palestinian and other Arab territories, as called for in Assembly decision 40/432. It took that decision (1986/155) in light of a note from the Secretary-General (A/41/410-E/1986/97) informing the Council that the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) was preparing a study on the financial and fiscal systems in the occupied territories, with particular reference to Israeli policies affecting them, that would cover much of the subject-matter requested by the Assembly.

Regional co-operation: The Counciltook action on several resolutions and decisions forwarded to it by the regional commissions at their regular 1986 sessions. The texts were contained in the Secretary-General's report on regional co-operation (E/1986/98).

The Council decided to amend theterms of reference of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) to reflect the admission of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands and the Republic of Palau as associate members of the Commission (1986/57).

The Council also decided (1986/58)to update the work programme and priorities of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) for the biennium 1986-1987, in accordance with proposals put forward by the Commission.

Two other texts concerned the AfricanDevelopment Decades. In connection with the Transport and Communications Decade in Africa (1978-1988), the Council endorsed the report and resolutions adopted by the Conference of African Ministers of Transport, Communications and Planning at its fifth session, held at Harare in March 1986 (1986/62). It welcomed the role played by the Inter-Agency Coordinating Committee on the Regional African Satellite Communications System, under the ECA as the lead agency, in co-ordinating activities towards the attainment of the objectives of the Decade.

The Council asked the Assembly toallocate funds for an in-depth evaluation of the programme for the Decade, in accordance with recommendations of the JIU, and for organizing and servicing meetings of the Commission's Technical Committee on Air Transport.

(The Transportation and CommunicationsDecade in Africa was proclaimed by the General Assembly in December 1977, with a view to supporting the preparation and implementation of a global strategy for developing transport and communications in Africa and mobilizing the necessary technical and financial resources.)

In resolution 1986/63 on the IndustrialDevelopment Decade for Africa (1980s), the Council commended efforts made by African countries and organizations, as well as the ECA, OAU and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), towards implementing the programme for the Decade. It requested the ECA and UNIDO to increase their assistance to African countries and subregional organizations with a view to promoting industrial cooperation within the framework of the Decade, and appealed to the international community, multilateral funding, agencies, especially the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Bank, and bilateral and investment institutions to increase the flow of investment and technical assistance to Africa's industrial sector.

(The Industrial Development Decadefor Africa was proclaimed in December 1980, on UNIDO's recommendation, to mobilize greater political commitment to, and financial and technical support for, the industrialization of Africa.)

In one of four texts relating to LatinAmerica and the Caribbean, the Council urged (1986/61) the United Nations system to take into account, "as far as possible and as necessary", in consultation with member States of the region, the conclusions and recommendations contained in the JIU's report on the Caribbean (E/1986/3/Add.2 and 3).

The recommendations for the mostpart call for assistance from UNDP, the United Nations Fund for Population Activities and the United Nations Department of Technical Co-operation for Development. They relate primarily to institutional reforms, better organization and management, and the training of professional and technical manpower.

The Council endorsed an EconomicCommission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) resolution reviewing the rules of procedure regarding the meeting place of the Commission's sessions (1986/173), and a text on amendment of the terms of reference of ECLAC (1986/175). By a show-of-hands vote of 50 to none, with 1 abstention, the Council approved ECLAC's decision to convene a special conference in late 1986 to formulate national and international policies on growth and development (1986/174).

In a resolution on the financial statusof the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), the Council called on the Assembly to strengthen the positive and constructive role assumed by ESCWA in the economic and social development of the region, "so that it may make a more far-reaching contribution to promoting regional and national development plans and programmes" (1986/59).

The ESCWA Executive Secretarywas authorized to enter into discussions with the Government of Iraq, the host country, on relocating the Commission's headquarters in Baghdad (1986/60).

By a vote of 26 to 5 (Bangladesh,Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria), with 20 abstentions, the Council decided to transmit a draft decision (E/1986/C.1/L.7), sponsored by the United States, on Israel's application for membership in the Economic Commission for Europe (ECE), to the Council's second regular (1987 session (1986/67). The ECE Executive Secretary was requested to consult with Commission members on the question and to report thereon in 1987, so that action could be taken regarding Israel's full participation in the regional economic activities of the United Nations.

Relief assistance: In a text on Africancountries striken by desertification and drought (1986/44), the Council urged the international community to adopt an integrated approach to desertification problems and provide adequate resources to implement the Tropical Forestry Plan of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

Donors were also urged to increasesupport for the United Nations Sudano-Sahelian Office (UNSO) and to help the Special Programme for Sub-Saharan African Countries Affected by Drought and Desertification of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) reach its goal of $300 million, as a further tangible sign of their support for the United Nations Programme of Action for African Economic Recovery and Development, 1986-1990.

To assist the drought-stricken areasof Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, the Sudan and Uganda, Governments and international organizations were called on to participate at a high level in the donors' conference to be held in Djibouti in November 1986 (1986/45).

The Council appealed to MemberStates and United Nations organizations to continue and intensify efforts to mobilize assistance for the reconstruction and development of Lebanon (1986/46).

It also called on the internationalcommunity for co-operation with the Office of the United Nations Disaster Relief Co-ordinator (UNDRO) in order to improve, in particular, the flow of information to Governments and organizations concerned (1986/47). It called on those contributing assistance in kind to provide, when appropriate, special grants to cover costs of transport and distribution.

In addition, the Council called forcontributions to the UNDRO Trust Fund, to meet natural disasters and other disaster situations, and appealed for urgent voluntary contributions, channelled directly or through the Trust Fund, to enable the Office to cover unforeseen expenses in connection with disaster relief operations.

The Council also recommended(1986/165) that the Assembly adopt a draft resolution endorsing the Secretary-General's recommendation that special economic assistance programmes be of limited duration, and be confined to countries genuinely in need of such assistance and to special circumstances falling outside the competence of regular United Nations programmes.

Other action: Among other actionby the Council was a request to the Secretary-General to submit a comprehensive report to the 1987 Assembly on the International Year of Shelter for the Homeless (1987), including recommendations for a human settlements agenda for the coming decade (1986/162).

In a text on protection againstproducts harmful to health and the environment, the Council decided that the consolidated list of products which had been banned, withdrawn, severely restricted or not approved by Governments should continue to be published as one document, including generic/chemical and brand names and all manufacturers (1986/72).

To widen the decision-making basisof the Committee of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goods, the Council approved a series of measures, including encouraging the participation of experts on a wider geographical basis, particularly those from developing countries (1986/66).

The Council recommended that theGeneral Assembly approve the inclusion of Kiribati, Mauritania and Tuvalu in the list of least developed countries (1986/153).

The Council also recommendedthat the General Assembly decide, at its 1986 session, on the question of proclaiming a world decade for cultural development (1986/69). It suggested that States which were not yet members of the Berne Union regard 1986--the centenary of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works--as an occasion for considering the possibility of adhering to that instrument (1986/68).

The Council decided that the Organizationof Ibero-American States for Education, Science and Culture might participate, in a non-voting capacity, in deliberations of the Council on questions within the scope of the organization's activities (1986/156).

The Council held elections to fill expiringterms in the Commission for Social Development, Commission on Human Settlements, Committee on Natural Resources and Commission on Transnational Corporations, and confirmed Lindsay Niemann as Canada's representative on the Commission on the Status of Women until its term expires in 1988.