Global financial integration: a new priority": Poverty Eradication Decade proclaimed.

Meeting head-on a new challenge in the international arena--achieving global financial integration following the conclusion in 1994 of the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations--the fiftieth General Assembly asked the International Monetary Fund to play a stronger and central role "in surveillance of all countries" for potential sources of destabilization of capital markets, with the aim of promoting transparency and stability in those markets and promoting growth. That surveillance would include the regular, timely provision of economic and financial data.

Echoing the growing concern expressed by many political and financial experts that a significant number of developing countries had become "more vulnerable, in the course of liberalizing their external economic and financial regimes, to the volatile fluctuations of private capital flows in international financial markets", the Assembly, in resolution 50/91, underscored the need to encourage the flow of private capital, patricularly to developing countries, while reducing the risks of such volatility. "In a globalized world", it stressed, "sound fiscal and monetary policy in each country is among the elements essential in preventing crises relating to capital flows."

During the session, the Assembly adopted over 40 resolutions recommended by its Second Committee (Economic and Financial), which included issues such as trade, development assistance, debt relief, support for democratization, the environment, population, women, human settlements, Africa, Central America and the Chernobyl disaster. All but two--on assistance to the Palestinian people and on coercive economic measures--were adopted without a vote.

Trade, UNCTAD 

The perils and promises of financial and trade globalization were a priority focus of the fiftieth Assembly. To generate sustained economic growth and sustainable development, it stressed (50/95) the need to continue trade liberalization, eliminate discriminatory and protectionist trade practices, and improve access to the markets of all countries, in particular those of the developed countries. Also stressed was the need for full integration into the world economy of the so-called "economies in transition", which include the countries of the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.

Reaffirming the role of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) as the UN's focal point for the integrated treatment of development and inter-related issues in trade, finance, technology, investment, services and sustainable development, the Assembly asked UNCTAD's ninth session to consider the future role of the Conference, including its relationship with other international institutions, to make it more effective in promoting development. There should be constructive and effective cooperation between UNCTAD and the World Trade Organization, "based on the complementarity of their functions", it added. The Assembly also decided (50/98) to convene UNCTAD IX in Midrand, Gauteng Province, South Africa, from 27 April to 11 May 1996.

Out of concern that the use of unilateral coercive economic measures against developing countries impacted negatively both on those countries' development and on "worldwide efforts to move towards a non-discriminatory and open trading system", the Assembly asked (50/96) the UN and UNCTAD to monitor the imposition of those measures and prepare possible methodologies or criteria for evaluating their effects.

Reaffirming "the right of access of land-locked developing countries to and from the sea and freedom of transit through the territory of transit States by all means of transport", the Assembly called on (50/97) land-locked developing countries and their transit neighbours to strengthen cooperative efforts in dealing with related problems. Progress in the development of transit systems is to be reviewed at an expert meeting planned for 1997.

Social Summit action

Durable and development-oriented solutions to the external debt problems of developing countries could contribute substantially to the strengthening of the global economy and to efforts to achieve sustained economic growth the General Assembly stressed (50/92). Conversion programmes, such as debt-equity swaps, debt-for-nature swaps and debt-for-child-development swaps, could assist countries in their development efforts. Also, techniques of debt conversion applied to social development programmes and projects should be created, in conformity with the priorities of the March 1995 World Summit for Social Development, held in Copenhagen.

Addressing another development priority, the Assembly proclaimed (50/107) the first UN Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (1997-2006), after declaring in recent sessions 17 October the International Day and 1996 the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. Activities during the Year should be guided by principles that include: adoption of policies to ensure that all people have adequate economic and social protection during unemployment, ill health, maternity, child-rearing, widowhood, disability and old age; access of all people living in poverty to basic social services, as well as their participation in the economic, social, cultural and political life of society; and cost-effectiveness.

Earth Summit to Habitat II

The proclamation of the Poverty Eradication Decade was only one of several Assembly decisions that reflected the hard-won consensus reached at recent UN development-related conferences. This was also evident in a series of environment and development resolutions, including a decision (50/113) to convene a one-week special session, in June 1997, to review and appraise the implementation of Agenda 21--the action programme adopted by the 1992 Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro, also known as the Earth Summit. In endorsing the report and decisions of the eighteenth session of the UN Environment Programme's Governing Council, the Assembly recognized (50/110) in particular four decisions concerning the Programme's role and priorities, in-depth evaluation of the programme on environment, sustainable development, and "good environmental housekeeping" within the UN system.

Action on those issues also focused on reaffirming commitments on administrative and procedural matters, with the Assembly taking note of the results of the first sessions of the Conferences of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, held in Nassau, Bahamas in December 1994, (50/111) and to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, held in Berlin in April 1995 (50/115), concerning the location of their respective secretariats--Biological Diversity in Canada and Climate Change in Germany. The Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee for the Elaboration of an International Convention to Combat Desertification in those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification should continue to prepare for the first session of the Conference of the States parties (50/112).

The international community was asked (50/116) to implement the commitments and recommendations of the 1994 Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States. The Assembly also decided that the third session of the Preparatory Committee for the UN Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) (Istanbul, 3-14 June 1996) be held at UN Headquarters from 5 to 16 February 1996.

Women, population

The continued lack of equal access to education and training, and of control over land, capital, technology and other areas of production by women impeded their opportunity to benefit from development activities, the Assembly emphasized (50/104) in calling for the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action, adopted by the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women. Governments were urged to "ensure women's equal rights and access to economic resources, and to increase women's access to credit by instituting innovative lending practices", which included integrating credit with services and training for women and providing flexible credit facilities.

An integrated approach to human resources development should be adopted that maintained a gender perspective and incorporated areas such as population, health, nutrition, water, sanitation, housing, communications, education and training, according to the Assembly (50/105).

The Commission on Population and Development was asked (50/123) to consider in 1997 the interrelationship between international migration and development, and the Economic and Social Council was invited to consider international migration and development as a theme of its agenda for 1997. International cooperation in that area should be strengthened in order to address the root causes of migration, especially those related to poverty. In endorsing the Council's decision to enlarge the Commission's membership from 27 to 47, the Assembly said (50/124) follow-up to the 1994 Cairo Conference on Population and Development should take into account the factors of population, health, education, poverty, patterns of production and consumption, empowerment of women, and the environment.

Development activities

In a triennial policy review, the Assembly urged (50/120) substantial increase in the funding for UN operational activities for development, in line with the increasing needs of developing countries. Capacity-building should be an essential focus of those activities of the UN system at the country level. For the next review, it requested an evaluation of their impact.

The Assembly endorsed (50/119) the recommendations on new directions for technical cooperation among developing countries, which included adoption of a more strategic orientation, focusing on priority issues such as trade and investment, debt, the environment, poverty alleviation, production and employment, education, health and technology transfer. A new biennial report on "State of South-South cooperation" was requested, containing a comprehensive overview of South-South economic and technical cooperation, as well as recommendations.

Calling the contribution of new and emerging technologies "vital" to the promotion of economic growth of developing countries in particular, the Assembly urged (50/101) the international community to meet Agenda 21's objectives concerning access to and transfer of environmentally sound technologies to those countries on favourable terms.

Stressing that "many least developed countries, for their part, have been implementing courageous and far-reaching policy reforms and adjustment measures" without the corresponding progress in achieving the objectives of the Paris Declaration and Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the 1990s, Member States urged (50/103) continued international support.

Action on Africa

The UN was asked (50/102) to continue to promote and implement activities in support of science and technology in Africa in the context of the UN New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s. In this regard, the Secretary-General would also make concrete proposals on activities to be carried out in 1996.

On the Second Industrial Development Decade for Africa (1993-2002), the UN system, the Organization of African Unity and other development "partners" were asked (50/94) to play a more effective, active role in implementing the programme for the Decade, while keeping in mind the undertakings made in the New Agenda.

Countries and organizations that had not yet established contact and relationships with the Southern African Development Community should consider doing so, the Assembly requested (50/118). Continued international assistance was urged in addressing the drought situation in the southern African region, especially through strengthening the capacity of the Community in drought mitigation and monitoring, early warning and preparedness.

Small business, health

Valuing the promotion of entrepreneurship in the development of small-sized and medium-sized enterprises and industries by civil society, and of privatization, demonopolization and the simplification of administrative procedures, the Assembly invited (50/106) Member States to provide infrastructure services, and encourage private-sector cost-effective involvement in the construction, use and maintenance of infrastructure.

It endorsed (50/128) the strategies and work plans developed through a collaborative process by the UN system, with the World Health Organization (WHO) as task coordinator, to provide optimal support to affected developing countries for the prevention and control of malaria and diarrhoeal diseases. The May 1995 agreement between WHO and Dr. Manuel Elkin Patarroyo of Colombia, by which he donated to the Organization the license of the patent rights and know-how related to the SPf66 anti-malarial vaccine he developed, was welcomed as an example of solidarity and effective South-South cooperation for development. WHO's request for additional resources for malaria research to develop an effective vaccine for that disease's control was supported.

In other action, the Assembly:

* Welcomed the decision of the Conference of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN to convene a World Food Summit in Rome, from 13 to 17 November 1996, and invited Governments to participate actively in Summit preparations (50/109).

* Called for the implementation of Agenda 21 provisions concerning water resources and water supply and sanitation, and of recommendations for Governments to accord high priority to programmes designed to provide basic sanitation systems to urban and rural areas (50/126).

* Established a target for voluntary contributions to the World Food Programme of $1.3 billion for the period 1997-1998. A pledging conference should be convened at UN Headquarters in 1996 (50/127).

* Invited the Secretary-General to develop a proposal for an international early warning mechanism for natural disasters, as part of the Yokohama Strategy for a Safer World and its Plan of Action, adopted on 27 May 1994 at the first World Conference on Natural Disaster Reduction (50/117 B).

* By a vote of 126 to 2 (Israel, United States), with 28 abstentions, reaffirmed that Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territory, including Jerusalem, and other Arab territories occupied since 1967 were illegal and an obstacle to development (50/129).

* Agreed to hold a high-level dialogue for two days at the Assembly's fifty-first session on the theme of the social and economic impact of globalization and interdependence and their policy implications. The date, modalities and focus of the discussions are to be decided (50/122).