Sommaire: July 6, 2005: EU Presidency Statement on ECOSOC Co-ordination Segment - Towards achieving internationally agreed development goals, including those contained in the Millennium Declaration, by Michael O'Neill, Counsellor, United Kingdom Mission to the UN on behalf of the European Union at ECOSOC 2005 (New York)
1. I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union. The Acceding Countries Bulgaria and Romania, the Candidate Countries Turkey and Croatia*, the Countries of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidates Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Serbia and Montenegro, as well as the Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova align themselves with this declaration.
Mr. President,
2. In a little over two months our heads of state and government will review progress against their Millennium Declaration commitments and take bold decisions to advance the interconnected objectives of development, security and human rights, set out in the Secretary General's report "In Larger Freedom". Last week our Ministers assessed the implementation of the outcomes of the major UN conferences and summits, and the progress made toward the Millennium Development Goals. The EU welcomes this
year's coordination segment theme - "Towards achieving the internationally agreed development goals, including those contained in the Millennium Declaration" - which focuses on how UN system coordination can contribute to these broad objectives in 2005 and beyond. It is therefore appropriate that we are considering a single report on this agenda for the High Level and Coordination Segments.
3. The European Union is strongly committed to the implementation of the outcomes of the conferences in the economic, social, environmental and related fields, and in particular to the Millennium Declaration and the achievement of the MDGs. We remain committed to promoting the integration of the three components of sustainable development - economic development, social development and environmental protection - as interdependent and mutually reinforcing pillars. In this context, we recall that
all three pillars of sustainable development are necessary for achieving agreed development goals, including the MDGs. We underline the link between achieving the MDGs and reaffirming and implementing these outcomes, including those set out in the Millennium Declaration and those from Beijing, Copenhagen, Cairo, Istanbul, Monterrey, Vienna, Johannesburg, Rome, as well as Brussels, Almaty and Mauritius. These goals should form essential elements of national development strategies - including
poverty reduction strategies where they exist.
Mr. President,
4. The UN system of funds programmes and specialised agencies has been expanding over time in scale and scope of activities, leading to significant duplication of mandates and actions between different bodies. The EU supports the Secretary General's efforts to address this and stresses the need to pursue vigorously UN reform to ensure a UN system fit for the 21st Century: relevant; coherent, adequately funded and effective. The EU calls for the Summit in September to give a clear mandate to the
UN to work out proposals for further streamlining the UN system into more tightly managed entities. The EU also supports the Secretary General's appeal for a more integrated international environmental governance structure, based on existing institutions. The EU favours the establishment of a UN agency for the environment, based on UNEP with a revised and strengthened mandate.
5. ECOSOC should play a central role in the follow-up to and the implementation of the outcomes of the major UN conferences and summits in the economic, social, environmental and related fields and of the achievement of the MDGs. It should provide policy guidance to the UN system on these issues and be an institutional framework for their integrated analysis and mainstreaming. The achievement of the MDGs requires bold action on the operational side. ECOSOC should continue to support policy
coordination and harmonization among operational agencies as well as humanitarian agencies. Its role in providing guidance to the UN funds and programmes, and in promoting policy dialogue and partnership could be strengthened, and its agenda and work program should be streamlined.
6. To improve its effectiveness and relevance, ECOSOC could meet as a high-level development cooperation forum, where global, regional and national strategies and policies for sustainable development cooperation could be reviewed. It could also become a voluntary MDG peer review mechanism. We should also consider how ECOSOC may continue to contribute in the field of post-conflict situations, as well as humanitarian crises, in particular by ensuring coherence with long-term development
objectives. But ECOSOC's role should remain at the level of policy coordination and review, rather than intervening directly in the operational management of specific situations.
Chief Executives Board
7. The EU considers that the Chief Executives Board should continue to execute effectively its role in giving coordinated and coherent guidance to the UN system - including the specialized agencies and other bodies, as well as the trade and financial institutions - particularly in pursuit of the MDGs. The Annual Overview Report of the CEB (E/2005/63) contains messages on how the UN system is aligning itself behind the broad themes of the Millennium Declaration. We listened with interest to the
CEB Accountability report last week, and to yesterday's Panel discussion on "Improving the way the UN system works". We encourage the CEB to fully support the implementation of the operational reform agenda to enhance the coherence effectiveness and efficiency of the UN system at the country level, in line with outcome of the TCPR resolution. We would also be interested to hear how the CEB and relevant UN system Executive Committees - in particular UNDG - will work together to oversee and
coordinate further reform of the UN funds and programmes and specialised agencies.
Functional Commissions
8. The functional commissions, when mandated, should continue to have primary responsibility for the review and assessment of progress made in implementing United Nations conference outcomes, while taking on a new focus in their methods of work, in line with GA resolution 57/270B. We need to streamline and improve consistency in the intergovernmental system - with more efficient meetings, clearer focus, and working methods aimed at implementation rather than re-opening existing commitments.
Such changes could strengthen the effectiveness of ECOSOC, its functional commissions and related subsidiary bodies in pursuing the MDGs. Engagement with civil society and the private sector is also important. We encourage the functional commissions to further promote synergies in their work, and look forward to the panel discussion with the Chairs of the Functional Commissions and other subsidiary bodies.
Coordination at the Country Level
9. At the country level, the UN should be seen as operating as one team under the leadership of the Resident Coordinator. In line with the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, UN country teams should ensure alignment of UN agency programmes with comprehensive national development strategies reflecting developing country priorities and further harmonised with bilateral donors. The UN Development Assistance Framework should be the mechanism for UN alignment with national strategies; the UNDAF
Results Matrix should provide the means by which the UN's contribution to these strategies can be evaluated. We also emphasize the need for strong, concrete support from all members of the UN Development Group and Specialized Agencies for the Resident Coordinator in promoting system-wide coherence of UN actions to help achieve the internationally agreed development goals and in improving cooperation with the Bretton Woods Institutions. Our discussion tomorrow on the experience in Tanzania
provides us with the opportunity to hear how this is working at the country level. We will of course return to these issues in the debate on operational activities for development.
* Croatia continues to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.
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