ECOSOC 23RD JULY 2007

General Segment


Morning Session


The President opened the Session by giving the floor to the representative of the Special Committee on Decolonization to the United Nations Economic and Social Council, under agenda item 9.

Ms. Rebecca Hernandez Toledano underlined the great importance of item 9 for the peoples of the remaining 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories. She acknowledged the various UN programmes, funds and specialized agencies which were providing assistance to the Non-Self-Governing Territories. She stressed the positive example of support provided by the international community to Tokelau, which is actively pursuing its decolonization, with the administering Power, New Zealand, as a genuine partner in the exercise. She also welcomed the leaflet published last March, entitled “What the UN can do to assist Non-Self-Governing Territories”. To conclude, she emphasized the readiness of the UN Special Committee on Decolonization to continue to engage in fruitful cooperation with ECOSOC on their common endeavour to assist and support the Non-Self-Governing Territories.

The representative of the Regional Commission of New-York presented the Secretary General report on item 10. He said that for a long time the Regional Commissions were deepening the cooperation between them. The report highlights the activities of the 2005-2006 period which were especially consisting in promoting regional cooperation and encouraging South-South cooperation. He stressed that the Regional Commissions were a useful tool for the development. The current aim is to renew relations between the different Regional Commissions. He finished his speech by underlining the intensification of the Regional Commissions work in the regions.

Then, the general debate was opened on the three following items: 9, 10 and 11.

Russia was the first delegation to take the floor by expressing itself on item 10. Russia pronounced itself in favor of regional cooperation in order to reach a better economic stability of the countries. The delegate reminded everyone that Russia was very active in CE committee as in CESAP and was contributing in an important way to the development of needy countries. He affirmed that its country had engaged itself to give a contribution of $1.2 billion by 2008. He concluded by expressing his hope concerning a good development of the relations between Asia and central Europe. He also hoped that the contribution of Russia in both Committees will continue to be considered as a positive one.

Then, the representative of the Regional Commission presented the Secretary General report on item 11. According to the report, the occupation of the Palestinian territories by Israel continues to make worse the Palestinian situation especially in health, education and security fields. He listed all demolitions, destructions and territories seizures made by Israel in Palestinian territories. Then, he spoke about the exploitation of farmlands and about many traffic barriers implemented by Israel. All this leads to the fragmentation of the Palestinian economy. He also evocated the problem of water and underlined that since the legislative elections of 2006 the budget situation was worst, according to FMI it suffers from a decrease of 60%. The immediate need of the situation is forcing the UN to take court term decisions at the expense of long term decisions which would be more efficient to resolve the situation.

Then, the general discussion was opened.

The Palestinian delegate took the floor and did a long virulent blame of Israel actions towards Palestinian people. He qualified the situation of the worst kind of foreign occupation. He asked Israel to respect the international law and urged the international community to act strongly in order to reach a peace process. In this regard, he welcomed the peace conference proposed by G.W Bush, which would take place in the middle east and hoped it will lead to the end of the occupation of Arab territories.

Syria also expressed itself on item 11, by saying this report was only a drop in the ocean compared to Israel practices. Syria especially took into consideration the occupation of Golan and its consequences on Syrian population (education, water…). The delegate reminded that this occupation had been considered as null by the UN. He called the Council to put an end to Israel practices.

Belarus, still on item 11, took the floor to express its anxiety concerning the situation in Palestine. The delegate underlined that Israel practices were opposite to international law and were affecting especially child and women. Belarus reasserted its sustain to the Palestinian people and asked ECOSOC to act against this situation.

Then, Israel took the floor. He started by making clear he didn’t want to answer nor to the Palestinian accusations nor to Syria’s ones, as they were false and based only on their own imagination. He expressed its disappointment to see that once again the forum was exploited. Indeed, according to him, the situation is only a political one and not an economic one. Thus, it is counterproductive to examine these questions within ECOSOC. He accused the report to be sullied by fairness. He welcomed the point dealing with the problem of inter-palestinians violence and explained that the increase of dead people was due to the inter-palestinians struggle. Thus, all this violence lead Israel to strengthen its security. But he deplored that the report didn’t make any differences between the situations reigning in Golan, Gaza and Cisjordania and that it was ignoring Hamas’ role. He advanced that the aim under this resolution wasn’t to obtain a better economic situation for Palestinian people but to do a calumny of Israel. To conclude, he said that Israel will continue to fight in order to improve the life of Palestinian people.

Cuba called for an increase of material solidarity towards Palestine. He blamed Israel and required the creation of an independent and sovereign state for Palestine, with oriental Jerusalem for capital and with the restitution of all occupied territories. He hoped that an exacting resolution will be voted.

Algeria criticized the international community for its lack in courage to remedy to the situation and deplored the refuse of dialogue between Israel and Palestine.

China, on item 10, expressed its attachment to the regional cooperation.

Indonesia said they were shocked by the impunity of Israel acts. The delegate said Indonesia fully sustain the struggle of Palestinian people to life in a independent state but specified that peace process should begin within the Palestinian entity.

Saudi Arabia expressed its hope that the Council will put an end to the suffering of Palestinian people.

United States expressed the difficulty to place itself in such a debate which seemed to be more anti-Israelian that pro-Palestinian. They affirmed that politicized resolutions weren’t useful. They said they were sharing the difficult situation of Palestinian people but that Palestinians had to make a choice: the one of tolerance or the one of violence. And Hamas made the one of violence. The delegate reminded everyone that its president G.W Bush had made a proposition of a conference and he put his hope in it.

Then, Morocco delegate instead of presenting his resolution project asked for its right to answer because of some slanderous made by Algeria. Followed a rough discussion between us, Morocco accusing Algeria to have done a connection between Palestinian people and occidental Sahara population ; Algeria affirming he had been misunderstood.

Then, after having both sold out their right to answer, Morocco did the presentation of its project resolution of the tunnel under Gibraltar. He underlined the fact that such a tunnel would be really useful and advantageous for the economic and social development of the region.

Before the document was adopted, United States asked if it will have an impact on the budget and the Secretariat answered by the negative.

Then, item 7 was presented by the executive Director of UNAIDS. The report concerns the last two years and shows that progress have been made. In many populations in East Africa, the Caribbean and some parts of Asia, HIV infection levels are falling. Investment in AIDS has increased but 18 billion $ are needed to counter the epidemic effectively. The director said they were increasing and strengthening their action at the national and regional level and between the different organizations.

Then the general debate was opened.

According to Belarus, a better rational strategy is needed to prevent the infection, especially Belarus stressed the importance of the national strategy. Then, Belarus presented its programme of action and said they were proud to have the leadership position in oriental Europe area in AIDS prevention.

Algeria said that the elevated cost of the therapy was a danger for the poorest affected by AIDS. Then, he presented its country programme of action to fight against epidemic.

China welcomed their excellent cooperation with UNAIDS and did a presentation of its programme.

United States spoke about G.W Bush’s urgency plan and stressed the necessity of having precise informations. They also underlined the crisis of human resources in health field, especially in African countries.

Thailand said the strengthening of the national capacities was a key factor; they also welcomed the external evaluation of the UNAIDS.

Sudan affirmed they were trying hard to fight against AIDS but they would like more financial help. He underlined the lack of resources his country was suffering.

Guyana insisted on the importance of the regional cooperation to fight against AIDS. Indeed 2% of the Caribbean population is affected.


AFTERNOON SESSION

ITEM 13: Economic and Environmental issues

This session started with the report on “the 15th session of the Commission on Sustainable Development”. Then UN Habitat presented their report, in which they expressed their worries about increasing urbanization and the spread of slums in developing countries (94% of people living in slums are in developing countries). These slums are breeding grounds for crime, violence, urban poverty and pollution. Therefore, cities are an important challenge for the realization of MDGs. UN Habitat advised issuing guidelines and reinforcing the private sector and local authorities. Finally, the Secretary of the Committee for the transport of dangerous goods presented his report and called for an increased participation by developing countries.

The general debate started with the intervention of Pakistan, on behalf of the G77 and China. It expressed its disappointment about the lack of agreement in the last session of the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) because it dealt with subjects of critical importance like air pollution, climate change, energy for sustainable development and industrial development. The G77 is firmly convinced of the benefit of the sustainable approach but countries must ensure that the priority problems of poverty, hunger and under development remain the center of our attention. Moreover, the G77 and China think that the implementation of the Bali Strategic Plan for Capacity Building and Technology Transfer will be a good test to measure the seriousness of the commitments made. Finally, it stated that climate change is a huge challenge and developing countries can’t reply to it alone. Therefore it called for coordinated, comprehensive action and a global partnership.
On the report of UN Habitat, the G77 fully supports the implementation of the UN Habitat agenda and welcomed the consensus obtained at the 21st session of UN Habitat.

Switzerland justified its refusal of the final document of the Commission on Sustainable Development by saying that the commitments made were less than those already made, for example, at the World Summit of Johannesburg in 2002. Switzerland supports the reforms and new strategies implemented by the PNUE on water and mercury. Concerning the United Nations Forum on Forests, Switzerland supports the creation of the non-legally-binding instrument for the managment of forests despite its non-innovative nature.

Iraq explained that it had created a national committee for sustainable development for a better sharing of benefits among the population. However, it said that environment issues should be considered as lower priorities than social and economic ones. Indeed, development obectives are, for Iraq, of utmost importance to lower the violence in the country. It also explained the problems encountered in the country due to the lack of social and environmental infrastructures as a result of the war, and how the agriculture sector has almost stopped due to the toxic missiles. Iraq asked for more involvement by the United Nations in Iraq and said that aid was urgently needed.

Barbados said that the last Commission on Sustainable Development wasn’t a failure because a consensus was found on the necessity to combat climate change. It asked for a coordinated action in this issue and reminded that climate change is a survival problem for Barbados. It advocated a legally binding instrument for the lowering of emissions.

Kenya asked for a simplified access to energy through technology transfer, capacity building from developed countries. It also highlighted the importance of prevention and upgrading of slums. On the environment issue, Kenya supports the idea to facilitate the UNEP mandate. It also asked for a legally binding instrument on forests.

Belarus called for a more rational use of energy and the development of new energies to protect the environment. Belarus is still actively working to reduce the impact of the Chernobyl catastrophe and also encourages savings in the use of electricity and gas.

Bolivia highlighted the problem of pollution in developed countries and of degraded environment in the developing countries. According to them, environment is not a priority compared to hunger and unemployment. However, development must be considered in relation to the protection of environment and sustainable development.

The Russian Federation expressed its disappointment about the lack of consensus at the last meeting of the Commission on Sustainable Development. It also supports the creation of a forum on forests.

China asked for more wisdom between countries to find a consensus on environmental issues. It also considered itself as an example of a developing country that paid particular attention to environmental issues. It finally supported the reforms brought by the 24th session of PNUE and advocated an increased role for this organisation.

USA regretted that no final decision could be found at the last meeting of the Commission on Sustainable Development but reminded the assembly that the text satisfied a great majority of the countries including the USA. They also criticized the actions of ECOSOC on the issue of climate change, considering that it is not part of their mandate and that another board already deals with it. Therefore, ECOSOC didn’t have appropriate expertise (USA claimed that the results of ECOSOC were false and exagerated) and duplication of the discussion is nonsense.

Portugal, on behalf of the European Union and the candidate countries, explained that the final report of the CSD did not meet the aspirations and the expectations of the European Union. However, the EU is conviced that a multilateral decision is needed on this issue.

The development of more precise criteria to enter or leave the list of LDCs was discussed after the concerns expressed by Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Cap Verde (that will leave the list this year and will therefore receive less aid). Benin suggested creating a committee that will meet every 3 years and that will decide which countries can be upgraded. It also congratulated Samoa for its success but reminded the assembly that the economic vulnerability of these countries should be considered when they leave the list of LDCs.