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22 October 1999

There is no plenary meeting today. The UN Day Concert will take place at 7 this evening in the General Assembly Hall.

At two meetings today, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) is continuing its thematic discussion on any disarmament topic. Two draft resolutions were introduced yesterday. The first, sponsored by Belarus, China and the Russian Federation (A/C.1/54/L.1), would have the General Assembly call for renewed efforts by each of the States parties to preserve and strengthen the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty through full and strict compliance. It would reiterate that there should be no deployment of ABM systems or bases to defend a country’s territory, nor any transfer to other States of ABM missile systems. The Assembly would express its support for international efforts aimed at preventing any attempts to undermine or circumvent the ABM Treaty. By the second text, on the report of the Disarmament Commission (A/C.1/54/L.3), the Assembly would note with regret that the Commission was not able to reach a consensus on the item entitled “The fourth special session of the General Assembly devoted to disarmament”.

Also at two meetings today, the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) is discussing two items. On environment and sustainable development, documents include the report of the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) (A/54/25). In it, the Governing Council noted with concern the large discrepancy between the amount of funding provided from the regular budget to the United Nations Office at Nairobi, compared to UN Offices at Vienna and Geneva. It appealed to the Assembly to positively consider, in the context of the 2000-2001 regular budget, a substantial increase in the allocation to the administration of the Nairobi Office.

On the second item, implementation of Agenda 21 and the Programme for the Further Implementation of Agenda 21, the Committee has before it a report of the Secretary-General (A/54/131-E/1999/75). Analysing the main challenges and constraints within the UN system in the field of sustainable development, the report says that additional tasks such as those implied in many decisions of the Commission on Sustainable Development could not be implemented fully without additional resources. Other constraints related to the lack of institutional capacity, vague mandates and roles, and lack of clearly defined priorities. There was often a perception, the report stated, that the follow-up to United Nations conferences was primarily the responsibility of the United Nations system. Rather, actions needed to take place primarily at the national level, with Governments, non-governmental organizations, the private sector and others as the main actors, and the role of the UN system being to facilitate cooperation among them. The report recommended that a more coordinated approach to the follow-up of all recent major United Nations conferences was needed in order to achieve synergies and to ensure a more efficient and effective use of limited resources. This required greater efforts aimed at promoting more effective coordination of both policy development and implementation activities at all levels.

The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) this morning is continuing its examination of two items, elimination of racism and racial discrimination and the right of peoples to self-determination. Yesterday, I drew your attention to the reports by two Special Rapporteurs, on “Measures to combat contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance” (A/54/347) and on the “Use of mercenaries as a means of violating human rights and impeding the exercise of the right of peoples to self-determination” (A/54/326).

The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) is taking action on two draft resolutions at its morning meeting. In the text on the financing of the United Nations Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) (A/C.5/54/L.4), the Assembly would emphasize that all future and existing missions shall be given equal and non-discriminatory treatment in respect of financial and administrative arrangements, and be provided with adequate resources for the effective and efficient discharge of their respective mandates. The Assembly would note that paid and pledged voluntary contributions to the Trust Fund for East Timor so far amounted to $43.8 million and in-kind contributions were valued at $3.4 million. The Assembly would decide to apportion the amount of $7,155,000 gross ($5,667,700 net) among Member States, in accordance with the relevant resolutions, for phase I of the Mission’s operations. Furthermore, the Assembly would authorize the Secretary-General to enter into commitments up to $28,037,100 gross ($27,080,700 net), in addition to the commitment authority up to $10 million granted by the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) on 9 September, for phase II of the Mission, pending the submission of a revised budget by the Secretary-General.

To follow up on a question I was asked yesterday, I checked and was informed that there had been disagreement among some delegations over the language in three paragraphs. However, the issue was resolved last evening when all sides agreed to stick to the standard language for resolutions dealing with the financing of peacekeeping operations.

The Fifth Committee is also taking action on the draft on establishing a special multi-year Development Account and the modalities for its operation, which I reported on yesterday. In the revised text (A/C.5/54/L.11/Rev.1), the contentious operative paragraph 5 now reads: “Also decides that the savings transferred to the Development Account section, in accordance with paragraph 4 above, shall form the maintenance base for that section in future proposed programme budgets”. The word “the” was substituted for “all” and the phrase “in accordance with paragraph 4 above” was added. The preceding paragraph states: “Decides that the savings to be achieved as a result of the efficiency measures could be identified in the context of budget performance reports and shall be transferred to the Development Account section with the prior approval of the General Assembly”.

The Sixth Committee (Legal) will this afternoon conclude its discussion of the item on an international criminal court.

Looking ahead to next week: The Assembly has a busy day on Monday. It will consider the report of its Credentials Committee; appoint seven members of the Committee on Conferences; elect 29 members of the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme; and consider cooperation between the United Nations and the Organization of the Islamic Conference, as well as with the Latin American Economic System. On Tuesday, it takes up the report of the International Court of Justice, cooperation between the United Nations and the League of Arab States, as well as a newly inscribed item on observer status for the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries in the General Assembly. On Wednesday morning, the Assembly will commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of the operations of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). That afternoon, it will consider cooperation between the United Nations and the Inter-Parliamentary Union. On Friday, 29 October, the Assembly will elect 18 members of the Economic and Social Council.

The First Committee will continue discussing thematic issues and hearing the introduction of draft resolutions. The Second Committee continues, through Tuesday, its discussion of environment and sustainable development, after which it will take up globalization and interdependence. On Monday, the Third Committee will conclude its discussion of the elimination of racism and racial discrimination, as well as the right of peoples to self-determination. From Wednesday through Friday, it will discuss the promotion and protection of the rights of children. All week, the Fourth Committee will be discussing international cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space.

The Fifth Committee’s programme of work for next week includes such items as review the efficiency of the administrative and financial functioning of the United Nations; the report of the Secretary-General on the activities of the Office of Internal Oversight Services; administrative and budgetary aspects of the financing of peacekeeping operations. Secretary-General Kofi Annan will address the Committee on Wednesday afternoon, 27 October, when it begins considering the proposed 2000-2001 programme budget. The Committee will also consider the item on the United Nations common system.

For the next two weeks, through 5 November, the Sixth Committee will discuss the report of the International Law Commission on the work of its fifty-first session.