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UN Role
In many respects, the recent conference process reflects the rethinking of the role
of the United Nations in international affairs. The continuum of conferences has
underscored the need for changes in the UN’s work and structure, and heavy emphasis
has been placed on revitalizing existing bodies, including the General Assembly,
which is seen to require a more focused agenda to facilitate its executive decision-making
for the Organization. The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the regional commissions
and the departments within the UN Secretariat dealing with economic and social affairs
are all undertaking reforms to advance their capacity to respond to the demands outlined
by the conferences.
The plans of action all acknowledge that the United Nations, by virtue of its global
reach, its universal membership, its impartiality and the unique and comprehensive
mandate reflected in its Charter, remains the centrepiece of the international community.
Because of this central role, the international community has pledged repeatedly
to ensure that the United Nations system is equipped to lead in development efforts,
to serve as a forum for the expression of global goals, to be an advocate for core
values such as human rights and environmental soundness, to respond to humanitarian
needs when they arise – and to prevent their emergence – as well as to maintain peace
and international security. Enhancing the UN role requires an ongoing focus on development
issues as a priority concern, while ensuring its sound financial basis and improving
its efficiency and effectiveness.
The UN and its Member States also recognize the clear need for an integrated, interrelated
and coherent follow-up to the conferences. The UN is expected to compile these commitments,
recommendations and agreements, estimate their costs, order and sequence their implementation,
and propose schedules for putting them into effect. As there has been a reluctance
to set up new international machinery, each conference has designated existing mechanisms
to help implement its plan of action. Governments have clear reporting channels through
the various UN Commissions – on Human Rights, the Status of Women, Social Development
and Population and Development.
Within the UN system, ECOSOC – the UN body that oversees the Organization’s development
work – has the primary responsibility for the coordinated and integrated follow-up
to and implementation of major international conferences. As “An Agenda for Development”
and the conferences have made clear, a revitalized ECOSOC is expected to oversee
the implementation of the action plans effectively and efficiently.
The Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC), headed by the Secretary-General
and comprised of the heads of the autonomous UN agencies and programmes, including
the Bretton Woods institutions – the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank
– has been designated by ECOSOC to organize the system around the priorities and
goals of the conferences and provide guidance to UN development operations at the
national level.
Inter-agency Task Forces
The ACC has set up three inter-agency task forces (IATFs) and an inter-agency committee.
They are: the ACC Inter-Agency Task Forces on Basic Social Services for All; on an
Enabling Environment for Economic and Social Development; and on Employment and Sustainable
Livelihoods; and the Inter-Agency Committee on Women and Gender Equality. The primary
objective of the IATFs is to assure that, from the headquarters level, support is
provided to UN Resident Coordinators, usually the Director of the United Nations
Development Programme in the field, and the UN team in each country so that they
may effectively assist Governments and national institutions in their pursuit of
conference goals and commitments. The IATFs also help the ACC define the broad themes
on which the global coordination machinery should focus. This IATF initiative represents
a strong shift to a new type of coordination – not “general coordination” for exchanging
information about what each part of the system has done or is planning to do, but
“goal-oriented collaboration” for maximizing the comparative advantages of the respective
agencies and organizations of the UN system to act in concert at the country level
in the implementation of concrete action plans.
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Employment and Sustainable Livelihoods
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Chair - ILO FAO, UNESCO, WHO, World Bank,IMF, UPU, ITU,IMO, IFAD, UNIDO,UNCTAD, WTO,WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNHCR, DPCSD/UN, DESIPA/UN |
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Basic Social Services for All In the areas of “primary health care” and “basic education”,
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Chair - UNFPA ILO, FAO, WHO, UNESCO, UNIDO, IMF, World Bank ,UNDP, UNICEF,
UNEP, UNIFEM, UNDCP, WFP, UNHCR, UNRWA, HABITAT, |
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Enabling Environment for Economic and Social Development
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Chair - World Bank
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Partnerships
The United Nations, of course, is not alone in the profound transformation that is
required to meet the expectations raised by the world conferences. The Organization
is taking very seriously the question whether existing UN institutions can and should
be revitalized and reshaped to enable them to promote and support new approaches
to economic and social development. But it is a debate that is mirrored within other
intergovernmental bodies and national Governments and among NGOs around the world.
The conferences have made clear, however, that all of these entities, including Governments,
must reorganize themselves and work together if significant progress is to be made
in implementing the action plans.
In this spirit, all of the Conferences emphasized the need to draw on the support
of other sectors of society – in particular the non-governmental organizations, the
private sector, academia and the media – to implement effectively their action plans.
The call for genuine partnerships in development has been reiterated and the conference
process accelerated efforts to include NGOs in the negotiating process and follow-up.
While the agendas of Governments and NGOs differ in fundamental ways – NGOs themselves
are also very diverse – NGO input into the plans of action increased with each successive
meeting. Both the UN system and Governments see NGO participation and the access
they provide to the targeted populations as essential to the broad-based changes
that are required for poverty eradication and the provision of basic social services.
Similarly, the conferences, particularly the Earth Summit and Habitat II, have taken
important steps in exploring the positive roles that the diverse private sector can
play in the implementation of action plans.
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