Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
On behalf of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, I welcome this orientation course by UNITAR on the Economic and Social Council.
I wish to thank the Head of UNITAR, Mr. Nikhil Seth, Ambassador Marco Suazo, and the New York-based UNITAR team and the excellent leadership of ECOSOC President, Ambassador Kelapile.
This year’s orientation takes place during an enormously difficult period, once again, one could say.
Despite tremendous efforts from governments, the pandemic has had a deeply negative impact on people’s lives – on their health and well-being; their employment, businesses and incomes; education; and safety and rights.
During the past two years, the number of people living in extreme poverty has increased sharply. Gender gaps have widened. And income and wealth inequalities, within and between countries, have gone up.
The pandemic has delayed action on many of the major transitions required to realize the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 SDGs and overcome the climate crisis.
UN DESA estimates that, after expanding by 5.5 per cent in 2021, the world economy will grow by 4.0 per cent in 2022 and only 3.5 per cent in 2023. This recovery is vulnerable to new waves of COVID-19, labour market challenges, debt vulnerabilities or rising inflation. It is also highly uneven: it will take time for many developing countries to return to their growth rates before the pandemic.
At the same time, as the President of ECOSOC said, the continued strong commitment and sustained engagement of Member States to fulfilling the objectives of the 2030 Agenda gives strong reason for hope.
So let’s talk about ECOSOC’s evolution over time, and accomplishments.
ECOSOC was created by the UN Charter as the world emerged from the Second World War. Along with the General Assembly and the Security Council, it aimed to fulfill the objectives of the United Nations to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war” and to promote “better standards of life in larger freedoms.”
As the only principal organ of the UN entirely dedicated to development, ECOSOC embodied the hope to promote “higher standards of living, full employment, and conditions of economic and social progress and development”.
The Charter also already defined some of the more granular functions of ECOSOC, such as its coordination role vis-à-vis the UN system specialized agencies. It is telling that the need for a coordinated UN system was already a priority at that turning point in history.
Since its first meeting in January 1946 in London, Our Council, ECOSOC, has served as a central platform for policy analysis, review and guidance for Member States in promoting economic and social progress.
Its functions and structure have continuously evolved over time.
After the major United Nations Conferences of the 90’s, the Council was mandated to advance the integrated and coordinated follow up to UN conferences in the economic, social and environmental fields. It was later asked to promote the balanced integration of economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development.
With the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, ECOSOC deepened its focus, including that of its functional commissions and expert bodies, in promoting sustainable development.
Now, the High-level Political Forum, which meets under the auspices of ECOSOC every year and under the General Assembly every four years, plays a central role in overseeing the follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda at the global level.
ECOSOC has several “segments”.
Through the ECOSOC high-level segment, the Council also analyzes current and long-term trends of global concern for sustainable development.
In short, ECOSOC is an essential pillar of multilateralism and has had many accomplishments.
Let me mention a few.
It has served to set international rules and standards.
It has established new entities to tackle major challenges, such as UNAIDS.
It has defined the framework and the accountabilities for achieving gender mainstreaming throughout the UN system.
It was home to the review of the Millennium Declaration and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and piloted national reviews on country progress.
It created regular meetings with the World Bank and IMF when concerns started to grow about the social impacts of their policies. It has maintained an on-going dialogue with them.
It now addresses in-depth the financing needs of sustainable development through the ECOSOC Forum on Financing for Development.
It is at the vanguard of cooperation on science and technology and innovation through its multi-stakeholder STI Forum, mobilizing countries through its Commission on Science and Technology for development.
It adopted principles for effective governance at the time when people’s trust in their government is at a historical low.
It prepared the ground for the major reform of the United Nations Development system adopted by the General Assembly in 2018 and now keeps the system accountable on their implementation.
It has advanced coordinated humanitarian responses to disasters and other humanitarian emergencies, and addresses humanitarian issues on an on-going basis through its Humanitarian Affairs Segment.
The Council has also advanced dialogue on the coherence between development and humanitarian action.
So, through its many segments, forums, and subsidiary bodies, ECOSOC provides an inclusive platform to explore integrated policies to respond to current and longer-term challenges and crises, harnessing the expertise of the ECOSOC subsidiary bodies and the UN system.
You certainly noted that, as the COVID-19 pandemic struck, ECOSOC and its subsidiary bodies immediately shifted focus to address its impacts and find policy solutions to respond, rebuild and recover more effectively from the pandemic’s devastating effects.
It made urgent calls for vaccine equity around the world.
One more important feature. ECOSOC also offers valuable opportunities for multistakeholder participation and dialogue to advance a more effective and coordinated multilateral response to global challenges.
This includes through the ECOSOC Partnership Forum as well as the voices of youth through the ECOSOC Youth Forum.
It also includes the many civil society organizations who engage in the United Nations, after going through the ECOSOC NGO Committee and accreditation process.
A word about the most recent events.
Throughout its past 76 years, the Council has adapted to changes in the development and political landscape.
As recently as last session, the General Assembly decided on reforms to strengthen ECOSOC and the HLPF to better support implementation and review of the 2030 Agenda. The reforms notably aimed to reinforce ECOSOC coordination role vis-à-vis the UN system and its functional commissions and other subsidiary bodies. They also enhanced its role in linking development and humanitarian activities with actions to build peaceful and inclusive societies.
The Secretary-General’s proposals in his report called Our Common Agenda provide further opportunities for ECOSOC to contribute to multilateralism and international cooperation, particularly through the proposal for a Biennial Summit between the G20, ECOSOC, the Secretary-General and the heads of the international financial institutions. This recommendations recognizes the potential role of ECOSOC in economic governance, which has been often stressed over the years.
Strengthening further ECOSOC is an integral part of building a more inclusive, networked and impactful multilateralism. But changing structures and the calendars is not enough. You, the delegates, need to proactively engage in the various segments, forums and events of ECOSOC and its subsidiary bodies for them to continue having an impact, bear fruit. ECOSOC can do a lot for you, as Delegates. In ECOSOC meetings, a Delegate learns from the experience of other countries in responding to the pandemic, in ways that promote the implementation of the SDGs.
You will also gain an overview of the international and regional situation regarding the SDGs and of the work of the UN system in supporting countries in realizing the 2030 Agenda.
You can shape policy guidance for follow-up by all countries, the UN system and other actors, building on the combined experience of governments and stakeholders and the knowledge of experts from within and outside the UN system.
You can bring your hopes and vision and transform them into actionable recommendations to achieve the SDGs.
As Secretariat to the HLPF, ECOSOC and many of the ECOSOC functional commissions and expert bodies, DESA will ensure continued effective support for the work of ECOSOC on the implementation and follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda.
Actions taken now will influence our ability to achieve the Agenda’s full realization by the year 2030. We can build on the number of inspiring examples we hear in ECOSOC on where development cooperation is working.
With political leadership, solidarity and unity of purpose, we can end the pandemic, secure major improvements in people’s lives between now and 2030 and keep the promise of the 2030 Agenda.
In this endeavor, ECOSOC can count on UN DESA’s continued full support.
Thank you.