LE SECRETAIRE GENERAL: Le contenu du document CL 83/11 en vérité n'appelle pas d'introduction spéciale, en ce qu'il ne diffère pas fondamentalement de celui des années précédentes. Il s'agit au demeurant d'un projet qui est destiné à la Conférence et qui pourra, de ce fait, subir tous amendements que le Conseil jugera approprié de lui apporter.
Je saisirai cependant l'occasion pour appeler l'attention du Conseil sur le fait que pour le débat général une douzaine de séances plénières est prévue, pour les déclarations générales. Il faut également rappeler que la Conférence avait déjà fixé à 15 minutes le temps limite de parole pour chaque déclaration. Compte tenu de cette limitation, il n'est pas possible d'accommoder plus de 10 orateurs par séance, ce qui est extrêmement court. Compte tenu donc de cela, le Conseil voudra peut-être rappeler le besoin d'une autodiscipline dans la limitation du temps de parole, pour permettre à toutes les délégations de pouvoir s'exprimer.
Le Conseil voudra également rappeler le besoin, pour chaque délégation, d'être représentée dans la salle plênière au moment des déclarations du débat général. La Conférence, en effet, a décidé, la dernière fois, qu'un membre de chaque délégation devrait rester dans la salle plênière après que la déclaration du pays intéressé ait été faite. Il est arrivé en effet qu'après la déclaration du pays les membres de cette délégation quittent la salle pour assister plutôt aux réunions des différentes commissions, donnant ainsi une impression de vide dans la salle plénière.
Vous verrez également que, dans le projet de calendrier que nous vous proposons nous avons prévu un creux d'une demi-journée pour parer à des situations de dernière minute qui pourraient perturber le bon déroulement de la Conférence. Il serait peut-être utile que le Conseil mette l'accent sur la nécessité de maintenir ce battement afin d'éviter que les travaux de la Conférence n'en soient compromis dans leur durée.
Voilà, M. le Président, tout ce que j'avais à dire au sujet de ce document.
P.S. McLEAN (United Kingdom): May I first say before I speak to the particular item how delighted I am to see you sitting there on the dais before us.
Mr. Chairman, I have two very small points to make, the first is to thank Dr. Sylla for his introduction. Could we ask the reason for the Secretariat's proposal in paragraph 16 for bringing forward the vote on the Programme of Work and Budget? There is the possibility, I think, that by doing this undue pressure could be placed on the timetable for Commission II with the result the discussion there might be curtailed.
The second point, Mr. Chairman, arises from paragraph 19. We note that delegates are invited to speak on a few selected issues. We recall that in 1979 the Secretariat suggested topics that might be covered in this way, and we wonder whether the Secretariat propose to give any guidelines to us in this connexion.
DEPUTY DIRECTOR-GENERAL: On the first point, after the last two Conferences the Secretariat has had, not exactly complaints but comments from a number of delegations that by taking the vote - and here we have to have a vote, it is not just adopting the report, it is a vote - by taking the vote towards the very end of the Conference they were unable to be properly represented in the Plenary when this happened with a view to either registering their vote or, in some cases, of making statements that they felt they might want to make in explanation of their vote. So in order to accommodate delegations - in particular the smaller ones, although in some cases it involves larger ones, where a senior member of the delegation wants to be present on this occasion - we have proposed to have it earlier. Since the Programme of Work and Budget is taken at the beginning of Commission II this should not in fact produce any pressure on the debate, and of course the general Committee will adjust the agenda and the timetable of the Plenary in accordance with the progress made during the Conference.
On the second point, subject to anything Mr. Sylla wants to add, because we have not discussed this, we are not making any suggestions because in the past, when we have done so, we have found they have been largely ignored by a large number of delegations. Ministers like to make their own speeches about subjects which interest them, so all we are suggesting, as far as I am aware, is that we simply ask that the subjects covered should be as selective as possible.
CHAIRMAN: Thank your very much. Are there other interventions? There being none, we consider the document as approved.
LE SECRETAIRE GENERAL: Ce document, comme vous l'avez dit, concerne la présentation des candidatures au poste de Président indépendant du Conseil. Vous aurez remarqué que le Secrétariat propose que la la date limite du dépôt des candidatures soit fixée au vendredi 2 septembre 1983 à 17 h, et au vendredi 9 septembre 1983 la date limite de notification desdites candidatures aux différents gouvernements. Nous espérons que le Conseil sera d'accord avec nous sur cette proposition.
CHAIRMAN: I take it, if there are no expressions to be made on this item, that these arrangements are approved. Thank you very much.
A. REGNIER (Director, Office for Inter-Agency Affairs): As always, I have great pleasure in introducing to you today, on behalf of the Director-General, the document on recent developments in the UN system of interest to FAO: C 83/19.
You will note that the document already bears a Conference number as it will be submitted with any observations you may make now to the Conference in November at which time we shall also bring out a short supplement to .cover activities between now and then.
In the meantime, let me now bring you up to date on events since April when the document was written. I think the simplest thing is for me to go through the document and take up the points in the order in which they occur.
One of the main events this year in the UN System is, as you know, the 6th Conference of UNCTAD which is taking place now in Belgrade, from 6 to 30 June. We shall not fail to report on this important gathering to the FAO Conference in November. The same will apply to the World Food Council meeting to be held in New York next week.
The document before you has a section on the International Development Strategy. You will see in paragraph 15 that we have raised the question of the review and appraisal of the International Development Strategy by the FAO Governing Bodies.
As 1984 is not a Conference year we decided that the only way in which the FAO Governing Bodies would have an opportunity to make their review and appraisal of the International Development Strategy before the Committee of Universal Membership meets in the spring of 1984 was for a paper on the subject to be submitted to the FAO Conference this autumn. The paper is now in preparation and will be distributed later in the year as a Conference document.
On Operational Activities for Development, there is not much to add at this stage. The Governing Council of UNDP is at present holding its 30th session in New York (from 6 to 26 June). We shall report any important results of the session to the Conference this autumn.
UNDP programme delivery is still at 55 percent of illustrative IPFs. The resource crisis continues despite the creation by the Governing Council last summer of an Intersessional Committee of the Whole to try and resolve it. Efforts so far have not resulted in significant additions to UNDP's current resources nor in agreement on a more secure multi-year funding system. The insignificant additional resources pledged so far cannot make any real difference to UNDP programme delivery or solve the present UNDP resource problem.
Apart from this you will remember that the Director-General in his opening statement, mentioned that the Administrator of UNDP and he himself have recently agreed to send a second letter, jointly signed, to Resident Representatives and FAO Country Representatives, with a view to enhancing our collaboration at the Country level.
On emergencies, you will recall that the General Assembly requested the Secretary-General in Resolution 37/144, to submit a comprehensive report on measures to strengthen the capacity of the UN system to respond to emergencies. The United Nations Disaster Relief Co-ordinator (the Head of UNDRO) was entrusted with the preparation of this report. FAO and other organizations concerned were consulted. The report, now being finalized, will be submitted to the ECOSOC Summer Session in July, and later in the year to the General Assembly.
I should now like to turn to the section dealing with the resolutions of the General Assembly on the relations of the United Nations System with certain regional inter-governmental organizations. It may be a surprise to you to find such a section in this paper when normally relations with organizations outside the UN system are reported separately to the Conference. The reason is that the General Assembly in a number of resolutions is seeking to enhance co-operation with some of those bodies and in particular has adopted resolutions dealing with the Organization of African Unity, the Organization of the Islamic Conference, the League of Arab States and the Southern African Development Co-ordination Conference.
As you have seen from the document, FAO and these organizations have had, for a very long time, close and fruitful relations based on specific agreements as laid down in the Basic Tests of FAO. These direct relations are of great value to both sides and will of course be pursued and strengthened as far as possible. Nevertheless, FAO participates actively in the system-wide meetings held as a follow-up to the resolutions of the General Assembly.
The UN/OAU meeting was held as scheduled in April 1983, FAO presented a paper which was well received, on the conservation, development and utilization of water resources in Africa.
The meeting between the UN Organizations and the Organization of the Islamic Conference will take place in Geneva on 15 July and will be fol lowed by three days of bilateral consultations between organizations of the UN system and the OIC Secretariat. The meeting will be discussing matters of interest to FAO and particularly food security, assistance to refugees, science and technology and energy.
The meeting between the UN system and the League of Arab States will take place in Tunis from
28 June to 1 July. FAO will be represented and will be pleased to discuss proposals to strengthen
co-operation in the field of food and agriculture.
In the section dealing with food and agriculture in Africa, you will note that the ECA had invited us to attend an interagency consultation on the food and agriculture technology gap in Addis Ababa from 23 to 27 May. We prepared a paper on the subject in an effort to present a survey of existing traditional and improved technology in fields like soil management and water control, plant protection and agricultural production, engineering, livestock, fisheries, forestry, land use and farming systems, and so on.
This paper was intended as a contribution to the report that the Economic Commission for Africa has been requested by the Secretary General to present to ECOSOC and the General Assembly.
I would only say that FAO has of course, ever since its inception, been involved in technological development in almost all sectors dealing with food and agriculture. We will continue to give assistance to governments through our field projects and through policy advice.
We are also closely involved in the research and development of new technologies and the application and adaptation of existing technologies where appropriate.
I shall now turn to the follow-up to the UN Conference on Science and Technology for Development. The Inter-governmental Committee met in Special Session in New York from 25 to 29 April with a view to apportioning the financial contributions to the Financing System and the voting shares between
developed and developing countries. No agreement was reached and the matter was referred to the recent session of the Inter-governmental Committee which ended last week. While we have no details on the outcome of this meeting I may add that the main result of this last meeting was the following: First, there was finally an agreement on the pattern of voting. Secondly, a pledging conference will be held just before the General Assembly; and thirdly, the proposals submitted by the ACC Task .Force on Science and Development on joint activities was accepted by the Inter-governmental Committee.
For the follow-up to the Conference on New and Renewable Sources of Energy, the first session of the Inter-governmental Committee on the development and utilization of new and renewable sources of energy took place in New York from 18 to 29 April. The Committee dealt with the mobilization of resources for carrying out the Nairobi Plan of Action. It is proposed that financial resources be directed through existing channels such as UNDP general resources, the UNDP Energy Account, the UN Financing System for Science and Technology and the UN Revolving Fund for Natural Resources Exploration. The Committee recognized that the mobilization of additional resources was crucial to carry out the programme and this matter is to be discussed in a series of consultative meetings.
The Inter-governmental Committee also discussed priority areas for action. Rural energy was singled out as one of these. FAO presented a substantive document on current and planned activities. The document stated FAO's mandate in rural energy and gave detailed information on FAO programmes and field activities in particular in the following sector: fuelwood and charcoal; biomass; (i.e. biogas, gasification of agricultural and wood residues, biofertilization), modernization of draught animal power, application of solar and wind energy, household energy including involvement of women in rural energy programmes. This paper was well received and enabled participants to have a clear idea of FAO's role in the field of rural energy within the UN system.
For the follow-up of the United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries, FAO has participated in a second inter-agency consultation on the Substantial New Programme of Action for the LDCs which was held in Geneva this spring. FAO provided information on its country field programmes. We also attended the Asian-Pacific Least Developed Countries Round Table convened by UNDP in Geneva in May. The main purpose was to provide five LDCs in the area with a forum for discussing their problems with their bilateral development partners and multilateral financial institutions.
Lastly, I should say that FAO attended the International Conference in Support of the Struggle of the Namibian People for Independence which was held in Paris from 25 to 29 April. We made available an information note on assistance to Namibia and also a major study on "Apartheid, Poverty and Malnutrition" issued in 1982. The Conference adopted the "Paris Declaration on Namibia" which reaffirms the inalienable right of the people to self-determination and independence.
There is one point which is not covered in the document before you which I would like to mention now, and that is the interagency aspects of rural development.
In document CL 82/17 the Council was advised last November of progress in carrying out the programme: of work of the ACC Task Force on Rural Development and was given details of the follow-up work for WCARRD. In April, the ACC Task Force met and examined action taken in its three priority areas, joint action at country and regional levels, people's participation and monitoring and evaluation.
Joint action at the country and regional levels, and more specifically WCARRD, has brought about increasing involvement of Task Force members in interagency missions for WCARRD follow-up. Twelve missions (Benin, Cape Verde, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Jordan, Lesotho, Oman, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Syria, Tanzania, Yemen A.R.) have already been fielded and two more are planned for 1983 (Philippines and Mozambique). The main purpose of these missions is to assist countries in carrying out a review of their policies for agrarian reform and rural development and of their progress in poverty alleviation. In addition, these missions assist countries in setting up national co-ordinating mechanisms for rural development when requested to do so.
The ILO has acted as convenor of the Panel on People's Participation. The Panel met in January 1983 and drew up a work programme for 1983 and early 1984 which included a study of obstacles to people's participation in rural development, and measures to promote such participation.
IFAD is now the convenor of the Panel on Monitoring and Evaluation. The Panel met in February 1983 and drew up a work programme for 1983 and 1984, in addition to discussing a forthcoming document "Guiding Principles on Monitoring and Evaluation of Rural Development Project/Programmes", which will be issued in final form by end of 1983.
The ACC Task Force on Rural Development has published the first issue of a Newsletter intended to inform headquarters and field staff of all member agencies of activities of the UN system in rural development. This Newsletter will be published every April and October by FAO as Lead Agency in Rural Development.
I think, Mr. Chairman, that these few comments are sufficient by way of introduction and updating of the document which I am now submitting to you for your attention. I shall, of course, be very happy to answer any questions which delegations may wish to put.
G. BULA HOYOS (Colombia): A la Delegación de Colombia le causa verdadero placer verle a usted dirigiendo nuestros trabajos.
Como en todas las ocasiones anteriores las presentaciones claras y concretas que hace nuestro amigo André Régnier facilitan mucho las intervenciones de nuestra Delegación. Esperamos que en el proximo Documento se incluyan los resultados de la VI UNCTAD, actualmente en curso en Belgrado, respecto a la cual desgraciadamente sabemos ya que las dos primeras semanas de esa reunión no han sido satisfactorias para las aspiraciones y las necesidades de los países en desarrollo; pero confiamos que en las dos semanas que aún restan puedan rectificar esa situación desafortunada para el Tercer Mundo.
Cada vez que se presenta este tema a una de las reuniones del Consejo, nosotros, como Delegados de Colombia, sentimos verdadera satisfacción, Señor Presidente y distinguidos colegas, orgullo sincero al poder admirar a través de estas referencias cómo la FAO sobresale notoriamente por su trabajo eficaz y concreto en todo el Sistema de las Naciones Unidas. Ese entusiasmo muy sincero de nuestra Delegación, desafortunadamente contrasta con la decepción que nos produce el hecho de que aún no se hayan iniciado las negociaciones globales y que no exista ningún progreso al respecto. Seguimos esperando esas famosas negociaciones.
Ese mismo sentimiento de pesar fue expresado en marzo pasado en Nueva Delhi por la Cumbre de Jefes de Estado de los Países No Alineados. Colombia como miembro reciente, ya que acaba de adherirse, quiere ser coherente con esa actitud y pedir al Consejo que se consigne en nuestro Informe la preocupación por ese retardo y por la carencia absoluta de todo progreso hacia la iniciación de las negociaciones globales.
Afortunadamente, en el campo de la agricultura y de la alimentación la FAO no se ha detenido en espera de que arranquen esas negociaciones, sino que siendo una Organización pionera trabaja con eficacia y con resultados positivos en favor de los países en desarrollo.
Sobre la evaluación de la ejecución de la Estrategia Internacional de Desarrollo para el tercer decenio, evaluación que debería llevarse a cabo en 1984, estamos seguros de que la FAO corresponderá a lo solicitado en el párrafo 175 de esa Estrategia y aportará su experiencia en el plano mundial, teniendo en cuenta los resultados obtenidos en los planos sectoriales, nacionales y regionales.
A este respecto la Delegación de Colombia apoyó plenamente la declaración que fue hecha en Nueva York por el Presidente del Grupo de los 77 el Sr. Embajador Farooq Sobhay, Declaración que aparece en el párrafo 13 del Documento y que de manera coincidentemente afortunada, fue apoyada también por la Comunidad Económica Europea tal como se expresa en ese párrafo 13 de nuestro Documento. La Delegación de Colombia confía en que los colegas de la CEE van a ser coherentes con ese apoyo manifestado en Nueva York y junto con todos los demás miembros del Consejo van a permitir que en nuestro Informe incluyamos referencias a esa Declaración del Presidente de los 77 que, en esencia, dice que los Organismos de las Naciones Unidas, de acuerdo con el párrafo 175 de la Estrategia, al hacer sus aportes para esa evaluación no deben limitarse a señalar los resultados que han obtenido en sus actividades, sino que deben igualmente indicar los problemas que han encontrado y las posibles soluciones para remediarlos.
Acerca de las Actividades Operacionales para el Desarrollo, la Delegación de Colombia considera preocupante la carencia continua y progresiva de recursos para las operaciones en favor del desarrollo, que son vitales y definitivas para el Tercer Mundo. En nuestro informe deberemos manifestar esa preocupación y señalar una vez más la necesidad de que haya un aumento sustancial y real en la corriente de recursos para actividades operacionales, sobre una base cada vez más previsible, continua y segura, tal como se afirma en el párrafo 19 del Documento.
En el párrafo 20 hay una ligera referencia al PNUD, que el Sr. Régnier nos ha ampliado. Todos sabemos como la disminución de recursos del PNUD afecta a las actividades de campo de la FAO. Expresaremos la esperanza de que el Comité Plenario establecido por el Consejo de Administración del PNUD, así como la acción del Comité Administrativo de Coordinación (CAC), logren obtener más fondos adicionales para las actividades operacionales del Sistema de las Naciones Unidas.
El Director General manifestó aquí en una de sus alocuciones anteriores la satisfacción que él siente por las buenas relaciones existentes entre el PNUD y la FAO; creo que esto también es conveniente que lo incluyamos en nuestro informe para apoyar las gestiones comunes que realizan el Administrador del PNUD y el Director General de la FAO en favor de la necesaria cooperación entre esos dos organismos en favor de las actividades operacionales que tanto requieren los países en desarrollo.
En cuanto a la capacidad del sistema para responder a las situaciones de urgencia, sin duda allí también la FAO desempeña una función importante. La experiencia ha demostrado que nuestra Organización ha sabido eficazmente coordinar las actividades de socorro y habilitación.
La FAO se ha convertido en una valiosa colaboradora de la Oficina del Coordinador de las Naciones Unidas para el socorro en casos de desastre. Este Consejo debe apoyar los puntos de vista de la FAO sobre la necesidad de que los países afectados por catástrofes reciban la ayuda a tiempo y en la medida necesaria, tal como se expresa en el párrafo 31 del documento.
La delegación de Colombia piensa que la acción conjunta de la FAO y del PMA en casos de urgencia debe fortalecerse y no debilitarse. La aprobación del Director General a las operaciones de urgencia del PMA sigue siendo indispensable, necesaria e inmodificable para asegurar los mejores resultados, la adecuada coordinación y la preservación de las funciones de cada organismo especializado.
La delegación de Colombia piensa que la FAO cumple adecuadamente la resolución de la Asamblea General sobre las relaciones con las Organizaciones Gubernamentales Regionales. En los párrafos del 35 al 44 se hace referencia a algunos aspectos de la labor de nuestra Organización en este campo. No aparecen en esos párrafos ninguna referencia concreta a Organizaciones Regionales o Subregionales de América Latina y El Caribe, pero nosotros sabemos que la FAO viene colaborando activamente con esas organizaciones de nuestra área y confiamos en que la FAO proseguirá y estrechará esa cooperación, porque en América Latina y El Caribe, en nuestra región particularmente, esos organismos regionales y subregionales son muy importantes y necesitan, requieren de la asistencia de organizaciones importantes y eficaces como la FAO.
Sobre la alimentación y la agricultura en Africa, la FAO está igualmente llevando a cabo una interesante tarea. Todos sabemos la cooperación que la FAO ha ofrecido a los gobiernos de los países africanos a través del Plan de Acción de Lagos y de otros planes reivindicativos de los fraternos países africanos; bastaría citar el interesante y magnífico informe del Director General presentado inicial-mente al CSA sobre las limitaciones que impiden el crecimiento de la producción en Africa, informe que igualmente fue apoyado plenamente junto con las recomendaciones africanas por este Consejo en la discusión de uno de nuestros temas anteriores.
Finalmente, hemos aceptado y entendido muy bien las razones por las cuales no aparecen en este documento referencias al Fondo Internacional de Desarrollo Agrícola, FIDA; el señor Régnier se refirió al FIDA pero en otros contextos. Nosotros creemos que el FIDA es una agencia de las Naciones Unidas, o sea, que está dentro de los propios términos de la propia definición del título de este tema, y, obviamente, los acontecimientos que tienen lugar en el FIDA interesan particularmente a la FAO porque todos sabemos cómo es de necesario el incremento de los recursos para lograr el aumento de la producción que todos anhelamos.
Por esa importancia que la delegación de Colombia atribuye al funcionamiento del FIDA, consideramos que es necesario que en nuestro informe se incluya una referencia a la difícil situación en que se encuentra el FIDA. La delegación de Colombia opina que debemos señalar la crisis actual del FIDA y hacer un llamado para que los principales contribuyentes cumplan el compromiso legal y moral que adquirieron cuando suscribieron la Resolución 22/5 sobre la primera reposición de fondos.
Este Consejo debe pedir a los contribuyentes al FIDA que se complete esa primera reposición de fondos y que participen todos los Estados Miembros con ánimo constructivo en la primera reunión sobre la segunda reposición, que se ha convocado para los días 25 y 26 de julio próximo en esta ciudad.
La Resolución 22/5 del Consejo de Gobernadores del FIDA fue aprobada por 140 países, y esa Resolución dispone que la primera reposición debería cumplirse a más tardar a finales de 1983. Todos sabemos, especialmente quienes estamos vinculados al FIDA, que esa voluntad de 140 Estados Soberanos no va a cumplirse porque unos pocos países han incumplido su compromiso y han impuesto el aplazamiento del cumplimiento de esa primera reposición con los mismos recursos, lo que significa un debilitamiento considerable de los fondos con que cuenta el FIDA. La primera consecuencia de esa situación lamentable ha sido la de que la Junta Ejecutiva del FIDA, a cuyo funcionamiento me referiré más adelante, en la reunión de abril pasado tuvo que tomar la decisión de reducir el programa de labores del FIDA en 1983 de 435 millones a 310 millones. Nosotros creemos que situaciones como ésta menoscaban la función del FIDA, organismo que fue creado particularmente para los países menos adelantados, con bajos ingresos y déficits de alimentos.
Soy consciente, señor Presidente, que nos encontramos en la FAO y no en el FIDA; por eso no quiero extenderme más a esa situación, pero sí deseo manifestar brevemente el resultado de mi primera experiencia cuando en abril pasado pasé fugazmente, como representante de Colombia, en la Junta Ejecutiva del FIDA; yo creo que ese organismo trabaja en clandestinidad dentro de un espíritu reaccionario, conservador y negativo, cuyas decisiones son las que están particularmente afectando el funcionamiento del FIDA; pero que estas recomendaciones que ha planteado la delegación de Colombia, que tienen ánimo constructivo, que están dirigidas a fortalecer la subsistencia del FIDA, puedan aparecer en nuestro informe para traer el apoyo de la Comunidad Internacional en favor de la subsistencia del FIDA, que debe estar basada en recursos suficientes para que realmente el espíritu y los objetivos de la Resolución 22 de la Conferencia Mundial de la Alimentación sobre la difícil situación de la agricultura en el mundo pueda irse logrando a través de un organismo tan importante como el FIDA.
L. ARIZA HIDALGO (Cuba): La excelente presentación hecha por el señor Régnier nos ha permitido completar perfectamente la información que ya nos había dado la secretaría en el documento C 83/19, en la cual resalta el magnífico trabajo desplegado por la FAO en la cooperación con los otros organismos del Sistema, así como con los organismos regionales que se ocupan de acciones en pro del desarrollo, específicamente en materia agrícola y alimentación.
La intervención de la distinguida delegación de Colombia nos va a permitir ser sumamente breves En tal sentido nos referiremos solamente a la necesidad de que en nuestro informe aparezca la preocupación de este Consejo por el retardo en la iniciación de las negociaciones globales, en las cuales los países subdesarrollados han asumido en todo momento actitudes muy positivas.
Nuestra delegación apoya la magnífica y amplia exposición del embajador Gonzalo Bula Hoyos.
W.A.F. GRABISCH (Germany, Federal Republic of): First my delegation wishes to thank Mr. Régnier for his excellent introduction of the subject before us. We take note of the document presented to us, C 83/19, and we find ourselves broadly in agreement with the contents.
At this stage we see no need to comment on the different sections of the document before us. After all, we are looking forward to complementory information to be given to us at the forthcoming Conference and it will be then that we will make our assessment.
As far as the north/south dialogue and related international negotiations are concerned, to which the distinguished delegates of Colombia and Cuba just referred to, I would like to remind you that the European community on several occasions confirmed their acceptance of the idea and concept of global negotiations. We remain committed to this position to the extent that the Group of 77 does not wish to alter that concept or replace it by other approaches. We still believe that the pertinent proposals put forward last year at the Versailles Summit would form a good basis for conducting global negotiations. Any other proposals that have emerged in the meantime, especially those tabled by the non-aligned movement in New Delhi, would be carefully considered once officially endorsed by the Group of 77 and sufficiently clarified.
Bearing in mind the strong commitment to the north/south dialogue in general and the preparedness to solving in a cooperative spirit the worldwide economic problems in particular that were expressed by the recent summit at Williamsburg, we sincerely hope that the outcome of the ongoing UNCTAD VI will provide a positive momentum to the consultations to be held in New York on the launching of the global negotiations.
Any negative or pessimistic assessment of the state of the art at this point of time therefore seems to us to be premature and not justified and would also run counter to the commitment to dialogue and cooperation made by the ministerial meeting of the Group of 77 in Buenos Aires earlier this year. I have nothing more to say on that issue at this juncture of our debate.
P. GOSSELIN (Canada): Mr. Chairman, I would like to join my colleagues in offering our congratulations on your assumption of your functions this morning.
I would also like to congratulate Mr. Régnier for the presentation of the document that we have before us. We have received with interest the information provided in document C 83/19 on Recent Developments in the United Nations System. My delegation considers this an important item on the agenda, as a major concern of my government is the increasing fragmentation and lack of coherence in the United Nations System. So many governing bodies, executive boards, councils and conferences of so many United Nations organizations meet in isolation from each other that it has become extremely difficult for any one organization to keep track of all the events in the system which impinge on its own activities.
In addition, to be frank, it becomes difficult for governments themselves to coordinate a consistent approach to the many and diverse activities of this multi-faceted system. The report before us today is therefore very timely, and as such we would recommend that this agenda item remain a regular feature of Council and Conference meetings.
With respect to operational activities for developments, paragraphs 17 to 29, what we feel is still outstanding is a report on what has been done to work towards greater uniformity of procedures and more effective integration on the field level, specifically, on greater use of the UNDP country programming mechanism as a frame of reference for operational activities financed by the FAO regular budget, and whether any steps have been taken to unify the Country Offices, Until such information is available, we cannot say that action taken is fully in line with Resolutions 32/197, 35/81 and 36/199. We would be grateful if we could receive such information and suggest that the Secretariat may wish to provide it to the Director-General for development and international economic cooperation in the context of the preparation of the next comprehensive policy review of Operational Activities, as requested under Resolution 36/199, paragraph 12.
We would appreciate in this context knowing whether the information we are requesting is similar to that which is being called for in the ACC's decision 1983/2, as reproduced in Appendix D, and in that context, we would like some clarification on the timing of that particular report. We note, however, with satisfaction, that there have been some improvements in the coordination of multilateral development assistance at the field level, and we believe that further strengthening can lead to further gains in this important area for the benefit of donors and recipients alike.
C. VTDALI CARBAJAL (México): Me uno a los que tomaron la palabra antes que nuestra delegación en las felicitaciones a usted y al expositor por su clara y comprensiva presentación.
Nuestra intervención será corta; fundamentalmente queremos apoyar lo expresado por el distinguido Embajador de Colombia, Dr. Gonzalo Bula Hoyos, en su declaración, en especial en lo que se refiera a pesar de que tememos que no se hayan iniciado todavía, las negociaciones globales, y pedir concretamente que dicha preocupación se incluya en el informe que presente nuestra Organización.
Asimismo, compartimos lo expresado por la delegación de Colombia en el sentido de que se aumenten, o soliciten aumentos, los recursos de todos los organismos de Naciones Unidas, y que se instrumenten e incrementen las relaciones entre la FAO, el PNUD y las demás organizaciones con las cuales la FAO tiene actividades técnicas comunes.
J. GORMLEY (United States of America): Colombia has asked that this Council express its disappointment over the lack of progress in global negotiations. We would think that any simplistic expression of this disappointment was at this time inappropriate. We agree with Germany that it would be premature and unjustified to express this in any simplistic way.
With regard to the IFAD replenishment, the United States will attend the July meeting to discuss the second replenishment. We, too, regret the circumstances that have led to a delay in the completion of the first replenishment. Again, we should be very hesitant to support any statement by the FAO Council that would not take into consideration the legal procedures in the United States which have led to our own delay in meeting our commitments under the replenishment. This administration is committed to meeting its commitment under the first replenishment. We will do so, but there are legislative difficulties which will mean that it will be late.
A. REGNIER (Directeur, Bureau des affaires interinstitutions): Je voudrais d'abord remercier très sincèrement les représentants qui ont bien voulu prendre la parole sur ce point de l'ordre du jour, et nous faire part de leur réaction et de leurs commentaires, à la lecture de ce document et de la brève introduction que j'ai eu l'honneur d'en faire. Ces observations seront, bien entendu, tenues en grande considération et consignées de manière appropriée dans notre rapport. Je voudrais en tout cas les remercier des aimables remarques et de 1 approbation qu'ils ont bien voulu exprimer à l'égard du document et de son introduction.
A proprement parler, je ne crois pas qu'il y ait eu de véritables questions. Je voudrais toutefois faire rapidement quelques brefs commentaires.
Tout d'abord, en ce qui concerne la question des relations entre la FAO et les organisations intergouvernementales en Amérique latine le distingué représentant de la Colombie a certainement raison d'indiquer qu'elles sont importantes et fructueuses. Des informations détaillées seront contenues dans un document qui sera présenté à la Conférence au mois de novembre portant sur les relations entre la FAO et les organisations intergouvernementales avec lesquelles l'Organisation collabore. La sélection qui a été faite dans le document que vous avez devant vous relève seulement du fait qu'il y a eu, lors de l'Assemblée générale, des recommandations spécifiques sur un certain nombre d'entre elles. Il nous a donc paru opportun, dans ce contexte, de mentionner ce qui est fait entre la FAO et ces organisations; dans une large mesure, c'est en réponse aux résolutions de l'Assemblée générale.
En ce qui concerne l'Afrique, je voudrais ajouter, à la suite de ce que le distingué représentant de la Colombie a mentionné l'importance que la FAO y attache. D'ailleurs, vous savez peut-être qu'un fascicule est en voie de préparation, et sera prêt vers la fin du mois de septembre, sur la "FAO en Afrique". Certainement, il illustrera l'importance des activités de la FAO en Afrique.
En ce qui concerne les questions posées par le distingué représentant du Canada sur les problèmes opérationnels et les informations qu'il souhaite obtenir relatives à la cohérence du système des Nations Unies, je répondrai tout d'abord, ainsi que le document le mentionne et comme je l'ai dit dans mon introduction, que le Directeur général au développement et à la coopération économique internationale, M. Ripert, va soumettre à l'ECOSOC et ensuite à l'Assemblée générale, son rapport d'ensemble sur les orientations des activités opérationnelles du système des Nations Unies. Ce rapport a été préparé en consultation avec les organisations intéressées du système. Je suis persuadé que ce document répondra aussi complètement que possible aux souhaits du représentant du Canada. Par ailleurs, au sein du système des Nations Unies, ce qu'on appelle le CAC, le Comité administratif de coordination, s'est également penché sur cette question. Il a ensuite référé ces problèmes pour examen plus approfondi à un comité subsidiaire, le Comité consultatif pour les questions de fond (OPS), dont le président pour l'année en cours est d'ailleurs le Directeur général adjoint de la FAO, M. West. Ce comité s'est penché sur ces questions et, comme indiqué dans l'annexe C au document examiné, a déjà pris position sur un certain nombre de points. Son programme de travail sur le sujet est toujours en cours et les discussions vont se poursuivre. Comme vous voyez à travers, d'une part, le rapport de M. Ripert qui sera distribué d'ici peu et, d'autre part, les discussions du CAC, le système des Nations Unies se préoccupe sans cesse de renforcer son action et sa cohérence.
Le représentant du Canada a parlé d'informations additionnelles nécessaires. J'ajouterai simplement que le débat du Conseil, la semaine dernière, sur le sommaire de programme de travail de la FAO a, dans une large mesure, apporté une réponse à ces interrogations et à ces demandes d'information. Si j'ai bien compris la teneur de ce débat, le Conseil s'est en effet déclaré particulièrement satisfait des mesures proposées par le Directeur général pour le prochain biennium quant à la manière d'assurer le plus efficacement possible le travail technique de la FAO en limitant au maximum les dépenses administratives. Je pense que ceci devrait être de nature à rassurer le distingué représentant du Canada.
J'espère n'avoir pas oublié de questions importantes et que ces quelques commentaires vous seront utiles.
G. BULA HOYOS (Colombia): Lamentamos intervenir nuevamente, aunque lo haremos de forma muy breve; sobre todo porque estamos pensando en el momento en que debamos discutir aquí el proyecto de informe, y por eso, nuestra intervención, en esta segunda ocasión, está dirigida a facilitar esa situación para evitar controversias prolongadas.
En primer lugar, queremos agradecer al Sr. Régnier las explicaciones que nos ha dado en cuanto a las organizaciones regionales y subregionales que obran en América Latina y el Caribe. Es satisfactorio lo que él nos ha dicho y, por lo tanto, nuestras observaciones al respecto ya están plenamente justificadas con la declaración del Sr. Régnier.
Hemos hecho dos propuestas concretas sobre recomendaciones, que a juicio de la delegación de Colombia deberían aparecer en nuestro Informe: en primer lugar, las negociaciones globales. Creemos que es indiscutible la importancia que la agricultura y la alimentación, - los campos de que se ocupa la FAO - tienen o deben tener en. esas negociaciones globales, de manera que considero perfectamente normal que el Consejo manifieste su preocupación por la lentitud en el inicio de esas negociaciones y por la falta de progresos. Para ser objetivos, paralelamente después de esa preocupación, se puede agregar lo que dijo el colega Grabisch en nombre de la Comunidad Económica Europea, la actitud positiva que algunos países de otras regiones - de otros grados de desarrollo - están asumiendo también en relación con esas negociaciones globales. Yo creo que esto es perfectamente aceptable.
Además de esa recomendación sobre las negociaciones globales, también hice una referencia a la declaración que hizo el Presidente de los 77 en Nueva York, declaración que fue aprobada por la Comunidad Económica Europea, como así consta en el párrafo 13 del documento. De manera que tampoco creo que sea inconveniente que en nuestro informe se transcriba la parte esencial de esa declaración del Presidente de los 77, porque esto, sin duda, contribuye a que la FAO aporte, como estoy seguro que lo hará de manera eficaz, su contribución a la evaluación de la estrategia internacional, evaluación que se celebrará en el año entrante.
Hice también una última recomendación sobre el FIDA. Yo creo que aquí también se pueden matizar la posición y la declaración de una distinguida delegación respecto de lo que ese representante de Gobierno ha manifestado, la intención de nuestra delegación, desde luego. Nosotros, a veces, nos subimos de tono y nos entusiasmamos cuando hablamos sobre temas que tenemos muy dentro de nuestra mente y de nuestro corazón. Nuestra propuesta no está dirigida tampoco a que hagamos aquí una referencia a los problemas del FIDA en la forma tan amplia como yo los traté, sino simplemente a aquel consejo como ya lo he hecho en otra oportunidad. Expresar la esperanza de que los recursos del FIDA sean suficientes y reconocer una vez más la importancia del FIDA para el aumento de la producción, para el aumento de los recursos externos de nuestros países, y pedir que la primera reposición se complete cuanto antes y que las negociaciones de la segunda reposición se inicien de manera satisfactoria. Una vez expresada esa recomendación sería también justo y coherente agregar las explicaciones que dio la distinguida delegación de Estados Unidos y los esfuerzos que los países están haciendo para que esa primera reposición se cumpla y se inicie la segunda, reconociendo las dificultades a que él hizo referencia. No quise entrar en muchos detalles, pero hace dos semanas, en mi calidad de Presidente del Grupo de los 77 visité al Sr. Al-Sudeary, porque el Grupo estaba preocupado por esta situación. El me dijo que acababa de regresar de Washington, que tenía noticias alentadoras, que la situación iba a mejorar positivamente. Todo esto estamos dispuestos a reconocerlo. A nosotros nos interesa, esencialmente, que se reconozca la importancia del FIDA, particularmente para los países menos adelantados, con bajos ingresos y déficit de alimentos y la necesidad de que el FIDA subsista con recursos adecuados, de manera que estoy reiterando todo esto ahora, para facilitar la tarea del Comité de Redacción y evitar prolongadas discusiones posteriores en la Plenaria.
W.A.F. GRABISCH (Germany, Federal Republic of): Just reacting to what was said by the distinguished delegate of Colombia. We are convinced that he didn't want anything else but trying to facilitate the work of the Drafting Group. Now at this time, unfortunately, the delegate of Colombia is not a member of the Drafting Group whilst on many occasions I enjoyed working together with him in that group. I think the Drafting Group itself, set up by the Council, is the first and proper forum to assess what it feels should go into the report and then presenting its report to the Council whose Member States will give their views on that draft report once it will be represented to them.
Therefore we have so far refrained in our interventions to pinpoint particular issues on a subject which in our view would have to go into the report of our Session. But I have no problems with what was spelled out and I am quite sure it was just with the aim of facilitating our work.
S.P. MUKERJI (India): First of all, may I congratulate you on your assuming the Chair on the podium; we are very delighted about it.
Mr. Chairman, if I am not asking for too much I have one suggestion to make which I am making with great modesty. As I have said in one of my earlier interventions, agriculture credit is, if I may use the word, the life blood of agricultural development. In this document there is no reference to FAO's interventions with international financing agencies. There are many such agencies within the United Nations system. One thought that perhaps FAO's report could cover not only
important international organizations within the United Nations system but also outside it, but I am not asking for going to the organizations or referring to the organizations outside the United Nations system, but instead the international financing organizations within the United Nations system; they contribute so much to agricultural development.
I would suggest that some comments or some reactions to the policy apropos these procedures etc. adopted by these international agencies in respect of giving soft loans or similar other loans to developing countries for including agricultural development, should find a place in such a report, so that the feelings of the Council and the Conference could be communicated or could be made available to such international agencies which will help them also to moderate their policies and programmes in tune with the aspirations, capacities, or lack of capacities of these developing countries. I would suggest that it could be found possible to have some portion of this report in the future to cover FAO's interactions and reactions to the policies and programmes of the international financing agencies within the United Nations system.
CHAIRMAN: Are there any other interventions?
Perhaps Mr. Régnier, could we ask you to respond to the suggestion by the distinguished delegate of India - or perhaps the Deputy Director-General, Mr. West?
DEPUTY DIRECTOR-GENERAL: Mr. Chairman, this suggestion, if adopted, would of course materially change the scope of this item which traditionally has beem concerned with a subject dear to the heart of some delegates, namely coordination of cooperation.
The material that the distinguished delegate of India is seeking is in fact already available, not only in the chapter of Programme of Work and Budget, Chapter III of our development support, but as he will also find in the Review of the Field Programme and also the Review of the Regular Programme which appear later in the Conference year, so I would suggest he considers his suggestion further in the light of what he finds in those documents which I hope in fact will fully satisfy him.
S.P. MUKERJI (India): I thank the Deputy Director-General for the clarification given by him, but I still feel that a paragraph on the general reactions and the general effects and consequences of the policies and programmes of such international agencies which go on changing, could very legitimately find a place in a general form in this document.
DEPUTY DIRECTOR-GENERAL: Well certainly if there are developments, basic changes for example, which would fall within the scope of this document, then certainly we would be happy to include reference to them. In general I do not think it will happen because we have our continuing agreement with the World Bank, the regional development banks and so forth, but should there be something which falls within the scope of this document then I think it should be included.
CHAIRMAN: Thank you Mr. West. Are there any other comments or observations?
Thank you very much, distinguished delegates. First of all, on behalf of all members of the Council let me express our appreciation to the Secretariat, and in particular to Mr. Régnier, for their very excellent presentation and for the clarity of the paper that we have all been dealing with today.
I think first of all that the report of this Council should compliment the Director-General for the excellent state of cooperation and coordination that already exists between FAO and the other agencies and organizations within the United Nations system. I think all the delegations that have spoken up in one way or another have referred to that. I think we should of course welcome the article already referred to by Mr. Régnier to include in the final report, the report that will go before the Conference, with references to the results of UNCTAD and any other developments that take place in the meantime, particularly the World Food Council meeting in New York, as well.
With respect to the question of how we deal with the global negotiations, it is clear that there is a divergence of views as to where the reasons for the failure to advance those negotiations lie. I would suggest that in our report we simply refer to the need to get on with the global negotiations as rapidly as possible but without any reference to any party as being responsible, and I think that our report should also express the concern that we all feel, I think, for the general shortage of development resources which was so eloquently referred to by the distinguished Ambassador of Colombia: We should call upon the Member States for reaffirmation of their commitments to the development process, and in that connexion we might say through the various multilateral agencies that are committed to development, including IFAD, and that should I think take care of that plus the expression of concern that was expressed by the distinguished representative of the United States.
I think that fairly summarizes the general tenor of our debate. Are there any further comments? If not, we adopt the report with those clarifications.
(a) Fourteenth Report on the Activities of the JIU (July 1981 - June 1982)
(a) Quatorzième rapport sur les activités du Corps commun d'inspection (juillet 1981 - juin 1982)(a) 14° informe sobre las actividades de la Dependencia Común de Inspección (julio de 1981 -junio de 1982)
(b) Personnel Policy Options and Career Concept (JIU/REP/81/11; JIU/REP/82/3)
(b) Les choix possibles en matière de politique du personnel et la notion de carrière (JIU/REP/81/11; JIU/REP/82/3)(b) Posibles opciones en materia de politica de personal y el concepto de carrera (JIU/REP/81/11; JIU/REP/82/3)
(c) Organization and Methods for Official Travel (JIU/REP/82/7)(c) Organisation et méthodes pour les voyages officiels (JIU/REP/82/7)(c) Organización y métodos respecto a viajes oficíales (JIU/REP 782/7)
(d) Communications in the UN System (JIU/REP/82/6)
(d) Les communications dans les organismes des Nations Unies (JIU/REP/82/6)
(d) Comunicaciones en el sistema de las Naciones Unidas (JIU/REP/82/6)
(e) Status of Women in the Professional Category and Above (JIU/REP/82/4)
(e) Situation des femmes dans la catégorie des administrateurs et des catégories supérieures (JIU/REP/33/4)
(e) Situación de la mujer en el cuadro orgánico y las categorías superiores (JIU/REP/82/4)
(f) Economic Commission for Africa (JIU/REP/82/1)
(f) Commission économique pour l'Afrique (JIU/REP/82/1)
(f) Comisión Económica para Africa (JIU/REP/82/1)
CHAIRMAN: We will be considering under this general item of the agenda a number of JIU reports which are listed in the agenda and which I am sure you have studied. I call now upon the chairmen of the Programme and Finance Committees to report to you on the discussion that was held with respect to these items in their respective committees.
M. TRKULJA (Chairman, Programme Committee): I think it goes without saying that I am very happy to work under your guidance, Mr Chairman. As you have already explained, the Committees - and I am referring on behalf of the Programme Committee now - reviewed in fact six of the JIU reports. I shall very briefly highlight the main points of these reports.
The first one is the 14th Report of the activities of the Joint Inspection Unit itself which contains, as you are aware, only a summary of all reports made by JIU in the period covered, that means July 1981 to June 1982. In such cases the Committee simply takes note of the report.
The second report is on Personnel Policy Options in the UN system and it contains also the second report on the Career Concept. The document incorporates the views of ACC on both JIU reports as well as the comments of ACC to the International Civil Service Commission, within the same context. You are fully aware that the first report deals with the concept of career in the UN system and the second also contains certain recommendations with regard to the concept, the very basis of it. The Committee had some doubts as to the so-called national civil service model, to what extend in fact inspectors faithfully reflected the national civil service concept. But what is certainly much more important is that the Committee expressed doubts with regard to the application of the national model in international organizations such as FAO. We felt that a more flexible and more practical approach was very much needed. In that regard we shared, by and large, the views expressed by the ACC, especially as they apply to FAO. To be more specific, I will say that the Committee disagreed in fact with the inspectors with regard to the linkage of grades other than at the level of P1-P2, as it would be in contradiction with the post classification system as applied in FAO and throughout the UN system. We fully agreed with the inspectors that geographical distribution and geographical considerations should be taken at the earliest possible stage, so that this factor should not withhold promotion at a later stage. In conclusion, we felt that the ACC in general expressed realistic views with regard to the reforms proposed by the inspectors and we especially welcomed the part of ACC views which referred to the differences between the needs of the various organizations.
The next report is on the Economic Commission for Africa. We expressed some dissatisfaction that inspectors were not able to include more information on FAO and the Economic Commission for Africa. Joint Division, especially with regard to the support and cooperation between FAO and ECA in the implementation of the Lagos Plan of Action. We again referred to the role of FAO as a lead agency between agriculture and rural development and we felt that further efforts were very much needed to improve cooperation between FAO and ECA. We advocated very much tripartite cooperation FAO/ECA/OAU. In general we were in agreement with the comments of the Director-General with regard to the recommendations of JIU in this particular area. May I add also that the Committee was very much satisfied with the report in the sense that it provided a realistic picture of the vastly complex structure of regional and sub-regional bodies that had already established or are seeking to establish certain relations with FAO.
The next report is on the Status of Women in the Professional Category and Above. This is a progress report and we welcome very much the JIU's views. Again, with regard to the target, we felt it was not yet the proper time for FAO to establish a formal target. The Committee was, I would say, very seriously concerned with the imbalance of geographical representation among female staff. To illustrate, we found in the JIU report that only two ladies from Africa were in the professional category or above in FAO. So in that regard we advocated more efforts in the whole UN system and in particular in FAO to improve the situation.
With regard to reporting and its periodicity, we felt that perhaps two biennia might provide a proper time span for efficient reporting.
The next is Communications in the UN system. It is basically a document which was intended to inform the whole system with regard to the status of communication in various parts of the UN and especially to bring attention to some new developments in this area. I do not think I need to be much more specific on communications. We offered some comments with regard to the application of certain new techniques and technologies within FAO.
The last report is on the Organization and Method for Official Travel. It does not, in fact, concern FAO at all. It is intended to review the situation in the United Nations proper but we merely wished to draw attention of the Council to the model of FAO, so to speak, in this area, which was very much underlined by the inspectors in paragraphs 38-42, where the inspectors paid special tribute to the FAO and its arrangements generally.
D. H. Y. ABEYAGOONASEKERA (Chairman, Finance Committee): First of all, let me say how deeply I appreciate working under your direction, Mr. Chairman, in this meeting. I want to avoid repetition because many of the points mentioned by the Chairman of the Programme Committee are very much in our line of thinking. To make a faithful report of what we discussed, I would like to highlight a few points.
The Committee discussed six JIU reports in all. First, the 14th Report on the activities of JIU is mainly for your information. The Committee recognized that the JIU activities were helpful to FAO since they analyzed at length many issues useful to the UN international agencies. FAO's continued collaboration with JIU was therefore greatly appreciated.
On the report of Policy Options in the UN and the second report on the Career Concept, the Committee concurred with the views of ACC. There are no financial implications in the recommendations of the JIU. The Committee's comments in regard to this report appear in paragraphs 3.1 - 3.106. Regarding the JIU report on the Economic Commission for Africa, the Committee noted in particular the recommendation and endorsed the comments of the Director-General on various recommendations. The Committee stressed the need for continuing close cooperation between FAO and ECA for the good of all African governments. It also felt that FAO could contribute towards the programmes of ECA within the resources made available to the joint ECA/FAO Division. For our comments please see paragraph 3.107.
On the report of the Status of Women in the Professional Category and Above, the Committee endorsed the report and felt progress made by FAO in this regard since 1976 had been satisfactory. It also recommended that the progress report on the study should be issued every four years.
Our comments regarding this report appear in paragraph 3.108 and in 3.109.
On the JIU report on Communications in the UN system, the Committee was in agreement with the views expressed by the ACC. It endorsed the FAO's view that establishement of a special inter-agency committee for developing or monitoring the UN system master plan was unnecessary; please see paragraphs 3.101-3.113.
On the report on the Organization and Methods for Official Travel the Committee endorsed the Director-General's comments on the recommendations and noted that arrangements introduced by FAO with travel agencies resulted in savings and that this arrangement "has been considered favourably as a "cost-effective and efficient arrangement" by the inspector.
T. AKMAD (Pakistan): First of all may I say it is indeed a great pleasure to see you sitting there and presiding over our deliberations.
As you will recollect, as Members of the Programme Committee we contributed our bit on various JIU Reports and our Chairman of the Programme Committee has expressed those views. However, I have instructions to intervene on one particular JIU Report, and that is the Status of Women in the Professional Category and Above and it might be pertinent to point out right away that the intervention that I have has been written by a highly placed woman in the Ministry of Food and Agriculture in our Government and I will now read that.
We have with great interest read document CL 83/14. On behalf of the Pakistan delegation I would like to express our deep concern over the situation as reflected in the United Nations JIU Second Progress Report. You may recall that on this issue the Pakistan delegation had requested at the 79th Session of the FAO Council in 1981 that effective policies were required to increase women's participation and that challenging targets should be laid down in realistic terms and strictly adhered to. We have also suggested that these targets should periodically be reviewed in order to move towards equal representation. We had suggested more training facilities in career development and part-time jobs for women. Our suggestions were based on a strong belief that women have to be equal partners with men in the progress of development and that there can be no development of human resources if women are only marginally included in the development process.
I regret having to state that it is unfortunate that the position has not materially changed in the last two years. The Report under discussion is a repetition of the earlier recommendations and no new recommendations have been included to help move in the direction for greater representation of women in the UN System. It is also a pity that despite the commitment of executive heads there has been little change of the percentage of women in the professional category and it is equally unfortunate that some organizations have not taken action endorsed by the Executive Committee on Coordination and the United Nations General Assembly. There is no reason why women in professional categories in WHO should have decreased. This underlines that efforts have not only to be doubled but quadrupuled to promote females and to promote them to higher levels. Women should be specially recruited for policy-making, preparation of programmes for projects and development. It would be in the fitness of things that all United Nations organizations establish targets and work towards their achievement. Besides I would urge the FAO to appoint them in country offices since capable women are available in the field of agriculture, economics, nutrition and home economics.
I would also request that all executive heads in the UN System should be asked to report regarding the action taken by the personnel officers to obtain the qualified women for appointment by making contacts with governments in countries and local organizations since the number of women employed in the UN System is actually pathetically low. The proportion of women among staff recruited in the UN organizations is only 25 percent and far lower than it should be. Apparently the situation prevails on account of the existing attitude of the male. May I state that unless views are changed women will not be able to participate fully on equal terms with men in the work of the Secretariat of the United Nations Organization. May I also state that Pakistan strongly feels that an appointment of a female assistant Secretary-General for the personnel service of the United Nations is not enough.
Could I bring to the notice of the Council that my Government is fully committed to enhance the role of women through integration. The creation of a women's division at the federal level is a reflection of this commitment. The major task of this division is to evolve a development oriented strategy which could reach out to the rural and poor urban schemes of women's population. As a result of this strategy women in Pakistan are being encouraged to participate in development activities. We realize even in my country women are behind. Yet the experience during the last twenty years shows in some fields women have made sufficient advances although wide gaps still remain. Our Sixth Plan therefore aims at greater employment of women and greater equality in jobs, by moving from less than 3 percent in the Government services to a target of 15 percent during the Sixth Plan and to ambitious programmes designed for rural uplift.
May I state in the end that lip service will not do. Let us set concrete targets, let us firmly resolve that these targets are achieved and above all let us change our attitude and set women as partners in the development process.
Señora Doña R.A. SUAREZ MELO (Colombia): La delegación de Colombia se referirá solamente al documento CL 83/14 sobre la situación de la mujer, como acaba de hacerlo el distinguido delegado de Paquistán.
Una vez más debemos recordar que los gobiernos deben presentar candidatas calificadas para ir logrando equiparar la presencia de las mujeres con las de los hombres en los cargos de responsabilidad.
En el párrafo 8 de las Observaciones Generales se hace referencia a la distribución geográfica como impedimento para mejorar la proporción del número de mujeres. Nuestra delegación opina que la distribución geográfica debe aplicarse siempre y que así se puede aumentar el numero de mujeres en posiciones de importancia. En efecto, hoy casi todos los países disponen de mujeres competentes y bien capacitadas.
En la sección III, medidas que se sugieren, no se presentan innovaciones. No basta tomar nota de los esfuerzos realizados por las Organizaciones del Sistema Común de las Naciones Unidas para lograr una mayor participación femenina, sino que es necesario convertir esos esfuerzos en realidades.
En el anexo III, entre las organizaciones analizadas aparece la FAO; todavía no hay ninguna mujer con grado D-2 en nuestra Organización, sólo hasta D-l llegan los cargos en la FAO en manos femeninas.
Observamos también que si bien con respecto a 1976 esa situación ha mejorado en la FAO, en cambio se ha estancado trágicamente a partir de 1980. Habrá que insistir para que en la FAO más mujeres asuman posiciones directivas importantes.
W.E. ADERO (Kenya): It is not my intention to pursue the discussion from the position of women in the United Nations organization but my intention is going to be mainly on document CL 83/21 which covers activities of the Economic Commission for Africa.
We have studied the document and in general we agree with the Director-General's comments on the Report. However, there are a few areas in the Report which we feel need mention. We share the view expressed at paragraph 25 of the Report that there is a growing concern in Africa that most countries in Africa have been overwhelmed by an increasing number of multilateral and bilateral organizations "selling" projects in their various areas of interest which do not add up to an integrated set of development activities. While we are aware that these usually have desirable objectives there is need for coordination to ensure that both duplication and waste are avoided. This in our view could easily be achieved if ECA plays its role of being the main general economic and central development center for the region within the United Nations System, as is pointed out at paragraph 22 of the Report. My delegation therefore supports the view expressed by the Joint Inspection Unit that ECA should strengthen its programming efforts.
Just to emphasize the need for strengthening the programme of effort I want to refer to paragraphs that deal with multinational programming operational centers in the Report. We note in the Report that in 1964 the MULPOCs were established, there are four of them in Africa. These never worked out well due to manpower and financial shortages. In 1970 these MULPOCs were replaced by United Nations international interdisciplinary advisory teams which also had problems and never worked well due to inadequate personnel and financial resources. We note again in 1977 the MULPOCs were reestablished and in 1978 ECA described their establishment as an important step towards the transformation of ECA into an operational institution. In the Report, paragraph 89, we note that the MULPOCs have a lot of problems and in paragraph 89 one of them has had five different directors in two years. At that rate of change of staff one wonders whether they are going to be as effective as is expected but there is need that ECA comes up and develops into a leader, as is expected.
Although the picture painted in the Report of ECA activities is not all that good we note with appreciation that there is already a joint ECA/FAO Unit and that some promising joint initiatives, such as preparing an African regional food plan, is already being undertaken by ECA and FAO. We feel encouraged by such joint ventures as there are means to cooperation and coordination effort that we require from United Nations agencies to spearhead development activities in areas where such activities are needed most.
In conclusion I wish to reiterate that there is need for integrated development activities in Africa. ECA must therefore strengthen its programming efforts as is recommended, to enable it to play its leadership role as is contained in paragraph 22 of the Report. This will ensure that programmes of Specialized UN agencies such as FAO blend well with other programmes be they multilateral or bilateral for the benefit of the nations or regions that the programmes are being implemented.
P. GOSSELIN (Canada): The JIU Report that I would like to refer to is CL 83/20 concerning communications in the UN system. We examined this forward-looking document very carefully and would recommend that its conclusions receive careful scrutiny. From our point of view, as we have domestically gone through some of the difficulties of installing data transmitting systems in the past, we would advocate that a maximum degree of coordination be strived for among the agencies to ensure as high a degree of compatability among the equipment as is possible, as this will reduce costs at a later date. We would also like to see that the use of the electronic data transmission be phased to ensure that the high installation costs can be met from existing technical equipment budget appreciation.
SRA. DOÑA G. SOTO CARRERO (Cuba): Seremos sumamente breves, y sin menospreciar los demás documentos que se nos presentan en este tema nos referiremos al documento CL 83/14.
Nuestra delegación se asocia a las demás delegaciones que se han referido a la importancia y necesidad de que se incorporen las mujeres en el cuadro orgánico y en la categoría superior en el sistema de las Naciones Unidas. El propio documento que se nos ha presentado nos informa de los escasos progresos que en ese sentido se han logrado en todo el sistema.
La delegación de Cuba siempre ha apoyado la integración plena de la mujer en todo proceso de desarrollo. En nuestro país el papel de la mujer en el desarrollo es fundamental y cada día se hacen más esfuerzos en ese sentido brindándoseles las facilidades posibles para lograr su plena incorporación a las tareas fundamentales de nuestro país.
Recalcamos, sin embargo, que el papel de los gobiernos en la presentación de candidatas mujeres con su curriculum adecuado a las plazas vacantes de Naciones Unidas para que puedan tener las mismas posibilidades que los hombres es fundamental para que pueda hacerse un mejor trabajo en la ubicación del personal femenino en puestos claves dentro del Sistema.
SRA. DOÑA M. RUIZ ZAPATA (México): En lo que se refiere al documento CL 83/14 mi delegación desea apoyar los puntos de vista manifestados en el informe de la reunión conjunta de los Comités del Programa y de Finanzas, especialmente en lo que se refiere al grave desequilibrio existente en la representación geográfica del personal femenino procedente de países desarrollados y en desarrollo.
Consideramos que, efectivamente, la FAO debe esforzarse por mejorar la situación y probablemente pueda hacerlo a través de su representación en los países.
Instamos, asimismo, a los Estados Miembros a que presenten candidatas profesionalmente bien preparadas para los diferentes puestos vacantes a todos los niveles, pero especialmente en las categorías superiores de nuestra organización, en las cuales la mujer no está representada como se desprende del anexo II del documento CL 83/14.
En lo que se refiere a la periodicidad de los informes, mi delegación aprecia que se sigan presentando cada dos años para estar en posibilidad de seguir más de cerca los progresos que se realicen.
Finalmente, la delegación de México hace un llamado al Director General para que, inspirado por el espíritu de las diversas Resoluciones de las Naciones Unidas al respecto, haga lo posible para que también en este campo la FAO ocupe un lugar preponderante dentro del Sistema de las Naciones Unidas.
S. P. MUKERJI (India): I would like to submit a few general comments on the various aspects of the JIU Report. First, we are very much heartened by what we read in paragraph 3.114 of Document CL 83/4. May I have your indulgence to read out a few sentences from this?
"The Committee noted in particular that the Report of the JIU highly praised 'one organization (FAO) which, through an original approach had made important savings and which had introduced the most cost-effective and efficient arrangement (paras 4 and 38 to 42 of the JIU Report), and that the FAO arrangement of an in-plant travel agency had been recommended to all other UN agencies."
I must congratulate the Director-General and FAO on their achievements in this regard. The fact that the Director-General's action in attaining savings in avoidable expenditure has been indicated as an example for other organizations to follow is a matter of pride to all of us. We are already conscious of the Director-General's preoccupation with cutting out avoidable expenditure. His own Secretariat has been reduced by four posts. We are very much assured that all avoidable expenditure in FAO is being reduced.
So far as the status of women is concerned, my country heartily welcomes any step which will help in the induction of women in the higher echelons of FAO and other UN organizations.
With regard to geographical representation, which has been endorsed by the JIU in a number of documents, I have one suggestion to offer. Mere geographical representation will not suffice insofar as FAO and other organizations are concerned. The geographical representation will have to be made with due regard to country population also, so that there is truly equitable representation of the various sections of humanity in FAO and similar organizations.
Still another, the JIU is recommending development of international civil service or career service in the various organizations. My delegation has some reservations insofar as career service within FAO and UN organizations is concerned. For one thing, career service will mean inbreeding and people who are supposed to represent their countries once they are permanently seconded to such organizations after some years will lose touch with the ground truths in their countries and their truly representative character will be lost. Therefore while we can have some sort of career service for the lower levels, and also levels where continuity is more important than change, perhaps in those limited areas career service could be thought of, but apart from that my delegation would not recommend permanent career service for all people in all departments of FAO and UN agencies. On the other hand, tenure service for five to ten years of senior officers being brought from the countries and sent back will give built-in machinery for refreshing and reinforcing experience in the FAO Secretariat.
Insofar as promotional aspects of services are concerned, here again it has been suggested that direct recruitment should be only at the junior level and further admissions in the higher levels should be by promotion from the junior levels. This also has its own limitation because by then you will again be encouraging inbreeding and you may not be able to get people at senior level who are highly professional and highly knowledgeable insofar as the regional conditions are concerned. Therefore this controversy between lateral entry versus junior level entry is a field which we should tread very cautiously and we should not commit ourselves to any approach which will encourage inbreeding and alienation from the dynamic developments of food and agriculture in the various countries.
SRA. DOÑA E. HERAZO DE VITI (Panamá): Seré sumamente breve. Solamente para formular que la delegación de Panamá comparte plenamente las declaraciones de las delegaciones de los países hermanos de Latinoamerica sobre el documento CL 83/14 sobre la situación de la mujer en el cuadro orgánico y las categorías superiores, ya que Panamá ha incorporado a la mujer en todos sus cuadros orgánicos a un alto nivel profesional.
Tfoe meeting rose at 12.30 hours
La seance est levée à 12 h 30
Se levanta la sesión a las 12.30 horas
