4. ASSUMING THE PRESIDENCY
OF ECOSOC
One of the
important highlights of my second assignment in New York as Deputy Permanent
Representative to the United Nations with the rank of Ambassador was assuming
the Presidency of UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in 1970. I had been
elected Vice-President soon after assuming my duties with the Indonesian
Mission to UN. Despite my absence of four years many members were already
familiar with my activities during my first assignment (1960-1965). During that
period I had been elected as Chairman of several
important UN conferences and bodies. It came therefore as no surprise that the
following year I was elected as President of ECOSOC in 1970 for the 48th and
49th sessions of ECOSOC. This marked a historic year for the United Nations
because 1970 coincided with the 25th anniversary of the signing of
Charter of the United Nations in San Francisco.
The UN is
charged with promoting in the economic and social field:
Higher
standards of living, full employment and conditions of economic and social
progress and development; solutions on international economic, social, health
and related problems; nternational
cultural and educational co-operation; universal respect for and observance of
human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race,
sex language or religion.
Responsibilities for discharging these functions are vested
in the General Assembly, and under its authority, in the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
Membership
By 1970
membership of ECOSOC, originally 18 members was increased to 27 and further enlarged to 54 members. At the time the pattern
of the geographical distribution of seats were as follows: 15 member from
African states, 12 from Asian states, 11 from Latin America and Caribbean
states 5 from Eastern Europe, 10 from Western
European and other states.
Eighteen
members from ECOSOC were elected each year. Members serve for three years,
usually beginning on 1 January and ending on 31 December.
The
year-round work of the Council was carried out by its subsidiary bodies
consisting of various commissions and committees which met at regular intervals
and reported back to the Council.
These
included six functional commissions, five regional commissions including ESCAP,
six standing committees and a number of expert bodies.
Opening
statement
In
my opening statement as president, I noted that the theme of the 25th
jubilee was “Peace, Justice and Progress” and that this theme should be
reflected in the deliberations and actions of the Council. I further stated
that the United Nations should provide leadership in devising more effective
approaches to the problems of development and in making development a genuine
international effort. I concluded by saying that the connection between global
development and international peace was evident to all. What was now needed was
a broader vision capable of reviving the flagging will of the rich countries to
make the necessary adjustment in their policies, particularly on trade and aid.
United Nations
development decade
I
made specific references to these themes since the main subject to be
deliberated and agreed upon by ECSOC during my first session as president was
the strategy for the second United Nations development decade. In the 1960s
both the General Assembly and ECOSOC increasingly stressed the need for an unified approach to economic and social planning in order
to promote balanced and sound development.
The
emphasis on unified development was reflected in the Declaration
On
social progress and development, which was adopted by the General Assembly in
1969. The world community had been preparing to designate the 1970s as the
second United Nations development decade.
The
preparatory work for this, undertaken by various UN specialized agencies had
been much more elaborate than for the first UN development decade and included
instituting specific measures and establishing targets to chart the progress
and implementation.
The
very limited accomplishment of the member states and the United Nations and its
family of sister agencies had let some observers to label the decade as a
decade of disappointment and even a decade of frustration. But although there
is some validity in this assessment, we should not lose sight of the fact that
we have learned many lessons from the experience of the first UN development
decade. It is also worth remembering that in launching the first development
decade, the United Nations has given some sort of inspirational concept and
focussed the attention of the world community on the need for economic and
social development, since no national security can be achieved without international
progress and development.
The
divergent views on international strategy for the next 10 years reflected
different approaches to economic management, planning and development. On the
one hand there were delegates from centrally planned economies of USSR and
Eastern Europe who insisted on the need to first put international relations on
a “normal” footing and whose concern leaned more towards achieving more
political support in such areas as universal disarmament and freedom from
colonial rule.
They
declared their willingness to expand co-operation with developing countries on
the basis of practical and sound economic
proposals. On the other hand were representatives of industrialized countries of North America and Western Europe who
embraced the free market concept. They emphasized that economic progress
ultimately rested with the developing countries themselves and called for a
wide-range of budgetary, institutional and social reforms to suit the
requirements for an accelerated development. New skills and attitudes would
have to be incalculated in the people to enable
development plans to be deployed as effective instruments for economic and
social development. Caught in the middle were the developing countries of Asia,
Africa and Latin America with their varying degrees of economic development.
Those delegates wanted to include specific numerical targets as part of
development strategy. They perceived that the issues involved was the transfer of net financial resources from the
developed countries equivalent to 1% of their gross national product for the
promotion of economic and social progress in the developing world. They pressed
a target of official aid amounting to .75% of the gross national product. They
also called for urgent action to redress their debt problem, and greater access
to the markets of the developed world with the removal of tariff and non-tariff
barriers within a specified period on imports of developing countries.
It
was not an easy task to forge a consensus. On several occasions I had to
intervene personally and even called for several informal meetings to calm the
situation. I impressed upon the delegates the historical significance of this
silver jubilee session and that the world community is anxiously waiting for
its result. One could not expect the world problems to be solved during this
session. One must have patience and perseverance and that one could only
progress gradually.
Ultimately
under my guidance ECOSOC adopted a resolution consisting of two parts: One
focusing on the completion of an international development strategy for the
1970s and the second on procedures for evaluating the progress in implementing
the strategy.
The
first part of the resolution contained a number of substantive of policy matters to be to worked out
by the second committee. These included, among others, setting target dates for
the transfer of resources from the developed to the developing countries and
for the terms and conditions of assistance, achieving a timetable to expand
international trade; instituting adjustment of assistance measures. The Council
also stressed the significance of specific time dimension in the implementation
of policy measures to achieve the goals and objectives of the development
decade.
In
the second part of the resolution the Council expressed its readiness to assist
the General Assembly in conducting an over-all review and appraisal of progress
in implementing the strategy. After lengthy debate the Second Committee agreed
with the text of the proposed policy measures and the General Assembly
subsequently adopted the strategy and the Second United Nations Development
Decade from 1971 to 1981 that was officially launched.
The
Council had to discuss also the reports from the functional commissions, the
regional commissions and from the ad hoc committees.
Among
other notable action taken by the counsel during my Presidency were the
decisions urging the Commission on Narcotic drugs to consider short and long term policy measures for integrated
international action against drug abuse, and
recommendation
establishing a natural disaster emergency fund to respond to obvious and
immediate needs. The Council also recommended to the General Assembly to
establish the United Nations Volunteer Program as of January 1971 setting in
motion a new venture in international brotherhood. The Council further decided
to transform itself into a more effective and viable instrument for policy
formulation in the economic and social field. Coincidently during the
discussion on the regional commission reports, it was decided that Bangkok
should become the permanent seat of the Economic Commission for Asia and the
Far East. Bangkok had served as ECAFE’s temporary
headquarters since 1949 when it was moved from Shanghai after the victory of
communist forces in China. Little did I know then that one day I would move
into ECAFE headquarters myself.
In
the introduction to my final report as President of ECOSOC to the 25th
General Assembly in 1970, I concluded with the following observations
“The
progress of the world as a single, unified community requires an enlarged
perspective for action, broader than the narrow ideologies pursued. A exclusive national interest should make place for a
broader view and a new awareness of the interdependency
of the world community. The time has come to re-examine, not only the role of
the ECOSOC but also the administrative machinery of the United Nations on which
the whole system is founded. We must spark a new enthusiasm that will bring
about a true conception of a new world order, in which each
individual must become aware of his place and each nation realize its
responsibility. This is an ambitious task, but there is no difficulty that
political will cannot overcome”.
I
consider it a great honour to have presided over one of the United Nations
important bodies. My stewardship of ECOSOC will therefore remain a significant
achievement in my diplomatic career.
Posted: 28
April 2002 Admin: rudyct https://tumoutou.com