Report of the Economic and Social Council for the Year 1998
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A/53/3 United Nations Report of the Economic and Social Council for the year 1998 General Assembly Official Records Fifty-third session Supplement No. 3 (A/53/3) A/53/3 General Assembly Official Records Fifty-third session Supplement No. 3 (A/53/3) Report of the Economic and Social Council for the year 1998 United Nations • New York, 1998 A/53/3 Note Symbols of United Nations documents are composed of capital letters combined with figures. ISSN 0082-8203 Contents Chapter Page I. Matters calling for action by the General Assembly or brought to its attention ................. 1 II. Special high-level meeting of the Council with the Bretton Woods institutions ................ 6 Summary conclusions by the Acting President of the Council ............................... 7 III. Session of the Council on integrated and coordinated implementation and follow-up of major UnitedNationsconferencesandsummits ................................................. 9 Summary by the President of the Council ................................................. 12 IV. High-level segment Market access: developments since the Uruguay Round, implications, opportunities and challenges, in particular for the developing countries and the least developed among them, in the contextofglobalizationandliberalization ................................................ 19 Ministerial communiqué of the high-level segment submitted by the President of the Council . 20 Annex. Summary of the high-level segment by the President of the Council .................. 23 V. Operational activities segment Operational activities of the United Nations for international development cooperation ........ 32 A. Advancement of women: implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and the role of operational activities in promoting, in particular, capacity-building and resource mobilizationforenhancingtheparticipationofwomenindevelopment ................. 32 B. Follow-uptopolicyrecommendationsoftheGeneralAssembly ........................ 33 C. Reports of the Executive Boards of the United Nations Development Programme/United Nations Population Fund, the United Nations Children’s Fund and the World Food Programme ...................................................................... 34 VI. Coordination segment Coordination of the policies and activities of the specialized agencies and other bodies of the United Nations system related to the coordinated follow-up to and implementation of the Vienna DeclarationandProgrammeofAction .................................................... 37 Agreed conclusions 1998/2 ............................................................. 37 VII. Humanitarian affairs segment Special economic, humanitarian and disaster relief assistance ............................... 49 Agreed conclusions 1998/1 ............................................................. 49 VIII. General segment A. Integrated and coordinated implementation of and follow-up to major United Nations conferencesandsummits .......................................................... 54 iii B. Coordination,programmeandotherquestions ....................................... 55 1. Reportsofcoordinationbodies ............................................... 57 2. Malariaanddiarrhoealdiseases,inparticularcholera ........................... 57 3. Proposed revisions to the medium-term plan for the period 1998–2001 ............ 59 4. Internationalcooperationinthefieldofinformatics ............................. 59 5. Proclamation of an international year of mountains .............................. 59 6. International Year for the Culture of Peace, 2000 ............................... 60 C. ImplementationofGeneralAssemblyresolutions50/227and52/12B .................. 62 D. Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples by the specialized agencies and the international institutions associated with theUnitedNations ................................................................ 64 E. Regionalcooperation ............................................................. 65 F. Economic and social repercussions of the Israeli occupation on the living conditions of the Palestinian people in the occupied Palestinian territory, including Jerusalem, and the Arab populationintheoccupiedSyrianGolan ............................................ 67 G. Non-governmental organizations ................................................... 68 H. Economic and environmental questions ............................................. 70 1. Sustainabledevelopment ..................................................... 71 2. Naturalresources ........................................................... 75 3. Energy ..................................................................... 75 4. Internationalcooperationintaxmatters ........................................ 75 5. Publicadministrationandfinance ............................................. 76 6. Cartography ................................................................ 76 7. Populationanddevelopment .................................................. 77 I. Socialandhumanrightsquestions .................................................. 78 1. Advancementofwomen ..................................................... 80 2. Socialdevelopment ......................................................... 82 3. Crimepreventionandcriminaljustice ......................................... 82 4. Narcoticdrugs .............................................................. 85 5. UnitedNationsHighCommissionerforRefugees ............................... 85 6. Implementation of the Programme of Action for the Third Decade to Combat Racism andRacialDiscrimination .................................................... 85 7. Humanrights ............................................................... 86 IX. Elections,appointments,nominationsandconfirmations ................................... 96 X. Organizationalmatters ................................................................. 98 A. Action taken by the Council ....................................................... 98 iv B. Proceedings ..................................................................... 98 1. Bureau of the Council ....................................................... 98 2. Agenda of the organizational session for 1998 .................................. 98 3. Basic programme of work for 1998 and 1999 ................................... 99 4. Provisional agenda for the 1998 session of the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations ............................................................... 99 5. Proclamationofinternationalyears ............................................ 99 6. Postponement of consideration of recommendations contained in the report of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on its sixteenth session ....... 99 7. Enlargement of the Executive Committee of the Programme of the United Nations HighCommissionerforRefugees ............................................. 100 8. Agenda of the substantive session of 1998 ..................................... 100 9. Requests by non-governmental organizations for hearings ........................ 100 10. Organizational meeting in 1998 of the Commission on Sustainable Development . 100 11. Dates of sessions of subsidiary bodies of the Economic and Social Council in 1999 . 100 12. Themes for the 1999 substantive session of the Economic and Social Council ...... 100 Annexes I. Agendas of the organizational and resumed organizational sessions for 1998 and the substantive session of 1998 ........................................................................ 101 II. Composition of the Council and its subsidiary and related bodies ............................ 104 III. Intergovernmental organizations designated by the Council under rule 79 of the rules of procedure for participation in the deliberations of the Council on questions within the scope of their activities ......................................................................... 149 v A/53/3 Chapter I Matters calling for action by the General Assembly or brought to its attention In 1998, the Economic and Social Council adopted resolutions and decisions that call for action by the General Assembly. The relevant paragraphs of those resolutions and decisions are summarized below. Proclamation of international years Proclamation of international years By resolution 1998/1, the Council recommended that the General Assembly decide that, starting from the year 1999, proposals for the proclamation of international years should be submitted directly to the Assembly for consideration and action, unless the Assembly decided to bring them to the attention of the Council for evaluation in accordance with the provisions of the guidelines for international years and anniversaries adopted by the General Assembly in its decision 35/424. Adoption of the agenda and other organizational matters Enlargement of the Executive Committee of the Programme of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees By its decision 1998/211, the Council took note of the request regarding the enlargement of the Executive Committee of the Programme of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees contained in the annex to the note verbale dated 14 October 1997 from the Permanent Mission of Mozambique to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General (E/1998/3) and recommended that the Assembly take a decision at its fifty-third session on the question of increasing the membership