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GB.271/8/1
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EIGHTH ITEM ON THE AGENDA
Developments in the United Nations in 1997-98
1. A general discussion is foreseen once a year in the Governing Body on developments in the United Nations system. Like previous such papers submitted to the Governing Body at its 259th, 262nd, 265th and 268th Sessions,(1) the present paper gives a concise overview of activities in the United Nations system that have a direct bearing on the ILO's involvement in that system, with particular attention to the ILO's own active participation. It is divided into three sections, concerning major issues and events in the General Assembly, action on priority concerns of the ILO, and ILO contributions to the regular sessions of various UN bodies.
Major issues in the General Assembly
2. The dominant issue for the past year has clearly been the reform of the United Nations, based on proposals put forward by the new Secretary-General. He did this in two phases. First, he announced a set of reforms(2) (the so-called "Track One" proposals) in March 1997 which could be implemented immediately. Several months later he put together a more far-reaching set of proposals, which he subsequently submitted to the 51st Session of the General Assembly in July 1997 in the form of a formal report entitled "Renewing the United Nations: A programme for reform"(3) (the so-called "Track Two" proposals). This report contained a broadened set of measures that the Secretary-General was undertaking on his own initiative, as well as complementary measures that were in the jurisdiction of member States, some of which were proposed for prompt consideration, while others were intended for possible action in the longer term.
3. The General Assembly had been encouraging a number of earlier initiatives on reform, notably the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group of the General Assembly on An Agenda for Development and the Open-ended High-level Working Group on the Strengthening of the United Nations System, both of which were covered by the paper submitted to the Governing Body at its 265th Session (March 1996).(4) Attention shifted in 1997 to the new Secretary-General's initiatives. These two groups completed their work just prior to the announcement of the Track Two proposals. As regards the Agenda for Development, this entailed its adoption at a special meeting of the General Assembly on 20 June 1997, thereby providing the Secretary-General with the basis for an integrated approach to key development issues and a common and consistent framework for implementing and reviewing the commitments on development issues adopted at the various global conferences of recent years. The High-level Working Group also submitted its ideas, albeit less formally, to the Secretary-General. The work of these groups has hence served as an important source for the initiatives put forward by the Secretary-General. The General Assembly then began to debate these Track Two proposals at the beginning of its 52nd Session, and at the end of the year adopted two resolutions.(5) Many issues remain unresolved, as expected, but the momentum has continued to be in favour of the Secretary-General's proposals. Because the proposals have several important implications for the ILO, they are discussed in a separate paper.(6)
4. The financial situation of the United Nations continued to be an important concern during the past year. The situation is still precarious due to the late and non-payment of assessed contributions and consequently substantial arrears. The issue was closely linked to the reform effort in the highly publicized deliberations of the US Congress to work out an arrangement for the United States to pay its arrears to the UN in tandem with a congressionally-prescribed set of UN reforms. This was further complicated by proposals for a revision in the scale of assessments. The UN High-level Open-ended Working Group on the Financial Situation of the United Nations continued its work through the year without reaching agreement on this issue. Furthermore, with the failure of the arrears package to pass through Congress before it adjourned for the year, the Fifth Committee (Budgetary and Administrative) concluded its own discussions on the UN scale of assessments for the period 1998-2000 by approving a resolution which retained the ceiling assessment of 25 per cent but lowered the floor assessment to 0.001 per cent. However, the Committee has agreed to consider revising the scales, at its resumed 52nd Session in 1998, in the light of all relevant factors, including periodic reports of the Secretary-General on the status of member States' contributions, revising the scale for the years 1999 and 2000.
5. Among the special events at the UN in 1997 was a special session of the General Assembly on Rio+5, convened in New York in June 1997 as the forum for the UN's five-year review of progress made in follow-up on commitments made at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED, Rio de Janeiro, June 1992). The ILO had not served as a task manager or in any other leadership capacity with regard to follow-up activities on UNCED. ILO participation was therefore very limited, but the ILO did present a statement at the Special Session in support of sustainable development through employment and the advancement of basic workers' rights, and reaffirmed the ILO's commitment to occupational health and safety concerns. The ILO also participated in the preparatory meetings leading up to the Special Session in order to highlight these concerns, and technical experts from the Occupational Safety and Health Branch were included in the delegation to the Special Session. A similar special session of the General Assembly is anticipated for follow-up on the World Summit for Social Development in the year 2000.
6. On 10 December 1997, the General Assembly marked the beginning of another special event, the 50th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The celebration was launched in the UN by the Secretary-General and the President of the General Assembly, and a resolution on the 50th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the General Assembly which included plans to make use of the anniversary during 1998 to draw worldwide attention to human rights.(7) It calls on all UN agencies, including the ILO, to mark the anniversary by intensifying their own contributions as part of the United Nations system-wide efforts to promote and protect all human rights and fundamental freedoms. The resolution also recognizes the importance of linking this anniversary with the five-year implementation review of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, which will not be the subject of a special session of the General Assembly, but which will receive special attention in the regular sessions of the Economic and Social Council as well as the General Assembly in 1998.
7. To support this special anniversary, ILO activities in the field of human rights within the mandate of the ILO have been presented in testimony before the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural), including plans by the Organization to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), the cornerstone of the ILO's own fundamental rights instruments. The ILO has continued to supply information about its human rights-related activities and about the linkages between the Universal Declaration and its own Conventions and activities, and also to support the Secretary-General's efforts to "mainstream" human rights into all operations of the UN system. Thus, for example, the ILO's Director-General has accepted an invitation to engage in a round-table discussion in mid-March 1998 by heads of UN agencies, under the leadership of the Secretary-General, on mainstreaming human rights into the UN system.
Priority concerns of the ILO
8. The ILO's leadership role in the promotion of full and productive employment through its involvement in follow-up on the World Summit for Social Development continues to be a priority in terms of activities undertaken by the ILO within the UN system. As reported to the Governing Body at its 268th Session (March 1997), the ILO chaired the ACC Task Force on Full Employment and Sustainable Livelihoods. This was one of three inter-agency Task Forces established by the Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC) in October 1995 to coordinate UN-system follow-up on cross-cutting themes from major international conferences. In its capacity as Chair of the Employment Task Force, the ILO organized a country employment policy review process, as reported previously, and concluded its work with a synthesis report featuring conclusions from these country reviews. A preliminary analysis of the review exercise was reported to the Committee on Employment and Social Policy at the Governing Body's 268th Session in March 1997.(8) The final Synthesis Report was presented to the ACC at its April 1997 meeting and was subsequently made available to the Governing Body's Committee on Employment and Social Policy in November 1997.(9)
9. The ACC reviewed the work of the three Task Forces at its October 1997 meeting when the two other inter-agency Task Forces set up by the ACC had completed their work. As also reported to the Governing Body in 1997, the ILO was also associated with the activities of these other Task Forces. With respect to the Inter-Agency Task Force on an Enabling Environment for Economic and Social Development, which was chaired by the World Bank, the ILO was responsible for carrying out one of the five country case studies (Hungary) undertaken within the framework of the Working Group on Macroeconomic and Social Framework, and contributed to the deliberations of the other Working Group on Capacity-building for Governance set up by the same Task Force. As a member of the Task Force on Basic Social Services for All, chaired by the UNFPA, the ILO served as the convenor of a Working Group on International Migration and provided input to a series of case-studies on the "Lessons Learned in the Financing and Provision of Basic Social Services". These Task Forces then submitted their final reports in time for the October 1997 meeting of the ACC. A subsequent assessment by the ILO of the activities concerning follow-up implementation of the ILO-led Task Force was also submitted to the ACC at its October 1997 meeting. Based on these submissions, the ACC was able to form a common overview of the lessons learned from the experience of all three Task Forces. These included an acknowledgement that the participants in the Task Forces had benefited from agreement on common objectives but continued to have certain policy differences, and a strong statement in favour of reliance on the expertise of the respective agencies, funds and programmes, through less structured coordination arrangements and involving only those members of the ACC with a direct interest in each cross-cutting issue or theme.
10. The ACC and ECOSOC have continued to draw on the experience of the Task Forces. An inter-agency workshop on field-level follow-up on the global conferences was held at the Turin Centre in December 1997, in which the ILO played a leading role by virtue of its having chaired the Task Force on Full Employment and Sustainable Livelihoods. The ILO will also play a featured role in the forthcoming Special Session of ECOSOC on coordinated follow-up on the global conferences, which will take place in New York from 13 to 15 May 1998. The ILO-led Working Group on International Migration of the Task Force on Basic Social Services for All has been responsible for preparations for a Technical Symposium on International Migration, to be held in The Hague in July 1998, as a follow-up activity of that Task Force. Finally, the Task Forces have served as a basis for the Secretary-General's proposal, included in his Track Two package, to coordinate UN-system activities through a new "issue management system" within the ACC. Therefore, even though the Task Forces have been disbanded, the ILO continues to be called upon to participate in activities related to their work.
11. Follow-up on the World Summit for Social Development continues to offer an important framework for the advancement of ILO priorities and leadership in other forums of the UN system: the ILO served as task manager for the priority theme of full employment and sustainable livelihoods at the 1997 session of the Commission on Social Development (discussed more fully in paragraph 15 below). The ILO also played a lead role in a seminar organized by the Division for Social Policy and Development of the UN's Department of Economic and Social Affairs, which featured the ILO's World Employment 1996-97: National policies in a global context as the centrepiece. The principal author of the report discussed its main findings and engaged in a well-received discussion on a range of employment issues with employment and labour market specialists before an audience including strong representation from the permanent missions to the UN.
12. Another important ILO concern that has arisen in the General Assembly is the subject of child labour. Working with the Third Committee of the General Assembly, the ILO has provided information on ongoing and planned ILO programmes and activities in this area, including the various international conferences and meetings in which the ILO participated. In particular, the ILO has emphasized its leadership in the development of a new instrument on child labour, which will be discussed at the International Labour Conference in 1998 and 1999. When the Third Committee then adopted a Resolution on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of the Child, this ILO work featured prominently. The ILO has also worked closely with other specific parts of the UN system, such as UNICEF, with which the ILO has a cooperation agreement and which has its own mandate on the rights of children.
13. As regards women's rights and gender issues, the ILO continued to support the Commission on the Status of Women and joined with others in supporting the newly formed ACC Inter-Agency Committee on Women and Gender Equality. This Committee is intended to be a permanent feature of the ACC, and has the mandate of coordinating follow-up on the Fourth World Conference on Women. The Committee met several times during 1997 to discuss issues of particular relevance to gender equality and mainstreaming in the UN system, including a special meeting of gender focal points hosted by the ILO in Geneva. The Committee has also been briefed on the ILO's action programme on More and Better Jobs for Women and has received the recent ILO publication, Breaking through the glass ceiling: Women in management. At the 1997 session of the Economic and Social Council, the ILO also participated in a special panel discussion on mainstreaming of gender concerns throughout the UN system.
14. With regard to the UN's Special Initiative for Africa, the ILO has played a leadership role on employment creation issues through its involvement in the Jobs for Africa programme. The ILO report on A Policy Framework for an Employment-Intensive Growth Strategy, prepared within the framework of this programme, was successfully launched at the end of 1997. A briefing session on the Jobs for Africa programme was organized at the UN jointly by the ILO and UNDP on 5 December 1997, and additional collaborative activities concerning the Special Initiative on Africa, involving the ILO, the UN and UNDP are envisaged in 1998.
ILO participation in major UN-sponsored sessions
15. In addition to focusing on specific issues, the ILO has been an active participant in a number of regular meetings of UN-based entities. The first of these, the 35th Session of the Commission for Social Development took place in New York from 25 February to 6 March 1997. As reported to the Governing Body last year, this session was extremely important because its priority theme was"Productive employment and sustainable livelihoods", and the ILO served as task manager to prepare the Secretary-General's Report on this theme for submission to the Commission. At the session itself, the ILO opened the general debate on this theme and worked with the UN Secretariat to organize several panel discussions on the theme, including one moderated by the Director-General. During the general debate, several delegations mentioned issues contained in the document prepared by the ILO and praised the Office for the quality of its work and for the substantive recommendations contained in it. In the conclusions of the Commission's 1997 session, the ILO was instrumental in assuring that the Commission called upon all countries and the international community to reinstate the attainment of full, productive, appropriately and adequately remunerated, freely chosen employment as a central objective of economic and social policies. The ILO also provided technical representation on the rights of disabled workers for the Commission's deliberations on the rights of the disabled, which was one of the subsidiary themes of the Commission's 1997 agenda. These ILO concerns also featured prominently in the Commission's conclusions.
16. More recently, the 1998 Session of the Commission for Social Development was held in New York from 10 to 18 February. Because the Commission has responsibility within the UN system for follow-up on the Social Summit, it is an important arena for the articulation of ILO concerns even when it addresses priority themes other than full employment and sustainable livelihoods. The priority themes for 1998 were the promotion of social integration and popular participation. Thus, the ILO contributed to the preparatory work, participated with the World Bank and UNDP in a round-table discussion on social exclusion and poverty alleviation for the Commission, and presented a statement at the opening of the general debate on this priority theme. Most importantly, the ILO participated actively in the negotiations involving the Commission's conclusions, which specifically endorsed ILO objectives and concerns in the areas of productive employment, core labour standards and child labour. The Commission also agreed that its 1999 session should focus both on the priority theme of "social services for all" and on the initiation of the overall review of the outcome of the Social Summit, which is itself scheduled to be the focus of a special session of the General Assembly in the year 2000. Since the General Assembly has set up its own Preparatory Committee for the Special Session of the General Assembly on an overall review and appraisal of the implementation of the outcome of the World Summit for Social Development, the Commission expects to receive a report of this Preparatory Committee's work at its 1999 session.
17. As is the normal practice for odd-numbered years, the Substantive Session of the UN's Economic and Social Council was held in Geneva from 30 June to 25 July 1997. (In even-numbered years, the Council meets in New York.) The ILO was very active during this substantive session. The Director-General made a statement during the high-level ministerial meeting, mentioning in particular his report to the 1997 International Labour Conference and stressing the need to coordinate economic and social policies in order to benefit fully from the globalization process. This was in line with the theme of the high-level segment on Fostering an enabling environment for development: financial flows; including capital flows, investment, trade at which the UN Secretary-General participated with the heads and senior officials of the IMF, the World Bank, the WTO and UNCTAD. During this high-level debate, the link between international labour standards and the liberalization of trade was raised by several delegations, WTO and UNCTAD. On each occasion, the speakers referred to the ILO and to Article IV of the Singapore Ministerial Declaration of the WTO. At the end of the high-level segment, for the first time ever the Council adopted agreed conclusions. Among these conclusions, the Council expressed concern at the gap between developed and developing countries, as well as its concern that favourable economic growth has not been spread widely enough. Globalization was also seen by the Council as a process that may cause marginalization, especially for least developed countries, which lack the necessary elements to compete effectively in international markets. Thus, the issues raised by the ILO in this policy dialogue were reflected in the conclusions.
18. In addition to this policy dialogue, during its general segment the Council discussed integrated follow-up on the major United Nations Conferences, and the ILO, as Chair of the Task Force on Full Employment and Sustainable Livelihoods, participated in a panel discussion on the lessons learned from the experience of the three ACC Task Forces. Emphasis was placed on the importance of working with existing institutions and coordination mechanisms for follow-up on major UN Conferences. The Office was also represented at a panel discussion on mainstreaming the gender perspective in all policies and programmes in the UN system, and made a statement during the operational activities segment.
19. Finally, with regard to the ACC, and in addition to the substantive work of the three Task Forces discussed above, the ILO was a supportive participant in a number of other initiatives. At the April session of the ACC, the focus was on peace-building and the adoption of a system-wide statement on Universal Access to Information Technology. Following the ACC meeting, the ILO hosted, with strong support from the Government of Italy, a special ceremony for all ACC members on the inauguration of the UN Staff College Project at the Turin Centre. The October 1997 session of ACC included an agenda item of major interest to the ILO on the Relationship between the United Nations system and civil society, including the private sector -- Handling the global agenda with non-State actors. The inclusion of this item reflected the increasing recognition by the UN system as a whole of the growing significance and impact of the role of civil society, including the private sector, on the achievement of the objectives of UN-system agencies. It should also be recalled that interaction between the UN system and civil society constitutes an important component of the Secretary-General's reform programme. The October ACC session provided an opportunity for the Director-General to play a leading role and make a significant contribution on the discussions, given the ILO's unique experience within the UN system of having tripartite representation in its decision-making organs, as well as its own extensive country-level experience in providing technical assistance in the field of social dialogue, employment promotion, enterprise development and the protection of workers' rights.
20. Prior to the formal ACC session, the Director-General participated actively in an informal dialogue with international business leaders, initiated by the UN Secretary-General with the Prince of Wales Business Leaders Forum, to consider ways to develop a partnership between the UN-system agencies and business. During the formal session of the ACC, the Director-General spoke about the ILO's tripartite structure and its close relationship, of an institutional nature, with the private sector, which is instrumental in resolving labour problems and social questions and in laying the foundations for the active participation of the social partners in national development programmes. The Director-General also drew important lessons from the ILO's experience in dealing with enterprises, including multinationals, and on their role, which extends beyond their economic function and has a direct impact on labour and social issues. The Director-General's statement to the executive heads of UN agencies also emphasized the need, in the context of globalization, to highlight the importance of industrial relations involving enterprises and trade unions, and stated that, based on the experience of the ILO, dialogue with the private sector "should not be of an occasional or fragmented nature, but rather be permanent and organized". The Director-General's participation in the October 1997 session of the ACC in connection with this item was reported to the Governing Body in November 1997.(10)
21. As follow-up on the ACC discussions on relations between the UN and business, and in recognition of ILO's experience with tripartite participation, the Secretary-General requested the Director-General to organize a meeting involving senior managers from both international business and the UN system, to examine how the private sector can contribute to the UN agenda in the context of the Secretary-General's initiatives toward business. Preparations by the ILO are now under way, in consultation with the Prince of Wales Business Leaders Forum, to organize such a meeting at its International Training Centre in Turin, under the auspices of the UN Staff College, which is scheduled to take place in May 1998.
Geneva, 3 March 1998.
1 GB.259/5/9; GB.262/5; GB.265/5; GB.268/5.
2 A/INF/51/6.
3 A/51/950.
4 GB.265/5.
5 Resolution 52/12 A of 12 Nov. 1997 and resolution 52/12 B of 19 Dec. 1997.
7 Resolution 52/117 of 12 Dec. 1997.
9 GB.270/ESP/1/1. Further discussion of the recommendations concerning the key areas for future action at the national level identified in the Synthesis Report is foreseen in the Committee on Employment and Social Policy at the Governing Body's present session.