Summary: EU Presidency Statement - Mandate Review, Chapter V and VI (New York, 17 May 2006)
Informal Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly on Mandate Review, Chapter V and VI; Statement by Minister Alexander Marschik, Deputy Permanent Representative of Austria to the United Nations, on behalf of the European Union.
Mr Chairman,
I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union. The Acceding Countries Bulgaria and Romania, the Candidate Countries Croatia* and Turkey, the Countries of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidates Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro and the EFTA country Iceland, member of the European Economic Area as well as Ukraine and Moldova align themselves with this statement.
Since today's meeting concludes our general discussion of the report of the Secretary General, it also provides us with a good opportunity to make comments of a general nature before Co-Chairs start drafting their first conclusions. Let me briefly recall the EU's vision of Mandate Review and the way ahead.
Mandate Review is a valuable and necessary stock-taking, aimed at updating and improving the work of the organisation as it becomes ever more operational in its focus. With this goal in mind, we will have to identify and consolidate obsolete, redundant or unnecessarily duplicative mandates. Spare capacities generated in the process should be used for the benefit of our shared priorities, starting with those functions most in need of reinforcement.
We value the inclusiveness and transparency of the process and welcome the active involvement of the Secretariat. Mandate Review should not be overburdened, especially in this first phase, with politically sensitive mandates, nor is it intended as a cost-cutting exercise. We also believe that Mandate Review is complementary to other ongoing reform processes all of which are interlinked and mutually reinforcing.
Meaningful results achieved in this first phase will illustrate the added value of Mandate Review. The EU looks forward to the Secretariat's detailed suggestions on opportunities for consolidation of reporting requirements, on the continued maintenance of the Registry of Mandates as well as on UN observances. The outcome of the first phase should also set up the process for the following phases of Mandate Review in the mid- and long term.
We support the Mandate Review efforts now beginning in the Security Council and in the Economic and Social Council and hope that some decisions can be arrived at in these organs, also in the short term.
Following the invitation of the Co-Chairs, I will now address the substance of the Chapters of the Secretary-General's Report we are discussing today: Chapter V. "Gender Equality and empowerment of women" and Chapter VI. "United Nations research and training institutions".
Chapter V. "Gender Equality and empowerment of women"
Mr Chairman,
Gender equality and empowerment of women is a key cross-cutting issue for all main areas of the UN - international peace and security, humanitarian action, economic and social development, human rights and international law. The gender perspective is essential to understanding all issues dealt with at the UN. We notice with concern, however, that the gender perspective is often ignored even in contexts where it is highly relevant.
The report of the Secretary-General refers to the existence of a large number of general mandates in the area of gender equality, and identifies a need for a thorough review. The EU agrees that some of the mandates included in the mandate registry constitute rather general calls for gender equality and that there seems to be duplication of efforts in some areas.
The Mandate Review process should aim at achieving enhanced sense of responsibility and ownership across the UN system and improve effectiveness of implementation and monitoring of existing commitments towards gender equality. The EU hopes that the continued process will pave the way for more focused mandates which have the potential of strengthening and operationalizing in a more direct way the work of the UN in this field.
The EU agrees with the overall objective of reducing the number of reports - in particular parallel reports on the same, or closely related, subjects - to different UN bodies. At the same time, the EU emphasises the importance of treating gender equality as a cross-cutting issue relevant to all sectors and of mainstreaming a gender perspective in all sectors. We have to be especially careful not to streamline away action-oriented reports and contributions to cross-cutting issues from different
relevant perspectives.
The EU has noted with interest the proposal in the report to - as a measure in the short term - consolidate some reports on the status of women and supports further exploration by the Secretariat of the possibility of consolidating reports in different areas of the status of women with a clear purpose of strengthening the impact of these reports on the operational activities of the UN. The EU believes that the examples given by the Secretary-General in his report clearly demonstrate that in
specific cases the consolidation of reports could be useful. However, streamlining of reporting mandates should not take place at the expense of substance and thematic variety. The forthcoming in-depth study by the Secretary-General on violence against women could serve as a model.
When it comes to the UN's operational ability to take concrete action to promote gender equality and to improve the lives of women, the Secretary-General's report raises a number of critical and challenging issues, including the question of the status of the institutional architecture in this area. The report calls for a comprehensive review of institutional resources for gender equality and an evaluation of successes and failures in gender mainstreaming "if there is to be meaningful progress
towards the achievement of global goals".
The commitment of our leaders in the World Summit Outcome to strengthen the capabilities of the UN system in the area of gender equality, both at the political and at the operational or field level, is of central importance to the EU.
The EU therefore welcomes the decision of the Secretary-General to ask the High-level Panel on System-wide coherence to consider how gender equality can be better and more fully addressed by the UN. In this regard, ownership at all management levels - including the highest level - is key to the effective implementation of gender mainstreaming in all UN-entities The EU looks forward to the recommendations by the panel in this regard, and stands ready to engage in further deliberations on this
issue.
Chapter VI. "United Nations research and training institutions".
Mr. Chairman,
As regards Chapter VI on "UN research and training institutions" let me briefly outline the view shared by the EU.
Efficient and relevant research and training facilities are of key importance for the United Nations. The EU welcomes the review of mandates in the field of UN research and training institutes and emphasizes the need to develop an updated and efficiently functioning global system of UN research and training institutes. The EU supports the Secretary-General's efforts in this matter.
Mandate Review in this field should therefore aim at developing a more coherent framework of UN research and training institutes based on principles of complementarity, coordination and cooperation. In the short term, we support efforts to strengthen the institutes' comparative advantages and make maximum use of synergies among them while in the medium term the institutes' activities should be part of and embedded in a common UN policy on research and training.
As identified in the Secretary-General's report, the present system suffers from deficiencies in coordination and cooperation, lack of rationalization, ambiguity in the lines of accountability and lack of an effective impact evaluation. The EU supports the Secretary-General's proposals regarding improvement of coordination and cooperation between the institutes and other UN entities. We particularly support the idea of producing and maintaining - by a body yet to be determined - a detailed list
of the projects carried out by all UN training and research institutes before the initiation of new projects. In this regard the role and mandate of the UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) should be further examined.
With regard to coordination the EU welcomes efforts to actively enhance the networking mechanisms between the research and training institutions, international organizations and the academic world. Internet-based networks and electronic discussion forums should be actively used in order to facilitate better coordination between entities spread around the world.
Finally, the EU recognizes the need to facilitate coherent oversight and evaluation of work and supports the Secretary-General's proposal regarding the streamlining of reporting practices. To this end we would welcome a joint consideration on a biannual basis of the reports of the UN University (UNU), UNITAR and the UN System Staff College under one agenda item in the Economic and Social Council.
Mr Chairman,
In concluding, the EU encourages the Co-Chairs to make bold proposals on substantive decisions to be taken in the short term as well as on the continuation of the Mandate Review process. The EU stands ready to work constructively towards a United Nations that performs better for the benefit of all member states.
*Croatia continues to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.
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