Economic and Social Council
Topic B: Peacebuilding and post-conflict recovery: ad hoc advisory group
The United Nations has been at the center of expanding international peacebuilding efforts, from the verification of peace agreements in southern Africa, Central America and Cambodia in the 1990s, to subsequent efforts to consolidate peace and strengthen states in the Balkans, Timor-Leste, and West Africa, and to contemporary operations in Afghanistan, Haiti and Sudan.
Knowing that the UN needs to improve anticipation and respond to the challenges of peacebuilding. It’s also important to extend the period of international attention on post-conflict countries and, where necessary, highlight any gaps which threaten to undermine peacebuilding. ECOSOC endorsed the decision of the UN Human Rights Commission to send a team to Timor-Leste to investigate human rights violations, through the United Nations Transitional Administration in Timor-Leste and the United Nations Mission of Support in Timor-Leste.
In 2002, the Council established the ECOSOC Ad Hoc Advisory Groups to help define long-term programmes of support for countries emerging from conflict. It’s ECOSOC’s role to provide advice to Haiti on a long-term development strategy to promote socioeconomic recovery and stability. The Secretary-General noted on the integrated, coherent and coordinated support implementation to South Sudan and requested that another report on the subject be submitted for ECOSOC’s consideration at its substantive session of 2013.
This topic aims to discuss about ECOSOC’s role in peacebuilding and how it affects and creates precedent to other actions on this field, comparing actions in Haiti, Timor-Leste and South Sudan.
Topic A: The Sustainability of External Debt
Since 2002 with the International Conference on Financing for Development, the international community has made a number of agreements and commitments depicted in the final document entitled "Monterrey Consensus" as well as in its follow up “Doha Declaration” both for the purpose to achieve sustainable progress in the economic and social fields towards the UN Millennium Development Goals already planned for 2015. In short words, such measures include the mobilization of domestic resources represented in the proper management of domestic savings, the increase of trade liberalization as an engine for development, improvement of infrastructure and the creation of an environment to attract both local and foreign investment, technical cooperation and lastly, financial aid represented by a donation of 0.7% of GDP of developed countries to less developed countries.
However, the spectrum of these measures makes room for skepticism about its effectiveness. In the midst a backdrop of international financial crises, the slow global growth and the reduction of aid flows constitute threats to debt sustainability. We can observe a vicious circle in taking loans, the adjustment policies practiced by banks and international credit agencies results in an internal scenario potentially recessive for debtors, preventing a lasting solution. Data confirm that many highly indebted poor countries remain in a state of indebtedness or subjected, and the help they got in the past years has not contributed to their sustainability, clearly demonstrating vulnerabilities in this regard. Recently we have seen the creation of regional banks to greatly mitigate this effect. Other bad point is The Official Development Assistance that suffers budget pressures and is not being fulfilled by most rich countries.
In these aspects, the ECOSOC members will meet at the annual high-level meeting to discuss the implementation of the Monterrey Consensus, the current condition of the external debt of poor countries, the importance of innovative methods of financing, the historical measures already implemented and other relevant matters.
The Economy and Social Council (ECOSOC) was established in 1945 by the UN Charter, chapter X, and serves as the central forum for discussing international economic and social issues, and for formulating policy recommendations addressed to Member States and the United Nations system (UN DSPD, 2011). It is responsible for promoting higher standards of living, full employment, and economic and social progress; identifying solutions to international economic, social and health problems; facilitating international cultural and educational cooperation; and encouraging universal respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms (UN Charter, IX Chapter, 1945). It has the power to make or initiate studies and reports on these issues. It also has the power to assist the preparations and organization of major international conferences in the economic and social and related fields and to facilitate a coordinated follow-up to these conferences.
ECOSOC has 54 members, all of whom are elected by the General Assembly for a three-year term. Seats on the Council are allotted based on geographical representation with fourteen allocated to African States, eleven to Asian States, six to Eastern European States, ten to Latin American and Caribbean States, and thirteen to Western European and other States.
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