Strengthening ECOSOC To Improve U.N. System

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UNITED NATIONS, Oct 5 2012 (IPS) - A special ministerial meeting of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) has reaffirmed the key role the Council will play in the implementation of the Rio+20 outcome document “The Future We Want”.

“We support a change which should happen in the coming years. It’s a very propitious time to talk on effective multilateralism with increasing demands. The U.N. should be at the centre of that exercise,”  Navid Hanif, Director of the Office for ECOSOC Support and Coordination, told IPS.

The ECOSOC serves as an essential forum to address policy recommendations to member states and the U.N. system about the world’s economic, social and environmental issues.

The ministerial meeting, which took place last month, is the first step to develop this system, Hanif explained, whereas achieving stronger multilateralism and focusing on the outcome of practical actions will have to be the second and third steps.

Currently, the Council is responsible for some 70 percent of the human and financial resources of the entire U.N. system, including 14 specialized agencies, nine “functional” commissions, and five regional commissions.

The world leaders, who participated in the meeting, acknowledged the importance of an inclusive, strengthened and effective multilateral system to better address the urgent global challenges of sustainable development.

A statement prepared by the Council’s Bureau on the theme,  “Building the Future We Want”, said:  “We reaffirm the key role of ECOSOC as a central mechanism for the coordination of the United Nations system and in promoting a strengthened multilateral system; achieving a balanced integration of the three dimensions of sustainable development; and serving as a forum for multi-stakeholder involvement”, according to

The ministerial meeting was a follow-up to the U.N.  Conference on Sustainable Development  (Rio+20) last June,  which called for a strengthened Council.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told delegates the Council could make important contributions to coordinated action on the global job crisis, avoid a new recession; ensure that donor countries honour their commitments to help the developing world achieve the Millennium Development Goals in reducing poverty and other global ills by 2015;  put food security at the top of the agenda;  achieve inclusive, environmentally sustainable growth and conclude the Doha talks on trade and development.”

He said a strengthened multilateral system must be able to address immediate concerns, as well as broad sustainable development challenges — from poverty, high unemployment and food insecurity to biodiversity loss and climate change.

“That means being coherent and coordinated”, he stressed.  It was particularly important to ensure that the post-2015 development agenda was defined as a single global development framework with sustainable development as its core.

“This is an opportunity to show that the multilateral system for development works”, he added.

Even if ECOSOC met during the full-crisis from 2008, “the key is the availability of  member states to know what is coming,” Hanif said.

“We also need leadership from member states which should give initiatives. It is not only commitments by the system but that means commitments by member states and other stakeholders. You can’t resolve crises without engaging people,” he stressed.

However, Hanif said an important way to strengthen the role of ECOSOC in the future is to focus on technology to collect data and use them very strategically and  to make sure results have an impact.

“We are at the crossroads of a big change that is coming because of real outcomes and the need for a stronger multilateralism. So, the timing is opportune,” concluded Hanif.