Vol. 567 No. 7
75 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if, in preparations for Ireland's holding of the EU Presidency in 2004, he will consider using the Government's representative position during the presidency at the summit of G8 leaders to promote the establishment of a United Nations permanent economic and social council as a mechanism for monitoring global economic and social development. [10599/03]
Under the UN Charter, the Economic and Social Council, known as ECOSOC, 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 co-operation; and encouraging universal respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. ECOSOC has taken a lead role in key policy areas in recent years. For example, at recent annual sessions, Ministers have proposed specific actions to address the digital divide which are currently being acted upon by the international community and by the UN system. In 2002 ECOSOC gave the first formal international endorsement of the New Partnership for Africa's Development, NEPAD. At this year's annual ECOSOC meeting, Ministers will consider how to promote an integrated approach to rural development for poverty eradication and sustainable development. There have been several reforms in recent years, including by the UN Secretary General, which have resulted in the streamlining of ECOSOC's working methods and making its work programme more relevant. These have included efforts to bring the Council closer to the Bretton Woods Institutions. ECOSOC has since 1998 held a high level meeting each April with the Finance Ministers who chair key committees at the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund and with the chair of the General Council of the WTO. Any more fundamental changes leading to a substantial alteration of the Council's mandate would require amendments to the relevant provisions of the UN Charter. Ireland has been elected by the General Assembly to take up a three-year term on the 54 member council from 2003-2005. We will use our membership to continue to support the efficient and effective functioning of ECOSOC in accordance with its mandate under the UN Charter. The issue of ECOSOC's transformation into a permanent economic and security council has been discussed from time to time at the UN, most recently in the debate at the International Conference on Financing for Development – April 2002. There has, to date, been no consensus on the proposal. Ireland believes that the UN General Assembly, to which ECOSOC reports, which includes all member states of the UN is the appropriate forum for high level debate on the issues which fall within ECOSOC's remit. We are not convinced that the proposal to establish a permanent economic and social council is either politically achievable or necessary. Such a body would, in our view, conflict with the present role of the General Assembly and would not necessarily be in the interests of all UN member states, particularly small member states. Instead we prefer to work for improved coherence between the UN, including ECOSOC, the Bretton Woods Institutions and the World Trade Organisation. The International Conference on Financing for Development agreed measures to strengthen this coherence to which all of the relevant institutions have subscribed and which are now being implemented. Efforts to strengthen coherence between these institutions were examined at a special high level meeting including ECOSOC, the Bretton Woods Institutions and the WTO in New York in April 2003 and will be considered further at a ministerial meeting during the General Assembly in October 2003.
