[Title] Road map towards the implementation of the United Nations Millennium Declaration:Report of the Secretary-General (A/56/326)

A/56/326

Distr.: General

6 September 2001

Original: English

Fifty-sixth session

Item 40 of the provisional agenda*

Follow-up to the outcome of the Millennium Summit

Road map towards the implementation of the United Nations Millennium Declaration

Report of the Secretary-General

{* A/56/150.}

Executive summary

The road map towards the implementation of the United Nations Millennium Declaration contains an integrated and comprehensive overview of the current situation. It outlines potential strategies for action that are designed to meet the goals and commitments made by the 147 heads of State and Government, and 189 Member States in total, who adopted the Millennium Declaration.

The report addresses fully each and every one of the goals and commitments contained in the Millennium Declaration, suggests paths to follow and shares information on "best practices". It draws on the work of Governments, the entire United Nations system, including the Bretton Woods institutions and the World Trade Organization, intergovernmental organizations, international organizations, regional organizations and civil society.

In section II, "Peace, security and disarmament", the report outlines measures that will help promote human security, including:

- Strengthening the rule of law and taking action against transnational crime: the international community, including the United Nations, will continue to assist States in ratifying treaties, harmonizing their domestic laws with international obligations, widening the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice and promoting the rapid entry into force of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court;

- Taking action when the rule of law fails: the international community often finds itself with responsibilities ranging from preventing violent conflict to deploying peacekeeping operations and peace-building missions, often while working with regional organization partners. These challenges require action to:

(a) Replace the culture of reaction by one of prevention, as reflected in measures designed to limit armed conflict that include preventive arms control and marking and tracking "blood diamonds";

(b) Complete the significant management reforms under way in United Nations peacekeeping, which include filling new posts and developing a 30-to- 90-day deployment capability;

(c) Support peace-building efforts on the ground and enhance the coordination of all the actors involved in disarmament, demobilization and reintegration, while providing the electoral assistance and promoting the reconciliation that a sustainable peace requires;

- Reforming sanctions. Although sanctions can be important instruments of Security Council action, progress must continue to be made in making sanctions "targeted", ensuring that they become more effective and that their impact on civilians is further reduced;

- Finally, making progress in disarmament in all areas, including weapons of mass destruction, landmines and small arms: next steps involve implementing existing conventions, working to develop regional mechanisms to identify, trace and halt illicit traffic in weapons, and supporting civil society advocacy efforts.

Section III, "Development and poverty eradication: the millennium development goals", focuses on sustainable development through poverty eradication, emphasizing the importance of halving the number of people who currently live on one dollar a day or less. Any effort to achieve sustainable development demands a concerted effort to reduce poverty, including finding solutions to hunger, malnutrition and disease. To achieve progress, the developing countries will need the political and financial commitment of their richer country partners. The international community should continue to operate on many fronts to reach these goals:

- Since the scourge of HIV/AIDS and other diseases has a devastating impact on every effort to lift people out of poverty, the Global AIDS and Health Fund is thus both a campaign to improve health and part of an essential strategy to achieve sustainable development;

- Given that all the issues around poverty are interconnected and demand cross- cutting solutions, such measures as the "School meals" and "Take home rations" programmes can have multiple benefits that extend beyond nutritional assistance. Education provides the skills that can lift families out of extreme poverty and preserve community health. In particular, when society facilitates girls' empowerment through education, the eventual impact on their and their families' daily lives is unequalled;

- People-centred initiatives are crucial but must be supplemented with sound national policies, such as responsible social spending programmes, as well as improvements in governance, infrastructure and institution-building, such as those included in establishing property rights for the poor;

- Wealthier nations must adhere to their promises regarding official development assistance, trade access and debt sustainability, all of which are important items on the agenda of the upcoming International Conference on Financing for Development;

- For the 49 least developed countries, the next steps are implementing a global version of the European "Everything but arms" trade programme; increasing official development assistance; fully implementing the enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative and pursuing measures to promote the cancellation of official bilateral debt;

- Landlocked and small island developing countries are subject to special vulnerabilities that need to be addressed through support to the Global Framework for Transit-Transport Cooperation between landlocked and transit developing countries and the donor community and through the implementation of the Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States;

- Lastly, the Information and Communications Technologies Task Force, which is to meet in September 2001, will take steps to begin the bridging of the digital divide.

Section IV, "Protecting our common environment", describes the devastating impact that our changing climate is having on the Earth and the consequent necessity of a vigilant approach to conservation and stewardship. It is time to reverse the growing environmental damage that is occurring because of global warming, deforestation, the decimation of biodiversity, soil erosion and desertification, reduction in water tables and the increase in natural disasters. Essential actions include:

- Completing the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol as the next key step towards curbing greenhouse gas emissions;

- Enhancing cooperation and coordination on forest-related issues among relevant international and regional organizations, as well as public-private partners;

- Implementing the Convention on Biological Diversity and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa;

- Supporting initiatives towards environmentally sound water management;

- Adopting strategies to reduce the impact of natural disasters;

- Respecting the principles of human dignity as research continues on the human genome.

Section V, "Human rights, democracy and good governance", reaffirms that fundamental human rights are the foundation of human dignity and must be protected. It outlines the power of democracy to effect change and empower citizens, and reaffirms the need to work collectively for more inclusive political processes, with genuine political participation. Strategies for moving forward include:

- Fostering national human rights institutions;

- Supporting the practical application of a rights-based approach to development;

- Providing electoral assistance to help consolidate new and restored democracies and work to implement democratic principles through institutional reform programmes;

- Encouraging the further ratification and implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women;

- Working to protect the rights of migrants and their families;

- Helping to ensure the freedom and independence of the media.

Section VI, "Protecting the vulnerable", focuses on those groups, in particular women and children, that are forced into situations of displacement and abuse because of complex humanitarian emergencies. The changing nature of war has left these groups highly exposed, and both State and non-State actors need to respect the wealth of international laws and frameworks that exist to ensure the protection of civilians, refugees and the internally displaced. The report identifies practical measures that can be taken to provide protection to civilians, including through prosecuting violations of international criminal law, gaining access to vulnerable populations, and separating civilians and armed elements in situations of forced displacement. Essential next steps include:

- Fostering a culture of protection through the consistent use of international criminal law;

- Providing protection for refugees and internally displaced persons and continuing to disseminate international standards such as the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement;

- Supporting national efforts to implement fully the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Optional Protocols, and providing special assistance to halt the use of children as soldiers.

Section VII, "Meeting the special needs of Africa", addresses the challenges posed by extreme poverty, devastating debt burdens, disease, conflict and wavering international interest. Some of those problems are general to developing countries, but Africa suffers particularly from its marginalization in the process of globalization. Africa's share in trade, investment and advances in technology have diminished further over the last decade. But African leadership has galvanized local and international support for a range of initiatives and strategies for moving forward in the following arenas:

- Supporting the New African Initiative as it affects all sectors;

- Strengthening democratic governance;

- Building peacekeeping capacity further, in cooperation with regional organizations;

- Working for sustainable development by increasing official development assistance, enhancing private capital flows and building capacities for trade;

- Forming partnerships in response to the Abuja Summit Declaration in order to combat HIV/AIDS.

Section VIII, "Strengthening the United Nations", argues that renewing the capacity of the Organization to provide a space for genuine dialogue and a catalyst for effective action calls for improved coordination among its principal organs and enhanced partnerships with other multilateral organizations and civil society. For these purposes, key reforms will involve:

- Ensuring that the Organization receives on a timely and predictable basis the financial resources it needs to carry out its mandates;

- Continuing to adopt the best internal management practices;

- Paying particular attention to the safety of United Nations and associated personnel;

- Building a stronger relationship among the United Nations, the Bretton Woods institutions and the World Trade Organization through the Advisory Committee on Coordination;

- Deepening the relationship with the Inter-Parliamentary Union and engaging the private sector, non-governmental organizations and the rest of civil society through the United Nations Foundation for International Partnerships and the Global Compact.

The road map concludes by noting that there will be annual reports and, every five years, a comprehensive report on progress made or not made in reaching these goals. The entire United Nations family of Member States, international organizations, funds, agencies, programmes, the private sector and civil society must join together to meet the lofty commitments that are embodied in the Millennium Declaration. Success requires solidarity.

Contents

I. Introduction

1. The United Nations Millennium Declaration (General Assembly resolution 55/2), which was adopted by all 189 Member States of the United Nations (147 of them represented directly by their head of State or Government) on 8 September 2000, embodies a large number of specific commitments aimed at improving the lot of humanity in the new century.

2. In paragraph 18 of its resolution 55/162 on the follow-up to the outcome of the Millennium Summit, the General Assembly asked me to prepare a "road map" to set out in detail how these commitments could be fulfilled. That is the purpose of the present report.

3. It is almost a truism that the problems facing humanity are closely intertwined, and that each tends to complicate the solution of one or more others. To take an obvious example, conflict and endemic disease tend to thrive in regions where the people are poor and uneducated, but in their turn they act as powerful inhibitors of education and economic growth. This observation does not justify defeatism. Rather, it shows the vital importance of a comprehensive approach and a coordinated strategy, tackling many problems simultaneously across a broad front.

4. That was precisely the objective of the United Nations Millennium Summit and Declaration. And therefore, the present report not only examines each of the commitments contained in the Millennium Declaration in its own right but also considers how they interact with each other. It seeks to highlight cross-cutting issues, where a coordinated approach can yield much more than the sum of its parts.

5. A coordinated strategy will not be achieved without better coordination among international institutions and agencies, including those within the United Nations system. And this effort must also mobilize the energies of all actors, including notably the private sector, philanthropic foundations, non- governmental organizations, academic and cultural institutions, and other members of civil society.

6. Most of the targets set by the Millennium Declaration were not new. They derived from the global conferences of the 1990s and from the body of international norms and laws that had been codified over the past half-century. Moreover, the present report shows that the plans of action needed for reaching these targets have, for the most part, already been developed and formally adopted by Member States, sometimes individually and sometimes jointly, within international organizations and at conferences.

7. What is needed, therefore, is not more technical or feasibility studies. Rather, States need to demonstrate the political will to carry out commitments already given and to implement strategies already worked out.

8. This will require hard decisions and courageous reforms in all States and all areas of policy, ranging from cuts in energy consumption and carbon emissions, the provision of troops and other personnel for hazardous peacekeeping operations, the absorption of refugees and the control of arms exports to more transparent and accountable governance and the reallocation of public resources towards projects that benefit the neediest groups in society, as opposed to the most influential.

9. Indeed, none of the millennium development goals can be reached unless significant additional resources are made available. Many of these resources will have to be found within the countries where they are spent, but a special obligation falls on the more fortunate countries to ensure that the less fortunate have a genuine opportunity to improve their lot.

10. In the Millennium Declaration, industrialized countries reaffirmed long-standing commitments to much higher levels of development assistance, much more generous debt relief, and duty- and quota-free access for exports from the least developed countries. Those that fail to honour these commitments must realize that they are failing also in the responsibility, which they have solemnly recognized, "to uphold the principles of human dignity, equality and equity at the global level" (see General Assembly resolution 55/2, para. 2).

11. The international community has just emerged from an era of commitment. It must now enter an era of implementation, in which it mobilizes the will and resources needed to fulfil the promises made.

II. Peace, security and disarmament

12. The turn of the millennium has brought new challenges and new opportunities, particularly in the field of peace and security. Today's wars are mostly fought within States, although some conflicts have involved neighbouring countries, into which they spill over with destabilizing effects. The total number of armed conflicts is now declining and there has been a significant increase in the number of peace agreements, peacekeeping operations and other types of peace- making efforts by the international community. Nevertheless, civilians have become more vulnerable; women, children and humanitarian workers are deliberately targeted, and in some cases mutilation and rape are used as instruments of terror and control. This situation has compelled the international community to address these threats to human security.

13. The principle of human-centred security, along with the need to protect individuals and communities from violence, is increasingly acknowledged. Human security depends first on the effective application of law and order, which in turn demands a firm adherence to the rule of law. A commitment to human security also demands enhanced international cooperation in conflict prevention, and strengthened capacities to assist countries in building, keeping and restoring peace. A further requirement for ensuring human security is disarmament, which involves a consistent and concerted effort from all. Progress here can both reduce global threats and save resources vital for social and economic well-being.

A. International rule of law

GOAL: Strengthen the international rule of law and compliance with the International Court of Justice and the Charter of the United Nations, ensure the implementation by States parties of treaties in such areas as arms control and disarmament and of international humanitarian law and human rights law, and call upon all States to consider signing and ratifying the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court*1*

14. The Charter of the United Nations and other sources of international law have established conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties can be maintained. The rule of law at the international level is becoming more widely accepted, and States are increasingly employing treaties to regulate their relations.

15. The rule of law is ultimately enforced through the application of democratic principles and international human rights and humanitarian norms. The primary responsibility for guaranteeing the protection and well- being of the individual rests with the State. While such structures as the International Criminal Court and the International Criminal Tribunals are critical in challenging the "culture of impunity" by deterring future human rights violations and thus acting as prevention mechanisms, there is no substitute for concrete State action to ensure that those who violate international law are brought to justice.

16. As of 1 August 2001, the Secretary-General is the depositary of more than 500 major multilateral instruments, 429 of which are in force. These treaties form a comprehensive framework of legal norms regulating the conduct of nations that has a broad impact on the lives of individuals and communities. They span the spectrum of human interactions, from human rights to the use of outer space. For the Millennium Summit, the Secretary-General launched a campaign promoting the signature and ratification of a wide range of treaties, with particular emphasis on a set of 25 core treaties representative of the key objectives of the United Nations. A total of 84 delegations (59 at the head of state and government level) signed or deposited instruments of ratification or accession relating to 40 multilateral agreements deposited with the Secretary-General. During the three-day Summit, 187 signatures and 87 ratifications or accessions were effected. The event will be repeated annually. This year's treaty event will be held from 19 September to 5 October 2001. Entitled "Focus 2001: rights of women and children", it will coincide with the special session of the General Assembly on children and the opening of the General Assembly.

17. Important initiatives are under way to challenge the culture of impunity referred to above. Tribunals of mixed national and international staff, drawing on national and international jurisdiction, have been designed for Cambodia and Sierra Leone. If successful, they may herald a new approach to eradicating impunity in countries where genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes have been committed. These mechanisms will not only resolve current issues but also leave a permanent cadre of trained judges, lawyers and legal staff in the country involved, and will help to integrate international standards of justice into national legal systems.

18. As of 19 August 2001, 37 countries have ratified the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which provides, for the first time, a permanent tribunal for trying individuals accused of committing genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Sixty ratifications are needed before the treaty will enter into force. The pace of ratification and accession augurs well for the Statute's early entry into force, which will be a giant step forward in the march towards universal human rights and the rule of law.

19. In order to ensure that United Nations forces comply with international humanitarian law, a Secretary-General's bulletin on the observance by United Nations forces of international humanitarian law was issued in 1999.*2* This measure is binding upon all members of United Nations peace operations and has been disseminated to all peacekeeping missions, signalling formal recognition of the applicability of international humanitarian law to United Nations peace operations. It will apply in situations of armed conflict where United Nations forces are actively engaged.

20. Strategies for moving forward include:

- Supporting States in designing domestic legal frameworks consistent with international human rights norms and standards;

- Making international technical assistance available to help countries that wish to harmonize their domestic laws with international

obligations;

- Encouraging States to take part in the treaty event “Focus 2001: rights of women and children”, with particular attention to the set of 23 selected treaties relating to the advancement of women’s

and children’s rights;

- Supporting States to implement international legal commitments, including treaties, and developing United Nations mechanisms, such as the Treaty Handbook, to help Governments draft legislation and run training programmes on

aspects of international law;

- Ensuring the widest acceptance of the International Court of Justice’s compulsory jurisdiction, and ensuring that provisions in future multilateral treaties provide for disputes to be referred to the International Court of Justice;

- Working at the national level to advance ratification and accession processes in order to reach the 60 ratifications required for the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court to enter into force.

GOAL: To take concerted action against international terrorism and to accede as soon as possible to all the relevant international conventions

21. The United Nations strategy against international terrorism has largely focused on efforts to create a legal framework. Twelve global conventions and protocols, as well as numerous declarations, have been adopted. The number of States acceding to the international conventions on terrorism is increasing slowly, and the rate of implementation varies. In the Vienna Declaration on Crime and Justice: Meeting the Challenges of the Twenty-first Century,*3* Member States committed themselves to take measures to prevent and combat criminal acts that further terrorism.

22. Strategies for moving forward include:

- Encouraging States to sign, ratify and implement the conventions and protocols relating to terrorism;

- Supporting the international community in its efforts to finalize the draft international convention for the suppression of acts of nuclear terrorism, and efforts to draw up a comprehensive convention on international terrorism;

- Continuing efforts to develop and adopt corresponding laws and administrative procedures at the national level.

GOAL: To redouble our efforts to implement our commitment to counter the world drug problem

23. Illicit drug traffics generates between $150 billion to $250 billion a year, which is either laundered or used to finance further illegal activities and armed conflict. The United Nations helps countries to strengthen their efforts to combat drug trafficking by advising on strategic approaches to drug control, identifying and promoting good practice in law enforcement and developing appropriate projects to enhance the effectiveness of law enforcement authorities.

24. Ratification of the three international conventions on drug control is close to universal: 170 States are parties to the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961,*4* 168 are parties to the Convention on Psychotropic Substances of 1971*5* and 160 are parties to the United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances of 1988.*6*

25. By adopting the Political Declaration at the twentieth special session of the General Assembly, in June 1998,*7* Member States committed themselves to establishing or strengthening by 2003 measures against the illicit manufacture, trafficking and abuse of synthetic drugs; national legislation and programmes against money-laundering and cooperation among judicial law enforcement authorities; measures to promote cooperation among judicial and law enforcement authorities; and drug demand reduction strategies and programmes. They further committed themselves to achieving significant and measurable results in drug demand reduction; significant elimination or reduction of the illicit manufacture, marketing and trafficking of psychotropic substances, including synthetic drugs and significant elimination or reduction of the illicit cultivation of coca, cannabis and opium poppy by 2008.

26. Strategies for moving forward include:

- Supporting States to ensure that the commitments made at the twentieth special session of the General Assembly are realized;

- Working to secure adequate financial and technical support for alternative development programmes, and to set up improved monitoring and evaluation mechanisms to assess the impact of alternative development interventions.

GOAL: To intensify our efforts to fight transnational crime in all its dimensions, including trafficking in and smuggling human beings and money-laundering

27. The General Assembly recently adopted the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime*8* and its Protocols to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children,*9* against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air,*10* and against Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms.*11* As of 14 August 2001, there are 126 signatories to the Convention, which will enter into force once it has been ratified by 40 States, which is expected to happen by the end of 2002. To date, two States have ratified the Convention.

28. Transnational crime has an estimated turnover of $1 trillion and estimated profits of $500 billion per year. Criminal organizations are shifting their operations to more sophisticated criminal activities, involving information technology and the financial sector, as well as to less "traditional" areas, including trafficking in human beings and trafficking in firearms. For example, estimates of the number of trafficking victims now range from 700,000 to 2 million a year, mostly women, children and the very poor.

29. The challenge that corruption poses to the rule of law, good governance and development is now widely recognized. Corruption has robbed many developing and transition countries of their national assets. Attempts by such countries to recover money lost in this way have been delayed by the absence of appropriate international treaties and by bank secrecy. Work on a new convention that will strengthen and mobilize national and international actions against corruption has begun, and the negotiations for this convention should be complete by the end of 2003.

30. Strategies for moving forward include:

- Encouraging States to bring into force and implement the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its Protocols as soon as possible, and to help developing countries meet new obligations arising from these instruments;

- Directing research towards the complexities of cyber-crime, particularly on modalities of international cooperation to deal with it;

- Continuing efforts by the United Nations to employ its comprehensive information, legal, regulatory and enforcement infrastructure to combat money-laundering;

- Incorporating crime prevention and criminal justice concerns into United Nations peace operations.

GOAL: To observe the Olympic Truce, individually and collectively, now and in the future, and to support the International Olympic Committee in its efforts to promote peace and human understanding through sport and the Olympic ideal

31. The Olympic Truce requires all belligerents to cease hostilities for a specific period around the Olympic Games. This is an important conflict resolution tool, endorsed by heads of State at the General Assembly in 1993*12* and again at the Millennium Summit.*13* The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is engaged in a number of projects, with United Nations partners and others, to develop sport as a means for the reconciliation of communities in conflict or post-conflict situations. The Secretary- General's Adviser on Sports for Development and Peace is identifying other United Nations programmes that might benefit from the involvement of sports organizations.

32. Strategy for moving forward:

- Enhancing cooperation between Member States, IOC and the United Nations system to use sport in economic and social development, and for the promotion of a culture of peace, particularly among youth.

B. Strengthening United Nations capacities for resolving armed conflict

GOAL: Make the United Nations more effective in maintaining peace and security by giving it the resources and tools it needs for conflict prevention, the peaceful resolution of disputes, peacekeeping, and post-conflict peace-building and reconstruction

33. Despite a decline in the number of armed conflicts during the past decade, wars continue to cause immense suffering, particularly in Africa and Asia. In the 1990s, armed conflict claimed more than 5 million lives, most of them civilians, and inflicted hardship on its survivors through injury, displacement and dispossession. The human and material costs of failing to prevent conflict are harsh and lasting. The international community must move from a culture of reaction to a culture of prevention of armed conflict: it is the most desirable and cost-effective strategy to ensure lasting peace.

Conflict prevention

34. Conflict prevention, like conflict itself, is a cross- cutting issue and cannot be implemented in isolation from policies in the development, security, political, human rights and environmental arenas. There is a critical interdependence between sustainable development and human security. Mechanisms of social stability and societal justice usually develop hand in hand with improvements in living standards. This process is a dynamic one, with basic development goals reinforcing the need for good governance, and in turn good governance practices providing a framework for peace and development.

35. Development is a force of change that can raise expectations but can also highlight disparities and even trigger violent conflicts. This problem has been exacerbated in the past, when development has stopped, regressed or been accompanied by rising inequalities, causing tensions to increase. Part of the prevention strategy in these situations is to manage the pace of development and foster equity, also ensuring that projects can be undertaken in a sustainable manner and that local expectations are set appropriately.

36. Effective conflict prevention strategies need to be based on a comprehensive and multidisciplinary approach, tailored to the unique circumstances of each situation. This approach should include structural measures to address the underlying causes of conflict, such as socio-economic inequalities or the denial of fundamental human rights. It should also include operational measures aimed at crisis prevention, such as fact-finding missions, preventive diplomacy or preventive deployment. Within the United Nations, we have begun to supplement our more traditional political and military conflict prevention activities with a longer-term vision of prevention, which we are now building more consciously into all our work. Effective preventive diplomacy measures will continue to be utlilized, including fact-finding and confidence- building missions, visits by special envoys, as well as the exercise of the Secretary-General's "good offices".

37. In recent years, academic and research institutes around the world, together with United Nations research arms, such as the United Nations University and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research, have significantly increased their focus on prevention issues. Non-governmental organizations have emerged as an important channel for preventive action and diplomacy. They have provided impartial forums for divided groups to communicate and negotiate, disseminate studies on response opportunities and policy briefs, and act as advocates in raising international awareness of impending or ongoing conflict. In addition, an international networking capacity in the field of conflict prevention is currently being developed to systematically link academic experts, non-governmental organizations and other sectors of civil society to the United Nations and various other international and regional organizations.

38. Other strategies for conflict prevention can include tracking and marking "blood diamonds" and other "conflict resources". In July 2001, 40 diamond- producing countries, the World Diamond Council and the European Union (EU) came up with the main principles of a certification system requiring Governments to confirm the legitimacy of diamonds and producers to give guarantees to their Governments. Strategies can also include eliminating the flow of illegal small arms, such as through post-conflict schemes in which vouchers or cash are offered in exchange for weapons.

39. A particularly important achievement with regard to conflict prevention is the recent Security Council resolution 1366 (2001) on the prevention of armed conflict. The resolution is a broad and progressive endorsement of a range of issues related to prevention, and should be welcomed for its recommendations and its contribution to the dialogue. In the resolution, the Security Council stressed that national Governments hold the essential responsibility for conflict prevention, but the Council also demonstrated a willingness to integrate a comprehensive and long-term preventive strategy into its work.

40.Strategies for moving forward include:

- Earlier and more sustained action to address the underlying causes of conflict, development of improved integrated prevention strategies with a regional focus, and enhancing the capacity of Member States, regional organizations and the United Nations system to undertake effective preventive action;

- Encouraging States to ensure the equitable distribution of assets and access to resources;

- Urging States to act on the recommendations made in the report of the Secretary-General on the prevention of armed conflict;*14*

- Strengthening national capacities for addressing structural risk factors by providing United Nations advisory services and technical assistance;

- Continuing to utilize United Nations multidisciplinary fact-finding missions, encouraging States and the Security Council to use preventive deployments and establishing an informal network of eminent persons for conflict prevention.

Peacekeeping

41. A total of 54 United Nations peacekeeping operations have been set up since 1948, two thirds of those since 1991. However, peacekeeping trends have fluctuated over the past 50 years, particularly over the last decade. Today, there are 16 active peacekeeping operations. Correspondingly, the numbers of military troops and civilian police staffing levels have also increased. In 1999, there were 9,000 military troops and 2,000 civilian police serving in United Nations operations; today, there are 35,000 military troops and 8,000 civilian police. Cooperation with regional organizations has become an important aspect of peacekeeping, although varying regional peacekeeping capacities influence the nature of cooperation with the United Nations. Combining the motivation and knowledge of regional actors with the legitimacy, expertise and resources of the United Nations can enhance the international community's work for peace. Troop contributions from developing countries have increased substantially. In 1991, only two of the top 10 troop contributors were developing countries; in 2001, eight of the top 10 contributors are developing countries.

42. Although peacekeeping is a vital instrument, there was previously a tendency to treat it as a temporary aberration rather than to invest in its long- term success. Member States have now recognized the need to match peacekeeping mandates with human, material, financial and political support, and we have embarked together on the journey towards achieving operational excellence.

43. As detailed in the reports of the Panel on United Nations Peace Operations and of the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations,*15* United Nations peacekeeping capacity has suffered from shortages in Headquarters staff, field personnel and financial resources, and in the availability of troops, personnel and resources. Furthermore, because of the perception that peacekeeping was a temporary endeavour rather than a core function of the United Nations, Headquarters in particular was not equipped with the level of resources it needed to function adequately.

44. The Millennium Declaration called for expeditious consideration of the recommendations of the Panel on United Nations Peace Operations. The General Assembly responded to the recommendation to make additional resources available, providing the United Nations with 93 posts in December 2000, and is now considering a budget for further recommendations on increased staffing levels, on strengthening management practices and culture, and on translating legislative guidance into strategic plans for future peacekeeping operations. The progress made towards developing a 30-to-90-day deployment capability is particularly welcome. The peacekeeping reform process includes expanded standby arrangements for military, civilian and civilian police personnel, and the development of global logistics support and staffing strategies. Further efforts to strengthen United Nations peacekeeping include creating a long-term planning capacity, improving efficiency in the relationship between headquarters and field missions and enhancing training capacity, whereby peacekeepers will receive standardized training, including in human rights and humanitarian law. Related efforts to enhance the functioning of the Executive Committee on Peace and Security, through the provision of a small secretariat, will contribute to enhance decision-making capabilities, including in areas pertaining to peacekeeping.

45. Strategies for moving forward include:

- Ensuring the expeditious completion of the peacekeeping reform process by Member States and the United Nations, focusing in particular on reaching an agreement in 2001 on the legislative decisions required for further progress, including on financial resources;

- Increasing collaboration between the United Nations and regional organizations;

- Dedicating greater attention to gender, humanitarian and disarmament issues in peacekeeping operations.

Peace-building and reconstructions

46. A significant part of the work of the United Nations and its specialized agencies is in the area of peaceful dispute resolution, including through legal mechanisms, and in programmes for building peace and reconstructing war-torn societies. This work tends to be low-key and long-term but is vital in efforts to achieve a more peaceful and just world.

47. The United Nations uses a number of tools for dispute resolution, ranging from the Secretary- General's good offices and missions by his high-level envoys and special representatives to longer-term initiatives and programmes undertaken by the operational agencies. Other efforts include truth and reconciliation commissions and community dialogue activities, which aim to bring together stakeholders, usually in intra-State conflicts, to discuss and resolve differences in non-confrontational settings. Conflicts between States can be resolved through the use of the international legal framework and the International Court of Justice.

48. Dispute resolution mechanisms, particularly those concerned with truth and reconciliation, are critical even after a violent conflict has begun, but they should be accompanied by a broader range of measures that fall under the rubric of "peace-building". Peace- building involves long-term political, developmental, economic, social, security, humanitarian and human rights measures aimed at preventing the outbreak or recurrence of conflict by addressing its root causes. It can take many forms, such as the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of former combatants; strengthening the rule of law and the administration of justice; providing electoral and governance assistance; supporting the development of civil society and of the free and independent media; engaging in land reform; and promoting conflict resolution and reconciliation techniques at the local community level.

49. From early experiences in Namibia and Cambodia and the 1992 publication of the Agenda for Peace*16* to more recent missions in East Timor, Kosovo and Tajikistan, the United Nations has acquired a wealth of practical peace-building experience. The Millennium Declaration's focus on additional resources and tools for effective peace-building is timely, given the recent increase in both conceptual and operational work in this area.

50. A number of initiatives have been taken in the peace-building arena since the Millennium Summit. In February 2001, there was a thematic debate of the Security Council, a presidential statement of the Security Council (S/PRST/2001/5) and a consultation on peace-building with regional organizations. Work within the system on peace-building policy is ongoing and has seen important contributions from throughout the system. There is a vast body of operational expertise in all the United Nations departments, agencies, funds and programmes, and a growing recognition that the most successful peacekeeping operations help to build the institutions, social infrastructure and economic capacities that can help to prevent what would otherwise be the next round of conflict.

51. Moving from resolving conflict to restoring peace requires a focus on sustainable measures. All United Nations actors present in a specific country can and do contribute to peace-building. Many departments and agencies have established or are in the process of establishing specialized peace-building functions, while considerable work has gone into inter-agency coordination in this area. The contribution of operational agencies is vital in peace-building. On the ground, United Nations resident coordinators and country teams are improving the coherence of their programming, and a peace-building unit is being established at Headquarters to support these activities.

52. Strategies for moving forward include:

- Securing adequate resources from the international community to permit recovery and development for post-conflict societies;

- Strengthening the capacity of United Nations resident coordinators and country teams to undertake effective peace-building;

- Consolidating peace and preventing the recurrence of conflict through disarmament, demobilization and reintegration measures;

- Improving the functioning of the United Nations peace-building support offices based on the findings of the recent evaluation mission.

GOAL: To strengthen cooperation between the United Nations and regional organizations, in accordance with the provisions of Chapter VIII of the Charter of the United Nations

53. A number of regional organizations are establishing or enhancing their capacity in the peace and security area, such as through the establishment of institutional capacities for conflict prevention and conflict management. In addition, the United Nations and regional organizations have created a number of cooperative arrangements, such as annual meetings between the United Nations Office at Geneva, the European Union, the Council of Europe and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and the establishment in 1998 of a United Nations office in Addis Ababa to liaise with the headquarters of the Organization of African Unity (OAU). In peacekeeping and peace-building situations, the United Nations and regional groups have co-deployed or have divided responsibilities. A new permutation of such cooperation can be seen in the mission in Kosovo, where direct reporting lines have been established from regional partners to the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). Other practical forms of cooperation have evolved, such as fielding joint conflict prevention missions.

54. Since 1994, there have been high-level biannual meetings between the United Nations and regional organizations. The theme in 1998 was conflict prevention. This year's meeting, in February 2001, examined the potential for expanding cooperation in the field of peace-building; 18 delegations from regional, subregional and other international organizations attended and adopted a "Framework for cooperation in peace-building". OSCE will hold the first regional workshop to discuss specific regional dimensions of cooperation.

55. Strategies for moving forward include:

- Continuing the high-level biannual meetings between the United Nations and regional organizations;

- Strengthening cooperation through capacity- building, strategic development and operational interaction between regional organizations and the United Nations;

- Strenthening national and regional mechanisms for prevention, conflict resolution and peace-building, and examining ways to build links to civil society.

GOAL: To minimize the adverse effects of United Nations economic sanctions on innocent populations, to subject such sanctions regimes to regular reviews and to eliminate the adverse effects of sanctions on third parties

56. Mandatory measures imposed under Article 41, Chapter VII, of the Charter of the United Nations are an important tool available to the Security Council as it seeks to maintain or restore international peace and security. In recent years, however, there has been increasing concern about the negative effects of sanctions on vulnerable civilian populations, as well as over their collateral effects on third States. Comprehensive sanctions may impose civilian hardships disproportionate to likely political gains. Those in power might transfer the cost to the vulnerable, profit from black market activity and exploit sanctions as a justification for their own shortcomings. Furthermore, neighbouring countries bear much of the trading losses from compliance. Greater use should, therefore, be made of existing provisions contained in the Charter for mitigating the economic effects of sanctions on these countries.

57. In response to these problems, Member States, intergovernmental organizations, non-governmental organizations and academic experts have been making efforts to improve the effectiveness of United Nations sanctions, as well as to refine the concept of targeted sanctions. Such measures include financial sanctions, arms embargoes, travel bans and diplomatic restrictions. Expert seminars on targeting United Nations financial sanctions have been held to explore the basis for cooperation among Member States, intergovernmental organizations, non-governmental organizations and experts in the field. The seminars have also explored such issues as the design and application of targeted Security Council financial sanctions against decision-making elites. Targeted financial sanctions could enhance the effectiveness of the sanctions instrument and minimize unintended negative effects.

58. Recent sanctions measures imposed by the Security Council have been more targeted, and in all of these sanctions regimes the Council has sought to focus sanctions pressure on those responsible for behaviour that contravenes international norms of peace and security, while seeking to minimize the humanitarian impact on civilian populations and on affected third States. Even targeted sanctions might not be enough to restore peace or halt illicit actions. They must be integrated into a comprehensive conflict resolution strategy or conflict prevention strategy, and must be complemented by inducement measures.

59. Solutions must also be found to the difficulties of monitoring sanctions. That task is currently the primary responsibility of Member States, but they often lack the capacity to monitor effectively. A permanent sanctions monitoring mechanism needs to be developed in order to ensure better targeting and enforcement of smart sanctions and to bring non-cooperation and non- compliance information to the attention of the Security Council. This would allow for a more systematic follow-up for those State and non-state actors who break sanctions or who do not cooperate with United Nations panels of experts and sanctions committees, and would also provide a point of contact between the Security Council and other international and regional organizations dealing with sanctions. It is therefore essential for the Security Council to reach agreement on its policy objectives and on how success should be defined with regard to sanctions.

60. The Security Council has also made more frequent use of United Nations panels of experts, which have documented sanctions violations, including illicit arms trafficking and illegal sales of diamonds, and made recommendations on improving international monitoring. The Security Council might make more frequent use of humanitarian assessments before the imposition of sanctions, as well as continuing to monitor the humanitarian impact once sanctions have been imposed, as has recently been the case in Afghanistan. The Security Council Working Group on Sanctions, established by the President of the Security Council on 17 April 2000, has confirmed that it will report to the Council when it reaches consensus on recommendations.

61. Strategies for moving forward include:

- Supporting the international community's continuing efforts to develop targeted sanctions;

- Supporting the Security Council in its work to improve international monitoring of sanctions regimes and in efforts to assess the humanitarian impact of sanctions.

C. Disarmament

62. Despite the end of the cold war, global military spending has been increasing. In 1998, military spending was $762 billion; in 2000, approximately $800 billion was spent on weapons of mass destruction, conventional weapons, research and development and personnel costs. The real total is likely to be even higher since data is not available for a number of countries, including some that are currently in conflict. That ominous trend heightens the danger of a renewed arms race. The possible demise of the Treaty on the Limitation of Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems*17* threatens the framework of treaties on disarmament and non- proliferation, while raising the risks of new arms races, including in outer space. Innocent people throughout the world are still threatened by weapons of mass destruction. They face additional threats from major conventional weapons, as well as from the destabilizing accumulation and illicit sale of small arms and light weapons, and the continued production and use of landmines. Of all these challenges, however, the total elimination of nuclear weapons must remain the top priority.

GOAL: To strive for the elimination of weapons of mass destruction, particularly nuclear weapons, and to keep all options open for achieving this aim, including the possibility of convening an international conference to identify ways of eliminating nuclear dangers

63. Despite widespread and persistent calls for transparency, there are no official figures available on either the number of nuclear weapons in the world today or their total cost. According to several estimates, however, more than 30,000 such weapons remain, many of them on hair-trigger alert.

64. The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty*18* has not entered into force even though it has 161 signatories and 77 ratifications. Only three of the five nuclear-weapon States (as defined by the terms of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT))*19* have ratified the Treaty. START II,*20* a bilateral treaty to reduce nuclear weapons to about 3,500 each for the United States and the Russian Federation, has not entered into force.

65. The Conference on Disarmament remains deadlocked despite a growing need for new agreements on nuclear disarmament, fissile materials and the prevention of an arms race in outer space. This stalemate has raised serious concern within the international community that the effectiveness of the established multilateral disarmament machinery is being adversely affected.

66. Despite these trends, certain developments offer a foundation for future progress. More than half of the nuclear weapons deployed at the height of the cold war have now been dismantled. The overwhelming majority of States have fully complied with their legal obligations concerning weapons of mass destruction. Instances of non-compliance with International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards agreements and Security Council resolutions are rare and do not signify a global trend.

67. Efforts to eliminate nuclear weapons have gained new strength from the 1996 International Court of Justice advisory opinion on the legality of the threat or use of nuclear weapons, which found unanimously that no threat or use of nuclear weapons should be made unless it is compatible with the requirements of international law applicable in armed conflict, and that "there exists an obligation to pursue in good faith and bring to a conclusion negotiations leading to nuclear disarmament in all its aspects under strict and effective international control".*21* At the 2000 NPT Review Conference, the five nuclear weapons States made an unequivocal commitment to nuclear disarmament.

68. There has been some progress in eliminating other weapons of mass destruction. At the Fifth Review Conference of the States parties to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction,*22* the status of the negotiations aimed at strengthening the Convention is expected to be discussed. Since the entry into force of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction*23* in 1997, about 5,600 tons of chemical agents and 1.6 million munitions and containers have been destroyed, and 1,000 inspections were conducted in 49 States by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

69. The preparatory process for the 2005 NPT Review Conference will begin in 2002. A panel of governmental experts will commence work on a study on missiles reporting to the General Assembly in 2002. The Conference on Facilitating the Entry into Force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty will take place from 5 to 27 September 2001. The General Assembly resolved in November 2000 to prepare a two-year study on education and training in disarmament and non-proliferation.

70. Possibilities for creating verifiable and irreversible norms in other areas, including missiles and outer space, should be explored. At the intergovernmental level, an opportunity to discuss an even broader array of disarmament issues, including the multilateral disarmament machinery, is long overdue.

71. Strategies for moving forward include:

- More efforts to ensure full implementation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the Biological Weapons Convention and the Chemical Weapons Convention and to promote their universality;

- Convening an international conference devoted to disarmament;

- Continuing United Nations work to enhance public accountability, clarify the benefits of disarmament, and monitor weapons research and development activities;

- Supporting the international community, including civil society, in efforts to eliminate weapons of mass destruction.

GOAL: To call on all States to consider acceding to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-personnel Mines and on Their Destruction (APM Ban Treaty),*24* as well as the amended mines protocol to the Convention on certain conventional weapons*25*

72.Landmines continue to impede the development and security of populations in almost one third of the world's countries. In response to this situation, United Nations support to mine action is now being planned or provided in over 30 countries, an increase of 100 per cent since 1997. Significantly, independent research indicates that in the same period, the production and transfer of landmines has all but ceased while the use of mines has been successfully stigmatized. Nevertheless, casualties continue to occur on a daily basis, and some countries and groups persist in the deployment of landmines.

73. The momentum generated by stigmatizing the use of landmines and destroying existing stockpiles is being maintained through civil society monitoring, transparency measures, and yearly meetings of States parties. As of 29 June 2001, there are 117 parties to the APM Ban Treaty. Twelve countries have acceded or ratified the Treaty since the publication of the Millennium Declaration, while 58 nations are participants to the Amended Protocol II of the Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May Be Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious or To Have Indiscriminate Effects.*26* The total eradication of anti- personnel mines remains a crucial requirement for human security and socio-economic development.

74. Strategies for moving forward include:

- Achieving the universalization of the APM Ban Treaty, the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons and Amended Protocol II by encouraging States to ratify or accede to the Treaties and accept the amended Protocol;

- Encouraging States to provide the Secretary- General with complete and timely information, as required in article 7 of the APM Ban Treaty;

- Continuing United Nations work to establish mine clearance, awareness, victim assistance programmes and contingency planning for mine- affected countries and regions.

GOAL: To take concerted action to end illicit traffic in small arms and light weapons, especially by making arms transfers more transparent and supporting regional disarmament measures, taking account of all the recommendations of the United Nations Conference on Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons.

75. Illicit trade in small arms and light weapons poses grave challenges to international peace and security. Their excessive accumulation and easy availability jeopardize post-conflict reconstruction and development efforts, threaten human security and violate humanitarian law and human rights. Small arms are legally produced by more than 600 companies in at least 95 countries, with the value of global small arms production estimated at over $1.4 billion and that of ammunition production at $2.6 billion. An estimated 500 million small arms and light weapons are available around the world. Even outside of conflict zones, these weapons have severe adverse effects on economic, social and human development.

76. Various initiatives are currently under way, globally and regionally, to address the issue of illicit trade in small arms. At the regional level, measures involve signing legally binding treaties, and strengthening and establishing regional or subregional moratoria on the transfer and manufacture of such weapons. These measures include the Economic Community of West African States moratorium on the production and trade in small arms; the Inter-American Convention Against the Illicit Manufacturing and Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives and Other Related Materials; a European Union joint action on small arms and code of conduct on arms exports; and a Southern African Development Community (SADC) plan of action. In Africa, Latin America and Europe, such regional cooperation culminated in Bamako, Nairobi, Brasilia and SADC declarations, and an OSCE document on small arms and light weapons.

77. Making arms transfers more transparent is also vitally important. The United Nations manages two confidence-building instruments, the Register of Conventional Arms and the Standardized Instrument for Reporting of Military Expenditures. An average of 90 countries already report to the Register annually. Some 35 countries report military expenditures annually. While participation in these instruments has increased noticeably, they have not been as fully utilized as they should be.

78. The United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects, held from 9 to 20 July 2001, provided the international community with an opportunity to adopt measures to combat this global scourge. The Programme of Action of the Conference, which was adopted by consensus, is a significant first step towards the goal of preventing, combating and eradicating the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons. It includes suggestions for national strategies, such as establishing national coordination mechanisms and adequate laws, and destroying surplus weapons and increasing controls over the manufacture and transfer of such weapons. It endorses and encourages various regional measures, such as harmonizing national legislation and establishing and strengthening regional mechanisms, and regional action programmes to prevent, combat and eradicate the illicit trade in these weapons. The programme also underscores the importance of international cooperation and assistance, particularly regarding the implementation of arms embargoes imposed by the Security Council and the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration into civil society of ex-combatants. The Conference did not, however, achieve consensus on two essential issues: restrictions on and regulation of private ownership of such weapons, and preventing their transfer to non-State actors.

79.Strategies for moving forward include:

- Securing urgent international commitments for both human and financial resources to effectively implement and follow up the measures adopted at the United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects;

- Convening, through the United Nations, a review conference in 2006 and biennial meetings of States to consider progress made in the implementation of the Programme of Action of the Conference;

- Supporting Governments' endeavours to prevent the spread of small arms by providing technical expertise and financial support in collecting and destroying such weapons;

- Exploring private and public sector financing of "weapons for development" initiatives;

- Continuing United Nations efforts to achieve universal participation in confidence-building instruments and to foster regional initiatives, such as the creation of regional registers and exchanges of data on national inventories.

III.Development and poverty eradication: the millennium development goals

80. In order to significantly reduce poverty and promote development it is essential to achieve sustained and broad-based economic growth. The millennium development goals highlight some of the priority areas that must be addressed to eliminate extreme poverty. These goals include commitments made by developed nations, such as increased official development assistance (ODA) and improved market access for exports from developing countries.

81. It is crucial that the millennium development goals become national goals and serve to increase the coherence and consistency of national policies and programmes. They must also help reduce the gap between what needs to be done and what is actually being done. The widening gap between goals and achievements implies that the international community has failed to deliver on crucial commitments it made during the 1990s.

82. The millennium development goals are mutually supportive and require multisectoral programmes that tackle each of the goals simultaneously. Countries should ensure that poverty reduction strategies increase the focus on the poorest and most vulnerable through an appropriate choice of economic and social policies. Human rights should be at the centre of peace, security and development programmes. In addition, it is necessary to broaden partnerships between all stakeholders, such as civil society and the private sector.

83. The United Nations system, in cooperation with other partners in development, will monitor goals that are directly related to development and poverty eradication (see annex).

GOAL: To halve, by the year 2015, the proportion of the world's population whose income is less than one dollar a day and the proportion of people who suffer from hunger and, by the same date, to halve the proportion of people who are unable to reach or to afford safe drinking water

Income poverty

84. Since 1990, the number of people living on less than a dollar a day has declined from 1.3 billion to 1.2 billion. However, this decline has not been spread evenly. In East Asia, poverty rates have declined fast enough to meet the goal in 2015. But sub-Saharan Africa lags far behind and in some countries poverty rates have worsened. While the greatest number of poor people live in South Asia, the highest proportion of poor people is in sub-Saharan Africa, where approximately 51 per cent of the population lives on less than a dollar a day.

85. At its twenty-fourth special session, held in 2000, the General Assembly reaffirmed the commitments agreed at the World Summit for Social Development and produced very significant new initiatives for the eradication of poverty. In particular, there was agreement for the first time on a global target of halving the proportion of people living in extreme poverty by 2015, and the commitment to the global targets for poverty reduction was subsequently endorsed by all countries in the United Nations Millennium Declaration adopted in September 2000. Accompanying this work at the policy level, much is going on to support effective and efficient institutions. The United Nations, for example, is involved in programmes that extend services to small entrepreneurs through microfinance projects which meet local community priorities.

86.Strategies for moving forward include:

- Ensuring support for country-led economic and social initiatives that focus on poverty reduction;

- Strengthening capabilities to provide basic social services;

- Assisting capacity-building for poverty assessment, monitoring and planning.

Hunger

87. Income is not the only measure of poverty. The poor suffer from malnutrition and poor health. Between 1990-1992 and 1996-1998, the number of undernourished people fell by 40 million in the developing world. However, the developing world still has some 826 million people who are not getting enough food to lead normal, healthy and active lives. In addition, of the 11 million children in developing countries who die each year before reaching the age of five, 6.3 million die of hunger.

88. Alleviating hunger is also a prerequisite for sustainable poverty reduction since better nourishment improves labour productivity and the earning capacity of individuals. Increased food production is essential since 75 per cent of the world's poor and hungry live in rural areas and depend directly or indirectly on agriculture for their livelihoods. Moreover, a higher crop yield reduces prices, benefiting all the poor.

89. The Rome Declaration on World Food Security and the World Food Summit Plan of Action that was adopted at the World Food Summit in 1996*27* laid the foundation for diverse paths to a common objective - food security, at the individual, household, national, regional and global levels. The main goal of the Summit was to ensure an enabling political, social and economic environment, designed to create the best conditions for the eradication of poverty and a durable peace based on the full and equal participation of women and men, which is most conducive to achieving sustainable food security for all. The Summit stressed the importance of implementing policies that would improve access to sufficient and nutritionally adequate food and its effective utilization.

90. Strategies for moving forward include:

- Taking stock of actions taken since the 1996 World Food Summit, at the five-year review of the World Food Summit to be held in November 2001, and proposing new plans at the national and international levels to achieve hunger goals;

- Ensuring that food, agricultural trade and overall trade policies are conducive to fostering food security for all through a fair and just world trade system;

- Continuing to give priority to small farmers, and supporting their efforts to promote environmental awareness and low-cost simple technologies.

Access to water

91. About 80 percent of the people in the developing world now have access to improved water sources. Yet nearly 1 billion people are still denied access to clean water supplies and 2.4 billion people lack access to basic sanitation. As economic development and population growth increase demands on limited water resources, water management and the provision of safe drinking water and sanitation facilities will become priority areas. The United Nations Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation has been supporting capacity-building towards universal access to safe drinking water and sanitation.

92. Strategies for moving forward include:

- Promoting increased investment in the water and sanitation sectors;

- Addressing further issues related to the sustainable management of water resouces at the World Summit on Sustanable Development, to be held in Johannesburg in 2002.

GOAL: To ensure that, by the year 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling and that girls and boys will have equal access to all levels of education.

93. Education levels in developing countries have climbed dramatically in the past half-century, yet we have a long way to go. In 1998, of some 113 million school-age children not enrolled in primary education, 97 per cent lived in developing nations and nearly 60 per cent were girls. Female enrolment in rural areas, in particular, remains shockingly low.

94. Promoting universal access to basic education continues to be a challenge. In developing countries, one child in three does not complete five years of schooling. Although enrolment rates have been increasing in several regions, the quality of education remains low for many. In numerous countries, there are serious disparities in enrolments and retention rates between girls and boys and between children of rich and poor families. Gender biases, early marriage, threats to the physical and emotional security of girls and gender insensitive curricula can all conspire against the realization of the fundamental right to education for girls.

95. Short-changing girls is not only a matter of gender discrimination but is bad economics and bad social policy. Experience has shown over and over again that investment in girls' education translates directly and quickly into better nutrition for the whole family, better health care, declining fertility, poverty reduction and better overall performance.

96. The Education For All (EFA)/Dakar Framework calls for the development or strengthening of national plans of action and the reinforcing of national, regional and international mechanisms to coordinate global efforts to accelerate progress towards Education For All. The United Nations Girls Education Initiative, established within the context of follow-up to the Education For All Framework, provides country-level guidance to the United Nations system and involves other partners.

97. The "School meals" and "Take home rations" programmes are good examples of how poor households can be influenced to send their girl children to school through creative, locally driven multi-level solutions. These programmes can have an impact on all the challenges we face: lack of access to education, health problems and poverty. School-based meals and rations can bring more children into school, give equal opportunities to girls, lower rates of malnutrition and improve retention levels.

98.Strategies for moving forward include:

- Urging national policy makers to accept girls' education as a strategy for achieving universal primary schooling, as well as an end in its own right;

- Urging national Governments, local communities and the international community to commit significant resources towards education such as school buildings, books and teachers;

- Making education systems adaptable to the needs of girl children, especially those from poor households;

- Supporting school-feeding programmes and take- home rations programmes that can attract girls to school.

GOAL: By the year 2015, to have reduced maternal mortality by three quarters, and under-five child mortality by two thirds of their current rates.

99. At the global level, estimates of maternal

mortality for 1995 indicate that about 515,000 women die each year of pregnancy related causes, per cent of them in developing countries. Although there is evidence of substantive declines in maternal mortality in some countries, there is no reliable data in countries where the problem is thought to be most acute. Reduction in maternal mortality depends on the availability of health care for expectant mothers, particularly when dealing with complications in pregnancy. Globally, skilled attendants and skilled nurses assist only about 56 per cent of births. Adolescent girls and women often lack the power to make decisions for themselves and lack access to good quality and affordable reproductive health, including family planning services.

100. The "Making pregnancy safer" initiative represents one of the contributions of the United Nations to the global efforts to achieve safe motherhood. The initiative is based on the premise that achieving substantial and sustained reductions in maternal and neonatal mortality is critically dependent on the availability, accessibility and quality of maternal health care services, and therefore efforts must necessarily be focused on strengthening health-care systems.

101. Worldwide, under-five mortality rates are declining: under-five mortality decreased from 94 to 81 per 1,000 live births between 1990 and 2000. However, approximately 11 million children under five still die annually in developing countries, mostly from preventable diseases. Progress in the reduction of child mortality has slowed in some regions because of the effects of human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) and the resurgence of malaria and tuberculosis. Unsafe water, malnutrition, inadequate immunization, lack of education and lack of access to basic heath and social services are major contributing factors.

102. Among the initiatives that were launched to curb the scourge of major diseases, especially among children, is the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations. Officially launched in early 2000 at Davos, it aimed to combine public and private resources to ensure that all the world's children are protected against six core vaccine-preventable diseases: polio, diphtheria, whooping cough, measles, tetanus and tuberculosis.

103. Strategies for moving forward include:

- Establishing (or updating) national policies, standards and regulatory mechanisms for safe motherhood; and developing systems to ensure their implementation;

- Promoting appropriate community practices in support of safe motherhood and the reduction of under-five mortality;

- Monitoring maternal and newborn health care status and access to services;

- Supporting programmes for immunization and vaccination, the use of oral rehydration therapy, nutrition and water and sanitation interventions.

GOAL: To have, by 2015, halted and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS, the scourge of malaria and other major diseases that afflict humanity

104. Approximately three million people died of AIDS in 2000 alone, and some 36 million people are currently living with HIV/AIDS. By the end of 2000, the global HIV/AIDS catastrophe had claimed nearly 22 million lives. Multi-drug resistant tuberculosis is increasing in many countries, due to poor treatment practices. Eight million people develop active tuberculosis and nearly two million die annually. Over 90 per cent of cases and deaths are in developing countries. Tuberculosis is also the leading cause of death in people with HIV/AIDS. Malaria is another major concern. Each year, one million people die from malaria, and the number has been increasing over the past two decades. The deterioration of health systems, growing resistance to drugs and insecticides, environmental changes and human migration, which have led to an increase in epidemics, all contribute to the worsening global malaria problem.

105. In recent years, Governments have demonstrated an increased political and financial commitment to tackling HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and other priority health problems. They recognize the impact of these illnesses on poor people's ability to emerge from poverty, and on prospects for national economic growth. The Roll Back Malaria Campaign and the Stop Tuberculosis Initiative were global initiatives undertaken to help curb the scourge of these major diseases.

106. At the special session of the General Assembly on HIV/AIDS, held in June 2001, Governments acknowledged that prevention of HIV infection must be the mainstay of national, regional and international responses to the epidemic. They also recognized that prevention, care, support and treatment for those infected and affected by HIV/AIDS are mutually reinforcing elements of an effective response and must be integrated in a comprehensive approach to combat the epidemic.

107. The Global AIDS and Health Fund is an instrument to raise international attention on the global health crisis, and to translate that attention into political support and financial commitments. The Fund intends to help reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, and to reduce the consequences of these illnesses. The aim is to have the Fund operational by the end of the year.

108. Strategies for moving forward include:

- Achieving a target of $7 to $10 billion in total spending on HIV/AIDS from all sources, including affected countries;

- Urging the international community to support the Global AIDS and Health Fund;

- Strengthening health-care systems and addressing factors that affect the provision of HIV-related drugs, including anti-retroviral drugs and their affordability and pricing;

- Supporting and encouraging the involvement of local communities in making people aware of such diseases;

- Urging national Governments to devote a higher proportion of resources to basic social services in poorer areas since this is crucial for preventing diseases;

- Supporting other initiatives based on partnerships with the private sector and other partners in development.

GOAL: To provide special assistance to children orphaned by HIV/AIDS

109. Some 13 million children have been orphaned as a result of HIV/AIDS, over 90 per cent of them in sub- Saharan Africa. It is expected that the number of AIDS orphans will rise to approximately 40 million in the next two decades in sub-Saharan Africa alone. The mechanisms causing and reinforcing poverty are changing due to AIDS because the majority of people living with and dying from AIDS are in the prime of life. As a result, in some areas of the world, a significant part of a generation is disappearing and leaving behind the elderly and children to fend for themselves. The cost of AIDS in rural areas is particularly high because HIV-infected urban dwellers return to their villages for care when they fall ill, which places pressure on women and a tremendous strain on rural household resources. The Interagency Task Team on Orphans and Vulnerable Children has been set up in order to define the strategy and action plan for providing effective United Nations support to orphans and children made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS.

110. Strategies for moving forward include:

- Mobilizing and strengthening community and family-based actions to support orphaned and vulnerable children;

- Ensuring that Governments protect children from violence, abuse, exploitation and discrimination;

- Ensuring that Governments provide essential quality social services for children and that orphans and children affected by HIV/AIDS are treated on an equal basis with other children;

- Expanding the role of schools as community resource and care centres.

GOAL: To encourage the pharmaceutical industry to make essential drugs more widely available and affordable by all who need them in developing countries

111. In recent years, the pharmaceutical industry has become increasingly involved in specific programs to make cheap or free drugs available for such diseases as AIDS, malaria, leprosy, meningitis, lymphatic filariasis, trachoma and tuberculosis. In May 2000, a partnership was launched between five major pharmaceutical companies and the United Nations to increase developing country access to HIV medicines, including sharp reductions in prices for anti-retroviral drugs. Technical assistance provided though this initiative has supported the development of HIV care and support plans in some 26 countries. So far, in 13 of these countries, agreements for the supply of discounted drugs have been reached with suppliers. A request for expressions of interest open to both research and development pharmaceutical companies and generic drug producers has been issued as part of the United Nations efforts to expand access to HIV medicines.

112. The fifty-fourth World Health Assembly, held in May 2001, called upon the international community to cooperate in strengthening pharmaceutical policies and practices in order to promote the development of domestic industries. The Assembly further referred to the need for voluntary monitoring and reporting of drug prices in order to improve equity of access to essential drugs in the international system. The Assembly requested that the United Nations encourage the development of drugs for diseases affecting poor countries, and work to enhance the study of existing and future health implications of international trade agreements. Earlier in the year, the United Nations undertook discussions with of some of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies to agree on what further steps need to be taken to expand access to HIV prevention and care, including access to HIV-related medicines for developing countries.

113. In June 2001, at the special session of the General Assembly on HIV/AIDS, Member States recognized that the availability and affordability of drugs and related technology are significant factors to be addressed. They also recognized the need to reduce the cost of these drugs and technologies, in close collaboration with the private sector and pharmaceutical companies. In the Declaration of Commitment,*28* the General Assembly called for the development of and progress in implementing comprehensive care strategies, including the financing plans and referral mechanisms required to provide access to affordable medicines, diagnostics and related technologies.

114. At the special session, the General Assembly welcomed national efforts to promote innovation and develop domestic industries consistent with international law, which will increase access to medicines for all. the General Assembly stressed the need to evaluate the impact of international trade agreements on local manufacturing of essential drugs, the development of new drugs and obtaining access to them.

115. During recent years, a number of governing bodies and other forums have called for the examination of trade agreements and their role in supporting access to medicines. The most important trade agreement concerning access to medicines is the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS).*29* TRIPS provides global norms for intellectual property protection, including a minimum 20-year patent term that also applies to medicines. However, TRIPS also accords Governments the flexibility to address social interests, such as access to medicines, for example by allowing Governments to issue compulsory licenses that effectively override the exclusive control that patents can give to the inventor of new drugs. In June 2001, the TRIPS Council of the World Trade Organization (WTO) convened a special discussion day on TRIPS and health. This discussion, focusing on how to ensure greater access to life-saving drugs in developing countries while at the same time supporting innovation of new drugs and technologies, is likely to continue at the next round of WTO ministerial-level trade talks.

116. With some 95 per cent of HIV-positive people living in developing countries and the severe deprivation of medicines in many of those countries, the United Nations system is redoubling its approach to greatly expand access to medicines in developing countries, in particular the hard-hit least developed countries.

117. Strategies for moving forward include:

- Strengthening health systems for the provision of essential medicines;

- Increasing affordability through differential pricing and the reduction or elimination of import duties, tariffs and taxes;

- Mobilizing sustainable financing to support the costs of expanded access to drugs in poor countries;

- Exploring the feasibility, in collaboration with non-governmental organizations and other concerned partners, of developing and implementing systems for the voluntary monitoring and reporting of global drug prices;

- Urging drug companies not only to reduce prices of essential drugs but also to improve the distribution of life-saving drugs, especially in least developed countries;

- Utilizing non-traditional and innovative mechanisms to increase the effective distribution of drugs to those who need them;

- Ensuring further evaluation and assessment of international trade agreements that affect the availability of essential drugs;

- Increasing research and development of advanced medications for those diseases that primarily affect developing countries.

GOAL: By 2020, to have achieved a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers, as proposed in the "Cities without slums" initiative

118. During the next generation, the global urban population will double from 2.5 billion to 5 billion people. Almost all of the increase will be in developing countries. Recent figures show that a quarter of the world's population who live in cities do not have adequate housing and often lack access to basic social services, such as access to clean and safe water and sanitation.

119. The increasing concentration of population and economic activity in large cities in developing countries tends to increase poverty and squatter settlements. Slums lack basic municipal services, such as water, sanitation, waste collection and drainage systems. They create intense pressure on local resources, ecosystems and environments, creating a need for well organized and efficient social services, transportation, waste management and pollution control. Intervening at the city level can help reduce poverty, partly because the economies of scale that are possible make the provision of services cost-effective.

120. The United Nations has joined forces with other development partners to respond to this challenge through major initiatives, such as Cities Without Slums; the Global Campaign for Secure Tenure, which aimed to achieve demonstrated progress towards adequate shelter for all with secure tenure and access to essential services in every community by 2015; the Global Campaign on Urban Governance; and Managing Water for African Cities.

121. Strategies for moving forward include:

- Ensuring support from the international community for the provision of basic social services, such as safe water and sanitation, to the urban poor;

- Ensuring the development of integrated and participatory approaches to urban environmental planning and management;

- Ensuring good urban governance and planning by forging public-private partnerships.

GOAL: To promote gender equality and the empowerment of women as effective ways to combat poverty, hunger and disease and to stimulate development that is truly sustainable

122. Women are still the poorest of the world's poor, representing two thirds of those living under a dollar a day. When such a large proportion of women live on incomes of less than $1 a day, the relationship between being female and being poor is stark. Over the past two decades, the number of rural women living in absolute poverty has risen by 50 per cent, as opposed to 30 per cent for men. To change this severe inequality, women will need to gain control over financial and material resources, and will also need access to opportunity through education.

123. In the five-year review of the Beijing Platform for Action, Governments committed themselves to removing all discriminatory provisions in legislation and eliminating legislative gaps that leave girls and women without effective legal protection and recourse against gender-based discrimination by 2005.

124. In 1999, at the five-year review of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD+5), a total of 177 Member States adopted "Key actions for the further implementation of ICPD", calling on Governments to protect and promote women's and girls' human rights through the implementation and enforcement of gender-sensitive legislation and policies.

125. Strategies for moving forward include:

- Urging greater efforts in the areas of maternal mortality, the prevention of HIV/AIDS and gender sensitivity in education;

- Advocating women's empowerment in employment;

- Supporting the inclusion of women in government and other decision-making bodies at a high level.

GOAL: To develop and implement strategies that give young people everywhere a real chance to find decent and productive work

126. The youth population of the world amounts to more than one billion men and women. Their numbers are expected to grow by more than 100 million to reach almost 1.2 billion by 2010, more than half of them in Asia and the Pacific. Youth also make up more than 40 per cent of the world's total unemployed. There are an estimated 66 million unemployed young people in the world today, an increase of nearly 10 million since 1995.

127. In 2000, the United Nations system established the High-Level Policy Network on Youth Employment, drawing on the most creative leaders in the private industry, civil society and economic policy. The aim is to explore imaginative approaches in creating opportunities for youth. National plans of action in selected countries will be developed. Reporting mechanisms for monitoring progress will be proposed for all organizations involved. In addition to developing policy recommendations, the Network is expected to mobilize public opinion and action in favour of youth employment.

128. Strategies for moving forward include:

- Ensuring employability through increased investment in education and vocational training for young people;

- Ensuring equal opportunities by giving girls the same opportunities as boys;

- Facilitating entrepreneurship by making it easier to start and run enterprises.

GOAL: Success in meeting these objectives depends, inter alia, on good governance within each country. It also depends on good governance at the international level and on transparency in the financial, monetary and trading systems. We are committed to an open, equitable, rule based, predictable and non- discriminatory multilateral trading and financial system. We are also concerned about the obstacles developing countries face in mobilizing the resources needed to finance their sustained development. We will therefore make every effort to ensure the success of the International Conference on Financing for Development

129. While there have been some considerable improvements in human as well as economic development, some real challenges still remain. Developing nations need immediate help in addressing issues in finance, trade and governance.

130. In March 2002, the United Nations will convene the International Conference for Financing for Development in Monterrey, Mexico. At the Conference, the United Nations will call upon the international community to strongly support the key elements in international development and cooperation described below in order to strengthen the position of developing nations in today's globalizing world.

Domestic resource mobilization

131. The mobilization of domestic resources is the foundation for self-sustaining development. Domestic resources play the main role in financing domestic investment and social programmes, which are essential for economic growth and making permanent gains in eradicating poverty. However, conditions within the economy must be conducive to saving and investment spending. A sound fiscal policy, responsible social spending and a well functioning and competitive financial system are the elements of good governance that are crucial to economic and social development.

Increase in private capital flows

132. Foreign capital can provide a valuable supplement to the domestic resources that a country can generate. Large sums of capital cross national borders in the form of foreign direct investment (FDI), both long-term flows and short-term flows (portfolio flows). The international capital markets constitute a further vast pool of funds from which countries can draw. FDI is now the largest form of private capital inflow to developing countries. World flows of FDI increased fourfold between 1990 and 1999, from $200 billion to $884 billion, and its ratio to GDP is generally rising in developing countries. FDI flows are less in countries in conflict or those that do not have an attractive investment climate. For example, 15 emerging economies, mainly in East Asia, Latin America and Europe, accounted for 83 per cent of all net long-term private capital flows to developing countries in 1997. Sub-Saharan Africa received only 5 per cent of the total.

133. While private capital cannot alleviate poverty by itself, it can play a significant role in promoting growth. However, its provision needs to be organized in such a way that reduces vulnerability to crises. Recent trends indicate that capital flows to emerging economies, particularly those in East Asia, were short- term capital flows, which are volatile in nature. The absence of a sound financial system makes nations particularly vulnerable to short-term flows, leading to financial crises. Facilitating financial capital formation in an economy, whether domestic or otherwise, requires a sound domestic environment.

134. Strategies for moving forward include:

- Good governance that is based on participation and the rule of law, with a strong focus on

combating corruption and appropriate safeguards for private investment;

- Disciplined macroeconomic policies and fiscal policy, including clear goals for the mobilization of tax and non-tax revenues;

- Responsible public spending on basic education and health, the rural sector and women;

- Well functioning and diverse financial systems that allocate savings to those capable of investing efficiently, including microfinance borrowers, women and the rural sector;

- A just investment policy that treats domestic as well as foreign investors fairly and reduces vulnerability to financial crises.

Increase in official development assistance

135. Official development assistance (ODA) is still a key source of finance, especially for least developed countries that lack the infrastructure necessary to attract private capital flows. Net ODA to developing nations declined from 58.5 billion in 1994 to 48.5 billion in 1999. This decline has come at a time when ODA should have gone up substantially, taking into account that a clear programmatic basis for development cooperation was put forward in a cycle of major United Nations conferences. Furthermore, an increasing number of developing countries undertook major reforms in economic and political governance, and the fiscal situation in donor countries had improved significantly.

136. Strategies for moving forward include:

- A commitment by the industrial countries at the International Conference on Financing for Development to implement the target of providing ODA equal to 0.7 per cent of their gross national product (GNP);

- Distinguishing between the portion of ODA spent on development and that spent on humanitarian assistance so as to help prevent the erosion of development assistance in favour of humanitarian assistance;

- Allocation of ODA by donor nations to countries that need it most, and to those countries whose policies are effectively directed towards reducing poverty.

Increase in trade

137. Trade is an important engine of growth. Not only is it an important foreign exchange earner but it also has multiplier effects by generating income through employment. Eight rounds of multilateral negotiations have done much in the past half-century to dismantle tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade. But by far the main beneficiaries of trade liberalization have been the industrialized countries. Developing countries' products continue to face significant impediments in rich countries' markets. Basic products in which developing countries are highly competitive are precisely the ones that carry the highest protection in the most advanced countries. These include not only agricultural products but also some industrial products. In the 1990s, growth in trade has been the strongest among upper-middle-income economies, whose share of world trade in goods grew from 8 to 11 per cent between 1990 and 1998. Their ratio of trade to gross domestic product (GDP) measured in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms now stands at more than 25 per cent. But too many countries have been left out. The share of the poorest 48 economies unfortunately has remained nearly constant, at about 4 per cent.

138. Strategies for moving forward include:

- Ensuring that developed nations fully comply with the commitments they made under the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations to improve market access for products from developing countries;

- Ensuring significant improvement in market access in developed countries for agricultural products from developing countries;

- Eliminating the remaining trade barriers in manufacturing, especially on textiles and clothing;

- Providing for limited, time-bound protection of new industries by countries that are in the early stages of development;

- Capacity-building and technical assistance for trade negotiations and dispute settlements;

- Ensuring that the next round of trade negotiations is truly a development round.

GOAL: Address the special needs of the least developed countries, and in this context welcome the Third United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries, held in May 2001, and ensure its success. The industrialized countries are called on:

(c) To grant more generous development assistance, especially to countries that are genuinely making an effort to apply their resources to poverty reduction

139. The Third United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries, held in May 2001, adopted a programme of action that provides a framework for a global partnership to accelerate sustained economic growth and sustainable development in least developed countries. The least developed countries and their partners are committed to fostering a people-centred policy framework; good governance at the national and international levels; building productive capacities to make globalization work for least developed countries; enhancing the role of trade in development; reducing vulnerability and protecting the environment; and mobilizing financial resources.

140. The programme of action recognizes the important role that Governments, civil society and the private sector have to play in its implementation and follow-up, through stronger public-private partnerships. There is a critical need for an effective mechanism to support intergovernmental review and follow-up of the implementation of the programme of action; to mobilize the United Nations system, as well as other relevant multilateral organizations; and to facilitate substantive participation of least developed countries in appropriate multilateral forums. The Secretary-General has been requested to submit to the General Assembly, at its fifty-sixth session, his recommendations for an efficient and highly visible follow-up mechanism.

Duty- and quota-free access for essentially all exports from least developed countries

141. During the 1970s, several advanced economies introduced preferential market access schemes for developing countries. The EU and Japan introduced their Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) programmes in 1971, Canada in 1974 and the United States in 1976. Currently, there are 15 GSP schemes throughout the world. Under the System, developed countries (GSP donor countries) have applied, on a voluntary and unilateral basis, preferential tariff rates to imports from developing countries (GSP beneficiaries). Numerous other countries have also introduced preferential market access schemes for least developed countries. However, they usually exempt many products, such as agriculture and textiles, that are deemed sensitive by developed nations.

142. Recently, the EU announced that the Everything But Arms (EBA) initiative will grant duty- and quota- free access for essentially all non-military exports from the 49 least developed countries. This initiative proposes to remove all tariffs and quotas on all imports from least developed countries except arms. EBA came into effect for most products on 5 March 2001, except for sugar, rice and bananas. The gesture will help to rebuild confidence in the ability of the multilateral trade system and WTO to reflect the needs of all its members. Other developed nations are being urged to follow this example set by the EU.

143. Strategies for moving forward include:

- Strengthening efforts to integrate trade policies into national development policies towards poverty eradication;

- Assisting least developed countries in capacity- building in trade policy and related areas, such as tariffs, customs, competition and investment in technology;

- Continuing to work towards the objective of duty- free and quota-free market access for all least developed countries' products, excluding arms;

- Assisting least developed countries in upgrading their production and export capacities and capabilities;

- Continuing to improve the generalized system of preferences for least developed countries by reducing administrative and procedural complexities.

Debt relief

144. In September 1996, the Interim and Development Committees of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank endorsed the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative to provide relief to eligible countries once they meet a range of conditions that should enable them to service the residual debt through export earnings, aid, and capital inflows. The HIPC Initiative requires debtor countries to pursue macroeconomic adjustment and structural and social policy reforms and provide for additional finance for social sector programmes, primarily basic health and education.

145. Following a comprehensive review of the HIPC Initiative, a number of modifications were approved in September 1999 to provide faster, deeper and broader debt relief to 41 countries classified as HIPCs and strengthen the links between debt relief and poverty reduction, the assumption being that debt relief would release fiscal resources to allow these countries to improve human development.

146. A total of 22 countries reached their decision point by end-December 2000 and therefore qualify for debt relief under the enhanced HIPC Initiative. The HIPC Initiative will reduce the debt stock of the 22 countries by almost two thirds, from $53 billion in net current value terms to roughly $20 billion. Of the 22 countries that have qualified for debt relief, 17 are African least developed countries. There are 11 more least developed countries that face an unsustainable debt burden according to HIPC criteria, most of which are affected by conflicts. However, under current procedures it may take several years before those countries are able to fulfil the conditions required to receive debt relief. In addition, there are several debt- stressed least developed countries that are not defined as HIPCs. The international community must act quickly to relieve these least developed countries of their debt burden. There is also a risk that the financial resources released by debt relief will not be fully additional. For 14 of the 17 African least developed countries which have qualified for debt relief, official flows fell considerably between 1996 and 1999.

147. Strategies for moving forward include:

- Encouraging donors to mobilize resources to finance debt relief;

- Ensuring that debt relief is additional and not an alternative to other forms of development assistance;

- Taking measures to enhance a national policy framework that contributes effectively to poverty eradication and promotes faster economic growth;

- Designing and implementing nationally owned development policies and strategies, including, where appropriate, poverty reduction strategy papers, with the full participation of stakeholders;

- Pursuing measures to promote the cancellation of official bilateral debt.

Official development assistance

148. Compared to the goal of 0.15 to 0.20 per cent of GNP as ODA to least developed countries, as adopted at the Second United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries in 1990, actual ODA flows were 0.06 per cent in 2000. While the cutback in ODA has affected a large number of developing countries, it has hit Africa and Asia especially hard. Net ODA disbursements from Governments and multilateral institutions to Africa fell by more than a quarter from $25.1 billion in 1990 to $18.5 billion in 1998, while flows to Asia dropped from $19.5 billion to $16.1 billion during the same period. Many of the least developed countries have suffered a severe decline, particularly in terms of ODA received per capita. Seven countries in this group, all from Africa, recorded a drop of more than 50 per cent in net ODA receipts per capita between 1990 and 1998, 20 countries saw a fall of between 25 per cent and 50 per cent and 13 countries registered a decline of up to 25 per cent.

149. Since ODA is necessary to build the infrastructure necessary to attract foreign capital, direct or otherwise, if Governments are to achieve the goals for 2015 and if sustained and sustainable economic growth is to become the norm in all developing countries, substantially larger amounts of ODA will be needed.

150. Strategies for moving forward include:

- Urging bilateral and multilateral development agencies to take steps towards making their aid programmes more efficient and responsive to the needs of least developed countries;

- Supporting further institutional reforms to increase transparency and dialogue at the bilateral and multilateral levels;

- Urging donor nations to fulfil their commitments towards increased assistance to the least developed countries;

- Establishing information systems to monitor the use and effectiveness of ODA.

GOAL: Resolve to address the special needs of small island developing States by implementing the Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States and the outcome of the twenty-second special session of the General Assembly rapidly and in full. Urge the international community to ensure that, in the development of a vulnerability index, the special needs of small island developing States are taken into account

151. Small island developing States vary enormously according to distinct bio-physical, sociocultural and economic characteristics. Their efforts for sustainable development, however, are constrained by common disadvantages, such as limited natural resources, fragility of ecosystems and vulnerability to natural hazards. All except five of the small islands have a land area of less than 30,000 square kilometres. Many small island developing States are located in the tropics and fall within the influence of tropical storms and cyclones. Therefore, they are prone to extreme weather events. Economic activities are frequently dominated by specialized agriculture (e.g., sugar) and by tourism, both of which are influenced by climatic factors. The small islands face difficulties in gaining concessions based on the recognition of their structural disadvantages. The small island developing States unfortunately face a paradox as they are increasingly regarded as relatively prosperous nations based on their national income indicators even though those numbers do not reflect their actual economic and environmental vulnerability.

152. The Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States*30* identified a number of priority areas in which specific actions are needed at the national, regional and international levels, including vulnerability to climate change, management of wastes, management of coastal and marine resources, and management of energy, freshwater and land resources.

153. Several indicators developed within or outside the United Nations have demonstrated the vulnerability of small island developing States to external shocks beyond their control. Particularly relevant to the problems of economic instability of small island developing States is the economic vulnerability index covering 128 developing countries (including most small island developing States). The index shows that small island developing States are (a) highly unstable economically as a result of natural and economic shocks, and (b) greatly handicapped as a result of their small size.

154. Since the twenty-second special session of the General Assembly, several global events, such as the Tenth United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and the Third United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries, have recalled the fragility of small island developing States in the globalizing economy. In this context, progress has been made towards a consensus on the importance, for small island developing States, of gaining recognition on the grounds of vulnerability in key international arenas where concessions are already granted to other categories, such as the least developed countries (in WTO) or low-income countries (in the World Bank).

155. Strategies for moving forward include:

- Ensuring progress towards a special and differential treatment of small island developing States in the financial and trade-related spheres;

- Supporting and assisting small island developing States in specific aspects of multilateral trade negotiations;

- Supporting any additional efforts necessary towards the implementation of the Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States.

GOAL: Recognize the special needs and problems of landlocked developing countries, and urge both bilateral and multilateral donors to increase financial and technical assistance to this group of countries to meet their special development needs and to help them overcome the impediments of geography and by improving their transit transportation system

156. Landlocked developing countries are negatively affected by the high cost of their exports and imports. According to the latest available figures (1997), while freight costs represented approximately 4.4 per cent of the cost including freight (c.i.f.) import values for developed countries and about 8 per cent for developing countries as a group, for the landlocked countries in West Africa they represented approximately 24.6 per cent, for those in East Africa they represented about 16.7 per cent and for those in Latin America they represented approximately 14.6 per cent of c.i.f. import values. The high level of international transport costs facing landlocked countries is explained also by the fact that their exports incur additional costs in the country or countries of transit (customs clearance fees, road user charges etc.). The high transport costs of landlocked countries imports impose a significant economic burden on the economies of landlocked countries in the form of inflated prices of both consumer and intermediate inputs, such as fuel.

157. Strategies for moving forward include:

- Ensuring that landlocked and transit developing countries and the donor community cooperate in the implementation of the Global Framework for Transit-Transport Cooperation;

- Assisting landlocked countries in developing efficient and flexible transport systems;

- Urging donors and international financial and development agencies to promote innovative financial mechanisms to help landlocked countries meet their infrastructure financing and management needs.

GOAL: Deal comprehensively and effectively with the debt problems of low- and middle- income developing countries, through various national and international measures designed to make their debt sustainable in the long run

158. The situation of middle-income countries and the few low-income countries which have had access to international capital markets and thus have a mix of official and private creditors is fairly complex and cannot be generalized. Many of them have heavy debt- servicing obligations, measured as a percentage of their foreign exchange earnings and/or budgetary revenue.

159. Some of these non-HIPC countries have had to seek a restructuring of their external debt-servicing obligations in recent years. While there are established procedures for helping such countries to restructure their debts and receive temporary international liquidity, the mechanisms have been evolving and further change can be expected. The Paris Club is usually at the centre of debt restructurings and it may well remain key in this regard. While it is taking steps to improve the availability of information on its proceedings, the need remains for clearer principles and more transparent mechanisms for working out debt problems, and new complementary approaches may be required.

160. Strategies for moving forward include:

- Urging all creditors to developing countries to support measures to ensure that debt financing becomes an integral part of their development efforts and not a hindrance to them;

- Ensuring better coordination between private and public creditors in debt workouts of debtor nations;

- Preventing the accumulation of excessive debt or the "bunching" of debt-servicing obligations over a short period of time so as to ensure that debt financing plays a constructive role in development finance.

GOAL: To ensure that the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communication technologies, in conformity with the recommendations contained in the ministerial declaration adopted by the Economic and Social Council at the high-level segment of its substantive session of 2001*31* are available to all

161. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) can be potent instruments for accelerating broad-based growth and sustainable development and for reducing poverty. Vast regions of the world are increasingly lagging behind in connectivity and access to global information flows and knowledge and are thus marginalized from the emerging global knowledge-based economy. While in the United States nearly 60 per cent of the population are online, the percentage of the population online is only 0.02 per cent in Bangladesh, 0.36 per cent in Paraguay and 0.65 per cent in Egypt. Worldwide, 410 million people are online, but only 5 per cent of those are in Africa or Latin America. At the high-level segment of its substantive session of 2001, the Economic and Social Council expressed profound concern that the huge potential of ICT for advancing development, in particular of the developing countries, has not yet been fully exploited.

162. To address this problem, the Council proposed the establishment of an ICT task force that would lend a truly global dimension to the multitude of efforts to bridge the global digital divide, foster digital opportunity and thus put ICT at the service of development for all. The task force has been established and will be formally launched in September 2001.

163. Strategies for moving forward include:

- Promoting universal and affordable access to ICT and assisting Member States in creating ICT for development strategies;

- Supporting human resources development and institutional capacity-building;

- Building partnerships, including with the private sector.

IV. Protecting our common environment

164. One of our greatest challenges in the coming years is to ensure that our children and all future generations are able to sustain their lives on the planet. We must tackle, as a matter of priority, issues of climate change, preserving biodiversity, managing our forests and water resources and reducing the impacts of natural and man-made disasters. If we do not act to contain the damage already done and mitigate future harm, we will inflict irreversible damage on our rich ecosystem and the bounties it offers.

GOAL: To make every effort to ensure the entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol,*32* preferably by the tenth anniversary of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in 2002, and to embark on the required reduction in emissions of greenhouse gases

165. In 1997, the world released 23.8 billion tons of carbon dioxide (CO2), the most important of the greenhouse gases. Almost half of those emissions were from high-income economies. That level is four times the 1950 level and is currently increasing at a rate of nearly 300 million tons annually. Population growth, increasing consumption and the reliance on fossil fuels all combine to drive up the release of greenhouse gases, leading to global warming. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, increases in greenhouse gases have already caused a temperature rise of 0.3 to 0.6 degrees Celsius during the last 100 years. There has been a sharp upward trend in temperatures in the last 10 years, and the years since 1993 have been the hottest on record. If nothing is done to control greenhouse gas emissions, the global average temperature could rise by a further 0.4 degrees Celsius by the year 2020. Global warming could result in sea levels rising by 34 inches by the end of the twenty-first century, flooding human coastal and island settlements and melting the polar ice caps.

166. The Kyoto Protocol aims to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases by industrialized nations to 5.2 per cent below 1990 levels within the period 2008 to 2012. Greenhouse gas emissions in industrialized countries have fallen during the period 1990 to 1998, particularly due to the economic changes in the Russian Federation, other parts of the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Negotiations are ongoing to implement the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change*33*Environment and Development (UNCED) and to bring into force the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.

signed at the United Nations Conference on

167. To come into force, the Kyoto Treaty requires the ratification of 55 countries, which must also be responsible for at least 55 per cent of CO2 emissions. As of 14 August 2001, 37 of the 84 countries that have signed the Kyoto Protocol have ratified it. It is still possible for Governments to meet the target of entry into force by the opening of the World Summit on Sustainable Development in September 2002.

168. Formal discussions among the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change were held at the resumed sixth Conference of the Parties, held in Germany in July 2001. The Conference approved rules for implementing the Kyoto Protocol to cut greenhouse gas emissions. The consensus agreement won the backing of 178 nations. Among the incentives that secured the agreement was a provision for developed countries to engage in emissions trading. The idea behind emissions trading is that companies and countries that cut emissions below their assigned target level will have excess credits to sell. Industrialized nations and companies that cannot reach their emissions quotas may find it cheaper to buy the excess credits than install new pollution-abatement equipment. Such a market-based mechanism is expected to direct limited investment money to the most cost-effective emissions-reduction projects. Lawmakers from the nations attending the meeting will consider the implementation measures when they vote on formal ratification.

169. Current United Nations initiatives in support of greenhouse gas reduction include the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which carries out assessments of the science of climate change as well as its potential socio-economic consequences. The Global Environment Facility (GEF) helps countries to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

170. The World Summit on Sustainable Development, to be held in Johannesburg in September 2002, will constitute the 10-year review of UNCED. A focused agenda should foster discussion of findings in particular environmental sectors (forests, oceans, climate, energy, fresh water, etc.) as well as in cross- sector areas, such as economic instruments, new technologies and globalization. The Summit must also consider fully the impact of the revolutions in technology, biology and communications that have taken place since 1992. Private citizens as well as institutions are urged to take part in the process. Broad participation is critical. If further action is to be effective in achieving the ultimate goal of sustainability, Governments cannot work alone.

171. For the immediate future, the most important effort is to ensure that the Kyoto Protocol is ratified by 55 nations responsible for at least 55 per cent of the CO2 emissions in 1990. The United Nations will also encourage the parties to the Convention on Climate Change to introduce instruments and procedures to restrict greenhouse gas emissions and to provide technical means to developing countries to do so.

172. Strategies for moving forward include:

- Ensuring the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol;

- Developing a clear framework to elicit voluntary initiatives from the private sector by giving credit to voluntary actions that reduce greenhouse gas emissions;

- Encouraging initiatives that will help reduce the vulnerability of the poor and strengthen their adaptive capacity to deal with the adverse impacts of climate change;

- Encouraging new partnerships and strengthening of institutions to deal with the adverse impact of climate change.

GOAL: To intensify our collective efforts for the management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests

173. Forests and woodlands are vital to the social and economic well-being of people. They provide a wide range of products for economic development as well as subsistence for millions of people, including indigenous people, who live in and around forests. Furthermore, forests also provide indispensable environmental services, such as soil and water conservation, the preservation of biological diversity and the mitigation of climate change through carbon storage and sequestration.

174. As of 2000, 3.9 billion hectares (ha) of land, about one third of the world's total land area, are covered by forests, 17 per cent in Africa, 14 per cent in

Asia, 5 per cent in Oceania, 27 per cent in Europe, 14 per cent in North and Central America and 23 per cent in South America.

175. Forest resources contribute to the subsistence of communities and economies, but many current forms of usage are unsustainable. The world's natural forests continue to be converted to other land uses at an alarming rate. Currently, deforestation is greatest in the tropics. The global deforestation rate is estimated to be about 14.6 million ha per year. Major causes of deforestation and forest degradation include agricultural expansion and the harvesting of fuel wood. Half of the wood harvested in the world is used as fuel, mostly in developing countries. In developed nations, forest resources are used mainly for industrial products. Only 6 per cent of the forest area in developing countries is covered by a formal and nationally approved forest management plan, compared with 89 per cent in developed countries.

176. Forest policy deliberations, initially conducted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests and the Intergovernmental Forum on Forests, subsidiary bodies of the Commission on Sustainable Development, are now carried out by their successor, the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF), itself a subsidiary body of the Economic and Social Council. The Collaborative Partnership on Forests, consisting of 12 multilateral forest-related organizations, has also been formed to support the activities of UNFF.

177. Strategies for moving forward include:

- Enhancing cooperation and coordination on forest-related issues among relevant international and regional organizations, as well as public- private partners;

- Strengthening political commitment to the management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests, including the special needs and requirements of countries with low forest cover.

GOAL: To press for the full implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity*34* and the Convention to Combat Desertification in those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, particularly in Africa*35*

178. The world's biological diversity is being lost at an alarming rate. For example, of the 1.75 million species that have been identified it is estimated that 3,400 plants and 5,200 animal species, including one in eight bird species and nearly one in four mammal species, face extinction.

179. The 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity has 181 States parties as of 14 August 2001, and commits Governments to conserve biodiversity, to use its components in a sustainable manner and to share equitably the benefits arising from the use of genetic resources. Despite this, the world's biological diversity is being irreversibly lost at an alarming rate, as a result of large-scale clearing and burning of forests; the overharvesting of plants; the indiscriminate use of pesticides and other persistent toxic chemicals; the draining and filling of wetlands; the loss of coral reefs and mangroves; destructive fishing practices; climate change; water pollution; and the conversion of wild lands to agricultural and urban uses.

180. There is a clear need for additional resources to assess status and trends on biological diversity and to mainstream biodiversity concerns into sectoral and cross-sectoral planning, policies and projects. The issue of further scientific assessment of living modified organisms resulting from modern biotechnology will require close attention.

181. The Cartagena Protocol to the Convention on Biological Diversity was adopted by more than 130 countries on 29 January 2000, in Montreal. Called the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety in honour of the Colombian city which hosted the Conference of Parties to the Convention in Cartagena in 1999, the Protocol, upon entry into force, is expected to provide a framework for addressing the environmental impacts of bioengineered products or "living modified organisms" that cross international borders. The Cartagena Protocol will help to protect the environment without unnecessarily disrupting world food trade. As of 31 July 2001, the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety has been signed by 102 countries and one regional economic organization - the European Community.

182. The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, particularly in Africa, was negotiated after UNCED and it entered into force in December 1996. It stressed the need for a new grass- roots participatory approach to solving the problem of desertification. Desertification affects the topsoil that is crucial to agriculture and the world's food supply. This is predominantly due to overcultivation, poor irrigation, drought and overgrazing. The Convention emphasizes partnerships, both internationally and domestically, as well as the need to afford special consideration to those affected by desertification in developing countries.

183. Strategies for moving ahead include:

- Supporting the implementation of the Convention to Combat Desertification by taking measures that prevent land degradation and focus on new participatory approaches to solving the problem of desertification;

- Ensuring the universal ratification of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, as well as the harmonization and implementation of biodiversity-related instruments and programmes.

GOAL To stop the unsustainable exploitation of water resources by developing water management strategies at the regional, national and local levels which promote both equitable access and adequate supplies

184.The supply of clean and safe water has not kept up with the increases in demand for it. Water tables are falling in every continent. Although 70 per cent of the world's surface is covered by water, only 2.5 per cent of the water on earth is freshwater. Less than 1 per cent of the world's freshwater resources is accessible for human use. Water use grew at more than twice the rate of population during the twentieth century. In 2000, at least 1.1 billion people or 18 per cent of the world's population lacked access to safe water. If present trends in water consumption continue, almost 2.5 billion people will be subject to water shortages by 2050.

185. The United Nations played an active role in the World Water Forum held in The Hague in 2000, where discussions focused on strategies for the sustainable management of water resources and their related coastal and marine environments. These strategies are currently being implemented by various nations, with the active involvement of the United Nations, and include programmes for the management of freshwater systems and their related coastal and marine environments.

186. Strategies for moving ahead include:

- Conducting global assessments of priority aquatic ecosystems with a view to developing appropriate policy responses;

- Developing policies, guidelines and management tools for environmentally sustainable integrated water management;

- Helping developing countries and countries with economies in transition to use environmentally sound technologies to address urban and freshwater basin environmental problems;

- Ensuring a comprehensive review of chapter 18 of Agenda 21,*36* which is the main framework for United Nations activities in the management of freshwater resources, at the World Summit on Sustainable Development, to be held in Johannesburg in 2002;

- Ensuring that such measures as the "polluter pays" principle and the pricing of water, which were raised at the World Water Forum, are further examined.

GOAL: To intensify our collective efforts to reduce the number and effects of natural and man-made disasters

187. In 1999, natural disasters resulted in the loss of more than 100,000 human lives. If the projected impact of climate change on disasters is also factored into the equation, human and economic losses resulting from disasters will be significant unless aggressive measures are implemented to prevent the occurrence of or mitigate the effects of natural and man-made disasters.

188. There has been a major conceptual shift from the traditional emphasis on disaster response to disaster reduction. The International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (1990-1999) led to the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction and the establishment of an inter-agency task force and secretariat. Disaster reduction prevents, mitigates and prepares for the adverse impact of natural hazards and related environmental and technological disasters. It must be promoted as an urgent priority on the international development agenda.

189. Many countries, with the assistance of non-state actors, have begun to adopt initiatives, including the increased application of science and technology, designed to reduce the impact of natural hazards and related technological and environmental phenomena.

190. The Geneva Mandate on Disaster Reduction reaffirms the necessity for disaster reduction and risk management as essential elements of government policies. The International Strategy for Disaster Reduction will help societies in their endeavours to mitigate and to the extent possible to prevent the effects of natural hazards. Separately, the General Assembly mandated the Strategy to continue international cooperation to reduce the impacts of El Niño and other climate variability, and to strengthen disaster reduction capacities through early warning.

191. Strategies for moving ahead include:

- Supporting interdisciplinary and intersectoral partnerships, improved scientific research on the causes of natural disasters and better international cooperation to reduce the impact of climate variables, such as El Niño and La Niña;

- Developing early warning, vulnerability mapping, technological transfer and training;

- Encouraging Governments to address the problems created by megacities, the location of settlements in high-risk areas and other man- made determinants of disasters;

- Encouraging Governments to incorporate disaster risk reduction into national planning processes, including building codes.

GOAL: To ensure free access to information on the human genome sequence

192. In 2000, the publicly funded Human Genome Project and the commercial Celera Genomics Corporation jointly announced success in listing the sequence of the 3.1 billion bases of human DNA. But although the DNA sequence has been listed, decoding it or making it meaningful will take several more years. The Project, a multinational public-sector research consortium, has announced that its genome database will be made freely available on the Internet, but Celera is expected to charge royalties. The decoding of the human gene has brought the issue of patenting genes to the fore. The genome project is an excellent example of technology transfer at work, with numerous laboratories operating in at least 18 different countries. Although some biotechnology innovations originate in the South, most of the more complex biotechnology is still being advanced in developed countries.

193. In 1997, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) members unanimously signed the Universal Declaration on the Human Genome and Human Rights,*37* stating that the human genome in its natural state must not give rise to financial gains, and that no research concerning the human genome should prevail over respect for human rights. Also, practices contrary to human dignity, such as reproductive human cloning, should not be permitted and benefits from advances concerning the human genome must be made available to all. In addition, research concerning the human genome shall seek to offer relief from suffering and improve health.

194. Strategy for moving forward:

- Taking into account the UNESCO declaration of 1997, nations are urged to ensure free access to information on the human genome sequence.

V. Human rights, democracy and good governance

195. The United Nations exists to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, the equal rights of men and women, and the right of minorities and migrants to live in peace. All human rights - civil, political, economic, social and cultural - are comprehensive, universal and interdependent. They are the foundations that support human dignity, and any violations of human rights represent an attack on human dignity's very core. Where fundamental human rights are not protected, States and their peoples are more likely to experience conflict, poverty and injustice.

GOAL: To respect and fully uphold the Universal Declaration of Human Rights*38* and strive for the full protection and promotion in all countries of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights for all

196. Currently, the ratification status of key international human rights treaties is as follows (numbers of countries which have ratified in parentheses): the International Covenant for Economic Social and Cultural Rights*39* (145), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights*40* (147); the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination*41* (158); the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women*42* (168); the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment*43* (126), and the Convention on the Rights of the Child*44* (191).

197. While the increasing willingness of Governments to make these commitments should be applauded, the gulf between commitments and concrete action must still be bridged. People throughout the world remain victims of summary executions, disappearances and torture. Accuracy on numbers is difficult to ascertain because violations take place in too many countries of the world and are rarely reported. One of the very few measures available is the work of the special rapporteurs on human rights. For example, the number of letters sent by the Special Rapporteur on torture of the Commission on Human Rights might give a sense of the situation regarding torture but cannot describe the full magnitude of the problem: in 2000, 66 letters were sent to 60 countries on behalf of about 650 individuals and 28 groups involving 2,250 persons.

198. Thirty-eight countries have undertaken to adopt national plans of action for human rights, following the recommendation of the 1993 Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action,*45* and at least 14 countries have completed the process. More than 50 national human rights institutions have been established under the Paris principles, a detailed set of internationally recognized principles that provides minimum standards on the status and advisory role of national human rights institutions. The Paris principles were endorsed by the Commission on Human Rights in 1992 and the General Assembly in 1993, and have become the foundation and reference point for United Nations activity in this area. Since 1995 and the start of the Decade on Human Rights Education, at least 17 countries have undertaken national planning programmes and more than 40 have initiated human rights education activities.

199. A mid-term global study undertaken in 2000 found that effective human rights education strategies have yet to be developed. Specific measures for school systems, such as developing and revising curricula and textbooks, human rights training of school personnel and relevant extracurricular activities, have yet to be institutionalized. Similarly, human rights are rarely a focus of study at the university level, except at specialized human rights institutes. Some efforts have been made to educate personnel working in the administration of justice, but less has been done for officials working in the social and economic fields.

200. There has been a clear shift in attitudes towards human rights protection by Member States. Once considered to be the sole territory of sovereign States, the protection of human rights is now viewed as a universal concern, as evidenced by the recent convictions for genocide, rape, war crimes and crimes against humanity handed down in the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and former Yugoslavia.

201. Human rights are also a central tenet of United Nations reform, which emphasizes the centrality of human rights in all activities of the system. The cross- cutting nature of human rights demands that whether we are working for peace and security, for humanitarian relief or for a common development approach and common development operations, the activities and programmes of the system must be conducted with the principles of equality at their core. That evolution is reflected in a diverse range of United Nations forums.

202. Human rights are an intrinsic part of human dignity and human development can be a means towards realizing these rights. A rights-based approach to development is the basis of equality and equity, both in the distribution of development gains and in the level of participation in the development process. Economic, social and cultural rights are at the heart of all the millennium development goals related to poverty reduction, hunger alleviation, access to water, education for boys and girls, the reduction of maternal and under-five child mortality, combating HIV/AIDS and other major diseases, and promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women.

203. Human poverty indicators in recent years have shown enormous differences among countries and between the developing and developed worlds. When disaggregated by region, rural and urban areas, ethnic group or gender, national human development data reveal disparities that are unacceptable from the human rights perspective. An increasing number of Member States have recognized the value of the rights-based perspective on development and should be encouraged to implement this approach at the national level.

204. Strategies for moving forward include:

- Encouraging Governments to fulfil their human rights obligations, to ratify the six principal human rights treaties urgently, and to ratify or accede to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court;

- Integrating human rights in all development activities focused on the economic, social and cultural well-being of each member of society;

- Supporting the work of regional and subregional human rights institutions to promote national implementation of human rights norms, and to develop joint strategies for action on cross-border issues;

- Expanding United Nations programmes for Member States aimed at providing advice and training on treaty ratification, reporting and implementation;

- Integrating human rights norms into United Nations system policies, programmes and country strategies, including country frameworks and development loans.

GOAL: To strengthen the capacity of all our countries to implement the principles and practices of democracy and human rights, including minority rights

205. There has been a rapid increase in the number of democracies over the past 20 years. The ratio of democratic Governments to autocracies in the mid- 1990s was more than two to one, a complete reversal of the situation in the late 1970s. In 2000, the Commission on Human Rights outlined a number of elements for promoting and consolidating democracy. These include fair and periodic elections, an independent judiciary, a transparent government and a vibrant civil society. States that respect the rights of all their citizens and allow all of them a say in decisions that affect their lives are likely to benefit from their creative energies and to provide the kind of economic and social environment that promotes sustainable development. However, an election alone is not a solution; small minorities are often at risk in democracies and a well-functioning democracy is one that operates within the context of a comprehensive human rights regime.

206. The United Nations continues to assist new or restored democracies. Since 1988, four international conferences have been held with the aim of identifying essential democratic ideals, mechanisms and institutions and implementation strategies. Those conferences have helped to target areas for action, including building conflict resolution capacities, combating corruption, building and supporting civil society, enhancing the role of the media, security sector reform, supporting public administration structures and decentralization, and improving electoral and parliamentary systems and processes. Protecting the rights of women, minorities, migrants and indigenous peoples is also essential.

207. Since 1989, the United Nations has received over 140 requests for electoral assistance from Member States on the legal, technical, administrative and human rights aspects of conducting democratic elections. Occasionally, as in Kosovo and East Timor, the mandate has expanded to providing a transitional administration, with oversight of an entire political process designed to promote human rights and democratic participation. The United Nations has also experienced a growth in requests from Member States for human rights assistance in such areas as holding elections, law reform, the administration of justice and training for law enforcement officials.

208. Strategies for moving forward include:

- Supporting States in integrating human rights mechanisms into national institutions, particularly by establishing human rights commissions, ombudsmen and law reform commissions;

- Strengthening the implementation of democratic principles through institutional reform and raising civic awareness;

- Paying special attention to the rights of minorities, indigenous peoples and those most vulnerable in each society;

- Continuing United Nations work to ensure that elections are based on free and fair principles.

GOAL: To combat all forms of violence against women and to implement the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women

209. To date, 168 States have ratified or acceded to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, committing themselves to ending discrimination against women in all forms. In a landmark decision for women, the General Assembly adopted an Optional Protocol*46* to the Convention allowing for inquiries into situations of grave or systematic violations of women's rights, which entered into force in December 2000 and now has a total of 67 signatories and 22 ratifications. However, violence against women and girls continues to take place in the family and the community, while trafficking in women and girls, honour killings, and harmful traditional practices, such as female genital mutilation, remain common forms of abuse. During armed conflict, rape, sexual torture and slavery are used as weapons of war against women and girls. The failure of many existing economic, political and social structures to provide equal opportunities and protection for girls and women has often left them excluded from education, vulnerable to poverty and subject to disease.

210. There are encouraging moves to create and implement new policies, procedures and laws that ensure respect for women's rights at the national level. Regional efforts include a meeting concerning national machinery for gender equality in African countries, held from 16 to18 April 2001 in Addis Ababa, and an expert group meeting on the situation of rural women within the context of globalization, held in Ulaanbaatar from 4 to 8 June 2001.

211. The promotion of gender equality is a strong focus of United Nations activities, which are designed to ensure the equality of women in all aspects of human endeavour and as beneficiaries of sustainable development, peace and security, good governance and human rights. The United Nations acts as a catalyst for advancing the global agenda on women's issues, promoting international standards and norms and the dissemination of best practices.

212. In 2001, the Commission on the Status of Women adopted a multi-year programme that calls for the review of themes relevant to the empowerment of women, including the eradication of poverty, the participation and access of women to the media and current information technologies, the role of men and boys in achieving gender equality, and women's equal participation in conflict prevention, management and resolution and in peace-building. During the special sessions of the General Assembly on HIV/AIDS and on the five-year review of the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II), a gender dimension was incorporated into the final outcome documents.

213. Strategies for moving forward include:

- Encouraging Governments to implement legislative reform and strengthen domestic law enforcement mechanisms to promote non- discrimination and ensure compliance with international standards;

- Supporting national efforts to guarantee women equal access to education, social and health services, to improve their control over economic assets and to enhance their participation in decision-making processes;

- Continuing efforts to encourage parties to conflicts to involve women in ceasefire and peace negotiations and include gender issues in peace processes as well as in peace agreements;

- Working within the United Nations to ensure clear mandates for all peacekeeping missions to prevent, monitor and report on violence against women and girls, including all sexual violence, abduction, forced prostitution and trafficking.

GOAL: To take measures to ensure respect for and the protection of the human rights of migrants, migrant workers and their families, to eliminate the increasing acts of racism and xenophobia in many societies, and to promote greater harmony and tolerance in all societies

214. Migrants, minorities, refugees, displaced persons, asylum seekers and smuggled persons remain the victims of discrimination, racism and intolerance. The International Organization for Migration estimates that there are between 15 and 30 million irregular migrants worldwide. It is estimated that more than 10 per cent of the world's population belong to national or ethnic, linguistic and religious minorities, and that there are more than 300 million indigenous people.

215. The International Steering Committee of the Global Campaign for Ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Migrants was formed in 1998, and the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants continued to promote adherence to the Convention within the framework of the mandate entrusted to her by the Commission on Human Rights. States should act to ratify the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families*47* so that it enters into force with a minimum of delay, and should enact implementing legislation to give meaning to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. Practical strategies for action to combat racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance are critical. Enforcement and administrative structures can be utilized to reduce the vulnerability of migrants, particularly through public information campaigns and human rights training for immigration officials and the police. Effective policy development will be improved through the systematic collection, exchange and analysis of data, disaggregated according to age, race, minority or migrant status at the national, regional and international levels.

216. The World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance has provided an opportunity to promote greater awareness of these issues. There has been positive cooperation in the Conference process from human rights bodies, such as the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The challenge is to identify and implement practical and concrete measures to address racism, for example through attention to youth and education.

217. Strategies for moving forward include:

- Supporting State efforts to ratify and implement the Convention on Migrant Workers;

- Assisting States in developing documentation programmes for their citizens, adults and children alike, which can provide key access to fundamental rights;

- Continuing United Nations work to provide technical advice and training and to lead dialogue on specific policies dealing with migration issues and their implications.

GOAL: To work collectively for more inclusive political processes, allowing genuine participation by all citizens in all our countries

218. Ensuring democracy requires good governance, which in turn depends on inclusive participation, transparency, accountability and the promotion of the rule of law. All national actors, including NGOs and the private sector, must interact constructively to achieve democratic and representative outcomes. The United Nations assists Governments in strengthening their legal frameworks, policies, mechanisms and institutions for democratic governance through support to democratic governing institutions, such as parliaments, judiciaries and electoral management bodies; building human rights institutions and conflict resolution mechanisms and skills, strengthening local government and civil society participation in decision- making processes; strengthening public sector management, transparency and accountability; combating corruption, enhancing the role of the media; and improving electoral and parliamentary systems.

219. There has been increased cooperation between the United Nations and regional bodies. Such mechanisms as the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights, the Council of Europe and the OSCE High Commissioner for National Minorities share their experience with United Nations human rights bodies, such as the Commission on Human Rights and the Working Group on Minorities, with respect to supporting the effective participation of minorities in public life. In addition, in July 2000 the Economic and Social Council established the Permanent Forum for Indigenous Issues as an opportunity to offer a coordinated, integrated and holistic approach to tackle the situation of indigenous issues.

220. Strategies for moving forward include:

- Encouraging States to develop and implement programmes that support pluralistic institutions, periodic elections and other democratic processes, in conformity with international human rights standards;

- Continuing United Nations work to strengthen parliamentary structures and policy-making processes;

- Providing assistance to government efforts to involve civil society in policy-making decisions;

- Supporting government efforts to strengthen local governance in urban and rural areas.

GOAL: To ensure the freedom of the media to perform their essential role and the right of the public to have access to information

221. Freedom of the media is one of the key tenets of democracy that ensures transparency and accountability. Yet despite widespread international, regional and national legislation guaranteeing freedom of the media, violations ranging from harassment, arbitrary arrest, physical harm and structural censorship continue. To date, the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression of the Commission on Human Rights has filed 16 allegations concerning cases of violations of the right to freedom of opinion and expression and over 100 urgent actions, a procedure for cases that are of a life-threatening nature or other situations where the particular circumstances of the incident require urgent attention. Over 200 cases of violence against journalists, perpetrated by both State and non-state actors, have been recorded in the last five years. In addition, there are a number of worrying attempts to shut down or control Internet access and usage.

222. Combating these violations will require further efforts on the part of States, including legislative reform and a re-examination of domestic law enforcement mechanisms, in order to ensure parity with international standards governing the right to freedom of opinion and expression. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights provide the minimum protections and guarantees required for the existence of a free and independent media. Ratification of these instruments is crucial.

223. At the regional level, the Organization of American States (OAS) approved the Declaration of Principle on Freedom of Expression in 2000. Developed by Special Rapporteurs of the United Nations, OAS and OSCE, it confirms the following rights and freedoms: freedom of expression as an indispensable requirement of democracy; the right to seek, receive and impart information and opinions freely; access to information held by the state, with only exceptional limitations; prohibition of prior censorship; and the right to communicate views by any means and in any form.

224. Strategies for moving forward include:

- Encouraging States to reform legislation that unduly restricts speech on the grounds of national security, libel, defamation and judicial contempt;

- Reviewing national criminal laws and their enforcement in order to protect the rights to freedom of opinion, expression and information;

- Continuing United Nations work with Governments to develop a free and independent media through developing corresponding legal frameworks, working with civil society and developing media monitoring mechanisms and capacities for identifying abuses.

VI. Protecting the vulnerable

225. Protecting the vulnerable in complex emergencies is a fundamental concern for Member States and the international community. Complex emergencies, resulting from armed conflict and in some cases compounded by natural disasters, have intensified in many parts of the world. It is estimated that 75 per cent of those who died in wars in the most recent decades were civilians. Women and children are particularly exposed during conflict. In the 1990s, more than two million children were killed as a result of armed conflict and more than six million were permanently disabled or seriously injured. The vulnerability of civilians is exacerbated by large-scale forced displacement and the specific effects of conflict on women and children, including rape, sexual slavery and human trafficking, and the recruitment and use of child soldiers. The indiscriminate use of landmines and the virtually uncontrolled proliferation of small arms further aggravate the suffering of vulnerable civilian populations.

GOAL: To expand and strengthen the protection of civilians in complex emergencies, in conformity with international humanitarian law

226. The primary responsibility for expanding and strengthening the protection of civilians rests with Governments; they are fundamental to building the "culture of protection" called for in my reports on the protection of civilians. Where Governments themselves do not have the means to effectively protect vulnerable populations, they should reach out to all entities that may provide protection, including the United Nations system, non-governmental organizations, regional organizations and the private sector. In regional conflicts, decisive and rapid action often requires political decision makers to move beyond a solely country-specific focus. Nevertheless, it is not only Governments that have this responsibility. According to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and to customary international humanitarian law, armed groups also have a direct responsibility to protect civilian populations in armed conflict.

227. In recent years, Member States and the Security Council have made commitments toward protecting civilians in complex emergencies. The United Nations has adopted policies and taken the first steps to enhance the protection of civilians when it authorizes embargoes and implements sanctions. Independently, regional organizations and arrangements, including OAU, ECOWAS, OAS, EU, OSCE and the Group of Eight Major Industrialized Countries, have taken action to address elements of the question of the protection of children's rights during armed conflict.

228. Strategies for moving forward include:

- Urging States to prosecute violations of international criminal law through national courts or the International Criminal Court once it is established;

- Strengthening national justice systems to ensure the consistent application of international laws that protect civilians;

- Calling upon all parties to conflicts to ensure access to vulnerable populations;

- Developing criteria and procedures for identifying and then separating armed elements in situations of forced displacement.

GOAL: To strengthen international cooperation, including burden-sharing in and the coordination of humanitarian assistance to countries hosting refugees, and to help all refugees and displaced persons to return voluntarily to their homes in safety and dignity and to be smoothly reintegrated into their societies

229. In 2001, there are approximately 20 to 25 million persons who have been internally displaced as a result of armed conflict and generalized violence, and over 12 million refugees. Most States have made legal commitments to uphold the basic principles of refugee protection, to respect human rights and to promote international peace and security. These fundamental principles underpin all efforts to protect the displaced, and host countries must be supported in their efforts to provide protection through the provision of increased resources and assistance.

230. The difficult situation faced by countries hosting refugees, many of which are among the least developed, is now widely recognized. Yet the rhetoric on international solidarity and burden-sharing rarely translates into tangible support to refugee-affected areas. Effective burden-sharing requires concerted action among all actors and should be aimed at reducing pressure on scarce resources. A general consensus exists that while refugees should receive the required level of support, the needs and sensitivities of host communities should be addressed simultaneously. The United Nations seeks to promote the self-reliance of refugees and to facilitate their local integration, while at the same time addressing the basic needs of the host communities and compensating for some of the adverse impacts on the local physical and socio- economic infrastructure. Even when refugees are received with understanding and compassion, large refugee populations can place strains on public services, housing, agricultural land and the environment. Such pressures pose serious obstacles in the search for solutions to refugee problems through voluntary repatriation, local integration or resettlement.

231. Voluntary repatriation has been identified by both Governments and refugees as the preferred durable solution to their plight. The reintegration phase is crucial for both returnees and communities of origin. Comprehensive and broad reintegration assistance works to prevent further refugee outflows. Resources for "reinsertion packages" are vital in helping refugees return to their communities of origin and to assist these communities in receiving them. To be sustainable, return must be accompanied by measures to rebuild communities, must foster reintegration and must be linked to national development programmes. To foster reconciliation, the United Nations has paid special attention to building partnerships with development, financial and human rights institutions.

232. With regard to the internally displaced, the United Nations has worked towards the development of a normative framework for the protection and assistance of the internally displaced - the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement.*48* Standards have existed for refugees since 1951, but the Guiding Principles are the first international standards for the internally displaced. They emphasize the primary duty and responsibility of Governments to ensure the voluntary, safe and dignified return or resettlement of internally displaced persons, and offer guidance on strategies that adequately address their needs.

233. Mechanisms have been developed to improve the response to internal displacement issues. The hope is that better information on the numbers and needs of displaced people will improve assistance response and strengthen advocacy efforts on their behalf. All solutions must focus on safe and sustainable reintegration, or on enhancing the self-reliance capacities of the internally displaced in those situations when reintegration is not yet possible. Measures to rebuild communities, foster reintegration and links to national development programmes are critical if the return of displaced populations, refugees or internally displaced persons is to be sustainable.

234. Strategies for moving forward include:

- Ensuring that States comply with their legal obligations to protect and assist all refugees and displaced persons;

- Making international assistance and development programmes more responsive to the needs of host communities and more effective in alleviating pressure on the receiving local environment;

- Working in the international community to assist the displaced in rebuilding their lives and enable them to resume supporting themselves and their families;

- Improving and making United Nations advocacy work more systematic through the dissemination of international standards, including the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, monitoring adherence to these standards.

GOAL: To encourage the ratification and full implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Optional Protocols on the involvement of children in armed conflict*49* and on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography*50*

235. The General Assembly unanimously adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child on 20 November 1989, and it entered into force in September 1990. The Convention is the most universally embraced human rights treaty, and as of 14 August 2001 191 instruments of ratification or accession have been deposited with respect to the Convention. Only two countries have yet to ratify the Convention. The World Conference on Human Rights, held in Vienna in 1993, set the end of 1995 as a target for its universal ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child: we are now six years behind this target.

236. The Convention on the Rights of the Child has formed the basis for other international conventions, such as the Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Inter-Country Adoption, the new ILO convention and recommendation concerning the prohibition and immediate action for the elimination of the worst forms of child labour, and several regional instruments, such as the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. The implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child at the international level has been enhanced through bilateral, regional and multilateral agreements, including on the abolition of the worst forms of child labour and preventing and combating child trafficking. On 25 May 2000, the international community adopted two Optional Protocols to the Convention on the involvement of children in armed conflict and on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.

237. At the national level, implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child has led to a process of social change, including through legislative and policy reforms, the development of national plans of action and the establishment of national institutions for children's rights. In addition, the Convention requires the promotion of information and education campaigns to create awareness and ensure respect for the rights of all children. Civil society initiatives, such as those by the non-governmental organization Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child, assist in monitoring and implementing the Convention at the national level.

238. Strategies for moving forward include:

- Encouraging States to take advantage of the special session of the General Assembly on children, to be held in September 2001, as a further opportunity to ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Optional Protocols;

- Securing state commitments to ending the use of children as soldiers, demobilizing and rehabilitating former child soldiers and taking into account the special needs of women and girls;

- Continuing to support government efforts to implement, monitor and report on the Convention by promoting capacity-building activities and enhancing assessment systems at the national level and by ensuring the allocation of adequate resources for the realization of children's rights.

VII. Meeting the special needs of Africa

239. Since the Millennium Summit, there has been a greater resolve in African leadership to take ownership and control over the continent's destiny. International engagement with Africa has been characterized by the beginning of concerted efforts to move towards a coherent approach in dealing with the continent. Recent Security Council efforts, such as Council missions to conflict areas in Africa, more regular Secretariat briefings on conflict situations and increased engagement in peacekeeping in Africa are also positive steps.

240. African leaders have taken the lead in articulating regional development initiatives. At its Summit in Lusaka held in July 2001, it was decided that the Organization of African Unity will be replaced by the African Union in a bid for greater economic, political and institutional integration for the continent. The African Union will bring new opportunities for African countries to work together and forge a common platform of action. The other outcome of the Summit was the adoption of the New African Initiative, a continental strategy developed by African leaders directed to achieving sustainable development in the twenty-first century. The Initiative centres on African ownership and management and contains an agenda for the renewal of the continent.

GOAL: To give full support to the political and institutional structures of emerging democracies in Africa

241. It has been estimated that since 1990 the number of democratically elected national Governments in Africa has grown fivefold. Political systems all over the continent are increasingly inclusive and based on open electoral processes. While there has been a surge in the number of countries that have held elections, that development does not by itself guarantee political, civil, social and economic freedom.

242. Many new democracies are fragile, and need support and assistance to build democratic institutions. Support must be strategic, sustained and structured around the contextual realities of the country in question and must be compatible with its priorities and national agenda for reform. Newly democratizing countries require assistance for transitional arrangements, to anticipate potential long-term implications and to establish the necessary processes for reform. African Governments, civil society and the international system as a whole have a role to play in reforming public financial institutions and developing transparent economic and regulatory practices.

243. Strategies for moving forward include:

- Supporting the democracy and governance programmes of the New African Initiative, which includes targeted capacity-building focused on public sector management, administrative and civil service reform and strengthening parliamentary oversight;

- Encouraging Governments to nurture democratic values, ideals and institutions and to develop independent judiciaries and media.

GOAL: To encourage and sustain regional and subregional mechanisms for preventing conflict and promoting political stability, and to ensure a reliable flow of resources for peacekeeping operations on the continent

244. There are a number of regional and subregional mechanisms in Africa that work to prevent conflict and promote political stability. The OAU Mechanism for Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution is mandated to observe conflict and ceasefire situations and carry on early warning and mediation. It has undertaken a number of peacekeeping and conflict prevention initiatives. OAU is currently establishing an African early warning system to allow for more rapid information exchange on conflict situations in Africa.

245. Subregional organizations that enhance peace and security include the Intergovernmental Authority on Development in the Horn of Africa; ECOWAS; and the Southern African Development Community (SADC). Although conflict in the region has been an obstacle to peacemaking endeavours, there is great potential for future cooperation in matters of defence and security.

246. In addition, non-governmental actors are increasingly diverse and active across the whole conflict spectrum, from conflict prevention and political and constitutional reform to demilitarization and community participation in peace processes. Others work on conflict resolution and building the bridge from peace to development.

247. Of the 46 peacekeeping operations launched by the United Nations since 1988, 18 were deployed in Africa. There have been a number of examples of successful cooperation at the regional and subregional levels in peacekeeping in Africa. Extensive cooperation has taken place between the United Nations and ECOWAS in operations in West Africa and between the United Nations and OAU to implement the Lusaka Agreement.

248. Bilateral and multilateral efforts are required to ensure the availability of resources for peacekeeping in Africa. However, efforts to enhance African capacity cannot relieve the Security Council of its primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security, and should not justify reduced engagement. Support by non-African States for African peacemaking and peacekeeping efforts, including through the deployment of peacekeeping operations, will continue to be essential. Meaningful change requires not only plans but action, including readiness on the part of able Member States to share information and expertise and to provide adequate logistical and financial resources and ongoing political support.

249. Member States may wish to provide support to peacekeeping in Africa bilaterally, through organizations on the continent or through the United Nations. Where African countries are undertaking peacekeeping operations outside of the United Nations, Member States may wish to co-deploy a United Nations operation or to dispatch United Nations liaison officers as a means to maintain the engagement of the international community.

250. Strategies for moving forward include:

- Maintaining the engagement of the international community in peacekeeping in Africa;

- Supporting peacekeeping in Africa through assistance to specific operations or through incremental steps to enhance peacekeeping capacity generally in Africa;

- Providing more funds to allow African military officers, particularly those serving with OAU and subregional arrangements, to participate in training and short-term exchange opportunities;

- Encouraging further cooperation by African States within the United Nations standby arrangements system.

GOAL: To take special measures to address the challenges of poverty eradication and sustainable development in Africa, including debt cancellation, improved market access, enhanced official development assistance and increased flow of foreign direct investment, as well as transfers of technology

251. While some African countries are doing well, poverty in Africa continues to rise, with approximately 340 million people - or half the population - living on less than $1 per day. The mortality rate of children under five years of age is 140 per 1,000, while life expectancy at birth is only 54 years. Only 58 per cent of the population has access to safe water. Although economic growth rates in Africa are projected to increase in 2001 and 2002, they will fall far short of what is necessary to meet the international target of halving poverty by 2015. The continent accounts for only 1.5 per cent of world exports, and its share of global manufacturing is less than 4 per cent. Total external debt in sub-Saharan Africa in 1999 was $216 billion, which is approximately 70.5 per cent of its GNP and 210.8 per cent of its exports. This is unsustainable. Moreover, of the 41 heavily indebted poor countries in the world, 33 are in Africa.

252. It is essential that the continent embark on the path to sustainable development and achieve its goals of economic growth, increased employment, reduction of poverty and inequality, diversification of productive activities, enhanced international competitiveness and increased exports. The New African Initiative is based on national and regional priorities and development plans that must be prepared through participatory processes. The Initiative has set the target of a GDP growth rate of above 7 per cent per annum for the next 15 years to help achieve its goals. To achieve the estimated 7 per cent per annum growth rate, Africa needs to fill a resource gap of 12 per cent of its GDP, or US$ 64 billion. This will require increased domestic savings as well as improvements to the public revenue collection system. However, the majority of the needed resources will have to be obtained from outside the continent through increased ODA, increased private capital flows and higher export earnings.

253. Strategies for moving forward include:

- Helping Africa seek increased ODA flows and reforming the ODA delivery system to ensure that flows are more effectively utilized by recipient African countries;

- Supporting the establishment of measures that reduce risk in order to attract and sustain foreign investment and technology transfers;

- Helping Africa to secure further debt relief;

- Assisting Africa in ensuring active participation in the world trading system, through open and geographically diversified market access for its exports;

- Helping the continent diversify its production;

- Providing assistance to secure and stabilize preferential treatment by developed countries.

GOAL: To help Africa build up its capacity to tackle the spread of the HIV/AIDS pandemic and other infectious diseases

254. If we do not contain the spread of HIV/AIDS and work on its prevention we will witness a tragic and profound unravelling of social, educational, governance and commercial frameworks all over the world, but most acutely in Africa. The effect of this disease is devastating to every sector and every development target - food production, education for all, good governance and eliminating extreme poverty. And as political, social and economic infrastructures weaken, existing problems will be exacerbated. There have been some successes. Senegal began its anti- AIDS programme in 1986 and has managed to keep its infection rate below 2 per cent. Uganda began its programme in the early 1990s, when 14 per cent of the adult population was already infected, whereas the figure today is 8 per cent and continues to fall. But more needs to be done throughout the continent, especially in those countries where the epidemic is more prevalent.

255. HIV/AIDS is not the only disease taking its toll in Africa. The spread of HIV/AIDS, combined with a growing general drug resistance, threaten tuberculosis control. In 1999, 516,000 people in Africa died of tuberculosis, 305,000 of them also infected with HIV. Almost 30 per cent of all new tuberculosis patients are HIV-positive. The leading cause of death in people with HIV/AIDS is tuberculosis.

256. On April 2001, the President of Nigeria hosted the African Summit on HIV/AIDS and Other Related Infectious Diseases in Abuja, Nigeria, where the Abuja Summit Declaration was adopted. The mandate is to find solutions to the HIV/AIDS crisis through global partnerships. Since the Abuja Summit, the Global Fund for AIDS and Health has been established and I have appointed a Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa.

257. In the framework of the Debt-for-AIDS Initiative, the United Nations is assisting African countries in placing HIV/AIDS policies within national planning processes, such as the poverty reduction strategy papers. The International Partnership against AIDS in Africa, made up of African Governments, the United Nations, donors, the private sector and non- governmental organizations, aims to significantly increase collective efforts against HIV/AIDS. The United Nations Inter-Agency Task Team on HIV- Related Drugs has adopted a strategy on HIV-related drugs. In May 2000, an initiative to expand access to HIV treatment was launched by the United Nations organizations and five major pharmaceutical companies. This initiative represents a redoubling of efforts to assist developing countries in implementing comprehensive care strategies for people living with HIV/AIDS, including a reduction of prices for HIV- related drugs. While its main focus remains sub- Saharan Africa, other developing countries can also avail themselves of United Nations technical support under this initiative. As of August 2001, 26 countries in Africa have formulated care and support plans for people living with HIV infection, and 13 have reached agreements with producers of drugs used to treat HIV infection. In the least developed countries, the latter agreements have reduced the cost of those drugs by 85 to 90 per cent compared to their cost in industrialized countries.

258. Although malaria is not an infectious disease it is a major concern: one million people die of malaria annually, 90 per cent of them in Africa and the majority of them children. The Roll Back Malaria campaign, which was launched in 1998, has led to the preparation of plans of action in 38 countries, which include developing malaria control policies and indicators for monitoring and evaluation, upgrading intervention capacities at the regional level and using insecticide- impregnated mosquito nets. The African Summit on Roll Back Malaria, held in Abuja in April 2000, supported these goals and reinforced the commitment to roll back deaths from the disease by 50 per cent by 2010.

259. Many of the world's health needs can only be met at the international level through the provision of global public goods. Among the most critical global public goods for health are the generation and dissemination of knowledge of research, effective health system reforms and the transfer of new technologies. Research and development of new drugs, vaccines and other technologies are desperately needed to prevent and control diseases that primarily affect poor countries.

260. Strategies for moving forward include:

- Promoting global public goods for health by mobilizing commercial enterprises, especially pharmaceutical companies;

- Giving high priority to measuring improvements in health in African countries, particularly the least developed countries;

- Supporting capacity-building in least developed countries to collect and analyse data on agreed health indicators and to share information and lessons at the regional and global levels;

- Supporting African Governments in their efforts to reduce deaths and disability from the major diseases affecting the poor, such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and other infectious diseases.

VIII. Strengthening the United Nations

261. The United Nations is a uniquely global institution, with universal membership. In order to continue to act as a catalyst for change and to provide a forum for dialogue and effective action the system will have to be renewed and modernized to cope with the challenges of this millennium. In particular, we need to strengthen the ability of the system to work together, extend our partnerships and ensure the security of our staff as they carry out the mission of the United Nations.

GOAL: To reaffirm the central position of the General Assembly as the chief deliberative, policy-making and representative organ of the United Nations, and to enable it to play that role effectively

262. Following the adoption of the United Nations Millennium Declaration, the President of the General Assembly has undertaken to revitalize the work of the Assembly in response to the burden of the increase in agenda items over the years. Member States held a series of open-ended informal consultations and have agreed to streamline the agenda of the General Assembly, its reporting process and the allocation of agenda items to subsidiary organs of the Assembly. Particular efforts have been made to cluster agenda items in a thematic fashion, to promote the biennial consideration of a number of agenda items and to allocate a higher number of agenda items to committees so as to promote more effective debates.

263. Strategies for moving forward include:

- Continuing the General Assembly's efforts to revitalize and streamline its work;

- Continuing to strengthen the office of the President through enhanced consultations and outreach.

GOAL: To intensify our efforts to achieve a comprehensive reform of the Security Council in all its aspects

264. The Open-ended Working Group on Reform of the Security Council was established in 1993. In 2000, the Working Group held five substantive sessions on decision-making in the Security Council, including on the use of the veto, the expansion of the Security Council, periodic review of an enlarged Security Council, and working methods of the Security Council, and transparency of its work. The Working Group's recommendation in 2000 was that the General Assembly consider the issue of equitable representation and an increase in the membership of the Council.

265. Security Council reform envisages a body that is larger to reflect new political realities and underline equal geographical representation of all regions of the world, with a more transparent body through improvements in its working methods. These are considered parallel processes. Regarding enlargement, there is a lack of agreement on a number of issues, particularly the number of new Council members to be added; whether any of the new members would have permanent status; whether any new permanent member(s) would exert the right of veto; and whether the veto should be limited (for example, to Chapter VII operations), curtailed or eventually eliminated.

266. Strategies for moving forward include:

- Continuing consideration in the General Assembly regarding the size and composition of the Security Council;

- Continuing reform of the methods of work of the Security Council, including transparency and consultation with troop-contributing countries;

- Enhancing the Security Council's ability to anticipate, prevent and react to event on short notice.

GOAL: To strengthen further the Economic and Social Council, building on its recent achievements, to help it to fulfil the role ascribed to it in the Charter of the United Nations

267. Building on earlier reforms, the General Assembly agreed in 1996 on a series of further measures for the restructuring and revitalization of the United Nations in the economic, social and related fields. The annual high-level segments of the Economic and Social Council have resulted in ministerial declarations on a number of critical development issues, such as on information and communications technologies (ICT) for development in 2000 and on the sustainable development of Africa in 2001. The Council has also established an innovative ICT Task Force. It has improved policy oversight of the operational activities for development of the United Nations agencies, funds and programmes. In addition, the Economic and Social Council has introduced a humanitarian segment to provide a forum for broader policy issues in this area. It has also strengthened the supervision of its functional commissions, with particular emphasis on promoting coordinated follow- up to the outcomes of major United Nations conferences and summits in economic and social fields.

268. With regard to coordination, high-level meetings have been held annually since 1998 between the Council and the Bretton Woods institutions on international financial and development issues. An annual policy dialogue is also held with the heads of the international financial and trade institutions to review the state of the world economy. The Economic and Social Council also holds thematic meetings with members of the Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC). The Council's capacity to convene meetings involving Governments, the United Nations system and representatives of civil society and the private sector to address economic and social issues was exemplified by the African Forum for Investment Promotion, which was held during the Council's substantive session of 2001. The Forum brought together African ministers, African private corporations, trade unions, investors, specialized agencies of the United Nations system and regional and subregional development organizations. Finally, the structural relationship between the Council and the five regional commissions has also been improved. The Council now holds an annual dialogue with the Executive Secretaries, and the regional commissions increasingly provide issue-specific input to the Council's work.

269. Strategies for moving forward include:

- Continuing the Economic and Social Council's efforts to consider how best to fulfil its mandate and streamline its working methods;

- Focusing its 2002 coordination segment on further strengthening and helping the Council to fulfil the role ascribed to it in the Charter of the United Nations.

GOAL: To strengthen the International Court of Justice in order to ensure justice and the rule of law in international affairs

270. There are approximately 100 multilateral and 160 bilateral treaties in force providing for the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice (ICJ). As of 31 July 2000, 189 States are parties to the Statute of the Court and 62 States have recognized its compulsory jurisdiction. Some 260 bilateral or multilateral treaties provide for the Court's jurisdiction in the resolution of disputes arising out of their application or interpretation. From August 1999 to July 2000, ICJ held 29 public sessions and a large number of private, administrative and judicial meetings.

271. The recent growth of international judicial bodies, such as the International Criminal Tribunals, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and the quasi-judicial mechanism for the settlement of disputes within WTO poses a risk of fragmentation in international law. ICJ could play a useful role in maintaining the unity of international jurisprudence if more use of the Court were made.

272. Strategies for moving forward include:

- Encouraging States to use the International Court of Justice more frequently for the resolution of their disputes;

- Increasing the number of organs and organizations entitled to request advisory opinions and the number of advisory opinions requested.

GOAL: To encourage regular consultations and coordination among the principal organs of the United Nations

273. The Presidents of the principal organs of the United Nations have met and discussed issues of common concern, such as the prevention of armed conflicts and the impact of HIV/AIDS on peace and security in Africa, and wider issues relating to peacekeeping and peace-building.

274. Strategies for moving forward include:

- Further cooperation and consultation among the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council and the Security Council;

- Broadening the range of issues on which consultations are held among the principal organs of the United Nations.

GOAL: To ensure that the United Nations is provided on a timely and predictable basis with the resources it needs to carry out its mandates

275. The collection of current and outstanding assessments has improved, and an increasing number of Member States remit their contributions in full and on time. As of 15 August 2001, 103 Member States have paid their regular budget contributions in full for 2001. However, some major contributors have paid none or only part of their dues, forcing the United Nations to cross-borrow from peacekeeping accounts to offset the earlier and larger than usual deficit currently experienced. It is clear that the United Nations cannot function effectively unless all Member States pay their dues, in full, on time and without conditions.

276. Despite cash-flow problems, the United Nations has demonstrated consistent budgetary discipline over the last eight years. Not only has there been no growth in the budget in the last four biennia but there has in fact been a reduction in the United Nations budget. The United Nations has absorbed the effects of inflation as well as a large number of unfunded mandates. The Secretariat has been able to accomplish this by reallocating from low-priority areas and administrative services to high-priority programmes, as identified by Member States. The United Nations has reformed its budget methodology, adopting a results-based budget approach and improving the forecasts of cash availability and needs.

277. An important step has been taken towards providing peacekeeping with the resources commensurate with its mandate. The recommendations of the Panel on United Nations Peace Operations, together with those of the Special Committee on Peace Operations, have focused on strengthening a range of core capacities, including financial support, to ensure that the United Nations has adequate resource to fulfil its peacekeeping mandates.

278. Strategies for moving forward include:

- Ensuring that all States pay their dues in full, on time and without conditions;

- Continuing efforts to reform the budget methodology and practice of the United Nations.

GOAL: To urge the Secretariat to make the best use of those resources, in accordance with clear rules and procedures agreed by the General Assembly, in the interests of all Member States, by adopting the best management practices and technologies available

279. Within the ambit of the comprehensive and ongoing reform process, the Secretariat has been strengthening management practices in several areas. The Senior Management Group, which is chaired by the Secretary-General, comprises the top managers in the Secretariat and programmes and funds. The Group meets weekly, with video-conferencing links to Geneva, Nairobi, Rome and Vienna. Functioning as a cabinet, it ensures strategic coherence within the United Nations on policy and management issues. It also facilitates coordination among the far-flung members of the United Nations family. Another useful process is the Management and Reform Committee, chaired by the Deputy Secretary-General, which regularly reviews policies and practices on administrative, budgetary and human resources matters.

280. Four executive committees, operating at the Under Secretary-General level, function as internal decision-making mechanisms covering the key areas of concern for the Secretariat: the Executive Committee for Peace and Security, the Executive Committee for Economic and Social Affairs, the United Nations Development Group and the Executive Committee for Humanitarian Affairs. Human rights is a cross-cutting theme in all the committees. Further, the Interdepartmental Framework for Coordination to strengthen planning and coordination among peacekeeping, humanitarian, developmental and political functions has been reoriented towards early warning and preventive action.

281. Training continues for all managers throughout the Secretariat. A system of programme management plans has been instituted with each of the Under- Secretaries-General. In early 2001, the Secretariat developed a prototype of an electronic management reporting system, which will enable useful management indicators (e.g., vacancy rates, gender and geographical statistics and spending balances) to be generated on a daily basis and will be extended as a further management tool to oversee departmental performance. The system will be linked with the existing Integrated Management Information System. In June 2001, the General Assembly adopted a resolution authorizing the implementation of human resources management reform, which will empower managers to select their staff and will allow the Secretariat to meet its managerial requirements by increasing the mobility of United Nations personnel.

282. Information technology is playing a more central role in the Organization's activities. In February 2001, the Secretary-General submitted a report to the General Assembly entitled "Information technology in the Secretariat: a plan of action",*51* which describes initiatives to implement effective internal governance by supporting information technologies and sharing best practices.

283. Strategies for moving forward include:

- Ensuring that information technologies are allocated sufficient resources and strategically developed throughout the Secretariat;

- Managing knowledge within the United Nations so that it is made available to civil society and other partners;

- Continuing the modernization of human resources policies and procedures;

- Continuing to streamline administrative processes.

GOAL: To promote adherence to the Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel

284. Since 1992, more than 200 civilian staff members have lost their lives in the service of the United Nations. Hundreds more have been taken hostage or have been victims of violent security incidents. Almost every United Nations entity has experienced the loss of personnel, and at least 68 countries have lost their nationals in the service of the United Nations. The conflicts of the 1990s have demonstrated a dangerous disregard of the obligations and restraints imposed by international law on the conduct of hostilities. The General Assembly and the Security Council have deplored the rising toll of casualties among national and international staff, particularly, in situations of armed conflict.

285. The security of staff is a fundamental requirement for the effective functioning of United Nations operations, and the primary responsibility for their protection, under international law, lies with host Governments. Personnel from international organizations and non-governmental organizations who work in humanitarian operations are also subject to killings and other forms of violence. Indeed, in the past year there have been more cases of attacks on these latter categories of humanitarian personnel. The vast majority of perpetrators of such attacks go unpunished, while those few that are arrested tend to receive only cursory penalties.

286. The Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel*52* entered into force on 15 January 1999. As at 14 August 2001, there are 54 parties to the Convention, accounting for less than one third of the Member States. Since the adoption of the Convention, the limitations of its scope of application to United Nations operations and associated personnel have become apparent. The Convention is not applicable to United Nations operations which have not been declared by the General Assembly or the Security Council to be exceptionally risky. In practice, no declaration has ever been made to that effect by either organ, notwithstanding the actual need for it in many United Nations operations. The Convention is also not applicable to humanitarian non-governmental organizations which have not concluded "implementing/partnership agreements" with the United Nations or its specialized agencies, though in practice they are in no less a need for such protection. The optimal solution would be a protocol that would dispose of the need for a declaration in case of United Nations operations and dispense with a link between a humanitarian non-governmental organization and the United Nations as a condition for protection under the Convention.

287. Under the Statute of the International Criminal Court, attacks against personnel, installations and equipment involved in a humanitarian assistance or a peacekeeping mission are considered "war crimes" as long as they are entitled to the protection given to civilians or civilian objects under the international law of armed conflict. The Rome Statute, however, is not yet in force.

288. Moreover, the ratification of conventions alone is not enough and must be supplemented by the practical implementation of those obligations. Parties to conflicts must allow for the safe and unrestricted access of humanitarian workers, and must respect the provisions of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, particularly with regard to the distinctions between combatants and non-combatants, and the civilian and humanitarian character of refugee camps and settlements.

289. Improving the security of United Nations personnel is a core responsibility for the United Nations system and for Member States. The Secretary- General has submitted a number of recommendations to strengthen the United Nations security management system and arrangements. The proposals include the provision of enhanced and comprehensive security and stress management training; the implementation of minimum operational security and telecommunications standards in the field; and an increase in the number of staff in the field and at Headquarters.

290. Steps have been taken to improve collaboration on staff security matters within the United Nations system and with implementing partners. Additional measures are being taken to ensure that accountability and compliance are key components of the United Nations security management system. The appointment of a full-time Security Coordinator is a fundamental requirement if our efforts to strengthen and expand the United Nations security management system are to yield the desired results.

291. Strategies for moving forward include:

- Full ratification of the Convention and the ratification of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court;

- Approval of a protocol that would extend the scope of application of the Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel to all United Nations operations and categories of personnel;

- Stronger action by Member States to ensure that perpetrators of attacks on humanitarian personnel are brought to justice;

- Further improvements on accountability and effective coordination on staff security issues within the United Nations system;

- Further strengthening of the United Nations security management system through increased and more secure financing and the appointment of a full-time Security Coordinator.

GOAL: To ensure greater policy coherence and better cooperation between the United Nations, its agencies, the Bretton Woods institutions and the World Trade Organization, as well as other multilateral bodies

292. Sustainable development, peace-building and linkages between humanitarian assistance and development cooperation have implications for sectoral and institutional boundaries. Now, more than ever, there is a need for a comprehensive and holistic approach in addressing multifaceted problems, and for cohesion among the diverse entities of the United Nations system in order to enhance coherent action and the strategic deployment of resources. This requirement extends to the international system as a whole.

293. The preparatory process for the International Conference on Financing for Development has led to an unprecedented degree of cooperation among the United Nations, the Bretton Woods institutions and WTO. There is a dynamic structure of cooperation that covers both the inter-secretariat and intergovernmental aspects of the financing for development process. The Bretton Woods institutions have appointed senior officials to liaise with and help the United Nations Secretariat on an ongoing basis. At the intergovernmental level, fruitful interactions between the members of the Bureau of the Preparatory Committee for the Conference and the Executive Boards of the Bretton Woods institutions took place in February 2001. Meetings were also held with the Trade and Development Committee of WTO in April 2001, and with members of the General Council of WTO in 2000. Moreover, senior officials of each of the major institutional stakeholders actively engage in discussions at the United Nations Headquarters and provide feedback to their intergovernmental oversight committees.

294. A new culture of cooperation and coordination is fast gaining ground among the organizations of the system, and new mechanisms are being set up to advance and concretize this endeavour. Coordination within the system is overseen and guided by ACC, which has recently undertaken a number of measures to enhance policy coordination. These measures include the establishment of the High-Level Committee on Programmes and the High-Level Committee on Management, which report to ACC.

295. As a consequence of this new spirit of cooperation, ACC, with the full involvement of the Bretton Woods institutions and WTO, has demonstrated a strong commitment to achieving a greater degree of policy and strategy harmonization, enhanced information-sharing and common evaluation and monitoring processes. Concrete examples include strengthening field-level cooperation, developing common approaches to the challenges in Africa, addressing the issue of HIV/AIDS and formulating a comprehensive system-wide strategy for poverty eradication.

296. The United Nations country teams, led by United Nations resident coordinators and in close collaboration with Governments and civil society, undertake an interdisciplinary analytical process, the common country assessment. The common country assessment examines the national situation and identifies key issues affecting the welfare of people. It also examines national priorities as set by Governments, and uses these as a basis for advocacy and policy dialogue with Governments. Using the common understanding of the causes of poverty generated through the common country assessment process, United Nations country teams then work with Governments to prepare the United Nations Development Assistance Frameworks (UNDAFs), which outline how the United Nations system will respond to national poverty reduction priorities in a strategic manner. In almost all cases, these priorities include the national efforts to reach the Millennium Declaration goals. Currently, 84 countries have completed the common country assessment, and 38 have also finalized UNDAFs. In order to advance country-level coherence the United Nation system is working towards a single common framework for country-level action, based on the key concepts of country ownership and inter-agency partnerships and reflecting a comprehensive approach to development and peace-building.

297.Entities of the United Nations system also cooperate to support national poverty reduction strategies through the comprehensive development framework and poverty reduction strategy paper processes. Greater poverty reduction at the lowest possible cost requires stronger partnerships at the country level. This is one of the key principles of the comprehensive development framework and is also critical to the development of the poverty reduction strategy papers. The comprehensive development framework is a country-led initiative, which calls for Governments to reach out to all development partners.

298. Strategies for moving forward include:

- Improving policy coherence and cooperation across the entire international system in order to deal with today's global challenges;

- Ensuring that country-level strategies harmonize priorities and work within a common framework for action.

GOAL: To strengthen further cooperation between the United Nations and the Inter- Parliamentary Union

299. As of August 2001, the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) had 141 member parliaments and five

associate members. In its resolution 55/19, the General Assembly welcomed the efforts made by IPU to provide for a greater parliamentary contribution and enhanced support to the United Nations. The General Assembly also requested the Secretary-General, in consultation with Member States and IPU, to explore ways in which a new and strengthened relationship between IPU, the General Assembly and its subsidiary organs could be established. In the Secretary-General's recent report on this issue*53* a number of recommendations were made to that end.

300. Strategies for moving forward include:

- Pending the General Assembly's decision on the recommendations contained in the report, the Secretary-General will initiate a joint review by the United Nations and IPU of the cooperation agreement concluded between the organizations in 1996;

- More direct engagement of parliaments in substantive issues addressed at the United Nations.

GOAL: To give greater opportunities to the private sector, non-governmental organizations and civil society in general to contribute to the realization of United Nations goals and programmes

301. There has been a huge growth in the number, diversity and influence of non-state actors that are now involved in the work of the United Nations, and as a result the last decade has seen significant changes in how the United Nations relates to them. Since relationships between the United Nations and non-state actors are multilevel, multi-issue and multipurpose, there is no single approach for dealing with all relationships. They range from well established procedures for participation in the intergovernmental process to more recent arrangements, such as the Global Environment Facility, a financial mechanism that provides grants to assist developing countries to address international environmental problems; the United Nations Fund for International Partnerships; and the Global Compact, which is designed to engage the private sector, non-governmental organizations and labour in promoting good practices based on human rights, labour rights and the environment.

302. The report of the Secretary-General entitled "Towards global partnerships"*54* discusses these issues in more detail, stressing that the central purpose of cooperation between the United Nations and non-state actors is to enable the Organization to serve Member States and their people more effectively, while remaining true to the principles of the Charter.

303. Strategy for moving forward:

- Reviewing these relationships in order to bring beneficial results for all parties and forging a new way for the United Nations to "do business" in partnership with non-governmental organizations, the private sector and the rest of civil society.

IX. The road ahead

304. The heads of State and Government at last year's summit charted a cooperative path to meet the challenges ahead. This road map has attempted to carry forward their vision, identify the areas in which we need to work, and offer suggestions for the future. It has benefited from suggestions from all the departments, funds and programmes in the United Nations and its specialized agencies, and from the other executive agencies represented in the Advisory Committee on Coordination, including the World Bank, IMF and WTO. Non-governmental organizations, civil society and the academic community have also provided suggestions.

Follow-up reporting

305. Next year, and each year thereafter, as you have requested, I will submit an annual report - distinct from my annual report on the work of the Organization - which will chart progress, made or not made, in fulfilling the Millennium commitments, and highlight particular themes of special significance for that year. Every five years, my successors and I will submit a comprehensive progress report.

306. I propose the following themes for your consideration: For 2002, preventing armed conflict and the treatment and prevention of diseases, including HIV/AIDS and malaria; 2003, financing for development and strategies for sustainable development; 2004, bridging the digital divide and curbing transnational crime. In 2005, five years after the Millennium Summit, I will prepare the first comprehensive report. It will focus on progress made over the preceding five years and review the implementation of decisions taken at the international conferences and special sessions on the least developed countries, HIV/AIDS, financing for development and sustainable development.

307. When you consider how you will review these annual reports and the comprehensive report, it is my hope that you will use the assessment process as an occasion for strengthening the overall coherence and integration of the reporting system. I look forward to your continuing guidance. Most of all I look forward to our making progress in meeting the goals before us.

Notes

{*1* A/CONF.183/9.}

{*2* ST/SGB/1999/13.}

{*3* See General Assembly resolution 55/59, annex.}

{*4* United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 976, No. 14152.}

{*5* See Official Records of the United Nations Conference for the Adoption of a Convention against Psychotropic Substances, Vienna, 25 November-20 December 1988, vol. I (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.94.XI.5).}

{*6* United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1019, No. 14956.}

{*7* General Assembly resolution S-20-2, annex.}

{*8* General Assembly resolution 55/25, annex I.}

{*9* Ibid., annex II.}

{*10* Ibid., annex III.}

{*11* See General Assembly resolution 55/25 para. 4.}

{*12* See General Assembly resolution 48/11.}

{*13*See General Assembly resolution 55/2, para. 10.}

{*14* S/2001/574.}

{*15* A/55/305-S/2000/809 and A/C.4/55/6; see also A/55/502, A/55/507, A/55/551 and A/55/977.}

{*16* A/47/277-S/24111.}

{*17* United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 944, No.}13446. {*18 See General Assembly resolution 50/245.}

{*19* United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 729, No. 10485.}

{*20* See The United Nations Disarmament Yearbook, vol. 18: 1993 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.94.IX.1), appendix II.}

{*21* See Legality of the Threat or Use of NuclearWeapons, Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 1996, p. 26.}

{*22* General Assembly resolution 2826 (XXVI).}

{*23* See Official Records of the General Assembly, Forty- seventh Session, Supplement No. 27 (A/47/27), appendix I.}

{*24* See CD/1478.}

{*25* CCW/CONF.I/16 (Part I), annex B.}

{*26* See The United Nations Disarmament Yearbook, vol. 5: 1980 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.81.IX.4), appendix VII.}

{*27* Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Report of the World Food Summit, Rome, 13-17 November 1996, Part One (WFS 96/REP) (Rome, 1997), appendix.}

{*28* General Assembly resolution S-26/2.}

{*29* See Legal Instruments Embodying the Results of the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations (WTO, 1997).}

{*30* Report of the Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States, Bridgetown, Barbados, 25 April-6 May 1994 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.94.I.18 and Corr.1 and 2), chap. I, resolution I, annex II.}

{*31* E/2001/L.20.}

{*32* FCCC/CP/7/Add.1.}

{*33* A/AC.237/18 (Part II)/Add.1, annex I.}

{*34* United Nations Environment Programme, Convention on Biological Diversity (Environmental Law and Institution Programme Activity Centre), June 1992.}

{*35* A/49/84/Add.2, annex, appendix II.}

{*36* Report of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, Rio de Janeiro, 3-14 June 1992, vol. I, Resolutions Adopted By the Conference (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.93.I.8 and corrigenda), resolution 1, annex II.}

{*37* United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Records of the General Conference, Twenty-ninth Session, vol. I, Resolutions, resolution 16.}

{*38* General Assembly resolution 217 A (III).}

{*39* General Assembly resolution 2200 A (XXI), annex.}

{*40* Ibid.}

{*41* General Assembly resolution 2106 A (XX), annex.}

{*42* General Assembly resolution 34/180, annex.}

{*43* General Assembly resolution 39/46, annex.}

{*44*General Assembly resolution 44/25, annex.}

{*45* A/CONF.157/24 (Part I), chap. III.}

{*46* General Assembly resolution 54/4, annex.}

{*47* General Assembly resolution 45/158.}

{*48* E/CN.4/1998/53/Add.2, annex.}

{*49* General Assembly resolution 54/263, annex I. 50 Ibid., annex II.}

{*51* A/55/780.}

{*52* General Assembly resolution 49/59, annex. 53 A/{*55*/996.}

{*54* A/56/323.}

Annex

Millennium development goals

1. As part of the preparation of the present report, consultations were held among members of the United Nations Secretariat and representatives of IMF, OECD and the World Bank in order to harmonize reporting on the development goals in the Millennium Declaration and the international development goals. The group discussed the respective targets and selected relevant indicators with a view to developing a comprehensive set of indicators for the millennium development goals. The main reference document was section III of the United Nations Millennium Declaration, "Development and poverty eradication".

2. The list of millennium development goals does not undercut in any way agreements on other goals and targets reached at the global conferences of the 1990s. The eight goals represent a partnership between the developed countries and the developing countries determined, as the Millennium Declaration states, "to create an environment - at the national and global levels alike - which is conducive to development and the elimination of poverty" (see General Assembly resolution 55/2, para. 12).

3. In order to help focus national and international priority-setting, goals and targets should be limited in number, be stable over time and communicate clearly to a broad audience. Clear and stable numerical targets can help to trigger action and promote new alliances for development. Recognizing that quantitative monitoring of progress is easier for some targets than for others and that good quality data for some of the indicators are simply not (yet) available for many countries, we underscore the need to assist in building national capacity while engaging in further discussion (as in the process mandated by the Economic and Social Council) with national statistical experts. For the purpose of monitoring progress, the normal baseline year for the targets will be 1990, which is the baseline that has been used by the global conferences of the 1990s.

4. The United Nations will report on progress towards the millennium development goals at the global and country levels, coordinated by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat and UNDP, respectively. Reporting will be based on two principles: (a) close consultation and collaboration with all relevant institutions, including the United Nations Development Group (including WHO and UNCTAD), other United Nations departments, funds, programmes and specialized agencies, the World Bank, IMF and OECD, and regional groupings and experts; and (b) the use of nationally owned poverty reduction strategies, as reported in poverty reduction strategy papers, United Nations common country assessments and national human development reports, which emphasize a consultative process among the development partners. The main purpose of such collaboration and consultation will be to ensure a common assessment and understanding of the status of the millennium development goals at both the global and national levels. The United Nations Secretariat will invite all relevant institutions to participate in and contribute to global and country-level reporting with a view to issuing an annual United Nations report that has the wide support of the international community and that can be used by other institutions in their regular reporting on the goals.

5. The proposed formulation of the eight goals, 18 targets and more than 40 indicators are listed below. Other selected indicators for development, which are not related to specific targets, include population, total fertility rate, life expectancy at birth, adult literacy rate and gross national income per capita. Where relevant, indicators should be calculated for subnational levels - i.e., by urban and rural area, by region, by socio-economic group, and by age and gender.

Millennium development goals

{*a* The selection of indicators for goals 7 and 8 is subject to further refinement.}