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RR RUEHWEB

DE RUCNDT #0396/01 0602039
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 012039Z MAR 06
FM USMISSION USUN NEW YORK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8144
INFO RUEHNR/AMEMBASSY NAIROBI 0407
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 1952

UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 000396 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON EFIN KUNR SENV
SUBJECT: UN REFORM/SYG HIGH LEVEL PANEL ON DEVELOPMENT - 
PURPOSE AND PARAMETERS 
 
REF: USUN 129 
 
¶1. (U) Summary.  At an off-site event hosted by the UN 
Missions of Egypt and France on February 24-25, senior UN 
officials laid out expectations for the Secretary-General's 
High Level Panel on UN System-wide Coherence in the Areas of 
Humanitarian Assistance, the Environment and Development. 
Projected goals include the need to better integrate UN 
humanitarian, development and environmental activities; 
overcome fragmentation at the country level and between the 
field and headquarters; ensure sustained and predictable 
financing, and to imbue all these activities with stronger 
strategic vision.  SYG Annan's Chief of Staff Mark Malloch 
Brown additionally called for the creation of a new agency to 
more comprehensively organize environmental policy.  End 
Summary. 
 
Panel Purpose and Schedule 
-------------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) At a New York retreat hosted by the UN Missions of 
Egypt and France on February 24-25, UN officials projected a 
schedule and themes for the Secretary-General's recently 
established High Level Panel on UN System-wide Coherence in 
the Areas of Humanitarian Assistance, the Environment and 
Development.  Executive Director of the Panel Adnan Amin 
emphasized the need to strengthen coordination of 
humanitarian and development activities, including the 
operations of specialized UN agencies in the field and 
communications between UN Resident Country Coordinators and 
headquarters.  He said the Panel would also consider how to 
"mainstream" environmental concerns into decisions on 
development.  Impediments to "predictable and sustained 
financing" of development would need to be analyzed and 
overcome.  Amin criticized fragmentation at all levels, 
including in UN reporting on development, emphasizing that 
the Panel would address the "disconnect" between UN norms, 
analysis, field operations and country needs in these areas. 
 
¶3. (U) Regarding a schedule, Amin projected that the High 
Level Panel would convene in New York in late March and begin 
its work by exchanging views with members of the UN General 
Assembly (UNGA).  The Panel, or at least some of its members, 
would travel to Madrid o/a April 8 to attend the UN Chief 
Executive Board meeting.  During the ECOSOC session in July, 
Panel members would probably travel to Geneva (site of the 
session) to interact with ECOSOC members.  Finally, he 
expected the Panel would meet again in the fall to finalize 
recommendations to present to the 61st UNGA session in 
September.  (Note: This week, the Panel's Secretariat started 
to take form with the arrival of a diplomat from the Dutch 
MFA who will support economic analysis.) 
 
Calls for Coherence 
------------------- 
 
¶4. (U) Several other speakers also stressed the need to 
better coordinate UN development activities.  UN Development 
Program (UNDP) Assistant Secretary General Bruce Jenks 
observed that although some 75 percent of the World Summit 
Outcome Document text focused on development goals, the UN in 
fact lacked a coherent agenda and follow-up strategies.  He 
challenged delegations and Panel members to undertake 
fundamental thinking on such questions as, "What do we want 
from the UN and development?" and, "Why does development need 
the UN?"  While the UN had the potential to serve as an 
integrator and a pillar of worldwide development activities, 
Jenks contended that it was currently structured in the 
antithesis.  Programs were fragmented, separate donor and 
funding streams impeded effectiveness, and UN resident 
coordinators competed with headquarters for separate agendas 
and attention. 
 
¶5. (U) In unscripted dinner remarks, Secretary-General 
Annan's Chief of staff Mark Malloch Brown said the High Level 
Panel would serve the purpose of adding the best voices to a 
GA consensus on how the UN could add value to development. 
Money alone would not be enough to build capacity, he said, 
although predictable resources would help ensure 
intergovernmental commitments.  In general, the Panel would 
consider how the UN needed to hone its policy advice, unify 
its internal governance and develop a strategic vision in 
order to prioritize its activities.  Malloch Brown suggested 
that a first step was to listen to country needs, including 
the needs of middle-income countries, in order to cut across 
the fractured spectrum of funds, programs and specialized 
agencies.  He advocated for "high levels of social 
investment," including in health and education.  Although 
contributions to funds and programs already totaled some $12 
billion, Malloch Brown said programs were not consolidated 
and the Panel would need to recommend how funds could be used 
 
 
better.  In his opinion, official development assistance 
(ODA) remained the best vehicle to deliver results, when it 
responded to needs defined by recipient countries. 
 
¶6. (U) Malloch Brown further asserted that UN environmental 
activities lacked a strong international architecture and 
needed "radical restructuring."  He suggested that the UN 
Environment Program (UNEP) could be folded into "a more 
tightly organized structure" that integrated meteorological 
expertise and the activities of other scientific agencies. 
While such a new agency would not interfere in country 
operations, he said it would provide a more useful umbrella 
and coherent environmental vision. 
 
Comments 
-------- 
 
¶7. (U) Comments from member state representatives further 
previewed the challenges that the High Level Panel will face. 
 For example, Germany suggested that the Panel must also 
focus on sectors where the UN had less comparative advantage 
and where it needed to curtail or even withdraw its 
activities.  Argentina urged special attention to 
middle-income countries that suffered from pockets of 
poverty, cautioning against "one size fits all" panaceas. 
Denmark commented that the most important reform would be to 
consolidate UN activities within countries, deciding in each 
case where the emphasis should be.  Warning against "drastic 
reeingineering for its own sake," India's Permrep maintained 
that decentralized entities fulfilled a need and the Panel 
would need to refrain from "submerging national priorities." 
 
¶8. (SBU) USUN Comment.  The diversity of views on UN 
development coherence, including among delegations and UN 
officials, portends an array of controversial challenges that 
High Level Panel members will confront.  The proposed meeting 
of the Panel at the outset with the UN General Assembly is 
likely to raise the spectre of further conflicting demands 
(note: the U.S. has suggested that the Panel should instead 
confer with UNGA toward the end of its study.)  However, the 
U.S. can also constructively use the Panel as a vehicle to 
promote coherence by making high-profile recommendations to 
reduce duplicative functions.  Regarding environmental 
coherence, the UN Secretariat and key Panel members are 
likely to try to establish a permanent new body to coordinate 
standards and policy.  The U.S. will need to continue to make 
clear that although we support the improvement of existing 
institutions and the strengthening of scientific cooperation, 
we must avoid creating a new supranational structure.  The 
fact that the UN itself has divergent views on the way 
forward reflects the need for a careful, considerate approach 
to reform.  The report that the Panel will produce in 
September is likely to generate expectations and set an 
agenda for years to come. 
 
 
BOLTON