LIMITED LC/CAR/L.152 14 December 2007 ORIGINAL: ENGLISH A PLAN OF ACTION FOR THE FURTHER INTEGRATION OF ASSOCIATE MEMBER COUNTRIES IN THE UNITED NATIONS SYSTEM INCLUDING ITS SPECIALIZED AGENCIES IN THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL SPHERE __________ This document has been reproduced without formal editing. Acknowledgement The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) Subregional Headquarters for the Caribbean wishes to acknowledge the assistance of Dr. Carlyle Corbin, Consultant, in the preparation of this report. Table of Contents Introduction................................................................................................................................................... 1 I. Relevant ECLAC Studies on Associate Member Countries (AMCs) ...................................................... 6 II. Mandate for AMC Inclusion in United Nations Implementation............................................................ 7 A. The ECLAC Mandate ......................................................................................................................... 7 B. The General Assembly Mandate......................................................................................................... 9 C. The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Mandate ................................................................. 13 III. Coordinated Implementation of United Nations World Conferences and Summits ............................ 16 IV. Priority Areas for Associate Member Countries (AMCs) .................................................................... 21 V. Assistance from United Nations Programmes and Funds, and Regional Commissions ....................... 28 A. United Nations Development Programme ........................................................................................ 28 B. Assistance from Other United Nations Programmes and Funds....................................................... 40 C. Assistance from United Nations Regional Economic Commissions ................................................ 42 VI. The Role of the United Nations Specialized Agencies ........................................................................ 46 A. International Labour Organization (ILO) ......................................................................................... 46 B. Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO)...................................................................................... 48 C. International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) ........................................................................... 49 D. World Health Organization (WHO) ................................................................................................. 49 E. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) ............................... 50 F. Universal Postal Union (UPU) .......................................................................................................... 51 G. International Maritime Organization (IMO)..................................................................................... 52 H. Other United Nations Specialized Agencies..................................................................................... 52 1. Direct Participation of AMCs in Specialized Agencies ............................................................. 53 VII. Concluding Observations ................................................................................................................... 58 Annex.......................................................................................................................................................... 60 INTRODUCTION The mandate of the United Nations regional economic commissions in facilitating the participation of small island non-independent countries in their work is an important feature of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), and the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), respectively. Accordingly, both ECLAC and ESCAP maintain specific provisions in their respective terms of reference providing for associate membership for these countries. In this connection, ECLAC has taken the lead in facilitating, to a significant degree, the participation of its eight present Associate Member Countries (AMCs) in the ECLAC work programme, and in a range of activities in furtherance of the sustainable development of small island countries of the Caribbean. The work of ECLAC in this area has served to significantly enhance the economic and social integration of the non-independent AMCs of the region which otherwise have limited access to the international process. As the number of non-independent countries achieving associate membership in the regional commissions in the Caribbean and Pacific has increased, dating from the 1970s through present day, the response of many United Nations institutions to the growing interest of these countries in a wider range of participation in United Nations programmes and activities has been encouraging. Some United Nations bodies, however, have not responded as quickly to the extensive international legislative mandate to make the necessary provisions to provide access to these countries. ECLAC, in particular, has contributed to increasing access of AMCs to United Nations programmes and activities in the economic and social sphere by conducting various analyses on widening and deepening the participation of these countries in the broader United Nations system, mainly through encouraging the extension of formal status to these countries to participate in relevant United Nations world conferences, and General Assembly summits and special sessions. The present analysis acknowledges the various studies and analyses undertaken by ECLAC in this area, and examines the extensive legislative authority at the subregional, hemispheric, and international levels which provides the basis for actions to be undertaken. This study also examines the coordinated implementation by the wider United Nations system of the programmes of action and other outcome documents of the various United Nations world conferences and summits of specific relevance to the AMCs. In this regard, the examination identifies the areas of priority identified by these countries contained in the conference outcomes. An important feature of the analysis is a review of support to the non-independent countries from the United Nations programmes and funds, as well as from the regional economic commissions. Assistance extended from the United Nations specialized agencies, along with the associate membership criteria of these agencies, is also explored. 2 The aim of the present analysis is twofold. Firstly, the goal is to provide a comprehensive background of the longstanding mandate and legislative authority for the participation of AMCs in the wider United Nations system by complementing and updating the existing body of work in this area, in furtherance of enhanced international organization participation of associate member and other non-independent countries. The second objective of this study is the formulation of a comprehensive plan of action for the further integration of the AMCs in the United Nations process emanating from the findings contained herein. 3 4 Table 1 Models of Governance in Selected Countries Non Self-Governing (As classified by United Nations General Assembly) Self-Governing & Other (Countries in free association or other autonomous forms) Caribbean/Atlantic: Anguilla 1) Bermuda 2) British Virgin Islands 1) Cayman Islands 2) Montserrat 1) Turks & Caicos Islands 1) U.S. Virgin Islands 1) Asia/Pacific: Guam 1) New Caledonia 1) American Samoa 1) Tokelau 2) Other regions: Aruba 1) Netherlands Antilles 1) Puerto Rico 1) Northern Mariana Islands 1) Cook Islands 1) Niue 1) Tahiti Nui (French Polynesia) 1) Greenland Faroe Islands Integrated (Former Territories now constitutionally integrated into an independent state) Guadeloupe Martinique French Guiana Hawaii Source: Ramos, Aaron Gamaliel and Rivera, Angel Israel, Islands at the Crossroads: Politics in the NonIndependent Caribbean. Ian Randle Publishers, Kingston, Jamaica. 2001. 1) Associate member of a United Nations regional economic commission. 2) Eligible associate member of a United Nations regional economic commission. 5 Table 2 Population of Associate Member Countries Associate Member Country (AMC) Caribbean: Anguilla Aruba Bermuda British Virgin Islands Cayman Islands Montserrat Netherlands Antilles Puerto Rico Turks & Caicos Islands U.S. Virgin Islands Pacific: Cook Islands French Polynesia Guam New Caledonia Niue Northern Mariana Islands American Samoa Population 13,254 (2005 est.) 102,817 (2006 est.) 65,356 (2005 est.) 22,643 (2005 est.) 44,270 (2005 est.) 9,341 (2004 est.) 185,513 (2005 est.) 3,916,632 (2005 est.) 30,600 (2005 est.) 108,708 (2005 est.) 18,027 (2001) 245,516 (2002) 154,805 (2000) 196,836 (1996) 1,788 (2001) 69,221 (2000) 57,291 (2000) Source: Caribbean Region Profiles 2006, Caribbean Publishing Company Limited and Caribbean Central American Action, 2006; United Nations Development Programme, Economist Intelligence Unit 2007, and national statistical offices. 6 I. RELEVANT ECLAC STUDIES ON ASSOCIATE MEMBER COUNTRIES (AMCS) The first analysis conducted by ECLAC in furtherance of AMC participation in the United Nations system was its 2004 study that identified the priorities for AMCs in the hemispheric economic integration process which had only embraced the independent States to that point. This was especially useful in sensitizing regional and hemispheric institutions involved in fostering economic integration to the significance of AMC economies to the economic integration process.1 The study also provided a general breakdown of the constitutional status arrangements of the various AMCs which comprise separate and distinct economies, with differing degrees of political autonomy in relation to international organization engagement and hemispheric economic interaction. The research also identified the functional areas established in the Summit of the Americas process of particular interest to the AMCs, and suggested potential modalities for the Summit Implementation Review Group to consider in the future inclusion of the AMCs in that process. The draft Plan of Action for the Further Integration of AMCs in the United Nations System, contained in the Annex to the present document, includes some recommended activities in furtherance of AMC economic integration in the hemisphere identified in this 2004 study. A second 2004 examination by ECLAC on meeting the challenges of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) addressed the broad issues of regional economic integration for the Caribbean, with focus primarily on the FTAA-eligible countries. The research also contained useful development indicators for Caribbean countries not presently eligible for participation in the FTAA, including Cuba and the AMCs of ECLAC. 2 A third study, also in 2004, focused on the participation of AMCs in the United Nations world conferences, and special sessions and summits of the United Nations General Assembly. 3 This research outlined an extensive legislative authority which provided for the participation of AMCs in the sessions which convened between 1992 and 2004, examined the extent of participation of the countries, and identified issues specifically relevant to AMCs emanating from the outcome documents of the sessions. The study recommended a number of actions at national, regional and international levels that might be considered for the purpose of generally enhancing AMC participation in the international process, including future United Nations world conferences and related sessions. The research also suggested strategies for AMC participation in the programmes of action adopted by governments at these conferences. Relevant recommendations of this third 2004 study are contained in the proposed AMC Plan of Action. In 2007, ECLAC completed an analysis which examined the ability of the AMCs to adjust and transform their economies to meet the emerging challenges and opportunities in an era of globalisation. Constitutional modernisation, economic adjustment and integration into multilateral processes were identified as critical factors for the positioning the AMCs in the global economy. 4 The study also explored some of the common features of AMC economies similar in scope to other Small Island Developing States (SIDS), examined the potential impact of trade liberalisation and regional integration, and reviewed the relevant economic sectors, in particular tourism and financial services. The research concluded with a number of recommendations for the sustainable competitiveness of key economic sectors, human resource 7 development and international organization collaboration. These suggested areas of focus are also integrated into the AMC Plan of Action. Activities in furtherance of the participation of the AMCs in the ECLAC work programme 5 were outlined in a secretariat report to the 2007 Meeting of the Working Group of AMCs. 6 The report cited the various technical assistance activities undertaken in relation to the AMCs during the 2006-2007 biennium, including 17 technical missions, the facilitation of participation of seven AMCs at selected ECLAC meetings and the further inclusion of AMC data in relevant ECLAC regional statistical analyses. The wide range of specific collaboration between ECLAC and the AMCs was outlined in the areas of trade liberalisation and integration, migration, renewable energy, disaster assessment and development banking. Key issues identified by AMCs for future activity, emerging from the 2004 and 2006 Caribbean Development and Cooperation Committee (CDCC) ministerial sessions, were also highlighted in the ECLAC secretariat report, and included accessing United Nations programmes and activities, promoting sustainable economic development and assessment, extending the disaster assessment capability, and conducting impact assessments of regional trade integration processes. Additional areas for future consideration were also identified to include an examination of the implications of the economic partnership agreements (EPAs), with respect to those AMCs which are part of the overseas countries and territories (OCT) arrangements with the European Union (EU). These prospective activities are also factored into the AMC Plan of Action. The 2007 Meeting of the Working Group of AMCs also made a series of recommendations on the further advancement of the AMCs in the United Nations system. 7 This perspective is reflected in the Plan of Action, as well. II. MANDATE FOR AMC INCLUSION IN UNITED NATIONS IMPLEMENTATION While the third 2004 study referenced above comprehensively outlined the legislative authority provided to the AMCs for their participation in the United Nations world conferences, summits and special sessions, as well as the actual extent of that participation, it is important to note that the United Nations system also has a lengthy legislative mandate with the aim of further integration of the AMCs in other aspects of the United Nations system, as well. These additional areas include the actual programmes, activities and other relevant outcomes. Separate and individual mandates, to varying degrees, exist for AMC participation in the United Nations specialized agencies, and is examined in part six of the present report. A. The ECLAC mandate The Terms of Reference and Rules of Procedure of ECLAC setting forth the parameters of associate membership for non-independent countries of the hemisphere provides for full AMC participation, without vote, in all ECLAC meetings, as well as the eligibility to hold office. 8 8 Associate membership in the CDCC, a permanent intergovernmental subsidiary body of ECLAC comprised of the wider Caribbean, is also referenced in the Constituent Declaration, and Functions and Rules of Procedure of that subregional body. 9 Flowing from this regulatory framework which continues to govern AMC participation in ECLAC and CDCC to present day were three ECLAC resolutions aimed at further enhancing participation of ECLAC/CDCC associate members in a wider range of United Nations programmes and activities. The 2007 Report of the Meeting of the Working Group of AMCs provided elaboration on these measures: “…at the twenty-fifth Session of ECLAC in 1994, Resolution 543(XXV) was adopted which expressed support for AMC participation in United Nations world conferences. In this connection, the secretariat made reference to its 2004 report which outlined the level of AMC participation in these United Nations sessions. At the twenty-seventh Session of ECLAC in 1998, Resolution 574(XXVII) was adopted which expressed support for the participation of the AMCs in the follow-up to United Nations world conferences. At the Thirtieth Session of ECLAC in 2004, Resolution 598(XXX) was adopted which expressed support for an examination of other areas within the United Nations system, in the economic and social sphere, which could assist the AMCs in their sustainable development process.” 10 The pioneering role of the CDCC Working Group of Non-Independent Caribbean Countries – the predecessor body to the Working Group of Associate Member Countries – was also detailed in the 2007 report: 11 “…the mandate for accelerated activity related to the Non-Independent Caribbean Countries (NICCs) emanated from Resolution 21(X) of the Tenth Session of the CDCC in 1987, and Resolution 24(XI) of the Eleventh Session of the CDCC in 1988. These resolutions directed the CDCC to examine the access of the NICCs to programmes and activities of the United Nations system with the aim of identifying areas within the system which could provide technical and other assistance in the furtherance of their development process. Subsequently, at the Twelfth Session of the CDCC in 1990, Resolution 27(XII) was adopted which created the Working Group of Non-Independent Caribbean Countries (NICCs). At the Thirteenth Session of the CDCC in 1991, Resolution 33(XIII) was approved on Support for the Access of NICCs to the United Nations System. At the Fourteenth Session of the CDCC in 1992, Resolution 37(XIV) requested that the Secretariat seek the resources to assist the Working Group in carrying out its analysis of the criteria for NICCs participation in the United Nations system, and in initiating contacts with the governing councils of the United Nations specialized agencies/technical organs to determine the modalities for the inclusion of NICCs in their respective work programmes. The resolution also supported the inclusion of provisions extending observer status to associate members of regional economic commissions in the terms of reference of the “relevant meetings, programmes, and activities authorized by the United Nations General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council, and other organizations of the UN system. 9 At the Fifteenth Session of the CDCC in 1994, Resolution 44(XV) was adopted which took note of matters of particular interest to associate member countries, as referred to in the CDCC work programme of 1994-1995, including an analysis of rules of procedure of United Nations world conferences and eligibility criteria for participation in voluntary funds, and an overview of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) as related to NICCs… At the sixteenth Session of the CDCC in 1996, Anguilla was admitted as an associate member. At the seventeenth Session of the CDCC in 1998, Resolution 47(XVII) of 1998 was adopted which expressed appreciation to the Government of the Netherlands for its financial contribution in support of the integration of ECLAC associate member countries in programmes and activities of the United Nations system, and called for continued efforts to this effect. Most recently, at the twenty-first Session of CDCC in 2006, Resolution 62(XXI) was adopted which expressed appreciation for completion of important aspects of the mandate on assistance to the AMCs, and which created the Working Group of Associate Member Countries (AMCs) to replace the Working Group of Non-Independent Caribbean Countries. This resolution also requested ECLAC to seek the necessary resources to fully implement the mandate on assistance to the AMCs contained in the relevant resolutions of the CDCC...” B. The General Assembly mandate The United Nations General Assembly has consistently adopted resolutions aimed at overall assistance to Non-Independent Countries (NICs), specifically those categorized as Non Self-Governing Territories (NSGTs). 12 The General Assembly provided the legislative authority in this area as far back as its second session in 1947 when it adopted resolution 145 (II) entitled Collaboration of the Specialized Agencies in regard to Article 73 (e) of the United Nations Charter. The attention of this resolution was focused on the envisaged role of United Nations specialized agencies in compiling information on socio-economic developments in the NSGTs. In 1948, the General Assembly adopted resolution 220 (III) which focused for the first time on the provision of technical assistance to these territories, and in 1949 the General Assembly adopted resolution 331 (IV) entitled International Collaboration in regard to Economic, Social and Education Conditions in Non Self-Governing Territories. Subsequently, in 1950, the Assembly adopted resolution 444 (V) on Technical Assistance to Non Self-Governing Territories. In 1958, the General Assembly by adopting resolution 2426 (XXIII) broadened its earlier focus from the specialized agencies alone to include the international organizations associated with the United Nations, in the context of assisting the NSGTs in their economic and social development. By 1960, the General Assembly in resolution 1539 entitled Participation of the Non Self-Governing Territories in the Work of the United Nations and of the Specialized Agencies acknowledged for the first time the importance of direct participation of the representatives of the territories in the work of the appropriate United Nations bodies. In this 10 regard, the resolution called for the extension of membership or associate membership of the territories in the specialized agencies and the regional economic commissions, according to the constitutions of the respective organization. In 1967, the General Assembly by resolution 2311 (XXII) requested United Nations member States to facilitate assistance to the territories through action in the specialized agencies and other international institutions. For the first time, the General Assembly requested that the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) consider appropriate measures for the coordination of policies and activities of the specialized agencies to provide support to the territories, and further requested the Secretary-General to assist the specialized agencies and international institutions in this effort. By 1969, the General Assembly expanded its recommendations for assistance to the territories to include participation in the various programmes of the United Nations system. By 1972, the General Assembly extended its approach further by recommending that the executive heads of the relevant United Nations bodies submit specific proposals to their governing bodies or legislative organs, as a matter of priority, to develop concrete programmes of assistance to the territories. The recommendations adopted to this point were repeated in resolutions throughout the 1970s, along with expressions of gratitude to those United Nations bodies which have complied with the mandates. By 1980, the General Assembly in resolution 35/29 requested the various United Nations bodies to include on the agenda of their regular meetings a separate item on assistance to the NSGTs. Much of the emphasis of subsequent resolutions throughout the 1980s was on assistance to the people of South Africa and Namibia, given the political and humanitarian considerations in those countries during that period. At the beginning of the 1990s, specific attention on the importance of United Nations assistance to the small island territories began to emerge, beginning with reference in General Assembly resolution 45/18 of 1990 “recalling the relevant resolutions of the Caribbean Development and Cooperation Committee concerning the access of (Non-independent Caribbean Countries)to programmes and activities of the United Nations system.” The resolution also made the important link between the assistance to the territories from the United Nations system and the specific measures in favour of island developing countries, emerging from the 1990 United Nations Meeting of Governmental Experts of Island Developing Countries. The resolution also: “Request(ed) the specialized agencies and other organizations of the United Nations system, as well as international and regional organizations, to take appropriate measures within their respective spheres of competence in order to accelerate progress in the economic and social sectors of the…territories.” The resolution further welcomed the continued initiative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in maintaining close liaison with the specialized agencies and other United Nations organizations in the coordination of assistance to the territories, and called for reconstruction assistance to those territories affected by natural disasters. In 1991, the General Assembly adopted resolution 46/65 entitled Cooperation and Coordination of Specialized Agencies and the International Institutions associated with the United Nations in their assistance to Non Self-governing Territories, which appropriately 11 identified the territories within the framework of the Programme of Assistance to SIDS adopted at the eleventh Session of the CDCC. The resolution also requested the Secretary-General to take the necessary measures for promoting and expanding United Nations assistance to the territories. The General Assembly subsequently adopted a second cooperation and coordination in 1992, by way of resolution 47/22, which further strengthened the linkage between the economic and social development of small island NSGTs and that of other small island developing countries, while also repeating requests for expanded assistance programmes. Also in 1992, the General Assembly adopted resolution 47/16 which went further to request strengthened measures of support and programmes of assistance to meet immediate needs and to create conditions for development in those NICs which were non self-governing. In 1993, the General Assembly adopted resolution 48/57 which advocated for the participation of representatives of the territories in the relevant meetings and conferences of United Nations bodies. The following year, in 1994, the General Assembly adopted resolution 49/41 which acknowledged the participation of some of the eligible territories as associate members of the regional economic commissions. In 1995, the General Assembly confirmed in its resolution 50/34 that the development options of small island NSGTs were limited, and that there were special challenges to planning for and implementing sustainable development in those territories. The resolution also emphasized that those these territories would be constrained in meeting development challenges without the continuing cooperation and assistance of the United Nations system. In 1996, the General Assembly by resolution 51/141 repeated earlier calls for the facilitation of the participation of representatives of the NSGT governments in the relevant meetings and conferences of the United Nations system, and for priority to be given to the question of providing assistance to these territories, including those which were AMCs of the regional economic commissions. The resolution repeated earlier recommendations that the governing bodies of the appropriate specialized agencies and international institutions associated with the United Nations take the necessary measures to implement relevant assistance programmes. The General Assembly by resolution 52/73 of 1997 and 53/62 of 1998, respectively, made specific substantive requests of the United Nations system. In this connection, the General Assembly requested the specialized agencies and other organizations of the United Nations system to provide information on various development challenges in the territories including environmental problems such as beach and coastal erosion and droughts, the impact of natural disasters such as volcanoes and hurricanes, and the state of exploitation of the marine resources. These substantive requests were repeated in relevant operative resolutions through 2006. By its resolution 54/85 of 1999, the General Assembly acknowledged the participation in the capacity of observer of those territories which are associate members of regional commissions in the world conferences in the economic and social sphere, and in the special session of the General Assembly on the review and appraisal of the implementation of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) the same year. The General Assembly in its resolution also recognized the need for steps to be taken to establish and/or strengthen disaster preparedness and management institutions and 12 policies in the respective territories. In the resolution, the General Assembly acknowledged for the first time the seminal role of ECLAC in facilitating its associate members in the wider United Nations system. In this connection, the resolution: “Welcome(d) the adoption by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean of Resolution 574 (XXVII) in which the Commission called for the necessary mechanisms to permit its associate members, including small island Non-Self-Governing Territories, to participate, subject to the rules of procedure of the General Assembly, in the special sessions of the Assembly to review and appraise the implementation of the programmes of action of those United Nations conferences in which the Territories originally participated in the capacity of observer, and in the work of the Economic and Social Council and its subsidiary bodies.” The General Assembly in its 1999 resolution also: “Recall(ed) its Resolution 53/189 of 15 December 1998, in which, inter alia, it called for the participation of associate members of regional economic commissions in the special session of the General Assembly for the review and appraisal of the implementation of the Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States, subject to the rules of procedure of the Assembly, and in the preparatory process thereof, in the same capacity of observer that held for their participation in the Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States, held at Bridgetown from 25 April to 6 May 1994.” Emphasis on the importance of the participation of those AMCs which are non selfgoverning was a consistent theme in resolutions of the General Assembly from 2000 to 2006. In this connection, General Assembly resolution 55/139 of 2000 is indicative of the language of resolutions adopted during that period: “(The General Assembly) welcom(ed) the current participation in the capacity of observer of those Non-Self-Governing Territories that are associate members of regional commissions in the world conferences in the economic and social sphere, subject to the rules of procedure of the General Assembly and in accordance with relevant United Nations resolutions and decisions, including resolutions and decisions of the Assembly and the Special Committee on specific Territories, and in the special session of the General Assembly on the overall review and appraisal of the implementation of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development, held at Headquarters from 30 June to 2 July 1999.” Beginning in 2004 with resolution 59/129, the General Assembly began its annual specific recognition of the work of the regional commissions by: “Welcoming the continuing initiative exercised by the United Nations Development Programme in maintaining close liaison among the specialized agencies and other organizations of the United Nations system, including the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean and the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and 13 the Pacific, and in providing assistance to the peoples of the Non-Self-Governing Territories.” In 2005, the General Assembly adopted resolution 60/112 which went further to: “Welcome the adoption by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean of its Resolution 574 (XXVII) of 16 May 1998 calling for the necessary mechanisms for its associate members, including small island Non-Self-Governing Territories, to participate in the special sessions of the General Assembly, subject to the rules of procedure of the Assembly, to review and assess the implementation of the plans of action of those United Nations world conferences in which the Territories originally participated in the capacity of observer, and in the work of the Economic and Social Council and its subsidiary bodies.” In 2006, the General Assembly by its resolution 61/231 also took note of ECLAC resolution 598 (XXX) of 2 July 2004 in support of AMC participation in relevant General Assembly and ECOSOC activities. The General Assembly also took note of resolution 62 (XXI) of the CDCC, adopted in 2006, in which the Committee expressed support for the implementation of ECLAC resolution 598 (XXX) and requested the Commission to disseminate an informational note on the matter. C. The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) mandate The Economic and Social Council also has a lengthy mandate on assistance to NICs beginning in 1950 with the adoption of resolution 321(XI) on “International collaboration in regard to economic, social and educational conditions in non self-governing territories.” This first resolution on the matter confirmed that the territories were eligible to receive technical assistance under the expanded programme for economic development designed for underdeveloped countries. The resolution further decided that the social and economic conditions in the territories would be included, wherever possible, in al relevant studies undertaken by the Economic and Social Council. In 1969, by resolution 1450 (XLVII), the Economic and Social Council recommended that the governing bodies or deliberative organs of the United Nations specialized agencies or international institutions concerned give consideration to the formulation of legislative procedures to assist the General Assembly in its mandate to support the development process of the territories. By its resolution 1651(LI) of 1971, the Economic and Social Council endorsed the conclusions and recommendations of the report of its President on assistance to the territories, and recommended that these be acted upon by the relevant specialized agencies and organizations within the United Nations system. Resolution 1720 (LIII) of 1972 recommended that the actions recommended by the President of the Economic and Social Council be acted upon as a matter of urgency by the relevant United Nations bodies. In 1973, the Council in its resolution 1804 (LV) noted that up to that point only a few agencies had initiated modest action 14 for providing assistance to the territories, called for expedited measures through a more effective coordination of assistance programmes, and requested the executive heads of the United Nations bodies concerned to formulate and submit specific programmes of assistance to their governing bodies. In 1975, by its resolution 1892 (LVII), the Council took note of the decisions of the Governing Council of UNDP for the provision of assistance to the territories in their development process, and called for all necessary measures to be taken to accelerate the full and speedy implementation of the UNDP decisions. As additional United Nations bodies began to comply, the Council acknowledged their assistance in subsequent resolutions, and called for a broadening of such assistance from other United Nations bodies. These expressions characterised the Economic and Social Council resolutions from this period through to present day. As in the case of the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council resolution of 1990 began a sustained focus on the small island territories. In this regard, resolution 1990/60 of 1990 made specific mention of the extremely fragile economies of the small island territories and their vulnerability to natural disasters such as hurricanes and cyclones. The resolution also requested the relevant United Nations bodies to take appropriate measures within their spheres of competence to accelerate progress in the economic and social sectors of the territories. The Council also called for the facilitation of participation of the representatives of the territories in relevant meetings and conferences of United Nations bodies. These were themes that have been repeated annually to present day in both Economic and Social Council and General Assembly resolutions. Additional themes were subsequently introduced which became standard text of Council resolutions. Accordingly, in 1991, the Council further confirmed the linkage between the small island territories and the sustainable development of other small island developing countries. In this connection, the Economic and Social Council resolution 1991/68 made the important connection with the conclusions and recommendations of the 1990 Meeting of Governmental Experts of Island Developing Countries and Donor Countries, consistent with the relevant General Assembly resolution of the previous year. In 1994, the Council by resolution 1994/37 also requested the United Nations bodies to take into account the Programme of Action for the Sustainable development of SIDS, adopted at the relevant United Nations global conference of that year, and specifically requested the application of this programme to the small island NSGTs. The resolution also encouraged the territories concerned to take steps to establish and/or strengthen disaster preparedness and management institutions and policies. In 1995, the Economic and Social Council by its resolution 1995/58 welcomed the continued initiative of UNDP in maintaining close liaison with United Nations bodies in providing assistance to the NSGTs. The resolution also reaffirmed the mandates of the specialized agencies and other organizations of the United Nations system to take all appropriate measures, within their respective spheres of competence, to provide assistance to the territories. The resolution further introduced the importance of securing necessary resources for funding expanded assistance programmes for the territories, and the need to enlist the support of all major 15 funding institutions within the United Nations system. Additionally, the resolution requested the United Nations bodies to examine and review conditions in each territory as to take appropriate measures to accelerate progress in the economic and social sectors of the territories. In 1999, by resolution 1999/52, the Council acknowledged the participation of the associate member countries of the United Nations regional economic commissions in the world conferences in the economic and social spheres, including the 1999 special session of the General Assembly to review the programme of action of the ICPD. Consistent with the General Assembly resolution of the same year, the Council resolution also welcomed the ECLAC initiatives on the further integration of the AMCs in the United Nations system, including in the work of ECOSOC and its subsidiary bodies. The resolution went on to welcome General Assembly action providing for the participation of the AMCs in the 1999 General Assembly special session to review the implementation of the programme of action on small island developing states. In 2000 by resolution 2000/30, the Council welcomed the further participation of the AMCs in General Assembly special sessions in 2000 on gender equality, and on social development, respectively. By its resolution 2004/53 on “Support to Non Self-Governing Territories by the specialized agencies and international institutions associated with the United Nations,” the Council expanded its welcome for the collaboration between UNDP and other United Nations bodies to specifically refer to ECLAC and ESCAP in the provision of assistance to the NSGTs. Resolutions from 2005 through 2006 maintained essentially the same text inclusive of the new provisions gradually added between 1990 and 2004. Most recently, in its 2007 resolution, ECOSOC made specific reference to the 1998 resolution of ECLAC which called for the creation of mechanisms for its associate members (including the NSGTs) to participate in the special sessions of the General Assembly “to review and assess the implementation of the plans of action of the United Nations world conferences in which the (AMCs) had originally participated in their capacity as observers, and in the work of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) ”. 13 The 2006 Council resolution 14 on the question had specifically “welcomed the adoption” of the 1998 ECLAC initiative and, in the process, cited annual ECLAC expressions of support contained in resolutions adopted between 2001 and 2005. 15 The United Nations General Assembly had adopted similar resolutions to those approved by the Council on this particular matter. Accordingly in 2005, the General Assembly specifically: “Welcom(ed) the adoption by ECLAC of its Resolution 574 (XXVII) of 15 May 1998 calling for the necessary mechanisms for its associate members…to participate in the special sessions of the General Assembly” to review and assess the implementation of the plans of action of those United Nations world conferences in which the territories originally participated in the capacity of observer, and in the work of ECOSOC and its subsidiary bodies.” 16 The General Assembly, in 2006, reaffirmed its 2005 support for the initiative, and cited the earlier 2004 ECLAC resolution which had addressed related issues.17 The General Assembly 16 also acknowledged, by resolution, the 2006 decision of the CDCC which called for implementation of the actions on the participation of the AMCs. 18 III. COORDINATED IMPLEMENTATION OF UNITED NATIONS WORLD CONFERENCES AND SUMMITS The relevant ECLAC, General Assembly and Economic and Social Council mandates, as outlined in the previous section, provide a comprehensive legislative basis for the participation of the AMCs in the outcome programmes and activities emanating from the United Nations world conferences, summits and special sessions where integrated and coordinated implementation has been identified by the international community as critical to the realisation of recognised development goals. The importance of such a synchronised approach was reinforced at the 2005 world summit where world leaders, “by embracing a broad vision of development based on the outcomes of the major United Nations conferences and summits, gave renewed political impetus to and deepened the significance of the integrated and coordinated follow-up of the conferences.” 19 In the 2006 Report of the Secretary-General on coordinated implementation,20 specific development concerns were identified including “the broad spectrum of issues ranging from gender equality, social integration, health, employment, education, the environment and population…, human rights, finance and governance.” 21 The 2006 report recognised the broadbased consensus on addressing development issues emerging from the conferences, and recognised that while each activity was specific, and had generated its own unique follow-up mechanism, these conferences were closely interlinked. It was further noted that the required coherence has been facilitated by the development of system-wide strategies. However, the inclusion of the non-independent countries, inclusive of the AMCs, in these system-wide followup processes remains inconsistent, due in large measure to the absence of eligibility criteria in place in many relevant United Nations implementation bodies for the participation of these countries. In this connection, the role of the United Nations functional commissions of the Economic and Social Council has been identified as a key global implementation mechanism in “shaping a consensus on a broad development vision based on the outcomes of the different conferences coming within their respective purviews.” 22 Even as the role of the functional commissions in the coordinated implementation of the outcomes of the world conferences and summits has been repeatedly confirmed by the Economic and Social Council and the General Assembly, the nature of AMC participation has yet to be clearly defined. At the regional level, ECLAC serves as a useful guide for the United Nations system, and for member States, on how the AMCs might be accommodated in the outcome activities of the world conferences and summits coordinated by the Economic and Social Council through its functional commissions. To this end, ECLAC had included concrete proposals in several consensus resolutions which called for the “establishment of mechanisms to permit associate members to participate in the work of ECOSOC and of its subsidiary bodies,” as a natural complement to the inclusion of the AMCs in programmes of the regional economic commissions. 23 However, in the absence of substantive consideration and clarification of the 17 ECLAC initiative, the Council at its 2005 substantive session only “noted receipt of the (ECLAC) resolution and decided to take no action on the matter.” 24 The issue was not revisited at the 2007 session of the Economic and Social Council in Geneva, and no further efforts have been made at the Council level to examine modalities for the inclusion of the AMCs in programmes of the Council’s functional commissions emanating from the United Nations world conferences and summits. The CDCC, however, did adopt a resolution in 2006 on Assistance to CDCC Associate Member Countries which maintained Caribbean support for the ECLAC initiative, 25 providing a renewed subregional mandate for the examination of relevant programmes of the Council’s functional commissions which could be made available to AMCs within the framework of coordinated implementation of the outcomes of the world conference and summits. Table 3 Functional Commissions of the Economic and Social Council Commissions on: Narcotic Drugs Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Science and Technology for Development Sustainable Development Status of Women Population and Development Commission for Social Development Statistical Commission Source: Economic and Social Council (2007) AMC participation through regional implementation mechanisms has been more consistent than that experienced at the global level, given the associate member status enjoyed by these countries in two of the United Nations regional economic commissions. In this regard, both ECLAC and ESCAP have collaborated with UNDP, regional development banks and other regional institutions on coordinating regional implementation of the outcomes of the United Nations world conferences and summits, with AMCs benefiting from the resultant cooperative activities. ECLAC has also worked closely with specific United Nations programmes and funds such as the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), respectively, on follow-up activities at the regional level which have included the participation of AMCs. Progress has also been acknowledged on cooperation between the regional commissions and several functional commissions in this regard. However, a clear mandate has not been formulated as yet for AMC participation in implementation activities of the United Nations funds and functional commissions that is not first facilitated through the regional commissions or UNDP coordination. 18 The following schematic prepared by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) and included in its publication “Follow-up Mechanisms for Major United Nations Conferences and Summits” shows the relevant agencies and the United Nations implementation machinery. 19 20 Table 4 Relevant United Nations Programmes and Funds United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) International Trade Centre (ITC) United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) United Nations Drug Control Programme United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODOC) United Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Fund (CPCJF) United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) United Nations International Research and Training Institute for Women ((INSTRAW) United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refuges (UNHCR) World Food Programme (WFP) United Nations Human Settlements Programme (HABITAT) Trust Fund for the United Nations Programme on Transnational Corporations United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) Trust Fund for Travel Assistance to Developing States Members of UNCITRAL) Perez-Guerrero Trust Fund for Economic and Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries United Nations Habitat and Human Settlements Foundation United Nations Trust Fund for Ageing United Nations Voluntary Fund on Disability United Nations Youth Fund United Nations Trust Fund on Family Activities Trust Fund on Indigenous Issues 21 IV. PRIORITY AREAS FOR AMCs Much of the substantive priority focus areas of pertinence to the AMCs emanated from the outcome documents of the United Nations world conferences and summits in the economic and social sphere between 1992 and 2004, and are contained in the relevant 2004 ECLAC study. 26 Subsequent international meetings, as well as other international mandates, supplement these priority areas. All elicited a series of emergent issues specific to AMCs, as outlined in Table 5. Table 5 Substantive Priority Areas Identified by AMCs Functional Area Legislative Mandate from World Conference or Summit Sustainable Development Environment Fisheries Sustainable Energy U.N. Conference on Environment and Development ( UNCED, 1992) U.N. Conference on Straddling and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks (1995) Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) (1994) General Assembly - Special Session for 5-year review of Agenda 21 (1997) General Assembly - Special Session for 5-year review of Barbados Programme of Action BPOA) on SIDS (1999) World Summit on Sustainable Development ( WSSD, 2002) International Meeting for the ten-year review of the BPOA (2005) Natural Disaster Reduction International Conference on Natural Disaster Reduction (ICNDR, 1994) World Conference on Natural Disaster Reduction (2005) Population and Development Migration Human Settlements Ageing International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD, 1994) Second U.N. Conference on Human Settlements (HABITAT II, 1996) General Assembly - Special Session for 5 - year review of ICPD, 1999) General Assembly – Special Session for 5 - year review of HABITAT II, 2001) Second World Assembly on Ageing (2002) Social Development Poverty Alleviation Unemployment Youth 22 World Summit for Social Development (WSSD, 1995) World Food Summit (1996) General Assembly – Special Session on the World Drug Problem (1998) General Assembly – Special Session for five – year review of WSSD (2000) World Food Summit – five years later (2002) General Assembly – Special Session – Ten year review of implementation of Copenhagen Declaration (2005) Human Rights and Governance Elimination of Racism Self-Determination Financing for Development Debt Reduction Information Society Health HIV AIDS Millennium Declaration (2000) International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance (2001) World Summit Follow-up (2005) International Conference on Financing for Development (2002) World Summit on the Information Society (2003, 2005) General Assembly – Special Session (2001) General Assembly – High Level Meeting on HIV-AIDS (2006) The United Nations system collaboration on activities in implementation of the world conference and summit outcomes provides a more detailed picture of some of the key programmes and activities of significance and potential benefit to AMCs, within the framework of the substantive areas identified in Table 5. In the area of sustainable development, a number of specific initiatives were identified on the effective implementation and follow-up to the Mauritius Declaration and Strategy for Implementation on Small Island Developing States. 27 An emergent activity of global implementation was the 2007 Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) session which examined ongoing and envisaged policy options and initiatives to effectively address the challenges faced by SIDS in the thematic areas under review by the Commission, namely, energy for sustainable development, industrial development, air pollution and the atmosphere, and 23 climate change. The CSD, as a functional commission of the Economic and Social Council, does not currently provide for participation of AMCs in these substantive deliberations, however. Further initiatives of the Economic and Social Council functional commissions, and United Nations programmes and funds, provide additional activities of interest to AMCs, including the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) work in economic vulnerability of SIDS, 28 and the substantive focus of UNEP in assisting SIDS in addressing land degradation, supporting sustainable tourism awareness, and providing a leadership programme on sustainable development for Pacific SIDS. UN-Energy, the United Nations inter-agency mechanism on energy, was also defined as an important global mechanism which could prove useful for AMCs, as this instrument was established “to help ensure coherence in the UN system’s multi-disciplinary response to the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) and to ensure the effective engagement of non-UN stakeholders in implementing WSSD energy-related decisions.” 29 In the area of natural disaster reduction, initiatives include the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) in support of SIDS in the areas of disaster preparedness, land registration, urban planning guidelines and hurricane resistant housing. 30 The work of UNEP in its coordinating activity on environmental vulnerabilities at the 2006 International Disaster Reduction Conference in Davos, Switzerland, is also to be noted as an area of specific interest to AMCs. The implementation mechanism of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction as the successor mechanism of the Inter-Agency Task Force for Disaster Reduction is also cited for potential AMC participation, along with the possibility of AMC access to the Trust Fund designed to ensure adequate support for the follow-up activities to the Hyogo Declaration and Hyogo Framework for Action 2005–2015: Building the Resilience of Nations and Communities to Disasters. In the area of population and development, international migration is of special importance to AMCs, many of which experience the highest level of immigration as a percentage of the labour force, even as the available data on the AMC experience in this area is not sufficiently included in deliberations on migration at the global level. Accordingly, international activities such as the High-level Dialogue on International Migration and Development which convened at United Nations Headquarters in New York in 2006 to explore the multidimensional aspects of international migration and development is an example of the type of initiative specifically pertinent to the development process of AMCs, but which was not made available to them in the same way as previous international conferences of the General Assembly. In this connection, it is to be recalled that official observer status was extended to AMCs in the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD,1994), and in the Twenty-First Special Session of the General Assembly on the overall review and appraisal of the implementation of the programme of action of the ICPD (1999).” 31 As in the follow-up to the ICPD, and outcomes of other world conferences and summits, the sustainability of the eligibility criteria for AMC participation remains inconsistent. Thus, provisions are not always formulated for the participation of AMCs which had taken part in the actual conference or summit itself, and which are often included in regional follow-up initiatives through the regional commissions. Such eligibility criteria is, therefore, absent in cases such as 24 the follow-up global activities in the area of human settlements, specifically the World Urban Forum 32 which brings together governments, local authorities, civil society, professional associations, academia and other actors to address social, economic and environmental problems associated with urbanization. Even as AMCs were extended official observer status to HABITAT II and its five-year review, further follow-up activities at the global level have not been extended to the AMCs. In the area of social development, the Commission for Social Development has been the key United Nations body in charge of the follow-up and implementation of the Copenhagen Declaration and Programme of Action since the convening of the 1995 World Summit for Social Development in Copenhagen in 1995. In this regard, many of the Commission programmes in the areas of social policy and development, poverty eradication and employment, generational issues and integration, inclusive development and indigenous issues are of particular interest to the AMCs. However, the Commission for Social Development, as a functional commission of the Economic and Social Council, has no mandate at present for AMC participation in its work. In the area of human rights and governance, it is to be noted that the issue of selfdetermination is of special relevance to those AMCs which are categorized by the General Assembly as non self-governing territories (see table 1). It is also of relevance to several selfgoverning AMCs which are proceeding to modify their prevailing association arrangements, while others are dismantling existing multi-island governance models with new ones emerging. In this connection, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 33 and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 34 affirm the right to self-determination, while the heads of state and government of the United Nations in their World Summit Outcome reaffirmed their adherence to this inalienable right. 35 The General Assembly as recently as 2006 reaffirmed that “there is no alternative to the principle of self-determination, which is also a fundamental human right, as recognized under the relevant human rights conventions.” 36 In this connection, the General Assembly has adopted identical plans of action from 1990 to 2000, and from 2001 to 2010, respectively, 37 calling for comprehensive reviews of the prevailing governance arrangements in each of the non selfgoverning AMCs in preparation for referenda or other forms of popular consultation. The plans of action also called for periodic analyses of the economic and constitutional development in each Territory, and for a review of the impact of the economic and social situation on the constitutional and political advancement of the relevant AMCs. 38 Implementation of the agreed studies contained in the plans of action on the governance arrangements in those AMCs which are non self-governing have not been undertaken by the relevant bodies of the United Nations system, as yet, and concerns continue to be expressed by the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) in formal statements to the relevant General Assembly committees on this question. In the area of financing for development, international initiatives undertaken on debt relief, concessionary assistance and related areas do not generally provide for AMC eligibility even as these countries were extended official observer status by the General Assembly to the original International Conference on Financing for Development where financing mechanisms 25 were agreed. With a few exceptions, the international financial institutions do not provide technical assistance or stand-by arrangements for AMCs. In the area of the information society, implementation activities of the 2003 and 2005 phases of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) have important relevance to the AMCs, a number of which rely on the international business sector and related international services as primary components of their economies. In this connection, activities emerging from the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society related to information and communications technologies (ICTs) for development are especially pertinent, in such areas as ICT infrastructure, capacity-building, internet security, e-government, e-business, e-learning, e-health, eemployment and other areas. One implementation activity conducted in 2006 for relevant stakeholders by DESA, as the provisional focal point for facilitation of Action Line 11 of the Geneva Plan of Action of the WSIS, provided an opportunity to discuss ways to enhance international collaboration in ensuring effective implementation of the outcomes of WSIS at the international level. The 2006 Report of the Secretary-General on Modalities of the inter-agency coordination of the implementation of the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society, included recommendations on the follow-up process, providing information on the launching of the Global Alliance for Information and Communication Technologies and Development as an initiative for “promoting multi-stakeholder dialogue, and offering an innovative, inclusive and interactive channel for multi-stakeholder input to policy debate.” 39 The inaugural meeting of the Alliance which convened in Kuala Lumpur in 2006, and which attracted extensive participation by governments, business, media and civil society leaders, academia and the technical community, did not include a provision for AMC participation. Even as observer status has been extended to AMCs in the rules of procedure for both phases of the WSIS, provisions for their participation in this and other WSIS follow-up activities, such as the 2006 Internet Governance Forum, has not materialised. Additionally, the Commission on Science and Technology for Development has a specific role to play in WSIS implementation and follow-up, but as an Economic and Social Council functional committee, its programmes in implementing the WSIS agenda are not directly available to AMCs. In the area of global follow-up to international commitments made in the areas of public health, specific attention is placed on the comprehensive review of the progress achieved in realizing the targets set out in the Declaration of Commitment on Human Immuno-deficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS) adopted by the heads of State and government at the High-Level Meeting on AIDS in 2006. 40 Unlike previous global summits in the economic and social sphere the General Assembly, in its preparatory process for the convening of the 2006 high-level meeting, did not provide for an observer status for AMCs in its enabling resolution. Therefore, the involvement of individual AMCs in global activities in addressing the HIV-AIDS pandemic has not been facilitated. Accordingly, the AMC role is primarily through regional mechanisms, in particular the Pan Caribbean Partnership Against HIV-AIDS (PANCAP). In this context, a number of projects for individual AMCs have been formulated through this process which has provided for implementation by two of the relevant funds and programmes, namely the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and UNDP, respectively (see table 6). 26 As it is properly acknowledged that the United Nations system support for the global response to AIDS “has steadily improved since UN-AIDS was founded in 1986,” the extent to which AMCs have benefited remains uneven. 41 It is to be noted that in those AMCs which are serviced through UNDP coordination via country frameworks, the access to programme support in addressing the HIV-AIDS pandemic at the regional level is significantly enhanced. Such UNDP coordination for many non-independent countries has historically served as an important mechanism for accessing other technical support from the wider United Nations system, and is an important modality for AMCs to engage the expertise and assistance of some functional commissions of the Economic and Social Council and United Nations funds. (The role of UNDP in this coordinating function is further examined in Section five present paper). In the area of global follow-up to international commitments made in the area of children’s issues, it is to be noted that, as in the case of the 2006 High-Level Meeting on HIVAIDS, AMCs were not extended an observer status in the 2002 General Assembly Special Session on Children. Accordingly, implementation activities in relation to the follow-up of the Declaration and Plan of Action emerging adopted by the General Assembly in 2002 were generally carried through at the regional level, as related to AMCs. Again, UNDP coordination was the primary mechanism, along with the inclusion of some AMCs in the regional programmes of UNICEF. Examination of the coordinated implementation of the United Nations world conference and summit outcomes confirms their relevance to the AMCs by virtue of the General Assembly mandates, most recently in the pertinent 2006 resolution concerning the non self-governing AMCs which bore in mind “the applicability to the territories of the programmes of action of all United Nations world conferences and special sessions of the General Assembly in the economic and social sphere.” 42 Implementation of this mandate for AMC inclusion in the follow-up to these United Nations world conferences and summits remains, however, primarily at the regional level through United Nations regional economic commissions or UNDP coordination. At the global level, the United Nations bodies identified to carry out the world conference and summit follow-up, such as the Economic and Social Council functional commissions and the United Nations programmes and funds, continue to provide assistance to a number of AMCs pursuant to country and regional programme priorities. Such assistance is not necessarily linked to the world conference and summit outcomes, although notable exceptions exist in relation to ECLAC and UNDP. On the whole, consistent policies have not yet been formulated for the inclusion of the AMCs in the world conference and summit follow-up carried out by most United Nations bodies. 27 Table 6 National Projects for AMCs under PANCAP Associate Member Country Aruba Project Development of National Strategic Plan for prevention and control of HIV/AIDS on the island of Aruba Institutional Strengthening for an expanded national response to HIV& AIDS in Aruba Institutional Strengthening for an expanded national response to HIV/AIDS in Aruba Anguilla British Virgin Islands Cayman Islands Netherlands Antilles none none none none HIV/AIDS Awareness and Sensitization Executing Agency UNDP and Trinidad & Tobago UNDP UN AIDS Caribbean Team None n/a n/a n/a UNICEF Caribbean Montserrat HIV/AIDS Awareness and Sensitization UNICEF Caribbean Puerto Rico Turks and Caicos Islands HIV/AIDS Peer Education none Youth Information and Adolescent Support Centre HIV/AIDS Peer Education UNICEF Caribbean n/a UNICEF UNICEF U.S. Virgin Islands VOICES/VOCES American Red Cross of the (U.S.) Virgin Islands Source: http://www.pancap.org/ 2007. 28 V. ASSISTANCE FROM UNITED NATIONS PROGRAMMES AND FUNDS, AND REGIONAL COMMISSIONS A. UNDP As a United Nations programme, UNDP has had a longstanding role in coordinating assistance from the wider United Nations system to many of the AMCs, and has been recognised by the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council as the primary mechanism of support to Caribbean and Pacific non-independent countries. Such assistance has historically been facilitated through AMC indicative planning figures (IPFs) and country cooperation frameworks, and is routinely executed by relevant United Nations agencies according to their specific technical competence, as well as through participation in relevant regional programmes. Pursuant to relevant United Nations General Assembly resolutions, a report of the Secretary-General is produced each year consisting of the compilation of submissions by many of the specialized agencies and international institutions associated with the United Nations in response to requests for information on their assistance programmes to the non-independent countries. Information on UNDP assistance to these countries prior to 1990 when the submission of these reports to the Secretary-General began is contained in individual UNDP country programme documents providing specific areas of assistance adopted for each country. It is important to note that not all AMCs have been the beneficiary of UNDP country programmes. In this connection, there are no indications of such programmes for Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands in the Caribbean, and for American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, New Caledonia or French Polynesia in the Pacific even as these nonindependent countries are associate members of regional commissions in their respective regions. There is evidence, however, of some ad hoc assistance to these countries. Overall, UNDP assistance to the relevant non-independent countries actually pre-date the first country programme cycle (1982-86) as a number of countries had received funds on a case-by-case basis as early as 1970. The first country cycle assistance mechanism provides insight on the development needs of those countries at that period. 1982-86 * Bermuda: US$ 550,000 for activities in the area of fisheries, food marketing, vocational training, groundwater resource development, childhood development, and telecommunications. 43 * Turks and Caicos Islands: $850,000 for human resource development, upgrading of secondary education, transport, communication health personnel and other technical training, soil analysis with the aim of agricultural development, fisheries, and water resources. 44 * Cayman Islands: $560,000 for general development issues and planning, natural resources, agriculture and fisheries, transport and communications, health, education and employment. 45 29 * Montserrat: $700,000 for training in agricultural development; technical assistance for irrigation, soil conservation and water catchments; assistance in agriculture export, infrastructure development and forestry; and training in civil aviation. 46 * British Virgin Islands:$300,000 for assistance in fisheries, socio-economic development planning, vocational training in automotive and heavy equipment operations and social services. 47 * Netherlands Antilles: $1,500,000 (including cost-sharing) for projects in general development issues, policy and planning; natural resources; agriculture; industry; transportation and communications; employment; and social conditions and equity. 48 * Tokelau: $950,000 (1982-86); $627,000 (1983-86) for upgrading of telecommunications, development of marine resources, village projects, general agricultural development assistance. 49 * Cook Islands: $1,025,000 for achieving the four major objectives of the first national development plan, specifically 1) to attain a large measure of economic independence, 2) to raise the level of prosperity of the people, 3) to ensure the equitable distribution of the benefits of development and 4) to increase the level of participation of the people in the development process. 50 * Niue: $1,000,000 for focus on agricultural production for export and support services, public management, in-service manpower training as a continuation of the previous programme period. 1987-91 In its 1990 report to the Secretary-General, UNDP provided adjusted information on direct assistance to the small island territories, indicating that “like all developing countries, non independent countries that participate in the UNDP technical assistance programme receive an IPF allocation based mainly on their per capita gross national product and population.” 51 Accordingly, for the fourth UNDP cycle (1987-1991), UNDP reported specific allotments for technical cooperation programme activities for the Caribbean territories, as follows: * Bermuda: US$ 694,000 (no request made against the allotment). * British Virgin Islands: $239,000 in the areas of development planning, tourism, physical development, social planning and agricultural development. * Cayman Islands: $584,000 in the areas of civil aviation, human resource development and telecommunications. 30 * Montserrat: $676,000 in the areas of water resources development, forestry, human resources development, and soil and water conservation. * Turks and Caicos Islands: $753,000 in the areas of development planning, physical planning, fisheries development, civil aviation and human resources development. Additionally, an un-specified portion of the $400,000 Special Programme Resources were used to assist the British Virgin Islands and Montserrat in their recovery following the devastation caused by Hurricane Hugo of 1989. 52 Information on UNDP assistance to non-independent countries is also contained in annual reports of consultations between the President of the Economic and Social Council and the Chairman of the United Nations Decolonisation Committee. In the relevant 1991 Report of the President of the Economic and Social Council,53 additional information was provided by UNDP on fourth cycle IPF allotments (1987-91) to additional non independent countries covering assistance in the primary sectors of tourism, agriculture, fisheries, transportation, communication and power generation, as follows: Anguilla: St. Helena: Tokelau: Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands: $ 1,066,000 $ 465,000 $ 1,151,000 $ 2,912,000 54 Further information contained in UNDP programme planning documents indicated that the IPF for the Netherlands Antilles for the period included $596,000 with $794,000 in cost sharing, with focus on training of personnel in the marketing aspects of tourism, development of small-scale industries, agricultural development and planning, industrial development and diversification, the development of small-scale fishing industries, and technical assistance in the transportation and communications sectors. For Aruba, the amount of $364,000 was made available for its first country programme, after having achieved “status aparte” from the Netherlands Antilles in 1986, to assist in the establishment of an inventory of the social sector, expansion of the national planning unit, technical assistance and training in tourism marketing, and assistance in agricultural and fisheries production. This first country programme was later extended for one year. With respect to the Cook Islands, the IPF for the period 1987-91 was $1,120,000 and was focused on the strengthening of agriculture and fisheries, and a continued emphasis on manpower training and technical assistance in areas such as labour management and employment, health and natural resources. Specific projects supported during the period were in the areas of energy conservation, national accounting and computer training. In relation to Niue, the IPF of $800,000 for the same period focused on agricultural outreach and production, infrastructural development and the provision of equipment for the fisheries sector, human resource development, cultural and social development, tourism promotion. 31 1992-96 The 1992 Report of the President of the Economic and Social Council 55 indicated that the fifth UNDP cycle (1992-96) included the following IPFs for non-independent countries covering assistance in the same functional areas as denoted for the previous UNDP cycle: Anguilla: British Virgin Islands: Cayman Islands: Montserrat: St Helena: Tokelau: Palau: Turks and Caicos Islands $1,266,000 $ 102,000 $ 385,000 $ 539,000 $1,405,000 $1,197,000 $ 326,000 $ 971,000 The 1993 Report of the President of the Economic and Social Council 56 provided additional information on the role and nature of UNDP assistance to non-independent countries including a refocusing of assistance to Palau to encompass development policy and strategy, and sustainable resource management, in view of the change in its political status from being a part of the United Nations Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands to that of a separate associated State (and full United Nations membership). For the Cayman Islands, concentration was on fiscal administration, education, agriculture, social services, manpower planning, human resources development, and economic planning and management. In a similar fashion, UNDP assistance to the Turks and Caicos Islands during the period was focused on training to develop administrative management skills, as well as assistance in environmental management including water management, sewage disposal, and the reduction of the impact of the tourism industry on the environment. It was also pointed out in the 1993 report that the British Virgin Islands had attained net contributor country status at the beginning of the fifth cycle (1992) – a situation which began to affect eligibility for UNDP technical assistance for most of the non-independent countries. Thus, only Anguilla and the Turks and Caicos Islands were projected to receive an IPF by the end of the fifth cycle in 1996. UNDP indicated that the countries newly graduated to net contributor status would still receive other forms of assistance, such as multi-island and regional programmes, as well as from UNDP special programme resources. It was also noted that for Tokelau, the bulk of the IPF was set aside for improving the telecommunications system with assistance in the installation of three satellite earth stations to enhance inter-atoll communication. with continued assistance for the upgrading of power and water supplies and construction of seawalls. Significant assistance was also directed to facilitate the internal governance arrangements in view of the political and constitutional adjustments being made during the period. It was also noted in the UNDP country programme for the Cook Islands for the period 1992-96 that the focus of attention was on supporting tourism initiatives and management 32 capacity, while assistance to Niue as reported in its UNDP country programme focused on private sector development, health services and management. In the 1994 Report of the President of the Economic and Social Council, 57 assistance during the fifth cycle for many of the non-independent countries was recalculated to 70 per cent of the original IPF as follows: Anguilla British Virgin Islands Cayman Islands Montserrat St. Helena Tokelau Palau Turks and Caicos Islands $ 747,000 $ 78,000 $ 270,000 $ 337,000 $ 983,000 $ 838,000 $ 229,000 $ 680,000 In this connection, the 1994 report went on to detail the nature of adjusted support for the cycle of 1992-96. Accordingly, for Anguilla, UNDP support emphasized assistance in human resource development, in particular teacher training, reform of the public sector and environmental and natural resources management. In the aftermath of the effects of Hurricanes Luis and Marilyn which struck Anguilla in 1995, UNDP coordinated response measures were taken with the assistance of a United Nations disaster management team. Regarding the British Virgin Islands, UNDP assistance focused on providing policy advice and inputs for institutional strengthening, primarily aiming at the formulation of an integrated development strategy. It was emphasized that because of the net contributor status, the British Virgin Islands had only been issued a reimbursable IPF of $97,000 for the 1995-96 period of the fifth programming cycle. It was noted, however, that the territory remained eligible for participation in other components of the UNDP programme including projects financed from the regional and interregional IPF, and from special programme resources. In this connection, the country was eligible to benefit from the UNDP Fourth Regional Programme for Latin America and the Caribbean via its associate membership in CARICOM. In the case of the Cayman Islands, it was noted in the 1995 Report of the Chairman of ECOSOC that adjustments to the third country programme for the period 1993-96 resulted in the emphasis of UNDP support was placed in two areas: • Human resources development with specific focus on strengthening administrative, managerial and technical skills in selected government departments. • Economic planning and management with particular reference to promoting effective management of public expenditure and more active involvement of the government in macroeconomic planning through improved fiscal management, and the rationalisation and integration of planning mechanisms. 58 33 The country programme was subsequently extended for one year through 1997. UNDP support for Montserrat for the period 1992-96 emphasized environmental and natural resources management, including the establishment of a physical planning unit and the preparation of an environmental profile of the country along with an inventory of its historical, archaeological, cultural and natural resources. Additionally, disaster assistance in the wake of the volcanic eruption, as well as the impact of Hurricanes Luis and Marilyn, was coordinated by UNDP with the assistance of a United Nations disaster management team. Adjustments during the fifth cycle for the Turks and Caicos (1993-96) provided for UNDP support in public sector management, education and environmental management, along with technical services in key areas of the public sector. Activities included the provision of a computerised data collection system to: (a) increase customs revenue; and (b) to assist government in accessing accurate statistical data for planning purposes. Additionally, a review of the educational system was also provided with the aim of closer linkages with labour market requirements. In regional participation, Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands as associate members of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), along with Montserrat as a full OECS member, benefited from the UNDP multi-island programme for the subregion for the period 1992-96 in management development, environmental protection and resource management, and poverty reduction. Further, Anguilla, the Cayman Islands and the Turks and Caicos Islands received UNDP assistance under the Fourth Regional Programme for Latin America and the Caribbean. 59 Support was also provided for St. Helena during the period, targeting the development of a universal pension scheme, tourist development and livestock development. For the Netherlands Antilles, the country programme was extended for one year through 1993. 34 Nonindependent Country Caribbean: Anguilla Table 7 Selected UNDP Indicative Planning Figures 1972-1996 60 (thousands of US$ dollars) 1st cycle 1972-1976 2nd cycle 1977-1981 3rd cycle 1982-1986 4th cycle 1987-1991 5th cycle 1992-1996 - - 640 1,068 1,068 Bermuda - 700 440 378 - British Virgin 309 300 240 258 102 Islands Cayman 620 700 448 481 385 Islands Montserrat 283 400 560 602 481 Turks & Caicos Islands 332 400 680 971 971 Netherlands Antilles Aruba (Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands not assigned IPFs) - - Previous - 1,500 596 programme extended two years -- 364 --- St. Helena - - 264 971 971 Pacific Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (Palau) Tokelau - - - - 327 150 760 1,197 1,197 Cook Islands - - 1,025 1,120 1,031 Niue - - 1,000 800 735 Fr. Polynesia, New Caledonia, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Marianas not assigned IPFs Source: Reports on information submitted by the specialized agencies and other organizations of the United Nations system to the United Nations Secretary-General, and to the President of ECOSOC (1986-2007), and UNDP Country and Inter-Country Programmes and Projects (1982-2007). (Some amounts were adjusted during the period of programme cycles; some figures include cost sharing). 35 1997-99 For the sixth cycle from 1997-99, UNDP maintained technical cooperation programmes in the Caribbean AMCs of Anguilla, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Montserrat, Turks and Caicos Islands and the Netherlands Antilles. In this context, it was emphasized that “while the extent and focus of UNDP’s programmes vary from one territory to another, they (were) all, in general, executed in conformity with UNDP guidelines for the implementation of the Successor Programming Arrangement and relevant decisions of the UNDP Executive Board, particularly those concerning the focus and allocation of assistance under each programming cycle, and consistent with relevant resolutions of the General Assembly.” 61 Accordingly, the sixth cycle emphasized sustainable human development within the context of its programmes, with specific focus on “social development and poverty eradication; job creation and sustainable livelihoods; governance participation and the empowerment of women; and the protection of the environment and natural resource management.” 62 It was pointed out, however, that UNDP resource limitations created the necessity of prioritising the allocation of assistance to the non-independent countries. This was largely a function of the fact that by the beginning of the sixth cycle cooperation framework, all of the Non-Independent Caribbean Countries (NICCs) which maintained technical cooperation programmes with UNDP had attained net contributor status on the basis of their GDP per capita exceeding $4,700. Further assistance from UNDP, thus, required varying cost sharing measures. Accordingly, the allocations to Anguilla ($161,000) and to the Cayman Islands ($58,000) were made on a transitional, fully reimbursable basis. Allocations to Montserrat ($73,000) and to the Turks and Caicos Islands ($196,000) were on an established fully reimbursable basis. These allotments were subsequently adjusted to $147,000 for Anguilla, $66,000 for the Cayman Islands, $49,000 for Montserrat, and $222,000 for the Turks and Caicos Islands, respectively. No initial allotments were provided for the British Virgin Islands, Aruba or the Netherlands Antilles. 63 Within this context, the area of assistance to Anguilla during the period concentrated on human resources development and environmental management. The first Country Cooperation Framework for Anguilla was approved for the period 1997-1999, which was subsequently extended for one year through 2000. Anguilla also benefited from two projects of the Small Grants Programme of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) for assistance with awareness raising on the conservation of sea turtles ($15,544) and to examine environmental degradation issues related to soil degradation caused by overgrazing of cattle ($20,054). 64 Assistance to the British Virgin Islands during the period focused on social development and poverty eradication. For the Cayman Islands, attention was paid to governance and capacitybuilding. Additionally, the first Country Cooperation Framework was approved for the period 1998-2002 with focus on governance and capacity-building. Accordingly, support for the Economics and Statistics Office, public sector training and education planning and management, which began in the fifth cycle, was provided to enhance efforts aimed at reducing the proportion of unskilled personnel in the Caymanian labour force. Further focus was also on education planning from the primary level, as well as the establishment and maintenance of proper databases. 36 Support to Montserrat concentrated on the provision of emergency resources in the wake of the volcanic crisis with particular emphasis on housing, environmental health and microenterprise development through the introduction of the first Country Cooperation Framework (1997-99) which was extended for one year through 2000. For the Turks and Caicos Islands, assistance was provided for the establishment of an investment agency and national insurance scheme, and improving customs administration and tertiary education. Additionally, the first Country Cooperation Framework was approved for the period 1998–2002, primarily through national execution complimented by cooperation arrangements with other United Nations bodies. Even as the British Virgin Islands did not have an initial allocation, it joined the Turks and Caicos Islands in eligibility to access the expanded ongoing regional disaster response and management project. Further, the Turks and Caicos Islands was also able to access the Support for Policy and Programme Development, and Support for Technical Services frameworks, respectively. Additionally during the period, Montserrat as a full member of the OECS, as well as Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands as OECS associate members, continued to benefit from the Caribbean regional multi-island programme. Bermuda, on the other hand, decided to suspend its cooperation with UNDP during the period as a result of the net contributor status conferred upon it. Support was also provided to Aruba in its establishment of an epidemiology unit, and in its strengthening of information and data management capacity for the health sector. The first Country Cooperation Framework (1999-2001) was submitted during the period which focused on capacity building for social development, and macro-economic management. The programme was financed through government cost-sharing. Additionally, assistance was provided to the Netherlands Antilles in the area of capacity building and public sector reform, assessment of technical assistance support, the streamlining of debt management, and the management of the country’s structural adjustment programme. 65 It was also suggested that cooperation between UNDP and the non independent countries was also being influenced by the decisions of the Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States (1994), the ICPD (1994), the WSSD (1995), and the Fourth World Conference on Women (1995). (The associate member countries of ECLAC and ESCAP enjoyed formal observer status at those sessions, as outlined in Section 2 of the present paper). In this connection, it was anticipated that the AMCs would be able to benefit from initiatives proposed for implementation by UNDP emerging from the Barbados Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States, including the Small Islands Developing States Information Network (SIDSNET) and the Small Islands Developing States Technical Assistance Programme (SIDSTAP). During the period, interaction between the UNDP Resident Representatives in the Caribbean regional offices and the governments of the non-independent countries was also enhanced with the aim of strengthening dialogue and promoting contact between the countries, UNDP and the wider United Nations system. 37 In respect of the Pacific, Tokelau entered into its first Country Cooperation Framework for 198-2002 with assistance for good governance and capacity-building through the Pacific regional project on governance which included the constitutional development process. Additional areas of assistance included the promotion of job creation and sustainable livelihoods through village-based entrepreneurial development, the development of financial management systems and the development of a regulatory framework for public utilities. Support was provided through a combination of UNDP resources, government cost-sharing and third-party costing. Regarding Niue, UNDP assistance under the first Country Cooperation Framework (1997-2001) was focused on the areas of employment creation and income generation opportunities in tourism and the private sector, and increased employment and production possibilities in the primary sector. Additionally, Niue also received assistance via the UNDP Pacific regional programme in a number of areas including forestry, fisheries, fruit fly control, agriculture, tourism and environmental management. The activities of the first CCF were extended through 2002. 2000-2007 By the beginning of the post sixth cycle period, assistance was continuing to many of the AMCs, and expanding into additional functional areas.66 Accordingly, for Anguilla, UNDP provided programming support to the government’s Constitutional and Electoral Reform Committee which had been formed to review the present constitution with the aim of fostering its modernization. In this regard, UNDP also assisted in the formulation of public education programme on the importance and the elements of the constitutional development process. These initiatives were accomplished through the provision of technical expertise in the form of an adviser in the area of governance and constitutional reform. Additional assistance was provided to Anguilla for institutional strengthening of the Ministry of Social Development under agreed cost sharing arrangements within the context of the UNDP Subregional Cooperation Framework. Specific inputs included technical assistance in administrative restructuring including the integration of non-governmental organizations into community development, and low-input hydroponics. Further support was supplied to the Ministry of Finance under the UNDP/Caribbean Technical Assistance Credit Programme in the areas of budget formulation, economic research and data analysis and revenue and taxation. Assistance to Montserrat, which had been designated a country in special development circumstances, took the form of disaster management and institutional strengthening during this period in support of the country’s post-emergency resettlement programme which had been initiated in 1999. Additional support was provided in the enhancement of the geographic information system, architecture, occupational therapy, and psychology/community work. Aid in the implementation of an integrated vulnerability assessment of the island was also provided by UNDP. Support for the Cayman Islands during this period was aimed at addressing the need for capacity-building through education planning and management, socio-economic and 38 demographic data collection for development planning, multidisciplinary training, and the provision of technical advisory services. The first Country Cooperation Framework for 19982002 was initiated during the period with concentration on governance and capacity-building. UNDP assistance to the Turks and Caicos Islands during the period was in the form of support in the areas of governance and capacity development, and in the development of smallscale enterprises for income and employment creation. In 2003, the President of the Economic and Social Council in his report indicated that Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands and Montserrat would benefit from the UNDP regional projects on comprehensive disaster management aimed at reducing vulnerability, and on strengthening the research and rescue capability in the Caribbean. This method of targeted assistance, within the regional context, characterised the main form of UNDP support to the nonindependent countries since that time, and was summarized in a 2006 report on UNDP assistance to the non-independent countries: “Through the Caribbean Regional Technical Assistance Centre (CARTAC) project, UNDP had provided since 2002 to a number of non-self governing territories (NSGTs). and continues to provide, technical assistance and policy advice in the areas of macroeconomic, financial, and fiscal management, and production and management of economic statistics.” 67 In this context, support to six of the Caribbean/Atlantic non-independent countries (four of which are associate members of ECLAC) included assistance to Anguilla for financial sector supervision, tax, collection and statistics development and use. In Montserrat, support was provided in physical planning and infrastructural development with emphasis on the geographic information systems, increased civil engineering capacity, occupational therapy and physiotherapy, capacity building and institutional strengthening. UNDP also provided support to Montserrat and Anguilla in environmental sustainability in support of Millennium Development Goal 7 under a regional project for OECS countries, along with expertise from the United Nations Volunteer Programme for the development and implementation of GEF Enabling Projects. Additionally, UNDP provided non-project assistance through the provision of a regional expert on governance and constitutional modernisation attached to special fact-finding and informational visiting missions of the Special Committee on Decolonisation, to Bermuda in 2005, and to the Turks and Caicos Islands in 2006, respectively. Further support was provided to ECLAC in the conduct of a socio-economic assessment of the Cayman Islands in the wake of the destruction caused by Hurricane Ivan in 2004, and to the Cayman Islands Government through the UNDP country office in Jamaica to support the implementation of a disaster management project including data collection for mapping vulnerability to storm surge and flooding, and hazard mitigation activities. Under the UNDP Caribbean Risk Management Initiative, UNDP has also supported a disaster management review in the Turks and Caicos Islands, as well as the best-practice development of the British Virgin Islands disaster risk reduction programme. The Turks and Caicos Islands also benefited from UNDP assistance in support for vocational and skills training. 39 In the most recent period between 2004 and 2007, support for the non-independent countries was expanded in the disaster risk reduction and management thematic area of the UNDP Office in Barbados under the Caribbean Risk Management Initiative. In this connection, a case study on the integration of disaster risk management into the development agenda was undertaken for the British Virgin Islands in 2005, and an institutional review of disaster management mechanisms was performed the same year for the Turks and Caicos Islands. By 2006, UNDP had extended the disaster management project to the Cayman Islands which is serviced through the Jamaica Office of UNDP to assist in the national recovery programme that included “data collection for mapping vulnerability to storm surges and flooding; developing and utilizing hazard and loss analysis models…, and training in logistics in support systems for relief supply management.” 68 Assistance was also provided to the Turks and Caicos Islands in 2006 for vocational and skills training through the Jamaica Office of UNDP. Capacity-building support was also provided to Anguilla, British Virgin Islands and Montserrat through the environmental and sustainable development unit of the OECS. UNDP has begun to support a disaster management project with the OECS involving building capacity in OECS member States in the area of macro socio-economic post-disaster assessment and a community vulnerability assessment developed by ECLAC, with the beneficiaries to include the OECS member country of Montserrat, and the associate member countries of Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands, respectively. In the Turks and Caicos Islands, assistance was provided through the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme in public sector capacity-building, and the development of smallscale enterprises for income and employment creation. Additionally, the UNV continued its support to Montserrat during 2006-07 in disaster management and risk reduction, and in building a geographic information system capacity for the management of land resources and planning. For the present period 2005-09, the UNDP Subregional Programme for the OECS and Barbados has included the participation of Montserrat which is a full member of the OECS, along with the OECS associate members of Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands. All three are ECLAC AMCs. Accordingly, the programme focused on four priority areas: (a) governance reform and institutional development; (b) poverty reduction and social sector development; (c) capacity-building for environmental and natural resources management; and (d) risk reduction and disaster management. Additionally, specific multi-island programmes have been designed during the period for the Pacific non-independent countries of the Cook Islands, Niue and Tokelau, the latter of which is not yet an AMC of ESCAP. Under the 2003-07 Country Programme for Samoa and the multicountry programme for the Cook Islands, Niue and Tokelau, the implementation of the individual national development plans were supported, as well as national and community-based programmes in the areas of poverty reduction, democratic governance and environment and energy for sustainable development. Specific assistance was provided to Tokelau in its decolonisation process, and to the Cook Islands in its decentralisation process. Further, UNDP also supported Millennium Development Goal reports for Niue and the Cook Islands, along with 40 activities in community development, youth development and gender mainstreaming. 69 A follow-up programme has been proposed for the period 2008-2012. Examination of UNDP assistance to non-independent countries clearly shows that this United Nations programme has made a major contribution to the development process of this unique set of small island countries, beginning with assistance in the form of individual country programmes as early as the 1970s through to the participation in regional programmes with neighboring independent states within the framework of economic integration. In this vein, it is important to note that the General Assembly in its resolutions from 2003 to 2006 have advocated for a further expansion of UNDP coverage, calling for “the inclusion of the (United States Virgin Islands) in regional programmes of the United Nations Development Programme, consistent with the participation of other Non Self-Governing Territories.” 70 The modalities for this inclusion have not yet been identified. Regarding the AMCs affiliated with France, there has not been a UNDP role, although engagement with relevant United Nations specialized agencies can be identified. It is noteworthy that UNDP has been the most consistent and extensive in providing information requested by the Secretary-General or the President of the Economic and Social Council each year on assistance programmes to those non-independent countries which are non self-governing, as compared to other United Nations funds and programmes and specialized agencies. (The regional economic commissions were only added to the list of United Nations bodies from which information on assistance programmes was sought in 2001, with ESCAP reporting to the President that year, while ECLAC reporting annually between 2002 through 2006. The extent of regional commission support, as well as that of the specialized agencies, is summarized later in this report). Overall, the extent of information submitted from the United Nations organizations on assistance to the non self-governing territories varies widely, with the largest number of responses received in 1986-1988, with a slight decline by 1993, and a more steady decline by 2006. In 2005, a number of organizations began to formally advise that they maintained no programmes in favour of the non-independent countries. B. Assistance from other United Nations programmes and funds Information on actual assistance to those non-independent countries which are non selfgoverning, reported by United Nations programmes and funds (excluding the modality of UNDP coordination) was submitted to the Secretary-General or the President of the Economic and Social Council by four United Nations programmes and funds. In this connection, UNCTAD reported assistance to Anguilla, British Virgin Islands, Montserrat, and Turks and Caicos Islands in 1993 for the installation and implementation of the UNCTAD Automated System for Customs Data. Participation by the British Virgin Islands in four seminars on the regional training project on trade in 1994 was also indicated. UNCTAD also provided for participation by the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands and Montserrat in 2000 in the Training Human Resources for Maritime Management (TRAINMAR) Programme. 41 With respect to UNICEF, assistance was reported in the participation of the British Virgin Islands and Montserrat in the 1988-1992 multi-island programme for the Eastern Caribbean in early childhood development, maternal and child health, nutrition, water and sanitation, and women in development. UNICEF subsequently provided assistance in its 2003-04 regional programme for the British Virgin Islands, Montserrat, and the Turks and Caicos Islands. For the British Virgin Islands, support was extended in the area of HIV/AIDS education including youth, and in child abuse-child protection. For Montserrat, assistance was provided in teacher training, and HIV/AIDS education and prevention. Montserrat also received emergency face masks for protection in the volcanic eruption emergency, while also participating in the Global Movement for Children launch. For the Turks and Caicos Islands, support was provided for health and family life education, a national consultation children’s rights, and the establishment of a programme HIV/AIDS and adolescents and youth The subsequent 2005-07 UNICEF multi-island project facilitated assistance to the British Virgin Islands, Montserrat and the Turks and Caicos Islands in the areas of training of trainers in health and family life education policy, public education on children’s rights, public education on adolescent’s right to participation and on strengthening of mechanisms for the monitoring of children’s rights. It was reported that assistance from UNFPA in 1986 was provided for the British Virgin Islands and Anguilla in the area of family planning and family life education services for youth. This programme of assistance was subsequently expanded within the UNDP framework (198991) with assistance to Anguilla for family planning and family life educational services, technical assistance for the 1991 population census, and the provision of a fellowship in health education. For the British Virgin Islands, similar assistance was extended by UNFPA for the family life and life education project, and technical assistance for the 1991 population census. In the case of the Cayman Islands, technical assistance was provided for the subregional census project, while for Montserrat, support was extended for family life education and youth development, technical assistance for the 1991 population and housing census, and a fellowship in health education. Regarding the Turks and Caicos Islands, assistance was provided in the formulation of maternal and child health/family population policy, and the conduct of a national consultative meeting on national population policy. In the same period for the Pacific, UNFPA provided support to Tokelau in maternal child health and family planning activities; training in the handling of medical equipment, drugs and other supplies; a health care fellowship, and other fellowships in the area of population and development. Assistance to Caribbean non-independent countries in the regional preparatory process for the ICPD and participation in the conference itself, was also extended in 1993-94. UNFPA maintained its 2003-2007 multi-country programme including the nonindependent countries of the Cook Islands, Niue, and Tokelau, with focus on capacity-building through the development of the reproductive health training programme to build a cadre of mid to senior level health professionals. Collaboration with national governments, UNICEF, and the 42 Pacific Community on the adolescent health and development programme was also initiated during the period. UNFPA subsequently submitted its 2008-2012 draft multi-country programme document for the Pacific Islands Countries, as a component of the UNDP Development Assistance Framework, with focus on economic growth and poverty reduction, goof governance and human rights, equitable social and protective services, and sustainable environmental management. 71 Regarding the United Nations International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP), it was reported in 1999 that technical assistance was provided to the Caribbean non-independent countries in subregional projects such as training and advice to prevent and suppress illicit drug and related crimes in the Caribbean subregion pursuant to the Barbados plan of action adopted at the first regional meeting on drug control cooperation and coordination held in 1996. Subsequently, Anguilla, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands received equipment and training to upgrade their forensic laboratory services. Additionally, these countries in addition to Montserrat and the Turks and Caicos Islands received training and equipment enabling them to join a Caribbean-wide clearance system for small vessels and light aircraft. Further assistance was provided to Montserrat and Anguilla via the Global Programme against money-laundering. In 2005, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime indicated that there were carrying out no assistance programmes for the non-independent countries. C. Assistance from United Nations regional economic commissions The associate membership provided to non-independent countries by ECLAC and ESCAP provide access of these countries to most of the programmes and activities within the work programme of these United Nations two bodies. In this connection, the ECLAC Caribbean AMCs are facilitated through the work programme of the subregional headquarters based in Trinidad and Tobago, while the ESCAP Pacific AMCs are accommodated through the work programme of the Special Body on Pacific Island Developing Countries (SBPIDC) based at the Pacific Operations Centre in Fiji (relocated from Vanuatu in 2006). Accordingly, ESCAP in 2001 recognised that of the four non-independent countries of American Samoa, Guam, New Caledonia, and Tokelau in the Asia-Pacific region, New Caledonia participated in the most ESCAP activities. It is to be noted that Tokelau has not yet acceded to ESCAP associate membership, while Guam, Northern Mariana Islands and French Polynesia joined ESCAP in subsequent years. Accordingly, ESCAP reported that in 2000 New Caledonia benefited from three advisory missions from the Vanuatu Office in the area of economic development and strategic planning. ESCAP has not formally submitted information to the President of the Economic and Social Council since that time. ECLAC began to submit information in 2002, and did so annually through 2006. In this connection, ECLAC specifically acknowledged in 2002 the active relationship of the AMCs with the ECLAC Subregional Headquarters in Trinidad and Tobago. It also emphasized that the CDCC had been “an ardent champion” of the AMCs in their quest for further participation in the United Nations world conferences in the economic and social spheres. Specific assistance to the 43 AMCs by ECLAC, as reported, came in the form of technical assistance and advisory services. This included a post-disaster assessment report for Anguilla, as well as workshops on the methodology for conducting studies on the macroeconomic, social and environmental impacts of hurricanes and other natural disasters in the immediate post-disaster period in the case of the British Virgin Islands. Also cited was the reformulation of a tourism sector plan for Montserrat in the wake of the volcanic eruption, and a review of the implications to Montserrat of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME). Other areas of assistance included analyses of the effects of sustained immigration in the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands, Sint Maarten (Netherlands Antilles), and the United States Virgin Islands. 72 It was subsequently recommended at the nineteenth session of the CDCC in 2002 that the ECLAC/CDCC secretariat resume the initiative commenced in the 1990s to promote the increased participation of the AMCs in activities of the wider United Nations system (see Section 2.1 on the ECLAC mandate). It was also noted at this stage that missions to the non-AMC countries of the Cayman Islands, and the Turks and Caicos Islands, which had benefited from earlier ECLAC assistance, had resulted in expressions of interest in associate membership. In 2004, ECLAC reported on its role to facilitate AMC participation in the preparatory process of the International Meeting to Review and Assess the Implementation of the Barbados Programme of Action (BPOA) on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States, and in the meeting itself. Specific reference was made to the inclusion in the subregional implementation of the BPOA of analysis on the environmental issues in the British Virgin Islands, in particular waste management, tourism, planning for development, disaster management, HIV/AIDS, among other areas. A study on marine-based tourism for the British Virgin Islands, with specific emphasis on the yachting sector, was conducted during the period to address weaknesses and to provide the bases for the development of national policies. Training in the ECLAC methodology for assessing economic, social and environmental impacts of natural disasters had included representatives of the AMCs. Additionally, a seminar on protocol, diplomacy and ethics in preparation for more effective regional and international participation in Montserrat, while a second session was held in that country in relation to the CARICOM single market. In 2005, ECLAC reported to the President of the Economic and Social Council that Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands, Montserrat, United States Virgin Islands, Aruba, Netherlands Antilles and Puerto Rico constituted a growing block of non-independent countries of the Commission. In this connection, Aruba in 1998, and Puerto Rico in 2004 had hosted and served as chair of ECLAC. AMCs had also chaired the CDCC, including the United States Virgin Islands in 1988 and again in 2004, and the Netherlands Antilles in 1999. The further inclusion of AMCs in statistical and ECLAC subregional analytical and statistical documents was also highlighted in the 2005 submission. In 2006, ECLAC reported that the Turks and Caicos Islands had acceded to associate membership, and it was expected that the Cayman Islands would follow in 2008. Key areas of specific relevance to AMC were identified in the twenty-first Session of CDCC in 2006, and included further access to the wider United Nations system; the need to promote stability, 44 diversification and strengthening of the economies in view of the vulnerabilities associated with smallness; the need to extend work in disaster assessment; the need for more direct action in social and economic analysis; the need to assess the impact of the inclusion or exclusion of AMCs in regional trade integration processes; the need to assess the impact of the economic partnership agreements of the EU and the FTAA; and the importance of addressing the increasing pattern of intraregional migration. The 2006 report went on to include a synopsis of its economic and social profiles on the AMCs. The report of the Meeting of the CDCC Working Group of AMCs, convened in August, 2007, gave a comprehensive picture of the support provided to these countries for the 2006-07 bienium. In this connection, it was recalled that assistance programmes were “organized around three strategies: an inter-disciplinary approach within the ECLAC system; teamwork within the ECLAC Subregional Headquarters for the Caribbean and partnership building with other United Nations regional organizations”. The report identified some key concerns that would enhanced the existing assistance to the AMCs including “the difficulty accessing data from member and associate member countries; restrictions on staff and financing available to the Port of Spain office; and measurement of the impact of its work to the development needs of the subregion.” Four main areas of activity within ECLAC/CDCC were identified as pertinent, specifically economic development; knowledge and information management; statistics and social development and sustainable development. The report went on to outline specific assistance to individual AMCs, “including seventeen technical missions in a variety of areas, mainly at the request of the countries” and the facilitation of participation at meetings by the seven ECLAC AMCs (Anguilla, Aruba, the British Virgin Islands, Montserrat, the Netherlands Antilles, Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands). It was also noted that within the framework of further integration of the AMCs into the ECLAC work programme, the countries were included in various documents and studies undertaken by the secretariat including the inclusion of Aruba, Netherlands Antilles, Puerto Rico and the Turks and Caicos Islands in the Economic Survey of the Caribbean 2005–2006; and all seven AMCs in the annual Selected Statistical Indicators of Caribbean Countries. The report also pointed to areas of specific collaboration with the AMCs over the biennium including: Aruba • Study on the impact of trade liberalization and integration; • National workshop on migration and integration; • Data collection activities in the area of migration. British Virgin Islands • Economic data analysis, forecasting and modeling techniques to assist in the Economic Development Plan. 45 Netherlands Antilles • Second International Trade Conference; • Study on the impact of trade liberalization and integration; • Trade and trade negotiations proposals; • Seminar on building capacity to manage migration. Montserrat • Pre-feasibility study on renewable energy. The study had now gone beyond this phase to assist with developing the island’s energy policy. Turks and Caicos Islands • Workshop on disaster assessment; • Seminar on development banking; • Workshop on gender-sensitive national planning and budgeting. The report concluded with a number of key issues identified at previous CDCC ministerial meetings where eight areas of collaboration with ECLAC were identified, and which will be reflected in the Plan of Action annexed to the present document: (a) Accessing programmes and activities of the United Nations system; (b) Promoting stability, diversification and strengthening of the economies of the AMCs; (c) Extending work in disaster assessment; (d) Conducting socio-economic analysis, policy recommendations, evidence-based policy formulation; (e) Undertaking impact assessments of the regional trade integration processes; (f) Analyzing the economic and financial implications of EPAs; (g) Studying impacts of intraregional migration in the Caribbean and its impact on social and economic institutions of receiving countries; and (h) Determining the importance of remittances. 46 VI. THE ROLE OF THE UNITED NATIONS SPECIALIZED AGENCIES It has been indicated earlier in the present report that while assistance from the specialized agencies of the United Nations to the AMCs is often via collaboration with the UNDP, many of these agencies also provide direct assistance to these countries. It is also important to note that a number of the specialized agencies, as intergovernmental bodies, provide for direct participation of AMCs through membership or associate membership, in a similar, but not identical, fashion as the relevant regional economic commissions. The issue of direct membership of the AMCs in the specialized agencies is addressed later in the present study. A. International Labour Organisation (ILO) A number of individual projects of assistance to small island non-independent countries was recorded in the 1991 and 1992 reports of the President of the Economic and Social Council: specifically the establishment of a technical college and assistance in actuarial review of the social security fund of Montserrat; a consultancy on amendments to the Labour Code and actuarial review of social security funds in Anguilla; assistance in the establishment of a social security scheme and in the drafting of labour legislation in the Turks and Caicos Islands; and a consultancy in manpower planning in the Cayman Islands. In this connection, ILO participated in a number of multi-island projects, including a technical vocational training project in cooperation with UNDP and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); as well as an exercise regarding the harmonisation of labour legislation in the OECS in respect of Montserrat, the British Virgin Islands and Anguilla. Additionally, Bermuda, along with the British Virgin Islands, Montserrat and the Turks and Caicos Islands participated in the 1988 Third ILO Caribbean Regional Seminar on International Labour Standards. In 1992, the British Virgin Islands, Montserrat and the Turks and Caicos Islands participated in the ILO Caribbean Subregional Workshop for Cooperative Education and Training Officers. It was reported in 1993 that Tokelau was included in the ILO subregional Trade, Training and Testing Certification Scheme through the extension of three training fellowships. It was subsequently noted in the ILO submission to the 2001 Report of the President of the Economic and Social Council that the work of ILO in relation to the non-independent countries focused on application and promotion of international labour conventions. In terms of direct assistance, it was noted that ILO technical activities in the Caribbean were initiated by its regional office in Trinidad and Tobago through technical advisory and information services, and the participation of the countries in ILO-sponsored subregional meetings and seminars. Direct assistance was provided to Montserrat in 2000 in small enterprise development, training and labour market information. Specific projects had been provided to East Timor prior to its independence. 47 In 2004, it was indicated that American Samoa, Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Guam, Montserrat, New Caledonia, Tokelau and the United States Virgin Islands were the continual subject of ILO review with respect to the application of labour conventions to these non-independent countries. In 2005, ILO indicated that many of the non-independent countries benefited from technical cooperation activities, from its technical advisory and information services, and through subregional meetings and seminars. Specific activities included a 2004 workshop on ILO standards and reporting for Anguilla, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Montserrat and the Turks and Caicos Islands. A 2004 course of instruction on international labour standards for judges, lawyers and legal educators was also conducted with representatives for the Bermuda and Cayman Islands governments. Additional participation was also indicated in a 2003 ILO Caribbean workshop on report writing for government officials, and in an earlier workshop on international labour standards. Further ILO assistance included assistance to Anguilla, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and the Turks and Caicos Islands to provide assistance and advice on labour legislation, along with specific visiting missions by ILO officials to individual countries for consultation, as well as for participation in regional seminars and conferences. It was also noted that the Cayman Islands and Bermuda participated in the activities of the technical cooperation project on the Caribbean Labour Market Information System, and in a major event on policies and implementation of programmes concerning labour market information. The Cayman Islands also participated in an occupational wage survey, and the establishment of a labour market information library, while the Bermuda trade unions participated in a seminar under the ILO project on the development of statistical module for trade unions. 73 Recommendations of a 2005 organizational review of the structure and function of national labour departments carried out by the ILO Subregional Office for the Caribbean were implemented in the Turks and Caicos Islands in 2005, and a similar review was carried out in Bermuda in 2006. Most recently, in its 2007 Report to the President of the Economic and Social Council, ILO reiterated that its involvement in those non-independent countries which are non selfgoverning was both normative and operational in nature. In the normative sense, it continued to focus on the application and promotion of international labour standards to these countries. From the operational perspective, it was pointed out that those non-independent countries which were members or associate members of CARICOM participated in CARICOM activities and initiatives undertaken by ILO. It was also noted that delegates from some English and Dutchspeaking AMCs participated in the 2006 International Labour Conference, and had also attended the regional preparatory meetings for the 2006 Tripartite Caribbean Employment Forum held in Barbados. National consultations were conducted in Bermuda, Cayman Islands, and the Turks and Caicos Islands in preparation for the Forum, and conference documentation included data from the relevant non-independent countries. Assistance was also provided to the Cayman Islands in locating suitable consultants to provide expertise in the fields of labour administration, and technical and vocational education 48 and training. Employers’ representatives from Anguilla and Montserrat took part in a 2006 symposium in Saint Lucia to review employment relations under the CSME. B. Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) The earliest FAO assistance reported to small island non-independent countries was referenced in the 1990 Report of the Secretary-General on the issue. 74 In this connection, it was noted that FAO had been involved in providing assistance to Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands, Montserrat, the Cayman Islands, the Turks and Caicos Islands, the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba at the request of UNDP or CARICOM, or in response to regional disasters. FAO participated in a joint UNDP/FAO mission to Anguilla, British Virgin Islands and Montserrat to assess their agricultural sectors, and to identify priority projects with which FAO could assist. FAO had already been implementing a joint project with UNDP on the forestry sector in Montserrat, and had sent a mission under the FAO technical cooperation programme to assess the damage to Montserrat and the British Virgin Islands in the aftermath of Hurricane Hugo in 1989. FAO advice and consultation had also been provided on an ad hoc basis to review and comment on the country programme management plans, along with assistance furnished to the Turks and Caicos Islands in reviewing the agriculture and fisheries sectors. It also reported that Anguilla, Montserrat and the British Virgin Islands benefited from a regional project on eradication of specific agricultural pests. In the Pacific, a number of national and regional projects during the period were underway or completed for Tokelau and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands during the period in the areas of training in agriculture, forestry and fisheries; pig, poultry and livestock development; and root crops. In 1994, FAO indicated that it gave the same recognition to non-independent countries in its statistical system as it gives to independent States in relation to agricultural production, trade, food balance, sheets, land use, fertilizer, and indices for production and prices. In this connection, it was noted that the NSGTs “continue(d) to lack an institutional framework, firmly imbedded in an interdisciplinary national effort, which promotes dialogue between users and producers of information in order to meet the changing demand for information”.75 In 1995, FAO reported on its assistance to Tokelau in forestry production, and a second project on enhancing the production and export of fresh fruits through the control of fruit flies in the South Pacific. Further assistance was provided to Tokelau through the regional fisheries support and national capacity-building programme in the area of tuna product development and marketing. In 2002, FAO reported on its organization of seminars and workshops in Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Turks and Caicos Islands, and New Caledonia; and in 2004, the agency indicated that its work in furtherance of the sustainable development of SIDS, through the Caribbean Office in Barbados and the Pacific Office in Samoa, respectively, was especially relevant to the non-independent countries. In 2005, specific mention was made of the preparation of statistics for Bermuda and New Caledonia, and in 2006-2007 reference was made to the participation of a number of non-independent countries in FAO regional workshops and activities. 49 C. International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) In 1991, ICAO reported that it continued to provide assistance to a number of NICs to enable them to be self-reliant in civil aviation, including through assistance provided through the regional offices in implementation of regional air navigation plans, and the technical cooperation programme. No further report was provided. D. World Health Organization (WHO) In 1992, WHO through the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) reported assistance to Anguilla and Montserrat in the areas of health equipment maintenance, improvement of laboratory facilities dealing with HIV/AIDS, and immunization and rodent control. In 1993, the United Nations Department of Political Affairs, in a special publication, reported that WHO collaborated with PAHO and UNFPA to establish aid programmes for the NSGTs in the Caribbean and Pacific in the area of management of health care delivery, and dental and environmental health fellowships. 76 In this connection, it was noted that American Samoa received assistance from the WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific, and the WHO Western Pacific Regional Center for the Promotion of Environmental Planning and Applied Studies, while Tokelau benefited from overseas training of public servants in public health through WHO. Further WHO assistance was provided to Anguilla with focus on primary health care and training for a new hospital. For the Cayman Islands and Montserrat, WHO provided assistance in 1991-92 for health equipment maintenance, immunization and the improvement of laboratory facilities to deal with HIV/AIDS. Additional support was reported for New Caledonia for HIV/AIDS education, and for American Samoa, Tokelau and Guam for various additional health purposes. In 1994, assistance was provided, through PAHO, to Anguilla and the Turks and Caicos Islands in the area of community water supply and sanitation, health services, material and child health, as well as in addressing HIV/AIDS. In 1995, it was reported that Tokelau as an associate member of WHO was extended a regular country budget of US$ 50,000 for a two-year period for planning future programmes, and an additional $US$ 20,000 was made available for HIV/AIDS programmes. It was also noted that WHO collaborated with UNFPA in the establishment of a maternal, child health and family planning programme, and also facilitated the participation of Tokelau representatives at training workshops and meetings. Additional support included the provision of a water and sanitation engineer, the initiation of an immunization programme, managerial assistance, primary health care and health promotion. In 1999, WHO identified a number of environmental health problems affecting Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, New Caledonia, French Polynesia and Wallis and Futuna, in particular, solid waste management including discarded vehicles and household appliances, vehicle emissions and localized air pollution from open burning sites, surface water and groundwater pollution from land-based sources, excessive package waste resulting from 50 imported foods, equipment maintenance issues, landfill site acquisition, hazardous waste, insufficient water supply and risk associated with nuclear testing. 77 In 2001, it was reported that WHO/PAHO had developed a two-year programme for Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands and Montserrat in response to the priority health needs delivered via the Caribbean Programme Coordination office based in Barbados, the Caribbean Food and Nutrition Institute (CFNI) in Jamaica, and the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (CAREC) in Trinidad and Tobago. Areas addressed included environmental health, health promotion and disease prevention, health services development. Further assistance was provided to Bermuda in health manpower development through fellowships and training in public health nursing, public health and fertility management. Technical advisory services were also extended by a sanitary engineer who advised on water and sanitation, improvements in legislation, food protection strategies, water quality criteria and water storage facilities. Support was also extended to the Cayman Islands during the period through skills training of health personnel and the promotion of health protection. Additionally, fellowships were provided, along with the conduct of local workshops, and the provision of assistance for participation of national officials in local and overseas meetings in public health nursing, laboratory training and immunization, among other areas. In the Pacific, support was provided to Guam in the form of collaborative activities on training of national personnel in priority programmes, including through fellowships in health information administration, facility planning and management, maternal and child health, echocardiogram, training, oncology workshops, environmental science, among other areas. Assistance to New Caledonia focused on collaboration with WHO on evaluating priority programmes, water supply and sanitation, and dengue prevention and control. E. UNESCO In 1991, UNESCO reported on the continuation of earlier programmes of assistance to Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Montserrat and the Turks and Caicos Islands, specifically the provision of scholarships, restoration of historical sites, upgrading of informational facilities, and the eradication of illiteracy. Two extrabudgetary regional projects in technical and vocational education, in which the countries participated, were cited. In 1994, UNESCO cited its assistance to Anguilla, and the Turks and Caicos Islands in the development of comprehensive drug prevention systems through the training of selected educational personnel, development of a curriculum and provision of instructional materials. As a member of the OECS, Montserrat, along with the two associate members of Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands, participated in the UNDCP Eastern Caribbean School’s Drug Education Project implemented by UNESCO. The programme was designed to introduce drug preventive education messages and demand reduction strategies across different disciplines of the school system. This was accomplished through teacher and parent training and the development of educational materials. 51 Regarding assistance to Pacific non-independent countries during the period, it was acknowledged that contact and cooperation with NSGTs was “sporadic and relatively minor” over the previous 20-year period, and mainly through UNDP regional offices, or under the auspices of ESCAP. One particular project noted was a UNESCO preparatory mission to Tokelau to set up the first frequency modulation (FM) radio station in 1991-92. 78 In 1993, UNESCO reported on its activities in furtherance of assistance to nonindependent countries, principally in the areas of education, culture and communications. In the area of education, it was pointed out that UNESCO had extended participation in the joint UNESCO/Caribbean Network of Educational Innovation for Development to Montserrat, along with providing cultural material for classroom instruction. It was emphasized that the British Virgin Islands, as a UNESCO associate member, was entitled to full participation in UNESCO programmes. Accordingly, programmes were underway in cultural tourism, educational management training, and the establishment of a UNESCO national commission. 79 In the area of tourism, assistance was provided to Anguilla for a feasibility study for tourism development of historical sites, and to the Cayman Islands for the development of a national museum. Support was also provided for communications development in the Turks and Caicos Islands, and in the Cayman Islands. It was subsequently reported in 1995 that Tokelau received direct assistance under the Basic Education and Life Skills Programme, specifically for primary and literacy education curriculum innovations. It was later reported in 2002 that Tokelau had joined UNESCO as an associate member in 2001, and had received prior assistance for in-service training, participation in the Associated Schools Project network, and capacity-building for power management. Since 2005, UNESCO began to report that they did not carry out any assistance programmes in the non-independent countries. This appears inconsistent with the fact that UNESCO maintains a number of associate members which are non-independent countries. F. Universal Postal Union (UPU) The earliest reported assistance from UPU was in the form of a mission to Montserrat on rate fixing and statistics held in 1985, along with one fellowship each for Anguilla, Cayman Islands, Montserrat and the Turks and Caicos Islands for a subregional course for regional postal workers. In 1988, assistance was provided for representatives from these countries, along with the British Virgin Islands, for several regional workshops and conferences. For the Pacific, a fellowship for training was provided to the Cook Islands in 1985, while Niue benefited from a UPU visiting expert under a Pacific regional project. In 1999, UPU reported that pursuant to its 1994 decision on assistance to non selfgoverning territories, the agency’s technical cooperation programme comprised projects and activities aimed at these countries from UPU resources, and from UNDP activities. 52 G. International Maritime Organization (IMO) In 1994, IMO reported on assistance to NICs in the development of regional plans for responding to maritime incidents involving spillages of oil and other hazardous substances through its regional representative based in Puerto Rico. In this connection, IMO organized a subregional meeting of government-designated experts of the wider Caribbean with participation of representatives from Anguilla, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Montserrat and the Turks and Caicos Islands. Emanating from the meeting was the provision of advisory services, training research and information materials to the non-independent countries under the IMO subprogramme for the protection of the marine environment (1993-95). In 1996, it was noted that one fellowship was provided to the Turks and Caicos Islands, and two fellowships to the Netherlands Antilles for training to enhance capacity to implement global standards for maritime safety. H. Other United Nations specialized agencies The World Bank reported in 1993 that since the non-independent countries were not members of the World Bank, there were no operations underway or planned. Similarly, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) indicated that these countries did not fall within their immediate operations. Since 2005, both institutions began to report that they did not carry out any assistance programmes in the non independent countries. It is to be noted, however, that IMF staff reports have been provided for the Netherlands Antilles dating back to 2003, and most recently in 2007, which examine the economic outlook, fiscal policy, structural policy and financial sector issues. The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) reported in 2001 on its technical support to the Turks and Caicos Islands for the improvement of the developmental environment in the less developed Caicos Islands, as well as in the island of Grand Turk, the administrative capital. In 2003 and 2004, UNIDO reported on its ongoing project activities in small and medium-sized enterprise development in the Turks and Caicos Islands in cooperation with UNDP aimed at employment and income generation, with the final objective of curbing out-immigration from the lesser developed islands. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) reported in 2003 that it had no specific development programmes for NSGTs, while the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the UPU indicated between 2005 and 2007 that they maintained no assistance programmes for NSGTs either. The International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) have not submitted the requested reports. The reports by the specialized agencies on assistance to those non-independent countries which are NSGTs reflect a degree of specificity, but are incomplete, as a number of the agencies have either reported infrequently, or not at all. One probable consideration may be the nature of the request for information from the individual specialized agency concerned. Accordingly, a 53 number of agencies have indicated that more information could be forthcoming if the request more specifically referred to the assistance programmes provided, rather than whether an agency might be implementing the Decolonisation Declaration for which no mandate may exist in the individual agency concerned. Thus, the language of the annual companion General Assembly and Economic and Social Council resolutions might wish to consider alternative language in their respective resolutions, with the request for information reflective of the new language. 1. Direct participation of AMCs in specialized agencies It is to be noted that many of the specialized agencies, while providing assistance to many non-independent countries, have also made provisions in their constitutions, rules of procedures or other relevant governing documents for the direct participation of these countries as members or associate members and, as a consequence, facilitate the participation of these countries in the programme elements of the agencies concerned. 80 In this connection, FAO maintains the following provision for associate membership in the FAO Constitution: Article II (11) The Conference may…decide to admit as an Associate Member of the Organization any territory or group of territories which is not responsible for the conduct of its international relations upon application made on its behalf by the Member Nation or authority having responsibility for its international relations, provided that such Member Nation or authority has submitted a declaration made in a formal instrument that it will accept on behalf of the proposed Associate Member the obligations of the Constitution as in force at the time of admission, and that it will assume responsibility for ensuring the observance of the provisions of paragraph 4 of Article VIII, paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article XVI, and paragraphs 2 and 3 of Article XVIII of this Constitution with regard to the Associate Member. (12) The nature and extent of the rights and obligations of Associate Members are defined in the relevant provision of this Constitution and the rules and regulations of the Organization. Article III (1) There shall be a Conference of the Organization in which each Member Nation and Associate Member shall be represented by one delegate. Associate Members shall have the right to participate in the deliberations of the Conference but shall not hold office or have the right to vote. In this context, the Cook Islands is a full member in the developing country category of FAO. 54 In a similar fashion, the Cook Islands is a full member of ICAO, owing to the significantly autonomous nature of its associated State status which qualifies it as a “State” for purposes of full ICAO membership. Accordingly, the Cook Islands is the only non-independent country with full status in ICAO. (The associated States of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia and Palau are full members of the General Assembly and, by virtue of that, are also full members of ICAO and other specialized agencies). ICAO also provides for an observer status for non-contracting States. In this connection, the non-independent countries of Niue (with the same status as the Cook Islands), and the autonomous Netherlands Antilles and Aruba, respectively, would appear eligible for observer status. In the case of the IMO, provision is made for associate membership. In this connection, provision was made under the constitution of the original Inter-Governmental Maritime Consultative Organization (IMCO), which was changed in 1982 to IMO, and contains the following provision 81: Article III (9) Any territory or group of territories for which the (IMCO) Convention has been made applicable under Article 58, by the members having responsibility for its international relations or by the United Nations, may become an associate member of the Organization by notification in writing given by such member or by the United Nations, as the case may be, to the Secretary-General of the United Nations. (10) An associate member shall have the rights and obligations of a member under the Convention except that it shall not have the right to vote in the Assembly or be eligible for membership on the Council or on the Maritime Safety Committee and subject to this the word “member” shall be deemed to include associate members unless the context otherwise requires. The present associate members of IMO are Hong Kong, China; Macau, China; and the Faroe Islands (Denmark). UNESCO maintains the following provision regarding associate membership pursuant to a 1951 amendment to its constitution: Article II (3) Territories or groups of territories which are not responsible for the conduct of their international relations may be admitted as Associate Members by the General Conference by a two-thirds majority of Members present and voting, upon application made on behalf of such territory or group of territories by the Member or other authority having responsibility for their international relations. The nature and extent of the rights and obligations of Associate Members shall be determined by the General Conference. In this connection, it was decided that associate members shall have the right: (i) To participate without voting rights in the deliberations of the General Conference and of its commissions and committees; 55 (ii) To participate equally with Members subject to the limitation on voting in paragraph (i) above, in matters pertaining to the conduct of business of meetings of the Conference and such of its committees, commissions and other subsidiary organs of the General Conference may, from time to time, indicate in accordance with the Rules of Procedure of the Conference; (iii) To propose items for inclusion in the provisional agenda of the Conference; (iv) To receive equally with Members all notices, documents, reports and records; (v) To participate equally with Members in the procedure for convening special sessions. It was further noted that associate members: 82 Shall have the right, equally with Members, to submit proposals to the Executive Board, and to participate, in accordance with regulations established by the Board, in committees established by it, but they shall not be eligible for membership of the Board; Shall be subject to the same obligations as Members, except that the difference in their status shall be taken into account in determining the amount of their contribution to the budget of the Organization; It was also emphasized in the UNESCO Constitution: That the contribution of Associate Members shall be assessed at a proportion of the amount at which they would have been assessed had they been full Members, subject to such limitations as the General Conference may decide; That the Executive Board be requested to submit a report with recommendations to the next session of the General Conference setting out the standards according to which Associate Members shall be assessed in respect of their financial contributions. In this connection, the present associate members of UNESCO are Aruba; Netherlands Antilles; British Virgin Islands; Cayman Islands and Macau, China. Conversely, the UPU maintains only a membership category for sovereign States, but provides that “any country non-member of the United Nations may become a member provided that its request is approved by at least two-thirds of the member countries of the UPU.” In this connection, provision is made for the participation of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba, and for the listing of the overseas territories administered by the United Kingdom as a single block which includes the Caribbean non-independent countries of Bermuda, Turks and Caicos Islands, Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands, Anguilla and Montserrat. 56 The WHO provides an elaborate mode of participation for non-independent countries. Accordingly, the WHO constitution provides that: Article 8. Territories or groups of territories which are not responsible for the conduct of their international relations may be admitted as Associate Members by the Health Assembly if an application made on behalf of such territory of group of territories by the Members or other authority having responsibility for their international relations. Representatives of Associate Members to the Health Assembly should be qualified by their technical competence in the field of health and should be chosen from the native population. The nature and extent of the rights and obligations of Associate Members shall be determined by the Health Assembly. The WHO constitution also provides for the participation of non-independent countries which are not associate members in WHO Regional Committees. In this connection, the Cook Islands is a full member of WHO. WHO lists Puerto Rico and Tokelau as the two associate members. The WMO also provides for a similar associate membership Accordingly, the WMO Constitution provides that: Article 3 (d) Any territory or group of territories maintaining its own Meteorological Service and listed in Annex II attached hereto, upon application of the present Convention on its behalf, in accordance with paragraph (a) of Article 34, by the State or States responsible for its international relations and represented at the Conference of Directors of the International Meteorological Organization convened at Washington, D.C., on 22 September 1947, as listed in Annex I of the present Convention; Article 3 (e) Any territory or group of territories not listed in Annex II of the present Convention, maintaining its own Meteorological Service but not responsible for the conduct of its international relations, on behalf of which the present Convention is applied in accordance with paragraph (b) of Article 34; provided that the request for membership is presented by the Member responsible for its international relations, and secures approval by two-thirds of the Members of the Organization as specified in paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of this Article. The original Annex II countries included Bermuda, Curacao and New Caledonia. Presently, the Cook Islands enjoys full membership. As of 2007, WMO lists the ‘British Caribbean Territories;’ French Polynesia; Hong Kong, China; Macau, China; Netherlands Antilles, and New Caledonia. 57 The constitution of the ITU also provides for an associate membership status: Article 1(b) Any territory or group of territories not fully responsible for the conduct of its international relations, on behalf of which a member of the Union has signed and ratified or has acceded to this Convention in accordance with Articles 19 or 20, provided that its application for Associate Membership is sponsored by such a Member, after the application has received approval by a majority of the Members of the Union. While the ITU does not presently list any associate members, direct participation by nonindependent countries in the Pacific region is accomplished through the Asia Pacific Telecommunications (APT) body established in 1979 by ESCAP and ITU to foster the development of telecommunication services and information infrastructure throughout the region, with a particular focus on the expansion thereof in less developed areas. The APT has 33 members and the four associate members of the Cook Islands; Niue; Hong Kong, China; and Macau, China. These four countries are also AMCs of ESCAP. The WTO provides for associate membership pursuant to its statutes: Article 6 1. Associate membership of the Organization shall be open to all territories or groups of territories not responsible for their external relations. 2. Territories or groups of territories whose national tourism organizations are Full Members of IUOTO (International Union of Official Travel Organizations) at the time of adoption of these Statutes by the Extraordinary General Assembly of IUOTO shall have the right to become Associate Members of the Organization, without requirement of vote, provided that the State which assumes responsibility for their external relations approves their membership and declares on their behalf that such territories or groups of territories adopt the Statutes of the Organization and accept the obligations of membership. 3. Territories or groups of territories may become Associate Members of the Organization if their candidature has the prior approval of the Member State which assumes responsibility for their external relations and declares on their behalf that such territories or groups of territories adopt the Statutes of the Organization and accept the obligations of membership. Such candidatures must be approved by the Assembly by a majority of two-thirds of the Full Members present and voting provided that said majority is a majority of the Full Members of the Organization. 4. When an Associate Member of the Organization becomes responsible for the conduct of its external relations, that Associate Member shall be entitled to become a Full Member of the Organization on formally declaring in writing to the Secretary-General that it adopts the Statutes of the Organization and accepts the obligations of full membership. 58 Therefore, the WTO includes Aruba; Netherlands Antilles; Hong Kong, China; and Macau, China. According to the WTO, Puerto Rico was an associate member between 1985 and 1995. No information was provided on the reason for the withdrawal of this associate member. The ILO, IFAD, WIPO, UNIDO and the International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA) maintain no separate provisions for the participation of non-independent countries as associate members. VII. CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS From this analysis, it is evident that many United Nations bodies have contributed significantly to fulfilling their mandate of furthering the progress of many of the small island non-independent countries through the extension of targeted and specific assistance to address short-term, as well as medium-term, developmental objectives. It has also been recognized that some United Nations bodies have been more consistent than others in providing such assistance, depending on a number of variables including the governance regulations of the organization concerned. It should be reaffirmed that the legislative authority for the integration of the nonindependent countries in the United Nations process is extensive and longstanding for the provision of assistance, as well as for the direct participation in the intergovernmental process, as appropriate. The General Assembly, especially between 1992 and 2004, has been especially effective in making the necessary adjustments to the rules of procedure of the thematic conferences and summits it convenes, providing for the accommodation in official observer status of those countries in the category of “associate members of regional economic commissions.” This category was created by the CDCC in 1990, and has been widely used in the rules of procedure governing most United Nations world conferences and summits since that time. This category, however, has not fully become standard United Nations practice, and has been regrettably omitted from a number of recent General Assembly summits or high-level sessions on HIV/AIDS, climate change and children, respectively. Regarding the Economic and Social Council, the member States of ECLAC and the CDCC are to be commended for their continued commitment of widening the areas of opportunity for the engagement of the AMCs in the important work of the Council’s functional commissions where technical activities in areas such as statistical analysis, science and technology, social development, among other areas, are directly related to their ongoing development process. The absence of a role for the AMCs in the work of the CSD is especially glaring, given that the issues of the vulnerabilities of small island States are considered in that body, and in recognition that the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council have recognized the direct relevance of the Barbados Programme of Action and the Mauritius Strategy for Implementation to these countries. The Economic and Social Council should give in-depth reconsideration to the question of examining potential modalities for the integration of AMCs in the important technical programmes of the functional commissions, especially those activities which have been fashioned in implementation of the outcome of United Nations conferences and summits. 59 Assistance to the AMCs from the United Nations programmes and funds has been encouraging, and there is scope for substantial expansion in terms of programme participation, and eligibility of under-serviced AMCs. UNDP continues to play its critical role in the coordination of specific assistance to AMCs from United Nations programmes and funds, but the net-contributor status of the AMCs impedes their broader participation. A role for the regional commissions might be considered in terms of developing further access of these countries to the activities of these important United Nations entities. Fostering the natural progression of the AMCs from programme assistance recipient status, to that of participant in the intergovernmental process, has been an important function of the regional commissions, particularly ECLAC. This is likely to intensify as the AMCs regard the experience gained in the ECLAC involvement as highly useful to their engagement of the multi-faceted international process of globalisation. While many specialized agencies have modalities for direct participation of the AMCs, it is evident that the level and extent of engagement does not approach that of the regional commissions. This is seen in the paucity of AMCs that have joined those specialized agencies which maintain an associate membership category. There is also evidence that the few AMCs that have acceded to associate membership in these agencies do not enjoy the same level of programmatic and intergovernmental engagement as experienced in the regional commissions. The requirement of a financial contribution for specialized agency associate membership has also deterred some AMCs from seeking this status, whereas no such assessment is required for the regional commissions. In summary, the various bodies of the United Nations system have much more work ahead, firstly, in recognizing the relevance of the international mandate of the integration of the non-independent countries in the work of these organizations, and secondly, in devising ways and means of implementing that mandate. Given the historically strategic role of the regional commissions, it is anticipated that future action to stimulate the integration of the AMCs in the wider United Nations process will continue to be spearheaded by ECLAC, with collaboration from key United Nations and other international bodies. In this connection, the Plan of Action for the Further Integration of Associate Member Countries in the United Nations System, as contained in the Annex to the present study, should be viewed from the perspective of a shared role on the part of the international community and its institutions. 60 Annex Programme of Action for the Further Integration of Associate Member Countries in the United Nations System The 2008-2009 biennium Programme Plan for subregional activities in the Caribbean includes an activity providing for the “provision of advisory services to the Working Group of Associate Member Countries to provide a more effective mechanism, to support initiatives specifically related to associate member countries.” The present proposed Plan of Action identifies relevant initiatives for implementation during the 2008-09 biennium. Subject Area: Cooperation and Integration Meetings Organization and substantive servicing of intergovernmental meetings (1) One session of the Working Group of Associate Member Countries involving the preparation of substantive documentation on activities in furtherance of the integration of the AMCs in the United Nations system preparatory to the 2008 ministerial session of CDCC. (2) One session of the Working Group of Associate Member Countries involving the preparation of relevant substantive documentation on activities in furtherance of the integration of the AMCs in the United Nations system preparatory to the 2009 meeting of the Monitoring Committee. Recurrent publications (1) Report of the Working Group of Associate Member Countries for consideration of the 2008 ministerial session. (2) Report of the Working Group of Associate Member Countries for consideration of the 2009 meeting of the Monitoring Committee. Non-recurrent publications (1) A study on the impact of the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME) on intraregional trade prospects between AMCs and CARICOM countries. (2) An analysis of trade flows between the British Virgin Islands and United States Virgin Islands and prospects for integration. (3) Study on the prospects and implications of integration of AMCs into CARICOM and the Association of Caribbean States (ACS). 61 (4) A study on the extent of participation of AMCs in regional programmes of the United Nations specialized agencies, United Nations programmes and funds, regional commissions and other relevant United Nations bodies. Informational materials and services (1) Preparation of a substantive informational booklet, in conjunction with UNDP, on the eligibility criteria for AMC participation in the programmes, activities and institutions of the wider United Nations system for dissemination to AMC governments and civil society. Subject Area: Statistics and capacity-building Training courses, seminars and workshops (1) A training course to strengthen national capacities of the AMCs in the area of statistical analysis, data collection, and database maintenance. Technical cooperation/advisory services (1) The provision of advisory services at the request of AMC governments to enhance national statistical data collection and database maintenance capacity. Subject Area: Sustainable development Training courses, seminars and workshops (1) Workshop to train officials in AMCs on the ECLAC methodology for postdisaster assessment. (2) Meeting of experts on the establishment of mutual disaster cooperation mechanisms in the island jurisdictions of the northeastern Caribbean, in collaboration with the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDERA). (3) Meeting of experts on future public transportation challenges including interisland transportation systems in the AMCs. Technical cooperation/advisory services (1) Provide advisory services, at the request of governments, in the conduct of national sustainable development assessments in individual AMCs, in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme and the Department of Economic and Social Affairs. 62 Non-recurrent publication (1) A study on debt accumulation in the AMC economies and implications for sustainable economic growth. (2) A study on the impact of the brain-drain and resultant in-migration of skilled labour on the cultural sustainability of AMCs. Subject Area: Knowledge and information management Non-recurrent publication (1) A study on the feasibility of the establishment of an on-line programme on international organization affairs among the tertiary institutions in the AMCs, in collaboration with the Caribbean Office of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU and the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College in the British Virgin Islands. Subject Area: Inter-agency cooperation and collaboration Recurrent publication (1) Annual economic and social survey on those AMCs classified as non selfgoverning, for consideration by the United Nations General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). This report would be informed by data from the Small Islands Developing States Unit of the United Nations Department Economic and Social Affairs the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). (A companion report would be proposed to be undertaken by the Special Body on Pacific Island Developing Countries of the Economic and Social Council for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). Non-recurrent publications (1) A study on potential modalities for participation by AMCs in the work of the functional commissions of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). (2) A study on the implications of the Economic Partnership Agreements on the AMCs, in collaboration with the Overseas Countries and Territories Association in Brussels. 63 Subject Area: Governance and constitutional advancement Non-recurrent publications (1) An analysis of the implications of the constitutional restructuring of the Netherlands Antilles on the continued provision of assistance from the United Nations system and the participation in international organizations. (2) A study on existing models of democratic governance and potential future constitutional options in the small island AMCs of the Caribbean and Pacific, in collaboration with ESCAP, the Pacific Community, and the Governance Department of the University of the South Pacific. (3) A study of the applicability of international treaties to the AMCs. (4) A study on the development of a self-governance index of non-independent countries in the Caribbean and Pacific, in collaboration with ESCAP. Training Courses, seminars and workshops (1) A seminar on multilateral diplomacy and international organization participation for non-independent countries, with collaboration with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College of the British Virgin Islands. 64 Endnotes 1 “Priorities of Associate Member Countries of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) in Relevant Aspects of the Summit of the Americas and Free Trade of the Americas;” ECLAC Subregional Headquarters for the Caribbean, 1 March 2004. 2 “Meeting the Challenges of the FTAA: Trade, Trends, Export Specialization Patterns and Regional Integration in the Caribbean,” ECLAC Subregional Headquarters for the Caribbean, Doc. No. LC/CAR/L.4, 30 March 2004. 3 “The Participation of Associate Member Countries in United Nations World Conferences,” ECLAC Subregional Headquarters for the Caribbean, Doc. No. LC/CAR/R.76. 21 June 2004. 4 “The ECLAC Associate Member Countries: Meeting Challenges and New Opportunities of Globalisation,” Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, Doc. No. LC/CAR/L.125. 20 July 2007. 5 “Report on Support to Associate Member Countries of the Caribbean Development and Cooperation Committee (CDCC) 2006-2007 Biennium,” Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, 23 August 2007. 6 Report of the Meeting of the Working Group of Associate Member Countries (AMCs) of the Caribbean Development and Cooperation Committee (CDCC), Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, Doc. No. LC/CAR/L.133. 10 September 2007. 7 Ibid, p. 9 – 10. 8 Terms of Reference and Rules of Procedure of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, as amended by the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in 2005, Articles 3(a) – (c). 9 Revised Text, Constituent Declaration and Functions and Rules of Procedure of the Caribbean Development and Cooperation Committee (CDCC); U.N. Doc. LC/CAR/G.780/Rev. 1. Article 5. 4 April 2005. 10 6 op. cit. p. 8. 11 6 op. cit, pp. 7-8 12 Five of the eight Associate Member Countries (AMCs) of ECLAC are categorized by the United Nations General Assembly as non self-governing, specifically British Virgin Islands, Turks & Caicos Islands, Montserrat, Anguilla, and US Virgin Islands. The other three AMCs are considered self-governing. 13 “Support to Non Self-Governing Territories by the specialized agencies and international institutions associated with the United Nations,” U.N. Document E/2007/L.19. 18 July 2007. 14 United Nations ECOSOC Resolution 2006/37 of 27 July 2006. 15 Economic Resolution 2001/28 of 26 July 2001; ECOSOC Resolution 2002/30 of 25 July 2002; ECOSOC Resolution 2003/51 of 24 July 2003; ECOSOC Resolution 2004/53 of 23 July 2004; 16 U.N. General Assembly Resolution 60/112 of 8 December 2005. 17 U.N. General Assembly Resolution 61/231 of 22 December 2006. Operative Paragraph 12. 18 Ibid. Operative Paragraph 13. 65 19 “The Role of the Economic and Social Council in the integrated and coordinated implementation of the outcomes of and follow-up to major United Nations conferences and summits, in the light of General Assembly resolutions 50/227, 52/12 B and 57/270 B, Report of the Secretary-General,” Doc. No. A/61/90 – E/2006/84, 21 June 2006. 20 Ibid, p. 3. 21 Ibid. p. 3. 22 Ibid. p. 10. 23 ECLAC Resolution 574 (XXVII) of 16 May 1998 and ECLAC Resolution 598 (XXX) of 2 July 2004. 24 ECOSOC Decision 2005/302 of 27 July 2005. 25 Caribbean Development and Cooperation Committee (CDCC) Resolution 62 (XXI). 26 3 op. cit. pp. 20-21 27 “Follow-up and implementation of the Mauritius Strategy for the Further Implementation of the Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States, Report of the Secretary-General,” U.N. Doc. A/62/279. 28 August 2007. pp. 3-4. 28 Ibid. p. 9. 29 http://esa.un.org/un-energy/ 30 Ibid. pp. 9-10. 31 3 op. cit. pp. 4-6. 32 “Implementation of the outcome of the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (HABITAT II) and strengthening of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), Report of the SecretaryGeneral,” Doc. No. A/62/219, 10 August 2007. 33 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 14 December 1966. Part 1, Article 1. 34 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 16 December 1966. Part 1, Article 1. 35 U.N. General Assembly Resolution 60/1, 16th December 2005. 36 U.N. General Assembly Resolution 61/128 of 14 December 2006. 37 U.N. General Assembly Resolution 43/47 of 22 November 1988 and U.N. General Assembly Resolution 55/146 of 8 December 2000. 38 Second International decade for the Eradication of Colonialism, Report of the Secretary-General, U.N. Document A/56/61. 22 March 2001. pp. 6, 8. 39 Modalities of the inter-agency coordination of the implementation of the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society, including recommendations on the follow-up process Report of the Secretary-General, Doc. No. E/2006/85, 15 June 2006. 40 U.N. General Assembly Resolution 60/262 of 2 June 2006. 41 Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS and Political declaration on HIV/AIDS: focus on progress over the last 12 months, Report of the Secretary-General, Doc. No. A/61/816, 20 March 2007. 42 U.N. General Assembly Resolution 61/128 of 14 December 2006. 43 Country and Intercountry Programmes and Projects, Consideration and Approval of country programmes, First Country Programme for Bermuda: Note by the Administrator, U.N. Doc. DP/CP/BER/NOTE/1, 29 March 1982. p. 3. 66 44 Country and Intercountry Programmes and Projects, Consideration and approval of country programmes, First Country Programme for the Turks and Caicos Islands, U.N. Doc. DP/CP/BVI/1. 4 March 1982. Annex. 45 Country and Intercountry Programmes and Project (sic), Consideration and approval of country programmes, First Country Programme for the Cayman Islands, U.N. Doc. CP/CP/CAY/1. 3 March 1982. Annex. 46 Country and Intercountry Programmes and Projects, Consideration and approval of country programmes, First Country Programme for Montserrat, U.N. Doc. DP/CP/MOT/1. 18 February 1982. Annex. 47 Country and Intercountry Programmes and Projects, Consideration and approval of country programmes, First Country Programme for the British Virgin Islands, U.N. Doc. DP/CP/BVI/1. 1 March 1982. p.4. 48 Country and Intercountry Programmes and Projects, Consideration and approval of country programmes, First Country Programme for Netherlands Antilles, U.N. Doc. DP/CP/NAN/1. 1 March 1982. Annex. 49 Country and Intercountry Programmes and Projects, Consideration and approval of country programmes, First Country Programme for Tokelau, U.N. Doc. DP/CP/TOK/1. 14 April 1983. p. 3-4. 50 Country and Intercountry Programmes and Projects, First Country Programme for the Cook Islands, U.N. Doc. DP/CP/CKI/1, 1 March 1982, pp. 6-8. 51 “Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples by the Specialized agencies and the International Institutions associate with the United Nations,” Report of the SecretaryGeneral, U.N. Doc. A/45/309, 12 June 1990. p. 13. 52 Ibid. p. 13. 53 Report of the President of the Economic and Social Council on consultations held with the Acting Chairman of the Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples and the Chairman of the Special Committee against Apartheid, U.N. Document E/1991/116, 10 July 1991. pp. 7-8. 54 The Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands was comprised of the island groupings of Micronesia, Marshall Islands and Palau, all of which emerged to be become freely associated states in association with the United States, and subsequently member states of the United Nations. The fourth grouping, the Marianas Islands, became a selfgoverning commonwealth of the United States and a associate member of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). 55 Report of the Acting President of the (Economic and Social) Council on consultations held with the Chairman of the Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples and the Chairman of the Special Committee against Apartheid, U.N. Doc. E/1992/85, 25 June 1985. p. 4. 56 Report of the President of the (Economic and Social) Council on consultations held with the Chairman of the Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples and the Chairman of the Special Committee against Apartheid, U.N. Doc. E/1993/98, 14 July 1993. pp. 3-4. 57 Report of the President of the (Economic and Social) Council on consultations held with the Chairman of the Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, U.N. Doc. E/1994/114, 19 July 1994. p. 3. 58 Report of the President of the (Economic and Social) Council on consultations held with the Chairman of the Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, U.N. Doc. E/1995/85, 7 June 1995. p.4. 67 59 Ibid. p. 5-6. 60 Cooperation and coordination of specialized agencies and the international institutions associated with the United Nations in their assistance to Non Self-Governing Territories, Report of the Secretary-General, U.N. Doc. A/47/649, 10 November 1992. pp. 6-7. 61 Report of the President of the (Economic and Social) Council on consultations held with the Chairman of the Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, U.N. Doc E/1997/81, 24 June 1997. p.8. 62 Ibid. p. 8. 63 Report of the President of the (Economic and Social) Council on consultations held with the Chairman of the Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, U.N. Doc E/1998/76, 25 June 1998. p.3. 64 Report of the President of the (Economic and Social) Council on consultations held with the Chairman of the Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, U.N. Doc. E/2003/47, 11 April 2003. pp. 4-6. 65 Information submitted by the specialized agencies and other organizations of the United Nations system on their activities with regard to the implementation of the Declaration on the granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, U.N. Doc. E/1999/69, 9 July 1999. p. 5-6. 66 Report of the President of the (Economic and Social) Council on consultations held with the Chairman of the Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, U.N. Doc E/2002/61, 30 May 2002. p. 5-7. 67 Information submitted by the specialized agencies and other organizations of the United Nations system on their activities with regards to the implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, Report of the President of the (Economic and Social) Council on consultations with the Special Committee with regard to the implementation of the Declaration, U.N. Doc. E/2006/47, 9 May 2006. pp. 812. 68 Report of the President of the (Economic and Social) Council on consultations held with the Chairman of the Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, Information submitted by the specialized agencies and other organizations of the United Nations system on their activities with regards to the implementation of the Declaration, U.N. Doc. E/2007/47, 8 May 2007. pp. 2-4. 69 Multi-Country Programme document for the Cook Islands, Niue, Samoa and Tokelau, 2008-2012, Executive Board of the United Nations Development Programme and of the United Nations Population Fund. U.N. Doc. DP/DCP/WSM/1. 28 June 2007. pp. 4-5. 70 See U.N. General Assembly Resolution 58/108 B of 9 December 2003. Section XI. Operative Para. 3; U.N. General Assembly Resolution 59/134 B of 10 December 2004. Section XI. Operative Paragraph 3; U.N. General Assembly Resolution 60/117 B of 8 December 2005. Section XI. Operative Paragraph 3. U.N. General Assembly Resolution 61/128 B of 14 December 2006. Section XI. Operative Paragraph 3. 71 United Nations Population Fund, Draft multi-country programme document for the Pacific Island Countries, U.N. Doc. DP/FPA/DCP/PIC/4. 2 August 2007. pp. 4-8. 68 72 66 op. cit. pp. 2-4. 73 Report of the President of the (Economic and Social) Council on consultations held with the Chairman of the Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, U.N. Doc. E/2005/47, 10 May 2005. pp. 8-9. 74 51 op.cit. pp. 5-8. 75 “Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples by the Specialized agencies and the International Institutions associate with the United Nations,” Report of the SecretaryGeneral, U.N. Doc. A/49/216/Add. 1. 29 August 1994. p. 2. 76 Role of the Specialized Agencies and the International Institutions Associated with the United Nations in the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, United Nations Department of Political Affairs, No. 43. 1993. p.20. 77 65 op. cit. pp. 7-9. 78 75 op. cit. pp. 3-4. 79 Cooperation and coordination of specialized agencies and the international institutions associated with the United Nations in their assistance to Non Self-Governing Territories, Report of the Secretary-General, U.N. Doc. A/48/224/Add. 2. 23 July 1993. pp. 2-4. 80 Ramos, Aaron Gamaliel and Rivera, Angel Israel; Islands at the Crossroads – Politics in the Non-Independent Caribbean; Ian Randle Publishers, Jamaica, United Kingdom and United States. 2001. pp. 142-144. 81 Reisman, Michael W., Puerto Rico and the International Process- New Roles in Association, A Report for the Conference on Puerto Rico and the Foreign Policy Process, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, American Society of International Law, United States. 1975. pp. 91-93. 82 Rights and Obligations of Associate Members, Manual of the General Conference of UNESCO, 2002 Edition Paris, France. pp. 23-24.