July 2007: The UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) met in Geneva, Switzerland, from 2-27 July 2007, for its annual substantive session.

This year marked the launch of two new elements: the Annual Ministerial Review (AMR) and the Development Cooperation Forum. During the first AMR, ministers from Bangladesh, Barbados, Ethiopia, Ghana, Cambodia and Cape Verde presented national voluntary presentations, following which participants responded.

On the final day, ECOSOC delegates suspended the 2007 substantive session. Over the course of the July meeting, ECOSOC adopted texts on, inter alia, the UN’s role in providing full and productive employment and decent work for all, the elimination of all forms of discrimination and violence against the girl child, and ECOSOC’s role in the integrated and coordinated implementation of the outcomes of and follow-up to major UN conferences and summits.

Among these decisions, on 10 July the ministers and heads of delegations participating in the high-level segment adopted a Declaration, in which they “reaffirmed their commitment to prioritize actions and allocate resources to eliminate hunger and malnutrition in all countries and agreed to undertake measures to increase access of malnourished people to food.” They also called for, inter alia, the promotion and facilitation of access to and the development, transfer and diffusion of technologies, and for all countries to adopt strategies for reducing urban poverty.

On 19 July, delegates debated the follow-up to the International Conference on Financing for Development. During discussions, developing countries noted great challenges for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and highlighted the need for full implementation of the Monterrey Consensus. Many countries also emphasized that efforts to promote dialogue among the Bretton Woods Institutions and the UN should continue. In New York, the Financing for Development Office and NGLS have opened the application process for participation in the High-level Dialogue on Financing for Development (22-23 October 2007), as well as informal interactive hearings with representatives of civil society organizations (11 October 2007).

On 23 July, delegates considered a text concerning sustainable development. It adopted decisions on the dates of the meetings of the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) during its 2008/2009 cycle, took note of the CSD’s report on its fifteenth session and approved the provisional agenda for CSD-16. ECOSOC also decided, inter alia, that there should be an intervening period of at least two weeks between the closing of the sessions of relevant intergovernmental bodies and the beginning of the CSD session.
Links to further information
ECOSOC Press Releases
The Road to Doha Newsletter, August 2007
UN Non Governmental Liaison Service webpage