Statement on Behalf of the Group of 77 and China by a Representative of the Republic of South Africa to the United Nations, at the Adoption of the QCPR Draft Resolution
New York, 29 June 2015
Madame President,
At the outset, the Group of 77 and China would like to thank you for convening the meeting to adopt a draft resolution; E/2015/L.16, entitled "Progress in the implementation of General Assembly resolution 67/226 on the quadrennial comprehensive policy review of operational activities for development of the United Nations system."
The Group would like to also commend your esteemed self for your leadership and stewardship in conducting deliberations on the ECOSOC dialogues on the longer-term positioning of the United Nations Development System, in the context of the post-2015 Development Agenda and looking forward to the next phase of dialogues on this issue.
Further, the Group would like to once again thank you Excellency and your Second Committee staff on the basis of facilitating informal consultations on this draft resolution. There were a number of protracted and rigorous negotiations on the text in order to reach consensus. We must congratulate the experts from both sides who carried out this momentous task forward that allowed all of us an opportunity to adopt the current resolution in the manner we did today.
Madame President,
The Group of 77 and China would like to urge the United Nations Development System for a scaled up and significantly strengthened role for the United Nations' operational activities for development and its capacity to assist developing countries in achieving their developmental goals. Such a strengthened role requires continued improvement in effectiveness, efficiency, coherence and impact, along with a significant increase in core resources. It is important that operational activities for development, in addressing long-term development challenges, take into account the need to promote national capacity-building in developing countries. For developing countries to address national priorities and achieve internationally-agreed development goals, a continuous process of capacity-building is required, to which the United Nations system can make a significant contribution. We therefore call on the United Nations system to make optimal use of the available national expertise by enabling and facilitating the access of the recipient countries to the full-range of services available throughout the United Nations Development System, including regional commissions.
The urgency, with which the issue of poverty in all its forms should be eradicated, simply cannot be over-emphasized. It has been agreed in resolution 67/226, on the QCPR, that poverty eradication should be considered the highest priority and the fundamental objective of the United Nations Development System.
Consequently, the Group of 77 and China believes that the United Nations Development System must of necessity address poverty eradication, which is the greatest global challenge, through appropriately targeted and clearly focused development programmes and projects.
Madame President,
Please allow me the opportunity to foreground some issues of critical importance to the Group of 77 and China in the context of the implementation of the QCPR process:
- Firstly, the Group underlines the need to better reflect the multi-dimensional nature of development and poverty, as well as the importance of developing a common understanding among Member States and other stakeholders on what this multi-dimensionality entails and reflecting it in the context of the post-2015 development agenda.
- Secondly, the Group would like to stress the need to avoid the use of core/regular resources to subsidize non-core/extra-budgetary financed activities, and reaffirms that the guiding principle governing the financing of all non-programme costs should be based on a full cost recovery, proportionally, from core and non-core funding sources
- Thirdly, we request all entities of the United Nations development system to consider the post-2015 development agenda, once adopted, in the context of mid-term reviews and the elaboration of strategic plans and frameworks, in order to ensure consistency and alignment with the agenda;
- Fourthly, we reaffirm the importance of achieving diversification in the composition of the resident coordinator system in terms of geographical distribution and gender. We would also like to stress the need to address the governing structures of the United Nations funds and programmes in a constructive dialogue towards much-needed reform in this area, to ensure the legitimacy of the system.
- Fifthly, the Group would like to reaffirm its position on the imperative to strengthen the Office on South-South Cooperation with regard to up-scaling the Office in financial, human and budgetary terms under the current auspices of the United Nations Development Programme, including through the appointment of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on South-South Cooperation, and at the same time recommending specific contributions of the United Nations Development Programme under such a change;
- Lastly, stresses the importance of regular reporting from the United Nations development system at the country-level. This would ensure transparency and to provide the United Nations Country Teams (UNCTs) the opportunity to improve their work where required. The United Nations Development System must effect meaningful improvements to the livelihoods of populations in programme countries in order for the system to make a tangible reality to its ethos of being "fit for purpose."
Madame President,
The Group of 77 and China looks forward to the upcoming negotiations in the Second Committee during the 70th Session of the General Assembly regarding the further implementation of the QCPR and also avails itself as an optimistic and pragmatic formation to strengthen the next QCPR, in order for it to be in line with the post-2015 Development Agenda, once adopted. The QCPR must meet the expectations of all states, particularly the developing countries as they are in the main, programme countries. We cannot afford to fail! Let's all work together to make this world a better place for future generations to live in, free from the shackles of poverty and hunger.
I thank you.