Statement on the 2010 UN ECOSOC High Level Meeting (HLM): Annual Ministerial Review (AMR) and the Development Cooperation Forum (DCF)1 With references to the G-8 / G-20 Meeting Outcomes

By Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN)

July 04, 2010

We all understand that the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) underwent reforms and introduced the Annual Ministerial Review (AMR) as a way to learn policy lessons from debates on macroeconomic issues that are important to member states of developing countries. This year the AMR’s focus was on “Implementing the Internationally Agreed Goals and Commitments in regard to Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women”. The theme is a welcome development but the question is the extent to which the National Voluntary Presentations (NVPs) were able to illustrate how gender equality considerations can inform macroeconomic policymaking. By and large, the NVPs sounded like they were reports being made to the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). Without this differentiation, there would appear be too strong an overlap between ECOSOC and the CSW that only confuses follow-up processes.

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Discussions are needed on how to create global funds for liquidity and reserves management in order to free up monies for expenditures. A sovereign debt resolution mechanism will be helpful in this regard. The DCF could have discussed these in a reasoned manner and also look towards opportunities for designing exit strategies from aid.

Processes in the General Assembly on Financing for Development and on follow-up to the UN Meeting on the Impact of the Global Financial and Economic Crisis continue to be highly relevant and must be linked to the debates generated by the ECOSOC discussions.

All these considerations are important for promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment for and beyond the UN Review of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that will take place in September 2010. Greater policy coherence that is consistent with gender equality and women’s rights will be achieved more effectively if systemic issues are brought to bear on discussions around development cooperation insider the United Nations System.

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1 Based on interventions made by DAWN members Marina Durano & Gigi Francisco at side events held during the 2010 ECOSOC HLM, 29-30 June, New York.

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