General Assembly Session 61 meeting 104

The President

I invite the attention of the General Assembly to document A/61/L.63, circulated under sub-item (b) of agenda item 63, entitled "Promotion and protection of the rights of children: follow-up to the outcome of the special session on children".

Members will recall that the General Assembly concluded its consideration of agenda item 63 at its 81st plenary meeting, on 19 December 2006. As indicated in the footnote to document A/61/L.63, in order to enable the General Assembly to consider the draft resolution, it will be necessary to reopen its consideration of sub-item (b) of agenda item 63. May I take it that it is the wish of the General Assembly to reopen its consideration of sub-item (b) of agenda item 63?

The President

Members will also recall that, at its 2nd plenary meeting, on 13 September 2006, the General Assembly decided to allocate agenda item 63 and its sub-items to the Third Committee. In order for the General Assembly to take action expeditiously on draft resolution A/61/L.63, may I take that the Assembly wishes to consider sub-item (b) of agenda 63 directly in plenary meeting?

The President

May I further take it that the Assembly agrees to proceed immediately to the consideration of sub-item (b) of agenda item 63?

The President

In connection with draft resolution A/61/L.63, I give the floor to the representative of the Secretariat.

Mr. Botnaru (Chief, General Assembly Affairs Branch)

In connection with draft resolution A/61/L.63, on the commemorative high-level plenary meeting devoted to the follow-up to the outcome of the special session on children, I wish to place on record the following statement of financial implications, on behalf of the Secretary-General, in accordance with rule 153 of the rules of procedure of the General Assembly.

Under the terms of operative paragraphs 1, 3, 10 and 11 of the draft resolution, respectively, the General Assembly would:

"[Decide] to convene a commemorative high-level plenary meeting to evaluate progress made in the implementation of the Declaration and the Plan of Action contained in the document entitled `A world fit for children' on 11 and 12 December 2007;"

"[Decide] that the commemorative high-level plenary meeting will comprise plenary meetings and two thematic interactive round tables;"

"[Request] the Secretary-General to submit a comprehensive analytical report on progress achieved and challenges remaining in implementing the commitments set out in the Declaration and the Plan of Action at least six weeks prior to its consideration by the General Assembly at its sixty-second session;"

and

"[Decide] that the chairpersons of the interactive round tables will present summaries of the discussions at the closing plenary meeting".

Pursuant to those operative paragraphs of the draft resolution, it is understood that the commemorative high-level plenary meeting would comprise a total of four General Assembly plenary meetings with simultaneous interpretation and verbatim records in the six official languages of the United Nations, as well as two parallel round tables with simultaneous interpretation in the six official languages. Documentation requirements are estimated at 32 pages of pre-session and four pages of in-session documents, to be issued in all six languages. No post-session documentation is foreseen.

Should the General Assembly adopt draft resolution A/61/L.63, no additional conference servicing resources would be required for the four General Assembly plenary meetings and documentation indicated earlier, on the understanding that these are part of the normal work of the General Assembly, for which resources have already been budgeted throughout the year according to its entitlements.

As regards the two parallel round tables, these would constitute an addition to the draft calendar of conferences and meetings of the United Nations, for which it is estimated that implementation would involve additional conference servicing resources in the total amount of $22,500 under section 2, General Assembly and Economic and Social Council affairs and conference management, of the programme budget for the biennium 2006-2007.

Although no provisions have been made under the programme budget for the biennium 2006-2007 for servicing the two parallel round tables as envisaged in the draft resolution, the necessary requirements would be accommodated to the fullest extent possible from within existing provisions of the programme budget for the biennium 2006-2007, and resources required over and above the existing capacity would be accommodated by the United Nations Children's Fund. Therefore, should the General Assembly adopt draft resolution A/61/L.63, no additional conference servicing resources would be required for the servicing of the two parallel round tables.

The President

We will now proceed to consider draft resolution A/61/L.63.

I now call on the representative of Cuba, who wishes to speak in explanation of position before action is taken on the draft resolution. May I remind delegations that explanations of vote or position are limited to 10 minutes and should be made by delegation from their seats.