90th Session, 3 - 20 June 2002
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Reports of the Finance Committee of Government Representatives |
Submission, discussion and adoption
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Original French: The PRESIDENT — We have before us this morning the report of the Finance Committee of the Government Representatives, contained in Provisional Record No. 19.
I now call on Mr. Björn Jonzon, Government delegate of Sweden, Chairperson and Reporter of the Committee, to submit the report of the Finance Committee of Government Representatives to the Conference.
Mr. JONZON (Government delegate, Sweden; Chairperson and Reporter of the Finance Committee) — I have the honour of submitting to the Conference the report of the Finance Committee of Government Representatives, which is published in Provisional Record No. 19 and contains the Committee’s recommendations on the matters considered.
The resolutions proposed by the Committee for adoption appear at the end of the report, immediately before the appendices.
The Finance Committee examined a request from the Government of Guinea-Bissau for permission to vote at the Conference. The Committee was satisfied that the failure to pay its contributions was due to circumstances beyond the Government’s control and that acceptable proposals had been put forward for the settlement of arrears.
It accordingly recommended the Conference to adopt the resolution proposing that Guinea-Bissau be granted the right to vote in accordance with paragraph 4 of article 13 of the ILO Constitution.
The next issue it examined was the Financial Report and Audited Financial Statements for 2000-01.
The Committee was pleased to see that the external auditor had given an unqualified audit opinion and had put forward a number of valuable recommendations in his report. The Office was already acting on them and, in accordance with normal practice, it would be submitting a report to the March 2003 session of the Governing Body and follow-up action in respect of these recommendations.
The Committee had no hesitation in proposing that the Conference adopt the Financial Report and Audited Financial Statements for 2000-01 in accordance with article 29 of the Financial Regulations.
The main item of business for the Finance Committee concerned the treatment of the 2000-01 cash surplus. This item was introduced with a statement by the Director-General, followed by statements by Mr. Blondel, on behalf of the Workers, and Mr. Tabani on behalf of the Employers.
During the course of discussions, an amendment to the draft resolution was proposed on behalf of the IMEC group of member States requesting the Conference to delegate to the November 2002 session of the Governing Body the authority to adjust the proposals, if necessary, in the light of continuing consultations between the Director-General and member States.
We undertook the course that it would be for the Director-General to make these proposals as a result of his consultations. The ensuing discussion on this topic contained many thoughtful and incisive contributions and it was agreed that the amended resolution should be recommended to the Conference for adoption.
The Committee also considered a paper concerning the composition of the ILO Administrative Tribunal. Ms. Mella Carroll of Ireland, the judge of the Tribunal since 1987 and, currently Vice-President, had informed the Office that she would not be able to accept a further renewal of her appointment. And the Committee unanimously accepted a recommendation from the Governing Body that the Conference express its appreciation to Ms. Carroll for the services she had rendered to the Tribunal over the last 15 years.
The Committee then considered a proposal from the Governing Body to appoint Ms. Justice Gaudron, a Justice of the High Court of Australia for the last 15 years, as a judge of the ILO Administrative Tribunal. This recommendation was also accepted unanimously by the Committee, and it proposed that the resolution should be recommended to the Conference for adoption. All these matters are set out at the end of the report
In concluding, I would like to express my thanks to my Vice-Chairperson, Mr. Ledezma Vergara of Panama, to the members of the Committee and also, indeed, to the members of the secretariat, all of whom helped me greatly in my task as Chairperson.
I should like to commend our report to you for adoption.
Original French: The PRESIDENT — I thank you Mr Jonzon. The discussion on the General Report is now open.
Mr. ITO (Workers’ delegate, Japan) — My name is Ito, Workers’ delegate from Japan. I thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to express my concern on the report of the Finance Committee. First of all, I appreciate very much the decision taken by the Committee on the use of the cash surplus of the year 2000-01 in such a way that 90 per cent will be allocated to ILO activities, and consultations will be held and decisions taken at the November session of the Governing Body.
I will summarize my opinions on the following three points. Firstly, the ILO should give clear guidelines as to how to deal with cash surpluses which might occur in the future. Clear guidelines should be discussed and developed in the Governing Body on this matter, in order to avoid decisions being made on a case-by-case basis whenever such surpluses occur.
Secondly, I support the idea of discussing the creation of a Palestinian Fund for Employment and Social Protection with contributions by the member States, which is proposed as one of the solutions for peace between Palestine and Israel at the November session of the Governing Body. At the same time, on behalf of Japanese workers, I support the allocation of the cash surplus to this fund.
Thirdly, I would like to stress the importance of human resources development. Encouraging human resources and skills development activities should be extremely high on the Decent Work Agenda for the ILO, especially in Asia and the Pacific region, the most populous region in the world.
Therefore, the effective activities of the Asia and Pacific Skills Development Programme APSDEP are most welcome in order to promote occupational capacity development in the region. I fully support the request for part of the cash surplus to be allocated to the APSDEP programme as mentioned by the Indonesian Government on behalf of 15 States in the Asia and Pacific region. I request that the Office will take my concerns into account.
Original French: The PRESIDENT — I thank Mr. Ito for his statement. Since there are no further requests for the floor, I propose that we should proceed with the adoption of the report, i.e. the summary of the Committee’s debates (paragraphs 1-93), the three Appendices (Appendices I, II, and III) and the list of four resolutions submitted to the Conference for adoption.
If there are no objections, may I take it that the report, i.e. paragraphs 1-93, as well as Appendices I, II and III, are adopted.
(The report — paragraphs 1-93 — and Appendices I, II and III, are adopted.)
Resolution concerning the arrears of contributions of Guinea-Bissau
Original French: The PRESIDENT — We shall now move to the adoption of the resolutions. If there is no objection, may I take it that this resolution is adopted.
(The resolution is adopted.)
In accordance with article 13, paragraph 4, of the ILO Constitution, a record vote on this resolution will take place in a few minutes.
Resolution concerning treatment of the 2000-01 cash surplus
Original French: The PRESIDENT — We shall now move on to the resolution concerning treatment of the 2000-01 cash surplus. If there is no objection, may I take it that the resolution.
(The resolution is adopted.)
Resolution concerning the Financial Report and Audited Financial Statements for 2000-01
Original French: The PRESIDENT — We shall now move on to the resolution concerning the Financial Report and Audited Financial Statements for 2000-01. If there is no objection may I take it that this resolution is adopted.
(The resolution is adopted.)
Resolution concerning the composition of the Administrative Tribunal of the International Labour Organization
Original French: The PRESIDENT — We shall now move on to the adoption of the resolution concerning the composition of the Administrative Tribunal of the International labour Organization. If there are no objections, may I take it that this resolution is adopted.
(The resolution is adopted.)
I would like to thank the Chairperson and Vice-Chairperson of the Finance Committee, as well as, all the members of this Committee, for the excellent work they have accomplished. It goes without saying that I should also like to thank all of the Office staff who were involved and helped this Committee to function so well.
Record vote on the resolution concerning the arrears of contributions of Guinea-Bissau
Original French: The PRESIDENT — We shall now proceed to the record vote on the resolution concerning the arrears of contributions of Guinea-Bissau, contained in Provisional Record No.19. In this connection, I should like to remind you that under article 13, paragraph 4, of the Constitution of the International Labour Organization, the Conference may, by a two-thirds majority of the votes cast by the delegates present, permit such Member who is in arrears in contributions, to vote if it is satisfied that the failure to pay is due to conditions beyond the control of the Member. Pursuant to article 19(c), paragraph 5, of the Standing Orders of the Conference, a record vote is then necessary.
(A record vote is taken.)
(The detailed results of the vote will be found at the end of the record of this sitting.)
The result of the vote is as follows: 326 votes in favour, none against, with 5 abstentions. As the quorum was 280 and the required two-thirds majority is 218, the resolution is adopted.
(The resolution is adopted.)
Last update by HK on 19 June 2002.