UNESCO. General Conference; 30th; Records ... - unesdoc - Unesco

the Working Group reported to the Administrative Commission that there were 27 of the 34 cases where, in its
opinion, valid exceptions could be made to the relevant provisions on voting rights, whereas there were seven
cases where it could not recommend such exceptions on the basis of information provided by Member States.
2.6 I would like to read out the names of the Member States that, in the opinion of the Administrative
Commission, should be granted the right to vote on the basis of the communications received from them. Those
countries are: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burundi, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Costa Rica,
Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Gambia, Georgia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraq,
Kazakhstan, Latvia, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Republic of Moldova, Rwanda, Solomon Islands, Sudan, Turkmenistan
and Ukraine. Those are the 27 States.
2.7 Now, I referred to the other group of States that the Administrative Commission did not see fit to
recommend as being eligible for the right to vote, because of the information that had been received by the end of
the examination of these matters in the working group. Those seven States are: Central African Republic,
Grenada, Sierra Leone, Tajikistan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia and Kyrgyzstan.
2.8 Madam, this is the list of countries which we as the Administrative Commission are presenting. I am of
course prepared to give additional information, and I would also like to invite you, Madam, as you will probably
wish to do, to ask the Comptroller to inform the Conference about any further information received by the
Secretariat on this very important matter. Thank you very much.
3. The PRESIDENT:
I have a question. You read out a whole list of countries to which we can decide to give voting rights
without making a distinction as to whether our vote should be by a two-thirds majority or a simple majority. Was
that intentional?
4. Mr KOCH (Germany), Chairperson of the Administrative Commission:
Thank you very much, Madam. Yes, you are right. There is a legal distinction to be made between those
requiring a simple majority and others requiring a two-thirds majority. If we are to take a decision, my
understanding was that this would be done by consensus, but if we were to vote we would have to break down the
27 countries into two groups, one being subject to a simple majority and the other to a two-thirds majority.
5. The PRESIDENT:
Thank you, Sir. I have the countries concerned listed. Are there any comments from the plenary? I see
the Comptroller wishes to speak. Sir, you have the floor.
6. The COMPTROLLER:
Thank you, Madam President. Good morning. Subsequent to the meeting of the Working Group, which
finished in the evening of 2 November, there have been two communications in addition to the requests for
voting rights from certain Member States submitted within the time frame. These two Member States, Grenada
and Kyrgyzstan have now presented payment plans. So, Madam President, you may wish to invite these two
Member States to speak at this meeting. Thank you, Madam.
7. The PRESIDENT:
Thank you, are those Members present and do they wish to speak? I give the floor to Grenada.
8.1 Ms HADDAD (Grenada):
Thank you Madam President, distinguished delegates, Excellencies. First of all, I would like to ask you
to excuse us for bringing up this matter in the plenary, but we were informed only yesterday that the Working
Group on voting rights of the Administrative Commission did not recommend that an exception could be made to
grant voting rights to Grenada. The Working Group considered that the communication sent on 6 October by the
Government of Grenada did not reschedule their payments and that no proposals or information had been
provided concerning its intention to pay its contributions. But no further information had been asked of the
Grenadian delegation, which had been very surprised when informed of the decision of the Working Group. In a
letter dated 6 October, the Government of Grenada had advised that the continued existence of arrears had been
due, I quote, “to severe budgeting constraints occasioned by difficult economic circumstances”. The Government
of Grenada also advised that it is giving active consideration to the settling of these arrears and is preparing a
schedule of payments with a view to ensuring that all arrears are settled in the shortest possible time frame. The
Bureau of the Comptroller has today received a letter setting out this schedule, which has been approved by the
government in order to settle arrears of $180,895. It is proposed to make a first payment of $35,000 prior to
31 May 2000. Five other payments of $31,000 per year in addition to the annual contribution for each year would
then be made. Last night I received a telephone call confirming that the Government of Grenada will be able to
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