Views and perspectives of the Committee for Development Policy on United Nations support for small island developing States

The present paper was prepared by Philippe Hein, in collaboration with Norman Girvan and Frances Stewart, all of whom are members of the Committee for Development Policy, and with the assistance of Ana Luiza Cortez, Hiroshi Kawamura and Admasu Shiferaw of the Committee Secretariat. It reflects the discussions and the main conclusions reached by the expert group meeting of the Committee, which took place from 25 to 27 January 2010, as well as the discussions and recommendations of the Committee as agreed at its plenary meeting held from 22 to 26 March 2010. It reviews the existing support by the United Nations system to the small island developing States (SIDS). While acknowledging great diversity among SIDS, the paper notes that these countries on average have maintained good levels of socio-economic indicators despite their fundamental development challenges. It also highlights a number of problems in adequately assessing United Nations support for SIDS and makes suggestions for their solution.