Harri Holkeri, former Prime Minister of Finland, likens his work as President of the Millennium Assembly to a music conductor's. It is the United Nations Member States who actually play the tune, he told the Chronicle. He "merely took the right sounds and put them together".

Indeed, this-the fifty-fifth-Assembly was not a standard repertoire. The rousing overture of the Millennium Summit set the tone and vision; the pace of debate ranged from thoughtful and andante to spirited allegro. And the grand finale of the scales-of-assessment breakthrough gave hope that, with symphonic synergy, the international community would enter the millennium heralded by the Assembly to a single unifying theme, enriched and enlivened by the verve of its variations.

In addition to reconfirmation of resolutions on issues such as maintenance of peace and security, poverty eradication, advancement of women, protection of the environment, promotion of democracy and good governance, and strengthening of the Organization itself, there were discernible fresh elements in those matters, as well as the introduction of relatively new subjects.

With the Assembly's expansive workload, topping 183 agenda items with 281 resolutions adopted this year, the First Committee took a step forward on nuclear disarmament and brought the problems of small arms into sharper focus. The Second Committee again debated intensively on globalization and its effect on development, and planned a number of high-level meetings to deal with issues as diverse as human settlements, sustainable development, problems of least developed countries and financing for development. The Third Committee, in addition to traditional social, humanitarian and cultural problems, for the first time took issue with the misuse of information technology and so-called honour crimes against women. The Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations studied the report of the Panel on United Nations Peace Operations (the Brahimi Report) in detail, approved some emergency recommendations and asked for further comprehensive review from the Secretariat. The Fifth Committee approved a new scale of assessments of the regular budget, as well as peacekeeping operations, and the Sixth Committee forged ahead with plans for a comprehensive convention on international terrorism.

Mr. Holkeri, who considers the Millennium Declaration the most important United Nations document after the Charter itself, emphasized to the Chronicle that the political will given by world leaders gave renewed impetus to existing programmes. In translating those ideals into action, he said, half of the work is in the hands of Member States, and the Organization is one of the tools in that effort.

It was indeed a banner year. The Millennium session started with the largest- ever gathering of heads of State and Government, and the Summit Declaration served as an inspiration for many plenary debates during the 55th regular session of the Assembly, which took place from 11 September to 22 December. Globalization, with its positive and negative effects, was the overarching theme. Among new items considered directly in the Plenary were "the situation in East Timor during its transition to independence", "the role of the United Nations in promoting a new global human order" and "the role of diamonds in fuelling conflict".

Heads of State emphasized in the Declaration that no effort would be spared to free peoples from the scourge of war. The Assembly, in that context, in a resolution adopted without a vote, urged all States to support efforts of the diamond producing, processing, exporting and importing countries, as well as the diamond industry, to find a way to break the link between the illicit transaction of rough diamonds and armed conflict, as a contribution to the prevention and settlement of conflicts.

The resolution on the role of the United Nations in promoting a new global human order, which was adopted without a vote, stressed the need for a broad-based consensus for action within a comprehensive and holistic framework towards the achievement of the goals of development and poverty eradication.

The Assembly, acting without a vote, decided to convene as a matter of urgency a special session of the General Assembly from 25 to 27 June 2001, to address the problem of human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS). According to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, 34.3 million adults and children are HIV-positive and the disease has already killed 18.8 million people.

In addition, the Assembly welcomed Tuvalu as the 189th Member State of the United Nations and, acting on a recommendation of the Security Council, adopted by acclamation a resolution admitting the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to membership of the United Nations on 1 November. Also adopting without a vote, the Assembly recognized a resolution introduced by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea welcoming and supporting the inter-Korean Summit and the Joint Declaration adopted on 15 June 2000 by the two leaders of those countries.

Talking to the Chronicle as the regular session was winding down, the 63-year-old Holkeri said he was personally impressed with how delegates to the Assembly were "intelligent, hardworking, real professionals" and "the best boys and girls of their countries".

One of "the boys", a diplomat from a developing country, who dealt mostly with bilateral issues before his first overseas posting to the UN, told the Chronicle he was struck by the complexities of the issues and found the meetings to be a challenge. It was most difficult, after all sides had a chance to voice their concerns, to put in one place a position that could satisfy everybody, he said.

UN/DPI Photo/Evan Schneider

Another diplomat from a developing country, who has been based in New York for four years, described his experience as somewhat of a disillusionment. "We argue about commas and words when we deal with people's lives in security issues. I know it's important for many countries and I know where they come from, but for me the fundamental issue is people's lives. ... But it's not all negative. A lot of things that we discuss, a lot of the resolutions, form the body of world opinion, especially issues of developing countries. It helps build the momentum needed to address some of the problems."

Several other diplomats echoed that assessment and some said that, with new actors on the world stage, the role of the United Nations as envisaged in the Secretary-General's Global Compact approach, ultimately, is one of a facilitator that brings all sides into the framework.