UN Chronicle | GA 57 Session - 'On A Butterfly's Wings'

GA 57 Session
'On A Butterfly's Wings'
By Vikram Sura with Jonas Hagen, for the Chronicle

Article

Even as developments within the Security Council often overshadowed results from other areas of the United Nations, the catalogue of world affairs in the fifty-seventh General Assembly, whose regular session concluded in December 2002, showed a marked turn towards political, economic and environmental concerns. The work within the Main Committees broadly addressed not just these but human rights issues as well.

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Acting on the recommendations of its Third (Social, Humanitarian, Cultural) Committee, chaired by Ambassador Christian Wenaweser of Liechtenstein, the General Assembly adopted 74 resolutions endorsing the spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and reaffirmed the United Nations commitment to the rule of law. In that spirit the Assembly also celebrated the 20th Anniversary of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Secretary-General Kofi Annan called the Convention a "great achievement" in a "world of uncertainty and insecurity".

The Assembly considered the report of the Economic and Social Council when its President spoke about "practical orientation" to follow up on the Millennium Summit in 2000, which listed 14 human development goals as priority work in the next decade. He also spoke about the Monterrey Conference, which networked large and small nations with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, and the Johannesburg Summit on Sustainable Development that tied the ribbon around the development goals.

Acting on recommendations of its Second (Economic and Financial) Committee, chaired by Ambassador Marco Antonio Suazo Fernandez of Honduras, the Assembly endorsed resolutions on the international financial and trade network; one called for high-level international intergovernmental consideration of financing for development. Call it the "Monterrey effect": that the President of the World Bank addressed the Second Committee for the first time. "They are coming home to us", the Chairman remarked.

The link between development and disarmament came up for debate in the First (International Security and Disarmament) Committee, chaired by Ambassador Matia Mulumba Semakula Kiwanuka of Uganda. Acting on its recommendations, the Assembly adopted 52 resolutions, voting on at least 23, which showed the weight of differing views on the subject of disarmament. For instance, the Assembly adopted the resolution on disarmament and development with a vote of 160 to 4; last year, it was adopted unanimously.

Progress showed in the work of the Fourth (Special Political and Decolonization) Committee, chaired by Counselor Graham Maitland of South Africa, with the independence of Timor-Leste. In the Second International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism (2001-2010), more work needs to be done on the 15 other non-self-governing territories. Acting on its recommendation, the Assembly adopted 27 resolutions.

Among the subjects allotted to the Main Committees, the Fifth (Administrative and Budgetary) Committee, chaired by Ambassador Murari Raj Sharma of Nepal, deals closely with UN funding and its operations worldwide. Acting on its recommendation, the Assembly adopted a total of 16 resolutions, among others, on personnel and financial questions, and funding the Tribunals for Rwanda and the Former Yugoslavia, while Japan, which had announced it will rethink on its share of contributions to the UN budget, said "it was striving for a fairer and more equitable" share. To be fair and equitable to all negotiating positions is perhaps also the best description of how the Sixth (Legal) Committee, chaired by Ambassador Arpad Prandler of Hungary, attempted to draft a resolution on human cloning: whether to ban it altogether or allow research for medical benefit. And in its efforts against terrorism, a comprehensive definition eluded it. Acting on its recommendations, the Assembly unanimously adopted 19 resolutions, among them concerning the International Criminal Court and on the significant achievement of the United Nations in these times.

Also in the Chronicle coverage of the fifty-seventh Assembly is a report on how the world community—the developed and the developing—negotiated together for Africa. "The difficulties were the classic things", said one diplomat. But to their credit, they overcame them.

When Secretary-General Kofi Annan accepted the Nobel Peace Prize, awarded jointly to him and the United Nations he leads, he spoke about the "Butterfly Effect". He said: "Scientists tell us that the world of nature is so small and interdependent that a butterfly flapping its wings in the Amazon rainforest can generate a violent storm on the other side of the earth. This principle is known as the 'Butterfly Effect'. Today, we realize, perhaps more than ever, that the world of human activity also has its own 'Butterfly Effect'—for better or for worse."

The Main Committees—Following Up, and Reporting to, the General Assembly

The General Assembly, composed of 191 nations with one vote each, is the main deliberative organ of the United Nations. It begins a new session each year, usually on the third Tuesday in September, with a high-level general debate. Heads of State or Government present their ideas, achievements and agendas, after which its six Main Committees share work.

The Assembly decides on the work programme of the Committees and through its President sends it to the Committee Chairman requesting him or her to make recommendations on those matters. The Vice-chairmen, who are elected by the Committee, assist the Chairman. All Member States are eligible to take part in the Main Committees, which either conclude their meetings by the end of the year or, if work is pending, resume sessions in the new year. In its fifty-sixth session in 2001, the Assembly considered 173 separate issues during its regular and resumed sessions.

In formal and behind-the-scenes meetings, Member States negotiate how best to draft resolutions, with the intention of adopting them without a vote—an expression of unity and a note of pride for the Chairman. With the language finalized, the draft resolutions are sent to the Assembly, where Member States either adopt them unanimously or vote or abstain. In addition to the Main Committees, the Assembly also adopts resolutions in its plenary meetings. There are instances when resolutions adopted in the Committee may fall through in the Assembly; in contrast to the Security Council, there is no veto vote in the Assembly, where even the permanent Council members are one among equals.

Indigenous Art

The Third Committee, in its fifty-seventh session, adopted three resolutions on indigenous people: the "International Decade of the World's Indigenous People"; "Indigenous people and issues"; and the "Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues". One of the objectives of these resolutions is to strengthen international cooperation to solve the problems faced by indigenous people in human rights, the environment, development, education and health.

On 31 January 2003, the United Nations Postal Administration introduced a new stamp series on the theme "Indigenous Art", beginning with the art of Latin America and the Caribbean, designed by Rorie Katz and Robert Stein (United Nations). Eighteen commemorative stamps on this theme will be issued in a mini-sheet format.

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