Lecture by
H.E. MR. HARRI HOLKERI
President of the General Assembly
"Towards a stronger
UN"
at New England Center for International and Regional Studies
Bridgeport University
22 February 2001
It is an honor to join you
tonight and to continue the tradition established by the University of Bridgeport
to invite the President of the General Assembly of the United Nations to address
your academic community. I would like to thank you for giving me this opportunity
to share my views on strengthening the United Nations. It is a timely and opportune
topic, especially in the light of the ongoing work of the historic Millennium
Assembly.
For me personally, tonight's address is of particular importance because I have
underlined the need for the UN to open up to the civil society at large. This
includes continued and enhanced dialogue with the academic community, with which
the UN already has a history of partnership.
Last September's Millennium Summit gave Member States an opportunity to reaffirm
their commitment to the principles and purposes of the Charter of the United
Nations. The Summit reaffirmed that the Organization is not meant to serve only
Member States, but also the peoples of the world, in particular the most vulnerable.
The Summit stressed the inter-linkages between development, peace and security
as well as the need to ensure that globalization becomes a positive force for
everyone. At the Summit Member States also pledged to strengthen the Organization,
which is essential if we are to achieve the goals outlined in the Summit Declaration.
We all acknowledge that since the establishment of the United Nations, its achievements
have been impressive in many areas of development, peace and security. The mandate
given to us by the Summit reflects our global agenda for this coming century
and as such is very ambitious. In my mind there is no doubt that the United
Nations system needs to be strengthened and reformed in order to enable it to
carry out the tasks entrusted to it.
One of the main challenges is to identify and develop the core strengths of
the Organization. The UN needs to constantly adapt in order to respond to the
new priorities established by its Membership. Furthermore, the UN needs to open
up to the outside world. This requires political will and compromises by all
parties at a very practical level. Unless Member States acknowledge and agree
that to achieve the common good they need to let go some of their own individual
priorities, nothing will move.
In my discussions with Member States and in listening to their statements, I
sense that there is a renewed recognition and emerging consensus that we need
to reinforce our efforts and equip the Organization with appropriate tools to
achieve the goals we have set.
During the fall session of the Assembly I was very pleased to see how promptly
Member States responded to the challenge. The implementation of the Summit Declaration
was launched in December by consensus and with co-operation from all sides.
Subsequently the Secretary General, for his part, responded by appointing a
panel to advise on the world's development financing needs.
The Assembly rose to the challenge in other important ways to strengthen the
UN. Firstly, it was able to agree on new scales of assessments both for the
regular budget and for UN peacekeeping. This was an unusually complex and difficult
issue that had generated a lot of heated discussion. Despite the complexities,
the Assembly, just hours before the start of its holiday recess, reached consensus.
In my view, this historic agreement has the potential of greatly improving the
spirit of our work.
In addition, the agreement will soon lead to the payment of a substantial portion
of the arrears owed to the UN by the United States. Ultimately, the goal must
be a payment of all remaining arrears by the US. Putting the arrears question
behind us will not only strengthen the relationship between the US and the UN
but also help advance the American agenda in the UN.
Last fall, the Assembly also adopted a package of emergency measures to reinforce
the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, a step towards strengthening one
of the core functions of the Organization. This is necessary so as to close
the gap between the tasks we ask the UN to carry out, and the resources we make
available to it. Decisions were also taken to improve the security and safety
of UN personnel, to move towards results-based budgeting and on other issues
that will contribute to strengthening the UN.
Reform has been underway for the past couple of years under the able leadership
of Secretary-General Kofi Annan. But it needs to continue throughout the Organization
in order to make the UN stronger and more effective. In fact, strengthening
the Organization is a prerequisite to achieve all the priorities agreed in the
Summit Declaration.
For my part, I have tried to lead and keep this process moving forward. To have
concrete results on the reform and revitalization of the UN, it is of utmost
importance to have the whole Membership on board. I have urged Member States
to engage in discussions, to implement decisions taken and make new initiatives
to further the reform.
As President of the Assembly I have started with my own 'backyard', if I may
put it that way, the Assembly. I have made an effort to guide its work in a
more effective manner.
In this regard, it is striking how many decisions Member States have already
taken over the years, to improve the work of the Assembly. But it is perhaps
even more striking to find out how many of these decisions have not been implemented.
So how to move forwards on this issue? My experience is that it is often the
practical and small things that count and ultimately add up to change.
One of these issues might be reviewing the agenda of the Assembly. Despite some
successes in the rationalization and streamlining of the agenda, the overall
workload has not been reduced. The fact is that the total number of items on
the agenda has been increasing over the years. The same goes for the number
of resolutions adopted by the General Assembly. I believe that we should now
make a serious attempt to review the agenda of the General Assembly. This is
essential if we are to focus our work more on current priorities and not on
those of years gone by.
One possible way to do this might be greater use of clustering, biennializing
or triennializing the consideration of agenda items. Agenda items of closely
related substance could be merged within a single agenda title or could be incorporated
as sub-items.
Moreover, the division of labor between the Plenary and the Main Committees
has become blurred. To make the Assembly matter on issues of critical importance
to Governments, we need to address this issue. Whilst the Plenary should be
the place where issues of high importance are debated in the presence of all
Member States, it is in fact, often discussing issues of a routine character
and, I dare say, often with only a half full audience.
One concern that has been raised is the lack of continuity in the work of successive
Assemblies. To provide some continuity, the model of a 'troika', used in other
organizations, has been suggested. The 'GA troika' would include the present,
previous and incoming Presidents of the General Assembly or representatives
of these States, to be involved in major discussions of reform and of planning
the work of the General Assembly. Another suggestion that has been made to the
same effect is to make more effective use of the General Committee, the bureau
of the General Assembly, which is comprised of the Vice-Presidents of the Assembly
and the Chairpersons of its Main Committees.
I should also add that the experience of the round tables at the Summit has
inspired some to suggest that maybe the Assembly's annual general debate could
be made more interactive and focus on issues of particular importance each year
rather than cover the whole of the global agenda.
In addition to enhancing the effectiveness of the General Assembly, work is
under way - and has been for more than seven years - to reform the Security
Council. The Millennium Summit Declaration called for a comprehensive reform
of the Security Council in all its aspects. There were several calls - both
in the Summit and during the last fall's debates - for the Council's composition
to reflect the realities of today, in order to make it "more representative
and more legitimate". I hope that the statements made indicate a willingness
by the membership to move forward on this issue as we continue to consider it
in the coming weeks and months.
Let me now turn briefly to the issue of opening the UN to the outside world,
a key means to strengthen the Organization. Better governance requires better
and wider participation. In the era of globalization, the UN and national governments
cannot do their work alone. Therefore, one of my priorities as President of
the Assembly has been to reach out to civil society in order to fully benefit
from its expertise and to ensure its involvement in our work.
In the resolution on the implementation of the Summit Declaration, a call was
made for enhanced partnership and co-operation with civil society, including
the private sector. To fulfill this commitment, we need to explore innovative
ways to enable civil society to contribute to the work of the UN system. I will
continue to keep this issue on my agenda and support all efforts to implement
this commitment.
In addition to civil society, international and multilateral actors, such as
the Bretton Woods Institutions, the World Trade Organization and various regional
organizations are becoming increasingly important in harnessing the positive
powers of globalization. It is my intention to try and build bridges with the
international financial institutions - IFI's - on such important issues as financing
for development. This issue will be the topic of a high-level meeting next year
and in my view, the best way for the event to be a success is through participation
by the IFI's and also by the national finance ministries of the donor countries.
In concluding I would like to reiterate my firm belief: Reform and strengthening
of the United Nations is not an option, but a necessity.