UNITED
NATIONS  GENERAL
ASSEMBLY
STATEMENT
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE
FIFTY EIGHT SESSION
OF THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY
AT
THE CLOSING OF THE DEBATE
ITEM 55: "REVITALIZATION OF THE WORK OF THE GENERAL
ASSEMBLY", ITEM 57: UNITED NATIONS REFORM: MEASURES
AND PROPOSALS, ITEM 58: RESTRUCTURING AND REVITALIZATION
OF THE UNITED NATIONS IN THE ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND RELATED
FIELDS AND ITEM 59, STRENGTHENING OF THE UNITED NATIONS
SYSTEM: REPORTS OF THE SECRETARY GENERAL
31 OCTOBER 2003
Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,
Sixty-one
delegations have spoken in the debate under item 55: "Revitalization
of the work of the General Assembly", Item 57: United
Nations reform: measures and proposals, Item 58: Restructuring
and revitalization of the United Nations in the economic,
social and related fields and Item 59, Strengthening of
the United Nations system: reports of the Secretary General.
I believe it important to note, at the outset, that delegations
speaking under this cluster of items centred their statements
on items 55 and 58. Little or no reference was made to items
57 and 58. This, I believe, is an indication of where some
of our problems lie in respect of reform and revitalisation
of the General Assembly and of the United Nations as a whole.
We should, in our deliberation, ponder why we have two items
before us for discussion, on which few delegations cared
to comment.
The
discussion on Items 55 and 58 have been both interesting
and thought provoking. Delegations have been particularly
reflective and conscientious in their approach to Item 55
on revitalisation of the General Assembly. It is on this
item that I will focus my assessment today.
I am
both pleased and encouraged by the overall mood of the debate,
and particularly by the many concrete proposals and suggestions
that delegations have made. I sense a gathering momentum
in favour of taking decisive steps towards revitalisation
of the Assembly. I also sense an emerging consensus that
we should take action expeditiously. I see no reason for
further delay.
The
Informal Note that I circulated to delegations on 15 October
2003 has been well received. I appreciate your support for
this document as a worthwhile initiative, and the generally
held view that it forms a good basis on which to begin our
work. I especially pleased that the two clusters of issues
that are identified in the Informal Note have been generally
welcomed as a useful conceptual framework.
Among
the specific issues addressed in the debate, it is noteworthy
that a number appear to give rise to particular concerns,
and bear centrally on decisions that must be taken in the
context of the of the revitalisation exercise. The first
and all encompassing is the political position and status
of the General Assembly. In this regard, attention was
repeatedly drawn to the passage in the Millennium Declaration
in which Heads of State and Government resolved, "to
reaffirm the central position of the General Assembly as
the chief deliberative, policy-making and representative
organ of the United Nations, and to enable it to play its
role more effectively." This objective, I believe,
should form the backdrop of our negotiations in the weeks
ahead.
The
view has also been taken that the relationship between
the General Assembly and the Security Council needs to be
addressed. In this context, consideration by the Council
of issues that seem to fall more naturally within the purview
of the Assembly and the Economic and Social Council is a
development to which further attention must be paid in our
discussions.
The view has been strongly advanced in the course of the
debate that for the General Assembly's resolutions and
decisions to be better respected, they will have
to become better known. Attention was drawn to the advocacy
role the Department of Public Information should more actively
play, in bringing this about.
In the
consideration of possible means of strengthening the General
Assembly, many references were made too the need to strengthen
the Office of the President, both as a means of better
managing each session and of ensuring needed continuity
and institutional memory from session to session. Such strengthening
would require augmenting the resources available to the
Office.
There
is also an emerging view that the role of the Presidency
itself needs to be reviewed. Comments were made, in this
regard, on the possibilities of extending the term of the
President, re-electing the President to a second term, or
instituting a troika system. Each of these issues might
be further considered.
The
idea of making more effective use of the General Committee
as an organizational and coordinating mechanism has
been generally welcomed. The initial informal steps I have
taken in this respect might now be fleshed out and formalised.
The
implementation of resolutions of the Assembly was a
crucial concern raised in the debate. Comments were made
concerning the many resolutions that went unimplemented
or were poorly followed up. This is, indeed, a significant
deficit in our activities to which greater attention must
be paid. Suggestions have been made for better monitoring
of the process of implementation, which should be examined
in detail.
A vital
part of ensuring more effective implementation must lie
in drafting better resolution texts that would make
resolutions more "user friendly" and thus more
"implementable". There appears to be general agreement
that resolutions should be shorter, and to the point, and
to the extent possible, should refrain from the excessive
repetition of previous resolutions. I trust that the comprehensive
resolution that I anticipate will be the result of the negotiations
that will now commence on the revitalisation item will itself
be a model of what resolutions of the future might look
like.
Views
have begun to converge on some points regarding the nature
and function of the Plenary itself. The rationale for
compressing the Plenary's work into a three-month period,
whatever it may have once been, no longer appears to be
persuasive. An alternative should be sought to this practice
that has the Assembly considering, over a period of approximately
thirteen weeks, some two hundred resolutions. As the Assembly's
session is for one year, scheduling the work of the Assembly
over this longer period seems desirable.
Notable
interest was shown in positioning the Plenary to approach
its work more thematically. This is an issue that should
now receive further consideration, both in relation to the
organisation of the General Debate and the organisation
of the Agenda of the General Assembly.
A consensus has begun to develop around the importance
of reducing the length of the Assembly's Agenda. Delegations
have acknowledged that the substantive Agenda, as currently
presented, creates a workload that is difficult to contend
with. At the same time, the increasing awareness that the
Agenda should reflect contemporary realities was evident
from the debate, and is a matter that would require attention
in our revitalisation discussions.
Progress has been made in biennialization, triennialization
and clustering of items for discussion on the Assembly's
Agenda, and this has been widely recognised. The general
view appears to be that the time has come to make further
progress on these fronts, as we proceed with the revitalisation
exercise.
The
issue of documentation overload is one that is inextricably
linked to matters concerning the Agenda, resolutions and
the biennialization, triennialization and clustering of
items. It would be essential to take up this matter in this
broader context.
Comments
have been made concerning aspects of the revitalisation
exercise that concern the main committees. Some of the Committees
are themselves reviewing their work methods and procedures,
to improve effectiveness. These initiatives will need to
be integrated into the overall revitalisation exercise.
Excellencies, distinguished delegates:
I hope
that my assessment of the revitalisation debate will assist
you as we move ahead in our work. With regard to the next
steps, I wish to advise you that I have invited six Permanent
Representatives to serve as Facilitators for this item.
I appreciate, and am pleased that they have agreed to do
so. The Facilitators are:
1) H.E.
Mr. Abdallah Baali, Permanent Representative of ALGERIA
2) H.E.
Mr. Stafford O. Neil, Permanent Representative of JAMAICA
3) H.E.
Mr. Dirk Jan van den Berg, Permanent Representative of the
NETHERLANDS
4) H.E.
Mr. Kishore Mahbubani, Permanent Representative of SINGAPORE
5) H.E. Mr. Roman Kirn, Permanent Representative of SLOVENIA
6) H.E.
Mr. Dumisani Shadrack Kumalo, Permanent Representative of
SOUTH AFRICA
I shall
be meeting the facilitators as a group shortly, so that
we can determine a framework and time frame for their work.
It is my intention to present a resolution of the President
for consideration by the Assembly before it concludes the
substantive part of its session in December of this year.
I know that I can count on you to give the Facilitators
the necessary support and cooperation, so that we can meet
this goal.
I look
forward to working with you and benefiting from your continued
support as we pursue together these critical questions that
have been identified by our Heads of State and Governments
and other high-level representatives as matters of priority
for the General Assembly.
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