TRANSCRIPT OF PRESS STAKEOUT by Mr. Mogens Lykketoft, President of the 70th session of the UN General Assembly
3 November 2015 at 11.30AM
[bc_video video_id=”4594246168001″ account_id=”1362235914001″ player_id=”d8dc81ba-3498-482f-a111-907a3f8bf583″]
Spokesman Dan Thomas: Good Morning, thank you for coming. Thank you for those watching on the webcast.
I’m Dan Thomas, Communications Director and Spokesperson for the President of the 70th session of the UN General Assembly, His Excellency Mogens Lykketoft.
We have heard some very strong statements this morning in the General Assembly (just behind where we are standing) from the President, the Secretary-General and the member states on the need to learn from the recent and very serious allegations against the President of the 68th session.
Without further ado, let me ask Mr. Lykketoft to brief you on the steps he is already taking to strengthen the institution and integrity of the Office.
Mr. President.
President Lykketoft: Thank you, Dan. You may have listened already to the discussion in the General Assembly, but in an effort to enhance the role, authority, transparency and effectiveness of the UN General Assembly and the Office of the President of the General Assembly, I have asked the Member States today to continue the work on revitalisation of the General Assembly during the 70th session.
With this in mind, I recently re-appointed Ambassador Vladimir Drobnjak of Croatia, and Ambassador Wilfried Emvula of Namibia to continue their work as co-chairs of the mandated Ad Hoc Working Group on the revitalisation.
During the 69th session, the Working Group focused on FOUR thematic clusters and identified ways to enhance this assembly capabilities which I detailed in my remarks earlier this morning.
I would, however, like to take this opportunity to draw your attention to the fourth cluster which relates to the running of the Office of the President of the General Assembly, a matter which has taken on even greater significance with the recent events relating to the President of the 68th session.
As I told those of you who were present at my press conference on October 6, the same day that news of those events broke, I was and remain deeply shocked by these accusations.
The United Nations and its representatives should be held to the highest standards of transparency and ethics.
When I took office as President of the 70th session of the UN General Assembly on 15 September, I committed to uphold these principles during my tenure and I am firmly committed to do so.
The Office of the President is subject to a series of checks and balances including in terms of briefings to member states, audits of the regular budget and the Office PGA trust fund and reporting through the GA Revitalisation process, etc., etc. Like any institution, however, there is always scope for improvement which is why I have asked the GA through its discussions on revitalisation this session, to give further consideration to strengthening the independence and integrity of this Office.
Transparency, however, is also a matter for each and every President and, from the outset, I have taken a number of steps to support this objective.
In addition to that, today, on a new transparency page on my website, I am making available an Information Note on the Office of the PGA that builds on the PGA Handbook.
I wish also to set out three principles of conduct that I and my Office will adhere to during my Presidency:
First, integrity and impartiality – representing this Assembly in an impartial manner, avoiding conflicts of interest and ensuring gender and geographical balance in my Office.
Second, transparency and accountability – providing information about official travel, finances and engagements; communicating openly with the membership and external audiences and complying with all relevant rules and procedures.
And third, professionalism and effectiveness – running my Office effectively and using resources efficiently; keeping appropriate records and ensuring a smooth transition to our successors.
I know there’s a great interest of all this also in the membership. I met, for instance, this morning with a number of ambassadors who support very much the initiatives already taken and got inspiration for the further process and I will count on that very much.
Over the coming months, I will be listening intently to the views of member states on how best to further revitalise the work of this Assembly.
Let me just add, if you go into the website and look at the document we put on it this morning, you can see reflections on the background. You can see how it has evolved, the mandates for the PGA over time. It’s much more workload now than was originally (expected) because of several resolutions and other mandates being given to the PGA over time. And we have a statement on the rules and regulations about the regular budget and the Trust Fund to support the Office of the PGA and a number of other details which I, of course, would answer any questions about as well.
Thank you.
**QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
Spokesman: We’ll take the question over there.
Question: Thank you very much. And thank you for taking the lead on more transparency, which is highly welcome.
My question or perhaps a remark, the allegations against the PGA of the 68th session did not involve any foul play within the Office of the PGA finances or budgets, but it was more an abuse of status of the PGA into personal gains. How can this be controlled in the future to define well the… what’s exactly the PGA is doing and what is accepted ethically and otherwise mandated by the various regulations of the Office?
President Lykketoft: I see the point of your question. And, of course, it’s… and I often met the same problem back in my home country in parliament. When we have a breach in regulations, should we make new regulations because of that, or should we improve the enforcement of the regulations we have? And that’s, of course, a balance.
But I think that, when we determine ourselves… and I think that’s not only for the PGA office but for the United Nations in general… it should be much more transparent. Also, in which contexts we have during our tenure as serving the United Nations, it will be much more easy for you, the gentlemen and ladies of the press, to identify any efforts towards misconduct of the Office.
Spokesman: Question over here.
Question: Thanks a lot. And thanks for doing the stakeout. I see in your information note under official travel, it says that other funding sources can be used including host organisation. And since some of the allegations are that, for example, as recently as August 2015, Mr. Ng Lap Seng and his Sun Kian Ip foundation… he’s since been indicted… travel for UN staff, ambassadors and others to Macau, how is this going to close that loophole in which a business… in… in… a business executive can offer luxury hotels, first-class tickets to faraway places?
And I also wanted to ask you… I’m going to say this, I guess, diplomatically. The Presidents of the 68th and 69th sessions, both of their spouses took compensated positions with NGOs that have since been… the heads have since been indicted, Global Sustainability Foundation and South-South News, I mean the heads of each. How would you address that?
And, finally, would you consider implementing some sort of a freedom of information policy in your office i.e., rather than just putting things on your website, if the press or public make a request for a document, unless there’s some reason to withhold it, to make it available in a certain period of time? Thanks a lot. Sorry for the long question.
President Lykketoft: I think I’m not able to go much further into the accusations raised. That’s not for me to… to comment on. And I can say that we have no access and thus maybe also a procedure that should be changed in the future, but we have no access whatsoever to documents from earlier PGA offices. So I can’t give you any details about what was present there and… and… in that connection, I think, it’s… it’s of interest what the Secretary-General just said about the investigation he has put into force about what is of information in connection with the case in other parts of the UN organisation. But we have no access to any of this now if you look backwards.
If you look forwards, of course, I would be willing to provide any kind of access to information about travelling I do during my tenure as President.
Much of what we have committed ourselves to do has to be generalized during the considerations in the General Assembly over the revitalisation, probably in… in the shape… in the form of resolution. But what I can tell you here is what we will do, how we will proceed with the openness of information during this coming year.
Spokesman: Question over here.
Question: Thank you very much. If I understand correctly, you are not ruling out at all accepting private contributions or charity contributions for your office or for your personal travel, but do you think that there needs to be additional vetting of where these private contributions are coming from? If so, who should do that vetting? And is there a role for the Secretariat to play?
President Lykketoft: Well, I think that the easiest way is to communicate what kind of funds we get for travelling from outside sources. In my case, it has only been about a couple of member countries inviting me and taking upon them the travel expenses to the visits to them.
But… I mean, the openness could easily be that every time there is a travel financed by somebody else, it will be exposed on our side. And we have no problems with that.
Question: Mr. President, I’m confused as to why you wouldn’t have access to any records from previous Presidents of the General Assembly, especially given that some of them had some rather, I would say, opaque and mercurial travel arrangements organized, including Mr. d’Escoto would often be doing a lot of activism, political activism, in some of his travels, and presumably, he was invited by the ALBA group or whatever was happening. But I don’t understand why the… sort of the buck stops with you, and it’s great that all these reforms will be implemented, but isn’t part of the vetting and learning process actually digging into perhaps some of the dirt of previous Presidents?
And, also, can you bring us up to speed as to where things are in terms of your office’s cooperation with prosecutors?
President Lykketoft: Yes, of course, we will try to answer any question we may get from the prosecutors, but as I told you, we have no information sheets about the past. There may be information in other places in the organisation because much of it… what has been taking place has… according to the rules, had to be checked in the organisation. And that’s why I must refer the question you have about the past to the (Task Force) investigation now started by the Secretary-General.
Spokesman: Over here.
Question: Thank you, Mr. President. My question is about empowerment of the General Assembly, if you may allow me to ask this question. On November 3rd, 1950, the General Assembly adopted a resolution, No. 377, about empowering the General Assembly. It’s called United for Peace Resolution. I’m sure you are aware of it. Do you envision during your presidency that this resolution could be reactivated where the General Assembly can take the role, executive role, of the Security Council in case the Security Council fails to address a case of peace and security? Just like the Israeli conflict, the Security Council is being prevented from adopting a new resolution in the Israeli conflict. Can the General Assembly adopt that role or take it based on that resolution? Thank you.
President Lykketoft: Well, that’s a very far-reaching question. I think you always have to study both the history and the charter in order to determine what task can the General Assembly takes upon itself. So I’ll not go further into answering that question, but I think that there are obviously in the charter a number of possibilities for the General Assembly to act, which hasn’t been used that often and could be used in the future. That’s what I can say about it now.
But what we have been concerned about in connection with the present case, the… about the… the accusations activities in the past is there’s a more general problem of the resources for the Office of the PGA, how they are provided.
The situation now is right with this President that we have secondments from my homeland, from Denmark. We have a small amount of money from the ordinary body of the United Nations from the Secretariat. And then we have a number… I think it’s 14… individuals, secondees, from Member States and that adds up to the Secretariat we have now.
What you can say one of the problems that could lead to a too strong word for shadowy financing of the PGA is that very small number of poor Member States who I elect… who I… who I elected for the Presidency would have difficulties in establishing a sufficient cabinet to support the President because of lack of resources. And that’s a question that has to be addressed, not this year but for the future, and I think what the Secretary-General just said in the debate was also around this question of financing. The necessary resources for the increased number of… of demands for services from the President of the General Assembly.
Spokesman: There’s a question over here.
Question: Yes, Mr. President, I wanted to follow up on a question earlier about vetting. I know you had indicated that you intend to be fully transparent and disclose the sources of monies for travel, etc., in your office. But are you intending to put into place more rigorous risk assessment analyses for vetting sources, particularly of private donations? There are parts of the UN that do have a pretty elaborate process for examining collaborative relationships, private relationships, with the UN agency and looking at risk profile. Is there… is there a mechanism that you intend to put in place or reach out to get help from the Secretariat? Thank you.
President Lykketoft: Well, I understand the question is for the whole broader discussion of private contributions to organisations inside the UN. And that is certainly able… willing to engage in a discussion about how to deal with that. I think the… the obvious first step is total transparency about who is contributing. And that’s what we are trying to make for sure at the Office of the PGA, and that could very well be a standard we should try to apply for each and every part of the UN organisation.
Spokesman: Here is a question.
Question: Thank you. Has your office or has any UN office actually had communications with prosecutors about this case? And if so, what kind of communications and what kind of cooperation is going on? Thank you.
President Lykketoft: I cannot answer for all UN offices. I can say we have had no communication up till now. There have been no questions asked to us, and maybe it’s because they know already that we have very few possibilities to answer any questions. But I’m sure we’ll try to facilitate to the… to the right persons and institutions any question we may get from the Office of the Prosecutor.
Question: Thank you, Mr. President, for the handout of… and for the information. You mentioned the first step is transparency. What do you think should be the second step? For example, do you think there should be a preventive measure, such as more regulations on the office of PGA by another body of the UN such as Secretariat? Do you think there should be a right move or… or… there will not be more regulations. What is your view about this as a solution or as a preventive for future misconduct in the Office of PGA? Thank you.
President Lykketoft: Well, I think what we should make sure about also of the Office of the PGA is that all funding go through the channels that’s actually already under the scrutiny of the controllers of the UN. That’s very simple. We are the… the… the Trust Fund and the ordinary body that we get from the UN is under their control, and there should be no private contributions, outside contributions, going in along other roads than that. That’s the way to do it.
Spokesman: Couple more questions. Somini and then Jonathan.
Question: On a slightly unrelated issue, the selection of the next Secretary-General, do you anticipate issuing a joint letter with the President of the Security Council anytime soon? And if not, what reaction have you heard from members of the Security Council about the prospect of a joint letter?
President Lykketoft: Well, we are ready from the site of my office to write this letter with the President of the Security Council. We are ready this month if the Security Council is ready as well. I’m not fully informed about that, but I think we have, within the next couple of months at least, to have that letter written and the process started. And I would like it to be as quickly as possible. We are ready. We have… we have written a draft that’s under consideration now at the Security Council.
Question: Have you shared that with members of the Security Council, the draft?
President Lykketoft: I’ve shared it with the President of the Security Council. I assume he will share it with the members of the Security Council.
Question: Mr. President, you obviously at one point aspired to become President of the General Assembly. Why? Why did you want to become PGA? … what’s the incentive? Why aspire to be the President of the General Assembly?
[Laughter]
President Lykketoft: Do you want the very long story or a short answer?
[Laughter]
It just came to me from the foreign office in Denmark three years ago that Denmark had the possibility of getting this position this year. And they came whispering, asking, would you … accept to be named as a person that could take over this? I thought about it (for) three months or something, tried to investigate what was in it, and … if it was something I could do.
And they said to me, very flattering, of course, that, with your background as former Foreign Minister and present Speaker, we think we can come out without any opposition from the western European group. And that was actually what happened.
And the other part of the answer is, well, since I was very young man, since I was a boy, I’ve been very engaged in international affairs. And this is a unique opportunity to try to do something about peace and development and human rights, which I never thought about was a possibility for me. And I know with the rules and regulations and the going around among the membership, the next chance for Denmark would probably be in 150 years from now.
Spokesman: Thank you very much, Mr. President. Thank you very much, indeed.
[Concluded at 11:57 a.m.]