Meeting of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Revitalization of the work of the General Assembly (AHWG) on “Strengthening the accountability, transparency and institutional memory of the Office of the President of the General Assembly”
– As delivered –
Statement by H.E. Mr. Miroslav Lajčák, President of the 72nd Session of the UN General Assembly, at Meeting of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Revitalization of the work of the General Assembly (AHWG) on “Strengthening the accountability, transparency and institutional memory of the Office of the President of the General Assembly”
Good morning Co-chairs, Excellencies, Dear Delegates, Colleagues,
This morning we are meeting to talk about the accountability, transparency and institutional memory of the Office of the President of the General Assembly.
Having been in this position for seven months, I have become deeply aware of how crucial these issues are, not only for my Office but for the credibility and legitimacy of the General Assembly, which is the most representative body of the United Nations. I hope this morning discussion will be as open, practical and useful as possible. I attach great importance to this discussion, which affects the way I do my job – and the work of my successors. It is important not just for my Office, but for the credibility – and legitimacy – of the United Nations’ most representative body: The General Assembly.
I would like to contribute to this discussion by focusing on three areas.
The first area is about the evolution of the work of the General Assembly. The fact is that the nature of the General Assembly’s work has changed. It has grown. And it has evolved.
So, too, have the demands on its President.
This might not be immediately obvious – but, when tracked over time – it is glaring.
So, here are couple of main reasons.
First is a shift of work from Main Committees or PrepComms to the plenary.
Second is the expanding agenda of the Assembly. This means the President has been tasked to organise more meetings, more briefings, more dialogues and more hearings – with an increasing range of stakeholders.
I will now give one example of the proliferation of the General Assembly’s activities is the high-level week of the 74th Session. This may seem like a long time away but it is closer that we think. Let me tell you that we have already agreed to convene:
1. The High-level Political Forum
2. The High-level Dialogue on Financing for Development
3. The Samoa Pathway review
4. A meeting on the total elimination of nuclear weapons. And…
5. A meeting on universal health coverage.
All this is in parallel to the General debate and work during the 74th session. And we are still in the 72nd session of the Assembly, so this may not be the final list of events.
The Assembly has, many times, called for a limit to the number of events taking place during the General Debate. I have always echoed this call myself. We must all ask ourselves: With all the meetings already mandated for the 74th session, can we maintain the stature and prestige that the General Debate deserves – as the most important multilateral meeting of world leaders?
I fear that we cannot.
Third, on top of the mandated events, a higher number of negotiation processes require the President to play an oversight role. I have altogether over 30 different mandates – to convene meetings or appoint co-facilitators. I so far appointed co-facilitators for 16 negotiation processes. Only two of them have already concluded. I have five mandates to organize multi-stakeholder hearings or dialogues. All these mandates call for action and follow-up from my Office.
All of this demands a President who is more visible, and more active. But, with no more support.
And it is an issue that needs to be addressed. Because the direct consequence is that the Office of the President of the General Assembly depends heavily on voluntary support.
IImmediately after being elected last summer I turned myself into fundraiser using all my meetings as a Foreign Minister and all my contacts to secure enough financing for this 72nd session. And I am happy to say that I was fortunate enough to succeed. I am very grateful to all Member States who supported the Trust Fund of the President of the General Assembly. But I want to tell you that voluntary contributions make up 88% of my Office’s budget and only 12% comes from the regular budget.
So, I ask myself………what if I had not succeeded? What if I had not had the time – or the resources – to fundraise, like I did? Would my Office have been able to cope with the mandates?
And, the answer, frankly, is no.
So, we are witnessing a trend that there is a growing distance between demands and expectations on one side and support on the other side. This needs to be addressed.
So, I urge you to seriously consider this – for future Presidents and future work of the General Assembly.
The second area I want to address is the institutional memory.
As you know, this is crucial – for every company and every institution. There must be a system in place, to make sure that lessons and expertise, do not get lost, when there is a changeover in staff.
And, I am pleased to say that steps have been taken to strengthen the institutional memory of the Office of the President of the General Assembly.
I shall mention the handover report – which is shared with the entire membership. I shall mention the ongoing efforts to improve archiving. I shall mention the annual retreat, organized by the Permanent Mission of Finland, and the induction training provided by DGACM for members of the OPGA.
And I want to thank you for taking another step, last December. Member States approved the funding for a one-month transition period for staff funded through the regular budget. This will allow these staff members to have some more time, to prepare for the next session.
But let me be again frank in saying to you that this is not enough.
The turnover rate in the Office of the President is too high, for this to be enough. In fact, most of the OPGA team members start from the scratch, each year. In my case I have 29 team members, out of them 6 team members and 3 administrative assistants have served under previous Presidencies. That means 20 out of 29 are new.
It takes a lot of time, first of all, to build a team and to properly induct a team, in these settings. And, this is a luxury that we don’t have.
Instead, there is a very small window for a new Office to get acquainted, before the start of the busiest week of the year: the high-level week of the General Assembly.
So, this learning curve is a very steep. And it happens when the stakes are the highest – with delegations around the world watching.
Therefore I believe more preparation time is badly needed.
And I would like to suggest, in full seriousness, to discuss the possibility of opening the General Assembly Session earlier than a week before the General Debate. This would give the Office more time, to establish itself and get in full speed and full swing before the demands of high-level week begin. I feel very strongly about this point because there is nothing to lose but a lot to gain in terms of credibility of the Assembly.
The third area I want to mention, this morning, is about transparency and accountability.
I am glad to see the revitalization process has been very active in these areas. And this makes the Office of the President of the General Assembly stronger.
I am personally deeply committed to carrying out the mandate you gave me, on these issues. As you know I was the second President in the history of the United Nations to take the Oath of Office. I am the first to voluntarily publish a summary of my financial disclosure online. All resources under my Office are used in accordance with United Nations financial rules and regulations. I also make other details, on the activities and financing of my Office, available to the public through my website.
I consider as very important for the President and the Office of the President to interact and engage. That is why I have briefed all Member States on my priorities and objectives. I have also met with the chairs of the regional groups to share information on current and planned activities. And, I have engaged with those outside this system – including civil society representatives.
I have been continuing a very useful practice of monthly meetings with the Secretary-General, the President of ECOSOC and the President of the Security Council. And it is very important and very useful to exchange information about our activities, which strengthens cohesion of our work and cooperation.
My Morning Dialogues, which are informal, yet I consider them useful as an opportunity to build closer links with delegations.
The General Committee role is very important. At the beginning of my mandate, I announced that I was determined to harness the expertise and experience of this Committee. This has been happening and I have sought this advice multiple times this year, especially at our meeting on the alignment process, in light of the adoption of the 2030 agenda, was particularly helpful.
And, as I have said in the beginning and I continue to stress that my door is always open to you, to anybody who wishes to consult, seek an advice or share its observations.
Next week, we will take another big step – towards a more transparent and accountable Office. As you know, on 4 May, I will convene the very first interactive dialogues with candidates for President of the General Assembly.
This is the mandate, which came directly from you, from the Member States.
Resolution 71/323 requests and here I will quote some of the text “…to conduct informal interactive dialogues with candidates for the position of President of the General Assembly, thus contributing to the transparency and inclusivity of the process…“
And it is my priority to make sure, in accordance with a clear mandate which I received from Member States, to organize a process that is credible and transparent.
So, these are the three areas I wanted to raise today.
I want to thank you again for inviting me to address you.
And I want to commend our excellent co-chairs, His Excellency, Mr. Vladimir Drobnjak, Permanent Representative of Croatia, and Her Excellency, Ms. María Emma Mejía Vélez, Permanent Representative of Colombia for their dedicated and professional work.
Finally, I want to say that this process of revitalization of the work of the General Assembly has produced visible results year after year. I strongly support it. It is part of our efforts, to make the United Nations – and in particular the General Assembly, as its most representative body as strong as it can be.
And, I am absolutely certain that this is a good thing for the United Nations and for the people we are here to serve.
Thank you.