Strengthening the Institutional Memory of the Office of the President of the General Assembly

– As delivered –

Statement by H.E. Mrs. María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, President of the 73^rd Session of the UN General Assembly

30 April 2019

Distinguished co-chairs,

Excellencies,

Ms. Catherine Pollard, Under-Secretary-General for General Assembly and Conference Management,

Dear colleagues,

I am pleased to join you for this meeting of the Ad Hoc Working Group on revitalization of the General Assembly. Today’s debate is an opportunity for me to share insights from the first seven months of my Presidency, and offer suggestions on what could be done to strengthen this Office.

I would like to reiterate my deep appreciation to Member States. Without your generous support – both financial and through the staff seconded to my team – I would not be able to deliver the mandates entrusted to me by the UN’s membership. I thank you.

Seven months into my Presidency, I am more convinced than ever that we must help my successors manage the growing number of mandates given to them by Member States. The 70^th and 71^st sessions received 24 and 22 respectively. The 72^nd and current session received 37-38.

Delivering these mandates is crucial to the efficacy of the General Assembly – and therefore a matter of concern for all Member States. So I hope we can use today’s debate to build on the progress that this Working Group has already achieved. To assist you, I will set out seven opportunities for Member States to make further progress on revitalization.

Given the PGA’s term of office, some turnover of staff between sessions is to be expected. But this creates challenges in terms of institutional memory and capacity. The Office is allocated just 2 staff from the Secretariat and 5 paid positions. And there has been a high turnover with those staff, for different administrative reasons.

I sought to mitigate this by maintaining a similar staffing structure to my predecessor, and by keeping on 7 seconded advisers, and this of course was possible due to the generosity of member States, and 2 administrative staff.  But there is a clear opportunity here for Member States to take action, for example, by establishing a P-5 position in the Office to support continuity.

Member States will have another chance to discuss this proposal, which the Secretary-General is tabling again with my full support. I hope it will be seriously considered by Member States.

My second point relates to funding for the Office’s activities. Only 13% of the Office’s resources come from the Regular Budget. The rest – 87% – must be raised through voluntary contributions. And one of the biggest burdens on the Trust Fund is the unfunded mandates established by GA resolutions.

As a result, I have had to fundraise continuously since taking Office – time that could have been spent on supporting Member States and working with them.

I hope today’s debate will consider ways to ensure Regular Budget support enables PGAs to do what Member States ask of them, in line with Member State expectations in terms of the level, profile and quality of events.  [Yesterday’s High-Level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage – which gave Member States a chance to interact with more than 600 stakeholders from all regions – is a case in point.]

Third, institutional memory. As PGA-elect, I benefited enormously from three handover practices:

• The annual retreat between Presidencies – I commend Finland for taking the lead on this,
• The “handover report”, which is a useful tool for all Member States, as it seeks to capture good practices and lessons learned; and
• The induction programme delivered to the Office by DGACM – especially important as most staff were new. Here again, there is an opportunity for Member States to strengthen the programme – through enhanced content and increased time and availability for the Secretariat to deliver it. I believe we can make improvement.

Fourth, transparency and accountability. The points I made in relation to Regular Budget support are highly relevant here. I will not repeat them now. But I do want to reiterate my firm commitment to positive practices established by my predecessors, such as disclosing relevant information on the Office’s activities and holding dialogues with PGA candidates in line with Resolution 71/323 – the next will take place on 13 May as you know.

Fifth, the workload of the Office. This session, I have had to prepare 20 mandated high-level and other events, and two to further agreed priorities – on women and on persons with disabilities. In addition, my team is supporting the high-level events scheduled for September – including the HLPF Summit, FFD, UHC meeting and the SAMOA Pathway event – as well as 32 co-facilitators and co-chairs.

Then, there is the established practice of coordination with other principal organs, which I have maintained through monthly meetings with the ECOSOC and Security Council presidents, and of course with the Secretary-General. [I have also convened meetings of the General Committee, which could, if utilized well, support greater streamlining of our work. And – in compliance with Resolution 72/313 and the useful practice initiated by my predecessor – I have held 5 Morning Mingas to promote dialogue on issues of interest to the GA. More will follow of course in the coming months.]

Excellencies,

I urge you to discuss today what can be done to close the gap between the number of tasks Member States give to PGAs, and the resources allocated to the Office.

Sixth, communications. We cannot expect the public to support our work if they don’t know what we are doing – or why it matters. My Office has worked hard to improve our communications but we need more support. It would be excellent, for example, if UNICs and other communications resources were deployed in support of the UN’s intergovernmental work, as well as the work of the Secretariat.

Finally, I hope you will again consider alternative dates for the beginning of GA sessions. Changing the start date would not affect the dates set for the General Debate. But it would have a transformative impact on the ability of PGAs to deliver what Member States ask.  

I strongly encourage you to consider the options outlined in the Secretary-General’s report. Last September, I faced the busiest week of my tenure just 72 hours after assuming office. To better serve Member States, PGAs need more time to build their team, get acquainted with working methods and plan the delivery of mandates, processes and priorities for that session. The UN’s 75^th anniversary next year seems a fitting time to start.

Excellencies,

Friends,

Before I conclude, let me once again commend Ambassadors Bahous and Mlynár for their hard work, dedication and professionalism. Seven months into my term, I remain convinced that we can – collectively – deliver on the mandate of this Working Group, and take decisive action to make the General Assembly – the beating heart of the multilateral system – more effective, more transparent and more accountable.

I thank you for your attention.