Deputy Secretary-General’s opening remarks to the press following High-Level Meeting on the Rule of Law

The Secretary-General called it [the High-Level Meeting on the Rule of Law] a milestone – I would go as far as to say that it is a breakthrough for the promotion of rule of law.  Rule of Law is basic for the achievement of the fundamental UN objectives of peace, development and human rights.  The basic problem in many situations relating to peace, development and human rights is the fragility, with the vulnerability of peace agreements, of development efforts and the realization of human rights.  So, rule of law consolidates; it offers institutional structures; it offers predictability; and this meeting is a strong commitment by Member States to these goals.

The Secretary-General and I are impressed by the number of pledges that have been made by individual governments to live up to the rule of law.  Over 200 pledges have been received.  And here I want to pay tribute to the President of the General Assembly who now has a great success to begin his presidency. 

I also want to thank the two personalities who are at my side – the co-facilitators for this process - for the negotiations on the document that was issued and was decided on today by the General Assembly [by] consensus - Ambassador de Alba of Mexico and Ambassador Staur of Denmark who skilfully steered this process to the successful result we have seen today, which is a very important step forward for the rule of law.  So, with this, I would like to ask the co-facilitators if they have anything to add to my introduction.