On 28 February 2019, the Ad Hoc Working Group on the “Revitalization of the Work of the General Assembly” met for the second time during the 73rd Session of the GA. The meeting, which was co-chaired by H.E. Ms. Sima Sami Bahous, Permanent Representative of Jordan and H.E. Mr. Michal Mlynár, Permanent Representative of Slovakia, lasted a little over three hours and featured contributions by over 25 delegations.
The meeting was formally opened by the co-chairs, but the current President of the General Assembly (PGA) María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés also gave a brief opening statement before stepping out of the session. She thanked the attendees and the co-chairs, reminding the assembly that she had chaired the group 10 years earlier. She then highlighted the 3 topics which she sees as paramount: 1) the increasing role of the General Assembly (GA); 2) transitional difficulties between PGA administrations; and 3) strengthening the Office of the PGA (OPGA). All three of which she and others had discussed at length previously in the informal meeting with former Presidents of the General Assembly on the theme: “Revitalization of the United Nations in favor of a strengthened multilateral rules-based system” , which she lead at the beginning of the month.
A report by the Secretary General (SG) Revitalization of the work of the General Assembly (A/73/749) was summarized and reported on by Catherine Pollard, the Under-Secretary-General for General Assembly and Conference Management. The report mostly focuses on the effects of changing the opening date of the GA to rebalance the yearly schedule and ease the burden of transition for incoming PGAs. The three options given were moving the opening from the third week of September to: a) the third week of January; b) the first week of August; and c) the second week of September. While the report did not delve into the deep financial and schedule implications of the changes, she did state that option “c” would have the least far reaching effects.
Few states gave opinions on which option they found most efficacious, but throughout the rest of the debate a few uncontested and popular themes arose. All states gave support for the streamlining of the agenda of the GA in order to contend with the increasing breadth of issues it deals with and to more effectively address those most pressing issues. Some delegations suggested giving certain items bi- or tri- annual status, so that less time would be spent on agenda topics which currently occur yearly but are addressed without substantive change.
Another means for increasing efficiency of the GA body that resonated with the assembly was synergizing the efforts of the GA, ECOSOC, and sub-Committees, with the aim to eliminated redundant events, resolutions, and agenda items.
Similar calls for streamlining were made regarding events during High-Level Week in September, to reduce the burden of required meetings for attending heads-of-state.
Unanimous support was also given for more transparent elections for UN offices and the implementation of a code of conduct for elections, with most states specifically addressing the election of the SG. Those same states would go on to demand further reform to the SC structure, calling for a council that more accurately reflects the current global political climate.
Finally, all states in attendance gave support for increasing the strength of the office of the PGA and overcoming the issue of institutional memory of the office.
Lastly, five states in their speeches made mention of the upcoming 75th anniversary of the UN, and the opportunity to use it for stocktaking and reform efforts, in order to increase the role of multilateralism in global development.
A recording of the session can be found on the UN’s website here.