By Mie Hansen
25 April 2012
Last Thursday, 19 April 2012, the ad hoc working group on the revitalization of the work of the General Assembly met for the first thematic meeting of the session, dedicated to “The role and authority of the General Assembly and its relationship to the principal organs of the United Nations and other groups outside the United Nations”
The meeting was opened with a brief welcome by Co-Chair Ambassador Waffaa-Oogo of the Gambia.
Algeria was the first Member States to take the floor, delivering a statement on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement. Among other things, the NAM stressed the importance of implementing GA decisions and resolutions, including those on revitalization. The NAM also expressed concern over what it called the encroachment of the Security Council on issues that fall under the powers and functions of the GA, including in the areas of norm-setting, legislation, administrative and budgetary matters. At the same time, the Movement underlined the role and authority of the GA, including in questions related to peace and security. Further, the NAM recognized the importance of close cooperation and coordination among the principal organs of the UN, especially between the GA, ECOSOC and the Security Council. In this regard, the NAM welcomed the regular meetings between the Presidents of these organs and said that coordination should be extended to the agenda and program of work of the organs in order to promote coherence, mutual respect and understanding. The NAM noted with satisfaction the informal meetings of the President of the Security Council with all Member States in the preparation of the annual report of the Council, and called for institutionalization of such consultations. The NAM felt that the consultations had helped improve the report but still urged the Council to submit a more comprehensive and analytical report. The NAM further invited the Council to periodically submit special reports for the consideration of the Assembly in accordance with the UN Charter, noting that no such reports had so far been formally submitted. Finally, the NAM commended efforts done to increase the visibility of the Assembly and encouraged he continuation of such efforts.
A range of Member States aligned themselves with the statement made by Algeria on behalf of the NAM but also added comments in their national capacity. Several of these Member States reiterated many of the issues raised by Algeria, including in regard to the relationship between the main UN organs and in particular the relationship between the GA and the Security Council. Among them was India who also expressed regret over the stagnation in the UN reform process, while the outside world was changing at a fast pace. India warned that further delay in the reform process could strengthen the trends to look for solutions to global issues elsewhere. Cuba stressed that the Assembly will not be revitalized by simply strengthening technical issues. The issue is political, Cuba said, and revitalization will not be completed without political will. Indonesia welcomed the Co-Chairs saying that the working group should take use of the Chart on implementation of resolutions, originally developed by the Co-Chairs of the ad hoc working group during the 62nd GA session. Indonesia also stressed the need for cooperation with civil society. El Salvador welcomed the periodical meetings between the Presidents of the main organs but stressed that there was a need to provide information on the outcome of these meetings. Further, El Salvador said that the agenda of the GA should focus on the most relevant issues and not be overloaded, allowing proper space for discussion between Member States. Venezuela stressed that the Assembly must act to both hold the Security Council accountable and reassert its own role as the most representative body of the UN. Iran placed great importance on the issue of enhancing the role and authority of the GA. Despite many efforts to revitalize the Assembly, Member States are still far from accomplishing the task, including strengthening the role between the GA and other UN organs. South Africa stressed the need to strengthen the coordination and exchange of information between the organs of the UN and in this regard welcomed the meetings between the Presidents of the GA, the Security Council and the ECOSOC. South Africa also stressed the importance of implementing resolutions on revitalization of the Assembly.
The European Union (EU) and aligned states said, among other things, that the GA should focus on issues relevant to the entire UN membership and the international community. The test of revitalization is whether the GA is able to take appropriate and meaningful action on issues of common concern to the international community as it did in the case of Syria, the EU said. To the EU, revitalization meant a more streamlined, more accountable and more effective GA. The EU said that over the years the revitalization process had led to many positive developments, among them the thematic debates held on main current topics. The EU stressed that further enhancing public and media awareness of the work and decisions of the GA would increase the weight and impact of the GA’s work. Continuing, the EU said that to move forward, existing resolutions on revitalization needed to be implemented in a swift manner and suggested in this regard that non-implemented provisions should be addressed and analyzed on a case-by-case basis and that this exercise could be reflected in the report of the working group and, if appropriate, in the resolution. The EU also stressed, though, that it was under the impression that a vast majority of the provisions had already been implemented or were being implemented. In regard to the annual report of the Security Council, the EU stressed that the report had improved over the years. Finally, the EU said that it remained firmly attached to the GA as the only intergovernmental body with universal membership and broad mandate with far-reaching responsibilities in the context of emerging global challenges, but recognized the importance of interaction between the GA and other international and regional fora. The EU welcomed the outreach made by recent G20 presidencies to associate the GA to its work in a process of thorough consultation and in a spirit of accountability and transparency.
The United States said that it believed that in order to move the revitalization process forward, the working group ought to focus on only a few specific issues. The US pointed to increasing the interaction between the heads of the principal UN organs and the Chairs of the Main Committees; focusing on streamlining the GA agenda; and continuing thematic debates and special events. In regard to the work of the Security Council the US encouraged Member States to participate in the monthly briefings of the Council as well as the open meetings. The US said that it supported open and transparent working methods of the Council but was opposed to the Assembly suggesting changes to the Council.
Nicaragua expressed concern over the fact that the theme of the meeting included the relationship between the GA and “other groups outside the UN”. According to Nicaragua, the issue of the role and authority of the GA should only focus on the relationship between the Assembly and other organs within the UN.
Belarus pointed out that the GA has the broadest mandate within the UN and that it therefore would make more sense to refer to the schedule of the Assembly prior to the one of the Security Council in the UN journal.
Japan said that the further enhancement of the relationship between the GA and the other principal UN organs should be sought in a practical manner and through confidence-building efforts and that the GA should take the lead in such efforts. Japan underlined that while the Security Council bears primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security, the Charter does not exclude the GA from addressing issues of peace and security. When the Security Council fails to fully exercise its functions, the GA may play a complementary role, as was the case with the GA resolution on Syria which paved the way for the mediation efforts of Kofi Annan, Joint Special Envoy for the UN and the League of Arab States, which then led to the adoption of a new Security Council resolution. Further, Japan welcomed the recently revived practice of holding a stand-alone debate in the GA on the annual report of the Security Council and said that the wider membership should take advantage of this in presenting their feedback.
The Republic of Korea stressed that the relationship between the organs of the UN should be complementary not competitive – in particular regarding the relationship between the Security Council and the GA. There is a need for a more open discussion, and an institutionalization of the relationship between the organs, Korea said. Korea also stressed the importance of strengthening the relationship between the Assembly and other groups outside the UN and said that the GA can play a more creative role in addressing global matters by interacting with regional groups and civil society.
Mexico, as the final Member States delivering a statement, said that the GA should have close cooperation with Member States on themes selected for the thematic debates. Mexico stressed that cooperation and coordination between the GA and other UN organs was very important. Mexico stressed that the report of the Security Council to the GA still needed to be improved. Mexico stressed that political will was necessary in order to achieve GA revitalization.
The meeting was concluded by Co-Chair Ambassador Lomaia of Georgia summing up some of the main points made at the meeting. The second thematic meeting of the working group will be held on 30 April and will be dedicated to a discussion on the working methods of the GA, implementation of GA resolutions and the agenda, as well as other operational and technical issues, including options for more time-effective , efficient and secure balloting in the GA.
