GA/10806
Sixty-third General Assembly
HIGHLIGHTS
In a year dominated by economic tumult that upended marquee financial institutions to their knees, catalysed dramatic swings in food and energy prices, drove uneasy trade partners from the global negotiating table and spurred long-time adversaries into renewed conflict in Somalia, Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, the General Assembly used the main part of its sixty-third session to begin shaping the broad contours of a strong and unified response.
Indeed, the "busy, dynamic and constructive work period" underscored the importance of fostering genuine solidarity that transcended differences, particularly amid the breakdown of the Bretton Woods system, said General Assembly President Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann of Nicaragua as he closed out the Assembly's substantive session. Emphasizing that he and the Secretary-General saw "eye to eye" on all that must be done to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, he invited Member States to set out strategic development priorities to achieve -- even exceed -- the agreed targets. "We cannot afford to rest on our laurels," he said, noting that there were many important issues that called for the Assembly's collective dedication.
While presiding over the International Follow-Up Conference to the Monterrey Consensus, held in Doha, Qatar, Mr. d'Escoto told participants that there was a "moral duty" to do more than simply rearrange the faltering economic and financial system -- "we must transform it". To review the workings of the global financial system, he had convened an 18-member commission of experts on the reform of the monetary and financial system, which would suggest steps for States to take in securing a more stable and sustainable global economic order. Such work dovetailed with his pledge to harness the efforts of the sixty-third session towards making the United Nations more democratic.
Half the world's people knew no splendour -- they knew only squalor and levels of poverty that contradicted their inherent human dignity, he continued. Every day, tens of thousands of people died from hunger, entire populations watched as their cultures disappeared and, with trillions being spent on wars of terror, the world desperately needed to move away from the "logic of death". Developed country pledges to allocate 0.7 per cent of their gross national product to development assistance were unfilled, and developing countries' ability to service debt was now a "staggering" burden.
"We must reorder our priorities if we are to fulfil the promises of security and well-being that billions of people have entrusted to us," Mr. d'Escoto declared during the Assembly's general debate. It was clear that such man-made problems called for human solutions, and he urged taking "brave steps to defuse the time bombs ticking at the heart of virtually all our societies".
Determined to take "immediate and decisive actions" to overcome crises of food insecurity, climate change and the abrupt loss of confidence in the international economic system, the Assembly called on the United Nations to hold "at the highest level" a conference that would examine the impact of the world financial and economic crises on development. To that end, the Assembly President said he would work closely with the Secretariat to set the organizational arrangements by March 2009.
That request was one of many contained in a sweeping resolution adopted by consensus endorsing the Doha Declaration on Financing for Development -- the outcome document of the Follow-up International Conference on Financing for Development to Review the Implementation of the 2002 Monterrey Consensus.
By the nine-part text, the Assembly reaffirmed commitments outlined in the Monterrey Consensus, the landmark 2002 agreement between rich and poor nations -- signed in Monterrey, Mexico -- to combat poverty and advance development. The text examined the ways in which developed and developing countries could deepen their partnership in such areas as domestic and international resource mobilization, trade, international financial and technical cooperation, external debt and systemic issues in global monetary, financial and trading systems.
The Assembly's six-day general debate, which included a high-level meeting on the state of the Millennium Development Goals, heard 111 Heads of State and Government outline their priority concerns and reaffirm support for the 192-member body as the most democratic forum for global dialogue. There were undeniable signs that the Assembly was getting its priorities straight, Mr. d'Escoto said, noting that urgent appeals had been heard for a stronger United Nations, and for the Assembly to enter into serious negotiations in the coming months on realigning the Security Council to better reflect current geopolitical realities.
Echoing that call, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon opened the Assembly's debate with a sober reminder that the world had changed, "more than we may realize", and that new reality brought with it challenges that were increasingly those of collaboration rather than confrontation. There was a danger of turning inwards, of retreating from progress made, particularly in the realm of development, and more equitably sharing the fruits of global growth.
"If ever there was a call to collective action -- a call for global leadership -- it is now," the Secretary-General said, urging global leaders to embrace a common vision for the future. The world needed a new understanding of business ethics and governance, marked by more compassion and less faith in the "magic" of markets. While global growth had raised billions of people out of poverty, the poorest had never felt it so sharply. With international law and justice so widely embraced, those living in areas where human rights were abused had never been so vulnerable. As most of the world lived in peace and security, there was deepening violence in nations that could least afford it. "This is not right," he stressed.
With that, the Assembly spared no time in tackling the issues. On the eve of its sixty-third session, world leaders adopted by consensus a political declaration on " Africa's development needs: state of implementation of various commitments, challenges and the way forward", during a one-day high-level meeting of the same name. With the text, delegates aimed to reinvigorate existing commitments -- notably those made in the Millennium Declaration, the 2002 Monterrey Consensus on development financing and the 2002 Johannesburg Declaration on sustainable development -- at a time of both promise and challenge for Africa. The event featured four round-table discussions co-chaired by African Presidents, among others, and heard debate on issues ranging from debt relief to the effects of climate change on the continent's agricultural sector.
The Assembly capped a year-long, global celebration of the sixtieth anniversary of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights with the adoption of its own declaration, which underscored that "the living, driving force of all human rights unites us in our common goal to eradicate the manifold ills that plague our world". By that text, the Assembly deplored that human rights and fundamental freedoms were not fully and universally respected in all parts of the world. All States had the responsibility to redress human rights violations, and not "shy away" from the magnitude of that challenge.
Looking beyond 2008 at his year-end press conference, Mr. Ban said there was no time to waste in reaching a new climate change deal before the end of 2009. "Extraordinary" leadership would be needed following the recent negotiations at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference in Pozna?, Poland, and he planned to convene a climate change summit at the start of the Assembly's sixty-fourth session. Other issues -- such as combating malaria and HIV/AIDS, global terrorism, disarmament and non-proliferation -- also demanded attention, and in the area of human rights it would be essential to act upon the principle that justice was a pillar of peace, security and development.
Addressing the current unstable arms control and disarmament landscape, the Assembly adopted a series of resolutions on the recommendation of its First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) that urged Member States to take bolder steps towards ensuring security at national, regional and international levels. In all, the Assembly adopted 57 text that covered nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction, disarmament aspects of outer space, conventional weapons, regional disarmament and security, other disarmament measures and international security, and the United Nations disarmament machinery.
In an attempt to better understand and address the major economic and policy challenges to long-term economic growth and sustainable development, particularly in light of the global financial crisis, the General Assembly laid the groundwork for in-depth consideration of those issues by unanimously adopting -- among 34 development-related actions put forward by its Second Committee (Economic and Financial) -- a series of comprehensive resolutions.
In the sixtieth anniversary year of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) trained its efforts on strengthening the existing human rights frameworks, including by approving a landmark text creating a new Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. That text, which established an individual complaints procedure for violations of economic, social and cultural rights, was one of 58 resolutions and 6 decisions recommended by the Third Committee.
Balancing its ongoing engagement with some of the world's most persistent special political cases with the need to meet emerging challenges, the Assembly agreed to adopt resolutions that welcomed the commitment of the parties to the Western Sahara dispute "to enter into a more intensive phase of negotiations", underlined the need to shore up the Scientific Committee, and stressed how space technology could mitigate the impacts of climate change and reduce disaster risk. Those measures were among the 23 resolutions and 3 draft decisions adopted on the recommendation of the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization).
Acting on the main item of its current "personnel session", the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) approved new contractual arrangements for the United Nations, effective 1 July 2009, which would consist of temporary, fixed-term and continuing appointments, under a single set of staff rules. It also paved the way for the implementation of the new system of justice as of 1 July 2009, approving the statutes of the newly constituted United Nations Dispute and Appeals Tribunals. Based on its recommendations, the Assembly provided $429.5 million for 27 special political missions for the remainder of the biennium and assessed $449.86 million for the first six months of 2009 for the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID).
The Assembly adopted 12 resolutions and 2 decisions contained in 16 reports of its Sixth Committee (Legal), including a text calling for an ad hoc committee to continue working on outstanding legal issues related to the new two-tiered formal administration of justice system for the United Nations. The Committee would meet from 20 to 24 April 2009 to take into account the views of the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary), as well as any further decisions taken before then. Set to be established by 1 January 2009, the new system would be composed of an Appeals Tribunal and a Dispute Tribunal. The new decentralized system would also strengthen the Ombudsman's Office for a more effective address of grievances on an informal basis.
Summary of the plenary and Main Committees follows:
