'Quiet revolution' of United Nations reform beginning to show results.

General Assembly Discusses Secretary-General's Annual Report

Member States responded favourably to the Report of the Secretary-General on the work of the Organization (A/53/1), which the General Assembly discussed in plenary on 5 October 1998. Thirty representatives responded to issues raised in the Report covering, among other things, United Nations efforts in securing peace and security, enhancing development cooperation and concerted humanitarian action, managing globalization, strengthening the international legal order and furthering reform of the Organization.

Introducing the Report to the Assembly on 21 September at the outset of its annual general debate, Secretary-General Kofi Annan stated that he believed that a "singularly inspiring and forward-looking" fifty-third session could "open new vistas" for the world. He remarked that a "quiet revolution", initiated last year with his reform proposals, had already begun to show results within the United Nations system and had given it a greater unity of purpose and coherence. But he cautioned that the international community needed to have the "courage" to confront "with open eyes" the formidable challenges that lay ahead.

The Secretary-General stressed that, on the eve of the millennium, the international community needed to "rediscover the connection between peace and economic security". This "unifying principle" upon which the Organization was founded made it possible to see peacekeeping and development as complementary fronts of "preventive action" that addressed the political and social roots of conflicts before they deteriorated into humanitarian or environmental disasters.

Also, in the face of the disruptive but potentially beneficial forces of globalization, Mr. Annan urged that all parts of the international system come together to find "global solutions" to the "truly global crisis" triggered by the Asian downturn. The Organization's special responsibility was to "restore development to its rightful and central place in global economic strategy" particularly in eradicating poverty.

The greatest challenge posed by globalization, he noted, was strengthening good governance, social justice and the rule of law, as the transnationalization of "uncivil society" - the networks of terrorism, organized crime and illicit trafficking in human beings, drugs and arms - posed a global menace. For this reason, strengthening multilateral institutions was key to creating a "global civil society". An important step this year was the adoption of the Rome Statute establishing an International Criminal Court.

The promotion of human rights was the common thread running through all efforts in strengthening the international legal order, the cornerstone of which was the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 50 years ago.

A revitalized United Nations was an "indispensible instrument" in managing global change, but only if the Organization was relieved from the "financial straitjacket" within which it currently operated. "There can be no substitute for full and timely payment of what is due", he concluded.

Peacekeeping and disarmament

The representatives of China, Columbia, Cuba, India, Italy, Kuwait, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Malaysia, Mongolia, the Netherlands, Pakistan, the Russian Federation, Sweden and Uruguay welcomed the emphasis on a comprehensive policy of "preventive peace-building" outlined in the Report. The ambitious undertaking, some States emphasized, required a broad, holistic approach to security, integrating peacekeeping instruments and disarmament issues with short-term emergency relief strategies, medium-term reconstruction and longer-term development. The Security Council should therefore broaden its role by "invigorating" Article 65 of the UN Charter, to rapidly respond to economic, social, humanitarian and other formidable threats to human security, such as poverty, ethnic tensions and natural disasters, which were often the root causes of many conflicts.

States also agreed with the Secretary-General that sanctions, as an instrument of international enforcement, required a more humane and balanced approach that did not undermine the humanitarian conditions in a country or destabilize the economic situation in an affected region.

The Organization should continue to give priority to disarmament issues, especially nuclear disarmament, according to Member States. Troubled by the recent nuclear-weapon tests in South Asia, many States called for strengthening the non-proliferation regime, including the ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) and the creation of regional nuclear-free zones. Many supported the NonAligned Movement's call for an international conference on disarmament before the end of the millennium.

Also the establishment of the Department for Disarmament and its designation as a focal point for all UN action on small arms were welcomed, as was the success of the Ottawa Convention banning anti-personnel landmines.

Development cooperation and humanitarian assistance

A considerable number of Member States, including Argentina, Bangladesh, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Germany, India, Iran, Ireland, Japan and Sudan, supported the Report's assessment of development cooperation to overcome the marginalization of developing countries. Given the continuing decline in official development assistance (ODA), it was of paramount importance that scarce ODA resources be used efficiently and effectively to achieve priority development objectives.

Some Member States called for a comprehensive financial review of humanitarian activities, including the relationship between funding provided for emergencies and resources made available for development programming. Some Member States stressed that the largely extrabudgetary funding of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs might curtail its effectiveness, while others believed that the 80-per cent implementation rate of mandated activities in the Organization should be further improved.

Development strategies should primarily focus on its social aspects, such as maximizing the impact of sound national policies, respect for human rights and good governance, leading to sustainable development and favourable conditions for attracting private investment.

Some States noted that certain aspects of United Nations development activities were omitted in the Report, such as a transparent treatment of the concept of sustainable development, the problems faced by countries with economies in transition, the emerging role of microcredit and a special focus on the least developed countries. However, many agreed with the Secretary-General that the United Nations needed to improve the plight of Africa through new and comprehensive development strategies.

Also, the issue of refugees demanded special attention, Member States emphasized. Particularly, the efforts made by developing countries to host the growing influx of refugees should be supplemented by international assistance, facilitated by an inter-agency coordination mechanism that also ensured that essential services were provided for refugees.

Globalization

Many States, among them Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Germany, New Zealand and the Philippines, agreed that the disruptive forces of globalization presented the international community with a new set of challenges, such as climate change, that could only be addressed multilaterally. The current weakness of the global financial system showed that the world economy needed an improved "international financial architecture" and better early-warning devices to prevent crises in the future.

Needed further were multilateral measures in international banking systems and enhanced cooperation between the United Nations and the Bretton Woods institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

The United Nations system could provide leadership in joint analysis and cooperative action at the bilateral, regional and multilateral levels, which could prevent its destructive results, while ensuring that it led to greater prosperity and security for all.

UN reform

A number of States - such as Belgium, China, Columbia, Cuba, the Czech Republic, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Mongolia, New Zealand, the Philippines, the Russian Federation, Sweden and the United States - concurred that the ongoing reform process within the United Nations was already showing results. It would lead to a revitalized Organization that was mission-driven and results-oriented. The new global environment demanded the in-depth adaptation of the United Nations and an analysis of the central role it had to play.

Key to the success of the Organization, at a time of increasingly multifaceted tasks and decreasing resources, was its ability to use its scarce resources where they were most needed, thus improving its ability to respond to the challenges that lay ahead. One key area was the reform of the composition of the Security Council and an expansion of its role through closer cooperation with the Economic and Social Council.

Significant work in management, personnel policy and oversight remained to be carried out, however, such as initiating "sunset provisions" that set time limits to new programmes and introducing results-based budgeting. Gains from their effective implementation would then be available for the development account, which still had to be made to work. The adoption of a funding strategy that would seek to combine results and resources in a multi-year funding framework was another significant step in the right direction.

Some Member States pointed to the dramatic contrast that existed in world public opinion regarding the United Nations goals and the resources necessary to accomplish them. Ambitious targets set for the next century would be impossible to meet if the Organization's financial arrears were not paid.

Many shared the Secretary-General's concern that the prolonged financial crisis within the UN system not only threatened implementation of current mandates and programmes and undermined its global role and authority in the international arena, it also damaged the international community as a whole. The only way out of the financial crisis was for all Member States to pay their dues on time and in full. Member States had no excuse for turning away from their responsibilities to the Organization.