EU Statement -- Ad Hoc Working Group on General Assembly Revitalisation

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EU Statement -- Ad Hoc Working Group on General Assembly Revitalisation

28.03.2024 Press and information team of the Delegation to the UN in New York

28 March 2024, New York -- Statement on behalf of the EU and its Member States at the Ad Hoc Working Group on GA Revitalisation, Thematic Debate on the Role and Authority of the General Assembly, delivered by Mr. Thibault CAMELLI, Counsellor,Delegation of the European Union to the United Nations

Guiding question:AHWG Co-Chairs would welcome an exchange of views and practical inputs from the membership on how to make best use of Assembly's role and authority in peace and security enshrined in the United Nations Charter to enable an action-oriented revitalization process.

Excellencies, dear President [Francis], dear Ambassadors and Co-Chairs, dear Assistant Secretary-General [for the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific], Mohamed Khaled Khiari,

I have the honour to deliver this statement on behalf of the EU and its Member States.

The Candidate Countries Türkiye, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Georgia as well as Andorra and Monaco align themselves with this statement.

First, allow me to salute the excellent leadership and guidance of our co-chairs, Ambassador Menissa Rambally and Ambassador Cornel Feruță. The EU as a staunch supporter of the revitalization process will continue to work closely with you on this important file.

We would also like to express our gratitude to President Francis for his remarks and to Assistant Secretary-General Mohamed Khaled Khiari for his insightful presentation today.

Allow me to make four points:

1. Firstly, on the role and authority of the GA in general and following the adoption of resolution 77/335 in 2023, we continue to call for more coordination between the General Assembly and other principal bodies, and we strongly welcome efforts to mainstream gender equality and ensure geographical balance amongst co-chairs, co-facilitators, speakers, and panellists. Mr. President, we further kindly ask you to take stock of pledges by UNMS to restrict side events during high-level week and provide us with an analysis of the establishment and use of sunset clauses.

Mr. President, we would also welcome an overview of the upcoming high-level week in September.

1. This exchange of views on the General Assembly's role and authority in peace and security is extremely timely amidst the multiple conflicts and accumulation of challenges we face across the globe. Peace and security can only be sustainably achieved through a holistic approach to the three pillars of the United Nations with a human-rights based, human-centric, and whole-of-societies approach at its core.

The EU further welcomes efforts towards increasing transparency and accountability of the Security Council. We recognize the General Assembly's role in peace and security, including through the implementation of resolution 76/262, which gives the General Assembly a standing mandate to convene a debate when a veto is cast, and the need for close interaction with the Security Council. This veto initiative has been an important tool in strengthening the role of GA in cases where the Security Council falls short of its responsibility to uphold international peace and security.

• In this regard, we continue to encourage the Security Council to provide complete, substantive and analytical account of its work to the General Assembly, including through further details on draft resolutions that failed to be adopted by the Council, or through timely submissions and use of the monthly assessments by Council presidencies.

• We also recognize the great initiative by you, President Francis, who hosted with the UK, an informal session in January on the drafting of the introduction of the Security Council's annual report. We are interested to hear about further informal Gayap dialogues you may have planned, especially in regard to peace & security issues.

• We also look forward to the digital handbook on best practices, data and recommendations, that will contribute to the fulfilment of the functions and powers of the GA as outlined in Chapter IV of the Charter.

1. With the Summit of the Future we have a major opportunity to strengthen multilateralism and renew trust in the work of this Organisation and in the principles of the UN Charter, including through revitalising the General Assembly.

We encourage active collaboration on a successful and future-looking Pact for the Future and look forward to engaging with the whole UN membership, civil society, youth and other stakeholders on this.

1. Finally, increasing the visibility of the GA's work is essential to enhancing public awareness of our agreed actions. This not only requires a full respect to multilingualism, but also the involvement of all relevant UN entities. In this regard, we look forward to the briefing by the Department of Global Communication soon.

The EU will continue to engage constructively in this process and we look forward to the next thematic debate of this Working Group.

I thank you.