REFORM ENGINE READY TO MOVE INTO HIGH GEAR AS UNITED NATIONS CELEBRATES FIFTY-SECOND BIRTHDAY, ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT SAYS IN MESSAGE

Press Release
GA/SM/8
OBV/19

REFORM ENGINE READY TO MOVE INTO HIGH GEAR AS UNITED NATIONS CELEBRATES FIFTY-SECOND BIRTHDAY, ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT SAYS IN MESSAGE

Following is the text of the message of Hennadiy Udovenko (Ukraine), President of the General Assembly, for United Nations Day today:

United Nations Day, traditionally, calls forth a loud chorus of commemorative messages and plaudits. With so many wise words already pronounced on the virtues of the world Organization, some may say that the subject has already been exhausted and the whole exercise reduced to a mere formality.

And yet, as we mark the passage of yet another trying year in the life of our Organization, I think it is only appropriate to pause for a brief moment of reflection to see how far we have come, where we stand and where we want to go.

If there is one signal feature that characterizes the United Nations on its fifty-second birthday, it is a growing sense of optimism that the Organization is capable of internal change. We all know that in the natural world, one of the key characteristics of a survivor is the ability to adapt to a changing environment. This is no less true for such human creations as multilateral organizations.

It is a well-recognized fact that with the end of the cold war on the one hand, and the advent of globalization on the other, the United Nations found itself dealing with an entirely new array of crises, conflicts and problems. Its tasks multiplied, just as its resources dwindled. It was asked to do more, but to do it with less. For a number of diverse and complex reasons, it stumbled perilously where it used to be surefooted. As calls for change grew louder, some critics began to question the Organization's ability to be an effective mechanism for the challenges of a new era.

Here, at the United Nations, hardly anybody has ever doubted that the Organization was strong enough and flexible enough to step into the next century renewed and revitalized. But in the past, in the rarified air of

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obligatory appeals for change and generalized expressions of intent, there was obviously not enough oxygen to propel the Organization on the road of practical reform.

Today, however, as we mark United Nations Day 1997, our reform engine is running smoothly and getting ready to switch into high gear. The General Assembly is in the process of considering a package of the Secretary-General's measures and proposals on renewing the Organization. In and of itself, that consideration, conducted in a transparent and businesslike manner with the involvement of all interested Member States, underscores the democratic nature of the United Nations as a whole and the General Assembly in particular as its main deliberative and legislative body. In the meantime, a number of important steps have already been taken to rationalize and streamline United Nations operations and to promote a new institutional culture.

All of this serves to show that the United Nations is not only a mere survivor, but a flexible and dynamic organism. Allowing nations to cope with global problems through collective deliberation and joint action, it is an indispensable instrument to take with us into the next millennium. I have no doubt that the United Nations will play a very important role in the coming century.

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