PRESS CONFERENCE BY GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT FOR SIXTY-FIRST SESSION

On the first day of the sixty-first session of the United Nations General Assembly, its President, Sheikha Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa of Bahrain, said she hoped to encourage a climate of “trust and cooperation” among the 192 Member States of the United Nations over the coming 12 months.

At a press conference at United Nations Headquarters in New York, where she fielded questions in Arabic and English, Sheikha Haya -- the first Muslim woman ever to chair General Assembly proceedings -- said that one of the challenges in the months ahead would be to tackle the “unfinished business” of the sixtieth session, including three important issues: implementing the reform process; ensuring that new institutions like the Human Rights Council and the Peacebuilding Commission were fully operational; and focusing attention on one of the great challenges of our time, alleviating extreme poverty.

“I am gratified that Member States have agreed to make the issue of global partnership for development the main theme of this year’s general debate,” said the lawyer-turned-diplomat and champion of women’s rights.  She said she looked forward to hearing suggestions and recommendations from Member States to develop a way forward on outstanding issues, including finding concrete ways to alleviate extreme poverty, particularly in Africa.

In her introductory remarks to the press, the Assembly President said the first two weeks of her presidency would see three important meetings -– the high-level meeting on migration, the review of the Least Developed Countries Programme of Action and the launching of the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy.  In each case, she said, the proceedings would have “a direct impact on the lives of millions”.

In response to questions, she said the United Nations remains the one place which the world’s needy can look upon to help and save them -- and that, as General Assembly President, she hoped to help foster “trust and confidence” among Member States to respond to their plight.

“Since I came to this place, I found that most of the frustrations vis-à-vis this place, this Organization, are the result of an accumulation of lack of trust,” she stated.  “We might now need to recreate trust in the Organization, in order to restore to it the status that was envisaged for it by the founding fathers 60 years ago -- to be the place which maintains international peace and security, that prevents war and that saves succeeding generations from the scourge of war.”

Asked for her viewpoint on the “imposition” of democracy, she prefaced her reply by pointing out that the Assembly, under the Charter of the United Nations, lacks the power to make binding decisions on Member States, and that its role was one of dialogue.  She added: “When it comes to democracy, it must spring from the people themselves.  Democracy is now an urgent need, and I don’t think that democracy can be imposed by one side on another.  Democracy comes through practice and experience, and one country cannot impose its own experience on others.”

“Every democracy is a reflection of the particular experience of a society,” she continued.  “If the experience of one country is imposed on another, I don’t think that the society on which the imposition is made is going to accept it.”

Asked about tension in the Gulf region, and in particular between the United States and Iran, she said people worldwide expect the United Nations to play a role.  She added: “I will work together with the Member States… to bring together a consensus and agreement on the issues which are important to everybody.  Some countries may have a certain position, but every country in this Organization seeks peace and stability in the world.”

On Security Council reform, she said she would work closely with Member States to pursue the issue.  The practice of Member States over the last 60 years has established a kind of custom on the interpretation of the Charter, which has given the Security Council its power.  But, the Assembly, through its discussion and consensus, can change the custom.  “Everything is possible,” she said.

Asked how she felt being the first Muslim woman to be General Assembly President, she said: “I think it is not a matter that I am Muslim or Christian or Jewish.  We are human beings; we have the same worries and problems.”  On the broader question of the status of women in the world, she regretted that, in many places, women were considered less than human.  “Maybe I can do something to improve the situation of women.  I would be very happy to do that.”

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For information media • not an official record