IN REMARKS TO GROUP OF 77 HANDOVER CEREMONY, SECRETARY-GENERAL CALLS FOR REDOUBLING OF EFFORTS FOR EARLY AGREEMENT ON NEW HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL

IN REMARKS TO GROUP OF 77 HANDOVER CEREMONY, SECRETARY-GENERAL CALLS FOR REDOUBLING

OF EFFORTS FOR EARLY AGREEMENT ON NEW HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL

Following is the text of remarks, as delivered by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan at the “Group of 77” developing countries handover ceremony today:

First of all, let me wish all of you a happy, successful and reform action-oriented New Year, and to our Muslim friends, I say, Eid Mubarak.

It is a pleasure to be with you for this handover ceremony.  Let me start by thanking Jamaica for its important stewardship of the Group of 77 and China in a challenging year and, in particular, my very good friend Stafford Neil for his dedication and hard work throughout the year.

Last year, UN Member States agreed on bold changes to the Organization.  The World Summit Outcome Document, shaped in large part by the Group of 77’s constructive involvement, committed us to a renewed and reinvigorated United Nations responsive to the needs of the twenty-first century.

The World Summit also resulted in significant commitments.  In the area of development, for example, there was an unambiguous and universal consensus around achieving the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.  Developing countries made progress by agreeing to adopt, by this year, national plans for achieving these Goals.  At the same time, developed nations committed themselves to considerable increases in development assistance and debt relief, including an additional $50 billion a year by 2010 for fighting poverty.

Most important of all, the Summit achieved a historic breakthrough in the acceptance, by all Governments, of a collective international responsibility to protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.

Of course, these crucial agreements will mean little without effective and timely implementation.  That is why, if 2005, as we’ve heard earlier, was a year of significant commitments, 2006 must be a year of visible results.

It is in this spirit that I congratulate South Africa, Madame Chairman, on taking over the chairmanship of the Group of 77.  With Dumisani Kumalo’s leadership and the Group’s guidance and support, I look forward to a seminal year of progress towards the Millennium Development Goals, and to reform and renewal at the United Nations itself.

Tremendous work lies ahead.  The disappointing outcome of last month’s trade talks in Hong Kong illustrated, in a different setting, the painful reality that agreement on difficult and contentious issues does not come easily.  Yet, Hong Kong’s shortcomings also highlighted the need for progress on crucial issues affecting our world.  That need is especially pressing with respect to vital World Summit decisions.

Movement on a number of critical Summit agreements depends on further action by Member States.  The General Assembly has already delivered on strengthening the coordination of humanitarian assistance, including a new $500 million Central Emergency Response Fund, and agreed upon a Peacebuilding Commission.  Momentum on the latter must now be maintained by ensuring that the Peacebuilding Support Office and the Peacebuilding Fund are properly resourced and supported.

I call on you to redouble efforts for an early agreement on the new Human Rights Council mandated at the World Summit.  As I have said before, the decline in credibility of the existing Commission casts a shadow over the entire UN.  I urge you therefore to act quickly so that a seamless transition between the Commission and the Council is effected during the Commission’s final session this March.

The new Council will offer us a fresh start.  It should build on the Commission’s successes, especially in fostering close engagement with civil society organizations, and in its ability to address human rights violations.  But it should also be able to convene throughout the year, and have the authority to periodically review the performance, by all States, of their human rights obligations and also be able to offer advice to Governments as to how they can strengthen their human rights machinery.

With your initiative, we can ensure that human rights are restored to the prominence accorded to them in the Charter.

I need hardly mention that the decisions taken at the World Summit have the potential to benefit members of the Group of 77 and China the most -- that is, more than any other group of Member States.  A stronger, renewed United Nations, while important for all Member States, remains most important for the people of the developing world.

That is why I look especially to you as we turn our attentions towards management reform.  As I have said before, the UN’s legitimacy and efficacy depend on the integrity and effectiveness of the Secretariat.  The world has changed dramatically since the Organization’s founding, which has resulted in unprecedented demands on the UN, from delivering humanitarian relief, to providing effective peacekeeping in crises around the world.  Yet, the UN was built for a different era.  In recognition of these dramatic changes, the Summit Outcome Document provided a blueprint, and the go-ahead, for extensive management reform to make the Secretariat more effective, more efficient and more accountable.

Next month, as requested by the Heads of State and Government and indeed ahead of schedule, I expect to deliver materials to facilitate Member States’ review of mandates, as well as proposals for reform of budget, human resources, and financial rules and regulations.  I am confident that you will take the bold decisions necessary to ensure the continued vitality of our United Nations.  This is a historic opportunity for the Organization.  Our leaders have already endorsed reform and the world is expecting us to deliver.  Most importantly, the people who stand to benefit the most, those that you represent, deserve nothing less than a strong and effective United Nations.

This spring the General Assembly will also consider measures to combat terrorism.  Pursuant to the request of the President of the General Assembly, I shall prepare elements of a possible strategy to inform your discussions on measures to strengthen the capacity of the United Nations system to assist nations in combating terrorism, and to enhance the coordination of United Nations activities in this regard.  And, of course, let’s not forget you have work to do on Security Council reform.

I hope that Member States will also renew their effort to conclude a comprehensive convention on international terrorism during this session of the General Assembly -- and I stand ready to assist in that effort if requested.

Events of recent years have shown us that the United Nations is not perfect.  Indeed, it may never be so.  But what it must be is an organization which holds itself, its people and its work to the very highest standards of conduct and professionalism.  It must be an institution responsive to the times.  It must be an entity that adapts and changes to reflect the needs of its ultimate stakeholders, in whose name it was founded:  the peoples of the world.

Only such an organization can be your true partner for development.  Only such a forum can further our shared goal of lives lived in dignity, free from fear and want.  Only such an institution can proudly hold its Charter aloft as the universal banner of development, security and human rights.  Only such a United Nations deserves your unstinting support.

I am confident that under your leadership, Madame Zuma, and under the leadership of your country, South Africa, the Group of 77 will contribute to our collective efforts during 2006 to implement the Summit Outcome Document, and to build a better, stronger United Nations.

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For information media • not an official record