Press Conference by President of Sixty-fifth Session of General Assembly

 

In the past year, the General Assembly had made important contributions to the mobilization of support for the Millennium Development Goals, the green economy and sustainable development, as well as the role of the United Nations in global governance, Joseph Deiss (Switzerland), outgoing Assembly President, said at his final Headquarters press conference today.

“I am very satisfied with what was achieved under these three main headings,” said Mr. Deiss, whose term ends on 12 September at the close of the sixty-fifth session.  Describing the session as “busy and eventful”, he said the Millennium Development Goals Summit held at the beginning of the session had sent a strong signal of commitment by world leaders to achieve the Goals by the 2015 target year, while subsequent debates on development had focused on post-2015 strategies to reduce poverty further.

The international community had also reaffirmed its support for the fight against HIV/AIDS during the Assembly’s high-level meeting on that subject, he continued.  Its high-level meeting on biodiversity had contributed positively to United Nations talks in Nagoya, Japan, last October which had concluded with the adoption of a landmark treaty.  The June thematic debate on the green economy had generated greater awareness of the potential for sustaining economic growth and creating jobs.  Moreover, the 193-member Assembly had successfully conducted reviews of the Peacebuilding Commission and the Human Rights Council, he said.  Regrettably, negotiations on Security Council reform had moved slowly, failing to make use of the Group of Friends that the Assembly President had established to expedite that process.

Mr. Deiss went on to state that the Assembly had affirmed the moral strength of the United Nations in March with its suspension of Libya’s membership in the Human Rights Council, putting into practice for the first time the Organization’s principle of “responsibility to protect”.  Subsequently, the President said, he had organized a thematic debate on that topic in July.

Asked about the greatest disappointments of his term in office, Mr. Deiss said he had sometimes been surprised by public criticism of the Assembly and claims that it focused too much on matters of secondary or little importance instead of pressing concerns such as the situation in Syria.

The Assembly was, in fact, involved in very important matters, he emphasized, recalling that, in the wake of the political crisis in Côte d’Ivoire, it had unanimously accepted on 23 December the credentials of that country’s new Permanent Representative.  Moreover, the Assembly had admitted South Sudan as the Organization’s 193^rd Member State, and renewed the mandate of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.  Overall, the United Nations had become stronger over the past year and had stood up for its values.

Concerning his dissatisfaction with Security Council reform, Mr. Deiss said he had to live with the long-term nature of that process, adding that the issue could not be resolved within a year.  Although reform was driven by Member States, he had been able to create a favourable climate for the talks by setting up the Group of Friends, which, at its third meeting over the past year, had solicited the President’s guidance.

Regarding opposition to giving an African country permanent Council membership, he said all Member States agreed that the region was underrepresented, but they offered diverging views on how to rectify that anomaly.

As for the status of Libya’s representation, he said the country remained a Member State, although its Permanent Representative was no longer at his post, adding that he expected the country’s incoming Government to present a candidate to the Credentials Committee as a replacement.

Regarding Libya, Syria and the responsibility to protect — by which foreign Governments may intervene to prevent atrocities when a sovereign State failed to do so — he said Member States would indeed reflect on its application in Libya, since that was the first time it had been invoked.  In Syria’s case, the requisite majority of votes to allow United Nations intervention as in Libya was still lacking, he added.

On Palestine’s status in the Organization, he said the Palestinians had yet to present an official request for membership, but the Office of the President was ready to help in that regard by demonstrating support for a Palestinian State living side by side and in peace with Israel.

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For information media • not an official record