EU Statement – UN General Assembly: Interactive Dialogue with the candidate for the position of the President of the 78th UNGA

Excellency,

The Candidate Countries North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova and Bosnia and Herzegovina, the potential candidate country Georgia, as well as Andorra, Monaco and San Marino align themselves with this statement.

Thank you for the opportunity to exchange with you on your priorities in office – as outlined in your vision statement. We particularly share your commitment to strengthen multilateralism so as to address global challenges together and to have a real effect on people’s lives.

If elected you will be presiding over a very important session, starting with an especially busy High-Level-Week. The SDG Summit is at the core of this week, and we are collectively committed to accelerating SDG implementation and reversing negative trends in progress towards the SDGs. This milestone event should guide much of our work within the General Assembly and other fora moving forward. The SDGs in all their dimensions will top the agenda during High-Level Week, with the High-Level Forum on Financing for Development, the High-Level Climate meeting, the 3 health-related meetings and the Ministerial meeting to prepare the Summit of the Future.

How will you approach this sequence and ensure a link between the SDG Summit and the Summit of the Future next year, with preparations for the ‘Pact for the Future’ foreseen subsequently during the next GA session?

We see both Summits as mutually reinforcing – both shall help accelerate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and this must continue to be our central shared objective. Delivering on the SDGs requires  reinvigorating multilateralism by making it more effective and more inclusive – with the UN at its core. The SG has made concrete proposals in this regard under ‘Our Common Agenda’, including through proposals for a New Agenda for Peace, a Global Digital Compact, an Emergency Platform, a dedicated UN Youth Office, a Declaration on Future Generations, and the reform of the global financial architecture.  These proposals, if adopted and implemented, have the potential to reshape our approach to policy-making and the functioning of multilateral institutions, in line with the mandates of different institutions. All these different elements will have to be brought together leading up to next year’s Summit of the Future. The GA under your guidance and leadership will be the engine room for those efforts. Grateful for your views on this process.

Among our many priorities, Financing for Development is certainly among the most critical. The last FfD Forum led to an ambitious consensual result, which we hope will be reflected at the HLPF, the SDG Summit and the FfD HL Roundtable in September. We count on the future PGA to be a facilitator to ensure that the UN’s convening capacity is channelled towards concrete action, taking account of the mandate of different institutions and existing processes outside the UN.

On digital, deep dives are a remarkable process through which the membership is brought to a space where a proper discussion on the complexities of the digital challenges is possible. It will be key to channel the wealth of expertise from this discussion towards the negotiation of the GDC and this will be a major challenge for the PGA.

You will also take up your duties in a period of grave violations of the UN Charter, and of the principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence. Excellency, we commend the clarity of your vision statement, in which you repudiate force and the threat of the use of it as a means of resolving conflict. We count on your leadership to ensure the full implementation of the applicable GA resolutions  so that the GA can continue to play its role, including when the UNSC is not able to act. The veto initiative adopted last year makes the UN as a whole more accountable.  

This year, we mark the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This is an important moment to recall that human rights are universal, and that everyone is entitled to the respect and protection of their human rights without distinction or discrimination of any kind, or on any ground or status.

In your vision statement, you rightly mention the need to ensure women and girls’ full and equal enjoyment of their rights. How can we make sure that our resolutions on gender equality are implemented globally, and what more can we do collectively here to tackle the epidemic of violence against women and girls, including in the digital sphere?

Partnering with young people is indispensable to achieve many of the UN objectives. The EU supports global UN Youth Delegate programmes; we count on your active support to encourage the expansion of Member States’ youth delegate programmes. We should use the appointment of the new ASG on Youth Affairs and the establishment of the UN Youth Office to accelerate youth participation at the multilateral level, starting with acknowledging the necessity and value of such participation to our political discussions, and with an honest assessment of current structures – because there is room for improvement. How do you plan to ensure youth are actively and meaningfully involved in the coming session of the General Assembly?

In the last years, we have seen an increase in anti-LGBTI criminal repression and a rise in anti-LGBTI rhetoric, fuelled by disinformation and false narratives. This has incited hate and a wave of violence. How can the human rights of LGBTI persons be respected, protected and fulfilled in the UN?

Excellency,

All these priorities can only be implemented with an effective, transparent and accountable UN, with the General Assembly at its core. The process on the Revitalisation of the General Assembly is a key tool towards achieving that objective and we count on your strong engagement on this file – just as we have seen from the current PGA and his predecessors. Prioritising within the heavy GA agenda will make the Assembly more effective.  Supporting the systematic engagement of civil society, youth, the private sector and other stakeholders will make the GA more transparent as part of a more inclusive and networked multilateral system.

I thank you.