I have the honour to take the floor on behalf of the Nordic Countries, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, to present our view on the report of the Secretary-General on the work of the Organization.
We welcome the new format of both the report itself and the debate which has focused to a greater extent on the core areas of the United Nations. This was the role envisaged by the Working Group on the Strengthening of the UN System and we believe that the report and its oral introduction by the Secretary-General contribute to a more lively debate on the role of the UN in today's world.
Mr President,
The 52nd General Assembly has indeed been the Reform Assembly. The institutional reforms the Secretary-General has been pursuing throughout the year are beginning to bear fruit.
The organization of the work in four core areas: peace and security, development cooperation, international economic and social affairs and humanitarian affairs has helped the UN System to focus its work. This will improve the coordination of the activities of the UN and lead to greater impact of its programmes.
Human rights is now being dealt with as a cross-cutting issue. The Nordic countries look forward to the results of the review of the human rights machinery. We hope this will contribute to the integration of human rights aspects into all UN activities and towards strengthening of the implementation of human rights. The commemoration of the Human Rights Declaration should first and foremost take place in the daily activities of our Governments and international institutions.
The integration within the UN System is also moving ahead at the country level. We can already see some encouraging results of the policy "one country - one UN" that the Nordic countries have been advocating for many years.
We believe that the integration of UN representation at the country level will prove to be one of the greatest achievements of the ongoing reform process leading to substantive improvements and greater coherence in the relations between the UN System and the host country. This is something we will all benefit from.
The political and financial support of the Nordic countries for multilateralism in general and the UN itself in particular is well known and remains strong. We continue to provide the UN System with extensive voluntary contributions for development co-operation and with substantial human and financial resources for peace-keeping operations. This particular area of UN activities has been highly successful over the 50 years that have passed since the first mission was launched. Today's peace-keeping challenges differ from those in the past. There needs to be a stronger linkage between political, military and humanitarian responses to crisis situations. The early action capacity needs to be enhanced and the peace-keeping financing secured on a collective basis. The Nordic countries will actively continue to contribute to this ongoing process of change.
While there is a need to continue to develop the capabilities of UN peace-keeping, there is also a strong need to focus increasingly on conflict prevention. A variety of complementary activities within a strategic framework should be envisaged covering the root causes of a conflict to preventive deployment of UN presence. Many lives can be spared by early action. Regional efforts, for instance by the OSCE, are essential and should continue to be encouraged in this regard.
This year will be remembered for the discouraging developments in the nuclear field. The case in point are the nuclear tests conducted earlier this year that contradict the international disarmament and non-proliferation efforts. We cannot but continue to urge the countries concerned to sign and ratify the Non-Proliferation Treaty and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty without delay and without conditions.
On the managerial reform process the Nordic countries fully support the Secretary-General in his endeavours to introduce a results-oriented budgeting system in the UN. We agree with the Secretary-General when he - in his report - states that "this initiative is of utmost importance, because no single measure would do more to increase accountability and efficiency in the work of the Organization". The public sectors in our own countries have matched decisions on political mandates with their financing and the budgets have been tied to actual results for more than a decade. Our own experience show promising results.
A budgeting system that will focus on the actual achievements of the mandates and programmes will contribute to greater efficiency, effectiveness, relevance and impact of the work of the Organization. And I must stress that this is not about cutting costs. It is about using the funds where they will contribute the most.
During this General Assembly session we will also continue the process with important decisions on the reform initiatives in the environmental field.
The adoption in Rome this year of a Statute for a Permanent International Criminal Court constitutes a landmark contribution to the rule of law. It is an urgent task for this General Assembly to bring this historic Treaty in place.
The reform of the United Nations is taking place at an extraordinary time in human history - and in a world greatly affected by globalization. If we would summarize this years General Debate, "Globalization" was mentioned by almost all.
It is clear that globalization creates both opportunities and risks. It is the role of the international community to ensure that we benefit from the opportunities of globalization while minimizing the risks it poses. Multilateralism should flourish in a globalized world. I would like to quote the Secretary-General when he said, in Durban, that "there is a temptation to retreat into our shells: to go back to the old economics of centralized state planning and protectionism; or to the old politics of emphasizing regional differences rather that recognising universal values". The Secretary-General made clear that we cannot hold back the tide of technological and social change. We agree with him that we have to find a way to govern through action, to protect our citizens from the disadvantages while recognizing the benefits that a more global world brings.
Globalization is also taking place in civil society. The UN must learn how to come together with the civil society, academia and Non-Governmental Organisations to a much greater extent. The Millenium Assembly and the Millenium Forum will provide us with an arena to profit from such contacts and to learn how to work together for global causes.
The Millenium Assembly will also provide us with the opportunity to express ourselves on the role of multilateralism and on our common expectations for the years to come. We are looking forward to the input from the Secretary-General in this regard.
Thank you Mr President.