Sumario: EU Commissioner Ferrero-Waldner - Notes from UN Press Conference on Eve of UN World Summit 2005 (13 September 2005: New York)
This is the biggest gathering of world leaders ever seen. Our challenge here is to fit the UN for the challenges and threats of the modern world.
In 60 years, the reasons why we need the UN haven't changed. We need a system of international rules and cooperation to help prevent armed conflict and give us a forum where states can work together for the common good.
This organisation is the bedrock of the modern world order, and we need to equip it to do its job.
Negotiations have been intense, and sometimes difficult. We have today just received the President of the General Assembly's new draft outcome document.
The outcome we seem to be moving towards will not include everything we in Europe hoped for.
But it is a long way from the disaster that some commentators predicted. Jean Ping has done a very impressive job and deserves our gratitude and respect.
Before I tell you what we think of the latest outcome document, let me just remind you why you should care what the EU says about it.
The EU is a natural partner for the UN. Our organisation was born of the same experience of war, and is founded on the same conviction that acting together we achieve more than acting alone.
The EU is the UN's biggest financial backer. EU member states provide 38% of the UN regular budget and together with the Commission, account for around 50% of the voluntary contributions to UN funds and programmes.
We are also, as a community, a major peacebuilder in our own right.
Take a look at the list of examples we have given you of our work in peacebuilding. It is a very long list. And it is not exhaustive.
From our near neighbourhood, the Balkans, to Africa, Asia and Latin America, the European Community deploys the full spectrum of policies and instruments, from humanitarian relief to reconstruction, trade, institution building, support for democracy and human rights, and from military peacekeeping missions to election observation missions.
That is why we will have a strong contribution to make to the new Peacebuilding Commission.
This new UN body will have a vital role to play. The level of agreement already attained on the Peacebuilding Commission is a real achievement. And we are determined to see it become operational by the end of this year.
Why do I put such emphasis on this proposal? Because the strongest indicator of potential future conflict, is continuing evidence of past conflict. We need to stabilise post conflict states - and that requires just the co ordinated and effective multilateral response that the Peacebuilding Commission can bring.
If the current text is adopted, another real achievement will be the recognition, for the first time, of the international community's responsibility to protect civilian populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. This new step is an important reinforcement of the UN's role, and an acknowledgement that in a peaceful modern world, we have not only to protect borders, but people.
I am rather satisfied too, with the determination shown to conclude a comprehensive convention on international terrorism already during the 60th session of the General Assembly. There is of course a lot of work still to do, but this is an important part of the overall outcome.
The present Human Rights commission is no longer up to its job, and the EU has stressed throughout that reform of the UN human rights architecture is crucial
If we are serious about rooting out human rights abuses, torture, and oppression of minorities; if we really want to empower women, and protect children in armed conflict, we have to do better.
Therefore, I have to confess to some disappointment that we have not much more, for the moment, than a simple name change for the Human Rights Commission, rather than a root and branch reform.
We have argued that the new Human Rights Council should have a higher status in the organisation than the existing body. It should not only mainstream Human rights in the whole UN system, but alert the Security Council to brewing crises. Candidates for the new council should have to demonstrate that they carry out their own Human Rights obligations.
I fear that too much discussion on this issue has been put off for another day: but we will continue to put the case for a really robust new body to be created as soon as possible. However, it is positive that the current draft foresees a doubling of the UN human rights budget, and the creation of a Democracy Fund.
We have been looking for a more ambitious outcome too, on the Environment. Katrina has reminded us in the most terrible way of what climate change could bring. But climate change is only one reason why the UN needs a new, strong and well financed environmental body.
I give you two others: environmental sustainability is essential in our war on poverty.
And, fair use of natural resources is key to ensuring peace and stability. To take one example, can you hope to solve the troubles of the Middle East, without addressing the question of water?
We have argued for the creation of a UN Environmental Organisation. And while that possibility will now be explored, we hope that we can move to action sooner rather than later.
On management reform, let me just say that this has been the shared concern of all of us who want a more efficient UN.
So we welcome the efforts made to improve the UN's internal administrative mechanisms. I just wonder whether the Secretary General has been given the tools to do his job. He needs to be given not only the responsibilities of a chief executive, but the authority of a chief executive to tackle problems when they arise.
No reform is ever the end of the road. This summit is a step on the way in the UN's continuous development. We will need to take further steps. But this summit has brought some progress.
You will be able to judge how much it has achieved, not just by the words on the page in the final document - but how its decisions are translated into action in the years and months to come. We in Europe intend to be very active in pressing for rapid, committed implementation.
For more information, call Emma Udwin at 011 32 498 959577.
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