Informal consultations on the report of the Secretary-General: "Our Common Agenda"

Mr Vice-President,

Mr Secretary-General,

Excellencies,

Dear colleagues,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the Benelux countries Belgium, the Netherlands and my own country, Luxembourg. We fully subscribe to the statement of the European Union, and we would like to add the following remarks, highlighting the crucial importance of the participation of the civil society, which will play a key role in our common goal of wider transformation towards a United Nations “2.0”.

First we would like to thank the President of the General Assembly and the Secretary-General for the important statements they have made at beginning of our consultations this morning.

Let me express at the outset our full solidarity with Ukraine and the Ukrainian people; the goal of the common agenda is to achieve an international system that (i) delivers for people, (ii) strengthens peace and security and (iii) safeguards the planet. Russia’s aggression however (i) targets civilians, (ii) is the biggest threat to peace and security in Europe and the world since the Second World War and (iii) endangers the safety and security of nuclear power plants in Ukraine risking an environmental disaster. It is difficult to discuss enhancing international cooperation while a UN Member State acts in the most blatant violation of the Charter and of international law. We condemn in the strongest terms Russia's aggression against Ukraine and demand that it stop immediately.

Mr Vice-President,

Our Common Agenda underlines the importance of a human rights-based approach and calls for the protection and promotion of civic space. To quote the report: “what is most needed at this time is to go beyond a consultation and advocacy role, and rather for all parts of the United Nations system directly to include civil society in their work across all the pillars of our activities. This is about a shift in mentality as well as in practice”.

In the UN75 Declaration, we committed to make the United Nations more inclusive and engage with all relevant stakeholders, not the least civil society, to ensure an effective response to our common challenges.

Civil society organisations represent a diverse range of expertise, perspectives and lived experiences, and play a valuable role in strengthening and enriching the basis of policymaking. However during the pandemic, human rights defenders and representatives of civil society organizations have experienced a number of difficulties to access and engage in the work of the United Nations. In addition, in certain UN fora, their participation is still questioned by some Member States.

It is time to act and redouble our efforts to ensure broad stakeholder participation to ascertain that the voice of “we the peoples” is heard – including the voice of the most vulnerable and marginalised. The UN should take measures to ensure the effective and meaningful civil society participation and engagement across the spectrum of official meetings and sessions through a UN system-wide and integrated approach.

Digital solutions and hybrid meetings can allow more diverse actors to participate without limitations due to visa, funding and travel arrangements. We also welcome that all UN entities will be asked to establish a dedicated focal point for civil society, if they have not already done so.

Other concrete opportunities to integrate the voices of civil society better to the benefit of UN processes include improved access to information, in which digital technologies can play a significant role; ensuring proper notice and information of UN meetings; timely civil society registration and the possibility of appointing an Envoy for Civil Society.

We fully agree with the Secretary-General that civil society needs to be part and parcel of our work. We firmly believe that in order to enhance the participation of civil society in the work of the UN, we need a fairer, and more expeditious accreditation process of non-governmental organizations. It is regrettable that a large and growing number of NGO applications for consultative status continue to be arbitrarily deferred. Human rights organizations in particular are disproportionally blocked. The NGO Committee, which is tasked with considering the applications of NGOs for consultative status with the UN is not fit for purpose in our view. We need to enhance the transparency, consistency and impartiality in the work of the NGO Committee, by overhauling its working methods. We support the Secretary-General’s proposal to convene a general review of arrangements for consultative status, in keeping with our aspiration to a multilateralism that is more networked, inclusive and effective.

Currently, civil society actors are facing threats and reprisals for engaging in peace or political processes, or in public life at large. This is particularly the case for women human rights defenders and peacebuilders. This is unacceptable. It illustrates that their full, equal, effective and meaningful participation is simply not possible unless we ensure their protection.

Mr Vice-President,

To conclude, at this perilous time for multilateralism we further recognize the Secretary-General’s call for a more stable financial footing for the United Nations, with a financial framework that is fit-for-purpose in order to ensure that full and effective mandate implementation is driven by budgetary guidance by Member States and not by the insufficient ressources available to program managers. We welcome the recent improvement of the UN financial situation, and echo the call for all Member States to pay their assessments in full and on time, an obligation adhered to by the Benelux countries. However, it is clear that the UN faces a structural liquidity problem that must be addressed for this Organization to respond effectively to the many challenges identified in Our Common Agenda. We call upon Member States to genuinely consider the proposals under consideration by the Fifth Committee in this regard, including the bolstering of cash reserves and the lifting of artificial restrictions to cash management across UN budgets.

Furthermore, we underline the importance of full transparency in the UN budget process in enabling the General Assembly to adequately reorient expenditure, thereby giving real substance to the results-based management and the organizational efficiency championed by the Secretary-General.

Thank you.