Press Briefing on United Nations Reform with H.E. Julian Robert Hunte, President of 58th Session of the UN General Assembly

The President of the 58th session of the United Nations General Assembly, H.E. Julian Robert Hunte, is on a six-day visit to Austria. During his visit to the Vienna International Centre, a press briefing was organized by UNIS Vienna on 2 June 2004, presenting the efforts towards the revitalization of the United Nations General Assembly and reform of the Security Council. The event was opened and moderated by Mr. Christian Strohman, Officer-in-Charge of UNIS Vienna.

In his statement, Mr. Hunte underlined the importance of the various international organizations based in Vienna, and the issues they deal with, from drugs and crime, atomic energy to industrial development. Mr. Hunte continued by saying that authority had to be given back to the General Assembly in response to the events in Iraq, adding that the time to revitalize the General Assembly and reform the Security Council had come. He said that these reforms were necessary, making the United Nations a more credible, representative and effective organization. It was necessary to reaffirm the relevance of the United Nations as a global organization that can take decisions on all issues on the international agenda, including the maintenance of peace and security.

Mr. Hunte stated that progress had been made regarding the demand of Member States to strengthen the role of the General Assembly as defined in the United Nations Charter. The results of the progress have been outlined in the resolution 58/126 on "Revitalization of the work of the General Assembly", including the cooperation and coordination between the General Assembly and the Security Council, and the role of the President of the General Assembly, which has been enhanced through increased resources and his ability to put forward relevant issues. Mr. Hunte then touched upon the reform of the Security Council, naming six critical issues of discussion: the size of the enlarged Security Council, the question of regional representation, the criteria for membership, the relationship between the General Assembly and the Security Council, the accountability, and the use of the veto. 

The briefing was followed by a question-and-answer session. In response to the question regarding the possibility that the reform of the Security Council be vetoed by one of the permanent members, Mr. Hunte answered that the General Assembly had the authority to make decisions related to the reforms of the Security Council, although the Permanent Members had the right to exercise their veto power. He also added that he considered this situation unlikely to happen.

To the question about how the General Assembly could be reformed while there were so many challenges in the world, such as the failure in the Middle East, Mr. Hunte replied that the United Nations had nevertheless succeeded in many areas around the world and that he was deeply concerned by the situation in the Middle East, hoping for a quick solution to the problem. As far as the United Nations reforms were concerned, they had been "stuck in the mud" for ten years so the time for change had come, added Mr. Hunte.

Answering the question about the likelihood of Germany or Japan to become permanent members of the Security Council, Mr. Hunte stated that according to the up-to-date discussions regarding the increased number of Security Council permanent members, there would probably be nine more, with the total of no less than 24 and no more than 26 members of the Security Council. Germany and Japan appeared to be fully qualified, but they would have to be elected by the General Assembly.

Concerning the new members' right to veto, Mr. Hunte qualified this issue as a hotly debated one with several options, adding that the solution to this issue had been long overdue, and that he was happy to have been able to move the matter forward during his Presidency. Mr. Hunte concluded the Press Briefing by saying that no organization could remain the same for 60 years, and that the veto debate might bring the United Nations into the 21 ^st Century.

About 15 representatives of media, permanent missions and NGOs attended the press briefing (Der Standard, Die Presse, EUREKA, CBS Radio, BBC Arabic Service). An individual interview took place after the briefing with Die Presse, a leading Austrian daily.

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