United Nations debate on strengthening the UN General Assembly (March 9)

On the occasion of a debate on strengthening the UN General Assembly – which will take place at the United Nations in New York on Friday – the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) calls on the German Federal Government to support an open and transparent reform process at the world organization. “The UN must be able to react to serious crimes against humanity – as currently the case in Syria,” the human rights organization emphasized in a letter to Chancellor Angela Merkel.

“The upcoming 75th anniversary of the UN in 2020 could serve as an occasion for review and renewal. In order to achieve this, it would be necessary to set the course now,” said Ulrich Delius, the STP’s director, in Göttingen. “We support the civil society’s initiative towards an open and transparent preparatory process for a UN reform summit in two years,” Delius continued.
According to the STP, the preparations for a UN2020 reform summit should be started by the General Assembly in the course of this year. “The process should not only involve government representatives from the UN member states, but also parliamentarians, representatives of the civil society, and researchers,” the letter says.

The STP hopes that the summit will reaffirm the principle of state responsibility, and lead to a restriction of the right of veto of permanent members of the Security Council, a strengthening of the General Assembly, the establishment of a Parliamentary Assembly, and a better representation of indigenous peoples in the world organization.

Last month, a group of international non-governmental organizations – including the World Federalist Movement (with offices in New York and The Hague), the peace research institute Stimson Center in Washington D.C., as well as the civil rights organization Civicus from Johannesburg in South Africa – had published a call to action for a UN2020 reform summit. The STP supports this call.