From Promise to Practice: Revitalizing the General Assembly
High-level Retreat, Greentree Estate, 16-17 May 2003
The General Assembly (GA) is widely perceived as representative but ineffective, the reverse of the Security Council. The general public has lost track of its role and deliberations, and the media barely covers its activities. To the wider world, it has become a “black hole” within the UN system. Even national capitals are often at a loss to understand and engage in the maneuverings of their delegations within the GA. At a time when the relevance of the UN is under intense scrutiny by publics the world over, can this be allowed to continue?
To address this issue, IPA, in collaboration with the Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, convened a high-level retreat entitled “From Promise to Practice: Revitalizing the General Assembly for the New Millennium.” While recognizing that the intergovernmental bodies of the United Nations cannot be viewed in isolation, the purpose of the retreat was to provide an opportunity for open and frank discussion on intergovernmental revitalization and, possibly, reform with a focus on one of the primary intergovernmental bodies of the UN system: the General Assembly. The ultimate goal of the retreat was to generate concrete suggestions for improvement or resolution in order to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of the GA.
Following the retreat, a Summary and Program of Action highlighting key elements of the discussion and proposals that emerged was drafted for comments and input by participants. The document was circulated as a UN document to the President of the General Assembly and the UN member states to ensure proper follow-up.