CubaMinrex. Sitio del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Cuba

Statement by Jorge Cumberbatch, First Secretary, Cuban Delegate to the Fifth Committee. Main part of the 64º General Assembly Session. Agenda Item 135: “Pattern of Conferences”

New York October 16, 2009.

 

Mr. Chairman,

First and foremost, my delegation wishes to thank Mr. Shaaban Muhammad Shaaban, Under-Secretary General for General Assembly and Conference Management, for his presentation of the reports of the Secretary General related to the Pattern of Conferences. Also, we thank Mr. Collen Kelapile, Vice-chair of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions for the report contained in document A/64/484, and Mrs. Barbara Kaudel, Chair of the Committee of Conferences for the presentation of the results of the Committee contained in the report A/64/32.

Finally we thank Mr. Arild Hauge, Head of Inspection and Evaluation Division of the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) on the presentation made.

Mr. President,

My delegation hopes that together we find solutions to the problems which, in terms of conference services, document management, and the use of UN facilities, have arisen in the last period.

We wish to record our endorsement of the statements made by the distinguished delegate of Sudan on behalf of G77 and China, and Mexico on behalf of the Rio Group. However, we wish to state some concerns, which we expect to be duly addressed during the debates at the Committee.

 

Mr. Chairman,

In this General Assembly session, we hope for a greater coherence and consistency in the information provided by the Secretariat in the informal consultations on the issue at hand. The decisions to be taken on conference services are essential for the normal functioning of intergovernmental bodies. The objective of conference services is to facilitate the deliberations of Member States.

As in previous occasions, we reiterate our strong rejection to the use of UN facilities by some States with the cooperation with various authorities of the Secretariat, to undertake clearly hostile actions against other Member States.

Such actions flagrantly contravene the Charter of the United Nations, as well as the rules and procedures of the Organization on these issues, damage the reputation and credibility of the United Nations, and question the professionalism and neutrality of the Secretariat.

The General Assembly made a statement on that matter in operational paragraphs 12 and 13 of resolution 63/248. Nonetheless, we note that incidents of this sort continue to take place, and the Secretariat just does not take the necessary measures to prevent them.

It is particularly regrettable that even senior officials of the Secretariat are directly involved in defamatory campaigns against some Member States, clearly violating Articles 100 and 101 of the Charter of the United Nations and other standards regulating the performance of the Secretariat’s members.

Cuba will continue to thoroughly follow up the development of this matter and reserves the right to undertake the actions it considers convenient on a timely fashion and in the framework of the United Nations, so as to face this disturbing situation. 

Mr. Chairman,

We reiterate our concern with the status of the publication of reports arising from the sessions of the Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review.

The Universal Periodic Review was established to avoid the repetition of shameful situations leading to the disappearance of the discredited Human Rights Commission, after long years of politicization, double-standards and selective resolutions promoted by those always willing to see the mote in the neighbor’s eye, as they tried at all costs to prevent their outrages concerning human rights from being highlighted.

We expect not to attend again to deplorable scenarios where unimaginable justifications are given to an inexcusable mistake that should have not been made in the first place. We reiterate that the role of the Secretariat is to facilitate intergovernmental works, not hinder them.

We hope to avoid the deplorable scenarios in the informal consultations, where we are given the most unimaginable justifications for an inexcusable mistake that should have never been made. We reiterate that the role of the Secretariat is to facilitate intergovernmental work, not hinder them.

Therefore it is our expectation that the commitment made by the Secretariat to have the pending reports of the Universal Periodic Review ready before the end of this year, is met without further delay. We expect to be updated on the progress of the work of the Secretariat in this regard.

Mr. Chairman,

Our delegation will closely follow the debates of the Committee on other questions of special significance for the works of the Organization, like the stabilization of the use of conference services; the support to regional groups and other negotiation groups, particularly the G-77 and NAM; the impact of the Capital Master Plan on conference services; as well as the factors that may affect the publication of documents requested by the various entities of the Organization.

We hope the current session to be fruitful and for the creation of conditions for a more effective use of the resources at the disposal of those who must ensure the logistical support to the UN legislative bodies.

Thank you.

(Cubaminrex- Embacuba ONU)

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