Mandate Review Re-launched in General Assembly
New York, 20 April 2007 – The General Assembly’s informal working group on Mandate Review met today to formally re-launch its work. This was its first meeting in 2007.
The process resumed when the President of the General Assembly appointed a second co-chair to lead the process – Ambassador Kaire Mbuende, Namibia’s Permanent Representative to the UN. The other co-chair is Ambassador David Cooney of Ireland.
Informal consultations in the working group will convene soon to review progress, they said today. Then the working group will resume its review of the first “cluster” of mandates, those dealing with drug control, crime prevention, and combating international terrorism.
Mandate Review Stalled in Early 2007
Review of the General Assembly’s mandates was part of the September 2005 World Summit reform “package” and one of the most contentious types of reform. Because of political tensions around the mandate review, the exercise took longer than anticipated in 2006. The GA had authorized the working group for this task only until December 2006. By December it was clear that completing the entire exercise within the month would not be possible. The co-chairs of the working group (then Ireland and Pakistan) asked the General Assembly for an extension. On 22 December, the GA extended the authority of the working group to continue its work until the end of the 61st Session (September 2007).
In early 2007, however, the process stalled while a new co-chair was appointed. Pakistan was elected chair of the G-77, leading the President of the General Assembly replaced Pakistan with Bangladesh as the co-chair. However, the ambassador of Bangladesh was recalled to serve as Foreign Minister of his country. President Al Khalifa eventually appointed (on 10 April) Ambassador Mbuende to join Ambassador Cooney as co-chair.
Drug-Crime-Terrorism Cluster Selected for First Review
Having completed its consideration of General Assembly mandates older than five years and not renewed, the working group agreed on 22 November 2006 to move on to mandates older than five years that have been renewed. The working group decided to consider that second group of mandates according to thematic clusters. At the urging of the Non-aligned Movement and the Group of 77 and China, it decided to begin with the cluster on drug control, crime prevention, and combating international terrorism.
The Secretariat created a registry to aid this process. The registry lists the 203 relevant mandates and their status (completed or continuing). The working group met twice in December 2006 to begin its review of these mandates.
In today’s meeting, Mexico’s representative emphasized that changing a mandate would require the General Assembly to amend the resolution that created the mandate. This would have to take place in the appropriate GA committee, and if the change implied budgetary changes, the decision would also need to be reviewed by the General Assembly’s Fifth (budget) committee. In other words, the working group alone could not change the GA’s mandate regime. Ambassador Cooney confirmed that no GA mandate could be changed by any party other than the General Assembly.
Next Steps
The working group is expected to reconvene shortly for review of the first thematic cluster.
Useful Resource
Status Report - Mandate Review Phase I, prepared by the delegations of Ireland and Pakistan as co-chairs of the General Assembly informal working group on mandate review
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