Asserting that the General Assembly is the primary policy-making organ of the United Nations and must be treated like that, India has said its effectiveness and visibility would depend on the quality of its decisions.
Addressing the ad hoc working on the role of the 191-member General Assembly, Indian Ambassador to the UN, Ajai Malhotra, asked the Assembly to assert its authority on issues assigned to it under the UN Charter and prevent encroachment by other organs of the world body on its mandated responsibilities.
Malhotra's remarks assume significance in the context of growing resentment among the member states over the 15-member Security Council usurping its authority and not consulting with the Assembly on major issues, including peace and security, which affect all the members.
These include imposition of sanctions, which are mandatory for the entire membership.
But Malhotra also cautioned that the General Assembly's effectiveness and visibility would depend on its action. "After all it is not only who you are that determines whether your actions are newsworthy. It is also what you do that is the actions are themselves important in determining whether spotlight will be turned in your direction," he told the delegates.
In this connection, he mentioned the forthcoming election of the new Secretary General to succeed Kofi Annan, an area in which the assembly could play a role.
The Secretary-General is selected by the Security Council and elected by the General Assembly. Till now, election in the Assembly has been a formality but now member states are demanding greater role for the Assembly and some are seeking to set guidelines for the Council.
Calling on the Assembly to adopt concise, focused and action-oriented resolutions, Malhotra said no one wants ones that are long-winded or unfocussed. But while making the resolution concise, he stressed, it needs to be ensured that their substantive elements are not lost.
"Shortening the text of the resolutions may not be practicable beyond a point and it is in any case not an end in itself," he told the delegates.
The issue of greater participation by and interaction with non-governmental organisations and others, he cautioned, has to be seen in the context that UN decision-making is necessarily an inter-governmental process.
"We cannot overlook or bypass this inter-Governmental character of the UN. The General Assembly has agreed on rules of procedure that must be strictly and diligently observed. The revitalisation of the General Assembly cannot take place by compromising its rules of procedure," Malhotra said.
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