Group of Friends for the Reform of the United Nations

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Report of the Secretary-General, "In larger freedom: towards development, security and human rights for all"

Report of the of the High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change, entitled “A more secure world: our shared responsibility.”

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Secretary-General's High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change

GROUP OF FRIENDS FOR THE REFORM OF THE UNITED NATIONS

In April 2004, the President of Mexico invited his counterparts of Germany, Algeria, Australia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Spain, Japan, Kenya, New Zealand, Netherlands, Pakistan, Singapore and Sweden, to form a group of countries that would promote an integral reform of the United Nations.

The reason behind this initiative is the general feeling that the multilateral system is experiencing a time of crisis and is insufficient to address the threats and challenges of today.

Since its inception, the Group has met regularly at Ambassadorial level and once at Ministerial level. The Ministerial meeting took place on 23rd September 2004 in the context of the General Debate of the 59th General Assembly of the United Nations by invitation from the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mexico, Luis Ernesto Derbez. On 17th January 2005 a meeting of vice-Ministers was held in Mexico City. During this meeting, Members of the Group decided to meet as frequently as necessary and expressed their willingness to submit to the wider UN membership, through the Secretary-General and the President of the General Assembly, a number of proposals based on their discussions, on the basis of an initial list of issues.

At the current stage, the Group of Friends is focused on analyzing the different components of reform and on conceiving a diplomatic strategy that would assure its progress. The Group aims to reach an integral understanding of the reform process that would allow the United Nations to address the most delicate challenges and threats of each historical cycle, not focusing exclusively on the composition of the Security Council.

The workings of the Group of Friends are conceived to last until the end of 2005.

Calendar of meetings

21 April 2004	New York	Ministers
17 January 2005	Mexico	Vice Ministers and Permanent Rep.
21 February 2005	Ottawa, Canada	Permanent Rep.
6 May 2005	Santiago, Chile	Permanent Rep.
6 July 2005	Hague, Netherlands	Ministers

The Santiago Guidelines of Action

GROUP OF FRIENDS FOR THE UNITED NATIONS REFORM

“SANTIAGO GUIDELINES OF ACTION” AND THE GROUP’S MINISTERIAL

MEETING IN THE HAGUE

The Group of Friends met in Santiago, Chile on May 6th and 7th to analyze the various issues included in each of the four clusters of the Secretary-General’s Report, “In Larger Freedom: towards development, security and human rights for all”. The Group decided to meet in Santiago on the abovementioned dates after the informal thematic consultations at the General Assembly on the four clusters were completed, so as to have a clearer perspective on the reaction of the larger U.N. membership to the Report. In Santiago, we conducted a very fruitful and successful dialogue. We made decisions on how the Group of Friends can make headway and assist the Secretary-General, the President of the 59th General Assembly and the Ten Facilitators for the 2005 High-Level Plenary Meeting in September, in the promotion of the U.N. reform. The work done in Chile was very productive due to the fact that the Group produced a series of “Guidelines of Action” for each one of the four clusters. The “Santiago Guidelines of Action” identify the issues where, according to the Group of Friends, fundamental progress in the United Nations reform process can be materialized in the short run. The Group once again, took stock of its diverse composition – by somehow being a microcosm of the U.N. membership--, and acted as a “laboratory” where the plurality of thought regarding each of the four clusters enriched the debate on how to move forward the reform process. Though the Group did not engaged itself in a detailed and exhausted discussion of all of the issues contained in the four clusters, the areas identified in the “Santiago Guidelines of Action” are those, where the diversity of views merged into common agreement within the Group. We believe then, that these are the recommendations of the Secretary-General’s Report which the Group of Friends sees having a great potential to turn into concrete results. It is also important to highlight that the exchanges of positions held during the drafting of the fourteen non-papers by the Group of Friends assisted during our negotiations in Chile. Thus, some of the “Santiago Guidelines of Action” could be read as a continuation of the proposals put forth in the fourteen non-papers. The meetings that the Group has held – Mexico City, Ottawa and Santiago—demonstrate that the differences in views are not an obstacle for reaching common agreements. On the contrary, the Group continues to prove that the diversity of opinions is enriching the collective reasoning toward the proposals put forth in your Report and the 2005 High-Level Plenary Meeting. The Group of Friends for the U.N. Reform will be holding a Ministerial Meeting in July 2005. The Government of The Netherlands has kindly offered its hospitality to host this most important event.

14 non-papers on different issues regarding the
reform of the United Nations

The Group of Friends for the United Nations Reform* prepared 14 non-papers containing proposals on different issues regarding the reform process of the Organization. The selection of subjects for the non-papers was made on a consensual basis by the 15 members of the Group. The criteria used for their selection was to focus solely on those aspects which attracted the broadest support within the Group. As you will observe, some of the documents were drafted taking into account some of the recommendations put forth in the Report of the High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change. This does not mean that the non-papers follow a hierarchal approach on their importance, or that any of the non-covered issues are of lesser importance.

This set of fourteen documents were submitted March 2nd, 2005 to Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the President of the 59 General Assembly, Mr. Jean Ping and to the 10 Facilitators for the 2005 Summit.

The papers reflect general and broad trends of agreement on a number of topics. They contain numerous elements which do not necessarily accord with the positions of all national governments represented in the Group. In each of the papers, the Group aimed at emphasizing the general thrust and core concepts of the various issues.

The Group of Friends hope that these documents will become useful inputs for the March report of the Secretary-General and to the general process of reform that we are currently engaged in.

Sincerely,

The Group of Friends for the United Nations Reform

*Algeria, Australia, Canada, Colombia, Chile, Germany, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, Spain, Singapore and Sweden.

Documents about Mexico position

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Tel: (212) 752.0220 / Fax (212) 688.8862
Correo electrónico: mexico@un.int