A/71/PV.46 General Assembly

In connection with agenda items 13 and 117, Members will recall that the Assembly held the high-level plenary meeting on addressing large movements of refugees and migrants at its 3rd to 7th plenary meetings, and adopted resolution 71/1, entitled “New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants”, at its 3rd plenary meeting, on 19 September 2016. Under agenda item 13, the Assembly has before it a note by the Secretary-General, entitled “Literacy for life: shaping future agendas and education for democracy” and circulated in document A/71/177, and a note by the Secretary-General, entitled “Technology Bank for the Least Developed Countries” and circulated in document A/71/363. I now give the floor to the representative of Mongolia to introduce draft resolution A/71/L.10.

I have the honour of introducing draft resolution A/71/L.10, entitled “Education for Democracy”, on behalf of the sponsors, which represent various regions, as well as my own country, Mongolia. The text, which has been fully agreed upon by all of the delegations that attended the negotiation meetings, covers the meaningful advancements in efforts to promote education for democracy. According to the report of the Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization on literacy for life (see A/71/177), the links between human rights, democracy and development have been well established and have been made even more explicit in the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. We recall that the Sustainable Development Goals and targets are integrated and indivisible, balance the three dimensions of sustainable development and acknowledge the importance of taking measures to ensure inclusive and equitable high-quality education and to promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. We recognize that education is the main driver of development and that it is essential for peace, tolerance, human fulfilment and sustainable development, as well as being key to achieving full employment and poverty eradication. The text underscores the important forums and initiatives that are vital for promoting education for democracy and the related knowledge and skills. Among them, the draft resolution takes note, first, of the Secretary-General’s Global Education First Initiative, launched in 2012; secondly, the Incheon Declaration: Education 2030: Towards inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning for all, adopted at the World Education Forum 2015; and, thirdly, the 2016 Global Education Monitoring Report, which monitors the progress towards the education targets within the new Sustainable Development Goals framework. Moreover, the draft resolution acknowledges the important contributions of civil society, academia, the private sector and other stakeholders, including United Nations agencies, funds and programmes, in support of democracy and education for democracy. Through the draft resolution, the General Assembly strongly encourages Member States and national, regional and local education authorities, where appropriate, to continue integrating education for democracy, along with civic education, human rights education and education for sustainable development, into their education standards, and to develop and strengthen programmes and educational activities aimed at the promotion and consolidation of democratic values, democratic governance and human rights. I wish to take this opportunity to extend our gratitude to all of the delegations that actively participated in our discussions on the draft text, as well as to all sponsors for their support. In conclusion, on behalf of all of the sponsors, I want to express my sincere hope that the draft resolution will receive the unanimous support of Member States.

Let me begin my extending our appreciation for the three reports by the Secretary- General dealing with today’s agenda items (A/71/345, A/71/534 and A/71/378). In 2015, three historic milestones were reached: the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. Every day must be devoted to implementing those three agreements for people, the planet, prosperity, partnerships and peace. I would like to take this opportunity to add some observations on the issue of the United Nations in global economic governance. The three agreements offer great opportunities for peoples and countries. However, slow and low global economic growth poses challenges. The world today is still unpredictable in both the political and the economic arenas. New challenges, such as cyberthreats and large influxes of migrants, are emerging as growing cross- border concerns. That requires closer collaboration and abundant innovation in our work, both within and among countries. In that context, there are measures that the United Nations could take to support the objectives of the three agreements. First, the United Nations should support national development efforts by further promoting and enabling the international environment, as well as by steadying and accelerating economic development. There needs to be coherent and mutually supporting world trade, digital technology, monetary and financial systems and strengthened and enhanced global economic governance, as well as respect for each country’s policy space. Secondly, the United Nations needs to strengthen partnerships, including within the regional framework, so as to support various multi-stakeholder forums and achieve our objectives. Thirdly, reforms need to be implemented promptly and consistently, and international regulatory cooperation must be strengthened. In economic governance, priorities should also be given to the implementation of the International Monetary Fund quota and governance reforms agreed in 2010. Fourthly, the elements of the multilateral system, including the United Nations system’s funds and programmes, should coordinate closely with each other and focus on their specific mandates and comparative advantages, while avoiding duplication in assisting countries to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Indonesia also welcomes the revitalization of the General Assembly and resolution 70/305, which builds on resolution 69/321, as well as other United Nations restructuring processes, which will help efforts to effectively implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and other internationally agreed agreements. The implementation of the new, post-2015 development agenda requires massive resources indeed. That, in turn, requires more extensive partnerships and innovative sources of financing, in which the private sector and civil society play tremendous complementary roles in job creation and community empowerment. Still, we believe that the financing mechanism should be coupled with the sharing of best practices and knowledge, technology transfers and wider access to markets for countries in need. We also need to focus on having better-quality data in order to develop appropriate policies and strategies that can integrate the three pillars of sustainable development. We also believe that enhanced cooperation with regional organizations and efforts to localize the SDGs with local governance will serve as highly pertinent elements in achieving the Goals and targets. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations has already made connectivity our priority area in order to increase economic growth and prosperity. As the largest archipelagic and fourth most populous country in the world, with vast diversity in cultures and geography, Indonesia successfully achieved 48 of the 67 indicators of the Millennium Development Goals by the end of 2015, including halving extreme poverty. Currently, Indonesia is capable of implementing nearly 100 of the 169 global targets set out in the 17 SDGs. Government programmes such as the development of remote islands and the establishment of a sea-toll infrastructure will add to efforts to end poverty, as called for in the SDGs. Our programme for developing sustainable fisheries with local communities has clearly improved the livelihood of our fisheries and will contribute to the realization of SDG 14. New regulations on the implementation of the SDGs will be issued this year in order to strengthen institutional capacity and coordination among the various stakeholders. In short, we believe that by working together we can accomplish more in order to leave no one behind.

South Africa supports the implementation of resolution 67/289, entitled “The United Nations in global economic governance”, adopted on 9 July 2013. We thank the Secretary-General for his report (A/71/378) on that important matter. Many countries, particularly developing countries, continue to lag behind in development owing to, inter alia, the current global economic governance and trading system, which continues to fail to address the needs of developing countries adequately. There is therefore an urgent need to reform the global economic governance and trading system. We believe that the availability of adequate financing is key to the development of countries. However, the systemic fragilities and imbalances in the international financial system have had negative consequences on the flow of financing to developing countries. The insufficiency of institutional arrangements for global economic governance highlights the need to address the inadequacy of the international monetary, financial and trading systems. It is critical to address systemic issues so that Member States can better achieve their development goals, including the Sustainable Development Goals. The world financial and economic crises of 2008 and 2009 had a negative impact on the functioning of the international financial system. The adverse impact of the world financial and economic crises, including on development, and the subsequent uneven, fragile and slow recovery of the global economy persist, with developing countries being the most affected. In addition, the world financial and economic crises have raised pertinent questions about the suitability of the international financial system for the contemporary international political economy, including the governance structures of the international financial institutions themselves. That requires reforming the Bretton Woods institutions in the areas of representation of and participation by developing countries in decision-making processes. South Africa believes that there should be enhanced international commitment to assisting all countries to achieve sustainable development in its three dimensions in a balanced and integrated manner. South Africa has consistently advocated for a fundamental reform of the international financial institutions, relating to their mandates, representation, scope, governance, responsibility, responsiveness and development orientation, in order to ensure that they are democratic, responsive and accountable, reflecting the realities of the twenty-first century. We welcome the 7International Monetary Fund (IMF) quota reforms of 2010, including the inclusion of the Chinese yuan in the basket of currencies for special drawing rights. However, South Africa continues to call for the improved representation of Africa on the IMF Board of Governors, as well as additional measures required outside the quota-formula discussions. Furthermore, South Africa believes that the appointment of the heads of the IMF and the World Bank should be based on merit, without regard to nationality. Also, the Bretton Woods institutions should further strengthen the diversity of their staff in all its dimensions, including nationality, gender and developing-country experience. We would like to reaffirm that international trade is an important engine for inclusive growth and poverty eradication. The international community needs to recommit to combating protectionism in all its forms. It is our firm view that World Trade Organization (WTO) members need to redouble their efforts to promptly conclude the negotiations on the Doha Development Agenda. Development concerns form an integral part of the Doha Development Agenda, which places the needs and interests of developing countries at the heart of the Doha Work Programme. Furthermore, we urge WTO members to accelerate the accession of all developing countries engaged in negotiations for WTO membership. South Africa recognizes the significant potential of regional economic integration to promote inclusive and sustainable development. With regard to Africa, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development reinforces the continent’s development blueprint and Agenda 2063 and its First Ten-Year Implementation Plan. The realization of an equitable and democratic global economic governance structure cannot be further delayed. South Africa therefore urges the international community to view issues relating to global economic governance in a spirit of inclusiveness and to commit to advancing that priority with a sense of vigour and great determination.

My delegation would like to thank the Secretary-General for his reports entitled “Supporting the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development” (A/71/534) and “The United Nations in global economic governance” (A/71/378). It would have been desirable to have been notified sooner of this important debate, so that more delegations would have been able to participate. We agree with what was expressed in the report on supporting the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, which points out, very sensibly, that we must promote synergies in the Organization and encourage interdependence among the three pillars of the United Nations, namely, development, peace and security, and human rights. The United Nations attaining its seventieth anniversary has been accompanied by a paradigm shift. The adoption of the 2030 Agenda has placed development at the centre of the United Nations agenda, and of its pillars as well. Likewise, the adoption of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda and the adoption of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change have become milestones that force us to reform and restructure so that we conduct ourselves in a more consistent, effective and efficient manner. Today more than ever, the development organs and agencies of the United Nations system must adapt to the 2030 Agenda rather than to pretend that that Agenda mustadapt to the existing bureaucratic structures and inert practices of the Organization. We need profound change and restructuring. The arrival of a new Secretary-General should be the moment for that. Today we have the urgent need and responsibility to promote structural change in the Organization and in its Secretariat so as to broaden the vision of development to one that is sustainable, and with that to remember peace — also sustainable; another paradigm shift — in order to promote well-being and to ensure the viability of human rights. All of that should be carried out comprehensively through a cross-cutting approach, which will ensure the convergence of the efforts of all of the players at the global, regional and national levels. The integrated and indivisible nature of the 2030 Agenda requires us to act in a different way. One of the instruments that should help promote such changes is the quadrennial comprehensive policy review, which we initiated a few days ago. That review should seek to put an end to useless duplications, break down silos, put an end to obsolete mandates that unfortunately seem to characterize the Organization, and strengthen alliances with regional commissions and other mechanisms that complement the work of the United Nations in order to increase the efficiency of cooperation. Secretary- General-elect Guterres, who has a profound knowledge of the Organization, should have the possibility to restructure the whole of the United Nations development system. The quadrennial comprehensive policyreview now being negotiated should leave that capacity for the Secretary-General. Based on those principles, my delegation will participate constructively in the consideration of requests for resources for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda in the Fifth Committee in the coming weeks.

Guatemala recognizes that the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development represents a new, universal and transformative vision of sustainable development centred on people, the planet, prosperity, peace and alliances. However, there still remain many questions about the means of implementation of the 2030 Agenda, particularly with respect to countries in certain situations and the restructuring of the system of development of the United Nations. Today more than ever, there is a collective awareness of the interdependence among the three pillars of the Organization, that is, peace and security, development, and human rights. We highlight that those three pillars and the synergies between the 2030 Agenda and the “sustaining peace” proposals set out in the report of the Advisory Group of Experts on the Review of the Peacebuilding Architecture (see A/69/968) and welcomed by the Security Council in resolution 2282 (2016), as well asw the link between humanitarian activities, development and peacebuilding, constitute a solid foundation upon which we can work in an integrated way. Guatemala therefore welcomes the reports of the Secretary-General (A/71/345, A/71/534 and A/71/378). We agree that, in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and their targets, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda must be implemented in its entirety so that both Agendas serve as the foundation for measures to be adopted with the participation of a broad range of stakeholders and under the leadership of Governments at the national level. That leads us to believe that the Organization can be seen essentially as a service provider — whether through support for our gatherings, development cooperation, humanitarian assistance, or peacekeeping operations and special political missions. Guatemala also welcomes the report of the Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization — UNESCO — on literacy (see A/71/177), which reflects progress in that area and in the broader field of education. Achieving more and better education is not only an end in itself as a universal right, but also an essential means for achieving inclusion in both social and economic terms. As a Latin American country, Guatemala is aware of the importance of improving the quality of education, for that is the only way to break the barrier of poverty, ensure better integration into the labour market and thus to boost our economy. That is why we applaud the initiative of the President of the General Assembly at the seventy-first session, Ambassador Peter Thomson, who has encouraged Heads of State and Government to incorporate the 17 Sustainable Development Goals into the curriculums of schools, institutes and colleges. That will allow children to grow into the 2030 Agenda and take over ownership of it with a view to achieving sustainable development. We must bear in mind that they are the engine of the future of our societies. Investing in our children and our youth is investing in the future of our peoples and their viability. That is why it is important to work together to ensure the participation of young people in all sectors and offer them as much opportunity as possible, beginning with their education. The success of the Organization’s activities greatly depends on our decisions, which, if based on a coherent approach, can stimulate a change adapted to the current challenges. The effective and efficient implementation of the mandates to support the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda is necessary to add coherence to our decisions. It is in precisely in that area that we acknowledge the importance of the regional economic commissions, in that they provide coherent and integrated support in the implementation of the new Agendas, bringing a regional perspective to a universal framework. In order to achieve better coordination, we need agreements and arrangements among the Member States to mitigate the existing gaps, so as to reduce fragmentation and overlap in the system. We trust that now, during the quadrennial comprehensive policy review of the operational activities for the United Nations development system, we will be able to adopt a better direction in the system and provide a renewed impetus to the implementation of the two Agendas and the commitments that we have taken on. In conclusion, I would like to state that this session affords us an opportunity to pause and reflect on whether we are fulfilling the universal purposes of the Organization with regard to preserving future generations from the scourge of war and promoting social progress and peaceful coexistence as good neighbours. We need to combine our efforts, so that globally we can transform our world and make sure that no one is left behind.

Chile welcomes the reports of the Secretary-General on the closely interlinked items before us today (A/71/345, A/71/534 and A/71/378). We value the fact that the role of the United Nations in global economic governance is analysed from the point of view of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on financing for development. The proposals put forward by the Secretary-General in those reports, particularly those in the report on the United Nations in global governance (A/71/378), will be an important input for the debates that we will hold next spring with a view to adopting a draft resolution on the matter during the Assembly’s current session. As it did in 2013, Chile will introduce a draft resolution on the United Nations in global economic governance, under agenda item 123, sub-item (b), entitled “Central role of the United Nations system in global governance”. Our intention is to be begin that process during the second quarterof 2017 with a view to adopting a draft resolution before the summer.

We have heard the last speaker in the debate on the items. We will now take action on draft resolution A/71/L.10. I call on the representative of the Secretariat.

I should like to announce that, since the submission of draft resolution A/71/L.10, and in addition to the delegations listed on that document, the following countries have also become sponsors of draft resolution A/71/L.10: Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Costa Rica, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Finland, Greece, Hungary, India, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mali, Mexico, Monaco, Montenegro, Morocco, Paraguay, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Turkey.

The Assembly will now take a decision on draft resolution A/71/L.10, entitled “Education for Democracy”. May I take it that the Assembly wishes to adopt draft resolution A/71/L.10?

The Assembly has thus concluded the present stage of its consideration of agenda items 13, 117, 123 and its sub-items (a) and (b) and 124. Programme of work

I would like to make the following announcement concerning the work of the plenary. The consideration of agenda item 130, entitled “Investigation into the conditions and circumstances resulting in the tragic death of Dag Hammarskjöld and of the members of the party accompanying him”, originally scheduled on Wednesday, 23 November, will now take place on Tuesday, 6 December, as the second item.