General Assembly — Session 61

Most active countries

• United States of America
  46
• Finland
  36
• Japan
  35
• India
  29
• Cuba
  29
• Russian Federation
  27
• Egypt
  26
• China
  21
• Indonesia
  20
• Pakistan
  20
• South Africa
  20
• Belarus
  19
• Canada
  19
• Sudan
  18
• Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
  18

Top agenda items

• Elections to fill vacancies in principal organs (a) Election of five non-permanent members of the Security Council
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• , 113, 116, 117, 122, 123, 132 and 149 Integrated and coordinated implementation of and follow-up to the outcomes of the major United Nations conferences and summits in the economic, social and related fields Follow-up to the outcome of the Millennium Summit Review of the efficiency of the administrative and financial functioning of the United Nations Programmed budget for the biennium 2006-2007 Scale of assessments for the apportionment of the expenses of the United Nations Human resources management Administrative and budgetary aspects of the financing of the United Nations peacekeeping operations United Nations reform: measures and proposals Report of the Fifth Committee (A/61/658) The President: The Assembly has before it two draft resolutions recommended by the Fifth Committee in paragraph 8 of its report. We will now take a decision on the two draft resolutions. Draft resolution I is entitled “Comprehensive review of governance and oversight within the United Nations and its funds, programmes and specialized agencies”. The Fifth Committee adopted it without a vote. May I take it that the Assembly wishes to do the same?
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• Administration of justice at the United Nations Report of the Fifth Committee (A/61/832) The President: The Assembly has before it a draft resolution recommended by the Fifth Committee in paragraph 8 of its report, contained in document A/61/832. During this sixty-first session of the General Assembly, we have taken a significant step forward in improving the effectiveness and efficiency of this Organization by approving the first serious overhaul of the United Nations system of administration of justice in 60 years. Around the world, the Organization promotes justice and equality and represents the rule of law to its Members. The Organization therefore requires a system of justice that is independent, transparent, professional and adequately resourced. We owe it to the 55,000 staff members of the Secretariat, funds and programmes who, in the case of employment disputes, have recourse only to the Organization’s own justice system. Having taken this step, I would like to give my personal thanks to representatives in both the Sixth and Fifth Committees, as well as in the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions, who worked tirelessly, with focus and commitment, over these past few weeks to establish a more effective system of internal justice for both current United Nations staff as well as the next generation of employees. I would also like to thank the members of the independent external panel of legal experts — the Redesign Panel — that proposed the radical overhaul of the system last summer, as well as the Secretary- General and his staff, who helped to facilitate this important deliberation. This has been a true team effort and a model for cooperation among Member States and Secretariat management and staff. The existing system of internal justice, in place since the late 1940s, was designed for a different era when the Organization had only a few thousand staff members in a handful of locations. It relied on the voluntary input of staff members themselves, participating in ad hoc boards and committees with only limited authority to advise the Secretary-General. Over time, the backlogs and delays have become significant and the independence and credibility of the system seriously compromised. The existing system serves no one well — not the staff, not the managers and, ultimately, not the Organization or the Member States. The Redesign Panel rightly recognized that and made bold proposals for change. The draft resolution before the Assembly today lays out the key features of fundamentally different system. Members have asked for all its elements to be fully functional by January 2009. These include: a more robust informal system with the emphasis on resolving a large number of disputes between staff and managers before they go to litigation; a strengthened Ombudsman function for the Secretariat and its funds and programmes that will be integrated yet decentralized and with the capacity to conduct formal mediation services; a professionalized formal system with two tiers, comprising a first- instance tribunal and an appellate body rendering binding decisions and ordering appropriate remedies — this will replace the advisory bodies that exist in the current system; a stronger capacity for providing legal assistance and guidance to staff; a series of measures to improve the accountability of managers and correct faulty decisions; and a new office for the administration of justice, headed by a senior official who will take ownership of this system and coordinate all of its elements. These represent important measures. However, we must keep up the momentum to make sure that this new system is created in a timely and efficient manner. The Secretary-General has been asked to prepare a set of reports which will provide the necessary supplementary details for the new system. The Assembly has also asked the Secretary-General to put forward an immediate request for resources so that the transition from the old to the new system can be made effectively and with minimum disruption. The swift approval of these additional reports, along with approval of the necessary resources, is essential in ensuring that the new system comes into effect in a timely manner. I am confident that members will continue to provide the necessary support and guidance, as they have done in the past few weeks. While the adoption of the draft resolution today will be only an initial step towards that very important reform, it will, indeed, be a crucial step. The reform of the system of the administration of justice should not be viewed in isolation from the total package of United Nations reform. By adopting the draft resolution, the General Assembly will reaffirm our commitment and determination to see a better United Nations. I would again like to thank members for their support on this issue. They have done the Organization a great service, which will be appreciated for years to come. We will now take a decision on the draft resolution recommended by the Fifth Committee in paragraph 8 of its report (A/61/832). The Fifth Committee adopted it without a vote. May I take it that the Assembly wishes to do the same?
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• 2001-2010: Decade to Roll Back Malaria in Developing Countries, Particularly in Africa Note by the Secretary-General (A/61/218 and Corr.1) New Partnership for Africa’s Development: progress in implementation and international support (a) New Partnership for Africa’s Development: progress in implementation and international support Report of the Secretary-General (A/61/212) (b) Causes of conflict and the promotion of durable peace and sustainable development in Africa Report of the Secretary-General (A/61/213) Note by the Secretary-General (A/61/69 and Add.1) The President: The General Assembly meets today to discuss three interrelated agenda items — namely, agenda item 48, “2001-2010: Decade to Roll Back Malaria in Developing Countries, Particularly in Africa”; agenda item 62 (a): “New Partnership for Africa’s Development: progress in implementation and international support”; and finally, agenda item 62 (b): “Causes of conflict and the promotion of durable peace and sustainable development in Africa”. The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) marked the first time that an African development framework had emerged as a focal and rallying point for the international community’s support for the continent and as a basis for a new partnership. It is an Africa-owned-and-led process that reflects African leaders’ common vision and shared commitment to eradicating poverty and to placing their countries, both individually and collectively, on the path to sustainable growth and development. Its adoption five years ago promised a new socio- economic revival for Africa — a multi-stakeholder partnership for a region that is still striving to overcome years of conflict, political instability, disease and poor economic performance. Much has been achieved since its adoption; yet, more needs to be done to translate commitments and vision into concrete measures and to build on the momentum generated in 2005, which was designated as the Year of Africa. The present report on NEPAD (A/61/212) is the fourth consolidated report of the Secretary-General on progress in implementation and international support for NEPAD. It is encouraging to note that the report recognizes progress in the key priority areas of NEPAD, ranging from infrastructure to information and communication technologies, to education and health, environment, agriculture, science and technology, gender mainstreaming and the African Peer Review Mechanism. The report reflects the recognition of the progress made since last year, but it also underlines the importance of undertaking policy measures to accelerate its implementation. The report of the World Health Organization (WHO) before the Assembly today (A/61/218) states that malaria remains largely a killer of children and poor people and continues to threaten the lives of at least 3 billion people in 107 countries and territories. Each year, more than 500 million people suffer from acute malaria, resulting in the loss of over a million lives, 86 per cent of which occur in sub-Saharan Africa. It saddens me to say that at least 3,000 children die from malaria every day, mostly in Africa. International efforts since the beginning of the decade have faced some serious obstacles and setbacks. However, with the establishment of the WHO Global Malaria Programme at the beginning of 2006, providing a cohesive and strengthened response to the needs of malaria-endemic Member States, and the launching in February of the WHO guidelines for the treatment of malaria, some hopeful signs have emerged. Lastly, we have before us today the report entitled “Implementation of the recommendations contained in the report of the Secretary-General on the causes of conflict and the promotion of durable peace and sustainable development in Africa” (A/61/213). The report notes that, while steady progress is being made in preventing, managing and resolving conflict and in building and consolidating peace, increased and concerted action is needed to prevent simmering crises from escalating and to ensure that the hard-won peace in countries emerging from conflict becomes irreversible. I fully concur with the Secretary-General that peace agreements must involve a broader group of national stakeholders and go beyond political and security issues by considering critical economic dimensions at an early stage. Peace agreements that committed all signatory parties to genuinely addressing the need for transparent natural resource and revenue management mechanisms, equitable distribution of resources, poverty eradication and anticorruption measures would lead to earlier and more sustainable peace dividends for the population and thereby reduce the likelihood of the recurrence of conflict. I am convinced that the establishment of the Peacebuilding Commission, whose Fund was launched yesterday, will ensure that countries do not face a shortfall in assistance and prevent them from lapsing into major conflict. The report also directs our attention to the relationship between conflict and natural resources, the impact of youth unemployment on conflict and the challenges of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration, all of which are cross-cutting issues requiring our sustained engagement. I concur with the report where it states that the achievement of a conflict-free Africa by 2010 will require greater political will and increased technical and financial assistance to African countries, regional organizations and civil society. Conflicts, disease and poor economic growth have hindered many African countries for decades and have hampered the region’s quest for a durable peace and sustainable development. The adoption of NEPAD five years ago provided the framework for a better future, but as the Secretary-General states in his report, greater efforts are required to effectively address the obstacles that hinder progress — youth unemployment, the devastating social, economic and political impact of HIV/AIDS, the illicit exploitation of natural resources and the illegal flows of small arms. We need to tackle, in a coherent manner, these obstacles in order to achieve tangible and sustainable results.
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• 2001-2010: Decade to Roll Back Malaria in Developing Countries, Particularly in Africa Draft resolution A/61/L.50 The President: Members will recall that the General Assembly held a joint debate on agenda item 48 and agenda item 62 and its sub-items (a) and (b) at the 28th to 30th plenary meetings, held on 12 and 13 October. I give the floor to the representative of the Niger to introduce draft resolution A/61/L.50.
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• 2001-2010: Decade to Roll Back Malaria in Developing Countries, Particularly in Africa Note by the Secretary-General (A/61/218 and Corr.1) New Partnership for Africa’s Development: progress in implementation and international support (a) New Partnership for Africa’s Development: progress in implementation and international support (b) Causes of conflict and the promotion of durable peace and sustainable development in Africa Reports of the Secretary-General (A/61/212 and A/61/213) Note by the Secretary-General (A/61/69 and Add.1) Mr. Olhaye (Djibouti): We wish to thank the Secretary-General for the second report of his Advisory Panel on International Support for the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (A/61/138), as well as his fourth consolidated report on progress in implementation and international support of NEPAD (A/61/212), his progress report on the causes of conflict and the promotion of durable peace and sustainable development in Africa (A/61/213) and the Decade to Roll Back Malaria in Developing Countries, Particularly in Africa (A/61/218 and Corr.1). I would also like to commend the critical work carried out by the Office of the Secretary-General’s Special Advisor on Africa. The report on NEPAD by the Secretary-General’s Advisory Panel captures the essence of those efforts in its first paragraph: “[NEPAD] is an Africa-owned and -led process that reflects African leaders’ common vision and shared commitment to eradicating poverty and to placing their countries, both individually and collectively, on the path to sustainable growth and development.” More and more, Africa is moving away from individual planning and development, recognizing the need for coordinated cooperation between States and economic sectors. As the report also notes, the Partnership marks the first time that an African development framework has emerged as the focal and rallying point for the international community’s support for Africa and as a basis for new partnership with the region. As it is, there is increasing talk throughout the continent about realizing the goal of a continental common market by 2025, for which NEPAD will be instrumental. The Advisory Panel suggests that Africa needs to press for action in the delivery of commitments made by the international community in coordinating measures. The year 2005 was designated the Year of Africa and, indeed, there was a continuance in the trend of increases in official development assistance (ODA) to Africa. The G8 countries, the European Union (EU), the United States and Japan, to name a few, all announced increased aid in support of Africa. As usual, a few development partners — namely, Denmark, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden — met the 0.7 per cent aid target. Additionally, the Panel noted that, despite the difficulty in obtaining comprehensive information on their aid volumes and commitments, major emerging market countries, such as China, India, South Korea and Brazil, have begun to play a role in development assistance to Africa. Concern about the make-up of publicized development aid figures has surfaced. Items which do not represent real resource transfers in support of development apparently play a significant role in calculating aid totals for some countries. A joint European-non-governmental organization report estimated that some one third of ODA, as reported by the EU in 2005, did not include any new aid resources for poverty reduction in developing countries. A large amount of State aid spending was debt cancellation, despite the Monterrey Consensus agreement that debt cancellation should be additional to ODA. The Panel also highlighted an important institutional issue, namely, that the three-year transition period for the integration of the NEPAD secretariat into the African Union Commission — as provided for in the Maputo Decision adopted by the Executive Council of the African Union in July 2003 — ended this year without this integration being completed. Certainly, in view of increased developmental activity on several fronts with international entities, as we take our development efforts to a higher level — with, hopefully, a coordinated multi-stakeholder approach — such integration will become very important. In addition, emphasis is placed on the expansion and growth of the private sector in Africa and the kind of support it should be given. Interaction with civil society will also need to be coordinated as will interaction with foreign entities. It is true that awareness is growing with regard to NEPAD’s goals and objectives within and outside Africa. However, it must be admitted that more can and should be done with regard to communication and outreach. The degree to which Africa is committed to the task of development, the extent of efforts being made and the steady progress in results all need to be more widely appreciated around the globe. Much of Africa is on the move and that fact should be better known. Successful projects, good practices, improved governance and services and growing businesses, are but a few examples. The report of the Panel also highlights the key role of the United Nations system in the implementation of NEPAD, both in the provision of resources and in the maintenance of international support. As such, the United Nations needs to work more closely with NEPAD and the African Union Commission and to increase its capacity to support NEPAD. The realization of the NEPAD programme is critical for the coordinated development of Africa. Africa must continue to come together to address its common problems, such as poverty, unemployment, health issues, insufficient ODA, weak debt relief policies, limited and highly concentrated foreign investment, trade restrictions and crippling macroeconomic policies imposed by financial institutions. On the issue of the causes of conflict and the promotion of a durable peace and sustainable development in Africa, the monitoring of progress which has been going on in this area since the initial report of the Secretary-General in 1998 continues. Much has been done and a great deal achieved, and the results of substantial efforts are in place. The Secretary-General’s report makes the essential point that in order to eliminate conflict we need to better understand the underlying causes, the enabling and mobilizing factors or triggers. As identified in 1998, such causes and factors must be specifically researched and analysed for the countries in question if we are to improve conflict prevention, peacemaking, peacekeeping and post-conflict peacebuilding. Much of the information needs to be gathered so that we may be more effective in our actions to avert conflict. The gathering of information and statistics and the process of analysis cannot be done in isolation, but must be performed by institutions capable of using such data and acting upon it. With experience, information and coordination, such institutions, organizations and entities will become more effective and thus, with the proper policies, will continue to gain public recognition and acceptance and improve in effectiveness. As the Secretary-General’s report noted, this will become evident in early warning systems, mediation and preventive diplomacy, peace negotiations and peace agreements. The General Assembly has called for support for the establishment of the African Union’s Continental Early Warning System as a matter of priority. As the Secretary-General also highlights, the need to increase efforts to build an African mediation and negotiation capacity is urgent and must be done by the United Nations and donor agencies. With regard to post-conflict peacebuilding, it is encouraging to note the creation of a Peacebuilding Commission by the United Nations with an associated Peacebuilding Support Office and a Peacebuilding Fund. Thus, all key stakeholders can be brought together with the full range of United Nations expertise in a coordinated and coherent manner in order to respond to the pressing needs of war-torn societies. Africa itself has continued to recognize the urgency of a high-level coordinated response to address conflict and political instability on the continent. African Union measures increasingly complement those of the United Nations in mediation, conflict prevention and peacebuilding. An essential element emphasized by the Secretary-General is that of good governance. The African Union has created its own mechanisms towards the resolution of conflict and promotion of durable peace on the continent. Most significant of all is the establishment of the African Union’s Peace and Security Council, whose decisions are binding on all countries in Africa. The Constitutive Act of the African Union holds its member States to a number of democratic principles, including condemnation and non-recognition of unlawful changes of government and the application of sanctions against regimes in violation of the Act. The Secretary-General’s report also highlights the African Union’s efforts in the Sudan, along with conflict resolution, peace processes and national reconciliation in Côte d’Ivoire, Togo, Chad and Somalia. Finally, some challenges noted in the past will continue to hamper the realization of full peace and security on the continent. We must therefore address youth unemployment, the crushing impact of the HIV/ AIDS crisis and the illicit exploitation of natural resources as well as the illegal flow of arms, small arms and, of course, the inability to achieve the targets set forth in the Millennium Development Goals. With regard to the Decade to Roll Back Malaria in Developing Countries, Particularly in Africa, our war against the scourge of malaria continues, but we should recognize that there are many elements and players and protracted competition from other issues vying for public attention, resources and action. Thus, malaria has only slowly received the international attention it must command. In fact, there still remains a considerable distance to go if we are to reach the targets we have set for 2010 and 2015. Most of us are cognizant of the depressing statistics regarding the deadly impact of malaria. As highlighted in the report transmitted by the Secretary-General’s note of 3 August 2006 (A/61/218), malaria is largely a killer of children and the poor, threatening at least 3 billion people in 107 countries. His essential point was that more than 500 million people suffer from acute malaria, resulting in more than one million deaths each year. Three thousand children and infants alone die from malaria every day, 86 per cent of whom are from Africa. What is the cost of this phenomenon? During the period 1965-1990, countries with severe malaria had annual economic growth rates which were 1.3 per cent lower than other countries over the same period. Africa lost some $12 billion per year in gross domestic product and spent 40 per cent of governmental health funds to fight this menace. These figures show that the impact of malaria in Africa has been deadly, costly and prolonged. Even today, the war against this disease remains in a mixed state. There is progress in some areas and lagging in others. Africa itself has long recognized the devastation and cost of malaria on the continent. The Abuja Declaration of 2000 set targets for the prevention and treatment of the disease that were certainly achievable if efforts had been carried out. The primary international thrust to combat malaria has been the Decade to roll back the disease. The Malaria Partnership was launched in 1998 by the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the United Nations Development Programme and a wide collection of national institutions and philanthropic organizations, in particular, the Gates Foundation, with the main goal of halving malaria mortality by 2010 and of reducing it by 75 per cent by 2015. There is indeed a tremendous array of efforts directed towards the lessening of the disease’s deadly impact in Africa. Africa has sufficiently realized the need to re- energize the fight against malaria. At the special summit in Abuja in May this year, renewed undertakings were pledged against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria and for eventual universal access to services and the elimination of malaria. Nevertheless, as the Secretary-General’s note indicates, resources are still far short of what is needed and focus too much on commodities at the expense of technical assistance to build national capacities. There is progress, but much remains to be done. We must increase our ability to develop national programmes and capacity to deal with malaria. Funding must be provided where possible, and vital information needs to be collected and reported accurately. Africa also needs to do more to reduce barriers to trade in nets and other commodities necessary to fight malaria. Many countries have been able to eliminate malaria. Africa can do likewise. The first step must be to meet the targets that we have designated for the eventual realization of our own goals. Nana Effah-Apenteng (Ghana): My delegation wishes to express its appreciation to the Secretary- General for his consolidated reports on the items under consideration in this joint debate. Five years ago, African leaders adopted the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) as the strategic framework designed to address the challenges facing the African continent and its peoples. At that time, our leaders recognized that issues such as escalating poverty levels, underdevelopment and the continued marginalization of Africa required a new, radical intervention, spearheaded by the African leaders themselves, aimed at developing a new vision that would guarantee Africa’s renewal. NEPAD was to provide a platform within which Africa could develop a new and common vision to confront issues such as trade, development and scientific and technological innovation, and skills to enhance the competitiveness of African economies and facilitate their integration into the global economy. Five years later, a lot has happened to prompt the Secretary-General to speak of a new momentum of action for Africa’s development. The major task ahead, as rightly pointed out in the report, is to consolidate that momentum by delivering on commitments to enable African Governments to advance the NEPAD agenda and, in particular, to lay a strong foundation for sustainable growth and development, political stability and democratic governance. The report on the international support for NEPAD identifies a number of important areas where African countries themselves have made progress, including infrastructure, information and communication technologies, health, education, the environment, agriculture, science and technology. Others include gender mainstreaming, civil society involvement and the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM). It is encouraging that 25 countries have so far acceded to the APRM, and that so far, Ghana, Rwanda and Kenya — in that order — have completed the peer review progress. We urge the others to join. With regard to the international community as a whole, as indicated in the report, the past year witnessed a promising start in terms of delivery on commitments in a number of areas, including debt relief, official development assistance (ODA) and South-South cooperation. We are grateful to France, Denmark, Italy, Sweden, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the European Union, which have in diverse ways contributed significantly to the international response in this area. We acknowledge, in particular, the substantial progress made in extending and deepening debt relief to African countries, making that one area in which the Group of Eight countries have kept their commitments. We appreciate their efforts and express the hope that they will follow through, delivering on the additional commitments that they have pledged, and at a faster pace. In the same vein, we are encouraged by the determined efforts being made by a number of countries, including Brazil, China, India and Japan, to support the development of Africa. With regard to trade, I do not need to belabour the point. But I would just like to say that without a timely and satisfactory outcome to the Doha Development Agenda, African countries cannot achieve the economic growth necessary to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and all the efforts in the context of debt relief and increased ODA may come to naught. It is obvious that the lack of progress will hurt African and other developing countries more than others. Debt relief, trade and ODA alone cannot solve Africa’s development problems; they need to be supplemented with much foreign direct investment. Most of the increase in foreign direct investment to Africa in 2004 was in the area of natural resource exploitation, spurred on by rising commodity prices and concentrated in only a few countries. We therefore welcome the establishment of the Investment Climate Facility, in the context of the NEPAD-Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Africa Investment Initiative. We hope that during its seven- year lifespan, it will achieve its goal of helping to improve Africa’s investment environment by removing real and perceived impediments to doing business on the continent. Needless to say, we in Ghana are convinced that the private sector has a major role to play in promoting sustainable development. We would also like to reiterate our concern about the precarious state of health services throughout the African continent, caused partly by the mass exodus of health professionals. The migration of such professionals poses a real threat to our human resource development, and it invariably affects our efforts to reduce poverty, fight diseases such as HIV/AIDS and malaria and reduce child and maternal mortality. The sooner the international recruitment of health professionals from Africa is controlled, the better it will be for us. On malaria prevention, we acknowledge the increased international funding following the creation of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. In addition, recent pledges from major donors have raised our expectations that more funds will be available for malaria — a long-term major killer on the continent. We hope that there will be consensus on appropriate levels and sources of subsidies for the provision of long-lasting insecticide-treated nets and artemisinin combination therapy so as to increase access to good quality drugs and preventive measures for populations at risk of malaria. On the causes of conflict and the promotion of durable peace and sustainable development, we are anxiously awaiting the day when the Secretary- General’s report on Africa will be fully occupied with economic, financial and development issues, as well as with discussions about science, technological advancement and economic competitiveness, making no mention of conflict. In 1998 the Secretary-General first submitted his report on the causes of conflict and the promotion of durable peace and sustainable development in Africa (A/52/871). In paragraph 2 of that report, he stated “Africa as a whole has begun to make significant economic and political progress in recent years, but in many parts of the continent progress remains threatened or impeded by conflict.” In paragraph 2 of his most recent report (A/61/213) on the subject, he states, “While prospects for peace in a number of countries have improved during the year, some situations have worsened, despite considerable efforts by African countries, regional organizations and the international community.” This means that the desired goal has not yet been achieved. Africa is a vast and varied continent and the sources of its conflicts reflect its diversity and complexity. Despite these differences, the sources of conflict in Africa are linked by a number of themes and experiences that are largely similar: historical legacies, internal and external factors and economic motives. As indicated in the report, others include extreme poverty, gross inequalities and weak State capacity. Following the authoritative 1998 report of the Secretary-General, however, the international community has no more excuses for a lack of understanding of the causes of the conflicts plaguing the African continent. What has obviously been lacking is the timely response sometimes needed to avert the escalation of tension into violent conflict. Today, the critical concern is no longer the lack of early warning of impending crises but, rather, the need to follow up early warning with early and effective action. Whether the response involves diplomatic efforts, a peacekeeping deployment or a humanitarian intervention, the sooner action is taken the more effective it is likely to be. The international community is not unaware that international arms merchants and their local collaborators have interest not in stopping conflicts, but in prolonging them. It is from that perspective that we wish to acknowledge and commend the decision of the Dutch Government to prosecute a Dutch businessman for his role in the Liberian conflict. It is that political will to transform our knowledge and commitment into practical action that the world sometimes lacks. The picture, however, is not all depressing. Africa has a lot to be thankful for in terms of the contribution made by the international community to finding solutions to conflicts on the continent. We have success stories in Sierra Leone, Angola and, lately, Liberia. The continued engagement of the international community in Côte d’Ivoire and the Democratic Republic of the Congo shows that the experiences over the years in keeping the peace in Africa have taught us all valuable lessons and invariably galvanized the requisite support. We therefore wish to urge that, even in the most intractable cases — such as in Darfur, where atrocities are being prosecuted against innocent civilians — we must resolve to remain engaged in the search for solutions. The United Nations and, for that matter, the international community at large have shown that, given the right conditions, peacekeeping operations can make a difference between peace and war in Africa. Africa has the primary responsibility for its own development. We therefore urge African Governments and other protagonists in African conflicts to reciprocate the gesture of the international community and also to cooperate, because United Nations peacekeeping cannot always provide the answer to every problem without the needed support and cooperation on the ground. None of the efforts to broaden and deepen international support for NEPAD and its various programmes will yield fruitful outcomes until we demonstrate practically that we appreciate the nexus between peace, security and sustainable development. African countries must do more on their own to provide an environment in which individuals feel protected, civil society is able to flourish, and Government carries out its responsibilities effectively and transparently, with adequate institutional mechanisms to ensure accountability. Support for human rights and the rule of law are necessary components of any effort to achieve durable peace and promote sustainable development. Those are the cornerstones of good governance, and that is the path chosen by some African countries including my own country, Ghana, for their future.
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• , 117 , 127 and 132 Review of the efficiency of the administrative and financial functioning of the United Nations Programme budget for the biennium 2006-2007 Report on the activities of the Office of Internal Oversight Services Administrative and budgetary aspects of the financing of the United Nations peacekeeping operations Report of the Fifth Committee (A/61/980) The President: The Assembly has before it a draft resolution recommended by the Fifth Committee in paragraph 6 of its report. The text of the draft resolution, for the time being, is contained in document A/C.5/61/L.70. We will now take a decision on the draft resolution, entitled “Terms of reference for the Independent Audit Advisory Committee and strengthening the Office of Internal Oversight Services”. The Fifth Committee adopted it without a vote. May I take it that the Assembly wishes to do the same?
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• Administration of justice at the United Nations Report of the Sixth Committee (A/61/460) The Acting President: The Assembly has before it a draft decision recommended by the Sixth Committee in paragraph 10 of its report. We will now take action on the draft decision. The Sixth Committee adopted it without a vote. May I take it that the Assembly wishes to do the same?
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• Administration of justice at the United Nations Report of the Sixth Committee (A/61/460/Add.1) The Acting President: The Assembly has before it a draft decision recommended by the Sixth Committee in paragraph 8 of its report.
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• , 113 , 116, 117 , 122 , 123, 132, 147 and 149 Integrated and coordinated implementation of and follow-up to the outcomes of the major United Nations conferences and summits in the economic, social and related fields Follow-up to the outcome of the Millennium Summit Review of the efficiency of the administrative and financial functioning of the United Nations Programmed budget for the biennium 2006-2007 Scale of assessments for the apportionment of the expenses of the United Nations Human resources management Administrative and budgetary aspects of the financing of the United Nations peacekeeping operations Financing of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara United Nations reform: measures and proposals Report of the Fifth Committee (A/61/659) The President: The Assembly has before it a draft resolution recommended by the Fifth Committee in paragraph 6 of its report. The Assembly will now take a decision on the draft resolution, entitled “Human resources management”. The Fifth Committee adopted it without a vote. May I take it that the Assembly wishes to do the same?
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