Overview of United Nations Reform - Course is full! No more seats available!
While the principles of the United Nations Charter remain as relevant today as in 1945, the challenges and demands facing the Organization have evolved considerably over the years. Member States' demands of the United Nations and its Secretariat, agencies, funds and programmes have grown continuously. In many areas, the existing structures, systems and resources of the United Nations are strained, not least due to the high volume of operational activity it has taken on around the world.
Member States have recognized the need for transforming and adapting the United Nations system to today’s realities, and have defined priorities for reform in the 2000 Millennium Declaration and the 2005 World Summit Outcome Document. Supported by a number of reports, commissioned and issued by the Secretary-General, these documents set out objectives for innovation in the areas of development; peace and security; human rights and governance; and the strengthening of the United Nations system. Since the beginning of the Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s leadership, UN Reform has remained an important and inclusive objective harnessing the Organization’s “human, institutional and intellectual resources.”
A number of formal and informal follow-up processes at the United Nations have made considerable progress in advancing these objectives. Important steps have been taken in the area of system-wide coherence, and negotiations on Security Council reform have been taken to the intergovernmental level. Still, much remains to be done, including in the above-mentioned areas, to make the United Nations more responsive to the challenges of the 21st century.
This two-day, intensive workshop on United Nations Reform intends to provide delegates, particularly those delegates engaged in the Fifth and Second Committee issues, with a comprehensive and impartial knowledge base on the main chapters of ongoing United Nations reform. This workshop will better equip delegates to engage constructively in relevant UN Reform consultations.
Drawing on the expertise of speakers from both inside and outside the United Nations system, the course will enable participants to understand the evolution and current status of ongoing reform efforts, identify different perspectives, converging as well as possible diverging, priorities of the Member States and the Secretariat. Most important, it will provide insight to facilitate the reform process.
The course is designed for members of permanent missions to the United Nations, who wish to receive a comprehensive overview on United Nations reform efforts, especially for those assigned to the Second or Fifth Committee of the General Assembly.
The course will be held at United Nations Headquarters in New York on Thursday, 6 December and Friday, 7 December from 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. in Conference Room E (NLB) at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. Participants are kindly asked to arrive at the venue 15 minutes before beginning to complete the signing-in process.