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🇵🇾 Paraguay /Elections & Politics

New UN General Assembly president calls for the organization to open itself to more voices

From ABC Color · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

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  • UN General Assembly President Khalilur Rahman said the organization should include more voices from civil society, the media, business, innovation and academia.
  • Rahman said the United Nations faces a trust deficit and needs deeper reform to prepare for the future.
  • He also said his presidency would seek to give a voice to stateless peoples, drawing on his work on the Rohingya issue.

Khalilur Rahman opened his presidency of the UN General Assembly with a call to widen the organization beyond its traditional identity as a union of states.

“One of the things I respect most is the opening phrase of the Charter: ‘We, the peoples of the United Nations.’ It does not say ‘we, the states of the United Nations,’” Rahman told reporters outside the General Assembly.

One of the things I respect most is the opening phrase of the Charter: ‘We, the peoples of the United Nations.’ It does not say ‘we, the states of the United Nations.’

· Khalilur RahmanRahman used the UN Charter’s opening words to argue that the organization should include voices beyond national governments.

The Bangladeshi diplomat said the UN should find ways to include civil society, the media, business leaders, innovation communities and academia. “We continue to treat them as ‘the others’,” he said. “During my presidency, I will try to open the doors of the UN.”

We continue to treat them as ‘the others’.

· Khalilur RahmanHe was referring to civil society, the media, business leaders, innovators and academics.

Rahman, who was elected in early June for a one-year term, succeeds Germany’s Annalena Baerbock. He has served as Bangladesh’s foreign minister since February and was appointed his country’s interim government representative for the Rohingya issue, concerning the stateless Muslim ethnic minority from Myanmar.

Asked whether his vision also included stateless peoples, Rahman recalled that his work had helped “make their voice heard” and said he would continue doing so. He said his campaign had focused on rebuilding trust and managing transformation, but that his presidency would add another goal: preparing the United Nations for the future.

During my presidency, I will try to open the doors of the UN.

· Khalilur RahmanRahman described his aim of making the organization more inclusive.

“This must be a place where countries can once again say ‘yes’ to the UN and vote for it,” he said. Rahman argued that the organization needed to recover public trust and undertake deeper reform. “We are not in 1945. We are not celebrating the San Francisco Conference. We are in the 21st century. The world has moved forward,” he said.

We are not in 1945. We are not celebrating the San Francisco Conference. We are in the 21st century. The world has moved forward.

· Khalilur RahmanHe called for deeper reform to adapt the United Nations to the present and the future.
About this summary

Originally published by ABC Color in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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