Bi-Annual Civil Society Briefing

Chers collègues et amis :

Je suis ravi de vous accueillir pour la 5ème édition de nos rencontres bi-annuelles. Ces réunions m'aident à prendre la température au sein de la communauté des ONG à Genève et sont pour moi l'occasion de vous informer des derniers développements. J'espère que ces échanges vous sont utiles; n'hésitez pas à me faire savoir si tel n'était pas le cas ou si vous souhaiteriez adapter ces échanges sous un autre format.

En 2017, nous continuerons de promouvoir les trois objectifs des Nations Unies - la paix, les droits et le bien-être pour tous, sous la nouvelle direction du Secrétaire général des Nations Unies, M. António Guterres, qui a pris ses fonctions au début de cette année. Dès le début de son mandat, M. Guterres a précisé ses priorités pour le travail de l’ONU.

Une de ses priorités immédiates est de renforcer la diplomatie pour la paix pour résoudre les conflits. La prévention deviendra plus importante à l'ordre du jour de la communauté internationale. Prévention des conflits, mais aussi des catastrophes naturelles et autres menaces qui portent atteinte au bien-être de la population mondiale. Les principaux cadres politiques adoptés par les dirigeants mondiaux au cours des deux dernières années ainsi que les nouvelles formes de partenariats en cours de création nous permettront de transformer ces accords en domaines d'action préventive et d'appliquer une approche intégrée pour résoudre les défis mondiaux. l’Agenda 2030 pour le développement durable permettra à la communauté internationale de cibler les causes profondes des conflits et des catastrophes d'une manière beaucoup plus stratégique et systémique. Ce sont les objectifs indivisibles, inclusifs et d'intégration pour nous tous dans tous les pays du monde. Il ne nous reste que 13 ans pour les mettre en œuvre. Nous allons continuer à nous concerter sur la mise en œuvre de ces cadres en 2017. Ainsi nous aurons la chance de faire de la prévention une réalité grâce à l'approche globale la plus complète, horizontale, intégrée et novatrice que le monde ait jamais vue. Pour atteindre ces objectifs, nous devons tous travailler ensemble, adopter des nouvelles façons d’avancer et créer des nouveaux partenariats entre les gouvernements, la société civile, les établissements universitaires et le secteur privé.

Pour faire face aux défis mondiaux, il est également urgent de réformer l'ONU et le Secrétaire général prend des mesures concrètes pour faire progresser les trois domaines prioritaires suivants:

Le premier est la réforme de la stratégie du fonctionnement et de l'architecture de paix et de sécurité afin de recentrer les efforts de maintien de la paix sur la prévention des crises et le maintien de la paix dans les pays sortant d'un conflit. La semaine dernière, le Secrétaire général a annoncé la création d'une équipe d'examen interne pour faire avancer cette réforme. Cette équipe lui soumettra des recommandations en juin de cette année, afin d'engager un processus de consultations avec les États Membres et les entités concernées.

Deuxièmement, le Secrétaire général envisage de poursuivre la réforme du système de développement des Nations Unies, basée sur la coordination et la responsabilisation, afin qu'elle puisse appuyer pleinement les pays dans la mise en œuvre des objectifs de développement durable et du Plan d'action de Paris sur le changement climatique.

Le troisième volet sera une réforme de la gestion interne de l’ONU, afin de rendre les structures bureaucratiques de cette organisation plus décentralisées, plus flexibles, plus transparentes, et donc plus performantes.

Des partenariats vont renforcer la fondation pour faire avancer tous les objectifs. De plus en plus, les Nations Unies remplissent le rôle de médiateur et de facilitateur, et la mise en œuvre sera alimentée grâce à un meilleur avantage concurrentiel, aux gouvernements nationaux ou municipaux, à la société civile ou aux les entreprises.

Notre nouveau Secrétaire général a montré qu'il était prêt à relever ces défis dès le premier jour de son mandat, et notre tâche pour 2017 sera de le soutenir dans ses efforts.

Let me turn to Geneva – our small city with a global impact. International Geneva deepens its collaboration among many partners, translating knowledge into action and new synergies as we share the responsibility for the pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals. Geneva has not only the capacity, skills and experiences, but also it has a unique concentration of actors, knowledge and resources; the United Nations, many other international organizations, non-governmental organizations, think tanks, academia and business.

Let me update you on some of the developments and initiatives that are taking place at UNOG in Geneva.

Geneva’s role in the UN peace and security agenda is becoming more central in the context of an increasingly polarised and fragmented world. UNOG continues to host a number of international negotiations while striving to upgrade our facilities to provide a state of the art space for negotiations.

Palais des Nations continues to host the talks on Syria, which are resuming as I speak. Early this year, UNOG hosted the Conference on Cyprus, which is now expected to reconvene in a few weeks. Further, UNOG continues to hold the Geneva International Discussions dealing with the aftermath of the August 2008 armed conflict in Georgia. A number of organisations represented here are working closely with UN Envoys in support of our activities, and I thank you for that.

The Senior Mediation Officer based in my Office has worked with several NGOs to explore new partnerships. In November 2016, with Turkey and Finland, as co-Chairs of the Group of Friends of Mediation, we organised a meeting to present the General Assembly Resolution 70/304 on "Strengthening the role of mediation in the peaceful settlement of disputes, conflict prevention and resolution". We insisted with the co-Chairs to enlarge participation beyond the diplomatic community to include NGOs, think tanks and academic institutions dealing with mediation. This new format allowed a fruitful interaction between the different actors active in Geneva.

Last time we met I told you about the creation of the SDG Lab in my Office, with the support of Member States and NGOs. I am happy to announce that the SDG Lab is now established with a team and an office at the Palais des Nations. This Lab will be used to share SDG-related information, expertise and best practices among the many Geneva actors, and between International Geneva, UN Headquarters and other duty stations worldwide. Its activities will aim to strengthen the SDG implementation community and identify opportunities for stakeholders to work or partner together. Now that a clear vision has been defined, the International Geneva can expect to see the Lab to be active in convening multi-stakeholder groups to find creative solutions to SDG implementation challenges. Specifically, the Lab will convene and connect actors in and outside Geneva to exchange information, ideas and experiences; amplify the great work that is already underway in Geneva by creating processes for learning from successes and failures at the country and local levels; and be a space for innovation and experimentation across silos, domains, and sectors. The Lab will officially be launched sometime in April or May, and I hope for your constructive engagement with the team of the SDG Lab. If you would like to learn more about the SDG Lab, please talk to Kali Taylor who is here in the room.

The International Geneva Perception Change project, which I launched shortly after I arrived at UNOG, is entering its fourth year, and I have been regularly updating you about its progress. The project, with its 100 partners, aims to highlight the impact of the work done by all relevant actors based in Geneva.

If you were travelling in and out Geneva by plane at the end of last year, you probably noticed the screens of the #YouNeedToKnow campaign, which has been launched last November in an effort to get 2 billion people to know about the SDGs by the end of 2017. The campaign was sending an immediate message for all international travelers arriving into Geneva about the relevance of the SDGs for all. Shortly after the launch at Geneva Airport, in pre-Christmas time, the campaign run on big wall screens at all terminals at the Heathrow Airport, and in January, when participants travelled to the World Economic Forum, the campaign was prominently featured at the Zurich Airport.

Over 100 organizations have joined GVADATA.ch - a gateway to information and data resources produced by International Geneva and beyond. For the first time, United Nations agencies, international organizations, academic institutions and NGOs have united their data in one collective portal. The goal of this portal is to facilitate meaningful analysis by enabling users to easily navigate and locate existing data sources across Global Goals, thematic areas, organizations and type of information. I invite you to use this portal and contribute to it is you have data to share.

The PCP team has also produced a storybook called Fairy Tales for a Fairer World, which aims to engage readers of all ages in the discovery of the SDGs through a journey that takes well-known fairy tale and folk characters on a quest to save the world. Beyond the light-hearted tone and playfulness, the stories offer a serious look at many crucial issues, such as migration, poverty, hunger, discrimination, forced marriages, environment and other issues. The book is complemented with an interactive element (sdgstories.com) that links it with online conversation panels with real-world experts, leaders, and celebrity figures; and additional features – pop-up books – will be added.

The PCP Team has virtually finished creating an online version of the SDG mapping, following the first edition in 2015, which mapped out 75 actors, including many NGOs. The challenge of the second edition is to present the mapping of many more actors in a helpful, dynamic way. The upcoming online visualization integrates a new type of expertise – financing; and more detailed information on the organizations’ work.

The PCP team is working on many more projects and events, like the Young Reporters at the UN press conference for high-school students, or Perils of Perception event with IPSOS on 20 March. In addition, the PCP develops infographics on each of the SDGs that reinforce and spread the message that International Geneva is the hub for implementing the SDGs.

Turning to another subject, I am pleased to inform you that the International Gender Champions Initiative, which was launched here in Geneva in 2015, is expanding. A New York chapter will be launched next month, with the Secretary-General joining in. Vienna and Nairobi will join soon. As you may recall, the members of this network pledge to lead by example through practical, implementable and trackable actions that bring genuine change in the organizational culture and programming. Our first annual report, published last November, showed that the initiative has served as a catalyst not just for over 300 concrete commitments to achieve gender equality in different aspects of our work, but for a new way of working across the traditional divide between Permanent Missions and Secretariats, between intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations and between private and public institutions. The big success of this first year was clearly the Panel Parity Pledge as a concrete action to strive for gender parity in all discussions in International Geneva. We have raised awareness and we have taken specific action to change the composition of panels when necessary.

Despite this progress, as analysed in our recent survey, there is still, on average, a 50% higher male representation than women on panel discussions. This shows that we need to continue pursuing panel parity and we need to broaden the ownership of the pledge among staff within our organizations. I urge you to implement the panel parity pledge and ensure that women get the visibility they deserve in all the public discussions you hold in Geneva and beyond. Their input into these discussions will serve to advance not only SDG5 on gender equality but the whole 2030 Agenda.

My personal commitment as Gender Champion for 2017 is to take steps to implement the UNOG Policy on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment, which became effective last September. The policy contains a clear accountability framework for implementation and data on women's representation at UNOG as of October 2015. At that time, 34.4% of senior posts at UNOG were occupied by women. A year later, at the end of 2016, 41% of senior posts at UNOG were held by women and the overall representation of women at the Office stood at 48%. UNOG will continue taking concrete measures to improve the representation of women at all levels in order to reach 50/50, to establish an inclusive and enabling organizational culture free from gender bias, and to ensure gender equality and the empowerment of women in the work of UNOG.

Our Library continues its evolution into a modern knowledge platform servicing beneficiaries worldwide, beyond Geneva. The goal is to leverage digital technology and modern dissemination means to mobilize almost 100 years of knowledge and heritage in support of global problem solving and global policy frameworks like Agenda 2030. To do that we are partnering with libraries and knowledge centres in Switzerland and elsewhere. We have also just started the project of digitalization the archives of the League of Nations.

The Library is also a vital space for intellectual outreach and substantive discussions outside the formal setting of conferences. We are nurturing and developing the functionalities of this space. Last year we brought the Library welcome desk back to its original appearance. The space is now more spacious and more luminous. We have additional plans so that by the end of the Strategic Heritage Plan we will have a vibrant Centre for research and exchange right at the heart of the new UN complex.

This Centre is also the engine of the Cultural Diplomacy scene here in Geneva. Last year we hosted over 100 cultural activities and events organised by Member States and their partners, and more than 30 Library Events, with debates, seminars and book presentations, several of which in partnership with NGOs.

Our revamped United Nations at Geneva Museum is attracting many visitors with its permanent exhibition “From the League of Nations to the United Nations”.

As many NGO representatives present here are actively involved with the Human Rights Council, let me also brief you about my interaction with the Human Rights Council Bureau over the past few months. The number of Council meetings has increased significantly. It now holds 150 or more meetings over the 10 weeks of its three regular sessions, which exceeds by 50 percent the budgeted 100 meetings normally serviced over 10 weeks. UNOG simply does not have the resources to provide all services required, in terms of interpretation, security, public information or sound technicians. I have discussed with the President and the Secretariat in search for possible solutions. Seeking and obtaining additional resources from the General Assembly would naturally help, but only partially, as we are frankly reaching the physical limits of what the Palais can host in terms of numbers of meetings and side-events. Another avenue would be for the Council to look carefully at its programme of work and working methods and to rationalize its workload, but this is naturally sensitive politically and will require good will from all Member States.

Let me say a few words about the Strategic Heritage Plan, which proceeds according to plan. 2017 will see us break new ground on the construction of the new office building, expected to start in the next couple of months. The SHP will support the UN to become more nimble, efficient and effective. UNOG issued a tender for the construction of the new building two weeks ago to seventeen construction firms who met the pre-qualification criteria. It is planned to award the contract to a General Contractor in September 2017 with a substantial completion of the building 28 months after contract signature. The renovation of the existing building has been split into two design phases. Phase 1, which concentrates mainly on the conference centre of Building A, is nearing completion. The design work to finalize detailed design for Phase 2 of the renovation works for the rest of the Palais has recently started.

In 2017, we are also gradually introducing a new online conference management platform, InDiCo, which should help all events organizers at the Palais, including NGOs, to manage their meetings in a more efficient and technologically modern way. It will allow a faster accreditation process and access to the Palais.

I have already mentioned to you that we continue to revise our security requirements. Last year we began conducting vehicle checks at the access points. Furthermore, in the beginning of February, an automatic access control has been enabled at all times on most doors, which are accessible to the UN magnetic ground pass holders like you. Only four doors (C6, A15, A17 and E40) will remain accessible without a magnetic grounds pass during working hours to enable access to visitors and conference participants. Persons with reduced mobility are provided with magnetic badges irrespective of their affiliation. These measures contribute to improvement of the safety and security of all staff and visitors, and I thank you for your cooperation and understanding.

Let me finish by sharing with you some statistics of NGO engagement at the Palais des Nations, which continues to grow. In 2016, NGOs organized 75 events (conferences, seminars, workshops) in the Palais, with our assistance. At least half of those events focused on the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. In 2016, 4,277 representatives of 864 NGOs in consultative status with ECOSOC were accredited to UNOG. This is 9.5% more NGOs than in 2015. The number of accredited NGO representatives increased by 50% in the last four years (since 2013), and we expect these numbers to grow even further as more NGOs receive a consultative status every year. This is very clearly a positive development as the mobilization of actors willing to engage is growing, but we also need, together, to find a right balance between quantity and quality of engagement, which is a difficult task.

I will conclude here and open our dialogue.