DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF UNOG ADDRESSES EIGHTH GENEVA INTERNATIONAL MODEL UNITED NATIONS

Sergei Ordzhonikidze, the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, addressed the opening ceremony of the eighth Geneva International Model United Nations on 5 March.

Speaking to some 200 participants in the event, the Director-General stated how encouraged he was to see that many young people, the leaders of tomorrow, were interested and engaged in the work of the United Nations and thanked them for their commitment. He noted that Model United Nations offered a very good preparation for multilateral leadership in the twenty-first century.

The Director-General went on to provide the participants with his views on the main topics that they would be addressing in seven committees during their week of meetings, noting that they were all pressing questions at the very top of the United Nations’ agenda.

He first stressed the importance of the establishment of the Peacebuilding Commission, which would help countries make the transition from war to peace, by advising on recovery and focusing attention on reconstruction and institution-building. Turning to the International Court of Justice, he noted the vital role played by the Court in adjudicating disputes among States, adding that United Nations Member States were increasingly turning to the Court, not just to resolve land and maritime boundary disputes, or to complain of treaty violations, but also on matters of genocide and the use of force.

The Director-General further discussed the establishment of the Human Rights Council, created after the World Summit on September 2005, and which had replaced the Commission on Human Rights. He noted that from its very first days, the Council had been faced with difficult and contentious issues, and that it had been very active -- holding four special sessions as well as three regular ones since June 2006.

As for the reform of the Security Council, most United Nations Member States held the view that changes in the composition of the Council were needed to reflect today’s realities and that its working methods should be made more efficient and transparent. The Director-General also addressed the issue of sanctions, noting that the latter were a very important tool, but often depicted by some critics as a “blunt instrument” that could harm innocent victims.

As Secretary-General of the Conference on Disarmament and Personal Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General to the Conference, the Director-General was particularly pleased that the participants had also decided to review the work of the Conference. He stressed that with the necessary political support, the Conference, the world’s only multilateral negotiating body on disarmament, could overcome the obstacles that had paralysed it in the past few years and reclaim its indispensable role in arms control and disarmament.

Mr. Ordzhonikidze equally welcomed the discussions on renewable energy sources, observing that the risks involved in the world’s reliance on the burning of fossil fuels were now well known. Renewable sources of energy remained inadequate and under-utilized. Attention of the Member States must be drawn to the need to scale up investment in such areas as wind, hydro and solar energy, and research intensified into promising longer-term sources such as tidal energy, ocean thermal conversion, hydrogen and fuel cells. The Director-General expressed confidence that a younger generation, being more attuned to these problems and less entrenched into old energy consumption habits, would soon formulate innovative proposals in this field.

Finally, the Director-General highlighted the issue of migration flows as one the most important confronting the international community at the beginning of the twenty-first century. He stressed the urgent need to manage the movement of people across borders far better, noting that migration brought many complex challenges but that sight should not be lost of its great potential benefits.

The Director-General concluded by wishing the participants success in their proceedings.