DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF UNOG BRIEFS CIVIL SOCIETY ON THE SECRETARY-GENERAL’S PRIORITIES FOR 2011

On Monday, 31 January 2011, Sergei A. Ordzhonikidze, Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, held a briefing on the Secretary-General’s priorities for the year 2011 for more than 100 representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) with consultative status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

As part of the Director-General’s ongoing partnership-building activities, the briefing enabled a substantive exchange with civil society representatives on the challenges ahead and how the United Nations can strengthen its partnership with this key stakeholder group.

The Director-General outlined the Secretary-General’s eight strategic priorities for 2011, comprising inclusive and sustainable development; climate change; empowerment of women; a safer and more secure world; human rights and accountability; humanitarian crisis response; nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation; and strengthening the United Nations from within.

The Director-General emphasized that the challenges faced by the international community could only be addressed through cooperation and partnership and called on NGOs to make their views and voices heard across the United Nations’ wide-ranging agenda. “The United Nations system in Geneva and civil society here bring a wealth of expertise and experience on the eight priorities for this year”, the Director-General recalled, and he reminded of civil society’s valued contribution to bringing a number of the priorities to the forefront of global debates.

The Director-General encouraged NGOs to strengthen the focus on disarmament and non-proliferation, which he considered critical to a more secure world and to development. He also invited NGOs to take an active part in major forthcoming conferences and events, such as the United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries in Istanbul in May 2011, the annual session of ECOSOC in Geneva in July 2011, the United Nations Climate Change Conference in South Africa at the end of the year, and the 2012 Earth Summit in Brazil. “We value your commitment and contributions, and I hope that 2011 will be another year of strong collaboration in support of the United Nations’ work for a better world”, the Director-General concluded.

The discussions following the briefing touched on development, public health, human rights, disarmament, international security, migration and the rights of persons with disabilities.

For use of the information media; not an official record

DG11/001E