Belarus Endorses Widespread Democratization Of UN

Belarus Endorses Widespread Democratization Of UN

New York, Sep 29 2008 8:10PM

The most senior officials in the United Nations Secretariat should come from a much broader spread of countries, Belarus told the General Assembly’s annual high-level debate today, calling for wide-scale democratization of the entire Organization.

Addressing the debate’s final day, Belarus’ Permanent Representative Andrei Dapkiunas said his country “has always been a proponent of honest democratic relations in the UN system, a supporter of equal opportunities for all Member States and of the establishment of common rules of the game for the whole membership.”

He backed the call earlier this month by General Assembly President Miguel D’Escoto for a democratization of the world body so that it can deal more effectively with the most pressing global problems and ensure that the voices of a few do not overwhelm the views of the majority of others.

That kind of reform, Mr. Dapkiunas said, must include accelerated change within the UN Secretariat.

“The principle of fair geographical distribution has to be consistently implemented in the selection of the highest officers of the Secretariat departments: the highest five officers in each department have to represent five regional groups.”

He added that Belarus calls on UN Member States to support “the inadmissibly lengthy quest of Belarus for the rightful membership” in the UN Scientific Committee on the Effects of the Atomic Radiation.

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