Source: http://www.un.org/apps/sg/offthecuff.asp http://www.un.org/apps/sg/offthecuff.asp
Date: February 20, 2006

New York, 20 February 2006 - Secretary-General's press encounter with President of the General Assembly, Jan Eliasson
Q: My goodness, an embarrassment of riches! [laughter] 
JE: I am very honoured. The Secretary-General came to me. As you noticed, I met him half way here. We have had a good discussion about the need to move forward with the whole reform agenda. We live in a world of turmoil, and we must keep in mind that we have work to do in so many areas. 
We have the issues of ECOSOC – Economic and Social Council; we have the development issues; we have important management issues, and we have, of course also, the Human Rights Council. And we discussed how we could proceed to work forward, together, to help this process come along. And we hope that we will have progress in the next few days on the Human Rights Council and also progress on development and economic and social affairs. Mr. Secretary-General? 
SG: I agree with what the President has said: This is the year of reform, and we are pressing ahead. Between the two of us we are in touch with many of the Member States, individually and in groups. And I am really hopeful that we will see real progress on human rights this week. And press ahead with management reform, the mandate review, and of course a strategy for fighting terrorism and also the resumed discussions on the terrorism convention. This would also be on the table. Of course the development issue, which is of great concern to many of our members is very much on the table, and we have made good progress, and I hope we can put that to bed, as well as the strengthening of ECOSOC. 
Q: What gives you so much optimism that the Human Rights Council could be completed this week? There are still a lot of problems, at least in the eyes of some members. 
JE: I think there is a realization that after thirty consultations and negotiations by the Co-Chairs in the Plenary, and after my consultations in the last ten days, we have come to a stage where we have to try to bridge the differences, maintain the objective that we should have a strengthened human rights machinery, but that this machinery is also machinery of cooperation, of dialogue, and that we, in this day and age, need to have a strong forum for dealing with human rights issues. Therefore, I think the membership is ready to move to this decision. 
I know, and the Secretary-General knows, these are sensitive issues, these are very difficult issues, and we live in difficult times. When you read the paper in the morning, you are reminded of that every day. But we have a task to take a longer perspective. This is laying the basis for human rights work in the future, and I think the membership is going to turn out to be pretty ready for taking this step. 
Q: So is there going to be a new text? Is there going to be a vote? 
JE: I hope there will not be a vote, but there is of course a plan for a new text this week. 
Q: There seems to be this really bitter gap regarding G77, the powers in the UN system. They sent a letter on Friday -- I don't recall seeing this to this point. And I wonder where that stands. I mean, were you objecting to the Security Council holding still on Thursday the sexual abuse hearing and procurement debate, and should it be in the Council? What do you think? 
SG: Unfortunately, you are right, that there is some mistrust amongst the membership on the whole issue of reform, and the reasons behind the reform, but I think from my discussions with Member States almost all of them realize that reform is necessary, and would want to see the Organization reformed and strengthened. Yes, there is some suspicion that some organs are reaching out for a power grab. There is unhappiness with the Security Council, particularly the [five permanent members], and I think all this also began when we started discussing the peace-building commission, and there was insistence that five of the seats must be reserved for them, and in fact this had also been raised with the Human Rights Council, but that was dropped. And of course, the General Assembly has generally felt that its power and its influence is being diminished. But I have also said that this reform would be an opportunity for the General Assembly to strengthen itself, to restructure itself, its methods of work, and become a dynamic and more active organ. 
But of course, when they see issues that they believe should be discussed in the General Assembly being discussed in the Council, again it leads to tensions. I am sure the two bodies should be able to find a mechanism for discussing an issue of great interest to all the Member States. Peacekeeping, procurement, sexual abuse, are issues that should be of concern to all of them, and we should find a way of discussing them openly and publicly, and not fight over which forum should have it. But I think we should respect the various organs and their responsibilities. 
JE: Can I add, as President of the General Assembly, that of course I share the concern that, if there is an encroachment of the functions and power of the General Assembly that are on the agenda of the General Assembly, we need to deal with that, and I have discussed this matter with the President of the Security Council, and I am in constant discussion with the Non-Aligned Movement about this matter. I think it is important that we respect each other's functions and powers, and we will of course prove this point that the Secretary-General has just made, I hope, in the next few days and weeks and months, namely that the General Assembly is accepting this responsibility to take very important reform decisions. I think this is a great way, actually, of proving the standing of the General Assembly in the next few months. I would hope also that we would increase that sense of respect and that importance of dialogue, so that we bring down these tensions to which you referred. 
Q: Is the management reform and the fight over that, is that what is at the bottom of this ill-will, of people thinking that you want more power, that the Americans want more power, the West, and the Non-Aligned Movement don't want to give it up? 
JE: I have twenty five years of experience at the United Nations; I remember this discussion about the Fifth Committee and a strong Secretary-General and a strong Secretariat. This is a constant discussion, and maybe we should not dramatize it too much. It is a classic discussion of having a well-functioning Secretariat, a strong Secretary-General on the one hand, but also that we have accountability vis-à-vis the Member States. I would even dare say that this discussion that is now going on, this discussion of principal of the powers and the functions of the General Assembly vis-à-vis the Security Council is a very healthy one. We need, every now and then, to have that discussion, and show that we have our separate functions, that we shouldn't encroach upon, for instance, now the Fifth Committee is dealing with the procurement issues, but that, to bring out this issue of principal could be a very healthy development, if we do it in the right manner. 
Q: But they overlap, don't they? 
SG: Anyway, I hope that, as part of this whole exercise of reform, the kind of clarity that one is seeking would also become apparent, once we have gone through our reform exercises and looked at them – who does what and who should be doing what. 
Q: The US Ambassador just said that, in addition to going after the richer Western nations to ask for support on Darfur, that you should also go and put some pressure on the African and Arab nations who seem to be not so willing to start work on planning for an expanded mission in Darfur. 
Q: And that you're not using his planners. 
Q: He says they're not working up to their capacity. 
SG: No comment. [laughter]