UNESCO. General Conference; 30th; Records ... - unesdoc - Unesco

profoundly changing world, as they affect organizational leaderships. The Executive Board will then report its
views and recommendations to subsequent General Conferences. My delegation considers that if, eventually, in
whatever form the amendments are to be adopted, for reasons of fairness no action should be taken that carry
repercussions of consequences that effect the current six-year terms of the incoming Director-General of
UNESCO. Fairness in the present case should be construed as meaning that any change in methods which relate
especially to the length of the term of office should have been made known at the time Member States were
invited to submit candidatures for the post of the Director-General of UNESCO. Madam President, if the august
assembly approves my proposals, may I request that you kindly have them reflected, following the established
procedures, in the decisions of the General Conference. Thank you.
18. The PRESIDENT:
I thank the distinguished delegate of Indonesia. I now give the floor to the representative of Kenya.
19.1 Mr WANDIGA (Kenya):
Thank you, Madam President. Madam President, Kenya is and was a member of the Legal Committee. I
therefore confirm the accuracy of the report of the Chairperson of the Legal Committee, particularly with regard
to the New Zealand amendment as proposed in document 30 C/50 under item 6.4. This amendment is receivable
under Rule 113 and requires a two-thirds majority vote. Looking at document 30 C/50 Add. and Annex, I would
like to draw the attention of the General Conference to the content of the Canadian amendment contained therein.
The last paragraph of the letter proposing the amendment reads: "We request that you communicate the text of
this proposed change (attached) to Member States and Associate Members, in accordance with the terms of
Rule 114 of the Rules of Procedure of the General Conference". Madam President, therein lies the complication.
Document 30 C/78 Add. and Corr. does refer to a simple majority for approving the Canadian amendment to the
New Zealand amendment. We raised the issue, and I particularly raised the issue, in the Legal Committee, but I
was prevailed upon by the Chairperson and other members of the Committee to go along with the majority
opinion. We want to register our opinion in the General Conference that the Canadian amendment does also
require a two-thirds majority vote and not a simple majority.
19.2 Having said that, Madam President, let me now address myself to the underlying political issues about
which my delegation feels very strongly. In the Legal Committee we considered only the legal aspects of the
issue but never the political issues. I refer firstly to the letter of the Chairperson of the Executive Board to all
Member States on behalf of the General Conference, inviting applications for the post of Director-General. In
that letter, which was sent after the Canadian letter had been sent, no mention was made of the intended
modification of the term of office. There is therefore a high probability that Member States and the candidates
were given to expect that they were applying for a post that would entail a six-year term. The second point,
Madam President, relates to the complex nature of the Organization. This has already been stated by Venezuela
and we fully subscribe to that sentiment. The third aspect relates to the already adopted strategic planning of the
Organization which calls for six-year strategic plans. This, in our view, would mean that the Director-General,
any Director-General, if not confirmed for a second term, would never have an impact on one or other of the
strategic plans. Madam President, the last aspect which is dear to us is that for all of us here that have a
presidential election system, the presidential term of office is four, five, six or seven years. But whenever a
president does not perform well he or she is rejected by the electorate. We fully subscribe to the principle that it
is the electorate that should reject any Director-General. In view of these political aspects that I have enumerated,
we fully subscribe to the proposal by Indonesia except that we would not wish the issue to drag on beyond the
31st session of the General Conference and, if this is acceptable to Indonesia, we would fully agree that this
matter be postponed to the 31st session. Thank you very much.
20. The PRESIDENT:
Thank you, distinguished delegate of Kenya, I give the floor to India.
21. Mr SINGH (India):
Thank you, Madam President. The proposal is to reduce the tenure of office of the Director-General.
First it was reducing the representational allowance of the Director-General, then it was the rent, and now it is the
tenure. Let us first consider whether these reductions are at this stage in the best interests of the Organization. We
want a strong UNESCO, a purposeful UNESCO, and that requires effective stewardship; a Director-General who
is not sure of his tenure, who is not sure of his emoluments, who cannot afford a house in Paris and who cannot
afford to offer hospitality to visiting dignitaries, is not going to be effective. All these reductions have been taken
up in a piecemeal fashion. We believe that there is a need to look at all these issues comprehensively; such issues
should not be hurried through. Then there is the question of timing: apart from the legal aspect, it is clearly not
right to change the terms and conditions after inviting candidatures for the post and at the moment of a new
Director-General taking over. The question is: what kind of a message are we giving to the new Director-
General? On the subject of timing, the proper course would be to put these issues before the next General
Conference, as has been suggested by my colleague and friend from Indonesia, and not rush through such
566