The UN General Assembly’s first woman president opened the body’s 61st session on Tuesday, vowing to tackle UN reform and fight global poverty, Reuters news agency reported.
Haya Rashed Al Khalifa of Bahrain assured the assembly that her religion wouldn’t affect her leadership of the 192-nation body, but stressed that her gender would.
"Over half the world's population, namely women, typically have less access to health care, employment, decision-making and property ownership," she said.
"This disparity needs to be addressed so that women and men can enjoy the same opportunities, the same rights and the same responsibilities in all aspects of life.”
Haya also noted that the world’s needy expect the United Nations to aid them, stressing that the organization must prove that it deserves their trust.
She also pledged to back efforts to reach an agreement over the wording of a draft "comprehensive convention on international terrorism", that has been stalled since 1996 due to disputes over the treaty's breadth and how to define terrorism.
Arab countries want the definition of terrorism to exclude resistance groups such as Palestinians living under Israeli occupation or other national liberation movements.
Haya stressed that no cause, including a struggle for national liberation, justifies the killing of innocent civilians.
"Nobody can accept that the killing of human beings is acceptable," she told reporters. "It is the rule of law all over the world."
Haya also said that the General Assembly’s achievements should “demonstrate and confirm its importance as the chief deliberative, policymaking and representative organ of the UN.”
The 192-nation assembly - dominated by a big voting bloc of developing countries and the 114-nation Non-aligned Movement now meeting in Havana - has long tried to have a greater decision making role within the organization.
Haya was chosen by acclamation in June to succeed Jan Eliasson, who returned to his job as Swedish foreign minister in Stockholm on Monday.
Bahrain's first female diplomat and one of the first two Bahraini women to practice law in her country, Haya used her career to promote women’s rights as enshrined in the Sharia law before winning the General Assembly’s presidency.
*Without Allah, without Islam, life would be meaningless. If I've ever learned patience, it's because of this. Alhamdulillah...*
Re: UN assembly’s 1st Muslim woman leader vows reform
format_quote Originally Posted by Keltoi
Now when the UN gets a new secretary-general, perhaps real reform might actually be possible.
The most important reform would be to how the UN votes.
Why should America/Britain/France/Russia/China have a veto? Vetos mean that the world's largest democracy, India, has a less powerful voice than any one of those 5. And, all but possibly China, have a much smaller population than India.
I propose a UN where each nation gets a vote proportional to its population. I don't think there's much chance of that. Democracy be hanged. It would mean rich countries being out-voted by poor countries.
Re: UN assembly’s 1st Muslim woman leader vows reform
format_quote Originally Posted by Obi-Wan
The most important reform would be to how the UN votes.
Why should America/Britain/France/Russia/China have a veto? Vetos mean that the world's largest democracy, India, has a less powerful voice than any one of those 5. And, all but possibly China, have a much smaller population than India.
I propose a UN where each nation gets a vote proportional to its population. I don't think there's much chance of that. Democracy be hanged. It would mean rich countries being out-voted by poor countries.
You are correct. The major powers in the world do not want a general assembly that has power over the "security council", because these countries would create a voting block. I can't really blame them. The U.N. is funded and controlled by the major powers. Without them the U.N. wouldn't exist in the first place.
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