The presidency of the sixty-third session of the General Assembly would focus on addressing the universal clamour for the democratization of the United Nations, President-elect Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann of Nicaragua said today at Headquarters.
... The presidency would also focus on other matters causing anguish in the world today, particularly the traumatic experiences resulting from the sudden increase in food and energy prices.
He said that ... Selfishness had brought the world to the “terrible quagmire” into which it was sinking irreversibly unless something happened. Everybody must change their ways and accept the only truth that was absolutely indispensable -- all humans were meant to be sisters and brothers ...
In response to a question, Mr. D’Escoto said he had always had great love for the United States, and while he had been known to be very clear in his opposition to certain things, that was not opposition to the United States.
He went on to stress that he held very strong positions in defence of the right to life and many other rights that were being violated, and would continue to defend those positions. One must not confuse the policy of any one person with the policies of the United States, as the country was much larger than that. Every United States policy he had ever disagreed with had also encountered domestic opposition within the country. Since the policies of the United States affected countries all over the world, especially the smaller ones, people in those countries had every right to draw attention to those policies. In fact, they would be remiss if they did not do so.
The President-elect reiterated that in order to come out of the quagmire in which the world found itself, people must become less selfish and make the transition from the logic of “I and mine” to that of “we and ours”.
Responding to another question, he said some people described the United Nations as the longest-lasting dictatorship. It was good to talk about democracy, but even better to practise it, and a concerted search was necessary in order to find ways to revitalize and democratize the Organization, including the Security Council. It was not just a problem of ensuring geographically balanced representation, even though that was important. It would also involve looking into the Bretton Woods institutions ...
In response to another question, he said such tags as “left”, “right” and “radical” were codes that some countries placed on others.
... Opening up the windows would let in fresh air and bring in people who were representative of the world, but not necessarily politicians. Such people would be invited to make important inputs to the deliberations of the United Nations.
On the question of harmony among civilizations, he noted that all religions contained lessons to be learned and values from which to draw in preparing for the transition from the logic of “I and mine” to that of “we and ours”. All the world’s religions and ethical philosophical traditions had much to contribute in that regard.
http://www.un.org/News/briefings/docs/2008/080604_GA_Elect.doc.htm
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