Statement by H.E. Mr. Muhammad Abdul Muhith, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the UN under Agenda Item 49: Comprehensive Review of Special Political Missions at the Fourth Committee of the 77th Session of the UNGA, 04 November 2022, Conference Room 4

Mr. Chair,

I thank the USG for Political and Peacebuilding Support and USG for Operational Support for their informative and useful briefing. We take note of the report of the Secretary General on the overall policy matters pertaining to Special Political Missions (SPMs) contained in document A/77/283.

Bangladesh aligns itself with the statement delivered by the Kingdom of Morocco on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).

 

Mr. Chair,

Special Political Missions (SPMs) remain an important tool of the United Nations to maintain international peace and security. It is indeed a crucial mechanism to support the peace processes and conflict prevention efforts of the United Nations. SPMs have been playing significant role in realizing the comprehensive approach to ‘sustaining peace’ through their differentiated contributions to preventing the outbreak, recurrence, continuation and relapse into conflicts. We acknowledge the contribution of DPPA and DOS to support the SPMs. We also recognize the importance of organizing annual dialogue to enhance the efficiency and capacity of the SPMs.

 

 

Mr. Chair,

As the host country of more than one million Rohingyas from Myanmar, we attach high importance to the mandate of the Special Envoy of the Secretary General on Myanmar. Bangladesh has been extending full support to the Special Envoy of the Secretary General on Myanmar, Ms. Noeleen Heyzer. We urge Myanmar to do the same for a sustainable solution to the Rohingya crisis. We hope General Assembly will extend her mandate in due course and will ensure necessary resources for delivery of her mandate.

We also urge the Special Envoy to reinvigorate her efforts to engage with the Myanmar authority to make the safe, dignified and sustainable repatriation of Rohingyas sheltered in Bangladesh happen.

In addition to the support extended to the work of the Special Envoy on Myanmar, Bangladesh, in general, has been contributing to SPMs by extending support in capacity building, sharing information, preparing control list, and providing judicial officials and experts.

 

Mr. Chair,

In his report on “Our Common Agenda”, the Secretary-General has called for a new agenda for peace which includes promoting peace and preventing conflicts through investing in prevention and supporting regional prevention, among others. To realize this call, we need to make the SPMs more effective with adequate resources and support. At the same time, pertinent policy decisions are needed to make the best use of the potentials of SPMs.

 

Mr. Chair, allow me to highlight few points:

First, coherent and coordinated approach within and beyond the United Nations System is needed to ensure the effectiveness of the work of the SPMs in the field. In this regard, we emphasize on better coordination among the Special Political Missions, Peacekeeping Operations, UN Country teams and regional, sub-regional and local organizations.

Second, we highlight the critical role of the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) in facilitating the work of the SPMs through its advisories to the Security Council, and also its engagements with the SPMs. We are encouraged to see the continuous engagements of PBC with the SPMs. The PBC meetings also serve as potential platform to exchange information, experiences, and views among the SPMs, regional and local organizations.

Third, we focus on the gender responsive support and inclusivity in the work of SPMs. We welcome addressing of thematic issues – Women Peace and Security and Youth Peace and Security in the report of the Secretary-General and efforts made by the SPMs to implement these thematic agendas. We also recall the Security Council Resolution 2493 and 2535 in this regard.

Fourth, we join others in welcoming the Secretary-General for his commitment to promoting a more diverse workforce and improving the representation of women throughout the Organization and stress on taking into account the balanced geographical representation when making appointments.

Fifth, we emphasize on continuing to elaborate options for adequate resourcing of the mandated peacebuilding activities of Special Political Missions as mentioned in the General Assembly Resolution 76/305 on Financing for Peacebuilding. We express our support to the Secretary General’s enhanced resource allocation proposal of $161.9 million for the SPMs in 2023. We also reiterate the call for considering the creation of a special account for SPMs based on assessed contributions from Member States.

Finally, we are happy to co-sponsor this year’s resolution on “Comprehensive review of special political missions” and looking forward to its adoption.

I thank you.