The annual Report of the Committee on Relations with the Host Country was presented to the Sixth Committee of the UN General Assembly, in the capacity of the committee’s chairman, by the Permanent Representative of Cyprus to the United Nations, Ambassador Andreas Hadjichrysanthou.
During the reporting period, the Committee held four meetings and discussed issues important to the UN Membership regarding the implementation of the UN Headquarters Agreement as well as the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations.
In the Recommendations and Conclusions set out in Chapter IV of the Report, the Committee, inter alia, reiterates its expectation that the host country will ensure the issuance of entry visas to all representatives of Member States and members of the Secretariat in line with the Headquarters Agreement.
“As in the previous year, we have witnessed intense discussions on several items of great importance to the affected Member States related to the implementation of the Headquarters Agreement, in particular with respect to entry visas” the report says.
The Committee, it goes on, has continued to grapple with the differing views as to whether progress has been made by the host country in the context of the recommendations and conclusions that the Committee adopted last year, which were endorsed by the General Assembly, and in particular whether “certain issues raised in the report of the Committee remained unresolved following a reasonable and finite period of time.”
The Committee “reiterates its recommendation to the Secretary-General to now give most serious consideration and take any appropriate steps under section 21 of the Headquarters Agreement and to enhance efforts to resolve the issues”.
I believe that the recommendations and conclusions of this year’s Report, on which the members have reached consensus through intense but constructive negotiations, accurately reflect this situation” Hadjichrysanthou said. He also reiterated his personal commitment to help address all outstanding issues in a spirit of compromise and in full regard for the interests of the Organization.
The Committee on Relations with the Host Country is an important forum in which representatives of member states seek to resolve different problems arising in connection with the implementation of the 1947 Agreement between the United Nations and the United States of America regarding the Headquarters of the United Nations, through a frank and constructive exchange of views and cooperation of all concerned.
Since its establishment in 1971, the Committee remains an open, transparent, and flexible body where any interested delegation can participate in it as an observer. Moreover, the Committee is the only body in the UN system which is mandated to consider matters in relation to the host country and then report thereon to the General Assembly and make recommendations.
Source: Cyprus News Agency