Swedenís Ambassador Prepares to Return To U.N. as President of General Assembly by John Shaw When Jan Eliasson served as Swedenís ambassador to the United Nations about 15 years ago, he carried in his suit pocket a small blue book with a copy of the U.N. founding charter. Eliasson still has that book, which is written in Swedish and is heavily underlined, underscoring those passages he found interesting and important. "When I was at the U.N., I read it every month and always discovered something new," Eliasson said in an interview at his official residence in Northwest Washington. "The people who wrote that charter were so good. Iím so impressed by that document." Eliasson recently received another copy of the U.N. charter in a blue book that is larger than his original one and is written in English. Both copies will come in handy in September when Eliasson, who has been Swedenís ambassador to the United States since 2000, becomes the president of the U.N. General Assembly. Eliasson was endorsed for that prestigious job in November by a group of Western European countries and other nations that are set to hold the rotating presidency of the General Assembly in the nex t session. The United States strongly supported his nomination. Eliasson had planned on returning to Stockholm in September after his five-year stint in Washington to work on mediation, train young Swedish diplomats and begin other projects. His wife, Kerstin, returned to Stockholm last year to serve as Swedenís deputy minister of education (see March 2004 issue of The Washington Diplomat). "This job came out of the blue. At first I was really hesitant. It wasnít quite what I planned," Eliasson said. "But my wife helped persuade me I had to do it or I would spend the rest of my life regretting the decision. Iíve been telling her for the last 20 years that the U.N. needs to be reformed." Eliasson is set to be formally elected president of the General Assembly in June. If all goes as scheduled, he will assume the post in September just as a highly anticipated global summit is convened under U.N. auspices in New York. Eliasson will serve as the president of the General Assembly for its 60th session that extends from September 2005 to September 2006. Eliassonís appointment is a significant honor for Sweden and indicates global respect for its diplomatic traditions. His term will coincide with the 100th anniversary of the birth of Dag Hammarskjold, one of Swedenís most important statesmen and a revered former secretary-general of the United Nations. Eliasson noted that Sweden has worked closely with the United Nations since joining the world body in 1946. It makes generous financial contributions and offers experts and mediators to help resolve conflicts. It is also active in peacekeeping and development assistance, having supplied more than 90,000 troops to U.N. peace operations. He said Sweden is convinced that supporting the United Nations is one of its best ways to bolster the international system and create and preserve peace. Eliasson will bring to the job substantial experience on U.N. issues that go back a quarter century. In addition to serving as Swedenís ambassador to the United Nations from 1988 to 1992, he was the first U.N. undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs. In addition, as Swedenís deputy foreign minister and in other senior positions in Swedenís foreign ministry, he worked extensively on U.N. issues. Eliasson also devoted much of the 1980s to a U.N.-sanctioned mission to try to end the Iran-Iraq war. Eliasson has a friendship with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan that includes a ritual New Yearís Eve phone call to catch up on personal projects and discuss global affairs. "I know Kofi Annan wants to leave a legacy of reform. I very much would like to work hand-in-hand with him," Eliasson said. An activist by temperament and training, Eliasson refuses to view the General Assembly presidency as a largely ceremonial post. When he assumes the presidency in September, he will help preside over a global summit that will review progress on the Millennium Goals and also consider reform ideas offered by a special panel that reported to Annan in late 2004. The Millennium Goals were set in 2000 by the General Assembly and will be reviewed this year. They call for important global accomplishments by 2015, including eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, providing universal primary education, ensuring gender equality and more power for women, reducing child mortality, improving maternal health, fighting AIDS and malaria, improving environmental sustainability, and developing a global partnership for development. In addition to reviewing these goals, the U.N. summit will carefully consider a package of proposed reforms that were submitted by a panel of 16 global leaders in December. The panel outlined an array of global threats and urged bold actions, including significant reforms of U.N. institutions. Annan has said that early this year he will identify those reforms that should be advanced immediately and considered by the September summit. "Some of the issues are extremely difficult to solveóhow to deliver on the Millennium Goals and Security Council reform. Itís going to be very tough, but the U.N. is at a fork in the road and faces vital choices," Eliasson said. Currently, the United Nations is going through a difficult time, including allegations of corruption in the oil-for-food program for Iraq as well as possible crimes committed by U.N. peacekeepers in the Congo. Eliasson will assume his new post against the backdrop of a troubled global political situation. "Itís a somber picture. Itís an uphill battle on so many fronts. There is so much suspicion, so much animosity, so many conflicts and so many potential conflicts. I know itís a very difficult task, but someone has to do it," he said. As president of the General Assembly, Eliasson said he will be a global representative, but one who brings a Swedish perspective to the United Nations and multilateralism. "Once Iím elected president of the General Assembly I will represent all 191 countries. But itís obvious I bring something with me from my Swedish background. People know what Sweden stands for. One of my passions is to move attention from the later stages of conflict to earlier stages of action. If we can increase the awareness of the benefits of early actions, we could save so much in terms of lives and respect for the United Nations," he said. Although some diplomats find the United Nations a frustrating and inscrutable body, Eliasson said he understands how diplomacy is conducted in New York. "Itís a different type of diplomacy at the United Nations. Multilateral diplomacy is negotiation, itís alliance building, itís taking into account collective interests. The challenge is to balance national and international responsibilities and to accept that we live in a globalized world." But Eliasson is determined to avoid getting bogged down in process issues. "I will be very results oriented. Sometimes in international organizations and even in national bureaucracies we tend to put the organization at the center and not the problem. But you have to put the problem at the center and build the organization around the problem," he said. "I will hope to encourage both pragmatism and idealism at the United Nations, but itís not easy to change a large and established organization. Itís a big ship to turn." As president of the General Assembly, Eliasson will have a small staff of U.N. civil servants, three or four Swedish diplomats, and some officials seconded from other countries. The president of the General Assembly is charged with making sure that it has well-functioning relationships with other U.N. bodies such as the Security Council. The General Assembly may consider any issue that relates to a U.N. body or agency. It commissions studies about international law, human rights and all forms of international, social, economic, cultural and educational cooperation. In addition, it approves budgets and decides how much states should contribute, and it elects rotating members of the Security Council as well as members of the Economic and Social Council. In collaboration with the Security Council, it also elects judges of International Court of Justice. Each of the 191 U.N. member states has one seat and vote in the General Assembly. The assemblyís resolutions have no legally binding force. There is a two-tier system of voting. On key issues such as the budget and the invitation of new members, a two-thirds majority is required. On other matters, a simple majority vote is required. Eliasson is fully aware that not everyone is convinced of the utility of the Genera l Assembly or has confidence in the United Nations, but he believes the United Nations is a vital world body and is determined to ensure that it is more effective and relevant than ever. "I hope this next year will be a reform year and a year in which people will take multilateral cooperation seriously. The U.N. is as good as the member states want it to be," he said. "The U.N. should be like the maestro of an orchestra, encouraging beautiful music from all sections while always striving for harmony." John Shaw is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.