U.N. GENERAL ASSEMBLY RESOLUTION FOCUSES ON CICIG

Guatemala, 28 October 2009. Today, during its Sixty-Fourth Session, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution on CICIG, which was discussed at the meeting on the situation in Central America: progress in creating a region of peace, freedom, democracy and development. The text of the resolution was presented by the Permanent Representative of Guatemala to the U.N., Gert Rosenthal (A/64/L.6), and in his introductory statement he highlighted the work of Commissioner Carlos Castresana and the Commission that he heads. The resolution was co-sponsored by 70 Member States.

Peru, Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela, Spain, Argentina, Costa Rica, the United States, El Salvador, Honduras, Canada, Sweden (EU) and Switzerland intervened and affirmed their support for CICIG. The statements concerning CICIG focused on:

- Support for the great work being done by the Commission.

- The United States, Sweden and Switzerland requested to the Secretariat more support to solve the Commission’s outstanding problems. The most emphatic speaker was Switzerland, which suggested the conversion of the Commission to a UN body.

- Mexico referred to the CICIG as "successful example that provides essential tools for the fight against impunity" and underscored its creative nature in restoring Guatemalans’ confidence in their institutions.

- Spain and Sweden highlighted the security challenge and called on the UN to strengthen its support in this regard.

- Several member states, including the Deputy Representative of Switzerland, expressed their willingness to continue contributing financial and human resources

- Argentina stressed its contribution to security and called on all Member States to adopt the resolution by consensus.

Important things to note: the name of the resolution does not address the situation in Central America, but CICIG directly. The Russian Federation did not raise any reservations.

… Read introductory statement
… Read text of the resolution