UNITED NATIONS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY
MODALITIES FOR THE 2026 UNITED NATIONS WATER CONFERENCE
06 September 2024
Delivered by H.E. Ambassador James Larsen, Australia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations
Thank you President,
And as you mentioned, I have the honour to speak on behalf of Canada, New Zealand, and my own country, Australia.
First, let me thank the co-facilitators, the United Arab Emirates and Senegal, for their excellent work on this modalities resolution and Australia looks forward to working hard to ensure its implementation.
But I wanted to take the opportunity to make some remarks concerning the question of civil society participation as we discussed earlier today.
In CANZ’s view, civil society are our eyes and ears on the ground and give us critical information and perspectives on many issues and should be at the table in as many UN meetings as possible.
The active engagement of civil society in the 2026 UN Water Conference has the potential to enhance the quality, inclusiveness, and effectiveness of the discussions and outcomes.
Their involvement is essential for fostering accountability, innovation, and partnerships that are critical for sustainable development.
CANZ would also like to reiterate that requiring objections be brought for a decision by the General Assembly increases transparency and accountability and enables the whole General Assembly membership to decide on a particular civil society organisation’s participation, instead of just one Member State. We are also particularly concerned by the increasing trend of Member States objecting to NGOs from other countries.
The fate of a reputable and credible NGO should not be determined behind closed doors and through the objections of one or a few member states.
The General Assembly must consider the criteria set forth by the NGO Committee in determining eligibility for participating in a meeting and push back against politicising work of civil society. Civil society’s greatest value add is that they work across countries, regions and issues, and that they push each of us to do better as governments.
We are disappointed that the UN did not uphold best practise in facilitating civil society participation at the 2026 UN Water Conference. In our view this is a missed opportunity, which has failed in meeting our objective of transparency and accountability for civil society participation across the UN.
Thank you.