Joint Debate on the Implementation of UN Resolutions and the Revitalization of the work of the General Assembly
Statement delivered by H.E Beth Delaney, Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative of Australia to the UN on behalf of CANZ
8 October 2026
Thank you, President.
I have the honour to speak on behalf of Canada, New Zealand and Australia.
We look forward to working with the President of the General Assembly to continue to advance the revitalization of the General Assembly.
The case for revitalisation has never been stronger.
The United Nations faces growing geopolitical division, continuing financial pressures, and increasing demand on its limited resources.
Yet we Member States continue to add new mandates, meetings and reports to an already overstretched system.
Revitalisation is not simply about reforming and improving our working methods.
It is about strengthening the UN’s ability to deliver, ensuring its effectiveness, credibility and sustainability.
In this regard, CANZ offers four reflections:
First, we must implement reform and revitalisation commitments already agreed.
In line with resolution 80/251, CANZ calls on all Member States to:
- exercise greater discipline in creating and renewing mandates;
- avoid duplication;
- move towards biennial and triennial resolutions and reporting cycles where appropriate;
- include clear review mechanisms in all new and renewing mandates; and
- ensure that any new requirements deliver clear and demonstrable value.
Second, this session also marks the commencement of the moratorium on new international days, weeks, months and years, agreed in resolution 79/327.
We call on all Member States to respect both the letter and spirit of this measure.
Its implementation will be an important test of our commitment to a more focused and effective General Assembly.
Third, General Assembly revitalisation and UN80 reform must be mutually reinforcing to foster a system-wide approach.
CANZ encourages the Assembly’s Main Committees, subsidiary bodies, and other principal organs to apply these principles and recommendations to their own work, where appropriate.
Australia, as Chair of the Third Committee, Canada as Vice-Chair of Second Committee, and New Zealand as Co-Chair of the Working Group on General Assembly Revitalization, look forward to working with fellow Member States to put many of the commitments into practice.
Finally, CANZ recalls the important role of the General Assembly in the appointment of the next Secretary-General following the recommendation of the UN Security Council.
We look forward to fulfilling this mandate in the last quarter of 2026, in line with resolution 79/327, to allow the Secretary-General-designate sufficient time to prepare for their term in office, which comes at a critical time for the Organisation.
President,
While important progress has been made, our work is far from complete.
We must continue to pursue practical reforms, including harnessing new technologies where appropriate, to sharpen our focus on outcomes and impact.
Our goal needs to be a culture of continuous improvement, a consistent practice of translating our commitments into action, and a focus on the real-world impact in everything we do.
The General Assembly has no shortage of reform commitments.
The task now is to implement them.
CANZ stands ready to play its part.
Thank you.