President-elect of the 79th Session of the General Assembly

His Excellency Philemon Yang
President of the 79th session of the General Assembly

Ambassador Philemon Yang is a seasoned diplomat with a track record of experience.

At the national level, he served as Prime Minister and Head of Government from 2009 to 2019. In this capacity, he represented the Head of State at important high-level regional and international meetings.

He has held other important government positions, including Vice-Minister of Territorial Administration (1975–1979), Minister of Mines and Energy (1979–1984) and Minister, Deputy Secretary General at the Presidency of the Republic (2004–2009). Since 2020, he has been serving as the Grand Chancellor of National Orders at the Presidency of the Republic.

Internationally, Mr. Yang served as Cameroon’s High Commissioner to Canada (1984–2004), where, for 14 years, he was Dean of the Diplomatic Corps. He has led Cameroonian delegations to high-level economic summits in Washington, D.C., London, New Delhi and several other capitals.

At the African level, he took part in various sessions of the African Union Assembly of Heads of State and Government , including the summit on the institutional reform of the African Union.

He has held the position of Chairperson of the Panel of Eminent Africans of the African Union since February 2020. This Panel is, among other things, responsible for examining candidacies for important positions within the African Union, such as those for African Union Commissioner.

As far as the activities of the United Nations are concerned, Mr. Yang was Chair of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety.

He is also fervently committed to humanitarian issues, respect for human rights and dignity, the rule of law, respect for nature and the environment, the fight against climate change and the reform and renewal of the United Nations.

His vision and commitment are based on the ideals, objectives and principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations concerning peace, security, economic and social development and respect for human rights, including the advancement of women, children and people with disabilities.

Born on 14 June 1947 in Jikejem-Oku, in the North-West Region of Cameroon, Mr. Yang is a Cameroonian politician and a magistrate by training. He graduated with a degree in law from the University of Yaoundé, Cameroon. He also graduated from the National School of Administration and Magistracy. Mr. Yang went on to obtain a master’s degree in international law from the University of Ottawa, Canada, and a Master of Business Administration from Century University in the United States of America.

He is married to Linda Yang and is the father of three children.

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Vision Statement

Once elected, I will be called upon to serve as President of the General Assembly of the United Nations for one year, from September 2024 to September 2025.

What are my vision, my agenda, my duty and my style? These are the very first questions that Member States and even the general public will expect me to shed light on, in line with the Assembly’s requirements.

My Vision

The theme of my mandate will be “Unity in diversity, for the advancement of peace, sustainable development and human dignity for everyone, everywhere”, which, I believe, covers the three pillars of United Nations action.

Indeed, my reading of the current international context and its likely evolution is that the challenges of a digitalized twenty-first century characterized by tremendous progress in science and technology, in particular information and communications technology, are becoming increasingly complex and globalized.

These challenges stem from human activity or natural disasters. Examples include active or low-intensity conflicts in various parts of the world, geopolitical tensions, international terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, economic upheaval and uncertainty, inequalities, epidemics, pandemics, refugees and displaced persons, migratory flows, climate change, which is threatening the survival and very existence of some States, deforestation, desertification, hunger, the digital divide and a frantic arms race, including in outer space.

I believe we have the tools to deal with all these issues, as affirmed by the Heads of State and Government in the declaration on the commemoration of the seventy-fifth anniversary of the United Nations. What we lack is the political will to act, to use these tools for the well-being of all. Currently, there remains a lingering mistrust, along with double standards and an inward-looking attitude on the part of States. Increasingly, positions are being taken and things are being done not in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, but rather selectively and based on partisan interests.

Yet no country, no matter how powerful, can singlehandedly address the current challenges of globalization and interdependence. I note with interest the existence, affirmation and even creation of various groupings and centres of power in the world. However, I believe that this dynamic falls short of the potential or even the true capacity for action of the United Nations.

The General Assembly, the highest and most representative deliberative body at the global level, is thus becoming the only place where States, on the basis of sovereign equality and in all their diversity of opinion, meet to seek joint solutions to these problems. It is the forum par excellence for the free expression of this diversity of beliefs, opinions, interests, approaches, solutions and the ways and means of implementation.

It is the place where, thanks to the general debate, the voices of peoples and nations, in all their distinctiveness, are heard through their representatives on all issues of concern to humankind, be they peace, security, disarmament, economic, financial, social and humanitarian issues, administrative and budgetary questions, human rights, the rule of law, the development and dissemination of international law, decolonization, space, seas and oceans, peacekeeping and peacebuilding operations, and reforms that have a critical impact on the future of humanity. The General Assembly reflects the richness of the world’s peoples and nations.

It is also an important forum for dialogue and consultation, where nations large and small harmonize their views on all these issues to achieve common goals; hence the appeal for unity, coming together and solidarity, for consensus in fact, during deliberations and exchanges within its various bodies, transcending differences and divergent and wavering opinions.

In summary, this is my vision of this august chamber, as conceived by the founding fathers, as a forum for the free expression of opinion, as a great drum that gives a voice to nations and peoples in all their diversity, and as a great “palaver tree” under which, after much discussion, views are harmonized to reach common goals. It is through this lens that I would like my action to be viewed during my term.

My agenda and my duty

To that end, and as a guideline, it should be underscored that Member States have themselves defined the following eight major areas or priorities to be addressed by the General Assembly: promotion of sustained economic growth and sustainable development in accordance with the relevant resolutions of the Assembly and United Nations conferences; maintenance of international peace and security: development in Africa; promotion of human rights; effective coordination of humanitarian assistance; promotion of justice and international law; disarmament; and drug control, crime prevention and combating international terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.

Member States have also adopted plans to promote action in that regard, most recently the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including measures to evaluate its implementation. The Heads of State and Government declared in the document commemorating the Organization’s seventy-fifth anniversary that the 2030 Agenda is their “road map and its implementation a necessity for their survival”. Notably, the watchwords of the 2030 Agenda, which applies to everyone, everywhere in the world, concern protecting the planet, human survival, poverty eradication, shared prosperity and leaving no one behind.

They also established specific programmes and frameworks for countries in special situations, such as least developed countries (with the Doha Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries, the strengthening of the resources and functions of the Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States, and the relaunch of the Board of Advisers for those countries); landlocked developing countries (with a new Kigali programme planned in June 2024); small island developing States, some of which are struggling to survive (with the SIDS Accelerated Modalities of Action (SAMOA) Pathway to be reviewed in May 2024 at the fourth International Conference on Small Island Developing States in Antigua and Barbuda) and middle-income countries (with coordinated and enhanced follow-up by the entire United Nations development system of the measures envisaged by the General Assembly). All of these programmes aim to achieve sustainable development, the main indicator of which is poverty eradication.

With reference to Africa specifically, which constitutes one of the eight priorities of the United Nations, the General Assembly supported Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want, drawn up by Africa itself, with its priority programmes and projects, as a powerful tool for the continent’s development in the context of the African Continental Free Trade Area. In this regard, there is a strategic partnership between the continent and the United Nations and a position of Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Africa, who is responsible for monitoring implementation of the commitments made by the partners of Africa.

To preserve peace, promote sustainable development and protect the planet, the international community should ensure that the objectives jointly set by Member States in all these programmes are achieved.

During my term, I will stress the need for faster action on the measures to be taken by the General Assembly to ensure the effective implementation of mutual commitments. The means of implementation, in particular in terms of finance, science and technology, are therefore of the utmost urgency.

In addition to the above-mentioned programmes, it should be noted that a number of activities and processes that were initiated by my predecessors will be continued during my presidency, either in terms of further consideration or measures for their implementation. In that connection, I should like to mention, inter alia, the reform of the Security Council, the revitalization of the work of the General Assembly, the social summit in 2025, the fourth International Conference on Financing for Development, the United Nations Conference to Support the Implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development, and the fourth high-level meeting of the General Assembly on the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases. I would also like to mention the draft declaration and the preparations for celebrating the eightieth anniversary of the United Nations and, above all, the follow-up measures to A Pact for the Future that will be adopted during the seventy-ninth session of the General Assembly at the Summit of the Future, which are likely to have an impact on our common future. I undertake to give careful follow-up to these issues, including by appointing the right co-facilitators.

On another level, there are hotbeds of tension and active or low-intensity conflicts in various regions of the world. In this particular regard, the General Assembly has a duty to play its full part by making the necessary efforts in the areas of prevention, de-escalation, confidence-building measures and action-oriented resolutions and decisions, and by further strengthening the Peacebuilding Commission, Office and Fund.

Concerning the revitalization of the work of the Assembly itself, with a view to strengthening its authority, I will continue the work of my predecessors, ensuring that the co-facilitators and the working group appointed for this purpose deepen and accelerate discussion of the innovative ideas put forward by Member States. I will ensure that the Assembly’s voice is heard, whenever necessary, by Member States or at specific international meetings on issues of grave concern.

During my term, I will also ensure that the Assembly remains constantly attuned to events around the world, by activating its role, in line with the relevant procedures, either to take up issues vetoed by the Security Council or because a situation relating to a conflict, natural disaster or epidemic warrants its attention.

Throughout my term, I will hold consultations and maintain contact with the various regional or functional groups, in order to discuss their specific concerns or interests and any action that the Assembly may take.

During my term, the members of my Office and the co-facilitators will be drawn from different countries, taking into account parity between women and men, the usual equitable geographical distribution, competence and integrity.

I will give the necessary priority to programmes for the advancement of Indigenous Peoples, people of African descent, persons with disabilities and all vulnerable people.

Regarding young people, I will maintain the priority accorded to them under the newly created Youth Office in the United Nations Secretariat, to which the Assembly has allocated resources for its effective functioning under the 2024 budget. I will resume the youth fellowship programme launched by my predecessors.

On another level, as prescribed by the Assembly, I will attach great importance to cooperation with the high-level leaders of the principal organs such as the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council and the Secretary-General, while adhering to the established schedule of our meetings, for the harmonious functioning of our “common home”.

I will emphasize multilingualism and multiculturalism, the bedrocks of cultural diversity, which reflect the richness of the peoples and nations of the world.

I will accord special importance to interfaith and intercultural dialogue and to combating extremism and hate speech.

On the subject of partnership, I will emphasize cooperation between the United Nations and regional and subregional organizations in efforts to promote peace, sustainable development and human dignity. I will also ensure, in accordance with the rules established or to be improved by Member States, that the partnership with civil society, non-governmental organizations and academic circles is strengthened, and that they are consulted, participate in and contribute to the work of the Assembly whenever necessary.

In the second half of my term, I may also, as needed and depending on the themes agreed upon by the parties, lead informal interactive conversations with Member States or the above-mentioned partners on matters of interest or concern, following the well-known African tradition of discussion under the “palaver tree”.

My style and my call

Throughout my term, I will be guided by the following principles and considerations:

• Strict adherence to the oath that I will take before the General Assembly prior to assuming office
• Availability and an open ear for all Member States and other partners
• Complete transparency, intellectual and moral probity, impartiality, objectivity and punctuality in the performance of my duties
• Compliance with the rules of procedure in the conduct of business
• Firmness, but also flexibility, as needed, in overseeing consultations to achieve the goals set

In conclusion, if I were asked to sum up my presidency in a few words, I would say this: beyond our diversity and our differences, let us take action and work together to promote peace, end war and encourage harmony of hearts and minds; let us strive to make faster progress towards sustainable development, shared prosperity and harmony with nature and the environment, whose resources must be used moderately, judiciously and wisely, while taking corrective and transitional measures for the sake of present and future generations; and let us strive to promote human dignity everywhere and for everyone.

Let us take action, let us strive to strengthen multilateralism based on a solid foundation anchored in the purposes, principles and objectives enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations.

Together, let us heed history’s clarion call for humanism. It is a rare call that is made to only one generation, the source of the future, in the course of a century!

If the Member States were to honour me by electing me as President of the seventy-ninth session of the General Assembly, it would be a great tribute to the unity and solidarity of the Group of African States, to which the rotating presidency falls, and which has spared no effort to come up with a single candidate from the African continent. It would also be a great honour for my country, Cameroon, a former trust territory of the United Nations, in recognition of the maturity of its diplomacy at the international level. Above all, it would be a glowing tribute to the President, Mr. Paul Biya, for his insightful views, expressed regularly from the rostrum of the General Assembly. Lastly, for me, it would be an honour, or better still a duty, to serve the entire international community with humility and honesty, in the wake of history’s call.

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Acceptance speech by Ambassador Philemon Yang
following his election as President of the 79th session of the General Assembly on 6 June 2024

It has been 79 years since the United Nations was created by the founding fathers, with the General Assembly as an important body among the six main organs, which, each year, elects a President to lead its work.

On this solemn occasion, I would like, at the outset, to turn to my predecessors, including the most immediate in office, Ambassador Dennis Francis of Trinidad and Tobago, to thank them and to congratulate them on the talent, art and science that each of them has deployed during their term of office to bring our deliberations to a successful conclusion on the progressively numerous, diverse and complex issues that are intensively discussed during each session.

I would then like to turn to all Member States, to express my sincere gratitude for the support that they have given to my election.

I would like to immensely thank, in particular, the Group of African States, which, in pursuance of its turn to assume the presidency of the seventy-ninth session, consistent with the established pattern of regional rotation, was kind enough to present my candidacy. I feel that this election is a great salute to the unity and solidarity of our Group, and the African Union in particular, which has spared no effort to achieve the choice of a single continental candidate, thus corroborating its well-known legendary discipline in terms of candidacy.

I also feel that this election is a great recognition of the Central African countries, which endorsed Cameroon very early on at the Summit of the Economic Community of Central African States, held in Kintele, the Republic of the Congo, on 19 January 2022.

In addition, and as underlined in my letter of intent and commitment, my present election is also a great honour for my country, Cameroon, a ward of the United Nations, and for the maturity of its diplomacy of presence and active participation on the international scene.

Moreover, this election is, without a doubt, a great tribute to President Paul Biya, whose wisdom and pertinence of views are regularly expressed from the rostrum of our Assembly.

Finally, I also feel that this election is an honour, but above all an obligation for me to humbly and honestly serve the entire international community throughout my term of office.

To all of you, I am infinitely grateful.

We are living in very difficult times, marked by very striking contrasts. Indeed, the prodigious development of science and technology has placed in our hands an impressive body of knowledge and know-how to provide solutions to the needs of present and future generations, in terms of peace, security and economic, social and cultural well-being for each and all.

In this fast-moving digital era, artificial intelligence is now magnifying not just the opportunities, but also the challenges, so quickly, to the point that even the most convinced followers of digitalization are calling for rigorous regulation in order to prevent our fate from being entrusted to the hands of robots, based on assessments by which the slightest error is likely to ruin us.

Despite all this improvement, these possibilities and these potentialities, our era is characterized, unfortunately, by blatant inequalities, selfishness, competition for power and diverse interests, alongside powerful centrifugal forces, which threaten the cohesion and solidarity of humanity.

Geopolitical and geostrategic tensions continue to fuel distrust among States and are intensifying an unstoppable arms race, including in space. An exponential increase in military budgets, the sophistication of military doctrines and rules of engagement on the ground, including the possibility or threat of the use of nuclear weapons, are the frightening realities of the world in which we live today.

Open or latent conflicts are increasing in various regions of the world, with their accompanying suffering and unbearable toll on civilians, refugees and internally displaced populations, whose numbers are currently reaching a dizzying peak. The cases of Gaza and Ukraine are very painfully illustrative in this regard.

Climate disruption, a real question of survival, due to human activity or the vagaries of nature itself, leads to disasters in terms of floods, landslides, hurricanes and fires, just to mention these few challenges facing many countries in almost all regions of the world.

In such a context, countries in special situations, such as the least developed countries, landlocked developing countries, small island developing States, middle-income countries, African countries and countries in conflict, are the hardest hit. This is why the projects and specific programmes that the Assembly has dedicated to them must be the subject of careful and priority monitoring and implementation measures.

The reforms undertaken so far in order to respond to the realities of our time – whether they concern the revitalization of the General Assembly, the strengthening of the Economic and Social Council or the reform of the Security Council or the international financial architecture - are often blocked or moving forward slowly, well below the expected results.

Those reforms, which have resulted in an appreciable global consensus, including on the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and on which so much hope had been placed, are limping dangerously, due to a lack of resources for implementation, especially when it comes to finance or technology. Action and the political will to move forward are timidly on rendezvous, if not absent in many cases.

In short, the tools at our disposal to promote the well-being of present and future generations are underutilized, while those oriented towards war are overexploited, in a divided world where diverse forces are in a dynamic state of confrontation.

We must therefore increase efforts and stimulate political will, so that we may act more energetically to change this situation.

Mr. President,
Mr. Secretary-General,
Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

For all these reasons, the theme of my mandate will be “Unity in diversity, for the advancement of peace, sustainable development and human dignity for everyone, everywhere”. In other words, freedom from fear and want are prerequisites and catalysing factors for the full enjoyment of human rights and, ultimately, of human dignity.

I have also stressed that the General Assembly is the most appropriate forum where Member States, in all their diversity, are called upon to express concerns, proposals and opportunities in complete freedom and serenity; in other words, the challenges and hopes of the different peoples and nations of the world. In this respect, the Assembly is the highest and most representative deliberative body, where States must debate, not fight. In short, to use an African image, it is a great drum that gives voice to peoples and nations.

But the Assembly is also the most appropriate place, the great baobab tree under which nations large and small, rich and poor, harmonize their views towards common ends and actively seek a consensus, with an average of shared views representing the median. This enables everyone to give and receive, thereby consolidating coexistence and the shared enjoyment of the dividends of peace, development and human dignity.

We must be constantly guided by this momentum as we formulate the Pact for the Future currently under negotiation, the Declaration on Future Generations and the global digital compact.

Over and above deliberations and consensus, what we have to strive for is decisive action by providing the ways and means to implement the solutions that we arrive at.

In this respect, I would like to repeat the concluding words of my letter of intent and commitment, which constitute a leitmotiv that constantly underpins my mandate: beyond our diversity and our differences, let us take action and work together to promote peace, end and prevent war and encourage harmony of hearts and minds; let us strive to make faster progress towards sustainable development, shared prosperity and harmony with nature and the environment, whose abundant but not unlimited resources must be used moderately, judiciously and wisely, while taking corrective and transitional measures for the sake of present and future generations; and let us strive to promote human dignity everywhere and for everyone, a dignity that each of us carries within us in its fullest form, in larger freedom.

In short, let us take action, let us strive to strengthen multilateralism based on a solid foundation anchored in the purposes, principles and objectives enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations.

Throughout my term of office, I pledge to serve in this way, in strict compliance with the terms of the oath I will swear, with great availability and attentiveness to all Member States and other partners. I will work closely with the Secretary-General of our Organization, Mr. António Guterres, who works tirelessly on a daily basis in the various fields of activity covered by the United Nations and where he has made numerous concrete proposals that deserve to be taken into consideration in our deliberations. I will also cooperate with the heads of the other main organs, in particular the President of the Security Council and the President of the Economic and Social Council, in accordance with the requirements of the General Assembly. I will act with transparency, intellectual and moral probity, impartiality and objectivity, in accordance with the Assembly’s rules of procedure, and with the firmness, flexibility and adaptability required for consultation and active consensus-building.

I thank you for your kind attention.