The General Assembly of the United Nations on Tuesday, June 5, elected by acclamation, Liberia's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, His Excellency Lewis Garseedah Brown, II as Chair of the 4th Committee of the 73rd Session of the UN General Assembly.
Formally referred to as the Special Political and Decolonization Committee, the Fourth Committee is one of six main committees of the UN General Assembly. It considers a broad range of issues including decolonization, review of peacekeeping operations and special political missions, relief for Palestinian refugees, atomic radiation, assistance in mine action, as well as the peaceful uses of outer space.
Ambassador Brown's election follows the overwhelming endorsement of the African Group of Ambassadors to the United Nations in January; an endorsement that Ambassador Brown described as a testament of “Liberia’s growing ability to meaningfully contribute to the ongoing search for and maintenance of international peace and security, as well as improvements in the lives of all peoples, after years of conflict and instability.”.
Responding to his election on Tuesday, Ambassador Brown thanked the African Group and other UN Member States for reposing confidence in Liberia to carry out the "important assignment of overcoming the challenge of multilateralism at the political level.
Assuring that he will perform his duties with diligence and courage, Ambassador Brown stressed that Liberia "cherishes the value of freedom independence, political equality, and equity, and hopes to use the experience of working with all of its colleagues and all Member states to be able to lift the work and continue in the path of its many predecessors including our own representative Angie Brooks Randolph."
According to a dispatch from Liberia's Permanent Mission to the United Nations, Ambassador Brown's election comes 57 year after Ambassador Angie Brooks Randolph chaired the Fourth Committee during the 1961 Session of the General Assembly.
