SECURITY COUNCIL REPORT IS ATTEMPT TO MAKE WORK OF COUNCIL MORE ACCESSIBLE, PRESIDENT TELLS GENERAL ASSEMBLY
Press Release
GA/9338
SECURITY COUNCIL REPORT IS ATTEMPT TO MAKE WORK OF COUNCIL MORE ACCESSIBLE, PRESIDENT TELLS GENERAL ASSEMBLY
19971029 Reform in Procedures Discussed; Small Attendance By Member States at Presidential Briefings Is RegrettedThe Security Council's annual report was an effort to make its work more transparent and accessible to Member States, the current President of the Council, Juan Somavía (Chile), told the General Assembly this morning, as it began consideration of the report. He said it was not as a substitute for the Council's official records, but a more substantive account of its deliberations.
Both the Assembly and the Council should search for working methods that enabled the international community to feel well-served by their interaction in the field of peace and security, he said. Few delegations participated and inquired about the Council's work during the briefing sessions by its President.
During this morning's session, several delegates said the format of the report was not particularly useful in understanding Council decisions. It was said the report would be more helpful if it were more analytical and contained a brief and objective assessment of the Council's work, covering both its successes and lack of success during the period under review.
Other speakers said the United Nations general membership needed more information on the substance of the Council's informal consultations. More frequent plenary meetings would allow non-Council members to speak about important issues before decisions were made. Also, assessments by Council Presidents on its work could be a new instrument for openness and transparency.
The need to consider the humanitarian impact when Council sanctions were imposed was also addressed. A number of representatives said sanctions should not be used as a tool to further the narrow national interests of Council members or to serve specific political agendas.
Statements were made by the Republic of Korea, United Kingdom, Austria, Sweden, Philippines, Malaysia, Nigeria, Mexico, Italy, Libya, Egypt, Cuba, China, Ukraine and Germany.
The Assembly will meet again at 3 p.m., to continue its consideration of the Security Council's report.
Assembly Work Programme
The General Assembly met this morning to consider the Security Council's annual report (document A/52/2) covering the period from 16 June 1996 to 15 June 1997. The report, intended as a guide to the activities of the Council during the period covered, is the fifty-second of its kind and is submitted in accordance with the provisions of the United Nations Charter.
During the year under review, the Council held 115 formal meetings, adopted 52 resolutions and issued 54 statements by the President. In addition, Council members held consultations of the whole, totalling some 342 hours. The Council considered more than 105 reports of the Secretary- General and reviewed and processed more than 1,214 documents and communications from States and regional and other intergovernmental organizations.
Part I of the report deals with the questions considered by the Council under its responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security. Items relating to the situation in the former Yugoslavia received most of the Council's attention in open meetings, followed by the meetings on Angola, the Great Lakes region, the Middle East, Burundi, Iraq and Afghanistan.
The number of meetings devoted to those situations, as well as resolutions adopted and presidential statements made, were as follows:
Situation Meetings Resolutions Statements
Former Yugoslavia 27 13 14 Angola 10 6 2 Great Lakes region 9 3 6 Middle East 8 5 4 Burundi 5 1 3 Iraq 5 1 4 Afghanistan 5 1 2 Tajikistan 5 3 2
The Council also met on the situations in Georgia, Tajikistan and along the Tajik border, Central America, Haiti, Liberia, Western Sahara, Somalia, Cyprus, Sierra Leone, Albania and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Other items considered by the Council related to the Agenda for Peace, protection for humanitarian assistance to refugees and others in conflict situations, and letters from France, the United Kingdom and the United States concerning the shooting down of a civil aircraft over Lockerbie, Scotland.
Part II of the report deals with other matters considered by the Council, including the election of five members of the International Court of Justice and recommendation regarding the appointment of the Secretary-General
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of the United Nations. Part III of the report covers the work of the Military Staff Committee while Part IV lists communications on matters brought to the attention of the Council but not discussed at formal meetings.
The report also addresses the work of subsidiary organs of the Council. Those include the Special Committee established to monitor the implementation of economic sanctions levied against Iraq; the Governing Council of the United Nations Compensation Commission, set up to review claims resulting from Iraq's invasion and occupation of Kuwait; the Special Commission formed to monitor the disposal of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction; and Council committees established with respect to the situations in Yugoslavia, Libya, Somalia, Angola, Rwanda and Liberia.
Also under the category of subsidiary organs, the Council considered the progress of the International Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia as well as the International Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law in the Territory of Rwanda and Rwandan Citizens Responsible for Such Violations Committed in the Territory of Neighbouring States.
Regarding the Council's membership, the report notes that the General Assembly last year elected Costa Rica, Japan, Kenya, Portugal and Sweden to fill vacancies resulting from the expiration on 31 December of the terms of office of Botswana, Germany, Honduras, Indonesia and Italy.
The report recalls that in keeping with its efforts to provide information to States not members of the Council, the Council decided in January 1996 that each chairman of each committee should give an oral briefing to interested Members of the United Nations after each meeting, in the same way that the President of the Council gives oral briefings following informal consultations of Council members. In order to bring about transparency and increased consultations in matters relating to peace-keeping operations, the Council decided in March 1996 to further strengthen a number of measures on consultations and exchange of information with troop-contributing countries.
The Assembly also had before it a note by the Secretary-General (document A/52/234) requesting the inclusion of an additional agenda item entitled "Financing of the United Nations Mission in Angola" to be allocated to the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary).
The Assembly waived the provisions of rule 40 of the Rules of Procedure that would have required a meeting of the General Committee and decided to include the new item in its agenda, in the manner requested.
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Statements
HENNADIY UDOVENKO (Ukraine), President of the Assembly, said it was widely recognized that through discharging its duties under the primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security, the Security Council was playing a special role in implementing the purposes and principles enshrined in the Charter. During the current important stage of United Nations reform, the Council's activities were acquiring additional weight and significance. The spirit of transformation should be guiding Member States' considerations.
He said the new concept reflected in the presentation of the Secretary- General's report produced a better picture of the Council's substantive work and introduced an analytical approach to its assessment. The measures were an important step aimed at enhancing the transparency of the Council's work. He encouraged Member States to a constructive and action-oriented discussion which would provide additional opportunities to foster the Council's interaction with the Assembly.
The President of the Security Council, JUAN SOMAVIA (Chile), introduced its annual report. He said it was not a substitute for the Council's official records, but a more substantive account of its deliberations. It reflected the heavy workload of the Council in responding to the problems relating to the maintenance of international peace and security.
He said various efforts, highlighted in the report, had been made to make the work of the Council more open, including a number of mechanisms established in order to improve access by Member States. Measures had been approved to make the annual report more analytical in nature.
In reference to peacekeeping operations, he said consultations between troop-contributing countries and Council members should "generate more interaction", and it was important for non-members of the Council to inject their views into the decision-making process. He observed that few delegations participated during the briefing sessions by the Presidency or inquired about the work done in the Council. This was another area in which, by working together, the usefulness and scope of such sessions could be improved. They were open to all 185 Members of the Organization.
The Council President said that when, in responding to threats of international peace and security, a decision had been taken to impose sanctions, the Council had sought -- where possible and consistent with the goal of ensuring effective implementation -- to target those responsible for the actions that gave rise to the sanctions. The Council had also made the fullest possible use of humanitarian exceptions, and had conducted regular monitoring on the basis of Secretariat reports.
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In addition, he went on, the Council had increasingly and systematically sought to highlight its concern over the situation of humanitarian workers in conflict situations, and the responsibility of the international community to ensure the protection of their lives, property and activities. In cooperation with the Department of Humanitarian Affairs, the Council had made progress towards finding appropriate formulas for ascertaining their views on the basis of the experience they had gained in the field.
Concluding, he said much remained to be done and it was the responsibility of both the General Assembly and the Security Council to continue to search for working methods that would enable the international community to feel well-served by the interaction between them in the field of peace and security.
PARK SOO GIL (Republic of Korea) said there had been a growing demand outside the Security Council for information on its actions. Non-members wanted to know what had transpired during informal consultations. There had been some meaningful progress in promoting transparency of the Council over the past year. The flow of information between the Assembly and the Council should be timely, extensive and two-way, so that both organs could function more efficiently with better knowledge of each other's priorities and preferences.
It did not seem that the briefing by the presidency had played a meaningful role in information-sharing, in view of the poor attendance by Member States and the few questions that were asked. Given the critical importance of informal consultations in the Council's work, there was a need for a more systematic and reliable way of providing information to non-members of the Council on a real-time basis. It would seem essential that when an issue was brought to its attention, the Council should familiarize itself with the views of neighbouring countries in the area in question.
On arrangements for consultation and exchange of information with troop- contributing countries, he said more dynamic exchange of views, as well as more active participation of troop contributors, would make it possible for the Council to be fully informed about the individual sensitivities and preferences of those who joined peacekeeping operations before any decision was taken on the mandate of peacekeeping operations.
Sir JOHN WESTON (United Kingdom) said that during the reporting period, the Council had been faced with a challenging, often heavy, agenda. In retrospect, perhaps the Council had been too slow or timid in its reactions to some of those challenges. All too often, it had lacked clear, timely and well-analysed information on the crises, many of which were fast-moving and confused intra-State conflicts.
During his presidency of the Council in August, he had made a particular point of the importance the United Kingdom attached to ensuring the greatest
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possible transparency to the Council's actions. He hoped Member States had received the assessment of the Council's work during that month, which was sent to all permanent representatives and which he prepared in consultation with his Council colleagues. Hopefully, that new means of enhancing Council transparency would become a regular practice. It was one of several welcome innovations in the form and content of the Council's future reports to the Assembly which were agreed in June.
He said all United Nations Members needed to make best use of the series of changes which the Council had introduced to its working methods in recent years. The process of organic evolutionary change had been most welcome. He was, therefore, surprised, when serving as Council President in August, to find that so few non-members of the Council attended the President's daily briefings, or participated actively in the consultations, chaired by the Council President, between Council members and troop-contributing countries. He would work with the current President and Member States to remedy the situation. The current Assembly debate was an important occasion for interaction between the two principal organs of the United Nations.
ERNST SUCHARIPA (Austria) said an adequate flow of information towards non-members was a necessary prerequisite to understand and assess how the Council was dealing with political issues, and should, therefore, be facilitated as much as possible. The President's monthly forecast of activity should be supplemented by an exhaustive announcement of the items to be dealt with by the Council in the daily United Nations Journal, and by daily briefings on the Council's work as announced in the Journal.
He said that while the monthly forecast in its current form constituted a useful tool for the daily work of delegations, the briefings offered by the respective Presidents could be improved. A continuous high standard of information could help meet the General Assembly's demand for transparency and would lead to an increased interest of delegations to attend these briefings.
He said the Council should canvass a wide range of views to form its decision-making and to help it further clarify different aspects covered by its work. Member States with special interest in a specific item must have the opportunity to articulate their views at an early stage of the Council's considerations. That kind of participation was especially important for countries which were concerned or touched by a given conflict or which, due to their geographic location, should assume a particular role in ensuing operations mandated or authorized by the Council.
He said substantial dialogue was of particular importance in the framework of peacekeeping operations; the current mechanism for interaction between the Council, the Secretariat and the troop contributors could be strengthened.
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JAN ELIASSON (Sweden) emphasized that the Council's responsibility was global, and that no region or country could be excluded. It was of great concern that Council resolutions were so often defied by those to whom they were primarily directed: a small number of States flouting the fundamentals of law, and ruthless parties to domestic conflicts bent on securing victory on the battlefield.
He said that based on Sweden's membership of the Council this year, he would offer some important requirements for making it more effective, including: early action, action throughout the spectrum of conflict resolution (from early warning to Chapter VII action); closer cooperation with regional organizations based on clear principles; and stronger interaction with United Nations Members outside of the Council. Effective conflict prevention, peacekeeping and peace- building must involve the United Nations system as a whole. Lessons concerning early action must be learned from current cases like the former Zaire and the Republic of the Congo.
He said strengthening the United Nations capability in conflict prevention remained a priority for Sweden, as a member of the Council. There should be developed a new generation of peacekeeping operations and measures to improve openness and broad consultations in the work of the Council. The credibility of the United Nations would suffer if multinational forces became a substitute for direct United Nations action, due to lack of funds or unrelated considerations.
BLAS F. OPLE (Philippines) said the Security Council's report failed once again to measure up to what the Assembly had called for in its resolution 51/193. Those improvements included the need for substantial information on the work and recommendations of the Council's subsidiary bodies, such as the sanctions committee, as well as the provision of information on the informal consultations of the whole undertaken prior to action by the Council on substantive issues, and information on requests received under Article 50 of the Charter and resulting actions taken by the Council.
He said the present report made it difficult for the Assembly to undertake a truly substantive and in-depth consideration and analysis of the actions of the Council and its subsidiary bodies. His delegation urged the Council to consider and implement the various recommendations contained in resolution 51/193.
The submission of special reports of the Council to the Assembly during the course of each session would be a major vehicle for ensuring continuous and up-to-date information on the Council's decisions and activities, he said. Special reports should be issued on major Council actions and situations affecting international peace and security which occurred in the period between annual reports. Those actions would include the establishment or termination of peacekeeping or other operations, or substantive changes in their mandates. Decisions by the Council to impose or lift sanctions on any Member States, or to change existing sanctions regimes, should also warrant the issue of a special report.
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HASMY AGAM (Malaysia) said the report was still largely a compendium of presidential statements and resolutions, and a compilation of communications and documentation received by the Council. Reading the report, a non-Council member would have difficulty understanding its work, particularly its decisions. It would have been more helpful and useful if the report was more analytical, and if it contained a brief and objective assessment of the Council's work covering both its successes and lack of success during the period under review.
He said that while closed meetings might be necessary to facilitate Council decisions on sensitive issues, the United Nations general membership needed to be informed of the substance or thrust of those consultations. Publication of summary records of the closed consultations would supplement and redress shortcomings in the report. A monthly Council bulletin should include references to the positions of Council members. Publication of quarterly reports would increase transparency and strengthen the free flow of information between the Council and the Assembly. More frequent formal Council meetings would allow non-members to pronounce themselves on various important issues before decisions were made. Often, he said, the regular briefings by Council Presidents to non-members gave little information beyond what was given to the press. The briefings should be given immediately following Council consultations, rather than two or three hours later, usually after the press had been briefed.
He said Malaysia was particularly concerned with the imposition of sanctions on Member States. Sanctions had lately been used, or perceived to have been used, as a tool to further the narrow national interests of some Council members to serve specific political objectives or agendas. Such use or perception would not enhance the Council's prestige. Sanctions had brought untold hardship to unintended targets, particularly children, nursing mothers, the infirm and the aged. Sanctions should be an instrument of last resort and applied only after other measures had failed. In the past, Malaysia had called for a separate chapter in the report to comprehensively reflect the activities and decisions of the Sanctions Committee which, regrettably, continued to be treated in a superficial manner.
ISAAC E. AYEWAH (Nigeria) said that since June 1993 the Council had taken steps towards increasing transparency, and interaction and consultation between Council members and non-members, but those measures fell short of what most Member States expected from the body. Closed door consultations were still the rule, and most of the proposed improvements had not been institutionalized. No Council reform would be complete without expanding the Council's permanent and non-permanent membership on an equitable geographical basis.
While the circulation of brief assessments of the Council's work by its Presidents at the end of their terms of office was responsive and instructive,
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he said the reports were still not analytical enough in terms of the Council's activities, the decisions taken and how far they have evolved over time.
The Council's workload with regard to maintaining peace and security was still heavy and had actually increased in scope. Although it took a while for the Security Council to become involved in resolving the Liberian conflict, its engagement was helpful. On October 8, 1997, the Council endorsed the action taken by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which had imposed sanctions and an embargo on the junta that had overthrown President Kabbah's democratically elected government in Sierra Leone. Nigeria hoped that constitutional order would be restored but for that to happen the Security Council's support was needed, including by maintaining sanctions and the deployment of military observers.
He said some crises in Africa had not received the Council's full attention, for example the situation in the Republic of Congo. Many African countries expected the United Nations to finance an inter-African peacekeeping force, but that never materialized.
MANUEL TELLO (Mexico) said he welcomed the continued effort to openness and communication between the Assembly and the Council. The summary of the Council's work by its Presidents which could not be included in the current report was to be commended. He urged future Council Presidents to continue the practice and keep non-members duly informed of the Council's activities.
The report of the Council's work showed that, despite the end of the cold war, situations still threatened peace and security. He said he noted with concern that the Council often needed to intervene in internal conflicts, a situation not foreseen by the original drafters of the United Nations Charter; the lines between international and national conflicts were often blurred. Member States must act with caution. The Council could not become an organ with unlimited powers with an elastic interpretation of Chapter VII of the Charter; the abuse of Chapter VII would weaken the United Nations.
He said that among the issues before the Council, the case of Guatemala was of particular interest to his country. The Council did not attempt to replace the will of the parties in the long conflict there. The parties, with patience and dedication, resolved their differences at the peace table and requested the United Nations to monitor what had been agreed. The Council agreed to that formal request and sent a small military mission to monitor the ceasefire and the demobilization. The operation had a defined mandate and completely fulfilled its mission. When political will, clarity of purpose and unity of resolve existed the desired results were achieved.
He welcomed the holding of a ministerial-level meeting of the Council in September on efforts to promote peace and security in Africa. He hoped that the results would help the continent to achieve the peace, security and the stability and prosperity its people desired.
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The report of the Council also recognized the continued help from regional organizations in maintaining peace. Activities of regional organizations must be in the framework of Chapter VIII and strictly respect the actions and functions set forth in the mandates under which they were established.
FRANCESCO PAOLO FULCI (Italy) said the General Assembly's leverage in relation to the Security Council must not be decreased as a result of "hurried reforms". Reforms should take everyone's views into account and involve all Member States on an equal basis.
He noted that this year the Council had continued its intense activity. At the request of Italy and Albania, during part of the period covered by the report, the Security Council took action to restore peace and security in Albania in record time -- fewer than twelve hours. The operation was a complete success and re-established law, order and security. The Council informed Member States by the hour of its deliberations. This should be the duty of every Council member.
He said efforts to increase participation of all Member States in the Council's work achievement, but still insufficient to improve interaction between the Council and the General Assembly. The report by the Council to the Assembly should include more on the Council's decision-making process, and an account of the Council's informal consultations on crisis areas, regional tensions, humanitarian emergencies and other issues crucial to local and global stability.
The time had come to consider implementing Article 44 of the Charter, so that countries not represented on the Council who were expected to provide armed forces should be invited to take part in the Council's deliberations on the use of that force. Countries asked to risk their citizens' lives for the sake of peace must be given a voice in the Council's decision-making process.
GUMA AMER (Libya) said the report did not include any informative account of the Council's informal consultations. It was as if Member States who were not Council members were not supposed to have knowledge of the issues discussed at those closed consultations. He said the Assembly should have known about comments by some Council members on the positive and cooperative efforts by Libya to resolve the Lockerbie incident. The report should have indicated that only two members of the Council objected to the lifting of sanctions against Libya. The report was just a list of Council meetings, documents before the Council and Presidential statements. It might be useful to students and researchers, but not for any meaningful evaluation by Member States.
He said Article 31 of the United Nations Charter allowed any Member State who was not a member of the Council to take part without a vote, in discussions of any questions which were of particular interest to that Member
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State. Those who drafted the Charter would have intended that right to apply to all Council meetings, not just its plenary sessions. The current practice of allowing members to speak during formal plenary sessions was only cosmetic, when questions had already been agreed on.
To increase transparency on the Council's work, he went on, its annual report should include a full background on Council decisions and details on its informal consultations. There should be more information on the Council's subsidiary organs, particularly the Sanctions Committee. Members should be allowed to take part in debate before decisions were taken and the Council should enhance its relation with the Assembly.
NABIL ELARABY (Egypt) said the steps taken towards improving the annual report, though minimal, gave a positive impression about the orientation of the Council towards more transparency and openness. The door had been opened for Presidents of the Security Council, at the end of their presidency, to prepare an assessment reflecting their evaluation of the Council's work. As in previous years, the annual report still presented no more than a compilation of documents already provided to delegations, which constituted a waste of effort, material resources and time. The report should include substantive, analytical and descriptive parts, reflecting accurately the activities of the Council.
He said that he and the delegation of Indonesia had submitted a non- exhaustive list defining some of the cases where the Council should present special reports to the Assembly, to promote the interrelationship between the two organs without affecting the balance established by the Charter.
The exchange of information and views between the Council and the troop- contributing countries had been successful and should enhance the work of the Council, he said. Those meetings should become a forum for candid and transparent discussions on all issues related to specific troops participating in peacekeeping operations. The Council should continue to seek additional ways of achieving a better relationship between the Council and those countries.
BRUNO RODRIGUEZ PARRILLA (Cuba) said the Council's report, a list reiterating resolutions adopted by the Council during the period under review, lacked an analysis of the root causes of conflicts the Council was concerned with. In its present form, it was only good as a reference. He commended the Council's efforts for improving transparency and working methods, and said he also attached great importance to the Council's consultations with Member States in the preparation of agenda items. He was concerned that the report contained no analysis of the main trends of debates within the Council.
He said the Council should not give way to the interests of a few members or various groups, which would lead to "artificial solutions". The work of the Sanctions Committee had recently assumed a degree of transparency and independence, but even that Committee's work had been subjected to a few
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members of the Council disregarding the views of others, especially those affected by the sanctions. The annual report should contain a substantive analysis of the actions of the Sanctions Committee.
LIU JIEYI (China) said he hoped the Council would heed Member States' views in discharging its responsibilities, so as to act on behalf of the entire membership. The Council should give more importance to Africa while respecting the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of African countries. It should carefully consider proposals from the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and African countries, and support and cooperate with them on maintaining regional peace and security. Peace and development went hand in hand. The international community must make greater efforts to address development in African countries to help them move out of poverty and achieve peace and stability.
He said the Council should observe the United Nations Charter when involved in countries' internal conflicts. It should obtain the consent of the countries and parties concerned and do everything in its power to resolve conflicts peacefully, encouraging a role for regional organizations. Interfering in a country's affairs under the pretext of easing a humanitarian crisis, or authorizing military intervention by "wilfully invoking Chapter VII of the Charter "should be avoided". Moreover, China was against using sanctions to settle disputes, exert pressure or mete out punishment. In the rare cases when sanctions were needed, a clear goal, scope and time-limit should be set and humanitarian factors taken into account.
VOLODYMYR YEL'CHENKO (Ukraine) said that despite substantial efforts by the Security Council, there remained many potential dangers to international peace and security. He noted positive changes in the organization of the Council, and said it had become more transparent, with its methods meeting the requirements of the present time. Participation by interested parties in the orientation discussions held before the adoption of Council decisions made it possible to both consider the problem in a comprehensive manner and to search for optimal ways to its solution. His delegation also noted the steady improvement of the mechanisms of periodic consultations.
He favoured the preparation of monthly reports on the outcome of the presidency in the Council, since that would contribute to the analytical essence of the Council's report to the Assembly. There should be a closer interaction between the Council and the Assembly; that it would improve the efficiency of the activities of both. The practice of meetings held since the beginning of the current Assembly session by the President of the Assembly and the President of the Council should become regular. Such meetings should be attended by the Secretary-General. Meetings such as a "UN Troika" -- a format successfully applied to the activities of some regional structures -- could be helpful for the United Nations.
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TONO EITEL (Germany) said this year's report on the work of the Council was significantly better than that in previous years. It was shorter and presented earlier. But there was still a need for improvement.
A positive step had been the Council's agreement to take up some of the Assembly's concerns. The most far-reaching improvement would be assessments by each President on the Council's work. The representatives of Portugal, Republic of Korea, Sweden and the United Kingdom deserved praise for submitting such assessments.
He said there was much discussion of Council reform at the United Nations. The initiative which took place last week was tabled, as far as Germany was concerned, "out of the blue" and without earlier discussion in the Open-Ended Working Group. The Council needed more tools and more people to use them smoothly. Germany would continue working towards those goals.
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