TROOP-CONTRIBUTING NATIONS, WHEN NOT MEMBERS OF SECURITY COUNCIL, SHOULD HAVE SAY IN DECISIONS, GENERAL ASSEMBLY IS TOLD

29 October 1997

Press Release
GA/9339

TROOP-CONTRIBUTING NATIONS, WHEN NOT MEMBERS OF SECURITY COUNCIL, SHOULD HAVE SAY IN DECISIONS, GENERAL ASSEMBLY IS TOLD

19971029 Delegates Stress Limit to Role of Closed Consultations, Urge More 'Transparency' as Debate Concludes on Council's Annual Report

Troop-contributing countries not represented on the Security Council should be more involved in its deliberations when asked to take part in peacekeeping operations, the Assembly was told this afternoon, as it concluded its consideration of the Council's annual report.

The representative of Canada said Member States directly affected by Council action should be allowed to express their views to the entire Council before decisions were taken in closed consultations. That included major troop contributors, who should have input on decisions that would put the lives of their nationals at risk.

Portugal said active participation by troop contributing countries in the decision-making phase of the Council's deliberations regarding peacekeeping or peace-enforcement operations was another way to increase the involvement of the entire United Nations membership.

Several representatives drew attention to what they described as the Council's lack of focus on Africa in the past year. Brazil said the Council must learn how to take advantage of the favourable political climate following the end of apartheid and work closely with African leaders dedicated to peace and democracy. The international community should not give all its attention to security matters and show indifference to Africa's social and economic problems.

Botswana said the Council showed a lack of responsibility by insisting that the Congolese militias declare and observe a ceasefire before the United Nations could deploy peacekeeping forces at the airport in Brazzaville. It had then watched with "shocking indifference" as the people of Congo-Brazzaville were plunged into a bloodbath.

Statements were also made by Australia, Japan, Portugal, Kenya, Argentina, Costa Rica, Colombia, Belarus and Iran.

The Assembly will meet again at 10 a.m., Thursday, 30 October, to elect 18 members of the Economic and Social Council.

Assembly Work Programme

The General Assembly met this afternoon to continue its consideration of the Security Council's report (document A/52/2). (For details, see Press Release GA/9338 of today's date).

Statements

CELSO L.N. AMORIM (Brazil) said the resolution of civil strife in Guatemala after years of armed conflict was an example of successful Security Council efforts to achieve peace and stability, resulting in accelerated development for the entire subregion. Turning to Haiti, he said that although the situation there had improved with help from the United Nations, the absence of economic rehabilitation and reconstruction, which required support from the international community, was keeping the country off the path to recovery.

He said the Council had not given enough attention to Africa in the past year. The recent ministerial meeting of the Council had been useful in assessing current trends on the continent. The Council must learn how to tap the political resources released by the end of apartheid and work closely with leaders dedicated to peace and democracy. The favourable climate could be short-lived if the international community paid all its attention to security matters, showing indifference to Africa's social and economic problems. He said that as a major troop contributor, Brazil was especially concerned about the situation in Angola, which was still a source of preoccupation.

He said he was concerned that issues not a threat to international peace and security had been placed on the Council agenda. For example, the crisis in the Central African Republic should have been in the context of peaceful settlement of disputes. Sanctions and the use of force, he said, must remain a last resort when all other efforts had failed. The international community must not lower the threshold for taking action under Chapter VII.

He said Brazil intended to keep in close contact with non-members of the Council and work with them, especially its Latin American neighbours, striving towards increasing the Council's transparency. Expansion of the Council was important, and must not be delayed by procedural obstacles.

LEGWAILA J.M.J. LEGWAILA (Botswana) said Africa had been less fortunate in receiving vigorous commitments to the resolution of its conflicts than other parts of the world. The conflict which erupted in Rwanda in 1994 was allowed to smoulder unchecked until it degenerated into a genocidal conflagration. The Council missed many opportunities to prevent the conflict from spreading and threatening the security of the entire subregion.

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Just recently, he went on, the Council watched with "shocking indifference" as the people of Congo-Brazzaville were plunged into a bloodbath. The insistence by the Council that the Congolese militias should declare and observe a ceasefire before the United Nations could deploy peacekeeping forces at the airport in Brazzaville showed a lack of responsibility by the Council, whose duty was to maintain peace and security.

He said it was unfortunate that the Council's report, presented in the same fashion as last year, did not give a clear picture of the activities of the Council. Operations of the Council could become more open and transparent, without compromising its effectiveness, with a more succinct report -- an informative and action-oriented document. The Council must be attuned to present-day international realities if it was to remain relevant and responsive to the hopes and aspirations of humankind for world peace today.

JOHN CRIGHTON (Australia) said greater openness and transparency in the work of the Security Council was an area to which his Government attached particular importance. He welcomed changes which would be incorporated into next year's report in an effort to increase its usefulness. He was pleased that Portugal's proposals for monthly assessments by current Council Presidents would be annexed to the annual report. It was a positive contribution to openness and transparency. Such assessments would also provide useful background information on developments in the Council.

Briefings by the President of the Council following informal meetings should be as detailed as possible, he continued. The briefings also needed to be more systematic and structured use of the briefings was a two-way process. Granted, they might not be very well attended, but that might be because insufficient details were given during the briefings, rather than a lack of interest by Member States. The briefings should be more structured and targeted to membership, not the media.

MASAKI KONISHI (Japan) said his country attached much importance to the Council's working methods and had supported strengthening relations between the Council and the Assembly. Last January, when Japan presided over the Council, it held daily briefings on its work for interested non-members, and made its position clear on Council reform. Improving relations between the Council and Assembly should be part of a package addressing the Council's expansion and composition.

Japan had taken part in discussions on that issue, he said. In the future the Council's report would take a new format, containing specific reform measures and brief assessments by Presidents. That agreement responded to the calls of many countries and was a major step forward. Japan would

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continue to support making the Council's work more effective by improving its working methods and by expanding and reforming it.

ANTONIO MONTEIRO (Portugal) said he was pleased that starting next year, the Security Council's annual report would include a more user-friendly analytical description of the Council's work, and brief monthly assessments by the successive Presidents. It would be helpful to have the report of the actions of the Sanctions Committee attached to the annual report.

He said Portugal, as a member of the Council, had submitted a number of its own observations, including one on the way the Council's decision-making process was presently developed in informal meetings, the so-called "consultations of the whole". The prevalence of "informal consultations" had not expedited the Council's work or made it more efficient, he added. It had, rather, made the Council less transparent and widened the gap between the Council and the rest of the membership.

Informal consultations should take place whenever necessary to assist members in the consideration of certain matters, he continued, but not systematically replace regular formal Council sessions at which members stated their views on matters under consideration. Also, dispensing with written records, which was currently the established practice, did not contribute to the enhancement of the credibility of the Council. Records promoted not only the consistency of Council decisions, but also asserted the responsibility of each member, ensuring accountability before the entire United Nations membership.

Another way to increase the contribution of the entire United Nations membership would be to ensure active participation of troop-contributing countries in the decision-making phase of the Council's deliberations regarding peace-keeping or peace-enforcement operations, he said. In addition, Portugal found the "Arria Formula", the value of which lay in the informal and flexible manner of channelling information and input from essentially non-State actors directly into the Council, to be a useful tool to preserve informality during meetings. He was also concerned with the transparency of the Council. If its methods of work remained the same, the enlargement of the Council would not, by itself, bring about a more efficient, accountable and credible organ.

MARY ODINGA (Kenya) said the decision to include the monthly assessments as an addendum to the Security Council's report was a useful undertaking, and her delegation believed an analytical addition to the report would provide critical insights into the issues, thus enabling a better reading of the situations in question as well as the actions that needed to be taken. She agreed with the assessment that briefing sessions of the presidency, open to all Member States, were not always well attended. The inquiries on the issues

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before the Council were constrained by the tradition of confidentiality that surrounded informal consultations.

She said the way in which the international community responded to events had an important bearing on how such events developed. In the case of Sierra Leone, the coup was condemned by the international community and it was expected that in six months the legal regime would be reinstated and that soldiers would return to barracks. However, in the case of Congo-Brazzaville, the international community's condemnation of the overthrow of the democratically elected Government of President Lissouba was "amazingly lukewarm". The Secretary-Generals's call a few months ago for the deployment of a peacekeeping force in Congo-Brazzaville was not heeded.

She said Kenya wanted to know what had happened to the principles of respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of nation states. If the principles were to be applied only selectively, Kenya feared the moral authority of the Assembly and the Council to speak authoritatively against illegal regimes would be undermined.

MICHEL DUVAL (Canada) said the Security Council could benefit from the expertise of representatives of non-governmental organizations, but it would be wrong for them to have more access to the Council than Member States. That incongruity was exemplified by Canada's experience. After assuming a mandate from the Council to lead a multinational force in eastern Zaire, it was excluded from Council discussions of the crisis with representatives from non- governmental organizations.

Canada supported other mechanisms, such as the Groups of Friends of the Secretary-General which, particularly in the case of Haiti, had allowed interested countries a measure of influence on the Council's deliberations. However, Member States directly affected by Council action should be allowed to express their views to the entire Council before decisions were taken in closed consultations. That included major troop contributors, who should have input in decisions which affected the lives of their nationals.

He said he agreed with the representative of Germany that transparency depended on those Member States serving on the Council. However, improvements in transparency and working methods need not wait until Council reform was fully implemented. Working towards that goal had been a principal objective for Canada in putting forward its candidature for a non-permanent seat for the period 1999-2000.

Canada was concerned that the number of conflicts in the world had not abated, he continued, but it did not believe the answer was always to deploy more peacekeepers. However, the United Nations must remain in the business of peacekeeping. There had been an increasing tendency for the Council to rely instead on multinational "coalitions of the willing" to carry out peacekeeping

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functions and mandates. While in many situations such coalitions were the only visible mechanism to resolve a crisis, he urged the Council to remain a key player.

The deployment of a multinational force did not mean the Council should wash its hands of a matter. He welcomed the increased collaboration between the United Nations and regional and sub-regional bodies which were becoming effective instruments for the promotion of international peace and security.

FERNANDO PETRELLA (Argentina) said there was a need to work on the present structure of the Organization to improve the transparency in the functioning of the main organs, and that was particularly applicable to the work of the Security Council. The present report of the Council gave no information on the number of informal consultations, and just provided information on the time spent. There was no improvement in the amount and substance of the information provided. He regretted that briefings did not give more information to Member States than what appeared in the press. While the President's contact with the press was daily, contact with countries not on the Council was less frequent; that was why so few people followed the briefings.

On the question of Sierra Leone, he said that public opinion viewed the procedures by the Council as not in keeping with democratic process; closed informal consultations denied access to the Secretariat and to other members who funded the Organization. It was a concern shared by France, a permanent member of the Council. Reform of the Council was necessary and had been requested by Member States a long time ago.

FERNANDO BERROCAL SOTO (Costa Rica) said the Security Council dealt with the most serious and sensitive issues concerning the maintenance of international peace and security. The issue of transparency was of utmost importance and it was necessary to take into account the following three areas. First, the activities of the Security Council must be transparent to the rest of the Member States in conjunction with Charter provisions, and could not be kept secret from United Nations Members. Second, the effectiveness of the Council's activities must be ensured requiring, in some instances confidentiality and privacy. Third, it was important for the Council to get as much information as possible from Member States. That would ensure that States who were not members of the Council could participate in the discussions.

He said there was also a need to have more public meetings and to have the agenda of meetings available for everyone. Unfortunately, many meetings were not held in public, and that must be reversed. Presentation and discussion of reports should take place during public meetings, not informal consultations. The written reports of the Secretary-General should be made

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known to all Member States. Although informal consultations were important, they should not be the norm but rather the exception.

BEATRIZ OSPINA (Colombia) said her Government welcomed efforts to improve the format of the Council's report and noted that future reports would be modified. She noted that evaluations of outgoing Council Presidents would be included in future reports. She encouraged the Council to continue to improve its working methods. A more substantive report would facilitate the Assembly's evaluation.

She referred to the recommendations by the Working Group for strengthening United Nations, which had to be evaluated to determine if it was necessary to examine the report of the Council in more detail. On the basis of that evaluation, official consultations after plenary debates must take place, to examine the need and the content of measures the Assembly would adopt.

ALYAKSANDR VASILYEV (Belarus) said his Government supported the work of the Security Council as the principal organ of the United Nations responsible for the maintenance of international peace and security. He noted the positive changes in the preparation of the Council's annual report to make it more substantive and analytical. An addendum containing brief assessments of the Council's work by outgoing Presidents of the Council would be a step forward in making the reports more analytical.

Belarus proposed a number of other measures to make the Council's work more transparent. He said there should be a more thorough consideration of the Council's deliberations and its draft resolutions in open meetings. If permanent members of the Council or Council Presidents reported on Council deliberations and also answered questions after the conclusion of informal consultations, it would enhance interaction between the Council and the Assembly. The Secretariat should be more involved in the preparation of the report, which should also contain an analysis of the Council's work by the Presidents.

MAJID TAKHT-RAVANCHI (Iran) said Council decisions in maintaining international peace and security would gain further legitimacy, authority and credibility if they were fully supported by the general membership, and seen as such by the conflicting parties. Resort to Chapter VII should always be made with extreme caution, he said, and only when all means of peaceful settlement of a dispute had been exhausted.

He said the Council should enhance its contacts in a sustained manner with conflicting parties through every possible means. The perception of a Council that energetically sought peaceful solutions through diplomacy was far better than one which viewed the Council as a heavy-handed body seeking coercive and interventionist measures to an international problem through lack

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of vision, patience or even-handedness. The Council must avoid the newly preferred approach of delegating authority to structures outside of the Organization for maintenance of international peace and security. Repeated use of such an approach would erode the authority and credibility of the Council and the United Nations as a whole.

He said the current report failed to deliver what it promised in the introduction -- to be a guide to the Council's activities. Non-members of the Council could not be guided by the report when it offered no analysis of the Council's decisions, problems or successes, or of the lessons learned from its past activities. The Council would enhance its credibility by being responsive and forthcoming to the views of the general membership, in terms of adopting further measures for democratization and transparency in its working methods and communication with the Assembly. Consideration should also be given to the possibility of Council members holding regular briefings for members of their respective geographical groups.

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