SIXTH COMMITTEE CONCLUDES REVIEW OF WORK OF CHARTER COMMITTEE

Press Release
GA/L/3076

SIXTH COMMITTEE CONCLUDES REVIEW OF WORK OF CHARTER COMMITTEE

Sanctions must not be invoked as a foreign policy tool intended to change another country's political, economic or social system, the representative of Ghana told the Sixth Committee (Legal) this afternoon as it concluded its consideration of the report of the Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on the Strengthening of the Role of the Organization.

The representative of Ghana said sanctions were primarily designed to modify the behaviour of a State and should be imposed only as a last resort, after all other options enshrined in the Charter had been exhausted. Sanctions must not be enforced for an unlimited period and they must be lifted as soon as their main objectives had been realized, he further said.

During the Sixth Committee review of the Work of the Charter Committee -- which had included consideration of sanctions and their effects on third States -- many delegates this afternoon supported the recommendations of an ad hoc expert group on the methodology for assessing the effects of sanctions on third countries. Support was also voiced for the idea of involving the international financial institutions in the preparation of the assessments.

On other issues considered by the Special Committee, many speakers called for providing increased resources to the International Court of Justice, commensurate with its increasing caseload. At the same time, some said the Court should streamline its work methods. The representative of Malta reiterated its view that the Trusteeship Council should be given additional responsibility in coordinating international endeavours that safeguarded different areas of the common heritage of humankind.

The representative of the Democratic Republic of Korea, in exercise of right of reply, said the United States had attempted this morning to stigmatize his view as "a preposterous, legally worthless assertion". The United States representative should have taken a little time to look at the

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facts before making his statement, he said. Referring to the United Nations Command in Korea, he said an example of the falsification of that issue was that the relevant Security Council resolution had been illegally enforced by the United States.

The representative of the United States, also exercising his right of reply, said he disagreed with the assertions of the representative of the Democratic Republic of Korea. "They certainly were not facts that he was laying out", he said.

Statements during its discussion were also made this afternoon by the representatives of Tunisia, Guatemala, Mexico, Uruguay, Romania, Syria, Trinidad and Tobago, and Belarus.

The Sixth Committee will next meet tomorrow, Wednesday, at 10 a.m. to begin consideration of an agenda item on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court.

Committee Work Programme

The Sixth Committee (Legal) met this afternoon to continue consideration of its agenda item entitled "Report of the Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on the Strengthening of the Role of the Organization". (For background information on the report, as well as others before the Committee, see Press Release GA/L/3073 dated 16 October 1998).

WALID DOUDECH (Tunisia) said the various proposals concerning the impact of sanctions on third States were of considerable interest. The question had given rise to an intense debate because, as of yet, there was no adequate solution. The group of experts had reached some important conclusions. Notably was the need to determine the impact on the target country and third countries. It was, therefore, necessary to establish a permanent mechanism to gather and analyze information about the effects of sanctions. There was also merit to the proposal for the Secretary-General to appoint a special representative to evaluate the consequences of sanctions and identify measures to lend assistance.

The establishment of a fund was a possible solution to the difficulties certain States encountered, he said. He stressed the importance Tunisia placed on attention to the humanitarian aspect of sanctions. Sanctions should be envisaged only when all possible alternative means had been exhausted. They should have a time frame and clear conditions for their lifting.

ROBERTO LAVALLE-VALDEZ (Guatemala) expressed concern over certain aspects of the work of the Special Committee which he said appeared to overstep bounds and duplicate work of other committees. As a result, it would be difficult to generate consensus with respect to certain proposals. Concerning the proposal by Sierra Leone on dispute prevention and early settlement service, it would be difficult to proceed without first having an agreement about the essential characteristics of such a project.

With regard to his country's proposal on extending the competence of the International Court of Justice to include disputes between States and international organizations, he said while no decision had yet been taken, there should be a clear time limit for its consideration. To give the Special Committee more time to carefully examine reports before it, he agreed with the suggestion that the Committee meet later in the year.

SOCORRO FLORES LIERA (Mexico) welcomed the fact that more States were making use of the International Court of Justice and hoped that would continue. He said the Court should be strengthened to keep up with its increasing case load. Efforts being made by the Court itself to tackle its problems should be recognized, and he hoped the Special Committee would take up the question at its next session.

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On the effects of sanctions on third States, he said recommendations of the ad hoc expert group provided the means for taking practical steps. He said there should be further discussion of the recommendations and the issues raised in the Special Committee. He said outstanding work on the Repertory and Repertoire of United Nations Organs and the Practice of the Security Council should be speeded up. The time had come for a careful analysis of the issues on the Special Committee's agenda. He welcomed the recommendations to schedule the Special Committee's future meetings towards the end of the first half of the year.

ANTON TABONE (Malta) said a number of States favoured his country's proposal that the Trusteeship Council be given additional responsibility in coordinating international endeavours that safeguarded different areas of common heritage of humankind. His country was convinced that the institutional balance present in the Charter should be strengthened rather than eroded. An additional role for the Trusteeship Council could best preserve and promote the principle of trust.

He said the Sixth Committee should remain seized of the matter of reform of the Trusteeship Council. Malta hoped the Special Committee would take note of developments over the past year and decide the Sixth Committee should consider the future role of the Trusteeship Council in the light of recommendations of the planned environmental forum. The forum had been proposed by the task force on environment and human settlements which had been mandated to review existing structures and arrangements through which environment and environment-related activities were carried out within the United Nations.

JULIO BENITEZ SAENZ (Uruguay) said his country had a particular interest in the question of assistance to third States affected by sanctions, as Uruguay had experienced economic losses due to sanctions. Of the 116 cases where sanctions had been imposed, the objective of sanctions were achieved in only 41 of those cases. Their effectiveness, therefore, was doubtful. While he did not want to second-guess a mechanism envisioned in the Charter, he considered it necessary to also have an automatic mechanism that could generate financial resources to counter the economic losses suffered by third States. He fully shared the view that there should be an evaluation of the socio-economic and humanitarian aspects of sanctions.

The Cuban proposal on strengthening the role of the Organization deserved to be further considered, he said. Uruguay shared the view that the current structure of the United Nations did not correspond to the current political reality. Concerning the International Court of Justice, he said the growing importance of international organizations in the economic and political relations of States made it advisable to expand the competence of the Court to include the ability to hear cases concerning differences between States and those organizations.

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MICEA TUDOR (Romania) said the recommendations of the expert group on sanctions could be refined to adapt to specific situations. The Secretariat should be encouraged to continue to follow-up on the work of the group. Romania supported the appointment of a special representative of the Secretary-General to consider severe cases of effects of sanctions. He said the Permanent Representatives of third countries affected by sanctions should be involved in discussions on the evaluating of the effects.

JACOB BOTWE WILMOT (Ghana) said peacekeeping operations should be undertaken on a solid legal basis. The Special Committee could focus on relevant legal issues, giving due regard to lessons learnt from previous operations.

Ghana had, in the past, supported various resolutions which sought to minimize the harsh effects of sanctions suffered by other States, he said. The current trend of recourse to economic sanctions and the increasing number of countries affected made it imperative for the Organization to find a lasting solution to the problem. He supported the proposal of the ad hoc expert group for an on-site or field assessment to properly grasp and fully evaluate a variety of adverse effects. The international community had a responsibility to assist third States in overcoming their difficulties. The principle of equity imposed a special responsibility on the major industrial and other high-income countries to assist the countries concerned.

He said Ghana agreed with the ad hoc group that it would be beneficial for the international financial institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, to play a lead role in assessing the actual economic impact of sanctions and in providing financial assistance to the third countries. Ghana welcomed the important tasks assigned the Secretariat by the ad hoc group to prepare an advance assessment of the potential impact of sanctions, and to formulate explanatory materials on States likely to be affected. Since sanctions were primarily designed to modify the behaviour of a State, they should be imposed only as a last resort, after all other options enshrined in the Charter had been exhausted. Sanctions must not be enforced for an unlimited period, and must be lifted as soon as their main objectives had been realized, he said. Above all, sanctions must not be invoked as a tool of foreign policy intended to change another country's political, economic or social system.

GHASSAN OBEID (Syria) said the meeting of the expert group had been important in progressing on the issue of negative effects of sanctions on third countries. Today, it was much more customary to seek recourse to sanctions than it had been several years ago. However, recourse should only be undertaken when all other means had been exhausted. Sanctions should be applied very carefully, in line with specific criteria. Those criteria should be objective and impartial. The excessive suffering of innocent civilians should also be taken into account. Third States should have full rights to

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seek compensation. The revised proposal by the Russian Federation on criteria for sanctions deserved full support.

It was premature to consider dissolving the Trusteeship Council, he said, particularly in light of the fact that the Council at this time cost the Organization nothing. Syria supported the request of the International Court of Justice for additional human and financial resources to carry out its tasks.

GAILE ANN RAMOUTAR (Trinidad and Tobago) said her delegation welcomed the Russian Federation proposal on criteria for imposing and implementing sanctions. The criteria was valid and merited further discussion. Sanctions should be applied as a last resort after other measures had been exhausted. The views of the experts on measuring the effects of sanctions and the involvement of international financial institutions in an assessment of the effects of sanctions should be examined.

She stressed the need for addressing the resource needs of the International Court of Justice and the rationalization of its work particularly, the streamlining of its registry. It was important that the Court obtained resources commensurate with its increasing caseload. The international community should act swiftly to meet the staffing and other needs of the Court.

VALERY ZHDANOVICH (Belarus) said that action on third-country effects of sanctions should be taken up urgently because of the increase in the imposition of such measures and the rising number of affected countries. General Assembly resolutions on the subject were pertinent, although they dealt with procedural rather than substantive issues. The Special Committee should act on the question, but it should also ensure that effects of sanctions on target countries were not weakened. In more serious cases, he said a special representative of the Secretary-General should be appointed to assess the situation. He also called for continuous consultations between the affected countries and the Security Council. His delegation believed that the international financial institutions should be involved in developing methodology to assess the effects of sanctions. He urged the establishment of a criteria for the imposition and implementation of sanctions, with humanitarian aspects taken into account.

Right of Reply

CHOE MYONG NAM (Democratic People's Republic of Korea), speaking in right of reply, said he had raised the issue of the United Nations Command in the context of United Nations reform. The United States had attempted to stigmatize his view as "a preposterous, legally worthless assertion". Before doing so, the United States representative should have taken a little time to look at the facts.

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Some examples of the falsification of the issue were that the Security Council resolution that was supposed to be the legal basis for the United Nations Command had been illegally enforced by the United States in violation of the United Nations Charter provisions. Also, the resolution had not mentioned a single word about the United Nations Command. Further, if the United Nations Command were a real entity, as alleged by the United States, it meant that the United Nations had its own standby forces in South Korea. If that were the case, the Command should be under United Nations control, not that of the United States. The United Nations Command was nothing more than a product of fabrication which had been arbitrarily abusing the name of the United Nations to cover up the aggressive nature of United States forces and the illegitimacy of their being stationed in South Korea. That issue of abuse should be addressed.

JOHN ARBOGAST (United States), speaking in right of reply, said he, of course, disagreed with the assertions of North Korea. "They certainly were not facts that he was laying out", he said, adding that he had not wanted to take up the time of the Committee with further comment.

CHOE MYONG NAM (Democratic People's Republic of Korea), speaking in right of reply, said he reiterated his country's position with regard to the United Nations Command. That position would remain exactly the same as long the United States continued to disguise its forces as the United Nations Command.

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