OBSERVER STATUS AT UN FOR GLOBAL HYDROGRAPHIC GROUP IS RECOMMENDED BY ASSEMBLY’S LEGAL COMMITTEE

Fifty-sixth General Assembly

Sixth Committee

8^th Meeting (PM)

OBSERVER STATUS AT UN FOR GLOBAL HYDROGRAPHIC GROUP

IS RECOMMENDED BY ASSEMBLY’S LEGAL COMMITTEE

Request by Sahelo-Saharan States Under Review; Debate

Concluded on Charter Report, Strengthening Role of World Body

The Sixth Committee (Legal) this afternoon approved a draft resolution by which the General Assembly would invite the Monaco-based International Hydrographic Organization to participate in its sessions and work as an observer.

The Committee also considered a similar request for observer status in the General Assembly by the 16-member Community of Sahelo-Saharan States, but deferred action on it until its next meeting.

Making the case for the organization, the representative of Sudan said the observer status in the General Assembly would greatly enhance future cooperation between the two organizations.  He was supported by the representatives of Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Mali and Niger.

Earlier, the Sixth Committee had concluded its debate on the report of the Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and the Strengthening of the Role of the Organization.

Several delegations urged a review of the application of sanctions, stating that it should be applied after all other avenues had been exhausted.  They said sanctions should be employed with the utmost caution and within a limited time frame.  Its negative effects and humanitarian consequences should be taken into account and assistance provided to third States affected by it.

Topics also considered by the Special Committee at its last session included the role of the Organization in the maintenance of international peace and security, dispute prevention and settlement and the working methods of the Special Committee.

Speaking on the Special Committee’s report this afternoon were the representatives of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Japan, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Sudan, Morocco, Republic of Korea, United States, Thailand and Indonesia.

At the start of the meeting, the Chairman of the Sixth Committee, Pierre Lelong (Haiti) said the award of the Nobel Peace Prize jointly to the United

Nations and the Secretary-General was a recognition of years of efforts to promote

peace.  It was an event in which all could take pride, and he congratulated the Secretary-General on behalf of the Committee.

The Sixth Committee will next meet on Friday, 19 October, to consider two items concerning the granting of observer status in the General Assembly to Sahelo-Saharan States and Partners in Population and Development.

Background

The Sixth Committee (Legal) met this afternoon to conclude its debate on the report of the Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and the Strengthening of the Role of the Organization and to act on a draft resolution on a request for observer status in the General Assembly by the Monaco-based International Hydrographical Organization.

The draft resolution would have the General Assembly invite the Organization to participate in the sessions and work of the Assembly in the capacity of observer.

Also this afternoon, the Sixth Committee is expected to take up a similar request by the Community of Sahelo-Saharan States for observer status in the General Assembly.

A letter accompanying the request, from the Permanent Representative of Sudan, Elfath Mohamed Ahmed Erwa, states that the organization, established on

4 February 1998, was an intergovernmental body with 16 members.  They are Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Gambia, Libya, Mali, Morocco, Nigeria, Niger, Senegal, Somalia, Sudan and Tunisia.

The Community seeks to pursue an outreach policy and practical partnership with regional economic groupings and intergovernmental organizations to bolster its activities, according to a memorandum accompanying the letter.  It adds that observer status for the Community in the General Assembly would enhance and strengthen their efforts in the economic development fields.

Attached to the letter is a draft resolution by which the General Assembly would decide to invite the Community of Sahelo-Saharan States to participate in its sessions and work.  The Assembly would request the Secretary-General to take the necessary action to implement the resolution.

Statements

The Chairman of the Committee PIERRE LELONG (Haiti), opening the meeting, said the award of the Nobel Peace Prize jointly to the United Nations and the Secretary-General was a recognition of years of efforts to promote peace.  It was an event in which all could take pride, and he congratulated the Secretary-General on behalf of the Sixth Committee.

MUN JONG CHOL (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) said sanctions should be applied only to cope with threats to international peace and security.  He noted that sanctions imposed by the Security Council today served, in most cases, the political purposes of some countries rather than seeking a fair solution to problems.  Certain sanctions had been abused as a means to threaten the toppling of governments and destroying the political and economic systems of the targeted countries.  Such sanctions would bring about catastrophic consequences and undermine the credibility of the Security Council.  The act of seeking justification for prolonging sanctions should be stopped, he said.  United Nations sanctions should be lifted once their initial purposes had been realized.

He said his delegation supported proposals to set up a legal framework to define a clear time frame for sanctions and their scope.  There should be periodic assessment of their impact, and its gradual lifting to prevent abuse.  His Government supported a proposal to have the General Assembly approve Security Council resolutions on sanctions.  That would revitalize relations between the Assembly and the Council.

He said there had been “unilateral abuse” by certain countries of the United Nations Charter and its name.  He said “the so-called United Nations Force” in South Korea had neither legal basis nor any justification for its existence, in the light of Security Council resolution and relations between the United Nations and the so-called United Nations Command.  The force was organized by the United States in pursuit of its own interest and the United Nations had no authority at all over the “United Nations Command” in terms of political, military and financial aspects.

SHUICHI AKAMATSU (Japan) said that although the Special Committee had recorded some commendable achievements, the level of its productivity had been regrettably low in recent years.  It was time to seriously think about that, and to ascertain the causes.  While some delegations had pointed out that the working methods of the Special Committee had improved gradually in recent years, during its last session most of its meetings did not get under way until 40 or 45 minutes after the scheduled time.  Also, fewer than 50 delegations attended the meetings consistently.

If the situation were not dealt with, the credibility of the Committee could be jeopardized.  Japan had proposed ways to enhance the Committee’s efficiency, and was encouraged by the enthusiasm among Member States for efforts to improve its working methods.

He agreed that the time was ripe for an in-depth discussion on the question of assistance to third States.  Although the Council was making efforts to improve the sanctions regime, once sanctions came into effect their unintended impact on third States was unavoidable.

MOHAMMED HASSAN FADAIFARD (Iran) said the Special Committee had been striving hard in recent years to define a new role for itself.  There were sensible attempts to reinvigorate the Committee by inscribing fresh items on its agenda, and efforts to reform the Committee to keep up with the overall reform of the Organization.

The question of assistance to third States had been on the Committee’s agenda for more than a decade, he said.  Some had called for the establishment of an automatic mechanism to alleviate the suffering of third States; others preferred a case-by-case approach.  He cited some recommendations of the ad hoc expert group as being a sound basis for negotiation and progress, among them:  a mandate to the Secretariat to conduct 'before-and-after' post assessments of impacts of sanctions on target and third States, provision of technical assistance to those States and the appointment of a special representative in extremely severe cases.

He described the Russian proposal on criteria for the imposition of sanctions as valuable and timely.  The Security Council’s examination of the sanctions regime should not prevent the Assembly from playing its due role in standard-setting in international relations in general, and on sanctions in particular.

The agenda of the Special Committee was overloaded and the Committee was not in a position to thoroughly consider, in a limited period of time, various items on its agenda and finalize them.  While the Japanese proposal contained a number of elements for consensus-building, it was the responsibility of the Assembly to assign priority items for each session of the Special Committee.

      ABDUL MUNIM AL-KADHE (Iraq) said the Special Committee faced daunting challenges because of the negative phenomenon characterizing the present international order.  Among them were double standards in political positions, the imposition of individual policies on the international community and the adaptation and adjustment of international rules and policies to serve individual interests.  Others were the selective use of human rights as a political weapon and the imposition of economic sanctions to serve individual interests.

He said the United Nations could be strengthened if the Special Committee faced up to future challenges.  The Organization must reflect the will of its entire membership.  The current situation was characterized by the hegemonic policies of the United States to serve its imperialistic purposes.  Its policies should be redirected towards the purposes of the Charter.

He welcomed the revised paper submitted by the Russian Federation to the Special Committee on the “basic conditions and standard criteria for the introduction of sanctions and other coercive measures and their implementation”. He also welcomed the Libyan paper on the strengthening of the role of the United Nations in the maintenance of international peace and security.  All States should study those papers and come up with recommendations on the basic criteria for the imposition of sanctions.  He said sanctions imposed against his country for the past 10 years had reached a stage of genocide; it constituted a flagrant violation of international law and international humanitarian law.

He said the world had witnessed the acts perpetrated by Israel against the Palestinian people in violation of international humanitarian law.  The United States resorted to the use of its veto in the Security Council to prevent it from blaming the Zionist entity for its actions against the Palestinian people.  Iraq supported the joint proposal by the Russian Federation and Belarus for an advisory opinion to be sought from the International Court of Justice on the legal consequences of the resort to the use of force by States without prior authorization.

MOIN-UL-HAQUE (Pakistan) said his country attached great importance to the Special Committee’s work on assistance to third States.  While there had been numerous occasions to comment on the useful recommendations of the ad hoc group of experts, the Special Committee had failed to move forward for one reason or another.  He agreed with the delegation of Ukraine that a certain stagnation had crept into the work of the Special Committee on the issue.  Pakistan was awaiting with keen interest the Secretary-General’s view concerning the feasibility of implementing those recommendations, which many delegations were sure would move the discussions forward.  He hoped the problems delaying the Secretary-General’s report would soon be solved.

The Russian proposal on criteria for sanctions was important and useful, he said.  While some considered sanctions an effective policy tool, others considered them a blunt and counter-productive instrument.  As a matter of principle, Pakistan was opposed to sanctions.  The Council should not resort to their use without visible threats to international peace and security and without first exhausting all other means for resolving disputes.  The Council must adopt a clear, uniform, and impartial mechanism for the imposition, application and lifting of sanctions.

He thanked Japan for its timely proposal on improving the working methods of the Committee.

ELFATIH MOHAMED AHMED ERWA (Sudan) said the mandate of the Special Committee in light of the international climate was complex.  The challenges were even greater today than when the Committee was established.  Although the Committee had not produced many specific concrete results, delegations must continue making efforts.  He hoped the current difficult circumstances were only temporary, and that international relations would soon become sound and healthy again.

The Security Council, he said, must not simply be “a club for victors in World War II” where members settled accounts.  Reform of the Council must be made a part of the overall reform of the Organization.  Sanctions should be the last recourse after all other means were exhausted.  They should be time-bound and automatically lifted at the end of a proscribed time period and not renewed without a specific decision.

On the recent lifting of sanctions against Sudan, he said that action had been the result of considerable effort.  He said he supported the Russian, Cuban and Libyan proposals, which he described as constructive; they would strengthen transparency in United Nations organs.  The Assembly must regain its authority as granted in the Charter, he said.

KARIM MEDREK (Morocco) said the Special Committee had made a positive contribution to the development of the Charter.  The question of sanctions and their effects on third States had been on the committee’s agenda for years, but little progress had been achieved on resolving the problems involved.  The Security Council, which imposed sanctions, also had the responsibility to provide remedies for affected third States.  Sanctions should be used only after all peaceful means had been exhausted, and with the utmost caution and with a limited time frame.

He thanked the Secretary-General for the efforts to reduce the backlog in the publication of Repertory of Practice of United Nations Organs and Repertoire of the Practice of the Security Council, and encouraged Member States to continue to provide financial and other assistance to help reduce the delays.  On the future of the Trusteeship Council, he said it should be reconstituted as a guardian and trustee of the “global commons”.

IM HAN-TAEK (Republic of Korea) said sanctions should be devised with care to minimize their adverse impact on third States.  He hoped the international community would commit to making joint efforts toward the goal of smart sanctions that were both humane and effective.  The recent trend of developing sanctions towards a specific group of people, limited in scope and reasonably flexible with respect to exemptions, should be sustained.

He noted the improvements and clarifications in the revised version of the Sierra Leone and United Kingdom proposal on the peaceful settlement of disputes. Despite lingering doubts about the feasibility of operating that preventive action mechanism, he believed it was still worthy of further consideration in the Committee.

As to the Committee’s working methods, all proposals needed to be submitted as early as possible to allow for in-depth study well before the sessions commenced.  The Committee should establish clear priorities in following up on the proposals, he said.  Close coordination with other groups working on reform was also essential, to avoid overlap and maximize efficiency.  The Committee should carefully weigh the merits and drawbacks of proposals for the abolition or reconstitution of the Trusteeship Council.

JOHN ARBUGHAST (United States) said, no useful purpose was served by repeatedly devoting finite Committee resources to proposals which “reinvented the wheel”, and duplicated or significantly overlapped work that had been assigned or was being done elsewhere.  He cited, in particular, proposals which purported to suggest general criteria and principles for peacekeeping missions and sanctions regimes, and those that urged the review of the use of force authority and others that concerned Council and Assembly prerogatives.

However, there had been productive work on the question of third-country effects of sanctions.  The report of the expert group, whose convening had originally been suggested by the United States, had served to stimulate much more focused thinking on the issues involved.  A wide range of international organizations and institutions both inside and outside the United Nations were seized with such issues, and he looked forward to further input aimed at practical realistic approaches.  Agreement could and should be reached in the next session of the Committee on the revised proposal by Sierra Leone and the United Kingdom on dispute settlement.  The paper’s ideas had the potential to both increase access to and awareness of dispute settlement tools and, equally important, to enhance the Organization’s early warning and dispute prevention capabilities.

KRIANGSAK KITTICHAISAREE (Thailand) said there was a clear need for measures to reduce hardship caused by sanctions to both third States and civilian populations of the targeted State.  Adoption of “smart sanctions,” as well as the development of relevant criteria for imposition of sanctions, could be advantageous.  The Special Committee should therefore begin a comprehensive review of those complex and vital issues.

He said Thailand was committed to peaceful settlement of disputes.  It welcomed the revised joint proposal of Sierra Leone and the United Kingdom on the subject that they submitted to the Special Committee at its last session.  The paper should serve as a strong basis for discussions, and it should eventually be adopted.  He called for the reform of the International Court of Justice before it lost the significance expected of it by Member States who lacked the financial means to resort to it for the quick settlement of their disputes.  The delegation of Sierra Leone and the United Kingdom, which had nationals on the Court, should seriously consider the shortcomings of the Court and press for reform.

He said the Charter Committee should consider how the Security Council could diligently discharge the mandate given to it under Article 39 of the Charter to accommodate the interest of international criminal justice before the future International Criminal Court in the prosecution of individuals responsible for aggression.  He noted that the Preparatory Commission for the International Criminal Court was at present considering the definition of the crime of aggression, and the conditions under which the Court could exercise jurisdiction over that crime.

BUCCHARI HASNIL BAKAR (Indonesia) said the question of assistance to third States affected by sanctions had been under consideration by the Special Committee and other forums for several years, but a consensus had so far proved elusive. Nonetheless, it was important to sustain efforts.  It was never envisaged in the Charter that sanctions against a target State should have adverse consequences for third States.  The Council had the primary responsibility to alleviate the damages inflicted.  He recalled the proposal of the Non-Aligned Movement for the establishment of a trust fund to address the harsh economic realities faced by non-targeted States.

He welcomed developments to minimize the impact of sanctions on Eastern European States due to their imposition in the Balkans.  He hoped the negative impact of other sanctions regimes all over the world would also be accorded priority.  More than 10 sanctions regimes were being implemented, some for over a decade, not only resulting in economic difficulties for non-targeted States, but also with catastrophic consequences for the most vulnerable sectors of society. Such a situation demanded the development of a generally agreed sanctions regime.

Referring to the working papers by Cuba and Libya, he said Indonesia had consistently accorded importance to the reform of the United Nations, including the democratization of the Council and transparency in its working methods.

Action on Draft

After concluding its debate on the report of the Special Committee on the Charter, the Sixth Committee moved to take action on a draft resolution by which the General Assembly would invite the Monaco-based International Hydrographic Organization to participate in its sessions and work as an observer.

The Chairman announced that Algeria, Bangladesh, Chile, China, Cuba, Egypt, Finland, Germany, Greece, India, Malaysia, Norway, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, Uruguay, Ukraine and Yugoslavia had joined Monaco as sponsors of the draft resolution.

The Committee then approved the draft resolution without a vote. 

JACQUES LOUIS BOISSON (Monaco), speaking after the approval of the text, thanked delegations for their unanimous support.  He said membership of the Organization now stood at 72.

The Committee next considered a similar request for observer status in the General Assembly by Community of Sahelo-Saharan States.

ELFATIH MOHAMED AHMED ERWA (Sudan), speaking on behalf of the 16 members of the Community, said they believed that observer status in the General Assembly would greatly enhance future cooperation between the two organizations.  The Community strove to achieve overall economic union based on development plans complementary to national plans of its member States.  They also looked towards their financial future with every confidence.  It was their hope that the draft resolution would be approved unanimously.

Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Mali and Niger associated themselves with the statement of the representative of Sudan and urged support for the draft resolution.

The Chairman said the Committee would take action on the draft text at its next meeting on Friday, 19 October.  At that meeting, the Committee will also consider a request for observer status in the General Assembly by Partners in Population and Development.

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