LEGAL COMMITTEE RECOMMENDS GENERAL ASSEMBLY GRANT OBSERVER STATUS TO GROUP OF SAHELO-SAHARAN STATES

Fifty-sixth General Assembly

Sixth Committee

10^th Meeting (PM)

LEGAL COMMITTEE RECOMMENDS GENERAL ASSEMBLY GRANT OBSERVER

STATUS TO GROUP OF SAHELO-SAHARAN STATES

Decision Deferred on Sweden-Based Democracy Group; Text

Introduced on Third States Affected by Application of United Nations Sanctions

The Sixth Committee (Legal) this afternoon recommended, without a vote, that the General Assembly grant observer status to one organization, and decided to defer consideration of a similar request on behalf of another organization.

Also, a draft resolution on assistance to third States affected by the application of United Nations sanctions was introduced by the representative of Ukraine.

The Committee recommended that the Assembly grant observer status in its sessions to the 16-member Community of Sahelo-Saharan States.  It decided to defer, until its next session, consideration of observer status for the Sweden-based International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance.

The Committee will next meet on Monday, 29 October, at 10 a.m. to begin its consideration of the report of the International Law Commission.

Background

The Sixth Committee met this afternoon to take action on two draft resolutions and a draft decision concerning requests for observer status in the General Assembly.

The Committee was also to receive a draft resolution concerning the report of the Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and the Strengthening of the Role of the Organization was to be introduced.  The draft relates to assistance to third States affected by the application of sanctions.

By draft resolution A/C.6/56/L.3, the General Assembly would invite the    16-member Community of Sahelo-Saharan States to participate in its sessions and work in the capacity of observer.  The Secretary-General would be asked to take the necessary action to implement the draft resolution.  The draft resolution is sponsored by member States of the Community:  Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Gambia, Libya, Mali, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Somalia, Sudan and Tunisia.

The Community of Sahelo-Saharan States is an inter-governmental organization that addresses the common interests of its members.  It is committed to the maintenance of international peace and security in their region.  It also aims at the integration of its members in the economic, political and social fields in accordance with the United Nations Charter, the Charter of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), the Charter of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and other regional instruments.

By draft resolution A/C.6/56/L.4 and Corr.1, the Assembly would invite the Partners in Population and Development to participate in its sessions and work as observer.  The Secretary-General would be asked to take the necessary action to implement the draft resolution.  The text is sponsored by Bangladesh, China, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Mali, Morocco, Mexico, Uganda, Pakistan and Tunisia.

The Bangladesh-based Partners in Population and Development is an inter-governmental organization that promotes South-South cooperation in the area of population and development.  Established in 1994 after the Cairo International Conference on Population and Development, the organization has, over the years, transferred knowledge, expertise and skills in population and reproductive health through South-South cooperation.

By a draft decision contained in document A/C.6/56/L.5, the General Assembly would, on the recommendation of the Sixth Committee, decide to resume its consideration of (and defer a decision on) the request for observer status in the Assembly for the Sweden-based International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance to its fifty-seventh session in 2002.

Draft on Application of Sanctions

By a draft resolution on Implementation of the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations related to assistance to third States affected by the application of sanctions (A/C.6/56/L.6), the Assembly would express its concern about the special economic problems confronting certain States arising from the carrying out of preventive or enforcement measures taken by the Security Council against other States.

In recalling the right of third States to consult the Security Council with regard to a solution of those problems, the Assembly would renew its invitation to the Council to consider further mechanisms or procedures for consultations as early as possible, including appropriate ways and means for increasing the effectiveness of its methods and procedures applied in the consideration of requests by the affected States for assistance.  The Assembly would welcome the establishment of the informal working group of the Council to develop general recommendations on how to improve the effectiveness of United Nations sanctions. It would look forward to the speedy adoption of the draft outcome of the working group, in particular the provisions on unintended impacts of sanctions and assistance to States in implementing sanctions.  It would strongly recommend that the Council further enhance the effectiveness and transparency of the sanctions committees.

The Assembly would invite the Council and its sanctions committees to ensure:  that both pre-assessment reports and ongoing reports include the likely and unintended impact of the sanctions on third States and recommend ways to mitigate the negative impacts; that third States had the opportunity to brief the committees on the unintended impacts they were experiencing and the assistance needed to mitigate the impacts; that the Secretariat continued to provide advice and information to third States to help them mitigate the unintended impacts; and, where there were severe effects, for the Council to request the Secretary-General to consider appointing a special representative or dispatch a fact-finding mission.   

The Assembly would request the Secretary-General to ensure that competent units within the Secretariat develop the adequate capacity and appropriate modalities, technical procedures and guidelines to continue, on a regular basis, to collate and coordinate information about international assistance available to third States, and to continue developing a possible methodology for assessing the adverse consequences actually incurred by third States, and to explore innovative and practical measures of assistance to the affected third States.

The Secretary-General would be requested to expedite the report of his views on the deliberations and on main findings of the ad hoc expert group on the application of sanctions.

The Assembly would reaffirm the important role of the Assembly, the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and the Committee for Programme and Coordination in mobilizing and monitoring the economic assistance efforts by the international community and the United Nations system on behalf of States confronted with special economic problems from carrying out preventive or enforcement measures imposed by the Council.

The Assembly would also take note of the decision of ECOSOC to continue consideration of the question of assistance to third States affected by sanctions and invite the Council to make arrangements for that purpose within its programme of work for 2002.

The Assembly would invite the organizations of the United Nations system, international financial institutions, other international organizations, regional

organizations and Member States to address more specifically and directly, where appropriate, special economic problems of third States and to consider improving procedures for consultations.

The Assembly would request the Charter Committee to continue to consider the question of assistance to third States on a priority basis.  It would also decide to consider, within the Sixth Committee or a working group of the Committee, at its next session, further progress in the elaboration of effective measures aimed at the implementation of the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations related to assistance to third States affected by the application of sanctions under Chapter VII of the Charter. 

The draft is sponsored by Bulgaria, Russian Federation and Ukraine.

Action on Texts

The Sixth Committee approved without a vote the draft text (A/C.6/56/L.3) concerning the request of the Community of Sahelo-Saharan States for observer status in the General Assembly.

OMAR BASHIR MOHAMED MANIS (Sudan), on behalf of the co-sponsors of the text, expressed gratitude for the Committee’s decision, noting that it would help the organization to further enhance its contribution to the achievement of the development goals of the United Nations.

MOHAMMED GOMAN (Egypt) asked for a delay on action on the text concerning observer status for Partners in Population and Development in the General Assembly (A/C.6/L.5), indicating that some delegations wanted to consult further on it.

The Committee approved, without a vote, the draft decision (A/C.6/56/L.5)

on the consideration of the request of the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance for observer status in the General Assembly.  

OLEH HERASYMENKO (Ukraine), speaking also for Belarus and the Russian Federation, introduced the text (A/C.6/56/L.5) on the Report of the Special Committee on the Charter.

PIERRE LELONG (Haiti), Chairman of the Sixth Committee, said he understood that there would be informal consultations on the draft resolution, and that the time would be announced later.

RIAZ HAMIDULLAH (Bangladesh) said no action should be taken on the draft text on observer status for Partners in Population and Development (A/C.6/56/L.4), until a later date.  

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