Committee on Charter                                        L/2978

 and United Nations Role                                    2 April 2001

236^th Meeting (AM)

SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON UNITED NATIONS CHARTER HEARS VIEWS ON USE OF SANCTIONS

The imposition of sanctions was an emergency measure to be taken as a last resort against specific countries that had been unable to address their problems politically, the representative of Belarus told the Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations, as it began its session this morning.

The effects of sanctions on third States was a key issue under discussion as the Committee began its consideration of the strengthening of the Organization, the enhancement of the International Court of Justice, improvement of the Special Committee's working methods and proposals concerning the Trusteeship Council, among other topics.

Belarus rejected the practice by some States of introducing one-sided economic blockades, no-fly zones, and trading prohibitions, he said.  Conditions and criteria for the imposition of sanctions should be considered as part of the task of strengthening the role of the Security Council and the United Nations as a whole.  Only after a threat or act of aggression should there be such action under the United Nations Charter.

Iraq's representative said that respect for international law had suffered in the current unipolar world.  In the past 10 years, various United Nations organs had been used to satisfy the wishes of one State or group of States.  Embargoes and economic sanctions became objectives in themselves.  And established rules of international relations and law were manipulated to serve the purposes of a unilateral power. 

The concept of sovereignty had suffered from that dominance, he continued, stressing that in order to reestablish the supremacy of law in international affairs, the role of the Charter Committee must have a salient place on the agenda of the United Nations.  The Charter Committee was important because it was the legal means of enhancing United Nations capacity to support peace and security and international law.  It could readjust the imbalance of power between the Security Council and the General Assembly.

Chile's representative, speaking on behalf of the Rio Group, expressed support for “smart sanctions” and his belief in the need for exemptions and mechanisms for ending them at the appropriate time.  If sanctions had a severe impact on third States, possible assistance measures should be identified through consultations between the Security Council, the Sanctions Committees and humanitarian organizations.

Committee on Charter                - 1a -            Press Release L/2978

236^th Meeting (AM)                                     2 April 2001

Sweden's representative, speaking on behalf of the European Union and associated countries, welcomed the Security Council’s continuing efforts to improve the functioning of the Sanctions Committees, to streamline their working procedures, and to facilitate access to them by third States affected by sanctions.  The European Union was also pleased to note the Economic and Social Council's role in monitoring economic assistance to third States especially affected by economic problems related to sanctions.

Also speaking this morning were the representatives of Mexico, Russian Federation, Egypt, Bulgaria, China, Republic of Korea, India, Cuba, Syria, and Libya.

The representatives of Israel and Syria spoke in exercise of the right of reply.

As the session began, Hans Corell, Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and United Nations Legal Counsel, made an opening statement.

The Special Committee will meet again at 3 p.m. today to continue its session.

Background

The Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on the Strengthening of the Role of the Organization, which was established in 1974, began its annual session this morning.  The Committee was established by the General Assembly to examine in detail proposals regarding the Charter and strengthening of the role of the United Nations in maintaining peace and security, furthering cooperation among nations, and promoting the rule of international law in relations among States.

As a priority, the Committee is expected to consider the question of implementation of Charter provision on assistance to third States affected by the application of sanctions under Chapter VII of the Charter.  In its consideration it will review reports of the Secretary-General, proposals submitted to it, and previous debates by Member States.

Regarding the peaceful settlement of disputes between States, the Committee will continue to consider proposals including that on the establishment of a dispute settlement service, which would offer its services early in disputes, and on enhancement of the role of the International Court of Justice.  It will also look at proposals concerning the Trusteeship Council and will continue to consider ways and means of improving its working methods and enhancing its efficiency.

The Committee is chaired by Saeid Mirzaee-Yengejeh (Iran).  Its Vice Chairs are:  Georg Witschel (Germany), Roberto Lavalle-Valdes (Guatemala), and Juliet Semambo Kalema (Uganda).  The Rapporteur is Ionna Gabriela Stancu (Romania).

The current session of the Charter Committee is scheduled to run from 2 to 12 April.

Opening the session, HANS CORELL, United Nations Legal Counsel, recalled the mandate of the Special Committee as described under operative paragraphs 3 and 5 of General Assembly resolution 55/156 and announced that there seemed to be general agreement to elect Mirza Cristina Gnecco of Colombia as Chairperson of the Special Committee.  There being no objection, he declared her Chairperson.

MIRZA CRISTINA GNECCO (Colombia) thanked the members of the Special Committee for her election and said that the Special Committee could enhance the operations of the United Nations in a number of areas.  Also, the operations of the Committee itself needed to be reviewed.

Ferry Adamhar (Indonesia), Gocha Lordkipanidze (Georgia) and Koffi Gaston Yao (Côte d’Ivoire), were then elected Vice-Chairmen of the Special Committee. 

The Rapporteur, Teoman Mustafa Uykur (Turkey), was then elected by consensus.

The agenda was then approved.

Statements

PER NORSTRÖM (Sweden), speaking on behalf of the European Union and associated countries, said that one way of improving the Charter Committee’s work could be the introduction of a cut-off mechanism to prevent the continued discussion of topics for many years without concrete results.  The mechanism could be designed to remove a topic from the agenda after a certain number of years when there had been little consensus and little progress on the subject.  It would also be helpful if proposals for new topics were subject to a preliminary exchange of views within the Committee before being inscribed on the agenda.  As there were already so many issues on the agenda, new subjects should not be inscribed for the time being.

Regarding sanctions, he welcomed the Security Council’s continuing efforts to improve the functioning of the Sanctions Committees, to streamline their working procedures and to facilitate access to them by third States affected by sanctions.  The European Union was also pleased to note the role of the Economic and Social Council in monitoring economic assistance to third States especially affected by economic problems related to sanctions.

Noting that there had been a number of important initiatives outside the United Nations framework to develop targeted sanctions as a Security Council tool, he recalled that the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development had sponsored a pioneering seminar on smarter sanctions in December 1998.  In 1998-1999, the Swiss Government had sponsored two in-depth seminars on improving the effectiveness of financial sanctions.  Germany had built on that in 1999-2000 by sponsoring the Bonn-Berlin process, which had developed recommendations aimed at improving the effectiveness of arms embargoes and travel sanctions, including flight bans.  It was hoped that similar initiatives would follow.

JUAN GABRIEL VALDÉS (Chile), speaking on behalf of the Rio Group, said the Committee on the Charter had a special place within the United Nations, and his Group remained convinced of the contribution which the Committee could make to the strengthening of the role of the Organization.  It was the only legal forum competent to take up some of the most important issues facing the international community:  issues whose resolution was essential for fulfilling the principal purpose of the United Nations.

In General Assembly resolution 55/156, the Assembly had once again enjoined the Committee “to continue to consider on a priority basis the question of the implementation of the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations related to assistance to third States affected by the application of sanctions".  Sanctions were an instrument for modifying or correcting a situation that affected international peace and security.  They could not be used as a strategy and should constitute an extreme and exceptional measure.  His Group was therefore in support of the application of so-called “smart sanctions” and monitoring mechanisms.  It also believed that efforts should continue to create exemptions and mechanisms for ending sanctions at the appropriate time.  If sanctions had had a severe impact on third States, possible assistance measures should be identified by encouraging more consultations between the Security Council, the Sanctions Committees and humanitarian organizations.

The Committee had also been entrusted with the task of reviewing the question of the peaceful settlement of disputes, she said.  Although the proposal submitted during the previous session of the Assembly by Sierra Leone and the United Kingdom was a basis of further work, he reiterated that the proposal did not adequately reflect the title “Establishment of a dispute prevention and early settlement service”, insofar as its approach was geared more towards the settlement rather than the prevention of disputes.  Regarding improvement of the Committee’s methods of work and enhancing its efficiency, he said it would be useful to identify those issues that were of continuing importance to delegations and to work towards the early establishments of rules to determine what should be done with proposals that did not attract a minimum level of acceptance.  His Group supported suggestions about deadlines for the submission of proposals and deadlines for their consideration, as well as the idea of a programme of work.

JORGE EDUARDO NAVARRETE (Mexico) said that the Special Committee needed to work in a way that allowed it to meet new challenges.  At the Millennium Summit, the international community had reaffirmed the Charter and principles of the United Nations, but had reaffirmed the need for reform as well. Respect for law had been emphasized; that would require the implementation of judgments rendered by the International Court of Justice.  Strengthening the court was important, along with practical methods to improve its procedures and strengthen it financially.  Its current financing was not adequate for its increased volume of work.  A strengthened court of justice would help settle disputes in a peaceful manner.

He mentioned the Committee’s role in increasing the efficiency of the United Nations in building peace and security.  Coordination needed to be improved within the system, along with new approaches and new proposals.  In those areas, creativity was needed.  Regarding third States affected by sanctions, it should be remembered that sanctions should be a last resort, exceptional in nature.  Effects on third-party States should be considered in the design phase.  Compensation and other measures should be considered.  As for United Nations reform as a whole, integral reform was needed to bring the Organization in line with the realities of the new century.  It needed to be made a more democratic institution with more complementarity among its various organs.

SERGEY KAREV (Russian Federation), drawing attention to a working paper submitted by the Russian Federation and Belarus, said the Committee should continue consideration on that document in a law-based and non-confrontational way.  The two countries would submit an updated document today.

He said that sanctions -- one of the central areas of the Committee’s work  -- should continue to be considered as a matter of primary importance.  It should be possible to improve their flexibility and effectiveness as well as to establish standard criteria for the imposition of sanctions.  The Russian Federation was pleased with the emerging tendency to take account of the humanitarian and other consequences of sanctions on third States.  The groundwork laid on that issue in the Sixth Committee and elsewhere should be a good basis for an agreement.

Expressing his delegation's appreciation for the Secretary-General’s efforts to reduce the backlog of repertories of United Nations activities, he said those efforts deserved the Committee’s support.  The Russian Federation was in favour of retaining the Committee’s current format.

ABDUL MUNIM AL-KADHE (Iraq) said that reform of the United Nations was particularly important because the world had become unipolar in terms of power.  Respect for international law had suffered.  In the past ten years various organs of the United Nations had been used to satisfy the wishes of one State or group of States.  Embargoes and economic sanctions became objectives in themselves.  The established rules of international relations and law became manipulated to serve the purposes of a unilateral power.

The concept of sovereignty of States, he said, had suffered from that dominance.  The supremacy of law in international affairs must be reestablished.  For that reason, the role of the Special Committee must take a salient place on the agenda of the United Nations.  The Committee was important because it was the legal means of enhancing the United Nations capacity to contribute to peace and security and international law.  It could also readjust the imbalance of power between the Security Council and the General Assembly.

Iraq, he said, welcomed the paper introduced by the Russian Federation concerning effects of sanctions.  The excessive and arbitrary use of sanctions must be limited.  The General Assembly had a mandate in that area and should fulfil it in accordance with the Charter.  Clear criteria for the imposition and lifting of sanctions should alleviate the suffering of third parties affected by them. 

There should be, furthermore, legal implications when States exercised the use of force outside international law, he said.  The Security Council was manipulated by the United States and had taken on power beyond its mandate.  When Members of the Security Council moved last week to try and stop the heinous crimes of Israel against the Palestinians, the draft resolution was blocked by the use of the veto power by the United States.  Similarly, the United States used military force at its will against Iraq. The United Nations needed to create a collective security system, serving collective international interests.

MOHAMMED MAHMOUD GOMAA (Egypt), noting that the Special Committee had spent several years discussing various aspects of the sanctions regimes allowed under the Charter, said that sanctions were a final measure to which the Organization should not resort until all other means had been exhausted.  The imposition of sanctions should only take place after objectives had been fixed and a strict timeframe declared, to ensure they did not become a political tool in the hands of the Members of the Security Council.  Sanctions should be free of the individual political interests of Council Members, especially the permanent Members.

He said that, as the Iraqi and Libyan people continued to suffer from the sanctions imposed on them, some third States, including Egypt, were also suffering.  However, the Special Committee had found a mechanism to which the Security Council had never resorted: consulting with third States in order to give the Council an idea of their view of sanctions and of the background leading up to the situation.

Urging that the Council consider the establishment of further measures that may end the use of sanctions, he reiterated the important role that should be played by the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council and the Committee on Programme and Coordination.  His objective was not a mere theoretical application, but the full application of Article 50 of the Charter to ensure that the Security Council was not out simply to massacre people in States affected by sanctions.

VLADIMIR SOTIROV (Bulgaria) said Bulgaria had been exposed to considerable adverse consequences of the application of sanctions and favoured the position that those measures should be accompanied by concerted efforts to prevent their possible adverse effects on third States and the establishment of effective mechanisms for addressing special economic problems confronting those States.

Recognizing the important work of the Secretary-General on the matter, and in particular his 1998 report (document A/53/312) containing a summary of deliberations and main findings of the ad hoc expert group, it was his view that the recommendations and suggestions of that group formed a solid basis for a methodology for assessing consequences of sanctions on third States, he said.  Those recommendations deserved thorough examination and evaluation.  An early presentation of the Secretary-General’s comments on the conclusions and main findings of the groups would accelerate the successful finalization of work on that important issue.  Then the relevant ideas of the group could be translated into practice, he said.

SU WEI (China) said that sanctions were often necessary, but they often had negative effects on third-party States as well.  Therefore necessary assessments must be done before sanction were put in place.  The international community must give such third States practical support, and should provide assistance through various means.  The establishment of a permanent fund for that purpose should be further studied.  The Russian Federation paper on sanctions was valuable.  A declaration document to guide peacekeeping forces was also necessary, he said, and the Russian Federation paper could provide a framework for that.

In other matters, there was no need to abolish or change the function of the Trusteeship Council, but it should be studied further, he said.

LEE KEY-CHEOL (Republic of Korea) said it was difficult, in the real world, to impose sanctions that were simultaneously effective and humane.  The Republic of Korea welcomed the report on the Expert Group meeting and invited the Secretary-General to present his views on that report.

He stressed the need to streamline and focus the Charter Committee’s work in order to enhance its efficiency.  All proposals should be submitted as early as possible to allow early study before the session commenced.  In addition, the session should avoid repetition and ensure close coordination to avoid potential overlap.  The Committee should also decide if it would continue to consider a subject after it had been on the agenda for more than five periods.  A cut-off mechanism would prevent such issues from being dragged out.

He reaffirmed his country's steadfast and unwavering support for the work of the Special Committee, which played a vital role in considering the legal aspects of the role of the United Nations.

NARINDER SINGH (India) said he attached utmost importance to the effects of sanctions on third States.  Permanent solutions were urgently needed.  The Security Council needed to consider the negative effects before imposing sanctions, and assistance should be given.  The cost of imposing such sanctions should be shared fairly, possibly through a permanent fund financed by assessments.  Targeted, smart sanctions were needed.  A recent example was the situation concerning sanctions on conflict diamonds which had an unfair impact on those States that could least afford it.

The working paper submitted by Japan contained many good ideas to enhance the efficiency of the Special Committee.  However, working methods from other Committees may not be relevant, he said.

SORAYA ELENA ÁLVAREZ NÚÑEZ (Cuba) said all topics on the Committee's agenda were of primary importance.  They were pertinent to the activities of the United Nations.  Cuba considered it necessary to find a permanent and urgent solution to the issue of strengthening the United Nations.

The application of Charter provisions could not be separated from the question of sanctions, she stressed.  Sanctions must be discussed in detail during the Committee's present session in order to adopt a draft resolution or declaration.

She said the imposition and lifting of sanctions could not be carried out solely by the Security Council, as an additional privilege to the veto power residing in the hands of its permanent members.  The revitalization of the General Assembly's role was a part of the letter and spirit of the Charter, and it could not be postponed.

MOHAMED HAJ IBRAHIM (Syria) said sanctions should be imposed only after all other means had been exhausted, because they frequently had negative effects. Also, sanctions were imposed unfairly.  They had been imposed against Libya, Iraq and the Sudan for example, but had not been applied to a certain State that had acted in defiance of many Security Council resolutions.  Political considerations should not affect the imposition of sanctions.  They should be in force for a clear, limited period and should be lifted as soon as the threat against international security is removed. 

Third States should be compensated, he said, and the concerns of the Non-Aligned States as stated in Durban should be taken seriously.  The revised paper submitted by the Russian Federation was also of prime importance, and was a positive contribution.  He supported the objectives of Cuba in its paper, as well as Libyan proposals to make the General Assembly and Security Council more democratic.  As for the Trusteeship Council, there was no need to abolish it. The Court of Justice was also an important institution and should be strengthened

VALERY ZHDANOVICH (Belarus) expressed support for the Committee's mandate, with the understanding that every delegation had the right to introduce new issues.  Removing items from consideration may be done with the consent of the introducing State.  The Committee's working methods and efficiency would be better if the Chair conducted working meetings and then informed members of what had been discussed.  The Committee's reports should reflect the entire spectrum of the proposals it considered.

He said that although the Charter gave the Security Council the authority to impose sanctions, it did not envisage that their negative effects on third States should be left unconsidered.  The imposition of sanctions was an emergency measure to be taken against specific countries that had been unable to address their problems politically.  Before imposing sanctions, a preliminary assessment should be made to evaluate their effects on both on the target country and on third States.  It was also necessary to ensure the sanctions were not of unlimited duration.

While supporting proposals to develop methodologies to assess the effects of sanctions on third States, Belarus rejected the practice by some States of introducing one-sided economic blockades, no-fly zones, and trading prohibitions, he said.  Conditions and criteria for the imposition of sanctions should be

considered as part of the task of strengthening the role of the Security Council and the United Nations as a whole.  Only after a threat or act of aggression should there be action in accordance with Article 40.  Sovereignty and territorial integrity must be respected and sanctions should only be used as a last resort.

Mr. GWERI (Libya) said that it was clear that the Special Committee had the mandate to discuss sanctions.  Three principles should be considered in that regard.  Sanctions should be imposed as a last resort.  They should be imposed in such a way as to ensure that they did not have negative consequences on third-party States.  Sanctions must be imposed through a just procedure and not imposed in an illegal or illegitimate manner.

His country, he said, had been subject to sanctions to force it to act in a certain way with regard to a legal issue.  The results of those sanctions were catastrophic for the people of Libya and the entire region.  Other countries, as well had been the victim of an unjust imposition of sanctions that ran counter to the rule of international law.  He hoped that the papers of the Russian Federation and Cuba, as well as Libya’s proposals, would be considered in that regard.

Right of Reply

AARON JACOB (Israel), speaking in exercise of the right of reply, expressed regret that certain delegations had levelled baseless allegations against his country and its policies.  Such allegations could only be to the detriment of the Committee’s work.  Israel called on those delegations to keep to the subject of the meeting.

MOHAMED HAJ IBRAHIM (Syria), also exercising the right of reply, said his delegation had not mentioned any country by name.  Urging Israel to implement Security Council resolutions, he recalled that when the Council had tried last week to adopt a resolution to send an international observer force to protect Palestinian civilians, one of the major Powers on the Council had vetoed the resolution.

Mr. JACOB (Israel), speaking again in exercise of the right of reply, reiterated that Middle East issues were not on the agenda for today's meeting.

Mr. HAJ IBRAHIM (Syria), again exercising the right of reply, said he was not speaking outside the agenda and reiterated that he had not mentioned any specific country.

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