Security Council

5092^nd Meeting (AM)

SECURITY COUNCIL ENDORSES CREATION OF TRUST FUND

 

TO SUPPORT UN PROTECTION FORCE IN IRAQ

 

The Security Council this morning endorsed the creation of a trust fund to financially support a United Nations protection force in Iraq.

Approving a letter to be sent by the Council’s President to the Secretary-General, the Council requested the Secretary-General to establish, no later than  3 December, the trust fund for accepting and administering contributions from Member States for the purpose of financially supporting the “distinct entity” to provide security for the United Nations presence in Iraq.  [Paragraph 13 of Council resolution 1546 (2004) expressed the Council’s intention to create a “distinct entity under unified command” to provide security for the United Nations presence in Iraq.]

The President would refer to a letter from the Permanent Representative of the Netherlands addressed to him, dated 26 November (document S/2004/927).  In that letter, the Permanent Representative informed the President that the member States of the European Union were ready to contribute approximately $12 million to finance the “middle ring” of the United Nations protection force in Iraq, provided there was a Council mandate for such a force.

In a 26 November letter to the Netherlands’ Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Secretary-General noted the United Nations’ intention to consider establishing a trust fund to support such a distinct entity.  The Secretary-General, in his letter, stressed, however, that such entity had not been set up as a United Nations operation.  The Organization would, therefore, have no role in its financing, deployment or in-theatre command and support.  The United Nations rules and regulations did not allow for the establishment of such a trust fund in the absence of a specific mandate from the Council.

The President’s letter will be issued as a document of the Council under the symbol S/2004/929.

The meeting started at 11:36 a.m. and was adjourned at 11:40 a.m.

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