Committee on Charter

and United Nations Role

252^nd Meeting (AM)

SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON UNITED NATIONS CHARTER ADOPTS REPORT,

RECOMMENDATIONS AS IT CONCLUDES 2007 SESSION

 

Concluding its 2007 session today, the General Assembly-mandated Committee that considers proposals on enhancing the United Nations Charter adopted, as orally amended, its report and several recommendations, including one on updating the Repertory of Practice of United Nations Organs and the Repertoire of the Practice of the Security Council.

The Committee -- formally known as the Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on the Strengthening of the Role of the Organization -- was established in 1974 to examine proposals to strengthen the Organization’s role in maintaining peace and security, to develop coordination among nations and to promote the rule of international law.  General Assembly resolution 60/23 of November 2005 also tasked the Committee with considering, among other things, the implementation of Charter provisions on assistance to third States affected by the application of sanctions.

Adopting a recommendation on the Repertory and Repertoire, the Special Committee commended the Secretary-General for the progress made in the preparation of studies of the Repertory of Practice of United Nations Organs, including the increased use of the Organization’s internship programme and further expanded cooperation with academic institutions for that purpose, as well as progress made towards updating the Repertoire of Practice of the Security Council.

The Special Committee called again for voluntary contributions to the trust fund for updating the Repertoire and to the trust fund for eliminating the backlog in the Repertory.  It also called upon the Secretary-General to continue his efforts towards updating the two publications and reiterated his responsibility for their quality.

Described by many as the Organization’s “institutional memory”, the Repertory generally focuses on the preparation of decisions by United Nations organs and summarizes the views of delegations as well as the Organization’s practice regarding the articles of the Charter.  The Repertoire gives an analytical summary of Council proceedings and arranges the material by categories organized according to that organ’s provisional rules of procedure and by the Charter’s articles.

The Special Committee’s six-chapter report (documents A/AC.182/2007/CRP.1 to CRP.11/Add.1),  which was introduced by Rapporteur Gustavo Alvarez (Uruguay), reflects the Committee’s consideration of such issues as the maintenance of international peace and security; the peaceful settlement of disputes; and the Special Committee’s working methods and identification of new subjects.

Approved following the Special Committee’s traditional chapter-by-chapter review, the report also contains a revised working paper submitted by the Russian Federation on the basic conditions and standard criteria for the introduction of sanctions and other coercive measures.  It also includes a revised working paper submitted by Libya on the strengthening of certain principles concerning the impact and application of sanctions.

Also included in the report is a working paper submitted by the Russian Federation on the fundamentals of the legal basis for United Nations peacekeeping in the context of Chapter VI of the Charter, working papers submitted by Cuba at the 1997 and 1998 sessions on strengthening the Organization’s role and enhancing its effectiveness, and a revised Libyan proposal on strengthening the Organization’s role in the maintenance of international peace and security.

Adopting a recommendation on the fundamentals of the legal basis for United Nations peacekeeping operations, the Special Committee invited the Chair of the General Assembly’s Sixth Committee (Legal) to bring to the attention of the Chair of the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) those sections of the Special Committee’s report referring to peacekeeping operations.

Turning to the working papers submitted by Cuba at the 1997 and 1998 sessions, the Special Committee adopted a recommendation referring to paragraph 38 of the report on its 2006 session (document A/61/33), in which it recognized the value of considering measures within the United Nations with a view to ensuring the General Assembly’s revitalization in order to effectively exercise the functions assigned to it under the Charter.

Regarding sanctions, the Special Committee decided to continue its consideration, on a priority basis, of the working document submitted by the Russian Federation entitled, “Basic conditions and standard criteria for the introduction and implementation of sanctions”.

In a brief closing statement, Special Committee Chairman Andrez Towpik ( Poland) thanked participants and expressed his appreciation to other members of the Bureau for their assistance and advice.  The Chair offered special thanks to the Secretariat’s Codification Division.

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For information media • not an official record