Committee on Charter

 and United Nations Role

262^nd 263^rd Meetings (AM & PM)

Special Committee on United Nations Charter Concludes 2011 Session,

 

Adopts Draft Report, Forwards Recommendations to General Assembly

 

Wrapping up its seven-day session with a final meeting that stretched into the early evening, the Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on the Strengthening of the Role of the Organization adopted, as orally revised, its 2011 report, containing recommendations directed to the General Assembly.

According to the report, adopted following protracted negotiations on its contents, the Special Committee recommended that the General Assembly reiterate the Secretary-General’s responsibility for the quality of the Repertory of Practice of United Nations Organs and the Repertoire of the Practice of the Security Council.  With regard to the Repertoire, the Assembly would call on the Secretary-General to continue to follow the modalities first outlined in 1952.

[The Repertory is a legal publication which analyses the decisions of United Nations principal organs under each of the Articles of the United Nations Charter.  The Repertoire is a constitutional and procedural guide to the proceedings of the Security Council since 1946.]

By another recommendation to be sent to the Assembly regarding the maintenance of international peace and security, the Special Committee decided to keep on its agenda the proposal, put forward in 2005 by the representatives of Belarus and the Russian Federation, to request an Advisory Opinion from the International Court of Justice on the legal consequence of the resort to the use of force by States without the Security Council’s prior authorization, except in self-defence.

Also by that recommendation, the Special Committee recognized the value of ongoing efforts within the United Nations to improve the workings of the Organization, including those with a view to ensuring the revitalization of the General Assembly to effectively and efficiently exercise the functions assigned to the 192-member body under the Charter.

Presenting the 2011 report, which consisted of six chapters and an annex, Hilding Lundkvist (Sweden), the Special Committee’s Rapporteur, made technical corrections to the text, including a paragraph noting the election of Esmaeil Baghaei Hamaneh (Iran) as the Special Committee’s third Vice-Chair.

The report summarized, among others, the Special Committee’s discussions on implementing Charter provisions relating to assistance to third States affected by the application of sanctions.  During that debate, diverging views emerged on the relevance of continued discussions on the topic in the Committee, given that it had been eight years since a Member State had approached one of the Security Council’s sanctions committees concerning special economic problems caused by such measures.  Some States argued that because the consideration of assistance to third States affected by sanctions was preventive in nature, it should continue.

Also summarized were the Special Committee’s consideration of a revised working paper submitted by Libya on strengthening certain principles concerning the impact and application of sanctions, and a revised proposal by Libya aimed at strengthening the Organization’s role and enhancing its effectiveness.

Before adopting the report, the Special Committee heard a lengthy exchange on the exact placement of a paragraph in the document’s third chapter, with Cuba’s representative suggesting it either be eliminated or placed elsewhere to reflect the range of views expressed during the Special Committee’s meeting on 28 February, and during the meeting of the Working Group of the Whole on 1 March.  The representative of the United States, however, argued it was well placed.

In the end, the Special Committee accepted new placement for the paragraph in the final report, following comments by the representatives of Nicaragua, Venezuela, Japan, United Kingdom, Ecuador and Mexico on the matter.

Committee Chair María Rubiales de Chamorro (Nicaragua) thanked all delegations for their “very active participation” in all the discussions.

The Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on the Strengthening of the Role of the Organization was established in 1975 to examine proposals to bolster the world body’s role in maintaining peace and security, to advance cooperation among nations and to promote international law.

The Special Committee will reconvene at a date and time to be announced.

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For information media • not an official record