Committee on Charter

and United Nations Role

264^th Meeting (AM)

As Committee on United Nations Charter Opens Session, Speakers Debate Reach,

Economic Consequences of Security Council Sanctions

 

Also Elects Officers, Adopts Work Programme

The economic reach and consequences of Security Council sanctions triggered robust debate over protecting affected third party States today, as the Special Committee on the United Nations Charter and on the Strengthening of the Role of the Organization opened its annual session.

Considered to be a “last resort”, sanctions were called “important instruments” for the maintenance and restoration of international peace and security by many Committee members.

Yet to others, sanctions were “blunt instruments”, a notion voiced by Iran’s representative, speaking on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement and echoing some delegates’ concerns.  He said the use of sanctions raised fundamental ethical questions of whether sufferings inflicted on vulnerable groups in the target country were legitimate means of exerting political pressure.

The objectives of sanctions regimes, therefore, should be clearly defined, based on tenable legal grounds, and their imposition should be for a specified time frame, and lifted as soon as goals were achieved, he said.

While many delegates emphasized the need to consider sanctions’ rippling negative economic effects on third parties, the observer of the European Union said that studying the question of assistance to those States was no longer relevant to the Special Committee, and noted that no State had appealed for economic remedy and relief since 2003.

That did not imply that the subject must “disappear” from the Committee’s agenda, said Chile’s representative, speaking on behalf of the Group of Latin American and the Caribbean States.  Neither should a sharp focus on the lack of concrete results from the Special Committee’s latest sessions, he said, noting some delegations’ concerns in that area.

However, China’s representative said that, over the past year, the Security Council had been improving methods of sanctions with efforts to reduce negative economic consequences.  Still, given the ever-expanding reach of globalization, he said the possibility of third States being affected by sanctions had not been eliminated and that an evaluation mechanism should be established.

Some delegates noted that the Security Council was continually encroaching on the General Assembly’s functions and powers, and was attempting to enter areas of norm-setting and establishing definitions that fell within the Assembly’s realm, with Nicaragua’s representative pointing to climate change as an example.

The Russian Federation’s representative said it was also necessary to examine the use of force by States without prior Security Council approval, and that an advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on the matter should be requested.  But, the United States’ representative disagreed, saying the use of force was clearly addressed in the United Nations Charter.

During the meeting, delegates noted some key accomplishments, including the coming twentieth anniversary of the Manila Declaration on the Peaceful Settlement of International Disputes, but also highlighted the need to focus on, among other things, adopting better approaches to enhance the efficiency of the Committee’s working methods, updating the Repertory of Practice of the United Nations, and how the Special Committee should deal with new proposals.

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s representative said Security Council resolutions on disputes had been adopted contrary to the will of United Nations Member States, and noted that the “UN Command” had only played a role of “aggravating tension and conflicts” in the Korean peninsula.

Also today, the Special Committee elected Garen Nazarian (Armenia), from the Eastern European States Group, as Chair; Ibrahim Salem (Egypt) from the African States Group, and Pham Vinh Quang (Viet Nam) from the Asia and Pacific States Group, as Vice-Chairs; and Juan Manuel Sánchez Contreras (Mexico) from the Latin American and Caribbean States Group, as Rapporteur.  It also adopted its agenda and programme of work.

During its current session, the Special Committee’s Working Group would examine issues including maintenance of international peace and security, strengthening of certain principles concerning the impact and application of sanctions, implementation of the Charter provisions related to assistance to third States affected by sanctions, peaceful settlement of disputes, and working methods.

The representatives of Iran (in his national capacity), Egypt, Venezuela, Philippines, Cuba, South Africa, India, and Japan also delivered statements today.

Exercising their right of reply, the representatives of the Republic of Korea and the United States said the Special Committee was not the proper forum to discuss the issues raised by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, who also exercised his right of reply, again voicing concern over the “UN Command” in his region.

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

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For information media • not an official record