Sixty-seventh General Assembly

Fourth Committee

24^th Meeting (AM)

Fourth Committee Concludes Review of Peacekeeping, Winding Down Substantive Work

For Session with Adoption of Special Committee’s Report

 

The Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) concluded its substantive work for the General Assembly’s sixty-seventh session today, adopting a draft resolution by which it endorsed a procedural report on the work of the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations.

The meeting followed the conclusion of the Special Committee’s 2013 substantive session last week.  Adoption of today’s draft ended the Fourth Committee’s yearly review of peacekeeping operations in all their aspects.

Under the terms of the draft, adopted without a vote, the Fourth Committee decided that the Special Committee should continue to review implementation of its previous proposals and consider any new ones that could enhance United Nations capacity to fulfil its peacekeeping duties.  It also reiterated that States contributing personnel to those operations or participating in the Special Committee as observers for three consecutive years would, upon written request to the Chair, become members at the following session.

Mohamed Selim ( Egypt), Rapporteur of the Special Committee, introduced the report, along with the draft resolution.  He said no agreement had been reached on the substantive part of the report, and so it contained no recommendations.  He added that the Special Committee’s Chair would convene an open-ended inter-sessional group of “friends of the Chair” to consider working methods, with the aim of recommending an agreed format for the report prior to its next session.

Following the text’s adoption, a representative of the European Union delegation expressed regret at the Special Committee’s inability to finalize a substantive report.  Noting the emergence of new challenges in the peacekeeping agenda, she stressed the importance of cooperation to ensure a solid basis for missions in the field.

The representative of Egypt, speaking on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement, also regretted the inability to deliver a substantive report, especially given that troops were on the ground.  Stressing the Movement’s willingness to improve the Special Committee’s working methods, he said time was of the essence and that it was time for action, not rhetoric.

India’s delegate, associating with the Non-Aligned Movement, said that the Special Committee had “struggled to catch up”, while peacekeeping moved on.  Important developments in that realm had occurred, such as the inclusion of the Intervention Brigade in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the increased use of technology in peacekeeping operations, but the Special Committee remained “bedevilled” by procedural issues, which affected its engagement with peacekeeping’s substantive agenda.

Also associating with the Movement was the representative of the Philippines, who said that 2013 had been a particularly exacting year for peacekeepers, especially those from the Philippines.  He added that he would throw himself into the working group to eliminate future problems and called on States to recognize the common responsibility of all to peacekeeping.

The representatives of Indonesia and Brazil also delivered statements following the resolution’s adoption.

In other business today, the Fourth Committee elected two new Vice-Chairs by acclamation to fill seats vacated by departing Bureau members.  With their terms valid for the remainder of the General Assembly’s sixty-seventh session, Lois Young ( Belize) was selected from the Group of Latin American and Caribbean States, and Vachara Pawutiyapong ( Thailand) hailed from the Asia and Pacific Group.

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For information media • not an official record