Committee on Charter

 and United Nations Role

271^st Meeting (AM)

Special Committee on United Nations Charter Adopts Report, Concludes 2013 Session

Adopting its 2013 draft report, the Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on Strengthening the Role of the Organization concluded its regular session today, forwarding its recommendations to the General Assembly.

Rapporteur Riaz Abdul Razak ( Malaysia) presented the draft report and, according to the Special Committee’s tradition, led delegations through a paragraph-by-paragraph reading of its contents. 

The five-chapter report (document A/AC.182/2013/CRP.1 to 9) covers the work of the body’s session, which began at Headquarters on 19 February.  Adopted as orally amended, it highlights proposals submitted by delegations pertaining to the items on the Special Committee’s agenda:  maintenance of international peace and security, peaceful settlement of disputes, working methods and identification of new subjects.

By a set of approved draft recommendations, to be included in chapter IV of the report, the Special Committee would have the 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.  The Assembly would reiterate its call for voluntary contributions to the trust funds for, respectively, eliminating the backlog in the Repertory and for updating the Repertoire, as well as the voluntary sponsoring of associate experts to assist in the updating of those publications with no cost to the United Nations.

[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.]

Included in the report are summaries of discussions on the implementation of the Charter provisions related to assistance to third States affected by sanctions; Libya’s revised proposal on strengthening the United Nations’ role in the maintenance of international peace and security; and Venezuela’s revised working paper entitled “Open-ended working group to study the proper implementation of the Charter of the United Nations with respect to the functional relationship of its organs”.

A revised working paper submitted by Belarus and the Russian Federation concerning a request from the International Court of Justice on the legal consequences of States’ use of force without prior Security Council authorization was also included, as was a working paper by Cuba on strengthening the role of the Organization and enhancing its effectiveness.

Closing the meeting, Chair Jean-Francis Régis Zinsou (Benin) thanked delegations for having created a “relaxed” atmosphere, which had allowed for an exchange of views on delicate issues and convergence on several topics.  The session had also paved the way for the Special Committee to achieve better prospects in the future.

The Special Committee 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