Concluding 2018 Session, Special Committee on United Nations Charter Adopts Annual Report, Forwards Recommendations to General Assembly
Concluding its annual session today, the Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on Strengthening the Role of the Organization adopted its 2018 draft report and forwarded its recommendations to the General Assembly.
Introducing the draft report, Special Committee Rapporteur Luke Tang (Singapore), in keeping with the Committee’s past practices, led delegations through a paragraph-by-paragraph overview of its contents.
The five-chapter report (documents A/AC.182/2018/L.1 to L.10) begins with an introduction covering the work of the body’s session, which began at Headquarters on 20 February.
Adopted as orally amended, the document 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; Repertory of Practice of United Nations Organs and Repertoire of the Practice of the Security Council; working methods; and identification of new subjects.
The Repertory is a legal publication that analyses the decisions of United Nations principal organs under each of the Articles of the United Nations Charter. The Repertoire has been a constitutional and procedural guide to the proceedings of the Security Council since 1946.
Included in chapter II are summaries of discussions on the implementation of the Charter provisions related to assistance to third States affected by sanctions; the introduction and implementation of sanctions imposed by the United Nations; and Libya’s revised proposal, submitted in 1998, on strengthening the United Nations role in the maintenance of international peace and security.
A revised working paper submitted by Belarus and the Russian Federation in 2014 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 submitted by Cuba in 2012 on strengthening the role of the Organization and enhancing its effectiveness. The report also incorporates the Committee’s consideration of a working paper submitted by Ghana on strengthening the relationship and cooperation between the United Nations and regional organizations on arrangements in the peaceful settlement of disputes, which the Committee decided would be annexed to the report.
Chapter III comprises a summary of the Special Committee’s first annual thematic debate on the means for the settlement of disputes and a summary of discussions by the body on the proposal submitted by the Russian Federation in 2014 on updating the Handbook on the Peaceful Settlement of Disputes between States and establishing a website related thereto. The chapter was adopted following oral amendments proposed by the representatives of Nepal and Ukraine. The delegates of the Russian Federation, Cuba and the United States also participated in the discussion on the proposed amendments.
By a set of approved draft recommendations to be included in chapter IV of the report, the Special Committee would have the General Assembly note with appreciation the contributions made by Member States to trust funds for eliminating the backlog in the Repertory and for updating the Repertoire. It would have the Assembly call upon the Secretary-General to continue his efforts towards updating the two publications and making them electronically available in all their respective language versions. Finally, the Committee would have the Assembly encourage Member States to identify academic institutions that have the capacity to contribute to the preparation of studies for the Repertory and to provide their contact details.
Chapter V contains a summary of the discussions on working methods and the identification of new subjects. The chapter was adopted following a discussion on proposed oral amendments involving the representatives of the United States, Turkey, the European Union and Mexico.