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Mr. President,
Let me
begin by expressing our deep condolences to the Government and people of
Indonesia as well as to Australia and other countries who lost their nationals
in the recent tragedy in Bali. We hope that the perpetrators of this atrocity
will soon be brought to justice.
2. We also express our appreciation to Ambassador Martin Belinga-Eboutou, the
Permanent Representative of Cameroon, and the current President of the Security
Council, for introducing the annual report of the Security Council to the
General Assembly. May I thank those delegations which have congratulated
Pakistan on its election to the Council for the next 2 years. I would in turn
like to felicitate Angola, Chile, Spain and Germany on their election to the
Council last month. We look forward to working closely with them as well as with
other Council members in our common pursuit of global peace and security. I
would wish to pay special tribute to the outgoing members of the Council for
their important contributions to its work.
Mr. President,
3. This year, the Security Council’s annual report, submitted in accordance with
Article 15 of the Charter, has been presented in a new improved format and with
an analytical summary. We appreciate the conscious effort to reduce the size of
the report and avoid repetition. And the active role played by the Council’s
non-permanent members in making these improvements.
5. First, the visible successes. The Council’s supervision and support for a
number of peacekeeping operations – specially those in Timor Leste and Sierra
Leone – have been the most visible manifestations of collective security as
visualized in the UN Charter. Both the Security Council and the United Nations
have learnt appropriate lessons from the past. We hope that in future too, the
Council, the Secretariat and the Troop Contributing Countries will work together
to ensure effective realization of the larger purposes of the re-establishment
and preservation of peace and security in the troubled parts of the world.
6. During the past year, the Security Council made a significant contribution to
combating international terrorism including the provisions to arrest the
financing and support of terrorism through the Counter-Terrorism Committee.
7. The Security Council also played a role in shaping the events in Afghanistan.
Yet, all these endeavours to build peace and restore hope in Afghanistan remain
under threat so long as the international community, including the Security
Council, are unable to consolidate security, and establish President Karzai’s
authority, in all parts and regions of Afghanistan. To this end, Pakistan has
continued to urge the Security Council, the UN Secretary-General, and the major
powers, to authorize the deployment of additional international forces,
especially in regional centers. It is imperative for the Council to take early
and resolute action for this purpose.
8. The Middle East crisis, and the prolonged tragedy of the Palestinian people,
have continued to challenge the credibility of the Security Council. The Council
achieved a high point when it adopted resolution 1397, creating the framework
for a just, lasting and comprehensive solution of the Arab-Israeli conflict on
the basis of the principle of land for peace. Since then, however, confronted by
repeated Israeli military incursions, punitive measures, the economic
strangulation of the Palestinian people and spiraling violence in the Occupied
Territories, the Security Council’s deliberations have become almost a parody of
the role which the Charter had perceived for it.
Mr. President,
9. Among the most glaring of the Council’s failures has been its inability to
reverse the threat to peace in South Asia, even though the India-Pakistan issue
and the underlying dispute over Jammu and Kashmir remains on the Council’s
agenda. With one million troops deployed along Pakistan’s eastern border and the
Line of Control in Kashmir with repeated threats of war and force have been held
out by Indian leaders with artillery and small arms exchanges are a daily
feature on the Line of Control. There could be no clearer and more tangible
threat to international peace and security, even if one were to discount the
danger arising from the fact that the two antagonists possess nuclear weapons.
Mr. President,
10. The UN Charter requires that in the event of a breach of the peace, or a
threat of use of force, the Security Council must address the situation with a
view to restoring international peace and security. The Council’s responsibility
to prevent a conflict in South Asia, which has been described as “the most has
dangerous place in the world”, is clear and present. Yet, although the Council’s
attention was drawn to the crisis repeatedly during the year, including by the
UN Secretary-General himself, the Council remained impassive. The Council could
not even hold an Arria Formula meetings on this issue. War may have been
temporarily averted by the active diplomacy of some major powers. However, the
Council, nor the international community can afford to sit idle; the world
cannot afford to substitute conflict management for conflict resolution.
Mr. President,
11. During the Security Council’s debate on this report, Ambassador Mahbubani of
Singapore referred to the Council’s “orphans” – peoples on whose behalf the
Council had undertaken to act but never did. Most prominent among these orphans
are the people of Jammu and Kashmir. The Council has adopted a series of
resolutions defining a clear framework for the political disposition of Kashmir
in accordance with the wishes of the Kashmiri people. These remain to be
implemented.
12. The Council should not be oblivious to the erosion of its credibility
flowing from non-compliance with its resolution. Ineffectiveness and weakness
flow not only from an absence of determination and will to secure compliance
with certain resolutions of the Security Council. They are also manifested by
the acceptance and application of double standards and discrimination. The
Council’s resolutions represent international legality; they must be respected
comprehensively by all sides, in all regions and all circumstances.
Mr. President,
13. The Council’s failures have not been due mainly to the shortcomings in the
Council’s procedures or its structures. These failures are principally due to a
shortfall in the commitment of Member States, individually and collectively, to
conduct their policies, and uphold their legitimate national interests, strictly
in accordance with the UN Charter and principles.
14. We are convinced that the departures from principle witnessed in the Council
would become more isolated and infrequent if the Council were to become a more
representative body. Pakistan therefore continues to support the expansion of
the Security Council. At the same time, we will continue to resist proliferation
of the “centers of privilege” represented by the unfortunate institution of the
five permanent members of the Security Council and their veto power. It is clear
that, for the present, consensus within the General Assembly would favour the
expansion of only the non-permanent, elected members of the Security Council.
15. There have been prolonged endeavours to improve the Council’s working
methods, its transparency and effectiveness. We appreciate these. We support the
Secretary-General’s recommendation that the improved practices should be now
codified.
Mr. President,
16. We also welcome the recent efforts to make the Council’s work more
transparent and inclusive for the rest of the UN membership. Rule 48 of the
Council’s provisional rules of procedure specifically provides that: “Unless it
decides otherwise, the Security Council shall meet in public.” Despite the
increase in the number of public debates and the consultations with troop
contributing countries, the Council’s decisions continue to be made behind
closed doors. In a statement to the Council in 1994, the representative of one
of the 5 permanent members described such informal consultations in the
following words: “Informal meetings are not even real Council meetings; they
have no official existence, and are assigned no number. Yet it is in these
meetings that all the Council’s work is carried out.”
17. The argument, that there is a trade-off between efficiency and transparency,
is a false one. Indeed, it can be argued more cogently that the Wilsonian
principle of “open covenants, openly arrived at”, is the one that will enhance
the effectiveness of the Council and the consistent application of the UN
Charter’s principles.
18. We believe that the General Assembly, the most universal and representative
organ of the United Nations should recommend the following measures to the
Security Council and its members:
One: The improvements made in
the Council’s working methods should be codified as recommended by the
Secretary-General in his report.
Two: Rule 48 of Security
Council’s Provisional Rules of Procedures should be adhered to in letter and
spirit.
Three: A compendium should be
drawn up of those Security Council resolutions whose implementation remains
outstanding.
Four: The Security Council, in
cooperation with the Secretary-General, should undertake a thorough
consideration of how the provisions of the Chapter VI of the Charter can be
fully utilized to promote the pacific settlement of conflicts and disputes.
I thank you, Mr. President.
New York
14 October, 2002