My delegation has the honour to take the floor on behalf of the States
members of the Rio Group.
Mr. Chairman,
In the "Declaration of Cartagena: a commitment for the Millennium",
which was adopted on 14 June 2000 at the
XIV Summit of the Rio Group, the Heads of State and Government reiterated
their commitment to respect the
principles and purposes set out in the Charter of the United Nations
and the norms of international law, as a
means of promoting international peace and security.
In the Millennium Declaration adopted by the General Assembly at the
beginning of its current session, the Heads
of State and Government pledged to spare no effort to make the United
Nations into a more effective instrument
for achieving its aims and purposes. The fulfillment of that objective
is fully consistent with the mandate of the
Special Committee on the Charter, which is responsible for considering
proposals relating to the Charter of the
United Nations and the strengthening of the role of the Organization
in the areas of the maintenance and
strengthening of international peace and security, fostering of cooperation
between all nations and promotion of
the norms of international law.
The Rio Group is confident that the Special Committee can make an
important contribution to the strengthening of
the role of the Organization within the broader framework of the process
of reform of the Organization because it
is the only legal forum open to participation by all States that is
competent to review proposals on the issues that
are of deepest concern to the international community.
We do recognize, however, the need to strengthen the Committee by
reviewing its methods of work and
establishing an efficient procedure for dealing with and formalizing
new proposals. The Committee must begin its
sessions with clear and well-defined objectives for the work it has
to do. The submission of proposals in the form
of action-oriented texts could help delegations to see from the beginning
the direction and possible end-results of
their work. The achievement of this objective will depend to a large
extent on the sponsoring delegations, whose
responsibility it is to gauge the degree of support for their proposals
and reformulate possible courses of action to
give them a reasonable chance of ultimately achieving concrete results.
With your permission, Mr. Chairman, I would now like to comment on
some of the other items on the
Committee's agenda.
The Rio Group thanks the Secretary-General for his report entitled
"Implementation of the provisions of the
Charter of the United Nations related to assistance to third States
affected by the application of sanctions"
(A/55/295 and Add.1). We take note of the measures adopted by the Sanctions
Committees in implementation of
the practical proposals made by the Security Council in its note S/1999/92
of 29 January 1999, in which it
recommended the establishment of mechanisms and forms of communication
to improve the monitoring of the
implementation of sanctions and to evaluate their humanitarian impact
on the population of the State to which they
are directed, as well as their economic impact on third States. We welcome,
in particular, the efforts to ensure
greater transparency in the work of the Committees, through the submission
of detailed and substantive reports by
their chairmen and we urge the Secretariat to continue its efforts to
ensure that the summary records of the formal
meetings of these Committees are made available in a more timely manner.
We are also following with great interest the work of the informal working
group that was established by the
members of the Security Council in note S/2000/319 by the President
of the Security Council, of 17 April 2000.
This group, with a mandate to develop general recommendations on how
to improve the effectiveness of United
Nations sanctions, including all aspects related to assistance to third
States affected by the application of
sanctions, has been requested to report its findings to the Security
Council by 30 November. We hope that these
recommendations would include practical ways of improving the effectiveness
of sanctions, that would take into
account those aspects related to conditions for the maintaining/lifting
of sanctions, pre- and post-assessment
reports and the ongoing evaluation of sanctions regimes, unintended
impacts of sanctions, humanitarian
exemptions and cooperation with regional and other international organizations.
The Rio Group wishes to draw attention to the "Report on the
work of the Organization" (A/55/1), in which the
Secretary-General notes and shares the opinion that a consensus is developing
among States that the design and
implementation of sanctions by the Security Council must be refined
and their management improved. In this
connection, we are of the view that the Special Committee can make a
valuable contribution to initiatives to
review the sanctions regimes and their impact on third States. A detailed
juridical study by the Committee of the
conclusions and recommendations of the ad hoc group of experts convened
by the Secretary-General in 1998
would be fully consistent with the mandate given to it by the General
Assembly to consider as a matter of priority
the question of assistance to third States affected by the application
of sanctions.
The opinions of international organizations on the conclusions and
recommendations of the group of experts,
which are contained in the report of the Secretary-General (A/55/295
and Add.1) reflect the importance of this
subject, its various ramifications and the need for the coordination
of actions and for international and regional
cooperation to assist affected third States. The Rio Group attaches
great importance to the role to be played by
the international financial institutions in assessing the economic impact
of sanctions and in providing financial
assistance to these States. We wish to draw attention to the observations
by the World Bank, the United Nations
Development Programme, and, in particular, the World Food Programme
on the need for a well-coordinated and
multisectoral approach to the provision of humanitarian assistance while
sanctions regimes are in force.
The Rio Group agrees with some of the elements of the revised working
document submitted by the Russian
Federation on basic conditions and uniform criteria for imposing sanctions
and other coercive measures and their
implementation . As we have stated in previous years, sanctions are
an extreme and exceptional measure that
should be aimed at specific objectives and applied in strict fulfillment
of the provisions of the Charter when there is
a clear and proven threat to international peace and security. Sanctions
should not be indefinite and, once
imposed, they should be subject to continuous review.
The countries members of the Rio Group are particularly concerned
at the humanitarian impact of sanctions.
Sanctions regimes should permit the Security Council to achieve its
objectives quickly and with minimum impact
on the civilian population. In this connection, it is useful to bear
in mind the opinions of the international
humanitarian organizations whose authority is universally recognized
as they relate to the design and
implementation of these regimes.
The Rio Group is prepared to continue the consideration of this item
in forthcoming meetings of the Committee.
With regard to the working document submitted by the Russian Federation
and Belarus, we are of the view that it
draws attention to important aspects of the operation, efficiency and
legitimacy of the actions of the United
Nations at a period of great complexity for international coexistence.
The provisions of the United Nations Charter must remain the fundamental
basis of collective action, particularly
when such action involves the use of force. Any modification of the
framework of action established by the
Charter should be as a result of a collective and universal analysis
in which all members of the Organization
participate.
With regard to the revised document submitted by the delegations of
Sierra Leone and the United Kingdom
concerning the establishment of a mechanism for the prevention and early
settlement of disputes, we believe that
the scope and purpose of this proposal should be clarified and its objective
clearly stated. While the text does
reaffirm the obligation of States to resolve their disputes by peaceful
means, we consider that the situation of
conflicts in different parts of the world requires an appropriate response
from the United Nations that includes a
global strategy, in which the culture of dispute prevention replaces
the culture of reaction to disputes.
Lastly, and with regard to the updating of the Repertory of Practice
of United Nations Organs and Repertoire of
the Practice of the Security Council, the Rio Group thanks the Secretary-General
for the report on the status of
these publications (A/55/340). We note with satisfaction that the updating
of the first Repertory appears as a
separate activity in the relevant sections of the programme budget of
the Organization and we hope that this
decision will help the Secretariat to complete this task, which is so
great importance to States, in a timely manner.
The Rio Group supports all the initiatives of the Secretariat to expedite
the preparation and prevent delays in the
publication of the Repertories and wishes to draw attention, in particular,
to the importance of having these
instruments published in a timely manner in the appropriate languages.
Lastly, we welcome the experimental
project implemented this year to place the volumes of the Repertory
on the Internet and are pleased to note that
all the published volumes of the Repertoire of the Practice of the Security
Council can already be consulted on the
Internet.
Thank you very much.
