EU Presidency Statement - Cooperation between UN and Asian-African legal committee

Mr. Chairman,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union. The countries of Central and Eastern Europe associated with the European Union (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia), the associated countries Cyprus and Malta, as well as Norway, as EFTA country, member of the European Economic Area, align themselves with this statement.

Every two years the item on "Cooperation between the United Nations and the Asian-African Legal Consultative Committee" provides an opportunity of reviewing cooperation which, from modest beginnings, has intensified and been extended to a wide range of subjects: it covers economic, environmental and humanitarian questions as well as the peaceful settlement of disputes.

We wish to thank the United Nations Secretary-General for his report (A/55/221), which mentions the Consultative Committee's activities on subjects of interest to both organisations. That report describes the actions taken in this context and mentions the numerous consultations which have been held between the Consultative Committee and the various UN organs over the two-year period.

We therefore wish to emphasise particularly the important role played by the Asian-African Legal Consultative Committee in the programmes of the United Nations Decade of International Law and programmes on environment and sustainable development, as well as its commitment to the establishment of an International Criminal Court. These fields of action were mentioned in Resolution 53/14 adopted by the General Assembly in October 1998. However, the Committee's initiatives go beyond those questions. For example, the Consultative Committee was one of the six regional organisations chosen by the organisers of the centennial celebrations of the first International Peace Conference.

Mr Chairman,

We note with satisfaction the attention paid by the Consultative Committee to the work of the International Law Commission, in particular with regard to dispute settlement. The Committee's action thereby supports the work carried out by the United Nations and contributes to the gradual codification of international law by encouraging exchanges of views and information.

The initiatives taken by the Consultative Committee have proved useful for the work of the Sixth Committee. The special interest now taken by the Consultative Committee in international trade law and in the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law will doubtless help to assert the universal character of the latter's proceedings. Similarly, the attention paid by the Committee to the operation of the judicial and arbitration bodies set up by the Convention on the Law of the Sea, the operation of the bodies of the World Trade Organization and the proceedings of the World Intellectual Property Organization will certainly help to enrich their proceedings.

That is why we hope that this cooperation will continue in the interests of the entire United Nations system.

Thank you, Mr Chaiman.

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