EU Presidency Statement - The Special Committee on UN Charter

Mr. Chairman,

I have the honor to speak on behalf of the European Union. The acceding countries Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, the associated countries Bulgaria and Romania, as well as the EFTA Country, member of the EEA, Norway, declare that they align themselves with this statement.

Mr. Chairman,

General Assembly Resolution 57/24 has given the mandate to the Special Committee to consider on a priority basis the question of the implementation of the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations related to assistance to third States affected by the application of sanctions under Chapter VII, by commencing a substantive debate on all the related reports of the Secretary-General and the proposals submitted on this question.

The European Union believes that mandatory sanctions is an effective tool that the Security Council uses against a State, entity or group of individuals that poses a threat to international peace and security or has committed an act of aggression, in order to modify its policy and behavior. The European Union, however, has always been concerned about the adverse effects of sanctions on civilian population and third countries.

In this connection, we support the various efforts and initiatives that aim at minimizing the unintended negative consequences of sanctions on innocent civilians and third countries, while at the same time preserving their effectiveness.

Targeted sanctions, such as arms embargoes, visa-based travel restrictions, personal assets freezes and exclusion from international fora, are in our view appropriate means to address these concerns. The EU welcomes the recent practice of the Security Council to establish targeted sanctions of limited duration when designing sanctions regimes.

A number of important initiatives have been taken outside the framework of the United Nations in order to develop targeted sanctions as a regular tool of the Security Council. In this respect we would like to underline the important recommendations that have emerged from the pioneering seminar on smart sanctions in London; the Interlaken process on the effectiveness of financial sanctions as well as the Bonn-Berlin process on arms embargoes and travel sanctions, including flight bans. We hope that both the Security Council and Member States will make use of these recommendations.

Likewise, the Stockholm Process on the implementation of targeted sanctions is designed to focus specifically on individuals or entities responsible for threats to and breaches of international peace and security. The main result of the Stockholm Process is suggestions on how to strengthen the capacity to implement targeted sanctions in the UN system as well as among states. Targeted sanctions are a useful tool to focus pressure on targeted states and entities, while minimizing unintended impact on civilian population and non-targeted actors. The European Union sincerely hopes that the result from Stockholm Process could be integrated in future sanctions regimes.

As regards sanctions and the legal rights of individuals the European Union welcomes the adoption by the Security Council of the delisting procedure as well as the technical resolution on humanitarian exemptions.

Mr. Chairman,

An important document in relation to this issue is the Report of the Secretary-General ''Implementation of provisions of the Charter related to assistance to third States affected by the application of sanctions (A/53/312)'', which contains the deliberations and main findings of the ad hoc expert group meeting convened in New York from 24 to 26 June 1998.

The ad hoc expert group made some practical and concrete recommendations on this issue, some of which are addressed to the Secretariat. The Secretary General in his Report to the 56th General Assembly (A/56/303) has indicated that the issues relating to the relevant capacity and modalities of the Secretariat to implement these recommendations continue to be under review by several intergovernmental bodies.

We believe, however, that recent developments that have been made since the issuance of the report of the ad hoc working group in 1998, concerning the improvement of the effectiveness of sanctions both within and outside the UN system, should also be taken into account. In that regard we welcome the continuing efforts of the Security Council to improve and streamline the working procedures of the sanctions committees and to facilitate access to them by the affected third States. We would also like to underline the important work carried out by the Working Group on sanctions of the Security Council and we look forward to the early agreement of its conclusions.

The European Union notes with interest the most recent report of the Secretary-General (A/57/165), submitted pursuant to paragraphs 6 and 12 of the G.A. resolution 56/87, and, in particular, para paragraph 17 of that report, in which the Secretary- General notes that resolution 56/57 (para 3 a to e) contain recommendations similar to some of the recommendations and conclusions of the ad hoc expert group meeting. The Secretary-General also notes that the Security Council and its sanctions committees, with the support of the Secretariat, have been increasingly adopting, as appropriate, into the practice of their work the aforementioned provisions of the General Assembly resolutions and some of the recommendations of the expert group meeting. The EU looks forward to continuing input and views from States and relevant international organizations regarding the report of the ad hoc expert group.

Mr. Chairman,

The revised paper submitted by the Russian Federation on the humanitarian aspects of sanctions is closely related to the issue of sanctions and the European Union considers that it is a useful basis for the Charter Committee's discussions on this topic. In this respect we welcome the progress made in the last session of the Special Committee and we hope that further progress will be made at this session. We would like, however, to reiterate our position that the Special Committee should avoid dealing with issues that have been assigned and are examined elsewhere.

Mr. Chairman,

The European Union attaches great importance to the question of the peaceful settlement of disputes. The Special Committee has produced over the years very important results by elaborating the text of significant resolutions in this field. The adoption by the General Assembly last year of Resolution 57/26 on the Prevention and Peaceful settlement of disputes, which was elaborated by the Special Committee on the initiative of Sierra Leone and United Kingdom, is another important development in this direction. This resolution is a useful tool for the early recourse by States to peaceful settlement procedures and the prevention of disputes. We hope that the Special Committee will continue in the future its activities on this topic.

Mr. Chairman,

Before concluding we would like to touch upon another issue that was given priority by Resolution 57/24, namely the issue of the working methods of the Special Committee. This issue is on the agenda of the Special Committee over the last few years and some measures have already been taken.

The streamlining of the work of the Special Committee is a matter of great interest to the European Union and in this respect we have made a number of practical suggestions in order to improve the work of the Committee and increase its efficiency. In our view the Special Committee should avoid duplicating the work of other UN bodies, such as the special working group of the Security Council on sanctions and the Special Committee on Peacekeeping operations.

We also believe that the discussions in the Special Committee should focus on fewer topics and the relevant proposals should be submitted much in advance to allow for a thorough reflection. In addition, a cut-off mechanism should be established in order to prevent prolonged discussions on proposals that reappear on the agenda year after year. Consideration should also be given to examining some proposals every two or three years instead of each year. Finally, we suggest that the report of the Special Committee be adopted in a less time-consuming manner, following the example of the Ad Hoc Committee on Terrorism.

In this respect the EU strongly supports the practical recommendations submitted by Japan in the previous sessions of the Committee, which aim at strengthening the efficiency of its working methods. The European Union hopes that these proposals will eventually be adopted by the Special Committee.

The EU looks forward to a constructive discussion on these issues.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

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• EU Presidency Statement - UN Charter and Strengthening Role of Organization  (9/10/2003)