EU Presidency Statement - The Security Council Summit

Mr. President,

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

Mr. President,

Six months ago, the Security Council adopted an important declaration on enhancing the role of the Council in the maintenance of international peace and security. Today we should ask ourselves how far we have come, particularly in Africa. Have the Council intentions of September 2000 become real? Is the understanding reached at the Summit being translated into practical action?

The answer is yes, but it is most definitely a work in progress. In fact, over the past six months, we have seen certain steps forward in strengthening United Nations activities in peace and security. However, much remains to be done.

Keeping our focus on Africa, let us recall that the continent currently hosts three of this organisation's most important peace-keeping missions. Of these, the mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea has reached full deployment, and the one in Sierra Leone is experiencing major changes. In today's debate, however, I would like to focus on the regional crisis which was at the Summit agenda six months ago and still remains a challenge for the Security Council, the international community and the parties concerned: the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. There have been encouraging signs lately that the parties to the conflict are finally committed to implementing the Lusaka agreement. The United Nations, in particular the Security Council, has responded to these changed circumstances in a quick and flexible manner. However, in order for the process not to derail, the parties must remain committed and the capacity of the United Nations to provide support must be strengthened. Unless the well-known constraints of UN peace operations are addressed, the organisation will not be able to realise its full potential in helping control and defuse crises, whether in the DRC or elsewhere.

By the adoption of resolution 1327 in November 2000, the Security Council acted quickly to the reforms proposed by the Brahimi Panel. Work has also been undertaken by the Member States in the General Assembly to follow-up these recommendations. So far, however, the reforms proposed in the Brahimi report have received only partial endorsement. The European Union considers that the Brahimi proposals offer a unique opportunity to improve the way the international community approaches peace-keeping, and strongly urges the UN and its Member States, to work towards full implementation of its recommendations. The European Union hopes that the resumption later this spring of consideration of the Brahimi report will result in endorsement of a wider range of its recommendations.

One such recommendation - the improvement of co-operation between the Security Council, the UN Secretariat and the troop-contributing countries - is now being looked at in depth by the Security Council Working Group on peace-keeping. The European Union notes that important lessons on the need for closer consultations with troop-contributing countries can be drawn from recent experiences, and welcomes that the working group will engage in this issue as well as other key themes of the Brahimi-report.

Let us not forget, however, that, ultimately, the role of the United Nations can not go beyond the will of the parties. Unless there is a real desire for peace among the parties involved in the conflict, there are limits to what the international community can do to help and peace efforts will certainly fail.

As has been affirmed by this Council before, we cannot deal effectively with conflict without tackling its root causes. A long-term and comprehensive perspective is necessary to prevent conflicts and consolidate peace. Measures in this field should be all-encompassing, and include reducing poverty, improving health, looking particularly at the HIV/AIDS crisis, strengthening democracy, ensuring respect for human rights and promoting gender equality, and increasing humanitarian assistance. All these elements are necessary, and directly relevant to the responsibility of the Security Council under the Charter. The European Union looks forward to the Secretary-General's report on conflict prevention, due in May.

Mr. President,

Let me now turn to some key areas for conflict resolution addressed by the Summit Declaration, particularly in Africa:

Firstly, Africa is generally regarded as the region most affected by the scourge of illegal flows and destabilising accumulations of small arms. The upcoming UN Conference on the Illicit Trade of Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects will play a vital role in focussing international efforts to address this problem. The European Union will do its utmost to ensure that the Conference leads to prompt and decisive actions that foster early and sustainable solutions. Additionally, programmes aimed at disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration of former combatants into civil society should whenever necessary and appropriate be an integrated element in mandates for peacekeeping operations.

Secondly, systematic and deliberate violations of sanctions continue to fuel some of the long and bitter conflicts in Africa. The reports of the Monitoring Mechanism on Angola and the Expert Panel on Sierra Leone have shown that many of the same actors are involved in violations of sanctions in these countries. It is essential that the international community shows that such violations will not be tolerated.

In this context, the European Union reiterates its full support for the resolution on conflict diamonds adopted unanimously by the General Assembly last year (A/RES/55/56). There is a clear need to give urgent consideration to the establishment of a global certification scheme for rough diamonds. The EU welcomes the launch of the new phase of the Kimberly process in Windhoek last month, and looks forward to rapid progress and the presentation of clear recommendations to the next General Assembly. We must put a stop to the use of diamond sales to fund continued conflict and suffering.

On the issue of sanctions, the European Union looks forward to the report of the informal working group of the Security Council on improving their effectiveness. We welcome recent efforts to ensure that UN sanctions are effectively targeted, and recall in this regard the valuable work sponsored by the Swiss and German governments on improving the effectiveness of financial sanctions as well as of travel restrictions and arms embargoes. We strongly support moves by the Council to make the objectives of sanctions, and the criteria for lift, clear from the outset, to assess the possible humanitarian impacts of sanctions, and to ensure that appropriate mechanisms for reviews are incorporated into sanctions regimes. The EU notes the ongoing discussion in the Security Council on how to improve the monitoring of sanctions, and stresses that effective steps should be taken to support the Council and Member States on this and all other aspects of sanctions.

Thirdly, let me mention one instrument crucial for post-conflict reconstruction: international tribunals. It is important that individuals who have committed war crimes, genocide or crimes against humanity during an armed conflict are held criminally responsible for their acts. In the context of Africa, in particular, the international criminal tribunal for Rwanda has served important functions of accountability, reconciliation, deterrence and peace-building. The European Union wishes also to underline the importance of the Rome Statute on the International Criminal Court, and renews its call upon all states to become parties to the Statute with a view to its early entry into force.

Mr. President,

Measures in the fields of conflict prevention, peace-keeping and peace-building are closely inter-linked, and crucial for building a solid foundation for peace. The Council has recently recognised the need to devise comprehensive peace-building strategies and to mobilise at the earliest possible stage all relevant actors to ensure that there is no gap between peace-keeping and peace-building. In this context, it is essential to give the Secretariat an information and analysis capacity that will permit it to understand the profound as well as the immediate causes of conflict. This will provide the Secretary-General with the necessary input to develop integrated strategies for conflict resolution.

The Security Council has, of course, primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security. But it is equally recognised today that for peace efforts to succeed, the various relevant elements of the international community must act in a concerted manner. This makes sense not only to better utilise resources but also to tap into the comparative advantages of each organisation. The recent high-level meeting of the UN with regional organisations sought precisely to continue to strengthen the co-operation between the UN and regional or sub-regional organisations in the implementation of peace strategies. The European Union recalls its willingness to develop its co-operation with the United Nations in elaborating and implementing conflict prevention and peace-building strategies.

Mr. President,

Six months later and the report card reads: steps have been taken but much more needs to be done. This assessment should encourage the United Nations to work further and harder to improve its role in the maintenance of international peace and security, particularly in Africa. The whole UN membership should engage in this work, in accordance with the commitment made by the heads of State and Government last September in the Millennium Declaration.

Let me end by expressing, on a general note, our appreciation of initiatives taken by Security Council members to arrange open debates such as the one today on important thematic topics within the field of international peace and security. The European Union wholeheartedly supports efforts to make these debates as interactive and focussed as possible.

Thank you, Mr. President.

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