SecCo report – GA general debate – Verbatim record (excerpts)

Official Records

 

General Assembly
Sixtieth session
49th plenary meeting
Friday, 11 November 2005, 10 a.m.
 
New York

 

President:

Mr. Jan Eliasson  ……………………………………………………………………….

(Sweden)

 

    In the absence of the President, Mr. Hamidon (Malaysia), Vice-President, took the Chair.

  

  

    The meeting was called to order at 10.10 a.m.

 

 

Agenda items 9 and 117 ( continued)

 

 

Report of the Security Council (A/60/2)

 

 

Question of equitable representation on and increase in the membership of the Security Council and related matters

  

  Mr. Kuchinsky (Ukraine): …

  My delegation commends the Council’s efforts in the Middle East peace process. Resolution 1515 (2003) reflects the wide consensus within the international community on how best to achieve the existence of two States, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security. With its endorsement of the Quartet’s road map, that resolution was an important step towards the beginning of Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza and from parts of the northern West Bank. We believe that successful disengagement can be the first step towards the resumption of the peace process.

  We hope that the Council will urge the relevant parties to cooperate sincerely and fully with the United Nations International Independent Investigation Commission, which in accordance with Council resolutions 1595 (2005) and 1636 (2005), is assisting the Lebanese authorities in their investigation of the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

 Mr. Grey-Johnson (Gambia): The report of the Security Council for the period 1 August 2004 to 31 July 2005 shows that progress has been achieved in tackling problems related to peace and security in some countries and regions of the world. It thus lays down the building blocks for concerted action aimed at achieving even more in the year ahead. My delegation would have liked to have seen a more extensive analysis of the Council’s activities that could have been the basis for improvements in future.

  We all were encouraged by the positive developments in the Middle East and the bold and courageous initiatives taken by both the Israeli and the Palestinian leaderships towards resolving some of the intractable problems at the root of the conflict between the two neighbours. That led us to believe that efforts in the context of the road map were, in fact, on course towards the realization of the vision of the two States living side by side in peace. Alas, the developments since have been threatening those gains and require that the Security Council once more be purposeful and innovative in ensuring that all concerned remain steadfast towards the attainment of the objectives of peace. This long-running conflict has created ripples that have caused much damage throughout the world. It is in our collective interest, therefore, that an early and durable solution be found.

 Mr. Reyes Rodríguez (Cuba) (spoke in Spanish ): …

  The report includes, once again, a brief summary, which is a positive adjustment to the format adopted in recent years. However, we believe that the report, precisely because it is such an important part of the Council’s institutional memory, should be subject to ongoing, more thorough improvement in order to make it a document of greater analytical content.

  Why not, for example, include the political and legal bases of at least the most important resolutions adopted by the Council? And why not include in the report what was not accomplished and the reasons for that, particularly for cases on which the Council was unable to act or clearly lacked unity? The report should provide a greater analysis of divided votes, especially for cases in which a permanent member cast a negative vote. For example, in the period under consideration, the United States vetoed a draft resolution on the question of Palestine. Until changes can be made to the Council’s current working methods, the annual report should include detailed information on the discussions held in closed meetings. In our opinion, it is necessary and urgent to make changes of that nature to the annual report.

    Furthermore, the Council distorts the Charter’s spirit and its provisions by means of its increasingly intrusive agenda, which usurps functions of the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council. We note with concern the attempt to confer legislative powers on the Security Council, something that is beyond its mandate and is in clear violation of the most fundamental principles of the law of treaties. While the Council oversteps its area of competence on some issues, on others, regrettably and alarmingly, it maintains a continuous state of paralysis, such as on the current situation of the occupied Palestinian territories.

   The meeting rose at 1.10 p.m.

 

 

 

This record contains the text of speeches delivered in English and of the interpretation of speeches delivered in the other languages. Corrections should be submitted to the original languages only. They should be incorporated in a copy of the record and sent under the signature of a member of the delegation concerned to the Chief of the Verbatim Reporting Service, room C-154A. Corrections will be issued after the end of the session in a consolidated corrigendum.


2021-10-20T17:49:26-04:00

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