SecCo summit on maintenance of international peace, security – High-level meeting – SecCo press release (excerpts)

6389^th Meeting (PM)

SECURITY COUNCIL SUMMIT PLEDGES TO CONTINUE STRENGTHENING ACTIVITIES

FOR MAINTENANCE OF INTERNATIONAL PEACE, SECURITY

Secretary-General Opens High-level Meeting,

With Nine Heads of State and Government, Six Other Senior Officials Attending

In a summit meeting this afternoon, opened by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and attended by nine Heads of State and Government as well as six ministers, the Security Council pledged to continue strengthening all its activities in the maintenance of international peace and security, and to adapt them to ever-changing circumstances.

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Background

The Security Council met this afternoon to consider the topic “Ensuring the Security Council’s effective role in maintaining international peace and security”.  Members had before them a concept paper transmitted in a letter dated 1 September from the Permanent Representative of Turkey — Council President for the month — addressed to the Secretary-General (document S/2010/461.)

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Statements

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MICHEL SLEIMAN, President of Lebanon, said that despite the joint approaches to crises adopted by the international community, the international system had flaws.  The Security Council, in particular, required reform in order to become more democratic, more representative and more effective in implementing resolutions.  In that context, the conflict in the Middle East, which had lingered for decades, was among the most unjust and painful of crises.  Israel continued to occupy Arab lands and deprive the Palestinian people of their rights, while retaining its nuclear arsenal and subjecting Lebanon to a host of violations that necessitated a firm position from the international community.

To bolster its performance in general, the United Nations must move from reaction to pro-action by strengthening mediation and addressing the root causes of oppression and poverty-induced conflicts before they arose, he said.  There were different types of peacekeeping operations, some of which were not connected to negotiations and simply relied on pressure from the international community.  In that connection, he commended the efforts of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and stressed that Israeli forces must withdraw, without any condition, from all Lebanese territory it still occupied.

Emphasizing that Palestinian refugees must not be resettled in Lebanon and other neighbouring countries, he proposed that the Council conduct a study of the perception that Israel appeared to be exempt from accountability and had escaped coercive measures such as sanctions.  The Council must address that issue in order to improve its effectiveness and gain the confidence of the world’s peoples in its ability to defend them, so they would not have to resort to resistance and other legitimate means of self defence.

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For information media • not an official record