Mr. President, 

 

Thank you for organizing this meeting on the annual report of the United Nations Security Council for the period 1 August 2013 - 31 July 2014. 

 

2. At the outset, I would like to appreciate the hard work put in by Ambassador Eugene-Richard Gasana, PR of Rwanda and his team in preparing the annual report of the Security Council. I also thank Ambassador Gary Quinlan, PR of Australia for presenting the report to the GA.

 

Mr. President, 

 

3. The report of the Security Council is one of the principal means of interaction between the General Assembly - the most representative organ of the United Nations and the Council - its most empowered one, on the substantive issues dealt by the Council. The UN charter mandates the Council to submit annual reports to the GA for its consideration. This clearly exemplifies the accountability of the Council to the larger membership of the UN represented in the GA, who have agreed to implement the Council's decisions under article 25 of the UN Charter. 

 

4. The discussion on this report, therefore, warrants that we the Member States pronounce upon both the substantive issues as also on the working methods of the Council. This has a direct bearing on the issue of early reforms of the Council, in terms of para 153 of the 2005 Summit Outcome Document. 

 

5. The participation by the Member States in the open debates of the Council under rule 37 cannot be a substitute to the debate we are having here. It is also pertinent to point out that the Council resolutions or the Presidential Statements which are the outcomes of such open debates are currently agreed to by the Council members well before the participation by the Member States. This reduces our participation to mere tokenism, and if not checked in time, defeats the principle of such participation. 

 

6. Our first recommendation is that it would augur well for the Council to give consideration to the suggestions made and views expressed by the membership of the UN during such debates before any outcomes are finalized.

 

7. The outcomes of the Security Council meetings and actions of the Council are generally available to the member states through its website. What would however be helpful for the member states to know is how these decisions were reached, the sensitivities with which such decisions were taken; and whether the working procedures of the Council were applied consistently. It is in this context that the annual Report of the Council assumes greater significance. Member States have repeatedly requested that this Report be more analytical and incisive than being a mere narration of events. The Report, however, continues to be a statistical compilation of events and listing of meetings and outcome documents. Our second recommendation therefore is that the Council Report should be more analytical in future.

 

8. Thirdly, we feel that having a larger number of member states in the decision making process of the Council will make it more transparent, credible, legitimate and representative. This is directly linked to the early reform of the Council mandated by our leaders in the 2005 Summit. 

 

Mr. President, 

 

9. On substantive issues, we note that much of the Council's work during the period under review centered around Africa, including the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali and Somalia as well as on the situation in the Middle East. The Council held many thematic debates on various general and cross cutting issues including threats to peace and security caused by terrorist acts and peacekeeping issues. 

 

10. In the context of mandates adopted by the Council on peacekeeping operations, we would like to reiterate the following concerns of ours. Firstly, we urge the Security Council to consult the troop contributing countries as provided under Article 44 of the UN Charter.  It is not only the formulation of the mandates but also the change of the mandates mid-stream which is a source of concern for us. This was evidenced in the case of MONUSCO during the previous year.

 

11. Secondly, as a major troop contributing country and one with a substantial presence in both MONUSCO and UNMISS, India would like to emphasize the need for an objective assessment of the implications of robust mandates on the impartial nature of UN peacekeeping. 

 

12. The provisions of the UN Charter do not, in our view, allow such misuse of our peacekeepers. Impartiality and neutrality are key principles for ensuring effectiveness of UN peacekeepers. 

 

13. Another related issue is how to deter threats to peacekeepers from non-government forces or militias. The Council has asked for apprehending those responsible for killing UN peacekeepers, but the report does not shed any light on what has happened to ensure this so far in the DRC, South Sudan, Mali or anywhere else. 

 

14. Thirdly, the threats posed by non-government forces; militias and terrorists to United Nations peacekeepers have to be taken seriously.  Specific examples in this case are of attacks in Golan Heights and Mali. Unless effectively deterred, such threats will only increase in number and scope. In the case of UNDOF, it has been alleged that the foreign terrorist fighters who attacked UN peacekeepers belong to the Al Nusra Front, which is proscribed by the Security Council as a terrorist group. The Report does not give any information on the Security Council's steps to use its authority to investigate, prosecute and penalize the perpetrators of such terrorist acts. A clear obligation for all member states to act against foreign terrorist fighters who attack UN peacekeepers should become an integral part of the peacekeeping mandates approved by the Council.

 

Mr. President, 

 

15. On Afghanistan, an agenda item considered by both the Council and the General Assembly, I am happy that yesterday, the General Assembly adopted a resolution which we co-sponsored. We reiterated our full support to an Afghan-led, Afghan-owned and Afghan-controlled process of peace and reconciliation. 

 

16. On the issue of Counter-Terrorism, we recall that the Council has adopted a resolution on Foreign Terrorist Fighters in September this year and a Presidential Statement yesterday. We also recall that it has endorsed a policy of 'Zero Tolerance' for terrorism. However, it is not clear to us from the Report as to what are the working procedures applied within the Council when it deliberates on how to counter terrorism, which is becoming the single biggest threat to the maintenance of international peace and security. We feel that a more detailed account of how the Council acts on information provided to it by member states will go a long way to offset the widely held perception that the Council uses different standards to deal with terrorism.

 

Mr. President, 

 

17. I would like to recall that at the General Assembly debate on 12th November 2014 there was a clear affirmation, by majority of member states, of the need for an outcome on reforms of the Security Council by the 70th anniversary Summit.

 

18.  In conclusion, Mr. President, I would like to urge that while the Assembly takes note of the annual Report as it does traditionally, it should also ask the Council to bear in mind the suggestions made by the member states. The General Assembly could consider having a review mechanism under your leadership to list the valuable suggestions made by member states in this debate today, and submit a Status Report on their implementation by the Security Council for the consideration of our leaders at the 70th Anniversary Summit in 2015.

 

Thank you.