Statement by Mr. M. Koteswara Rao, Counsellor & Legal Adviser a the Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on the Strengthening of the Role of the Organization on February 17,  2016

Madam Chair 

At the outset, I congratulate you on your election as the Chairperson of the Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on the Strengthening of the Role of the Organization. I also congratulate the other members of the Bureau on their election. 

Madam Chair

My delegation aligns itself, in general, with the statement made by the Islamic Republic of Iran on behalf of the NAM, and in our national capacity, we make the following observations.

Madam Chair

We attach importance to the work of the Special Committee. It is mandated to examine proposals regarding the Charter of the United Nations, including those relating to the maintenance and consolidation of international peace and security, development of co-operation among all nations and promotion of the rules of international law in relations between and among the States as well as the States and the UN and other bodies. 

Given the nature of its mandate, the Special Committee is well placed to play an important role in the clarification and interpretation of the provisions of the Charter, with a view to ensure their proper implementation.

Madam Chair,

Maintenance of the international peace and security is paramount. The Security Council has the primary responsibility to maintain the peace and security in the discharge of its duties on behalf of all UN Member States. 

Sanctions could serve as an important tool in the maintenance of peace and security. They should not be used as punitive measures. They serve their purpose only if they are issued, when necessary as a measure of the last resort having tried all other options and are applied so long as are necessary in accordance with the provisions of the Charter.

Madam Chair

It is also worth mentioning that the Special Committee has, in its deliberations, dealt with several proposals on issues of sanctions in the context of international peace and security. As a result, the Security Council developed the practice of issuing targeted sanctions. According to the Secretary-General's report A/70/119, due to the shift from comprehensive and general sanctions to targeted sanctions, the incidence of unintended harm to the third States or the citizens, has significantly reduced. It is an important development. However, the resultant lack of requests from States for the UN assistance should not be the reason for deletion of this topic from the agenda of this Committee or for its triennial discussion. It is of continuing interest for many delegations to discuss the substantive nature of Article 50 of the Charter, with a view to strengthen the environment preventive of issuing sanctions that might have adverse affect on third States.

Madam Chair,

We look forward to the discussion on the working paper of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, which has not been discussed for the past few years. The paper seeks the establishment of a working group to study the relationship of the organs of the UN and to enhance and strengthen the role of the Special Committee in the process of reforming the Security Council. 

In this regard, we draw attention to the call of the 2005 World Summit in its outcome document in paragraph 153 for the early reform of the Security Council and also to the paragraph 35 of the Declaration adopted by the General Assembly at the High-Level Meeting on the Rule of Law at the National and International Levels held on 24 September 2012. They stressed the importance of the continuing efforts to reform the Security Council.  

Madam Chair

Article 2 paragraph 4 of the Charter contains one of the fundamental principles of the UN. It obliges Member States to refrain, in their international relations, from the threat or use of force. This obligation was reiterated in the outcome document of the World Summit 2005. In that context, we support in principle, the joint revised proposal of the Russian Federation and Belarus for an advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on the legal consequences of the use of force by a State or a group of States without the express authorization of the Security Council under Chapter VII of the Charter or not in the exercise of the inherent right of self-defence. This may help clarify the legal principles governing the right to use of force under the Charter.  

    We also welcome the concept paper of Ghana of February 2015 (Annex II to A/70/33) seeking to strengthen the cooperation between the United Nations and the regional organizations. Where appropriate the regional organizations could play an important role in the peaceful settlement of disputes between/among their member States in accordance with the provisions of the Charter.  Regional organisations like AU are playing very important role and contributing to the maintenance of peace and security in their respective regions. They could play not only the preventive diplomacy and peacekeeping, but also peace building in the post-conflict situations. As proposed by Ghana, it is indeed worth exploring the measures and institutional mechanisms for effective and timely cooperation and coordination between the UN and the regional organisations in peaceful settlement of disputes under Chapter VIII of the Charter. We look forward to discussing this.

Further, we welcome the NAM proposal on the peaceful settlement of disputes (Annex I to A/70/33). We recall that the Manila Declaration on Peaceful Settlement of Disputes is one of the seminal contributions of this Special Committee. The NAM proposal seeks annual compilation of peaceful settlement of disputes and suggests that the International Law Commission consider studying the obligation of the States to settle their disputes by peaceful means. We look forward to the discussion on any specific aspects or issues under the proposal.

Finally, Madam Chair, India supports all efforts towards the restoration and updating of the Repertory of Practice of the UN Organs and Repertoire of Practice of the Security Council, as they are very important sources of reference.

I thank you, Madam Chair.