Summary: October 9, 2003: Statement on behalf of the European Union by Professor Giuseppe Nesi, Legal Adviser of the Permanent Mission of Italy to the United Nations. ON THE REPORT OF THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON THE CHARTER OF THE UNITED NATIONS AND ON THE STRENGTHENING OF THE ROLE OF THE ORGANIZATION ITEM 155 (New York)
Mr. Chairman,
I have the honor to speak on behalf of the European Union. The acceding countries Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia, the associated countries Bulgaria and Romania, and the EFTA country, member of the European Economic Area, Norway, declare that they align themselves with this statement.
Mr. Chairman,
The Charter Committee devoted its last working session to a further analysis of several proposals presented in previous years. Those proposals centered on the maintenance of international peace and security. The Special Committee also discussed the issues of peaceful settlement of dispute, the Repertory of Practice of U.N. Organs and the Repertoire of the Practice of the Security Council, and the Working Methods of the Special Committee.
As stated in the GA Res. 57/24, the Special Committee considered on a priority basis the question of the implementation of the UN Charter provisions related to the assistance to third States affected by the application of sanctions under Chapter VII. The European Union, while confirming the opinion that mandatory sanctions adopted by the Security Council can be an effective tool against a State, entity or group of individuals that threaten international peace and security, once again recalls
the impact of sanctions on civilian population and third countries and the need to minimize the negative consequences of such sanctions.
In this context, the practice of the Security Council to establish targeted sanctions subject to regular review constitutes an important achievement that reflects the substance of relevant recommendations from outside the framework of the UN, such as the London Seminar on the Smart Sanctions, the Interlaken Process on the effectiveness of Sanctions, the Bonn-Berlin Process on Arms Embargoes and Travel Sanctions, including flight bans, and the Stockholm Process on the Implementation and
Monitoring of Targeted Sanctions and Assistance to States in Their Implementation of Sanctions.
An important document in this regard is the Report of the Secretary-General "Implementation of provisions of the Charter related to assistance to third States affected by the application of sanctions" (A/53/312). We would also like to stress that there are some recent developments concerning the effectiveness of sanctions both within and outside the EU system that should also be considered when examining this issue. The EU reiterates its support for the efforts of the Security Council to
improve and streamline the working procedures of the Sanction Committee and to facilitate the access to them by affected States. Likewise, we consider the work done by the working group on sanctions of the Security Council as an important one.
Mr. Chairman,
To the general issue of sanctions pertains also the issue of the basic conditions and standard criteria for the introduction of sanctions. On this topic, the Russian Federation presented a revised draft declaration. The EU welcomes this revised text, which is a useful basis for future work. We wish to reiterate, however, that the Charter Committee should avoid becoming substantially involved in matters that are handled in other fora in order to avoid overlapping and repetition of efforts on the
same topic.
Mr. Chairman,
As regards the Repertory of Practice of U.N. Organs and the Repertoire of the Practice of the Security Council and on the Working Methods of the Special Committee, the EU welcomes the recommendations of the Special Committee contained in Document A/58/33 (p. 39), in particular as far as exploring options for cooperation with academic institutions is concerned, as well as the Report of the Secretary-General (A/58/347). The EU also commends the Secretary-General for the placement of Repertory
Studies on the internet.
Finally, Mr. Chairman, the EU cannot but emphasize that although some results have been achieved with regard to the working methods of the Charter Committee, those "minimalist" results confirm once again the difficulties encountered in revitalizing the Charter Committee. Once again, the Committee split between those who believe that a rationalization of the working methods could lead to a revitalization of the Committee on the one side and on the other side those who fear that any change in the
working methods could prelude to watering down the work of the Committee. The EU always encouraged a substantive revision of the working methods of the Committee, because only through the elimination of duplication of works and their rationalization one could guess a relevant role of the Special Committee in the future. It seems that, unfortunately, during the last session of the Special Committee, the fears of those who want to retain the status quo were still present thus impeding
progress not only on the topic of the working methods of the Special Committee, but also on its future.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
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