UNITED NATIONS, April 7: Pakistan on Wednesday criticized the UN secretary-general’s reform report which, it said, “has not only endorsed, but further accentuated, a concept of collective security that is conceived as an instrument of coercion and intervention rather than of universal cooperation and harmonization – which is the underlying spirit of the UN Charter”.
“This concept would result in legitimizing and reinforcing the pervasive inequality – in security, power and wealth – which characterizes our times and which the UN must seek to rectify,” Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United Nations Munir Akram noted in his address to the UN General Assembly which began its consideration of the secretary-general’s report on UN reforms: “In larger freedom: towards development, security and human rights for all.”
Underscoring the importance of cooperative multilateralism as the basis of collective action to address the major issues of the day, Mr Akram cautioned against divisive moves on the issue of Security Council expansion and called upon members to unite for a consensus solution that would work for all.
“Let us make a real effort to create a United Nations that respond to the interest and aspirations of all the peoples of the United Nations,” Mr Akram said.
While observing that the UN’ scentral purpose, under its charter, was to prevent, not facilitate, the use of force and military intervention, he noted that “the report spells out a so-called ‘criteria’ for the authorization of force, which are subjective and which could be misused mostly by the powerful against the weaker states”.
He said the secretary-general’s “endorsement of the so-called ‘responsibility to protect’ would steer the UN along the same interventionist path. Those who would decide ‘where’ and ‘when’ to intervene to ‘protect’ people at risk, will be the big and powerful states, not the small and weaker ones”.
Mr Akram also lamented that the report “does not fully address the most important and existential threat to peace arising from foreign occupation, denial of self-determination, territorial disputes, interventionist policies and the excessive accumulation of increasingly lethal conventional and non-conventional armaments”.
“Nor is the troubled relationship between Islam and the West addressed in the report,” he added.
PAKISTAN’S ROLE: Pointing out that “Pakistan is in the forefront of the war on terrorism,” Mr Akram said: “We agree that a comprehensive strategy is required to combat terrorism. But such a strategy must be clear, equitable and realistic.
“Everyone can agree that wanton violence against innocent civilians constitutes terrorism and this must be so whether perpetrated by non-state actors or state actors.”
However, he emphasized that civilians did not include armed forces personnel suppressing people,” noting “individual acts of terrorism cannot in themselves delegitimize legitimate movements for self-determination and national liberation. Nor can the root causes of terrorism, including foreign occupation, denial of self-determination, political and economic injustices, all be brushed under the carpet in any effective counter-terrorism strategy”.
UNGA AUTHORITY: Calling for restoration of the UN General Assembly’s authority and role under the charter, he said: “The central issue is a political decision to halt and reverse the encroachment by the Security Council on the assembly’s functions and prerogatives.”
Mr Akram also sought measures to enhance the role of the Economic and Social Council, as the central policy and coordination organ in the economic and social fields was overdue. “Some of us are working to achieve this.”
“If charter amendments are to be envisaged, we should consider a change to make the decisions of ECOSOC binding on member states, like the decisions of the Security Council,” he said.
SC REFORMS: Reflecting that deep divisions exist among UN members on the issue of UN Security Council reforms, Mr Akram said they threatened to overwhelm the entire reform agenda. “If a partisan model, reflecting the ambitions of a few large states, is put to a vote, as they have indicated, it could derail the entire process of UN reform.”
“It would be wise to realize a comprehensive reform of the Security Council by building a general consensus for a model that accommodates the legitimate interests and aspirations of all states, reflects current global realities and enhances the representativeness and effectiveness of the Security Council,” he reiterated.
NAM STATES: Besides Pakistan, most developing countries lambasted secretary-general’s sweeping UN reform proposals, saying they put too much emphasis on security and too little on poverty and inequities in the global financial system.
Malaysia’s UN Ambassador Rastam Mohammad Isa, speaking on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement of 116 mostly developing nations, told the General Assembly that its demands for development and social advancement to remain ‘the centrepiece’ of UN deliberations were not adequately reflected in the secretary-general’s proposals.
“The UN is sick and needs a treatment that is adapted to its ills. But the secretary-general’s report is, by any standard, neither the treatment that is needed nor the panacea one expected,” said Algeria’s UN Ambassador Abdallah Baali.
China’s Ambassador Wang Guangya said UN reforms must “effectively reverse the trend of giving priority to security over development that has characterized UN activities for a long time.”
Several Latin American nations also said pockets of poverty existed in their region also and questioned what was in it for them.
“We regret that development, more than ever, has less space within the United Nations,” said Colombian Ambassador Maria Angela Holguin Cuellar. She and others asked whether assistance packages and emergency relief were enough to make economies self-sufficient.
