UNITED NATIONS, April 23: Pakistan on Friday warned against reinterpretation of the United Nations charter by reposing more authority with the UN Security Council to use military force as and when it deems necessary. Addressing the UN General Assembly considering Secretary General’s reform proposals entitled “In Larger Freedom: Towards development, security and human rights for all”, Pakistan’s UN ambassador Munir Akram rejected any reinterpretation of Article 51 asserting that it did not provide for any “pre-emptive, preventive or protective” use of force.
Underscoring that the intent of the charter was not to turn the Council into an instrument of “intimidation or intervention”, Mr Akram noted: “The proposed criteria to authorize or endorse the use of force” raised formidable problems.”
“Who will judge the seriousness of the threat, considering the diversity of views among member states? Who will determine that all non-military options/measures have been employed and exhausted? Who will ensure the non-selective application of these criteria, he asked.
He pointed out that “the double standards witnessed in the decisions and actions of the Security Council do not offer any assurance that these criteria will not be utilized arbitrarily and subjectively by powerful states mainly against weaker states.”
“We should clearly affirm that under Article 51 of the UN Charter use of force in self-defence is only in response to an actual attack and therefore we should reject the pre-emptive or preventive or protective use of force”.
Mr Akram asserted “there is no need for the adoption of a resolution setting out principles on the use of force and expressing the intent to be guided by them. The charter and not a resolution adopted by 15-member body should remain the final authority as to the source of legitimacy on the use of force, and any reinterpretation of the charter and existing interpretations such as in the Declaration on Friendly Relations should be negotiated by all UN member states in the United Nations General Assembly.”
Pakistan’s chief delegate underscored the importance of the pacific settlement of disputes in accordance with the provisions of Chapter-VI and stressed the need for nuclear disarmament simultaneously with efforts to curb proliferation.
Welcoming secretary-general’s idea of a peace-building commission, Pakistan’s ambassador said: “There is widespread expectation that this could be one of the major achievements of the September event.”
“It is important to carefully define the mandate, functions, composition and institutional linkages and location of the Commission to have optimal use and effect.”
He proposed :
a) The Commissionân’s mandate should cover all stages of conflict including conflict prevention through early engagement, preventive diplomacy, humanitarian and development assistance etc.
b) The Commission should report simultaneously not sequentially to the Security Council and ECOSOC. Coherence between the UN organs is required at all stages, which indeed led to be genesis of the proposed Commission. Any difference of approach between the Security Council and ECOSOC could be resolved through consultations, including between the Presidents of the two bodies.
c) The membership of the Commission should be: Five members of the Security Council and 10 members of the ECOSOC (to reflect the different size of the two bodies). These members should be drawn equally from the 5 regional groups. The principal financial donors and the largest troop contributing countries should be added. The Secretary-General, or his representative, the International Financial Institutions (IFI) and relevant Specialized Agencies would serve as ex-officio members.
d) The Commission could set up special working groups dealing with specific country or regional situations. The membership of these groups could be different from the Commission itself and include relevant regional actors, civil society and private sector representatives.
e) The Commission should be established by the General Assembly at the September Summit.
f) The Commission should have the responsibility to operate the standing fund under the authority of the Security Council and the ECOSOC.
g) We would prefer to call this the Commission for peace building and development.
Mr Akram also expressed support for the idea of strategic reserves as proposed in the reforms package, saying “whenever established, they should be fully under the command and control of the United Nations. For its part, Pakistan is favourably considering creating its own strategic military reserves for UN peacekeeping.”
SANCTIONS: Speaking about the sanctions, Pakistan chief spokesman at the world body noted: “It is important to maintain the credibility of sanctions and not to use such measures as a prelude to the use of force.”
He said that the “sanctions should be imposed with the utmost caution and only when other peaceful options are inadequate or exhausted. Wherever possible, the decision to apply sanctions should be taken after due consideration.”
Mr Akram also suggested that “the UN should strive to streamline and bring in greater transparency, objectivity and predictability to avoid the abuse of sanctions. This should, among others, include greater transparency in the work of the sanctions committees. Termination of a sanctions regime should be automatic in cases where either (i) the objectives of the sanctions have been achieved, or (ii) the situation on the ground which led to the imposition of the sanctions has itself change.”
