Monitoring Policy Making at the United Nations |
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Annex IV
Conference room paper submitted by the Bureau of the Open-ended Working Group: working methods of the Security Council, transparency of its work, as well as its decision-making process
I. Introduction
1. The Open-ended Working Group achieved substantial progress during the fifty-first session of the General Assembly in its discussions on the working methods and transparency of the Security Council. The results of the debates are reflected in the negotiating paper of the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries on cluster II issues,1 which was first submitted to the Working Group in March 1997, and in conference room papers 3 and 8 of the Bureau,2 prepared on the basis of the debates of the Working Group on the negotiating paper submitted by the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries. During its deliberations in July 1997, the Working Group also discussed in detail the working methods and transparency of the Council based on part B of conference room paper 8, but no new conference room paper was prepared as a result of the discussions at that time. The present revised conference room paper attempts to incorporate the views expressed in those discussions as well as comments made in the meetings of the Working Group on 12 and 13 and from 23 to 26 February 1998.3
II. Relationship between the Security Council, the General Assembly and the general membership of the United Nations
A. Meetings of the Security Council
2. Suggested improvements to the present practice:4
(a) The Security Council should conduct its business in a public format open to Member States of the United Nations, unless it decides otherwise;
(b) When it so decides, the Security Council may meet in private and/or conduct its business in informal consultations;
(c) The Security Council should hold substantive orientation debates open to all Member States at the beginning of its consideration of any substantive matter;
(d) Open public meetings should also be held, as appropriate, with the concurrence of the Secretary-General, when he/she, his/her special representatives and/or envoys, the heads or representatives of United Nations agencies or field missions report to the Council.
3.**
B. Programme of work of the Security Council and agenda of its meetings and informal consultations
4. Suggested improvements to the present practice:
(a) In addition to the Security Council's monthly forecast of its programme of work, distributed to all Member States, the Council's provisional monthly schedule of work and its updated versions should also be circulated as soon as they have been agreed upon by the Council. The Security Council should [, as a rule,] consider its monthly programme of work in a formal meeting;
(b) The provisional agenda, including indications about actions expected to be taken at Security Council meetings (e.g., decisions on draft resolutions and presidential statements, reports, exchange of views, etc.) and the [annotated] agenda for informal consultations of the whole, including a list of issues to be discussed under other matters whenever they are known in advance, should be included in the Journal of the United Nations.
5.*
C. Briefings by the President of the Security Council to non-members, availability of draft resolutions and summaries of meetings and consultations
6. Suggested improvements to the present practice:
(a) The present practice followed by the Presidents of the Security Council of briefing non-members should be continued on days when informal consultations are held. These briefings should be arranged [as soon as possible]/[immediately] after such meetings or informal consultations. Interpretation should be provided for these briefings. The President of the Security Council will decide whether such briefings should also be distributed in writing. If the briefings are provided in writing they should also be transmitted to Permanent Missions through electronic mail;
(b) A short but substantive/analytical/factual summary prepared by the Secretariat of the informal consultations of the Security Council should be circulated as an official document of the Council to all Member States the day after such meetings. The summaries should also be transmitted to Permanent Missions through electronic mail;
(c) The President of the Security Council should make draft resolutions and draft presidential statements available as soon as they become the basis for informal consultations of the Council, or earlier if authorized by the author of the draft. If not distributed, the President, in briefing the membership, should provide information about the main elements of such draft resolutions, presidential statements or other documents under consideration by the Council;
(d) Information about consultations with and briefings to the troop-contributing countries should be included in briefings of the President immediately following such consultations or briefings;
[(e) A written summary of the consultations with and briefings to the troop-contributing countries should promptly be made available to all Member States.]
(f) Briefings should be announced in the Journal of the United Nations.
7.*
D. Consultations with troop-contributing countries
8. Suggested improvements to the present practice:
(a) Consultations between members of the Security Council and troop-contributing countries, both current and potential, should be held promptly and on a regular basis before and during the decision-making process on the establishment, conduct, review and termination of peacekeeping operations, including the renewal and change of mandates. The Security Council should not consider specific operational issues of existing or pending peacekeeping operations without, at least, consulting its major contributors/troop-contributing countries;
(b) Consultations with troop-contributing countries should be convened and chaired by the President of the Security Council, supported by a representative of the Secretariat;
(c) Upon the request of a troop-contributing country, the President of the Council should promptly convene consultations with troop-contributing countries;
(d) Consideration should be given to inviting, to briefings with troop-contributing countries, Member States contributing civilian components e.g., civilian police, [and other substantial contributors; alternatively, separate consultations could be convened by the President of the Security Council with such contributing countries when the need arises];
(e) Consideration should also be given to inviting other countries affected by and/or involved, e.g. by transit or transport, in [multi-faceted] [peacekeeping] operations, including, where appropriate, host countries;
(f) The Security Council should, as appropriate, make use of proposals and/or information received in consultations with troop-contributing countries.
9.*
E. Report of the Security Council to the General Assembly
10. Suggested improvements to the present practice:
[(a) Upon the completion of his/her Presidency, each President of the Security Council should provide an assessment of the work of the Council during his/her Presidency to be attached to the annual report of the Council to the General Assembly. These assessments should also be distributed to non-members of the Council immediately after they are issued by the outgoing President;
(b) The annual report of the Security Council to the General Assembly should give a substantive and analytical account of the Council's work and it should be made available to the General Assembly not later than 30 August;
[(c) The annual report of the Security Council should also include, as appropriate, information on consultations of the whole undertaken prior to actions or deliberations by the Security Council on issues within its mandate and on the progress leading to such action;]
(d) The Security Council should include in its annual report information on requests received under Article 50 of the Charter and actions taken by the Council thereon;
(e) The Security Council should submit special reports [as necessary] to the General Assembly for its consideration as stipulated in Articles [15 and] 24, paragraph 3, of the Charter;
(f) The Security Council should, in preparing its annual report to the General Assembly, fully take into account resolution 51/193 of 17 December 1996;
(g) The Security Council should, through an appropriate procedure or mechanism, update the General Assembly [on a regular basis] on the steps it has taken or is contemplating with respect to improving its reporting to the Assembly, including improvements in its working methods and transparency;
(h) The annual report should highlight the extent to which General Assembly and Security Council resolutions have been taken into account by the Council in its decision-making process on issues falling within the scope of the General Assembly and of the Security Council.]
10.bis
[(a) The Security Council is encouraged, in the submission of its reports to the General Assembly, to provide, in a timely manner, a substantive, analytical and material account of its work;
(b) The Security Council is called upon to adopt the following measures, inter alia, in connection with the content of its future reports to the General Assembly:
(i) To include, as appropriate, information on the consultations of the whole undertaken prior to action or deliberation by the Council on issues within its mandate and on the process leading to such action;
(ii) To include the decisions, recommendations or progress of work of the subsidiary organs of the Council, in particular the sanctions committees;
(iii) To highlight the extent to which resolutions of the General Assembly on issues falling within the scope of the General Assembly and the Security Council have been taken into account by the Council in its decision-making;
(iv) To strengthen further the section in the report on the steps taken by the Council to improve its working methods;
(v) To include information on requests received under Article 50 of the Charter and actions taken by the Council thereon;
(c) The Security Council is encouraged to provide special reports in accordance with Articles 15 and 24 of the Charter;
(d) The annual report of the Security Council is requested to be made available before the beginning of the general debate of the General Assembly;
(e) During their monthly informal meetings, the President of the General Assembly is requested to raise with the President of the Security Council, when deemed appropriate, the matters covered by the present [resolution] and to report to the Assembly on the steps taken by the Council in this regard;
(f) The Security Council is invited, through an appropriate procedure or mechanism, to update the General Assembly on a regular basis on the steps it has taken or is contemplating with respect to improving its reporting to the Assembly.]
11.*
F. Participation of non-members
12. Suggested improvements to the present practice:
(a) Meetings of the Security Council and informal consultations of the whole:
(i) The Security Council should conduct consultations on a regular basis with countries affected by the decisions of the Council;
(ii) The Security Council should invite non-members of the Council to participate [in the discussions] during informal consultations of the Council [in accordance with] [under similar arrangements as stipulated in] Articles 31 and 32 of the Charter;
(b) The members of the Security Council should more frequently resort to the "Arria formula", whereby Council members, on the initiative of a Council member, can hear views and obtain information related to issues under consideration by the Council;
(c) When a request for a meeting with the President of the Council is submitted in writing by a non-member of the Security Council for the purpose of discussing an urgent matter affecting the interests of that State, the President of the Security Council should acknowledge such a request in writing. On receipt of such a request, the President should promptly meet the non-member in question and inform the Council about the démarche at the first subsequent formal meeting of the Council or informal consultations of the whole.
13.*
G. Meetings of the Security Council in pursuance of Article 35 of the Charter
14. Suggested improvements to the present practice:
The Security Council should meet promptly when a Member State or a State which is not a member of the United Nations (in accordance with Article 35.2 of the Charter) requests the convening of an urgent meeting of the Security Council to investigate any dispute, or any situation which might lead to international friction or give rise to a dispute, in order to determine whether the continuance of the dispute or situation is likely to endanger the maintenance of international peace and security. The President of the Council should circulate such requests promptly as documents of the Council. The President should convene a meeting of the Council to hear the State in question. The Council should immediately decide how to pursue the matter.
15.*
H. Consultations pursuant to Article 50 of the Charter
16. Suggested improvements to the present practice:
(a) The Security Council should implement the right contained in Article 50 of the Charter, conferred on any State whether Member of the United Nations or not, to consult the Council with regard to a solution to problems arising from their implementation of preventive or enforcement measures imposed by the Council, taking into consideration also Article 49 of the Charter. Such consultations should be held promptly upon a request submitted by the State concerned;
(b) The Security Council should establish a mechanism to provide relief to affected States under Article 50 of the Charter on the basis of [automaticity of] application;
(c) The Security Council should implement fully annex II to General Assembly resolution 51/242 of 15 September 1997, entitled "Question of sanctions imposed by the United Nations".
17.*
I. Mechanism to alert non-members of the Security Council of unscheduled or weekend meetings
18. Suggested improvements to the present practice:
The Secretariat should establish an effective mechanism for alerting non-members of the Security Council of unscheduled or emergency meetings of the Council during nights, weekends or holidays (e.g. a voice recording, a website and/or electronic message or facsimile transmission to all Member States).
19.*
J. Consultations between the President of the Security Council, the President of the General Assembly and the Secretary-General
20. Suggested improvements to the present practice:
The President of the Security Council, the President of the General Assembly and the Secretary-General, on the basis of the relevant provisions of the Charter, should have regular monthly consultations and/or more frequently in the event of an international crisis or other urgent development. Other interested parties [, such as members of the Bureau of the General Assembly,] could be invited to participate.
21.*
K. Consultations with funds, programmes and agencies
The conduct of operational and humanitarian activities must conform to the guiding principles of humanitarian assistance and the principles of the United Nations development assistance. In cases when, as a transitory and exceptional measure, the Security Council is involved in overseeing and mandating humanitarian and operational assistance, the President of the Security Council should consult the Presidents of the concerned Executive Boards before the Council acts. The decisions of the respective Executive Boards and of the General Assembly shall be final in all aspects of such programmes.
III. Subsidiary organs of the Security Council
22. Suggested improvements to the present practice:
(a) Sanctions committees:
(i) Decisions and/or those parts of the summaries of the proceedings of the sanctions committees which do not compromise the confidentiality of the work of the committees should be made available also to non-members of the Security Council;
(ii) The Security Council should implement fully annex II to resolution 51/242 of 15 September 1997, entitled "Question of sanctions imposed by the United Nations".
(b) Other subsidiary organs:
Meetings of subsidiary organs of the Council established in pursuance of Article 29 of the Charter should be more transparent [and open to non-members of the Council] [as appropriate] in their proceedings (i.e., announcements of meetings in the Journal of the United Nations, briefings to non-members, etc.).
(c) Briefings of the chairmen of sanctions committees and other subsidiary organs:
The chairman should give an oral briefing after each meeting. Briefings of the chairmen of sanctions committees and other subsidiary organs should be announced in the Journal. [Could be transferred to section II.C: Briefings by the President of the Security Council to non-members, availability of draft resolutions and summaries of meetings and consultations.]
(d) Information regarding the substantive work of the subsidiary organs of the Council, including the sanctions committees, should be included in the annex of the annual report of the Council to the General Assembly. [Could be transferred to section II.E: Report of the Security Council to the General Assembly.]
23.*
IV. Relationship between the Security Council and other principal organs of the United Nations
International Court of Justice
24. Suggested improvements to the present practice:
The Security Council, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Charter, should more frequently [when necessary] request the International Court of Justice to give an advisory opinion on any legal question.
V. Relationship between the Security Council and regional arrangements and agencies
25. Suggested improvements to present practice:
(a) In its relations with regional arrangements and agencies, the Security Council should fully implement the provisions of General Assembly resolution 49/57 of 9 December 1994 and annex I to resolution 51/242 of 15 September 1997, entitled "Coordination";
(b) Regional arrangements and agencies should be consulted, at appropriate levels, on matters affecting the maintenance of international peace and security in accordance with Chapter VIII of the Charter and the relevant mandates of regional arrangements and agencies concerned.
Notes
1 Official Records of the General Assembly, Fifty-first Session, Supplement No. 47 (A/51/47), annex V.
2 Ibid., annexes IV and IX.
3 A/AC.247/1998/CRP.4.
4 On the established practice and improvements taken by the Security Council so far, see Official Records of the General Assembly, Fifty-first Session, Supplement No. 47 (A/51/47), annex IX, on this item and other measures discussed in the present document.
