PI/965

DPI/NGO CONFERENCE, DISCUSSING SECURITY COUNCIL, HEARS CALLS FOR INCREASED REGIONAL PARTICIPATION AND ABOLITION OF VETO

The Security Council of the future should be composed of all regions of the world including Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and North America, Phyllis Bennis, author of Calling the Shots: How Washington Dominates Today's United Nations, said. Other panellists called for an abolition of the veto and stressed that the Council needed to provide means to implement its resolutions.

The President of the International Peace Academy, Olara Otunnu, said it was important for the credibility of the Council that similar cases were treated similarly. Panellists also welcomed the recent practice of briefings by the Council President. It was stressed that a systematic way in which actors of civil society could offer suggestions to the Council should be devised.

Other participants in the panel discussion on the Security Council included Frederik Wilhelm Breitenstein (Finland), Vice-Chairman of the working group on the question of equitable representation on and increase in the membership of the Security Council, and Asda Jayanama (Thailand), also a Vice- Chairman of the working group. The panel was chaired by Sir Brian Urquhart, a former Under-Secretary-General for Peace-keeping Operations and currently a Senior Fellow at the Ford Foundation.

Another panel discussed the strengthening of the United Nations system. The facilitator of the Economic and Social Council open-ended working group on the review of the arrangements for consultations with NGOs said the updating of the consultation process for the NGOs would lead to new opportunities for them at the national level. In addition, it would provide a fast track for NGO participation in the follow-up to United Nations conferences.

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The Vice-Chairman of the Assembly's working group on the strengthening of the United Nations system, Prakash Shah (India) told participants that there had been a convergence on many issues in the group's discussions. The need for a more active and dynamic role for the Assembly President had been widely recognized. Also, there was convergence on the need for better transparency and accountability in the budget process.

Also participating in that panel discussion were Nabil A. Elaraby (Egypt) and Patricia M. Mische, President of the Global Education Association. The President of the United Nations Association of the United States of America (UNA-USA), Edward Luck, was the moderator for the discussion.

Also this afternoon, the Conference heard an address by the Founder and President of the Women's Environment and Development Organization, Bella Abzug. She called for the implementation of the Beijing Platform of Action and said that "unless and until women are 50 per cent of the decision makers in the United Nations and in each and every country, the changes that are crying out to be made, will not occur".

The Conference will meet again at 10 a.m. today, 11 September, to continue its deliberations.

DPI/NGO Conference Work Programme

The forty-ninth annual Conference for Non-Governmental Organizations organized by the Department of Public Information (DPI) met yesterday afternoon under two separate panel groups to discuss the strengthening of the United Nations for the future. The first panel discussion was to focus on the strengthening of the United Nations system, while the second was to discuss the Security Council.

Statements on Strengthening UN System

PRAKASH SHAH (India), Vice-Chairman of the General Assembly working group on the strengthening of the United Nations system, said the early beginnings of the working group could be traced to the efforts of NGOs. There had been the opinion in many quarters that such a working group should be an intergovernmental body. The working group had been set up by an Assembly resolution, which had indicated that it should not deal with issues already being dealt with by other working groups. As a result, it had focused on the General Assembly and the Secretariat.

During the working group's deliberations there had been a convergence on many issues, he said, citing for instance the general opinion that adequate resources should continue to be provided to the Secretariat. Moreover, any resources freed as a result of reform should be redirected to the Secretariat. It was also felt that the President of the Assembly should have a more active and dynamic role. In addition, there was convergence on the need for better transparency and accountability in the budget process.

However, he continued, a number of issues remained before the working group, including the process of election of the Secretary-General and the question of whether deputy secretaries-general should or should not be appointed. One of the recommendations of the working group was that it should have its mandated extended for another year.

NABIL A. ELARABY (Egypt) stressed that the first purpose of the United Nations was to take collective and effective action to deal with threats to peace. Under Article 43 of the United Nations Charter, Member States were to provide troops to the United Nations through the Military Staff Committee. That article, however, had proved to be a dead letter. Chapter VII of the Charter had been based on the experiences of the Second World War, in which there had been bad guys and good guys. But the realities of the world since then were more complex. The end of the cold war had revitalized the idea of using force to deter acts of aggression and preserve collective security.

At issue was the willingness of Member States to take action, the question of resources and the problem of the unpredictability of Security

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Council reactions to different problems, he said. The smaller and medium- sized countries were those that really needed the United Nations to ensure their security. The big countries could take care of themselves. Ground rules were needed so that the United Nations would be able to carry out its security functions even in difficult and complicated situations.

MOHAMMAD MASOOD KHAN (Pakistan), facilitator of the Economic and Social Council open-ended working group on the review of the arrangements for consultations with NGOs, said the civil society had made immense contributions to the strengthening of the United Nations over the last five decades. The United Nations had benefited from the activities of the NGOs and they had become its consultants. However, particularly after the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) it had been realized that the mode for consultations with the NGOs needed to be updated.

The process of updating had taken three years because many actors, including the States and NGOs, had been involved, he said. As a result of the updating, new opportunities for the NGOs would be opened at the national level, and a fast track for NGOs to participate in the follow-up to United Nations conferences would be provided. Moreover, restrictive language on NGOs dealing with human rights had been dropped. It had also been suggested that the possibility of NGO participation in all areas of the United Nations be examined. In addition, within the working group there was a feeling that a distinction between the DPI and the Economic and Social Council NGOs should be maintained.

PATRICIA M. MISCHE, President, Global Education Association, said that among the Conference participants there was an incredible array of strengths that NGOs could provide and had provided to the United Nations. Particularly as regarded the dominance of State-power, the United Nations was a nineteenth century institution going into the twenty-first century. But the Charter referred to "We the peoples", and the people and NGOs had helped push the Organization to modernize, for example to deal with nuclear weapons.

The working group on strengthening the United Nations had apparently focused more on small adjustments rather than on more fundamental changes, she said. A matter of concern was that the NGOs were not being made full participants in the Organization and that the plans for a civil society forum were insufficient. She pressed several questions on Conference participants, including whether they were really ready to work together. Also, were they not still tied to structures of dominance? Further, did they want a civil society forum, or perhaps something more on the order of a people's assembly?

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Discussion on Strengthening UN System

In the question-and-answer segment following the introductory statements, a Conference participant asked if any thought had been given to having the President of the General Assembly attend the Security Council from time to time in an ex officio capacity. Another participant remarked that the Council should be expanded to reflect the increased membership of the United Nations.

Panellists were also asked whether the working group on the strengthening of the United Nations system was working towards strengthening all its agencies. A question was raised about how Member States could be persuaded to focus on the goals of the United Nations. Further, participants stated that if the NGOs were supposed to provide their input to the agenda on strengthening the United Nations, they needed to know exactly what needed to be strengthened.

Responding to questions, Mr. ELARABY (Egypt) said the Assembly President had indeed attended the Council from time to time. However, the point to be considered was whether issues of peace and security were to be handled by the Council or the Assembly. It was difficult to imagine that a body as big as the Assembly would be able to take timely action in matters of peace. Moreover, for the Assembly to take a more active role in those matters, the United Nations Charter would have to be amended.

Replying to a comment on the expansion of the Security Council, Mr. SHAH (India) said that one of the issues that his working group was dealing with was the question of how to generate consensus on strengthening the General Assembly. The discussion had centred on the role of the larger membership on matters related to peace and security. So far as the expansion of the Council was concerned, there were differences on how it should occur. However, there was a consensus that the expansion should take place.

Responding to a question on the working group on strengthening of the United Nations system, the panel's Moderator, EDWARD LUCK, President of the United Nations Association of the United States of America (UNA-USA), said the group was indeed working to strengthen the entire United Nations system, but it would take time. He emphasized that the text on the civil society forum was in brackets in the working group's report. The issue of the relationship between NGOs and the United Nations had come in at a late stage in the discussion of the working group and hence the text in question was not a proposal.

Commenting on the need to reform, Mr. ELARABY (Egypt) said the United Nations needed to reform because reform was an ongoing process. It was also necessary to continually strengthen relations between the United Nations and

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NGOs and civil society. Everybody needed money. The Charter had general principles which needed to be updated. For example, Article II, paragraph 7 said the United Nations was not to intervene in the domestic activities of Member States, but that had been called into question since the 1940s in the case of apartheid in South Africa.

Ms. MISCHE, of the Global Education Association, emphasized the need to work better together to fulfil the Charter mandate for peace, human rights and economic and social development. The NGOs and civil society could help build global solidarity and work at the grass-roots level. Part of the Organization's strengthening was strengthening how the NGOs and the United Nations worked together.

Mr. KHAN (Pakistan) said the influence of the NGOs was increasing. The key word was "incrementalism". Any revolutionary zeal would not be very helpful. The drafters of the Charter were not going to change it immediately. The United Nations was a State-centric organization, and unless there were going to be large changes, it would remain so. The working group had realized that there were limitations in the relations between the NGOs and Member States, but had to also recognize practical limitations on what it could do.

Statements on Representation in Security Council

Sir BRIAN URQUHART, former Under-Secretary-General for Peace-keeping Operations and currently a Senior Fellow at the Ford Foundation, chaired the panel on matters related to the Security Council. Introducing the subject, he said any judgement of the Council had to be measured against its primary responsibility of maintenance of international peace and security as stipulated in the relevant provision of the United Nations Charter.

He expressed the hope the panel would consider the Council's role and whether, among other issues, it truly represented the interests of the majority of the membership of the Organization or whether it was "a playground" for its permanent members. He also highlighted the importance of considering the issue of intervention, financing of the Organization, decision-making, the issue of rapid response and preparedness, the need for decisions to be made at Headquarters and the realities in the field. He said there was need for a system to monitor international peace and security, adding that the future was very uncertain.

PHYLLIS BENNIS, a Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies and an author of Calling the Shots: How Washington Dominates Today's United Nations, said there was a need to change the unequal, unjust and inequitable structure which the Security Council represented, particularly due to the changes that had taken place in the world since the inception of the United Nations. The composition of the Council was undemocratic and should be changed. The

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Security Council of the future should be composed of all regions of the world including Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and North America. That should be the basis for representation in the Council and there should be no veto power. Non-governmental organizations should pressure their governments to ensure that the General Assembly became the "real engine" of power in the Organization.

FREDERIK WILHELM BREITENSTEIN (Finland), Vice-Chairman of the Assembly's working group on the question of equitable representation on and increase in the Security Council membership said the Council had been part of the original structure of the United Nations. In 1945, it was composed of 11 members. In 1965, four new rotating members had been introduced. In the 1970s, an item on expansion of the Council was introduced in the Assembly and it had remained on the agenda until 1991 as its consideration was always deferred. The working group had begun work in January 1994. The issue of the expansion of the Council's membership was perceived by most Member States as a matter which closely affected their security. He stressed that he could not guarantee that anything specific would come out of the group.

OLARA OTUNNU, President of the International Peace Academy, focusing on issues on which no amendment of the Charter was required, said the Security Council could take its responsibility more seriously. The adoption of resolutions and their implementation needed to be more closely related. The Council needed to provide means to implement its resolutions. It had passed 80 different resolutions concerning the former Yugoslavia, most of which had not been implemented. The Council also needed to give a more clear sense of priority in the cases that it took up. It was important for the credibility of the Council that similar cases were treated similarly.

Commenting on how the Council could bridge the distance between itself and the rest of the membership, he welcomed the recent practice of briefings given by the Council President. He stressed the need for more information on the Council being made available. There were some Members of the United Nations which were affected more closely by certain Council action than others. Therefore, the Council ought to keep them well informed. Currently, there was no systematic way in which actors of civil society could offer suggestions on Security Council matters. That question needed to be addressed. A balance between the need for Council members to meet in private and the need for formal meetings must be maintained.

ASDA JAYANAMA (Thailand), Vice-Chairman of the Assembly's working group on the Security Council, said third world views on the reconstruction of the Security Council varied. Some felt there was no need for permanent members, while others would like to see an increase in the number with developing countries added to it. Many developing countries also believed that the veto

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should be done away with or that its use should be rationalized. Still many believed that power had been taken away from the Assembly by the Council.

Those ideas by developing countries had been outlined in the various working groups on the reform of the Organization, he continued. Many suggestions had also been advanced in the working groups on how the Council should function. The role of the Council in peace-keeping could be reduced with the involvement of regional bodies. There should be a limit to what the United Nations could do in peace-keeping.

Discussion on Representation in Security Council

In a discussion following the introductory statements, a questioner said she could see problems in regionalizing the composition of the Security Council. It might be better, she said, to have organized regional groups with the authority to select their representatives. Another said regionalization of Council membership could bring with it the problem of regional hegemonization.

Commenting on the points raised, Ms. BENNIS said it would be somewhat complicating to have regional representation but that could be a starting point. There might have to be adjustments to ensure broader representation. Regional representation would allow for democratization. She supported a formula which could challenge the present disparities in the Council membership.

Mr. OTUNNU said there was urgent need to encourage regional groups and others to contribute to peacemaking and confidence-building measures. He noted that some regions, such as south-east Asia, were laying the basis for economic development as a way of preventing conflict. Regional groups could be involved in peace-keeping but with United Nations cooperation, with enforcement measures being left to the world body. There should be a division of labour.

Mr. BREITENSTEIN (Finland) observed that regional level representation in the Council was not a workable solution. He did not think regional organizations could successfully take up that division of labour in the area of peace-keeping and peacemaking. There was need to decentralize the Organization. The Security Council had taken up so much. Some responsibilities could be handed over to the General Assembly.

Ms. JAYANAMA (Thailand) said the issue of disarmament vested in the Council had not been discussed in the working group on the reform of the Council. More pressure would eventually be brought to bear on the issue of the Council being involved in the disarmament debate as provided for in the Charter.

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Responding to a question on the veto, Sir BRIAN said its use should be looked at again now that the cold war was over. The Council could not be too big and its membership had to be responsible.

On selection of the Council's membership, a panellist explained that the Charter laid out the criteria for representation in the Council. The question of equitable regional representation was taken into account.

Mr. BREITENSTEIN (Finland) said progress had been made in the work of the working group. In fact, the mere existence of the working group had led to greater transparency in the Council. Draft resolutions were now being distributed to the general membership at the same time as to Council members. Although there was general agreement that the Council should be expanded, views differed on how expansion should occur.

Responding to a comment that the working group did not seem to focus on lack of readily available military resources, Mr. URQUHART said that any notion of changing the tardy response of the United Nations in peace-keeping situations would be discussed under the item concerning a standing army which in the current climate would not find favour in Washington. He emphasized that the United Nations action against Iraq had been justified.

Statement by President of WEDO

BELLA ABZUG, Founder and President, Women's Environment and Development Organization (WEDO), said "unless and until women are 50 per cent of the decision makers in the United Nations and in each and every country, the changes that are crying out to be made, will not occur". The Beijing Platform of Action was a contract with the women of the world. If governments of the world did not show the will to implement it, women would. She stressed that unless civil society had a right to be present in every aspect of the United Nations, nothing would change.

She hailed the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty and added that "women do not understand the male military megalomania". She asked her male audience how they could tolerate the fact that there were only six female ambassadors from more than 180 countries. She stressed that one half of the population had historically not had the chance to sit around the negotiating table. She called the Test-Ban Treaty a beginning and called for the abolition of all nuclear weapons.

Calling for an increased role for women, she said "it is not that women are superior to men. It is just that we have had such little opportunity to be corrupted by power. We want that power".

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She stressed that civil society had an obligation and a right to be involved in the actions of a universal authority like the United Nations. In addition, she called on the United States to not take aid away from dependent children to give to dependent corporations. She expressed the hope that that country would pay its dues to the United Nations and would "stop playing games" with the Organization.

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