Statement by H.E. Mr. Choisuren Baatar
Permanent Representative of Mongolia
at the informal plenary meeting of
the UN General Assembly
President’s Draft Outcome Document for the
High-level Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly of September 2005
/22 June 2005, New York/
1. At the outset I would like to express our sincere thanks to you Mr. President for having given us yet another opportunity to exchange views in an open and friendly setting in the lead-up to the historic September High-level Plenary Meeting. The inclusive, open-ended and transparent manner in which you have consistently lead our deliberations deserve our highest appraisal and we commend you on that.
2. My delegation aligns itself with the statements made by Malaysia and Jamaica on behalf of NAM and G77 and China respectively. However my delegation would like to make a few observations from national perspective.
3. My delegation considers the document presented to us as a good basis for further consultations. It has taken into account to a great extent the interests and priorities of Member States made clear over the course of last months during numerous informal plenary meetings of the General Assembly.
4. It reaffirms, among others, our faith in the United Nations and our commitment to the Charter, effective multilateral system and dialogue among civilizations. It recognizes that concrete steps are needed to be taken in many areas in order to better adapt the international system to the modern global and interdependent world, better address the multifaceted and interconnected challenges and threats confronting us. It also recognizes that we all share responsibility for each other’s security.
5. The draft before us is action-oriented, substantiating its declaratory phrases on principles and purposes with concrete proposals and suggestions on how to proceed further.
6. Mongolia wholeheartedly supports the notion that “development, security and human rights form the indispensable foundations for collective security and well-being and that they are the pillars of the United Nations system”. Development, however, should not be viewed only through the prism of security. We welcome therefore the recognition of development as “a central goal by itself”.
7. Mongolia welcomes the development cluster of the draft outcome report as action-oriented and pragmatic. Major UN summits and conferences of the last decade have been instrumental in forging consensus on issues related to development, towards meeting the special needs and protecting the interests of the world’s disadvantaged and poorest. It is now high time for the international community to make headway on full realization of the agreed development goals and objectives, including the Millennium Development Goals.
8. We particularly welcome the attention given to special needs of the LDCs, LLDCs and SIDs. Indeed, full, timely and effective implementation of the Almaty Program of Action, Brussels Program of Action and the Mauritius strategy would be greatly conducive to the efforts of the states concerned to meet the MDGs and ensure sustainable development. It is also gratifying to note that a deadline of 2006 to complete the WTO’s Doha round of multilateral trade negotiations has been further enriched with an emphasis on the realization of its focus on development.
Peace and collective security
9. Mongolia reiterates its support to reaching a consensus on a more effective and vigorous system of collective security based on the UN Charter. It is important that Member States develop common perceptions and agreed approaches to address existing, new and emerging threats to international peace and security as well as the root causes of conflict.
10. The Charter vested the Security Council with primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security, giving at the same time a broad role to the General Assembly in consideration of and making recommendations on any question relating to the maintenance of international peace and security, as well as a role in pacific settlement of disputes. Moreover, the intrinsic link between development, security and human rights makes it imperative that all the principal organs of the United Nations – the General Assembly, the Security Council and the ECOSOC – have a role to play in evolving and implementing a more effective collective security system.
11. My delegation concurs fully with the view that the relevant provisions of the UN Charter regarding the use of force are sufficient to address the full range of security threats and that the use of force should be considered as an instrument of last resort. Furthermore, we underscore the paramount significance of promoting pacific settlement of disputes in accordance with Chapter VI of the Charter. In this context, my delegation stresses the continued applicability and validity of the Declaration on Principles of International Law concerning Friendly Relations and Cooperation among States in accordance with the United Nations Charter.
12. The idea to establish a Peace-building Commission gets our full support – this body, without prejudice to the competence and respective roles of other principal organs of the United Nations in post-conflict peace-building activities, would serve as an institutional bridge linking security to development and human rights.
13. My delegation notes with interest the wide-ranging proposals contained in this document on issues related to arms control and disarmament. The abortive NPT Review Conference that convened here last month should not create a negative precedent in the global disarmament and non-proliferation framework - progress should be made on all 3 pillars of the NPT, namely disarmament, non-proliferation and the right to peaceful uses of nuclear energy. Previous commitments on this and other multilateral instruments are ought to be delivered.
Human rights and rule of law
14. Mongolia places utmost importance to ensuring the human rights and fundamental freedom and rule of law. We support the efforts of the UN to make democracy a universal environment for global governance. Mongolia looks forward to seeing a fully-fledged and operational Democracy Fund at the United Nations in the near future. The Fund will be a worthy product of the overall process of UN reform as it would highlight the importance of democracy and the role of the Organization in its promotion. We highly commend the Secretary-General for his commitment to the proposed Fund and efforts to establish it as soon as possible, including through preparing the proposed Terms of Reference.
It is our sincere wish that the Fund will serve as a vital instrument to assist Member States in consolidation of democracy and implementation of their commitments, including the Ulaanbaatar Declaration and Plan of Action on deepening democracy, good governance and developing an effective partnership with civil society that were adopted at the 5th ICNRD in 2003. The General Assembly welcomed both documents in its resolution 58/13 adopted without a vote, making them an authoritative guideline for the general membership to promote democracy at the national, regional and international levels.
15. My delegation also strongly endorses the prominent place that rule of law, end to impunity and human security have been given in the draft outcome document.
Strengthening the UN
16. The reform task of the United Nations should encompass the strengthening of the UN system in its entirety.
17. My delegation strongly believes that the General Assembly ought to regain its central role as the chief deliberative, policy-making and representative body of the United Nations, seeing that as one of the main objectives of the ongoing reform process, to which Mongolia has been and remains fully committed. It is gratifying that the five facilitators appointed by you on the revitalization of the General Assembly have presented us with their detailed and substantive proposals. My delegation is now studying carefully the draft resolution entitled “A strengthened and revitalized General Assembly: a culture of relevance and efficiency”. The resolution is a step in the right direction.
18. The reform of the Security Council is now by far the most hotly debated issue. In light of the recent developments let me reiterate that this issue should not be allowed to hijack the whole reform process or eclipse it.
19. My delegation at the 23 February informal meeting of the plenary of the GA noted about two competing visions among the High Level Panel and UN membership in regard of collective security and UN reform in general. Whereas one was based on greater empowerment of the Security Council the other gave decisive weight and greater say to GA and the general membership. Today, the attempt for expansion of the Security Council on the basis of the two proposed models is seriously dividing the house. Certainly this is not the result we expect in reforming the Security Council. In this respect one could wonder and ask why HLP, and subsequently SG, could not come up with one proposal instead of two fundamentally different models. My delegation is of the view that the two models were the most clear-cut reflection of the above two visions. However, it is now evident judging from our consultations over past several months that neither vision could get overwhelming support among general membership. Instead majority of Member States seem to opt for another vision that is to strengthen the UN system in its entirety, without prejudice to or undue preference given to some principal organs over the others. Member States seem to support the need to increase the role of every single principal organ of the UN and keep balance among their functions, competencies and responsibilities, and by doing so enhance and assure the centrality and central role of the UN as a whole in the maintenance of international peace and security and international developmental cooperation. In other words, this is a vision of balance.
In this connection one could further ask that if we had opted for a different vision, what would happen to the two models that reflected the other two. What should we do in this regard? The Secretary General in his report “In larger freedom” urged the member states to consider the two models of the SC expansion, or any other viable proposal in terms of size and balance. I want to stress the words size and balance. In regard of the size of the expanded SC, my delegation expressed its view on cluster IV thematic debate. Concerning the balance, the membership of Security Council as we know consists of permanent and elected non-permanent members with a present ratio of 1:2 to one another. Accordingly, my delegation is of the view that this balance should be kept intact in any possible scenario of the Security Council enlargement bearing in mind the above-mentioned third vision. We consider that to be a logical reflection of this vision of balance with regard to the SC expansion. This means that if the Security Council will be expanded by 10 new members, the permanent and elected non-permanent members’ ratio should be 3:7.
20. Mongolia supports the proposals to make amendments to the Charter of the United Nations as contained in paragraphs 103-105.
21. In conclusion, Mr. President, let me reaffirm my delegation’s full confidence in you and our continued support to your work in order to make the September High-level plenary meeting a genuine success.
I thank you, Mr. President.