President,
We thank you for convening us today.
Norway aligns itself with the statement delivered earlier by the distinguished representative of Portugal on behalf of the ACT Group.
The General Assembly’s consideration of the Annual Report of the Security Council is a vital, Charter-mandated obligation, and not a mere box ticking exercise. It is truly an accountability mechanism between two of the main organs; the Security Council and the General Assembly.
We welcome the Council’s timely adoption of the report, and the
much-improved process to get there - including the dialogue held in January by you, President, and the United Kingdom as the drafter of the introduction. Nevertheless, a true reflection of the Council’s work in 2023 remains lacking.
This debate is a valuable opportunity for all of us to reflect on this, and how, and whether, the Council has fulfilled its mandate towards the maintenance of international peace and security in 2023.
The UN’s peace and security architecture, including the Security Council, is undoubtably under pressure. The Council has repeatedly failed to address major crisis in Myanmar, Ukraine, Sudan, and Gaza. And the repeated use of the veto, challenges the effectiveness of the Security Council. This highlights the growing need for the GA to increasingly take on matters of international peace and security when the Council fails to live up to its responsibility.
The report before us today does not reflect this dire situation.
We must again repeat our calls for the Council to submit a more
complete, substantive, and analytical account of its work.
In the absence of this, monthly assessments are a valuable stop-gap measure. They are our sole narrative glimpse into the work of the Council. And given that they do not require consensus, we encourage Council members to produce them in a more timely manner, and make full use of them, including to outline procedural aspects of the Council’s work.
President,
Norway would also like to highlight one overdue, but very welcome feature in the Annual Report. The standalone chapter on Special Reports resulting from the use of the veto.
Special Reports are a mandated task of the Council in Article 24 (3) of the Charter, and they have taken on a new relevance and use following the adoption of the Veto Initiative.
We recognise that the Council works hard to agree these Special Reports following each, and every veto. And while they also lack an analytical character, they are an important indicator of the Council’s functioning. They too tell a story of the Council’s work. They deserve to be reflected in the Annual Report in a recognisable way- as they are now.Norway initiated the work to include a separate chapter on Special Reports during our own term on the Council ending in 2022. We hope the inclusion as they are this year, is just a first step towards a hopefully broader, a more analytical look into the use of the veto in the Report in the years to come.
President,
We again welcome the inclusion of the annual report of the ‘Informal Working Group on Documentation and Other Procedural Questions’ (IWG) in the Council’s Annual Report. In particular, the annex containing indicators of progress in the implementation of Note 507.
This gives us a statistical tool to assess the efforts of the Council,
in implementing its own commitments. For example, in 2023 we note and welcome, positive progress from 2022 in terms of dialogue with actors outside the Council, with the significant jump in the participation of representatives of regional organizations, and other briefers invited under rule 39. We would welcome future reports also tracking Member State participation under rule 37. Particularly statistics of requests vs. those successfully able to participate, to give us a view of the accessibility and inclusivity of the Council.
Relatedly, we note a review of Note 507 is currently ongoing within the IWG, and we would welcome more transparency on this process both now, and in the 2024 Annual Report. With the aim of strengthening the relationship, and dialogue, between the Security Council and the General Assembly, on whose behalf it acts.
Finally, President,
We thank you again for facilitating this dialogue today, and we look forward to the continuation of the practice of sending a summary of General Assembly meetings on this agenda item to the Security Council for its consideration. And particularly, to hearing from the Council what steps it is taking in response.
Thank you.