EU Statement – UN General Assembly 6th Committee: Report of the Special Committee on the UN Charter and on the Strengthening of the Role of the Organization

– CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY –

Thank you, Mr./Madam Chair,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union and its Member States.

The Candidate Countries North Macedonia*, Montenegro*, Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina* and Georgia, as well as Monaco align themselves with this statement.

Mr./Madam Chair,

We welcome that this year the Charter Committee successfully adopted a substantive report, after having failed to do so for three consecutive years. We wish to thank the Chair, the Bureau, and the Secretariat, for their determination toward this positive outcome, as well as all those delegations, who showed flexibility and accepted some compromises for the sake of achieving consensus on the report. 

In this regard, we believe that the discussion on the adoption of the report offers a valuable opportunity to all the delegations to ensure that their own interventions are accurately reflected, while also recognizing and respecting the contributions of others. We are confident that, with this shared understanding, future reports will comprehensively and faithfully capture the diversity of views expressed during the debates of the Charter Committee. 

Based on this year’s report, we would like to offer a few considerations on the work of the Charter Committee, also looking ahead to its future sessions. 

The EU and its Member States engaged constructively and welcomed the opportunity to participate in the main debates on Peaceful Settlement of Disputes and on Maintenance of international peace and security. 

In relation to the latter, the annual briefing on UN sanctions is always an important opportunity to reflect on this fundamental component of the Security Council’s toolbox to achieve international peace and security. To be effective, sanctions need to be properly implemented and enforced by all UN member states; this is an aspect which could benefit from a more in-depth discussion in the future, notably to deepen the understanding of the UN sanctions and to address their increasing circumvention. In the context of international peace and security, it would also be useful to discuss the consequences of the inability of the UN Security Council to take action to address serious violations of the UN Charter – including when a UNSC permanent member may be involved in such violations. 

Sanctions must also be implemented in full compliance with international law, in particular international humanitarian law and international human rights law, and they must respect due process rights. The EU has always been active in raising due process considerations in relation to UN sanctions, also in light of case law of the European Court of Justice when adjudicating on the EU legal acts transposing UN sanctions into our legal order. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the Ombudsperson to the ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee, Mr. Richard Malanjum, and his team, for their important work and we look forward to the appointment in due course of his successor, in order to ensure continuity. We also look forward to the appointment of the Focal Point for de-listing, in order to finally trigger the full implementation of Resolution 2744 (2024). 

As regards pending proposals and the identification of new subjects to be added to the agenda of the Charter Committee, the report manifests the continued lack of progress, after several years, if not decades, of discussions on topics, which are duplicative of efforts undertaken elsewhere within the Organization, or remain divisive. The parallel discussions on the revitalization of the work of the General Assembly and on the UN80 Initiative make it even more indispensable to reflect on how we can rationalize and positively revitalize the work of the Charter Committee and make the best use of time and resources. 

Last year’s resolutions on, respectively, Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against Humanity, and Protection of Persons in the Event of Disasters, demonstrate our collective capacity for constructive engagement on key topics of universal relevance. This same spirit of cooperation could revitalize the work of the Charter Committee if we focus on topics that can genuinely foster constructive dialogue and consensus, and eventually deliver concrete results. The EU and its Member States remain committed to engaging constructively to that end. 

Mr./Madam Chair,

We would like to conclude by thanking the Secretary-General for his report on the Repertory of Practice of United Nations Organs and the Repertoire of the Practice of the Security Council. We praise the Secretariat’s continued efforts, notably to expand the use of technology to present the practice of all UN bodies in the most accessible manner, including by continuing to develop and expand new tools, such as the new dashboard relating to Security Council voting trends. We are grateful to those who have made voluntary contributions to the trust fund, including EU Member States. We take this opportunity to also express our gratitude to the Office of Legal Affairs, and notably the Codification Division.

Thank you.

*North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.