EU meeting generated a common wish but not a common position

European Union group is another regional group that gathered this week and discussed posible outcomes of last General Assembly session after two working papers about Security Council were established. They discussed their own positions and attitude of each EU country towards the ideas expressed in the content of working papers. Meeting was attended by the delegations of United Kingdom, Sweden, France, Spain and Italy, only delegation of Czech Republic and Germany were unable to attend. As expected they did not find the common position because EU member states do not have the same status in the hierarchy of Security Council and they are not members of the same interest groups.

However, they agreed that Security Council needs to be reformed since "it does not reflect the realities of the 21st century." They believe that Council should reflect better transparency, higher level of democracy and improved legitimacy in order to achieve better effectiveness to tackle actual security issues. They were unable to identify the common position, but they found lowest common denominator and expressed it in a common wish. This wish is 'improved working methods of the Security Council and expanded number of seats for states that possess the willingness to assume such a responsibility.'

They concluded a statement in a very diplomatic way as they called for closer cooperation between Security Council and General Assembly. They also expressed a hope (sincere or not) that tomorrow's session will bring concrete solutions with broad support.

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Pacific Community welcomes 2014 as International Year of Small Island Development States

On 25th April 2013 our editorial received joint statement from Secretariat of the Pacific Community with interesting approach towards forced migrations issue. Permanent representatives of Australia, France and the United States of America to the United Nations stated that their countries support draft resolution proposed by Algeria. That resolution is indirectly connected to the forced migrations topic and implies that 2014 should be a year of Small Island Development States.


Secretariat of the Pacific Community is an international organisation that works in public health, geoscience, agriculture, forestry, water resources, disaster management, fisheries, statistics, transport, energy, ICT, media, human rights, gender, youth and culture to help Pacific Island people achieve sustainable development. Its membership includes 22 small island states and territories and also Australia, France, New Zealand and United States of America who are the founding countries.

In joint statement delegates are emphasizing importance of cooperation on the environmental and climate change issues. They are aware that Pacific region is even more endangered by environmental influences and that is why Pacific island states are enjoying their support and assistance. In this respect, Australia, France and United States of America promised they will promote preventing forced
migration on the basis of environmental impact.

That is why members of Pacific Community were included in different environmental projects in the past such as Global Climate Change Alliance, International Climate Change Adaptation Initiative etc. For the same reason Australia, France and USA are supporting the proposal made by Algeria. This proposal declared in draft resolution is aimed to raise recognition of environmental problems that small island states are facing. Permanent representatives of states mentioned above believe that year 2014 should be dedicated to securing small island states and preventing forced emigration from them.

Luka Kavčič

Bellow you can read the whole SPC statement:

Secretariat of the Pacific Community is an international organisation that works in public
health, geoscience, agriculture, forestry, water resources, disaster management, fisheries,
statistics, transport, energy, ICT, media, human rights, gender, youth and culture to help
Pacific Island people achieve sustainable development.

United States, France, Australia and New Zealand have for long been members of this
Community in order to preserve environment and natural habitats of this important part of
our globe. We are aware of the importance that cooperation in the environmental sphere and
climate change prevention have. Community is committed to helping Pacific Island countries
and territories address the risks posed by climate variability and climate change. The Pacific
region has for centuries been vulnerable to natural climate hazards such as floods, droughts
and cyclones. In this respect, our Community poses a great part of preventing forced
migration on the basis of environmental impact.

In this regard, we develop our own capacities, programmes and operations, we strengthen
partnership on regional and international level and get involved into several climate change
projects, such as Global Climate Change Alliance: Pacific Small Island States, International
Climate Change Adaptation Initiative: Building resilience in fisheries, agriculture and
health, and Vegetation and Land Cover Mapping and Improving Food Security for Building
Resilience to a Changing Climate in Pacific Island Communities Implemented.

Pacific Community welcomes the draft resolution proposed by Algeria in order to declare
2014 as the International Year of Small Island Developing States as we see this initiative
as an important step in international, regional and sub-regional cooperation in developing
capacities and operations, raising awareness and joining in our mutual goal of preventing
forced migration due to global changes and preserving natural jewels of our globe.

Katarina Mulec
Permanent Representative of Australia to the United Nations

Martina Škrobar
Permanent Representative of France to the United Nations

Urška Učakar
Permanent Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations

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Issue of forced migrations lacks attention

Three days ago the world marked yet another World Health Day and luckily, it did not go unnoticed by some member states. The Republic of South Africa used the opportunity to emphasize the important of the issue of safe access to health services for forced migrants. We asked some of the delegates for their standpoint on this topic to see how many member states share the views with South Africa. Unfortunately, most of the delegates whom we contacted did not respond - however, does who did, were quite divided in their points of views.

The delegate of the Republic of South Africa informed us about the standpoint of South Africa regarding the health issues of forced migrants. "In the light of the GA 2013 sessions, South Africa would like to emphasize that each and every person should have the right to safe access to health services. As all categories of forced migrants are under the risk of being affected, they should be provided with health services, either by states or by international governmental and non-governmental organisations in case states are not able to do so." It seems from the press release that South Africa is very determined that discussions regarding forced migration shall not lack provisions on health of forced migrants.

How many supporters does South Africa have in its plight to provide the right to safe access to health services to forced migrants? We asked several delegates about the issue - especially the ones that haven't expressed their opinion on the matter of forced migrations yet. Sadly, only four delegates responded.

It seems that South Africa might partly count on the support of Sweden. "Sweden believes that the right to health is one of the fundamental human rights of every human being," said the delegate. Part of Swedish development cooperation is already aimed at healthcare and security, and it is their intention to further strenghten our cooperation on this field. Cuba is even more determined to tag along with South Africa: "Cuba definitely supports the right of everyone to safe access to health service and therefore, we do not see an obstacle of taking this issue into consideration."

Unfortunately, Russian Federation does not share the views. "Russian Federation takes care of internally displaced Russians, Russian citizens who were forced to return from a foreign countries, stateless persons currently living on our territory and ex-USSR citizens, if they were previously prevented to settle in Russian Federation due to suppression because of national, racial affilation, religion, language, political opinion or specific social group membership. As we are successfully ensuring the privlieges, we believe the primary jurisdiction should remain in the hands of the state authorities. Furthermore any system established with resolution, should not obstruct security of states and should not interfere in internal affaires of the state." South Africa also won't find the support in France. Although the French delegate did emphasize the importance of access to health services, they strongly believe that: "Our primary focus should be establishing new policies and mechanisms that would enable us to more effectively prevent forced migration when possible."

Unfortunately, delegates of China, Ghana, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Tunisia and Venezuela did not respond.  Therefore we cannot predict, what will be the main focus of member states regarding the issue of forced migrations. If they do decide to share their viewpoints with us, we invite them to respond in the comment section.

Tamara Kajtazović

 

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The Security Council Big Five: 'Current Veto Structure will not change.'

Representatives of the current permanent members in the Security Council have met on the secret meeting at the end of the March. It is assumed that meeting, which took place in Slovenian capital of Ljubljana, was convened with the aim of harmonizing key standpoints in the process of reforming current structure and rules of procedure of Security Council. In a joint statement that was given to the media they expressed their commitment to efficient and transparent continuation of negotiations on Security Council reform. However, they made it clear that they will not negotiate proposals which would change current veto structure.

Representatives of France, People's Republic of China, Russian Federation, United Kingdom and United States of America have emphasized that they will not accept any proposals that will suggest the elimination of veto power for current permanent members or the addition of veto power to other states. ''Many of reform proposals include a demand on elimination of veto power of the permanent members or include a proposal to provide veto powers to new permanent members. We would like to declare that our delegations will not compromise to any of proposals which would change the current veto structure,'' they said in an unambiguous statement.

Last part of the meeting provided some more optimistic decisions for all other members of General Assembly. Delegates of 'The Big Five' declared that they will support the cooperation of United Nations member states on the topic of Security Council reform. ''Only a proposal which would enjoy consensus among all the Members and will address the common aspirations of the Member States, will enjoy our full support,'' they concluded.

Luka Kavčič

The original document of joint statement of permanent representatives of France, People's Republic of China, Russian Federation, United Kingdom and United States of America can be found bellow:

Miss Martina Škrobar, Permanent Representative of France to the United Nations,
Mister Žiga Glavan, Permanent Representative of the People's Republic of China to the United Nations,
Miss Eva Keržič, Permanent Representative of Russian Federation to the United Nations,
Miss Iva Petković, Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the United Nations, and
Miss Urška Učakar, Permanent Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations, issue this joint statement:

»Permanent members of the Security Council of United Nations would like to express their commitment to efficient and transparent continuation of negotiations on Security Council reform. United Nation are responsible for building the kind of world in which lasting peace will be possible and Security Council must see that the peace is kept.

We recognize that various groups of Member States have presented proposals for structural and organization changes of the Security Council. Many of these proposals include a demand on elimination of veto power of the permanent members or include a proposal to provide veto powers to new permanent members. France, People's Republic of China, Russian Federation, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and United States of America would like to declare that our delegations will not compromise to any of proposals which would change the current veto structure.

Permanent members of the Security Council would like to welcome the cooperation of United Nations Member States and express our hopes for a consensus on the topic of the Security Council reform. We are certain that Member States appreciate our efforts in providing the continuation of work of the Security Council. Only a proposal which would enjoy consensus among all the Members and will address the common aspirations of the Member States, will enjoy our full support. We very much look forward to continuing this dialogue with all the Member States«

in Ljubljana, 21st of March 2013.

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This information is fictive and serves for the purposes of the UN simulation only.

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UN Leaks: Member States already debating coalitions?

USA and France "meant to be", South Africa discussing cooperation with Italy.

Republic of South Africa determined to get a permanent seat in the UN SC

The UN Herald acquired some information regarding the forming of coalitions. The delegate of the Republic of South Africa and the delegate of Italian Republic discussed the possibility of coalition over coffee. South African delegate expressed the intention that as the most developed member in the African continent, it should gain a permanent seat in the UN Security Council.

We asked the delegate of the Republic of South Africa about this issue: "It is time for Africa and we deserve two permanent seats in the UN Security Council. If this does not happen, The Republic of South Africa will abstain from voting. The Republic of South Africa will also encourage other African states to abstain from voting if Africa does not get permanent seats in the Security Council," stated Ms. Juričić.

France <3 USA
A very reliable source tells us that during a lecture, the delegate of the United States of America found out that the delegate of French Republic is also in the room. The representatives immediately met and we heard the French delegate say: "Oh, we're meant to be". We assume that this means possible tight cooperation of USA and France in future General Assembly sessions. Unfortunately the rest of the discussion is unknown but we will post new information as soon as we find out.

 
Stay tuned for new UN Leaks. 

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Disclaimer: This information is fictive and serves for the purposes of the UN simulation only.

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