STATEMENT BY
MR. ROSLAN ABDUL RAHMAN
ALTERNATE REPRESENTATIVE OF MALAYSIA TO THE
UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL
ON THE THEMATIC DEBATE: NO EXIT WITHOUT STRATEGY
WEDNESDAY, 15 NOVEMBER 2000
Mr. President,
At the outset, I wish to congratulate you, Sir, on your initiative to organize a debate on the thematic agenda item, "No exit without strategy". We are also grateful to your delegation for the background paper, which provides a sound basis for today's discussion. The topic of our discussion today relates to some of the most sensitive and difficult aspects of the work of the Security Council and of the United Nations system as a whole. Furthermore, it is important and useful for the Council to hear the views of the larger membership on this issue.
Mr. President,
2. When the United Nations was conceived 55 years ago, this Organization was intended to deal with inter-State warfare. Today, the United Nations, and the Security Council in particular, are being required to deal with and respond urgently and swiftly to intra-State instability and conflicts. In these armed and bloody conflicts, the destruction is not just of soldiers but also of the innocent and vulnerable populations. Preventing such wars is now a matter of defending humanity itself. The Security Council has, since the last decade of the last century, actively been seized with humanitarian aspects of conflicts, such as the protection of civilians in armed conflicts, and children and armed conflict. It is unfortunate that it still continues to be seized with these complex and difficult intra-State conflicts in this new century.
3. The new dimension of armed conflicts, namely humanitarian catastrophe involving the exodus of millions of refugees and internally displaced persons, requires the urgent and ceaseless attention of the Security Council and swift action aimed at resolution. Finding solutions to these armed conflicts is not an easy task for the Council, as the root causes of these brutal conflicts are multidimensional in nature - causes such as political ambition and greed and the continuing and devastating problems of extreme poverty, crippling debt burdens and oppression.
4. Ending and ensuring the end of such military conflicts represents a major challenge in the maintenance of international peace and security today. The complexity and fragility of this process often requires the assistance of the international community. As recognized by the Security Council in its statements relating to this subject (S/PRST/1999/21 and S/PRST/1999/28), an impartial United Nations peacekeeping operation could play an essential role by discharging a number of key tasks and by helping to create an environment for a post-conflict peace-building operation to be carried out.
Mr. President,
5. Peacekeeping is one of the instruments available at the disposal of this Council. The number and intensity of armed conflicts require a comprehensive response to the complex and intractable problems of these conflicts. We believe that peacekeeping can maintain peace in the most challenging environment when it is deployed with a clear, credible and achievable mandate and with a deterrent capacity, equipped with the necessary wherewithal. Above all, it has to be backed by a sustained political will by all the parties to the armed conflict, regional actors and the international community.
6. To begin with, it is imperative that the parties to prospective peace agreements, including regional and subregional organizations and arrangements, engage the United Nations from an early stage in negotiations. This is to ensure that any provisions for peacekeeping operations meet minimum conditions, including the need for a clear political objective, the practicability of the designated tasks and timelines and the rules of engagement in accordance with the principles of international law. This Council, for its part, must ensure that the mandated tasks of peacekeeping operations are appropriate to the situation on the ground, including such factors as the prospects for success and the potential need to protect civilians.
7. My delegation firmly believes that beyond the deployment of peacekeeping missions in existing conflict situations, there is a need for the Council and the United Nations as a whole to develop appropriate strategies for preventive diplomacy, peacemaking and post-conflict peace-building to consolidate and sustain peace in the conflict area. As many of today's armed conflicts are multidimensional in nature, peace operations must seek not only to bring stability to areas of conflict, but also to address the root causes of conflict. This means tackling a wide variety of needs, ranging from the political to the social and the economic.
Mr. President,
8. In many conflict situations, the processes of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) and national reconciliation are at the heart of these efforts. In this regard, there is the need for more effective coordination of the DDR programmes and for adequate and timely funding for these programmes, which are vital to the success of peace processes. We endorse the efforts by the Secretary-General to formulate a plan to strengthen of the United Nations capacity to develop peace-building strategies and to implement programmes in support of them. We look forward to the recommendations of the Secretary-General on the basis of this plan.
9. We also welcome the Secretary-General's intention to spell out more clearly future concepts of operations, including ways to help strengthen local rule of law and human rights institutions. There can be no viable peace in a country if national reconciliation among the parties does not take place and if those responsible for war crimes are not put on trial. This Council has to be actively engaged in all of these efforts and must lend its full support to the promotion of sustainable development and a healthy democratic society based on the rule of law, good governance and democratic institutions.
10. As part of the overall strategy for peace operations, my delegation believes that the current dispatching of Council missions, with the consent of host countries, to the conflict areas is a useful means of reviewing the implementation of Security Council resolutions.
11. At the regional level, the Security Council must acknowledge and support the roles played by regional and subregional organizations in establishing appropriate mechanisms for the prevention, management and resolution of armed conflicts. The Council must regard these organizations as security partners in the maintenance of international peace and security. It is imperative, therefore, that the Council strengthen its cooperation with these regional and subregional organizations. We believe this is essential to the success of peace operations.
Mr. President,
12. The Security Council cannot act alone. Other relevant bodies of this Organization, international financial institutions and non-governmental organizations could also play their part so as to allow for a smooth transition from one type of peace operation to another - from peacekeeping to post-conflict peace-building. It is imperative, therefore, that the Council work closely with those bodies to ensure better cooperation and coordination in order to achieve effective results on the ground.
13. There is no paucity of analysis of the sources of armed conflicts and the reasons why they persist. The Secretary-General, various panels of experts and Security Council debates have produced reports that contain clear, candid analyses of the sources of conflicts and recommend actions and goals that are both realistic and achievable - actions and goals to reduce conflict and, in time, to help build a strong and durable peace. Just two days ago, the Council adopted resolution 1327 (2000), which contains the decisions and recommendations of the Council in response to the Brahimi report. We have to ensure that those decisions and recommendations are translated into action.
Mr. President,
14. This Council has an important responsibility that it must face. Member States of the United Nations have conferred on the Security Council the primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security, in order to ensure prompt and effective action. It is appropriate that the Council adopt effective strategies to prevent, contain and put an end to armed conflicts, in conformity with the principles of justice and international law. The United Nations has had several success stories in peace operations - Namibia and Cambodia, to name a few. We see no reason why they cannot be repeated.
Thank you, Mr. President.