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/
/as delivered/
Mr. President,
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.
General Comments
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.
Development
Mr. President,
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
Mr. President,
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
Mr. President,
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.
Mr. President
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.