STATEMENT
by Vitaly Churkin,
Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations
at the meeting of the UN Security Council on

“Peace and security: natural resources and conflict”

25 June 2007

Mr. Minister, we are pleased to welcome you as President of the Security Council and to congratulate you on Belgium’s successful presidency of the Council this month.

In regions of crisis, particularly in States in which the proper mechanisms for regulating of the use of natural resources are insufficiently developed, problems arising from illegal operations can lead to armed confrontation and the escalation of conflict.

Combating the illicit use of natural resources is, first and foremost, the prerogative and obligation of the Government of the State concerned. The way to tackle the problem, we believe, is to strengthen State structures, including through reform of the security sector, development of the judicial system and of border and customs control, and the eradication of crime and corruption.

The primary role of the United Nations in this process should be to help States, at their request, by providing political and advisory support. The sanction mechanisms of the Security Council and their expert groups contribute in that context, in those cases where the relevant crisis situations are before the Council.

We should be guided in that by the Charter principles of non-interference in internal affairs, sovereignty, territorial integrity and the political independence of States. It is important to maintain a balance between the efforts of the international community to prevent the fuelling of armed conflicts through the illegal exploitation of natural resources, and the strict observance of the sovereign right of States to use their natural resources and to their own national policy on the use of natural resources.

A positive example of that is the adoption by the States of the Great Lakes region of the Pact on Security, Stability and Development in the Great Lakes Region and the protocol on combating the illicit exploitation of natural resources within it. A substantial role in the settlement and resolution of the armed conflicts in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d’Ivoire has been played by sanctions regimes introduced by the Security Council regulating the export of diamonds and valuable timber by those States.

At the same time, in the sanctions practice of the United Nations it is important that we continue to be guided by criteria for the lifting of sanctions and for the consideration of the humanitarian consequences.

Today’s theme is broad and goes beyond the competence of the Security Council. Its further consideration should involve the relevant specialized bodies of the United Nations system, including the Commission on Sustainable Development and the Second Committee of the General Assembly.

Establishing productive interaction between those bodies will favour an effective solution to the problems we are considering.