Global Policy Forum

Chapter II

Proceedings of the Open-ended Working Group during the fifty-second session of the General Assembly

4. During the fifty-second session of the General Assembly, the Open-ended Working Group held 56 meetings, from 26 November 1997 to 24 August 1998. The President of the General Assembly, Ambassador Hennadiy Udovenko (Ukraine), served as Chairman of the Working Group.

5. At its first meeting, on 26 November 1997, Ambassador Wilhelm Breitenstein (Finland) and Ambassador Asda Jayanama (Thailand) were reappointed as Vice-Chairmen of the Working Group.

6. During the fifty-second session of the General Assembly, the Working Group held six substantive sessions. During these sessions, delegations made several written as well as oral proposals related to the issues discussed. Reference was also made to proposals and/or position papers submitted during previous sessions and annexed to previous reports of the Working Group. All proposals remain on the table. The Working Group affirmed that the work of the General Assembly on Security Council reform should be conducted in conformity with the relevant Assembly resolutions, fully respecting the need for transparency and open-endedness.

First substantive session

7. The first substantive session was held from 3 to 13 February 1998. At that session, the Open-ended Working Group adopted its programme of work (A/AC.247/1998/CRP.5; see annex II). It had before it the following conference room papers:

– A/AC.247/1998/CRP.1, containing the response of the Office of Legal Affairs, dated 11 August 1997, to the request by Egypt for a study on the legal basis of the veto (see annex XII);

– A/AC.247/1998/CRP.2, "Letter dated 27 January 1998 from the Permanent Representative of Bahrain in his capacity as Chairman of the Group of Arab States for the month of January 1998 addressed to the President of the General Assembly", outlining the Group's position on the expansion and composition of the Security Council (see annex XXI);

– A/AC.247/1998/CRP.3, "Letter dated 28 January 1998 from the Permanent Representative of Egypt addressed to the President of the General Assembly", concerning the study on the legal basis of the veto (see annex XIII).

8. In addition, the Working Group had before it a conference room paper prepared by the Bureau of the Open-ended Working Group, A/AC.247/1998/CRP.4,* on the first item on its programme of work, "Working methods of the Security Council and transparency of its work" (see annex III). The conference room paper was prepared on the basis of discussions during the fifty-first session of the General Assembly, as well as views expressed by Member States during the general debate of the fifty-second session of the General Assembly and on agenda items 59 and 11.

Second substantive session

9. The Open-ended Working Group held its second substantive session from 23 February to 13 March 1998, and continued its discussion on working methods of the Security Council and transparency of its work on the basis of a revised conference room paper prepared by the Bureau (A/AC.247/1998/CRP.4/Rev.1;* see annex IV). The following conference room papers regarding the relationship between the Security Council, the General Assembly and the general membership of the United Nations were also submitted:

– A/AC.247/1998/CRP.6, entitled "Proposed amendments to document A/AC.247/1998/CRP.4, submitted by Italy, dated 23 February 1998" (see annex VI);

– A/AC.247/1998/CRP.7, entitled "Proposed amendments to document A/AC.247/1998/CRP.4, submitted by the Republic of Korea, dated 27 February 1998" (see annex VII).

Third substantive session

10. During its third substantive session, held from 21 April to 8 May 1998, the Open-ended Working Group began consideration of the second item on its programme of work, "Decision-making in the Security Council, including the veto". That discussion was based on section X of annex IX to the report of the Working Group to the General Assembly at its fifty-first session.3 Following that discussion, the Bureau prepared a revised version contained in document A/AC.247/1998/CRP.10* (see annex X), which, after its consideration, was revised as A/AC.247/1998/CRP.10/Rev.1* (see annex XI). The following conference room papers on the topic were also submitted:

– A/AC.247/1998/CRP.8, entitled "Proposals on decision-making in the Security Council and the veto right, submitted by Germany, dated 21 April 1998", on voting rights of the existing permanent members (see annex XIV);

– A/AC.247/1998/CRP.9, entitled "Proposals on decision-making in the Security Council and the veto right, submitted by Germany, dated 22 April 1998", on voting rights of the new permanent members (see annex XXII);

– A/AC.247/1998/CRP.11, entitled "The veto as a voting instrument in the Security Council", proposal submitted by the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (see annex XV).

11. The Working Group then began consideration of item three of its programme of work, "Expansion of the Security Council", based on a conference room paper prepared by the Bureau, A/AC.247/1998/CRP.12,* entitled "Sets of outstanding issues related to the expansion of the Security Council" (see annex XVIII).

Fourth substantive session

12. During its fourth substantive session, held from 26 to 29 May 1998, the Open-ended Working Group continued its consideration of the third item on its programme of work, "Expansion of the Security Council". Egypt, in its capacity as coordinator of the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries, informed the Working Group about the Ministerial Meeting of the Coordinating Bureau of the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries, held from 19 to 20 May 1998 at Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, as regards the expansion of the Security Council. The relevant parts of the Cartagena communiqué were subsequently distributed during the sixth substantive session as conference room paper, A/AC.247/1998/CRP.21, entitled "Letter transmitted by Egypt in its capacity as coordinator of the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries: paragraphs related to the reform of the Security Council which appeared in the final communiqué of the Ministerial Meeting of the Coordinating Bureau of the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries [original paragraphs 53 through 65] held in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, on 19 and 20 May 1998" (see annex XXXI).

13. The Working Group also began consideration of the fourth item on its programme of work, "Periodic review of the enlarged Security Council", on which the Bureau had prepared conference room paper A/AC.247/1998/CRP.13,* entitled "Summary of proposals made on the periodic review of the enlarged Security Council" (see annex XXV).

14. The Working Group further began consideration of the fifth item on its programme of work, "Majority required for taking decisions on Security Council reform", on which the Bureau had prepared conference room paper A/AC.247/1998/CRP.14* with the same title (see annex XXVIII). Hungary, in its capacity as Chairman of the Group of Eastern European States for the month of May 1998, also submitted the following conference room paper:

– A/AC.247/1998/CRP.15 entitled, "Joint position paper of the States members of the Group of Eastern European States eligible for non-permanent membership in the Security Council: the matter of allocation of one additional non-permanent seat for this Group in the enlarged membership of the Security Council" (see annex XXIII).

Fifth substantive session

15. At its fifth substantive session, held from 15 to 26 June 1998, in relation to the third item of the programme of work, "Expansion of the Security Council", Senegal, on behalf of the Group of African States, informed the Open-ended Working Group about the decision taken by the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the Organization of African Unity at its thirty-fourth session, held from 8 to 10 June 1998, in Ouagadougou. That decision was subsequently circulated as conference room paper A/AC.247/1998/CRP.16 and Corr.1 entitled, "Decision of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the Organization of African Unity on the procedure for rotation of the two permanent seats claimed by Africa, transmitted by Senegal" (see annex XXIV).

16. During this session the Working Group reverted to the first item on its programme of work, "Working methods of the Security Council and transparency of its work", and discussed document A/AC.247/1998/CRP.4/Rev.2,* prepared by the Bureau (see annex V).

17. It also continued consideration of the fifth item on its programme of work, "Majority required for taking decisions on Security Council reform".

18. The Working Group then reverted to item two of its programme of work, "Decision-making in the Security Council, including the veto". In this connection, the following conference room papers were submitted:

– A/AC.247/1998/CRP.17, entitled "Proposals on decision-making in the Security Council, including the veto, submitted by Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Ireland, Portugal and Slovenia, dated 25 June 1998" (see annex XVI);

– A/AC.247/1998/CRP.19, entitled "Proposals on the issue of the veto submitted by Chile, dated 26 June 1998" (see annex XVII).

19. With regard to item three of its programme of work discussed at the fourth substantive session, the following conference room paper was submitted:

– A/AC.247/1998/CRP.18, entitled "Proposed amendment to document A/AC.247/1998/CRP.13 on the periodic review of the enlarged Security Council, submitted by the Republic of Korea, dated 25 June 1998" (see annex XXVII).

Sixth substantive session

20. During the sixth substantive session, held from 9 July to 7 August 1998, the Open-ended Working Group revisited items three, four and five of its programme of work, namely, "Expansion of the Security Council"; "Periodic review of the enlarged Security Council"; and "Majority required for taking decisions on Security Council reform". In this connection, it considered the following conference room papers submitted by the Bureau to reflect proposals presented during previous sessions:

– A/AC.247/1998/CRP.12/Rev.1,* entitled "Sets of outstanding issues related to the expansion of the Security Council" (see annex XIX);

– A/AC.247/1998/CRP.12/Rev.1/Add.1,* entitled "Summary of the proposals made on the issue of the extension of the veto to the new permanent members" (see annex XX);

– A/AC.247/1998/CRP.13/Rev.1,* entitled "Summary of proposals made on the periodic review of the enlarged Security Council" (see annex XXVI);

– A/AC.247/1998/CRP.14/Rev.1,* entitled "Summary of the proposals on the issue of the majority required for taking decisions on Security Council reform" (see annex XXIX).

21. With regard to the first item on its programme of work, discussed at the fifth substantive session, the following conference room paper was also submitted:

– A/AC.247/1998/CRP.20, entitled "Proposed amendments to document A/AC.247/1998/CRP.4/Rev.2, on the working methods of the Security Council, transparency of its work, as well as its decision-making process, submitted by the Republic of Korea, dated 9 July 1998" (see annex VIII).

22. During this sixth substantive session the following conference room papers were also submitted:

– A/AC.247/1998/CRP.22, entitled "Proposal submitted by the Solomon Islands, dated 16 July 1998, concerning access to the archives and records of the Security Council and to the high-level members of the Secretariat serving the Security Council" (see annex IX);

– A/AC.247/1998/CRP.23 and Corr.1, entitled "Paper transmitted by Peru to the Open-ended Working Group, dated 17 July 1998: majority required for the adoption of decisions on the question of equitable representation on and increase in the membership of the Security Council and other matters related to the Security Council and convening of a special session of the General Assembly to decide on this issue, among other matters" (see annex XXX).

23. At this session the Working Group also considered its report to the General Assembly.