Global Policy Forum

By Masood Haider

Pakistan on Wednesday said that the credibility of the UN Security Council is undermined each time it ignores a conflict and leaves it to the parties to resolve the disputes themselves, or when regional organizations are asked to field for the United Nations.

In an unusually critical assessment of the Security Council's work Pakistan's Ambassador Shamshad Ahmad told the General assembly which had convened to consider the "Report of the Security Council", that under the charter the Security Council has the primary responsibility for conflict prevention and dispute resolution. "While cooperation between the United Nations and the regional organizations should be improved, we firmly believe that the regional organizations can only play a limited role in the prevention of armed conflicts in consonance with Chapter VIII of the United Nations Charter," he added

Calling for a comprehensive reform of the Security Council, Ahmad said: "In our view, the objective of the reform exercise should be to make the Council more democratic, representative, participatory and accountable." Charging the Council for its "selectivity in the implementation of Security Council's resolutions" which also undermines its credibility, Ahmad said "general impression that the Security Council applies different standards to conflicts in different parts of the world must not be allowed to become a general conviction."

"All resolutions of the Council must be implemented without any discrimination. The Jammu and Kashmir dispute involving the destiny of 10 million people is a case in point where the Council's resolutions pledging them their right to self-determination remain unimplemented for over half a century. The progress achieved in East Timor must serve as a model for resolving the dispute over Jammu and Kashmir in conformity with the wishes of the Kashmiri people," he stressed.

He said that "the Security Council has also been subjected to some criticism recently for not having been able to put up rapid and effective responses to crisis situations. This has been so owing to various reasons, including lack of determination on the part of the members of the Security Council. Brahimi Panel's report has aptly highlighted this point. We would like to emphasize the need for early and effective responses to crisis situations irrespective of their geographical location. Such a course of action would obviate the possibility of bypassing the Security Council as we observed during the crisis in Kosovo due to differing perceptions among its members."

Expressing disappointment at the failure of the Security Council to list "political disputes" as one of the causes of conflicts in its Presidential Statement which was issued after its open debate on 20 July 2000, Ahmad observed that "it listed only 'economic, social, cultural or humanitarian problems as the root causes of armed conflicts. This is not an adequate assessment of ongoing conflicts."