••• MaximsNews Diplomatic Statements •••       SWITZERLAND at U.N.: EQUITABLE REPRESENTATION in SECURITY COUNCIL: ANDREAS BAUM, 08 FEBRUARY 2007 (MaximsNews.com, U.N.)

UNITED NATIONS - / www.MaximsNews.com, UN/ - 08 February 2007 -- 

Madam President,  

Security Council reform did not make any significant progress during the 60th session of the General Assembly, contrary to the goals set out in the outcome document of the 2005 World Summit. Switzerland therefore welcomes your decision to initiate a new process. It considers that in doing so you fulfil the role with which you have been entrusted.  

Security Council reform remains a cornerstone of the reform process within the United Nations as a whole. Member States cannot afford to ignore it or to abandon their efforts on the grounds that this reform is difficult and that they are divided on the issue. They should seek a compromise. 

Your initiative is ambitious and aims at giving impetus to a dossier that is blocked. Switzerland hopes that this will enable progress to be made both on the question of enlargement of the Security Council and on the improvement of its working methods. Each of these aspects is essential to give the Council greater legitimacy and greater effectiveness.  

The process you propose should create added value compared to the proposals already made for Security Council reform. The facilitators' report to be submitted to you should therefore seek to achieve two goals:  

–        one - to identify the points on which there is already a consensus between member states;  

–        two - to propose, in an attempt at conciliation, a reasonable and balanced compromise solution.  

The decision to separate the issues to be debated into different clusters is justified in terms of organisation. Nevertheless, we should bear in mind that the different aspects of the reform are interlinked and that each solution will in turn have an impact on those for other aspects. The success of the initiative will also depend on the ability to formulate a package once the five facilitators have presented their report at the end of March 2007.  

As to the method, my delegation believes that consultations on the different subjects should be conducted as informally as possible. This will increase the chances of success and facilitate the presentation of new ideas. 

Each delegation and each group that wishes to formulate a position or a proposal should have access to the facilitators and should be able to present their contribution to them. In this way the process will benefit from transparency and creativity as well as having a strong participative element.  

As for the status and the future of our working group, the Swiss delegation considers that it was very useful and productive in the first years after its creation. It made valuable contributions to the development of ideas on Security Council reform. However, it has not really produced any tangible results for about three years; the substantive discussions on Security Council reform have been taking place in other fora. 

The question therefore arises as to whether the working group should continue its work. Thirteen years after the start of work in the group, the moment has undoubtedly come to make a decision. The choices are as follows:  

–        either to give a genuine impetus to reform by making progress on improving working methods and by finding a solution – maybe in the form of a transitional solution – to the question of enlargement;

–        or to recognise the fact that member states are not currently inclined to find an acceptable compromise and consequently to suspend the work of the group for a while.  

Madam President,  

For its part, Switzerland strongly favours the rapid identification of a formula that could garner adequate support. It will participate constructively in the process and will continue to show the necessary flexibility. Together with its partners in the S-5 group, it will continue to pay particular attention to the question of improving the working methods of the Security Council.  

I thank you, Madam President.

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61st session of the General Assembly of the United Nations  

Open-ended Working Group on the question of equitable representation on and increase in the membership of the Security Council and other matters related to the Security Council  

Statement by  Mr. Andreas Baum, Chargé d’Affaires a.i., Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the United Nations , New York, le 8 février 2007.

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