UNSC REFORM -- GUIDANCE FOR JUNE 17 OEWG MEETING

UNCLAS STATE 064758

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: UNGA UNSC PREL
SUBJECT: UNSC REFORM -- GUIDANCE FOR JUNE 17 OEWG MEETING



1. 1. The Department authorizes USUN to draw on the
following points in making its statement during the June 17
meeting of the Open-Ended Working Group on the Question of
Equitable Representation
on and Increase in Membership of the Security Council and
Other Matters.


2. Begin Statement:

-- Thank you, Mr. President, for convening this meeting
and for your leadership and commitment to ensuring that
the Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG) approaches the issue
of Security Council expansion in a transparent and
constructive way.

-- I would also like to thank the members of your Task
Force for their report on options to expand the Council.
We appreciate the serious, detailed, and inclusive manner
in which they conducted their work and recognize the
personal commitments of time they made to draft this
report.

-- As I have said before, the United States remains open
to a modest expansion of the Security Council in the
context of broader reform of the United Nations, and will
continue to be a cooperative and constructive partner in
this process.

-- We continue to believe that a modest expansion of the
Council must preserve its effectiveness in responding to
threats to international peace and security, that new
"extended" or permanent members must be uniquely qualified
to assume their duties, and that expansion of the Council
cannot be separated from a broader package of reforms to
ensure the entire UN system is able to meet the challenges
of the 21st century.

-- We believe that Japan is qualified for permanent
membership on the Security Council, and that other nations
should be considered as well.

-- In terms of the process before us now, we
support the Seven Pillars of the President of the General
Assembly as a way forward towards inter-governmental
negotiations. We note that the fourth pillar says the
Open-Ended Working Group "should carry out consultations
on the framework and modalities for these negotiations."

-- We attach great importance to the role of the OEWG
because we believe an issue as consequential as reform of
the United Nations, which requires an amendment to the
Charter, must be done only with the broadest possible
support from member states. We must not begin
inter-governmental negotiations in a way that alienates a
significant portion of the membership.

-- We also believe that adopting a fixed timeline for
these negotiations could be counter-productive. Any
expansion of the Security Council should be based on broad
consensus; a timeline does not permit the necessary consensus
time to develop and risks creating serious ruptures within
the UN membership.

-- We agree with the Task Force that there should be an
improvement in the working methods of the Council. But we
continue to believe that the Council itself must
address its own working methods, just as other principal
organs
of the UN should address theirs. The Council has made
progress in this regard, and its efforts should continue.

-- Lastly, I would like to make a point about the
need for comprehensive reform of the UN. We are now
considering the path to inter-governmental negotiations on
Council expansion. Although several member states endorse
the view, articulated by the PGA in the first of his Seven
Pillars, that Council expansion must go hand-in-hand with
the transformation of the wider UN system, we have seen
little progress on this front so far. I encourage UN
member states to engage in broader UN reform discussions
with the same interest and drive they do UNSC reform.

-- We cannot continue to pay lip service to the need for
comprehensive reform while trying to expand the Security
Council. The two issues cannot be separated from each
other, as the Council can only continue to be effective
when the broader UN system fulfills its function. We hope
to see much more progress towards the goal of
comprehensive UN reform in the coming months.

End Statement
RICE