Thinking Aloud.

Guido de Marco of Malta

Should the General Assembly President Be Included in Security Council Deliberations on Issues of Peace and Security?

In the course of a meeting with the Joint Coordinating Committee of the Group of 77 and the Non-Aligned Movement, Mr. Didier Opertti, President of the fifty-third (1998-1999) session of the General Assembly, suggested that the General Assembly President should be included, ex officio, as an observer in all deliberations of the Security Council on issues affecting international peace and security. Three former Presidents of the Assembly responded to the UN Chronicle's invitation to share their views on this idea.

To counter the oft-raised criticism at the Organization, one must always ask the question as to what the world would be like without a United Nations. The answer, I suspect. would be that the world would be quite different: international relations would not function with the same degree of cooperation as it does today; international relations would not reflect the universality so unique to the United Nations.

I was honoured to serve as President of the General Assembly during its forty-fifth session. This was not only a unique time in the history of world politics, but also in that of the United Nations. It was a session which was characterized by deep changes after the end of the cold war, the first post-cold-war conflict with the invasion of Kuwait and the call for a United Nations which would meet more forcefully the aspirations of the peoples it represented. The Agenda for Peace and indeed the Agenda for Development were attempts to meet such challenges which were ushered in with the fall of the Berlin Wall.

The pictures of the dismantling of the bricks dividing the Brandenburg gate were not half as forceful as the cries for freedom, democracy and dignity which preceded the event. The call for development and freedom from want today are reminiscent of the force which brought down the Wall; let us hope that amidst such cries we do not allow the bricks of deprivation to build a curtain--the poverty curtain--which threatens to be even more cruel and threatening than its predecessor.

At the core of all this is the centrality of the United Nations. Through its General Assembly, there is the inherent capability for the world community to address and meet challenges. For it is through this body and its global representation that we have an instrument able to trace patterns for future cooperation and consensus. However, it is also this organ which can identify root causes of tension and conflict. Under the Charter, the Security Council is accorded the primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security. This does, by no means, signify that such a role is exclusive, particularly in today's political scenario. There is a widespread recognition that the traditional concepts of security and the threats thereto are changing so rapidly that a fresh look at root causes is warranted.

No longer are threats to the in terms of military threat or capability. The question of arms and drugs trafficking, illegal migration spurned not only by wars but by economic degradation, environmental hazards and erosion, poverty, hunger and illness are all amongst the most devastating threats that have emerged as we usher in the new millennium.

Even in the case of threats brought about by military capability, we have seen that the entire international community has a role to play in establishing the rules of conduct. If we speak of disarmament other of nuclear, chemical, biological and other forms of weaponry, we see that the international community at large has demonstrated its common responsibility in negotiating the treaties and in undertaking commitments by mutual consent.

The General Assembly has demonstrated itself as an honest broker in concluding agreements in the social, economic, human and security fields. Likewise, it has contributed to the maintenance of international peace and security in a way for which it is not often credited. It is this unique feature of the Assembly which makes it both an asset and a requirement in the maintenance of international peace and security. It is a principal organ of the United Nations where all members are permanent members and as such representative of an international democratic character.

Since my presidency of the General Assembly, I have called for a closer relationship between the Security Council and the General Assembly. This is because I recognize the potential provided by the Assembly as a meeting ground for discussing the diverse views on any matter, not least on questions relating to the maintenance of international peace and security. The Assembly has an existing recommendatory role under the Charter parallel to that of the Council. It has an even larger role in terms of its capacity to deal with social, economic and humanitarian questions. As conflict and tensions become more complex in nature, the means to deal with such situations must take account of such factors.

The building of a symbiotic relationship between these two principal organs of the United Nations is paramount.

Decisions of the Security Council are binding on all members of the United Nations and consequently on the General Assembly membership. Effective action is dependent on the degree of implementation which, in the final analysis, is the responsibility of the international community at large. The Security Council cannot act in complete isolation from the general membership of the United Nations.

Through my experience as President of the General Assembly, I recognize the crucial role which this body can play. The role of the President is equally crucial. As the representative of this body, the President is privy to the range of views held by the members of the Assembly.

This gives the role of the presidency great potential which albeit until today is still under-utilized. The role is also one which is answerable to the general membership. The President may inform the general membership of the development regarding certain issues under consideration elsewhere in the Organization.

The means on how to enhance the relationship between the General Assembly and the Security Council have also been under discussion for sonic time within the open-ended Working Group on Security Council reform. Many proposals have been put forward which aim at enhancing transparency in the functioning of the Security Council. The holding of regular meetings between the Presidents of the Council and Assembly is one such proposal which seeks to enhance the flow of information between these two principal organs of the United Nations.

Mr. Didier Opertti, President of the fifty-third session of the General Assembly, has recently proposed that the General Assembly President-representing the only organ of the United Nations that has the participation of all Member states-should be included ex officio as an observer in all deliberations of the Security Council on issues affecting international peace and security.

Such a proposal adds to the discussions already under way and gives a new impetus to the enhancement of the relationship between these two principal organs of the United Nations. Having the General Assembly President present as an observer in all deliberations of the Council would improve the flow of information from the Security Council to the general membership. It would also underline a recognition of the need for the general membership to somehow be represented in such discussions which may ultimately bear upon the actions to the United Nations general membership as a whole. It is my hope that this proposal will meet with the agreement of all concerned in the interest of advancing the institutional reform and further enhancing the role of the General Assembly.

Joseph Garba of Nigeria

President of the forty-fourth session of the General Assembly (1989-1990)

General Assembly President Didier Opertti's proposal that the President of the Assembly should participate in an ex-officio capacity and as an observer in the deliberations of the Security Council on issues affecting international peace and security deserves serious consideration. The proposal undoubtedly is a progression of the long-standing desire of many United Nations Members States to democratize the Security Council. The proposal is propitious, considering the ongoing debate on UN reform and the advent of the next millennium.

Having said this, I doubt, however, that Mr. Opertti's proposal will be acceptable to the permanent members of the Council, since it cannot be premised on the UN Charter, which clearly spells out functions of the organs of the United Nations and assigns responsibility for international peace and security solely to the Security Council. But a cogent argument can be made for the proposal, given the present impasse on the question of expanding and reforming the Council. If non-members of the Council can participate in the deliberations of the Council without the right to vote, I see no harm in extending the same courtesy to the President of the General Assembly.

As a former resident of the Assembly, I am a member of the Council of Presidents of the General Assembly, which was formed in 1997 to provide a framework for cooperation between its members in support of the work of the Assembly. The UN Charter does not make any provision for a Council of Presidents. Nonetheless, its coming into existence is indicative of the need to create new channels, in addition to the statutory ones, that would support the objectives of the United Nations in the fields of peace, security and development. The point that needs to be made is that as the UN prepares for the next millennium, the Security Council can ill-afford to retain a power structure that is perceived as vastly undemocratic.

Hennadiy Udovenko of Ukraine

President of the fifty-second session of the General Assembly (1997-1998)

The proposal to include the United Nations General Assembly President as an observer in all deliberations of the Security Council on issue affecting international peace and security could be a subject for discussion at the next session of the Council of Presidents of the General Assembly.

In my opinion, there is already the institute of cooperation between the President of the General Assembly and the President of the Security Council, who meet monthly to discuss the issues of mutual interest.