UN chief pragmatic on abolishing veto rights
UN chief pragmatic on abolishing veto rights
By Santi WE Soekanto
BANDUNG (JP): United Nations Secretary-General Boutros
Boutros-Ghali appears to be taking a pragmatic stance on growing
demands for the abolition of veto rights in the UN Security
Council, pointing to the difficult route that the campaign will
have to take.
"You'd need to make some revision in the UN Charter and,
according to article 108 of the charter, it will need agreement
of the five members of the Council who have the veto rights,"
Boutros-Ghali said.
Further, "if you want to abolish the veto rights, I believe
it's not been used for the last three, even four years," he told
a press conference here last night.
The three-day Ministerial Meeting of the Coordinating Bureau
of the 112-nation Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), which begins today,
is scheduled to hold an extraordinary meeting to discuss the
issue of reforming the UN Security Council.
A special working paper has been prepared for the
extraordinary meeting, entitled Veto Powers.
NAM is currently attempting to reach a common position on the
question of reform of the Security Council and veto rights which
it would then be able to present its position in the debates
going on in conjunction with the UN's golden anniversary.
Boutros-Ghali ends his four-day visit to Indonesia today and
continues his journey to Australia.
The Secretary-General was in Bandung yesterday to attend the
40th anniversary celebration of the Asia-Africa Conference that
gave birth to NAM, which Indonesia currently chairs.
Boutros-Ghali defended yesterday an earlier statement, made in
Jakarta on Saturday, that the UN, in spite of all its
shortcomings, had been able to deal with various world problems,
while adding that the international body had already been engaged
in a lengthy process of reforms.
He said he had launched a series of reforms when he took up
the post in early 1992. Among those reforms were matters
concerning the body's administration and financial situation, he
said.
"Only 30 percent of the total members of UN pay their
financial contribution on time," he said.
East Timor
On the contentious issue of East Timor, the Secretary General
said that the many years of dialog and confidence-building
measures had meant some progress towards a resolution of the
issue.
The former Portuguese colony of East Timor was integrated into
Indonesia in 1976. However, Portugal continues to claim that it
is the administrative power there and the UN itself has so far
failed to fully recognize the integration.
To facilitate an internationally acceptable solution,
Indonesian and Portuguese foreign ministers have engaged in talks
under the aegis of the UN Secretary General.
During their last meeting in January, Jakarta and Lisbon
agreed to let the UN facilitate reconciliation discussions
between both pro- and anti-integration East Timorese.
However, Jakarta has expressed disappointment with the way the
UN is handling the preparations, pointing to the UN's failure to
consult with Indonesia during the process.
Originally scheduled for this week, the talks have been
postponed to a later date.
Boutros-Ghali yesterday praised both Portugal and Indonesia
for their willingness to find a workable solution to the issue,
adding that time and patience were now required for the ongoing
talks to yield positive results.
He said that the role of UN was only that of a facilitator,
proposing nothing but encouraging discussion.
Boutros-Ghali also touched briefly on NAM's role, calling on
it to strengthen cooperation between the industrialized countries
of the North and the developing countries of the South.
"This role is getting increasingly important," he said, adding
that Indonesia had been successful in its campaign in the issue.
On the issue of security in some African countries, in
particular the conflicts in Algeria, West Sahara and Libya,
Boutros-Ghali said that there was not much that the UN could do.
The conflict in Algeria was an internal affair, he said. The
United Nations was, however, ready to help with the
implementation of referendum in West Sahara, he said.
Boutros-Ghali said that Libya needed to determine its stance
and that if it complied with the Security Council's resolutions
the problems would be over.