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.