Brian O'Shea
Question:92 Mr. O'Shea asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the proposals the Government is considering for reform of the United Nations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14757/03]
Written Answers. - UN Reform.
The Government is acutely conscious of the need to strengthen the UN in order to fulfil the commitment made by the Taoiseach and his fellow Heads of Government in the Millennium Summit declaration to ensure a more effective instrument for pursuing the fight for peace and development and against poverty, ignorance and disease.
The Secretary General's report of September 2002 on reform of the UN system, Strengthening of the United Nations: An Agenda for Further Change, represented a further significant step in the reform process. In response to the Secretary General's report, the General Assembly, on 20 December 2002, adopted by consensus a comprehensive resolution on strengthening the UN system. The important task now is to secure implementation of the commitments contained in the resolution. As far as Ireland and its EU partners are concerned, the reform process is not a cost cutting exercise, but an essential series of steps aimed at strengthening and renewing the UN system and making it better able to carry out the purposes for which it was established.
US arrears payments have eased budgetary pressure and added impetus to the reform process. Co-operation between the Security Council and countries contributing troops to UN peacekeeping operations has been strengthened. Ireland, as a permanent troop contributor, pressed strongly for this while on the Council. Major reforms have been undertaken in UN peacekeeping operations based on the recommendations of the report of the panel on UN peace operations.
Extensive administrative reform is under way in the implementation of the UN's development programmes. Far reaching reforms have been implemented within several of the UN's funds and programmes, involving the restructuring of management and the streamlining of operations.
One of the most difficult issues facing the UN membership generally is the question of Security Council reform. The General Assembly decided in 1993 to establish a working group, open to all UN member states, to address this issue in a comprehensive way. Since 1993 the working group has met regularly in New York and Ireland is an active participant. To date progress on this complex issue has been disappointing. The key issues involved are enlargement of Security Council membership, its working methods and its decision making procedures including, crucially, the use of the veto.
Ireland supports a small, regionally balanced increase in both the permanent and the elected membership to create an enlarged Security Council of between 20 and 25 members. We do not believe that this should be at the expense of smaller members. Ireland would like to see the veto eliminated. The Government recognises the strong opposition of the permanent members. It has proposed, in a spirit of realism and practicality, that they be invited to accept a limitation of the veto whereby they would exercise it only when the question in hand was one of vital national importance, taking into account the interests of the UN. At the same time, any new permanent members of the Council would commit themselves not to exercise the veto. Despite the lack of tangible progress to date, Ireland will continue to play an active and constructive role in seeking agreement on reform of the Council.
Ireland will continue to support the UN reform process on a national basis. The EU also has an important role to play in supporting the UN reform agenda. The Government looks forward to developing further the EU's support for this process during Ireland's Presidency of the EU in 2004.