YouSaid · the spoken record

Keating

lines on the record: 583
first: 1993-06-27
most recent: 2018-09-13
sittings or episodes: 64
sources: un-security-council

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“But it seems to me that that practice is precisely one which provides an opportunity to participate for those Members of the United Nations that have no other opportunity to make a contribution. There is a special contribution that can be made by troop contributors. The representative of France also expressed concern about the prerogatives of the Secretary-General. I think it needs to be said that there is a very important issue here. Where we have genuine peace- keeping operations in a benign environment, the traditional peace-keeping model, it is true that the Member States have little need to participate, and little interest in participating, in the day-to-day running of the peace-keeping operation - and that is as it should be.”
1995-12-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3611 (1995) · source
“I would like at this point to make a few brief comments about some of the reservations which have been raised in the debate so far this morning. First, I noted the concern expressed by the representative of France about establishing new separate groups of Member States. That, of course, is a valid concern. It would be more valid, however, if Article 44 of the Charter did not already recognize the existence of a particular group of Member States that can and does make special contributions to international peace and security. Secondly, the Permanent Representative of France recalled France's proposal for further orientation meetings. New Zealand was the first member of the Council to support France's initiative in this respect. And we do strongly urge that this practice be reinvigorated in the new year.”
1995-12-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3611 (1995) · source
“We believe that this is a procedural issue - not a matter of substance - and one on which it would be appropriate to take an innovative approach. We note from the statements made in the Security Council today, in the plenary General Assembly and in the debate on peace-keeping operations in the Fourth Committee that a serious review of this sort would be widely welcomed. It would demonstrate the Council's awareness of its responsibilities towards Member States and, equally, it would show that the Council can take a lead in the search for improved effectiveness, efficiency and reform. Such a lead would be a critical contribution from the Council as we all deliberate in this anniversary year on wider United Nations reform.”
1995-12-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3611 (1995) · source
“Indeed, as the representative of the United States mentioned this morning, this is another element of the November 1994 statement which is observed more often in the lapse. In the light of this experience, therefore, New Zealand considers it is timely for the Council to live up to its undertaking to reopen this matter and to pursue enhanced arrangements in open dialogue with troop contributors. We welcome this first step today in a formal Council meeting, and we would propose that the next step should be for the Council to agree that an informal joint working group should be established, involving the members of the Council and those troop contributors who wish to participate in informal discussions of how best to ensure progress on this issue.”
1995-12-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3611 (1995) · source
“Unfortunately, only pro forma references appear in the Council's tentative programme of work. We do not feel that this is sufficient. Similarly, there were to be background papers circulated, indicating the topics to be covered, and they were to be circulated well in advance of each meeting with the troop contributors. This does not happen. Most meetings, as many have commented this morning, take place at very short notice; they are unstructured and have no discernible outcome. Under these circumstances, it would be surprising if any reports received by the Council President, who is required to report back to the Council on these consultations, could be very informative.”
1995-12-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3611 (1995) · source
“Some of the meetings which have been held under these new procedures have clearly demonstrated the benefit and the need for better consultation, and in that regard we would like to warmly commend some of the Council members for trying to make the new arrangements work. But we fear that for the most part Council members and the Secretariat have treated the meetings as essentially briefing sessions for the non- members. In general, Council members have seen no need to speak; some do not even attend. In reality, the process has been consultative only in name. The practice, therefore, does not match up to the expectations raised by the 4 November 1994 presidential statement. I would also recall that that statement foreshadowed an expected schedule of consultative meetings at the beginning of each month.”
1995-12-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3611 (1995) · source
“My congratulations go to you, Mr. President, and also to Ambassador Al-Khussaiby, the President of the Council last month. It will come as no surprise to anybody in this room that my delegation endorses 100 per cent the proposals put forward this morning by Ambassador Cerdenas, on behalf of a large number of countries. I will not repeat any of the points made by Ambassador Cerdenas, but I do want to say a few words about the reasons why we have been disappointed at the outcome of last year's presidential statement, of 4 November, and also a few words in response to some of the concerns that have been expressed by previous speakers here this morning. The new procedures that were put in place last year were widely welcomed.”
1995-12-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3611 (1995) · source
“As those who have worked with us in the past know, there has been no stronger supporter in the Security Council of the Secretary-General, his staff, the Department of Peace-keeping Operations and the Department of Political Affairs, and I intend that New Zealand will continue to maintain that level of support for the United Nations in its role outside the Security Council. I thank you, Mr. President, for the excellent opportunity you have provided us to express some views on the "Supplement to an Agenda for Peace", and we wish you well.”
1995-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3492Resumption2 (1995) · source
“I think if we were to have a study of a mechanism, it should also study the question of enforcement and who pays for enforcement, because, in the view of my authorities, a "user-pays" element in the administration of sanctions regimes is long overdue, and I believe that the Security Council could well encourage the study of such a "user-pays" system. I do not want to leave the impression that with these comments, which have been somewhat critical of the report, we are any less supportive of the excellent work that has been done by the Secretary-General in following up "An Agenda for Peace".”
1995-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3492Resumption2 (1995) · source
“I can see that there is a very strong argument for Members of the United Nations impacted by sanctions to support the concept of a mechanism to investigate the economic implications. I believe that there is merit in considering this issue, but it should not be looked at in isolation. We must bear in mind that there are other issues relating to sanctions that should be studied at the same time. Enforcement is one of them. Sanctions committees are constantly made aware of the fact that action in the field is being affected by events that are outside United Nations control.”
1995-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3492Resumption2 (1995) · source
“I believe that in all modern democracies being politically efficient means a quite detailed level of intrusion into the decision-making that is being done by those charged with implementing policy, a detailed intrusion by those responsible for the political implications of the action being taken. That is certainly the case in my country, and I know it is the case in many of the other countries represented here in this Chamber. I do not think that the United Nations should be any different. A final word about sanctions: sanctions have proved themselves to be an important tool in the armoury of the United Nations, and I think the report slightly underrates the significance of this.”
1995-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3492Resumption2 (1995) · source
“On the question of information, we know that the fog of war argument does not always hold up, because there are large amounts of information available in the Secretariat: witness the digest that we used to receive, but not longer receive. But there is a broader question, a question of political accountability between the Secretariat, which is the administrative organ of the United Nations, and the policy organ of the United Nations, which is the Security Council and on occasion the General Assembly. Efficiency is important, but all democratic structures must make a trade-off between bureaucratic efficiency and political efficiency. If we make bureaucratic efficiency an absolute, this results in "bureaucratic capture".”
1995-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3492Resumption2 (1995) · source
“Some would say it did not go far enough, but the Security Council did respond, and it did give a partially forceful mandate. I believe that human history suggests that decisions to go to war - to use force - are rarely taken in a clinical way, and the recent history of the United Nations suggests that we will not be immune from that tendency. Finally, I should like to make a comment about command and control. The Secretary-General says that the Security Council has tended to engage in micro- management. I think that that is a straw man; I think the Security Council does not even engage in management, let alone micro-management, of issues in the field. The Security Council does require a detailed understanding of the operational conditions in the field, and this is not only a question of information.”
1995-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3492Resumption2 (1995) · source
“We should always be striving to make the real world conform to our ideals, but I want to give an example of why I think the real world is different. Let us look at what confronted General Dallaire in Rwanda. General Dallaire had a very critical problem; he had to respond to a situation of desperate human need. Did he protect the civilians in the stadium or did he not? In the real world, there is always, I think, transition from peace-keeping to peace enforcement, where occasionally force will need to be used without consent. Take the case of Bosnia. Again, I feel the Secretary- General's analysis is a little faulty. I think this is a case where the Security Council did listen to what the international community was saying.”
1995-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3492Resumption2 (1995) · source
“We were able to brief them on what the Council was doing and to receive their views on how we should handle the situation upon our return to New York. So I think it is possible for the Council to play a much more active role in peacemaking and preventive diplomacy. I should like to turn now to the question of peace- keeping. I was very struck by what the Secretary-General said in paragraph 36, that peace-keeping and peace enforcement "should be seen as alternative techniques and not as adjacent points on a continuum, permitting easy transition from one to the other." I thought long and hard about that sentence, and I concluded that, while I agree that this is the idea], it does not correspond to what happens in the real world.”
1995-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3492Resumption2 (1995) · source
“If a mission is called for, then a mission can take place. I am conscious of the fact that many Members of the United Nations would feel very strongly that, if the Council were to become more involved in preventive diplomacy and peacemaking, its members should always remember their roots - that they are Members of a broader Organization. I believe that it is possible for the Council to play this role and to involve the States of a region that would have a special interest in its handling of an issue. Again, I should like to give an example from the work of the mission to Somalia. I believe that a very important event during that mission was the convening, in Nairobi, of a meeting between the Council mission and the representatives of the countries of the region.”
1995-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3492Resumption2 (1995) · source
“I think we can, and must, replicate these two examples in other areas, and I have one practical suggestion that members of the Council might like to reflect on. Over time, a practice could perhaps develop whereby, when the Council takes up an issue under its preventive diplomacy and peacemaking mode, it might look to appointing, either formally or informally, one Member State that clearly has no interest in the issue in question to act as what other organs of the United Nations might call a rapporteur or a coordinator - or what might be called a godfather. That Member State would take responsibility for a particular problem the Council is dealing with, and it might also work with the Department of Political Affairs to ensure that the Council's handling of its role in preventive diplomacy and peacemaking is appropriate and timely.”
1995-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3492Resumption2 (1995) · source
“I think there is no doubt that the presence of the mission in Somalia had a very important impact in persuading the parties to hold back from what would have been a disastrous outcome, both for the United Nations and for any prospects of reconciliation. Now, four or five months later, that restraint still prevails. I think that it is also instructive to note that this partnership can work not only here in New York, but also on the ground. It was certainly the experience of those of us who went to Somalia that the Special Representative of the Secretary-General and his political civilian advisers greatly valued the presence in the field of another organ of the United Nations to work with them at a critical time.”
1995-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3492Resumption2 (1995) · source
“I do not think that there is any doubt at all that the Security Council played a very important role in preventive diplomacy and peacemaking when the mission went to Burundi at a very critical time. I think also that my own personal experience on a mission to Somalia reinforces this conclusion. Preventive diplomacy and peacemaking were not part of the original mandate of the mission that went to Somalia, but certainly there was an unexpected outcome from that mission. Before we left, we were informed in a briefing by the Secretariat that it was to be expected during our time there that the parties would both unilaterally announce the formation of competing governments.”
1995-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3492Resumption2 (1995) · source
“As the members of the Council are well aware, there has been for quite some time a degree of concern and apprehension amongst the non-members of the Council, which gets expressed from time to time in the General Assembly, that the Security Council should put more effort into action under Chapter VI rather than Chapter VII. Speaking personally, I believe that the Security Council has actually been doing that and doing a lot of it very successfully. But because it is not recognized in the way I have described, it is perhaps missed. How would such a partnership between the Secretariat and the Security Council work? It seems to me that the model perhaps could be the work that was undertaken last year in the mission which the Security Council sent to Burundi.”
1995-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3492Resumption2 (1995) · source
“Let me say in response to this that I agree that there should be a norm, but when you look at the Charter you see that there is already such a norm, set out in Article 37. Article 37 is in fact more than a norm - it is a legal obligation on all States Members of the United Nations. If it proves impossible to resolve a dispute or conflict in a face-to-face manner, there is an obligation to bring that matter to the Security Council. So the norm for the involvement of the United Nations is already there in our Charter. I believe that what this demonstrates is that we need to look for some new kind of partnership between the Council and the Secretariat in which they both see themselves as being engaged in a cooperative effort to implement the principles that are already set out in the Charter.”
1995-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3492Resumption2 (1995) · source
“I would be the first to endorse the very significant contributions that successive Secretaries-General have made to preventive diplomacy and peacemaking, and I would be the first to insist that those should continue. But I do think that it is curious that the Security Council's role in preventive diplomacy and peacemaking is somehow submerged. It does not appear in the document and it does not appear in the literature. I think that the Security Council has a very important role to play in preventive diplomacy and peacemaking, and I would note in this context that one of the principal conclusions the Secretary-General has reached is that one of the things that are frustrating his efforts in preventive diplomacy and peacemaking is the lack of a norm by which States should accept the good offices of the United Nations.”
1995-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3492Resumption2 (1995) · source
“I find it somewhat curious that in this very important and substantial section of the Supplement the Charter is not mentioned at all. The Secretary-General notes in paragraph 25 that the objective is to find ways of enabling the United Nations to perform better the roles envisaged for it. I think that there is an anomaly in the fact that when we look at the Charter and at what it says about preventive diplomacy and peacemaking we find that there is absolutely no mention at all of a role for the Secretary- General in those areas. Instead, we find a very substantial Chapter - Chapter VI - which gives primary responsibility to the Security Council in matters which, in our terminology of today, can only be described as preventive diplomacy and peacemaking.”
1995-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3492Resumption2 (1995) · source
“It seems to me that, for most of the past 50 years, the United Nations has been crawling. In the past few years, we have begun to learn to walk and even, perhaps, to run a little bit. Naturally, there have been a few stumbles. That is life. But let us not pay heed to those who have spoken in this debate to advocate that the United Nations should go back to crawling because that is what it knows best. We stand firmly with the Secretary-General when he says: "There is no reason for frustration or pessimism" (S/1995/1, para. 105). We should go forward with confidence and courage. Let me turn to the part of the Secretary-General's Supplement on preventive diplomacy and peacemaking. This is a fundamental task set out in the Charter of the United Nations.”
1995-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3492Resumption2 (1995) · source
“It seems to me that, if we are to have a candid dialogue, we need to be able to come here to the Council and have an exchange of views. We certainly should not come with a closed mind and an inability to respond to the points that have been made in the course of discussion. In referring to the Secretary-General's "Supplement to An Agenda for Peace", I would like to begin with his conclusion because I think it is very important and I endorse every word of it. He says that hard decisions are needed. Now, they are not needed because we have failed; I believe that real progress has been made. Hard decisions are needed because we have begun to succeed. The United Nations has begun to work in the area of international peace and security in the way it was designed to do.”
1995-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3492Resumption2 (1995) · source
“I do not intend this morning to set out the full range of New Zealand's views on our collective efforts to maintain international peace and security. My Foreign Minister did that in the General Assembly general debate last September, and what he said at that time seems to me to be still relevant. Instead, I want to make some preliminary comments on the Secretary-General's "Supplement to An Agenda for Peace". I hope that you, Sir, and the members of the Secretariat will forgive me for the fact that I have not come here with a prepared statement. I think that some of the important reforms that we have made in the processes of the Council in the past year or so have been predicated on the fact that there ought to be a better dialogue between the members of the Council and the Members of the United Nations that are not members of the Council.”
1995-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3492Resumption2 (1995) · source
“It is a great pleasure for me to sit here at this table under your presidency, Sir. I know full well that the Council is in extremely good hands, and we wish you all the very best for the remainder of your term. I would also like to request the delegation of Rwanda to convey to our friend and colleague, the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Rwanda, our congratulations and thanks for what he did; his hard work during the month of December was much appreciated. Like the Ambassador of Brazil, I would like to extend my congratulations to the new members of the Council. We are very pleased to see them all taking over their very important responsibilities. They have our support, and in some ways also our sympathy.”
1995-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3492Resumption2 (1995) · source
“If effectiveness becomes the sole criterion, then we fear that the Council will end up doing effectively less and less, because the Member States on which it relies to provide troops and funding for peace-keeping operations, and on whose behalf it acts, will increasingly withhold their support. I commend this initiative and I hope that we will be able to take some more steps along this path in the coming year.”
1994-12-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3483 (1994) · source
“As regards the broader use of open meetings, the consideration of reports of the Secretary-General and the consideration of important presentations such as the one we heard yesterday from the Vice-President of Rwanda, and the one we heard earlier in the year from President Shevardnadze: these have a very important place as regards the transparency of our Council. But these are only first steps on a road along which the Council must travel. We believe that the United Nations has entered a new era - an era when the Council must not only operate effectively but must be seen to operate transparently and fairly, as envisaged in the Charter.”
1994-12-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3483 (1994) · source
“Now, to go back to the proposals made by the representative of France, I want to repeat that I think his proposals contain some very useful steps towards transparency, and they complement the important and useful steps that have already been achieved in the course of the last 12 months. We think the Council can take considerable satisfaction in the fact that it is on the right path with measures such as that contained in the statement of 4 November last on consultations with troop-contributing countries and the processes that were outlined in the statement by the Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom. But I do want to underline my strong belief that automaticity in the holding of open meetings at the beginning of the consideration of a new issue, without discrimination, should become a matter of course in this Council.”
1994-12-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3483 (1994) · source
“The Security Council is required to undertake these reviews, and it does so in informal consultations. So there is a great deal of evidence that mandated legal action does actually take place in informal consultations. These thoughts lead me to the conclusion that the representative of Brazil is absolutely right in saying that there is a need to update the Council's rules of procedure. I would probably disagree with the reasoning he advanced as to why the rules of procedure need clarification, but certainly there is a great deal of ambiguity in our rules at the present time, and I would support his proposal that they be reviewed and clarified in the Working Group in the near future.”
1994-12-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3483 (1994) · source
“Certainly editors of the Journal believe that the informal consultations are meetings. And then we need to look at other kinds of evidence, like the activity which takes place in informal consultations. Now, many colleagues tonight have referred, in considerable detail, which I will not repeat, to the weighty matters that are considered in informal consultations and _ the preponderance of the Council's work that takes place in informal consultations. The representative of Brazil referred, I think very clearly, to the important decisions that are taken in informal consultations, not least in the context of reviews under sanctions resolutions. Here we have decisions which are legally mandated in resolutions for the Council to undertake reviews.”
1994-12-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3483 (1994) · source
“I think to most people, discussion in this context implies participation in the formulation of the conclusions. Certainly, it implies participation at stages prior to finalization. I do not think that rule 48 of the provisional rules of procedure particularly helps in this context. It certainly does not help the argument that informal consultations do not exist, because it seems to me that an international tribunal might want to look at the evidence. What is the evidence? Well, first, are these meetings or not? United Nations practice, I think, is a very important consideration, and in fact we have instituted the practice of listing the meetings of informal consultations in the Journal. They are listed there under the heading entitled "Scheduled meetings".”
1994-12-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3483 (1994) · source
“We believe that we have to ask ourselves what the legal outcome might be if a State, or a group of States, party to a dispute, and feeling aggrieved by the fact that they were not invited to participate meaningfully by the Council in a matter of concern to them, should propose a draft resolution in the General Assembly requesting the International Court of Justice to give an advisory opinion. I am not so sure that the answer would accord with the conclusions made in France's aide-memoire. Let us look at Article 32 of the Charter, which says that those States "shall be invited". There is no question of discretion. It is not a matter that the Security Council can refuse. Secondly, they are invited to "participate in the discussion".”
1994-12-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3483 (1994) · source
“It specifies that the participation to be accorded under Articles 31 and 32 is participation without the right to vote. Nor, I think, is anyone saying that the Council cannot or indeed should not meet behind closed doors when necessary. It will probably always be appropriate and necessary to have some private discussion. The question, as so many previous speakers have said, is the appropriate balance. My delegation believes that the current balance is not right.”
1994-12-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3483 (1994) · source
“However, we feel that they do not go quite far enough. As the representative of Pakistan has just said, they are a step towards the necessary transparency. We feel that the Council should go further, and here there are some aspects of the French analysis with which we do not entirely agree. In particular, in the aide-memoire, we have reservations about paragraph 12 on the status of informal consultations, where it is argued that informal consultations do not exist. But to say that they have no legal existence does not, of itself, make that correct. We believe that on this subject, we should look closely at the Articles of the Charter, in particular Articles 31 and 32. No one in the Council would challenge the fact that decision-making must rest with the Council. The Charter makes that quite clear.”
1994-12-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3483 (1994) · source
“The Council's procedures, at the time, did not permit that, and it was felt by my delegation to be very unfortunate. So for that reason, 10 more than anything else, we have strongly supported the initiative of the delegation of France. We, therefore, believe that any decision permitting the Council to hold more open meetings to consider issues at the commencement of the consideration of a new issue should always be a matter of course. In such a matter, we do not believe that it would be acceptable that in some cases the Council would say "yes" and in others it would say "no". There must be no discrimination in such matters and, in particular, no discrimination between cases in which issues are raised by Members that are within the Council and those that are not. The French proposals are therefore very welcome to my delegation.”
1994-12-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3483 (1994) · source
“New Zealand supports the idea of more public meetings of the Council. We have therefore given public support, in a letter to you, Mr. President, to the French initiative. We have also strongly supported the notion that this issue should be discussed here today. To be blunt, our particular concern in this area is that when consideration of a new issue begins, the party or parties concerned should be able publicly to state their position to the Council before the Council begins consideration of the problem. We recall at least two occasions in the course of this year when States Members of the Organization requested that the Council take up an issue and they very strongly wished the opportunity to present their case to the Council collectively.”
1994-12-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3483 (1994) · source
“It is sad because here was a draft resolution which in a modest way, because of its reference to resolution 943 (1994), did underline that those who cooperate with the Security Council will be rewarded. We do not believe that it was in any way targeted against the authorities in Belgrade. Instead, because of its reference, so explicit, to the Krajina Serbs, it underlined that those who deserve to be sanctioned should be sanctioned. There was an opportunity here for the Council, in the face of the outrageous violations of international law in recent weeks by the Krajina Serbs, to re-emphasize our existing measures, but, instead, the wish of the majority of this Council has been frustrated. We have no doubt that the consequences of this evening's events will be felt for a long time to come, and we are also sure that no good will come of it.”
1994-12-02 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3475 (1994) · source
“Here I want to place on record my support for the interpretation given by the Ambassador of Argentina of the legal effect that the draft resolution would have had. But this draft resolution did not pass. It failed because one delegation, as best I can understand it, believed that, politically, the time for the adoption of such a draft resolution was not right. We believe that this is strange, and indeed we find it hard to understand how historians will ever understand it at all, how they will ever understand that such an issue, which should be routine, became the subject of a veto. 12 But, as I have said, I also believe that it is a very sad occasion.”
1994-12-02 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3475 (1994) · source
“Let me first congratulate you very warmly, Sir, on assuming the office of President of this Council. Please be assured that the New Zealand delegation stands ready to work with you and assist you in any possible way. In the same spirit, I 11 want to congratulate and thank Ambassador Albright and the members of her team for their extraordinary work for and service to the Council during the month of November. Tonight we have witnessed what I think is a very strange spectacle. But I believe that it is a spectacle which is also very sad. We had before us a draft resolution which I think was widely understood to establish no new economic sanctions. It simply reconfirmed the existing measures in place.”
1994-12-02 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3475 (1994) · source
“In the minds of these refugees, and to encourage them to return to Rwanda, the perception of the impartiality and independence of UNAMIR will be of fundamental importance. It is for that reason that we think it is extremely important that the Security Council has today adopted this resolution to expand the mandate of UNAMIR and to extend that mandate for a further six months.”
1994-11-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3473 (1994) · source
“As we see it, the implementation of the resolution relating to the International Tribunal will of its own course inevitably lead the Council and the international community into the need to address precisely the issues that the Secretary-General has raised. Looking ahead, therefore, we would see a role for the Prosecutor, a role for an associated follow-up police function and perhaps also the need, for the protection of both of those, for a military force capable of protecting them. Finally, I would like to say that we do query whether UNAMIR itself should be tasked with this military deterrent role. We fear that doing so may undercut its impartiality in Rwanda among the very refugees who, on their return to Rwanda, would rely on UNAMIR for their protection.”
1994-11-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3473 (1994) · source
“It seems to my delegation that the Prosecutor of the International Tribunal will want at an early stage to make investigations in these very same camps, and indeed, his concerns will be very much with the same people that are referred to in the Secretary- General's report as needing separation from genuine refugees. If the Prosecutor is to carry out these investigations, he will need to interview such people, and to do so, he will need security and protection - and, indeed, we have already provided in the resolution we have adopted today that the Prosecutor and his staff would need security personnel to carry out their tasks within Rwanda, and my comment would be that they will need such personnel all the more so to carry out those tasks in refugee camps in Goma.”
1994-11-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3473 (1994) · source
“We have no doubt that a military force may need to be close at hand, because the people in these camps who conducted the outrages in Rwanda in April and May of this year have proved themselves to be violent and capable of a military response. But we believe that the task to be performed in the camps is really a kind of police function and not a job for soldiers. We believe that there may need to be an operation which would be based on a police capability but with a military capability in reserve if necessary. This leads us to a broader question, which is that of the role of the Prosecutor under the International Tribunal Statute which we have adopted.”
1994-11-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3473 (1994) · source
“As reflected in today's presidential statement, Council members have decided that we need more information on the concept of operations for such a force and the likely availability of personnel before making a _ decision on__ this recommendation. My delegation does believe, however, that it is important to record that we do not believe that private security firms can play a useful role in this job. We believe that the financial, legal and jurisdictional issues that would arise would effectively make such a force unuseful. I have to say that we also query whether a peace- keeping force alone can do this kind of task.”
1994-11-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3473 (1994) · source
“That report makes it clear that the situation inside the camps is now so bad that urgent efforts are needed to re-establish security in the camps and to encourage the refugees sheltering there to return. The Secretary-General confronted the Council with some hard choices. The judgement of the Secretary-General and his Special Representative, which my delegation shares, is that security will not be restored to the camps unless there is action to separate the genuine refugees from the influence of the political leaders and the military and paramilitary forces of the former Government. The Secretary-General suggested, as the least forceful of the operations and the one he believed most likely to be effective, the establishment of a separate peace-keeping operation which would seek to establish security in the camps on a step-by-step basis.”
1994-11-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3473 (1994) · source
“The new Government inherited a situation of almost complete collapse. The national and _ local institutions that used to govern and hold Rwandan society together have either collapsed entirely or have been so stripped of resources that they can only function on the most rudimentary basis. Clearly, international assistance in providing relief and in getting reconstruction efforts under way is absolutely essential, and the protection that UNAMIR can provide to such operations under the second aspect of its mandate is equally vital. The considerations just referred to are at the heart of the Secretary-General's recommendations about the situation in the refugee camps outside Rwanda, especially those in Zaire.”
1994-11-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3473 (1994) · source
“The most visible problem facing Rwanda at present is of course the large number of refugees outside the country and the displaced persons inside the country. It is imperative that these people be encouraged to return to their homes and villages as soon as possible, but a fundamental concern for all these people is whether it will be safe for them to do so. As was reflected in the presidential statement adopted in the Council on 14 October, UNAMIR's neutral and independent presence is crucial to creating the conditions of security which the returnees need. Thus, we attach great importance to the first task, which is reiterated in the first part of UNAMIR's revised mandate and is set out in paragraph 3 of the resolution. But as the Secretary- General's two recent reports confirm, the situation inside Rwanda is dire.”
1994-11-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3473 (1994) · source
“We believe the Security Council has just made two very important decisions about the situation in Rwanda. One was the presidential statement on the security situation in the camps outside Rwanda. The other was the resolution we have just adopted renewing the mandate of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) for a further six months. The Council's actions deal with two critical and related matters. It is thoroughly appropriate that they have both been adopted today, but it was equally appropriate, too, that they were the subject of distinct Council actions. We believe that UNAMIR continues to have a vital role to play in ensuring security for persons at risk in Rwanda and also in the process of national reconciliation and reconstruction in that country.”
1994-11-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3473 (1994) · source