REPUBLIC OF HUNGARY

PERMANENT MISSION TO THE UNITED NATIONS

227 EAST 52nd STREET, NEW YORK, N.Y. 10022

________________________________________________________

55th SESSION

OF THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SIXTH COMMITTEEAGENDA ITEM 163REPORT OF THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON THE CHARTER OF THE UNITED NATIONS AND ON THE STRENGTHENING OF THE ROLE OF THE ORGANIZATIONSTATEMENT BYDR. ZSOLT HETESYNEW YORKOCTOBER 11, 2000

Mr. Chairman,

On behalf of the Hungarian Delegation I would like to congratulate you on your well-deserved election. The Hungarian Delegation is looking forward to cooperating closely with you and with other members of the Bureau, to whom I also extend our warmest congratulations.

Turning to the Report of the Charter Committee let me expand on three elements of the EU-intervention, which Hungary supports entirely.

First, the reform of the Charter Committee, which should remain the main priority of our work. The reform of the Committee’s working method is the foundation, on which the fate of other agenda items and, ultimately, the future of the Committee depends. Regardless of the efforts of Mr. Saeid Mirzaee-Yengejeh, whom we commend for his persistence and serenity, the Committee has again completed its session without any breakthrough in any of its agenda items. In some cases deep-rooted divisions still persist, while other agenda items have been simply deferred. The symptoms point to a systemic failure that the Committee started to address during its last session. Hungary supports the reform-related efforts and commends the Japanese Delegation for taking a leading role in that exercise. We regret that even the debate on the reform-proposals was not devoid of the above-mentioned symptoms. Originally bold proposals are now in jeopardy due to lack of political will or lack of consensus, while the quest for the lowest common denominator may result in half-measures. However, without new foundations, the Charter Committee will not only loose its capacity to strengthen the UN system, but also, it will relegate itself to mediocrity.

Turning to the question of „Assistance to third States", let me briefly emphasize our support of the EU-Statement, which rightly pointed out the importance of the Committee’s work in this area.

Hungary reiterates that assistance to third States affected by sanctions is not simply an issue related to Article 50 of the Charter of the United Nations. Article 50 deals with the relationship between the Security Council and "third States", and in that regard, Hungary welcomes the establishment of the Working Group on sanctions by the Security Council. Hungary sincerely hopes that the Working Group will give to Article 50 the special attention, it deserves. However, the task to mitigate the adverse effects of sanctions on third States requires a mechanism that goes beyond the responsibilities of the Security Council.

Delegations have emphasized the relationship between peacekeeping operations and sanction regimes, which are the very measures preceding, substituting, or complementing the former. Nonetheless, while the Fifth Committee is trying to eliminate the burden-sharing irregularities of the peace-keeping scale, the Charter Committee, so far, has failed to act on the detailed recommendations of the ad hoc expert group. If everything goes well, the Committee would start its structured deliberations on those recommendations in the spring of 2001, that is, almost three years after the recommendations were formulated.

Hungary, a country participating actively in the PKO-reform, believes that the Charter Committee should also deal with the issue of assistance to third States on a priority basis. First, the Committee should concentrate on recommendations enjoying wide support, and it should propose to the Sixth Committee to endorse those recommendations. This way, the General Assembly would give the first set of clear guidelines to the Secretary-General at the end of 2001, while the Charter Committee could continue its deliberations on the remaining proposals. Hungary puts emphasis on the method of our work over the format of the discussions. Speaking about the format of our future deliberations, we believe that there is merit in discussing the recommendations directly in the Charter Committee. We fear that the establishment of a new sub-organ may cause further delays, while opening the door for the repetition of debates on different levels and raising questions concerning each organ’s authority.

Finally, Mr. Chairman, let me touch upon the third element also mentioned in the intervention of the European Union and reiterate that adequate funding should be provided to the main adjudicative arm of the United Nations. While the workload of the International Court of Justice has grown substantially, the Court still feels the impact of previous budget cuts. Since the UN will decide on the next biennial budget during its next session, it is time to formalize our request for full funding in our resolution this year.

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