Minister of Foreign Affairs Thorbjørn Jagland’s statement to the Storting on Norway’s membership of the Security Council

Mr. President,

When Norway takes its seat on the Security Council next year, it will be following a tradition of long-term international commitment that enjoys broad support in this chamber.

It has been one of Norway’s great strengths that ever since the Second World War there has been broad political agreement on the main lines of our work in the United Nations.

It is in our national interest to continue to work for an international community based on the UN Charter, international law and binding intergovernmental cooperation.

As a result of Norway’s strong support for the UN, it is logical that we seek at reasonable intervals to assume direct responsibility for international peace and security through membership of the Security Council. Norway has asked the member countries of the UN for a mandate to act in the interests of peace, with the rights and obligations that membership of the Security Council entails. Norway’s election is a vote of confidence that commits us all to doing our best.

The election in New York on 10 October demonstrated unequivocally that the extensive election campaign, which lasted all of four years, was both important and necessary.

I would like to thank all those who contributed to the success of our campaign. This applies not least to The King and Queen, the previous government and many of you here today.

It also applies to the thousands of men and women who, under the UN flag or in Norwegian peace and development efforts, have helped to project an image of Norway as an important contributor to peace and development.

Mr. President,

Now we must join forces and focus our attention on the two-year term that will begin on 1 January next year.

Under the UN Charter the 15 members of the Security Council have primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security on behalf of all the UN member countries. When the Security Council makes decisions in accordance with Chapter VII of the UN Charter, these decisions are binding on all countries. In such cases, the Security Council is specifically authorized to implement coercive measures.

Security Council resolutions have helped to make history. I am thinking of the resolutions on the situation in the Middle East, but also of the first resolution on economic sanctions against what was then called Southern Rhodesia in 1968 and the arms boycott of the apartheid regime in South Africa in 1977. All these resolutions intervened directly in crisis situations and provided a framework for international policy.

Thus the task facing Norway is a sizeable one, and carries great responsibilities. The Government will give this task the highest priority. We will show ourselves worthy of the confidence placed in us by the international community.

But we must also be realistic as regards our ability to influence the Council’s decisions.

The five permanent members – the USA, Russia, China, the UK and France – have in practice a greater influence on the work of the Council than the other members. This is due not only to the veto power but also to the experience these five countries have gained after their many years as members. There is no question, however, but that the non-permanent members also have the opportunity to make their views known by the skilful use of insight and experience and by means of effective diplomacy.

In addition to cooperating closely with the other members of the Security Council, we will take the initiative for a closer dialogue with key regional actors in the South, such as South Africa and India, in the next few weeks.

Mr. President,

Much of the Security Council’s work is concerned with political crisis management. The agenda is largely determined by international events. Thus current events will demand most of our attention.

Even though we cannot with any certainty predict what will be on the Security Council’s agenda during the next two years, certain areas of conflict seem obvious.

The situation in the Middle East has been on the Council’s agenda for many years. When the recent violence and unrest began, the situation was immediately taken up in the Security Council. We expect the situation in the Middle East to be a dominant issue in the Security Council during our membership.

But there are also many other regions where secure and stable peace is a long way off.

The situation in the Balkans will continue to be a major challenge. The democratic revolution in Yugoslavia will hopefully mean the start of a new and better future for the region. But the situation in this turbulent corner of southeastern Europe is complex and will require great vigilance on the part of the Security Council.

Conflicts in Africa will unquestionably rank high on the Council’s agenda during our membership. Asia and Latin America, too, are regions that have experienced their share of serious conflicts, and where the Security Council must be well prepared.

With regard to the more long-term work of the Security Council, Norway will concentrate especially on the following three areas:

• Firstly, we will focus on the underlying causes of conflict and war, such as poverty and underdevelopment, inequality and oppression. The UN needs a broadly based strategy that employs a number of different measures if it is to contribute to the resolution of today’s complex conflicts.
• Secondly, we will help to strengthen the UN’s capacity for planning and carrying out peace operations. The follow-up to the Brahimi report will be one of the main measures in this connection.
• Thirdly, we will focus especially closely on the challenges in Africa. Issues related to peace and security on this continent have taken up much of the time and attention of the Security Council in recent years, and there are many conflicts that are still unresolved.

With regard to the first area, the underlying causes of conflict and war, Norway will focus especially closely on the link between peace and development. Peace fosters development. Development depends on peace.

Norway will therefore focus on the links between military measures, emergency relief, long-term development assistance and efforts to promote peace and reconciliation. In these areas Norway has a substantial contribution to make, given its experience and its position as one of the most important contributors to development and humanitarian efforts at the international level and as facilitator in a number of peace processes.

We will also give high priority to ensuring that humanitarian considerations and respect for human rights are given weight when the Security Council deals with crises and complex peace operations.

Humanitarian relief workers, who have chosen to leave their countries in order to help the weak, are increasingly becoming targets and victims in conflict situations. This is both unacceptable and very worrying.

Thus one of the main themes of our long-term work in the Security Council will be contributing to a coherent approach to peace-building and crisis management. We will do this in order to prevent conflicts, manage crises better when they have arisen and stop conflicts that have been resolved from breaking out afresh. It will be especially important to strengthen the UN’s ability to assist countries that are undergoing the difficult and often protracted transition from war to peace.

Mr. President,

The regular business of the Security Council will therefore involve taking a stand both on matters that are already on the agenda and on new matters that arise. The Council is dealing to an increasing extent with regional and other conflicts that are sparked by internal disputes.

Most of the work of the Council takes place within the framework of Chapters VI and VII of the UN Charter. Chapter VI deals with the peaceful settlement of disputes, and the measures are political in nature and based on the assumption that the parties will voluntarily follow them up. Chapter VII provides for the use of coercive measures in situations where peace and security are threatened and where other measures have not succeeded or will obviously not succeed.

Lengthy informal consultations are often held on how a matter should be dealt with. In such situations Norway will have to take a stand on current conflicts, a situation that will often involve difficult choices.

Sanctions are among the coercive measures open to the international community under the terms of Chapter VII of the UN Charter in response to threats to international peace and security.

In practice the use of non-military coercive measures means introducing sanctions in various forms. Economic sanctions can be an effective means of bringing states and regimes whose conduct has exceeded acceptable limits back on the right track. However, the use of coercive measures will always be controversial. It is therefore important to avoid undesirable repercussions as far as possible.

As a member of the Security Council Norway will have the opportunity to make an active contribution to the work that has already been begun in the Council on making sanctions more specific and effective, so that they affect the real decision-makers and not the civilian population. The development of smart sanctions will be a priority for us in the time to come.

As a member of the Security Council Norway will also participate in the various sanctions committees that the Council has established or will establish. Norway will be expected to assume the chairmanship of one of the sanctions committees currently chaired by the two Western members who are leaving the Council – the Netherlands and Canada.

This will mean that Norway will have to assume responsibility for chairing the committee for sanctions against either Iraq or UNITA in Angola. Discussions are under way on which committee we will be responsible for, but this will not be finally decided until the Council formally convenes at the beginning of January.

It is a sad fact that although the sanctions against Iraq have been relaxed in recent years, the civilian population has benefited very little from this. On the contrary, Saddam Hussein has taken advantage of the situation to enrich himself and his supporters, while at the same time cynically refusing to make use of this opportunity to ensure that the population receives food and medicine.

Whether we are elected chair of the sanctions committee against Iraq or participate in the committee in the same way as the other members of the Security Council, Norway will attach great importance to the situation of the civilian population.

Mr. President,

I would now like to say a few words about our second long-term priority – to help strengthen the UN’s capacity for planning and implementing peace operations. If the UN is to fulfil its central role in the efforts to promote international peace and security, it is important that the Organization is given the resources it needs to carry out the tasks assigned to it by the Security Council. This is especially important today, when the growing number of peace operations has stretched the UN’s capacity to breaking point.

Last spring the Secretary-General set up a panel of internationally renowned experts whose task was to examine the UN’s capacity for planning and carrying out peace operations. The panel’s report, named after the chairman, former Foreign Minister Brahimi of Algeria, has recently been issued.

The report provides a comprehensive review of the organization of the UN system and its implementation of peace operations, and outlines a broad range of recommendations on how to strengthen the UN’s capacity for planning and carrying out peace operations. The report is based on the assumption that conflict prevention and peace-building are important elements of the UN’s peace efforts.

On Thursday we will be holding a seminar in Oslo with participants from the Nordic countries on the follow-up to the Brahimi report. Deputy Secretary-General Louis Frechette, who has been given special responsibility by Secretary-General Kofi Annan for following up this report, will also be attending the seminar.

Norway will seek to strengthen and further develop the Security Council’s capacity to implement conflict prevention measures.

We will promote a more active use of preventive diplomacy vis-à-vis the parties to a potential conflict. We support the proposal in the Brahimi report to make more frequent use of UN missions to potential conflict areas. At the same time we must reckon with opposition from countries that consider this to be interference in "internal affairs".

We consider it especially important to strengthen the UN Secretariat’s ability to plan, prepare and implement peace operations. The Department of Peacekeeping Operations in particular must be given more resources.

The Brahimi report urges the Security Council to expand the scope of its contact and cooperation with countries that contribute troops to peace operations. These countries must be involved more actively in the process before a mandate is adopted by the Security Council. This is something Norway has emphasized strongly on other occasions, so we will be following this up in the Security Council.

It is also of decisive importance that UN forces are provided with the equipment, training and resources necessary to carry out their operations. While on the Security Council, we will be especially concerned to see that the mandates adopted for peace operations are commensurate with the tasks facing the UN, and that the necessary resources are made available.

Norway would like to see women more actively brought into the peacekeeping and conflict resolution processes. Women often offer perspectives and an approach to conflict that are particularly important with regard to the planning and conduct of peacekeeping operations and not least in connection with peace-building.

In some places, such as Kosovo and East Timor, the UN is directly involved in securing law and order by providing civilian police with executive functions. Through the training they provide, civilian police and legal experts are helping to build up independent, democratic institutions – a valuable contribution to more peaceful and stable societies. We will seek to upgrade the role of civilian police in peace operations. The various Norwegian contingency arrangements will enable us to make contributions in a broad range of areas.

An effective judicial system and police force are important means of promoting long-term stability and the reconstruction of a society following conflict. As a concrete strategy for peace-building, we will put emphasis on reform of the justice and police sector in countries that are being built up again in the wake of conflicts.

Only a just peace will provide lasting peace.

A credible and effective process of judicial retribution is crucial to the reconciliation of former enemies.

The establishment of separate international criminal tribunals as part of the peacemaking process has been an important milestone in the efforts to promote peace and reconciliation. A statute for establishing a permanent international criminal court, which was notable for breaking new ground, was negotiated in 1998 and will enter into force when 60 states have ratified it. It is possible that this will take place while we are a member of the Security Council.

Norway will maintain its strong commitment to developing international criminal law. This means that we will assume our share of the responsibility in the Security Council for maintaining the existing criminal tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia. We will promote the establishment of a sound foundation for cooperation between the Security Council and the future international criminal court.

Mr. President,

The third and final long-term priority for our work in the Security Council will be to help develop more effective means of preventing and resolving conflicts in Africa. The foundation for positive developments in Africa may easily be eroded unless we are able to find such measures.

Nearly two-thirds of the matters dealt with by the Security Council in recent years have concerned issues involving the African continent.

Africa, especially in the 1990s, has been afflicted with a large number of conflicts, which have led to widespread suffering and loss of human life. We have recently witnessed a deep and bloody conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo a number of countries are engaged in hostilities, among them Sierra Leone, Angola and Sudan.

Sudan is still being ravaged by civil war, which is causing massive suffering among the civilian population. The tragic genocide in Rwanda has become a symbol of the international community’s lack of determination.

The need for a broad security concept seems to be particularly relevant in Africa.

One feature common to the conflicts that have taken place in Africa in recent years is that they are extremely complex, with deep roots in historical, economic and ethnic problems.

Many of these conflicts have their origin in poverty and the individual’s lack of opportunity to improve his or her situation. Although a number of African countries are rich in natural resources, this has not always fuelled development and growth. Instead it has often been the cause of violence and civil war and otherwise prolonged and exacerbated conflicts.

Control over important natural resources gives rebel groups an opportunity to recruit soldiers from among the poor, especially in states with inadequately developed government institutions and a limited capacity to maintain law and order. Easy access to small arms has also helped to trigger and sustain conflicts on the African continent.

One of the conditions for UN efforts to promote peace and security in Africa is sufficient willingness on the part of the member countries to commit themselves. The main responsibility for resolving conflicts must lie with the African countries themselves. The UN should support their efforts, and the involvement of the Security Council is of particular importance in this regard.

A complex conflict calls for complex and long-term efforts. A broad range of efforts is required, including military forces, development of the police and judicial system, humanitarian assistance and extensive support for long-term development efforts.

The conflicts in Africa clearly reveal the need for a coherent, integrated approach to conflict prevention, conflict management and conflict resolution. The use of coercive and military measures must be backed up by efforts in the political, humanitarian and development policy areas.

As a member of the Security Council, we will be expected to take an active part in the Council’s conflict resolution efforts in Africa. Given the extent of our involvement with the NATO force in the Balkans, what we can offer in the way of military personnel and materiel in Africa will be limited. Therefore, our contribution in other areas where we have special qualifications will be of even greater importance.

We are already deeply involved in emergency relief and humanitarian assistance in many of the conflict areas in question. We fully support the mediation efforts of the Organization for African Unity (OAU). We have given concrete contributions to these efforts.

The war on poverty in Africa is also an important contribution to conflict prevention and peace. The eradication of poverty is the overriding goal of our development assistance policy. This target area has a substantial peace and security dimension which we will carry over into our work on the Security Council.

Norway’s partnership with priority partner countries in Africa is an important contribution to security and stability. It is also a good point of departure for cooperation and support for the development of African solutions to the challenges.

I would also like to mention the threat represented by communicable diseases, particularly HIV/AIDS, to security and stability in many African countries. A whole generation of Africans is under threat. HIV/AIDS has now been given high priority in the Government’s long-term development assistance efforts. Norway will seek to ensure that HIV/AIDS-prevention measures are also given high priority in connection with humanitarian crises and international peace operations.

One of Norway’s overriding goals is to strengthen the UN’s peacekeeping and peacemaking role, not least in Africa. This is an issue which is of concern to African countries as well. Only the UN has the necessary authority and enjoys the necessary confidence to play a role of this kind.

At the same time, it is important to strengthen Africa’s regional organizations with a view to ensuring that the African countries themselves, in close cooperation with the UN, can assume a

greater share of the responsibility for preventing and resolving conflicts on their own continent.

Norway has therefore initiated a cooperative effort with African countries aimed at building their competence and capacity for taking part in peace operations. One project, launched in 1995, has been very successful. The project is called "Training for Peace in Southern Africa", and around 2,000 persons have been trained under this programme. The Government will keep up this type of effort to build up the ability of African countries to take part in peace operations.

We will also keep up our efforts to influence the international community to provide adequate resources so that African countries and organizations can take on a stronger role. We must seek to ensure that the nations of Africa have at least the same opportunities as others to safeguard and take responsibility for peace and security on their own continent.

Mr. President,

Membership of the Security Council entails obligations and creates expectations. The Government is in the process of assessing the economic and administrative consequences this is likely to have for Norway. However, a general overview will not be ready before January at the earliest. The reason for this is that there are a number of issues which may affect the scope of the tasks we are facing and on which a stand will not be taken until after the turn of the year. One of these issues is the matter of which sanctions committee Norway will chair. The Government will therefore return to the Storting early next year to report on the economic consequences of Council membership.

Mr. President,

I have now outlined the Government’s main priorities for Norwegian membership of the UN Security Council.

We will follow up these priorities through specific initiatives.

We will help to ensure that the Council increasingly adopts a coherent approach to preventive measures, conflict management and peace-building.

We will seek to promote policy coordination and mutual reinforcement in the military, political, humanitarian, resource and development policy areas.

At the same time, though, we must be realistic.

Only by cooperating with the other members of the Council and by maintaining strict priorities in our own efforts will we be able to make an effective contribution to international peace and security.

Membership of the Security Council will be a national effort, and as such, it will be important to utilize the knowledge and experience available through our foreign policy research institutions and through many Norwegian NGOs.

The Government will consult the various bodies of the Storting as needed, and reports on Norway’s efforts in the Security Council will be included in the Government’s coming statements to the Storting.

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