Statement delivered by the Permanent Representative of Argentina, Ambassador María del Carmen Squeff

January 26th

 

Ladies co-facilitators:

Let me first of all thank you for providing this space for interactive dialogue that we hope will contribute to a better understanding of our positions.

Argentina associates itself with the concepts formulated in a very eloquent manner by the distinguished Permanent Representative of Italy on behalf of "Uniting for Consensus" and I would like to make the following comments in my national capacity.

Ladies co-facilitators:

I will start by referring to certain calls, clearly not from most Members, to move towards text-based negotiations. We regret that the discussions in this new round of Intergovernmental Negotiations continue to be diverted towards purely procedural issues that lack the consensus of the room.

I am obliged to reiterate that Argentina will not urge to establish fictitious deadlines nor will it divert discussions towards procedural matters, it will not request to modify the nature or mandate of these meetings, which are duly reflected in decisions 62/557 and 72/557. These decisions do not change from one year to the next and I do not see the reason why, in this instance of each session of the General Assembly, people persist in ignoring them and trying to modify the informal nature of the negotiations.
Insisting on certain positions hinders a reform that is necessary and has the potential to be accepted by all members of the United Nations.

We are prepared to address the substantive aspects of the Council reform, we have heard various proposals to organize the work of the next 4 meetings. We support the proposal of the African Union to dedicate one meeting to discuss the status of the negotiation documents and another to the question of the Council's working methods. We consider it essential to deepen our discussions on the veto issue, and perhaps conclude with a meeting dedicated to questions and answers.

Ladies co-facilitators:

I would like to conclude my intervention by insisting that Argentina respects the agreements that the regions may reach to present their candidates for non-permanent members of the Security Council.

As a guiding principle, we strive to respect equitable geographical distribution, the only criterion established by the Charter of the United Nations for the election of non-permanent members, the 10 elected members. The five permanent members are mentioned by name in the Charter of the United Nations and there is no consensus on including new names.

Obviously, the concept of representation goes hand in hand with the concept of accountability

It cannot be denied that the permanent members of the Security Council have always represented only their own national interests, and this is because their permanence does not respond to a democratic criterion in international relations. And I repeat, your national interests, very exceptionally those of your region. 75 years of history tell us that from one day to the next it is difficult to innovate based on deciding on an exception.

Regional representation must rest on a more equitable participation based on the principle of sovereign equality of the states.

Within the framework of a reform of the Security Council, this principle is only honored by creating the conditions for all Member States to have access to a non-permanent position on the Security Council, giving greater prominence to regional representativeness, through the adjustment of the ratios of each regional group, making the representation more equitable. Uniting for Consensus presented a detailed proposal of how this equitable distribution would be, and as a Group, we are open and exchange opinions on it.