VZCZCXYZ0001
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUCNDT #0735/01 2280003
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 150003Z AUG 08
FM USMISSION USUN NEW YORK
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 4810

UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 000735 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: UNSC PTER PREL UNGA
SUBJECT: 2008 MEETING OF THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON THE 
CHARTER OF THE UNITED NATIONS 
 
REF: A. IO/USUN EMAIL (EDMONDSON/WILCOX)-02/22/08 
     ¶B. B. USUN 1125 (2007) 
     ¶C. C. USUN 990 (2007) 
     ¶D. D. USUN 890 (2007) 
 
¶1.  (U) BEGIN SUMMARY:  The Special Committee on the Charter 
of the United Nations and on the Strengthening of the Role of 
the Organization ("Charter Committee"), a sub-Committee of 
the General Assembly Legal Committee, held its annual meeting 
at UN Headquarters from February 27-March 7, 2008.  The 
Committee or its working groups met February 27-29, March 
3-5, and March 7.  The Committee focused on a Russian working 
paper aimed at establishing basic conditions and criteria for 
the use of sanctions and other coercive measures and a new 
proposal by the Rio Group for the Committee to consider the 
legal aspects of UN reform, but did not reach consensus on 
either.  The Committee's report to the General Assembly 
(A/63/33) can be found at http://www.un.org/documents.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
¶2.  (U) During the Committee's opening session, USUN 
delivered a brief statement addressing issues on the agenda, 
based on past U.S. statements.  Among other things, USUN 
argued that many of the long-standing issues before the 
Committee have been addressed elsewhere and said the Charter 
Committee should not aim to devise norms concerning the 
design and implementation of sanctions.  Other delegations 
making formal opening statements were Slovenia (on behalf of 
the European Union), the Dominican Republic (on behalf of the 
Rio Group), and Cuba (on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement 
(NAM)). 
 
----------------------- 
Russian Sanctions Paper 
----------------------- 
 
¶3.  (SBU) The Committee focused its discussions on Russia's 
paper on the basic conditions for sanctions, on which General 
Assembly Resolution 62/69 tasked the Committee to continue 
its considerations "on a priority basis."  NAM delegations 
supported the paper and pressed for its immediate adoption. 
The EU, which had argued at previous Committee meetings that 
the paper duplicated sanctions-related work carried out 
elsewhere in the UN, engaged actively in discussions and 
signaled its willingness to adopt the paper.  (COMMENT:  The 
EU's decision to engage reflected its assessment that, in 
light of the significant amendments Russia made last year to 
accommodate delegations' concerns, it would be preferable to 
agree on the paper, paving the way for a deal under which the 
Committee would remove the other long-standing proposals on 
sanctions from its agenda.  END COMMENT.)  The key amendments 
the EU sought concerned the procedures for removing 
individuals and entities from sanctions lists and strongly 
supported language in the paper concerning the need for 
sanctions regimes to protect human rights.  The U.S. changes 
presented by USUN (ref A) proved controversial, with the NAM 
opposing them actively and introducing numerous 
counter-proposals that made provisions in the original text 
even less acceptable. 
 
¶4.  (U) The Committee did not reach consensus on the Russian 
paper, but the Committee agreed to recommend that the 
Committee continue to consider the paper, on a priority 
basis, at its next meeting, "with a view to focusing on the 
outstanding issues."  The paper, reflecting bracketed 
comments made by various delegations, is annexed to the 
Committee's report. 
 
------------------------------------------ 
Other Issues: Maintenance of International 
Peace and Security 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶5.  (U) The Committee also briefly addressed, but reached no 
conclusions on, the implementation of the provisions of the 
UN Charter relating to assistance to third States affected by 
sanctions, Libya's 2002 working paper on sanctions, and 
Cuba's 1997 and 1998 working papers on strengthening the role 
of the UN and enhancing its effectiveness. 
 
¶6.  (U) Belarus reiterated the importance of its 2005 working 
paper, prepared with the Russian Federation, recommending 
that the General Assembly request an advisory opinion from 
the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the legal 
consequences of the use of force by states without prior 
authorization by the Security Council, except in the exercise 
of the right to self-defense.  A number of NAM delegations 
supported the proposal, but the Committee did not reach 
consensus on it and decided merely to keep it on its agenda. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
Repertory of Practice of UN Organs, 
 
 
Repertoire of the Practice of the Security Council 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
¶7.  (U) The Secretariat briefed the Committee on the status 
of the preparation of the Repertory and the Repertoire, and 
its ongoing efforts to reduce their respective backlogs.  The 
Secretariat advised that supplement 11 had been published and 
that an advance version of supplement 12 was available on the 
Internet.  Consistent with its efforts to make the entire 
publication available in the UN's six official languages, the 
Secretariat said all published volumes of the Repertoire in 
French had been posted on on-line.  At the conclusion of the 
meeting, the Committee agreed, among other things, to 
recommend that the General Assembly reiterate its call for 
voluntary contributions to the trust funds for the Repertoire 
and the Repertory and call upon the Secretary-General to 
continue his efforts to update the two publications. 
 
--------------- 
Working Methods 
--------------- 
 
¶8.  (SBU) The Dominican Republic, on behalf of the Rio Group, 
submitted a written proposal for the General Assembly to 
assign a new item to the Charter Committee, entitled 
"Consideration of the legal aspects of the reform of the 
United Nations."  The Rio Group proposed that, under this 
item, the Committee, at the request of the General Assembly, 
would undertake the technical and legal review of matters 
such as amendments to the UN Charter that might be necessary 
to implement the GA's reform decisions.  Several delegations, 
including the EU, raised questions about the proposal, 
including whether the General Assembly would assign the item 
to the Committee in advance of a specific General Assembly 
request for the Committee to examine a topic relating to the 
legal aspects of UN reform.  Although the Committee did not 
reach consensus on the proposal, it decided to keep it on its 
agenda. 
Khalilzad