European Parliament recommendation to the Council on the EU priorities for the 64th Session of the UN General Assembly
The Committee on Foreign Affairs adopted the own-initiative report drawn up by Alexander Graf LAMBSDORFF (ALDE, DE) containing a series of recommendations to the Council on the EU priorities for the 64th Session of the UN General Assembly.
Overall, MEPs ask the Union to present itself within the United Nations system as an honest broker between the interests and values of different membership groups in order to promote common understanding and greater cohesion around the three closely interconnected pillars on which the UN rests, namely peace and security, economic and social development and human rights.
MEPs recommend that the Council take the following approach as regards the following issues:
Peace and security: MEPs ask for the Council to foster the debate initiated by the UN Secretary-General about the implementation of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) principle. MEPs also encourage the African Union to further develop its crisis management capabilities, and call on both EU and UN actors to support these efforts and to deepen the cooperation with the African Union in the establishment of peace and security on the African continent. They urge the EU Member States to make the necessary efforts so that the negotiations on the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism can be concluded.
Human rights: MEPs call on the UN Secretary-General to report to the UNGA’s 65th session about Member States’ compliance with the ban on the death penalty for juveniles and to include in his report information on the number of juvenile offenders currently sentenced to death and the number executed during the last five years. They call on the Council to promote and support efforts towards ensuring that the United Nations terrorism-related sanctions regime is subject to transparent and equitable procedures, particularly by introducing an effective notification procedure and by establishing an independent judicial review, in line with the case-law of the European Court of Justice. They urge the Security Council and its Counter-Terrorism Committee to cooperate with the relevant UN human rights bodies, in order to monitor continuously compliance with obligations under international human rights, refugee and humanitarian law. Once again, MEPs insist that all UN members ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
UN reform: MEPs call on the Council to develop EU coordination, including donor coordination, in relations with UN agencies, funds and programmes at headquarters as well as at country level, including by participating in UN-led multi-donor funds.
Environment: MEPs encourage the debate on the forthcoming UN Climate Change Conference (COP15) in Copenhagen in order to build consensus on and momentum behind the adoption of a new international agreement on climate change for the period post-2012. They propose, that in this context, support should rallied for a financial and technological package targeted at developing countries in order to facilitate their endorsement of a new binding agreement. In addition, MEPs endorse the adoption by the next UNGA of a more coherent structure for global environmental governance, as advocated by the Global Ministerial Environment Forum, a governance system which is capable of facing the enormous challenges ahead.
Global governance: MEPs consider that it is necessary to use the upcoming intergovernmental negotiations on the reform of the Security Council as an opportunity to focus on points of convergence and achieve tangible progress regarding the clarification of the Security Council's competences in relation to other UN bodies, the addition of new permanent and non-permanent members – possibly on a temporary basis – so as to improve the Security Council's representativeness and legitimacy, and the review of working methods of the Security Council. They emphasise that an EU seat in the Security Council remains the long-term goal of the European Union.
Non-proliferation and disarmament: MEPs call on the Council to promote conditions for a successful 2010 Review Conference of the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty (NPT), notably by endorsing and promoting the proposed Model Nuclear Weapons Convention. They call on it to achieve consensus around the proposed Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty. They should also engage multilaterally and bilaterally with UN Member States in order to relaunch the ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty.
Management reform: MEP request that full use of its financial leverage in the UN should be made in order to ensure that the budget for 2010-2011 better addresses the pressing operational needs of that organisation. MEPs call for a clear link to be established between better representation within the different UN bodies and a fairer sharing of the financial burden.
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs): MEPs consider that the should exercise global leadership in galvanising international action to deliver on the MDG pledges in view of the growing evidence that the world is falling far short of the promises made in relation to the MDGs. They advocate, in tandem with all these initiatives, signing up to the principles enshrined in the Paris Declaration on aid effectiveness, and to the Accra Agenda for Action, in order to improve the quality and delivery of aid. They invite the Commission to report on the progress made in implementing MDG contracts and encourage other donors to deliver more of their aid on a long-term, predictable basis in the form of budget support.
In conclusion, MEPs urge EU Member States to follow up on their commitment to effective multilateralism by ensuring the systematic and swift ratification of all UN conventions and treaties. Other issues concerning national parliaments and regional parliamentary assemblies are also covered.