UN
Working
Methods Ritual
Masks Small 5
Trauma,
Singapore
Cites
O'Brien Letter
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 26 --
Security
Council reform
is a perennial
UN
issue, sadly
like the
Democratic
Republic of
the Congo.
Monday's
session on
Working
Methods was an
open debate
for the fifth
year in a
row.
But
this one was
different,
coming as it
did after the
shoot-down
of the
reform
resolution by
the so-called
Small Five by
a letter from
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's top
lawyer
Patricia
O'Brien.
Singapore
said,
"the Office of
Legal Affairs
gave an
interpretation
that
'it would be
appropriate if
the General
Assembly were
to adopt the
draft
resolution
with the
affirmative
vote of
two-thirds of
the
General
Assembly
membership.'
Member States
learnt of this
legal
opinion, not
from the OLA
or even the
PGA who had
first raised
the
query."
While
Singapore went
on to focus on
a Permanent
Five member
faxing the OLA
letter out --
to Inner City
Press'
information,
this was done
during
the General
Assembly
session -- the letter was
leaked and
published
by Inner
City Press the night before.
The
larger problem
was that
O'Brien letter
was never made
an official
document. It
was "put out
there" in
order to get
the Small
Five to
withdraw their
resolution.
Then it
disappeared.
And O'Brien
never appeared
to answer any
Press
questions
about the
letter and its
reasoning.
Such is the
lawless UN.
Still
Monday's
session, which
after
Singapore
heard from
Egypt, Small
Fiver
Switzerland
and Iran spoke
in the
morning, then
incoming
member South
Korea, Small
Fivers Costa
Rica and
Uruguay and
others in the
afternoon.
Russia's
Vitaly
Churkin in the
morning said
that working
methods are
the
property of
the Security
Council -- he
confirmed this
translation
afterward to
Inner City
Press, while
others told
Inner City
Press
that his
reference to
Charters Six
and Eight was
MIS-translated
as
Chapter Seven.
The P5 are
united on
these issues.
And many
beyond
them praised
the Council's
new website.
Morocco's
Ambassador
Loulichki
suggested that
non Permanent
members be
consulted on
what
committees
they might
like to chair.
Inner
City
Press hears
that on
Working
Methods or
documentation,
outgoing
member
Portugal might
be replaced by
incoming
Argentina.
Fresh from
their
face off with
the
International
Monetary Fund
and a
foreclosing
vulture fund,
here's hoping
they can move
the ball of
transparency
forward. Watch
this site.
Footnote:
Because it is
our wont, we
link again to
this study
of impacts of
various
Security
Council reform
proposals.
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