DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL WELCOMES ADOPTION OF ‘HISTORIC RESOLUTION’
ON PREVENTION OF ARMED CONFLICT BY GENERAL ASSEMBLY
Following is the statement delivered by Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette upon the adoption of the General
Assembly resolution on the prevention of armed conflict:
I am here today to warmly welcome the adoption by the General Assembly of this historic resolution on the prevention of
armed conflict. In adopting this resolution, the membership is responding to the report of the Secretary-General of 2001
The Secretary-General has taken conflict prevention as one of his major priorities, pledging to move the United Nations
from a culture of reaction to a culture of prevention. It was in line with this priority and in response to the Security
Council debates and presidential statements of 1999 and 2000 that he prepared a comprehensive report in 2001. The
Security Council endorsed the report in resolution 1366 of that same year.
Now, after two years of hard work, the General Assembly has adopted its first substantive resolution on this important
issue. I hope it will become a landmark for our efforts in this field. As the Secretary-General reminded us in his
report, we have an obligation to the victims of violence around the world to take seriously the challenge of prevention
and to move from rhetoric to reality.
I congratulate the President of the General Assembly, His Excellency, Mr. Jan Kavan, for taking that obligation to
heart, for the leadership he demonstrated, and for the very difficult and time-consuming consultations he undertook over
the past months to bring us this far. I would also like to thank Ambassadors Schori and Elvemar from Sweden who,
together with the President, chaired most of the meetings with patience, perseverance and a positive outlook. All
delegations who actively participated in the consultations employed the most constructive approach in negotiations,
making possible the adoption of this very substantial resolution.
The Secretariat, for its part, is committed to strengthening the capacity of the United Nations system in order to carry
out more effectively its responsibilities for the prevention of armed conflict. As called for in the resolution, we will
submit a detailed review of the capacity of the United Nations system in the context of preparing a comprehensive report
to the Assembly on the implementation of the present resolution.
I ask for continued support from the General Assembly as we all -- the Secretariat, United Nations system, the Member
States, regional organizations and civil society -- build on the conclusions and recommendations of this resolution, and
I welcome the General Assembly’s decision to include a specific item on conflict prevention on its provisional agenda
for the fifty-ninth session.
I also look forward to increased interaction and close cooperation between the General Assembly and other major organs
of the United Nations, in particular, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council and the Secretary-General,
in this regard. We in the Secretariat will do all in our power to make the implementation process of this resolution a
successful endeavour, both for the Member States and the United Nations system, as well as for all other partners
involved.
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Fifty-seventh General Assembly
Plenary
93rd Meeting (AM)
GENERAL ASSEMBLY, BY CONSENSUS, ADOPTS ‘LANDMARK’ RESOLUTION
ON PREVENTION OF ARMED CONFLICT
Roles of States, UN Bodies, Other Stakeholders Defined;
Assembly Extends Mandate of Working Group on Security Council Enlargement
After five months of intensive negotiations, the General Assembly today adopted a resolution on the prevention of armed
conflict, hailed as one of the most important resolutions of the current session and expected to be a landmark in the
Organization’s efforts in that field.
An annex to the resolution (A/57/L.79) sets out the roles of Member States, the Assembly itself, the Security Council,
the Economic and Social Council and the Secretary-General, as well as of regional organizations, civil society and the
private sector, in preventing armed conflict.
Welcoming the adoption of the text, Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette recalled that the Secretary-General had
taken conflict prevention as one of his major priorities, pledging to move the United Nations from a culture of reaction
to a culture of prevention. As he had stated, the United Nations had an obligation to the victims of violence around the
world to take seriously the challenge of prevention and to move from rhetoric to reality.
She added that the Secretariat, for its part, was committed to strengthening the capacity of the United Nations system
to carry out more effectively its responsibilities for the prevention of armed conflict. As called for in the
resolution, the Secretariat would submit a detailed review of the capacity of the United Nations system in the context
of preparing a comprehensive report to the Assembly on the implementation of the resolution. (For the full text of the
statement, see Press Release DSG/SM/201-GA/10144.)
Introducing the text and responding to certain concerns, Assembly President Jan Kavan (Czech Republic) emphasized that
the language would not set a precedent for any future negotiations. Its adoption, by consensus, would give a strong
political signal to the world and confirm the strong will of all Member States to enhance the United Nations preventive
capacity and to move further from a culture of reaction to one of prevention.
Although the concept of the prevention of armed conflict had been at the forefront of the United Nations attention for a
long time, only after the Secretary-General’s report did Member States begin to work more intensively on the project, he
said. It had not been an easy process and had taken the Assembly three years to produce a concrete response to the
Secretary-General’s report (A/55/985).
Mr. Kavan said he had aimed at producing a text that was clear and intelligible, yet strong, laying out all the
principal elements relevant to the General Assembly’s role in the prevention of armed conflict. The final text was a
“good compromise” and provided a sound base for further strengthening the role of the United Nations in armed conflict
prevention. He paid tribute to the many people that participated in concluding a consensus text.
Several delegations expressed their concern about the language in the resolution serving as a precedent for future
negotiations. Iran’s representative said that while he agreed with the content in the paragraphs on the obligation of
States regarding multilateral disarmament treaties, he could not agree with the universality of those treaties. The
present language in the resolution enabled non—States parties to delay their accession to those treaties and to keep
their facilities outside the monitoring regime.
The representative of the United States regretted that the text had become a vehicle for comment on unrelated subjects.
For example, official development assistance (ODA) was neither the cause nor the solution to armed conflict and its
inclusion was not entirely relevant. Several delegations, including Jordan, Pakistan and Egypt, would have preferred
stronger language regarding foreign occupation. Israel’s representative regretted that certain delegations had sought to
introduce politicized language into the text, which undermined the noble mission of the resolution.
As a country emerging from armed conflict and trying to prevent a reoccurrence of conflict, Sierra Leone had actively
participated in the negotiations on the text, stated its representative. While not legally binding, the resolution would
be a powerful document carrying moral weight, which deserved the attention of those committed to peace and the
prevention of armed conflict.
Also taking part in the discussion were the representatives of Peru (on behalf of the Rio Group), Guatemala, Italy (on
behalf of the European Union), Armenia and Morocco.
In other action, the Assembly adopted a decision recommended by its Open-ended Working Group on the Question of
Equitable Representation on and Increase in the Membership of the Security Council and Other Matters related to the
Security Council. In doing so, the Assembly welcomed the progress made, as provisional agreement has been recorded on a
large number of issues. Noting that substantial differences of views remain on other issues, it decided that the Working
Group should continue its work during the fifty-eighth session.
The next meeting of the Assembly will be announced.
Summary of Text
By the terms of the text, contained in document A/57/L.79, the Assembly decided to adopt the conclusions and
recommendations annexed to it, based on its consideration of the report of the Secretary-General on the prevention of
armed conflict (A/55/985-S/2001/574), addressing the roles of Member States, the General Assembly, the Security Council,
the Economic and Social Council, the Secretary-General, regional organizations, civil society and the private sector.
The Assembly called on Member States to achieve the goals of the Millennium Declaration, including development goals,
and the outcomes of the major United Nations conferences and summits. Member States and the international community at
large were called upon to support poverty eradication measures and the development strategies of developing countries.
Further, the Assembly called on Member States to implement their obligations assumed as States parties to treaties in
such areas as arms control, non-proliferation and disarmament and to strengthen their international verification
instruments; and urged them, as well as relevant United Nations bodies, to take appropriate measures to fully implement
the Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its
Aspects (document A/CONF.192/15, para. 24).
The Assembly called for Member States’ compliance in good faith with their obligations to international legal
instruments relevant to the prevention of conflict and further urged them to make the most effective use of existing and
new procedures and methods for the peaceful settlement of their disputes, including arbitration, mediation and other
treaty-based arrangements, and the International Court of Justice, to settle their disputes in a peaceful manner and,
thereby, promote the role of international law in international relations.
Also, the Assembly invited States that had not already done so to consider becoming parties to arms control,
non-proliferation and disarmament treaties. Further, it stressed the need to bring to justice perpetrators of war crimes
and crimes against humanity as a significant contribution towards the promotion of a culture of prevention; and also
stressed the important role that women, in their various capacities, and with their expertise, training and knowledge
could play in preventing armed conflict in all its aspects.
Regarding the role of the Security Council, the Assembly recommended that the Council continue to mandate peacekeeping
operations and include in them peace-building elements. It encouraged the Council to give prompt consideration to early
warning or prevention cases brought to its attention by the Secretary-General, and to use appropriate mechanisms, such
as the Working Group on Conflict Prevention and Resolution in Africa, with due regard to relevant regional and
subregional dimensions. Additionally, the Assembly reaffirmed that the primary responsibility for the maintenance of
international peace and security is conferred upon the Security Council.
In addition, the Assembly called for the strengthening of cooperation between the United Nations and regional
organizations in the prevention of armed conflict, particularly in capacity-building and the coordination of their
respective activities. For that purpose, it requested the Secretary-General to present concrete proposals for enhancing
Secretariat support of those activities within his comprehensive report. Similarly, the Assembly recognized civil
society’s important role in armed conflict prevention by inviting it to continue to support such efforts.
The Assembly supported the more active involvement of the Economic and Social Council with regard to the prevention of
armed conflict, and welcomed ECOSOC resolution 2002/1 of 15 July 2002, which envisages the creation of ad hoc advisory
groups on African countries emerging from conflicts.
As to the role of the Secretary-General, the Assembly welcomed his intention to engage within the United Nations system
in a focused dialogue on what practical measures the latter needs to take to promote greater coherence in its activities
aimed at the prevention or armed conflict. Also, it recommended that consideration be given to identifying the proper
framework for the elaboration of system-wide coherent and action-oriented strategies within the United Nations system,
at Headquarters and in the field, and for rationalizing the funding procedures for the prevention of armed conflict.
Regarding its own role, the Assembly expressed its determination to make more effective use of its powers under various
and relevant Articles of the Charter for the prevention of armed conflict, and decided to consider ways of enhancing
interaction with the other United Nations organs, especially the Security Council and the ECOSOC, and with the
Secretary-General in developing and implementing long- and short-term measures and strategies aimed at preventing armed
conflict.
Report of Working Group
The Assembly also had before it a report of the Open-ended Working Group on the Question of Equitable Representation on
and Increase in the Membership of the Security Council and Other Matters related to the Security Council (document
A/57/47), describing the Working Group’s five sessions held during the fifty-seventh session.
The report states that, during those five sessions, the Working Group, established in 1993, considered in a similar and
balanced manner, the “Cluster I” and “Cluster II” issues. Cluster I issues include decision-making in the Security
Council, including the veto; expansion of the Security Council; and periodic review of the enlarged Security Council.
Cluster II issues address the working methods of the Security Council and transparency of its work.
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