NEW YORK, June 12 (KUNA) -- Kuwait's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah on Wednesday presided over a UN Security Council session on maintenance of international peace and security, conflict prevention and mediation.
The session, held as part of Kuwait presidency of the Council for June, opened with briefings by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, former Irish President and Chair of the Elders Mary Robinson, and Deputy Chair of the Elders Ban Ki-moon.
The Council was also briefed on a letter, dated May 31, 2019, from the Permanent Representative of Kuwait to the UN Secretary-General, on the basic objectives of the country's foreign policy.
In his address to the Council, Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled thanked the Secretary-General for his "invaluable report," renewing Kuwait's support to his efforts to enhance the efficacy of the UN working mechanisms, particularly those relating to conflict prevention and mediation.
He appreciated the presence of The Elders - a group of independent global leaders founded by Nelson Mandela to promote good governance and ethical leadership, for their long experience in improving the living of millions of people around the globe, and protecting human rights and women rights.
He said the group is led by Robinson - a human rights advocate who served as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and Ban - a former UN secretary-general and Noble Peace laureate who spearheaded lobbying for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris climate agreement.
Dealing with the maintenance of international peace and security - the main topic of the agenda of today's Council meeting, Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled reminded the gathering of the purposes and principles of the UN as set in Article 1 of the UN Charter.
Citing the text, he said, "To maintain international peace and security, and to that end: to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace, and for the suppression of acts of aggression or other breaches of the peace, and to bring about by peaceful means, and in conformity with the principles of justice and international law, adjustment or settlement of international disputes or situations which might lead to a breach of the peace." "Kuwait's call for convening this session provides us with a chance to assess the role of the Security Council in conflict prevention and mediation, with a view to strengthening this role and addressing the security, political and humanitarian crises at their early stages," Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled pointed out.
"The escalating trend of crises in our world in the recent years became more complicated than ever. Surely, these crises could be averted if the Security Council uses the tools at its disposal more effectively," he regretted.
"The UN Charter, particularly Article VI, provides us with many tools which can prevent or settle disputes peacefully.
"This article requires the parties to any dispute to, 'first of all, seek a solution by negotiation, enquiry, mediation, conciliation, arbitration, judicial settlement, resort to regional agencies or arrangements, or other peaceful means of their own choice.' "It requires that 'the Security Council shall, when it deems necessary, call upon the parties to settle their dispute by such means,'" he went on.
Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled noted that Article VIII encourages the regional arrangements or agencies to deal with "such matters relating to the maintenance of international peace and security as are appropriate for regional action." "In this context, let me applaud the important cooperation between the Security Council and the African Union to settle many issue in African Continent. "Drawing on this cooperation, the State of Kuwait is to convene a session on cooperation between the Security and the Arab League tomorrow Thursday," the minister said, affirming the conviction that the session will take place at a crucial time given the turmoil and instability in several Arab countries.
Dealing with the important role of the Secretary General in this regard, Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled said Article 99 of the UN Charter lays a great responsibility on the Secretary General in dispute prevention.
"Translating the provisions of this article into action, the Secretary-General prioritized the issue of mediation and used his good offices to appoint special envoys to various conflict-hit areas and high-level board of consultants on preventive diplomacy as a means of conflict prevention," he pointed out.
Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled highlighted the need of backing the efforts of the Secretary-General to prevent disputes, with a view to avoiding the loss of huge sums of money which are spent annually on crises settlement and peacekeeping missions as well as the post-conflict recovery.
"The challenges facing the mediation efforts, whether local, regional or international, require that such efforts be as inclusive and comprehensive as possible in order to address the root causes of disputes, including the political, security, economic and social aspects of such disputes," he stated.
Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled underscored the importance of element of time in mediation efforts, which could avert the exacerbation of disputes.
He extolled the Secretary-General and his personal envoys for their efforts to settle disputes around the world.
"The Security Council has accumulative experience which could help take innovative steps to maintain the international peace and security and mediation.
"We have set forth, in our paper of concepts that was distributed to the members of the Council, some measures that could contribute to the conflict prevention and mediation efforts. These measures include forming a small team of mediators from the Council members," Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled said.
The team of mediators could pay field visits to the conflict-hit areas as part of the preventive diplomacy, besides using more effectively the Council's traditional tools such as peacekeeping missions, and sanctions on individuals and entities, he went on.
"The success of the Council in using the available means remains to be conditional on the unity of, and consensus among, the five permanent members of the Council," he said.
Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled cited the crises of Palestine and Syria as stark examples of Council failure to shoulder its responsibilities effectively due to some of these members using of their veto powers.
He highlighted the importance of multilateralism in addressing the political, security and humanitarian challenges facing the world.
He noted that preventive diplomacy is a mainstay in Kuwait's foreign policy, which prioritizes dialogue as a means of dispute settlement based on the rules of the international laws, and the provisions of the UN Charter.
He vowed that the State of Kuwait would continue to be a peace-loving country using its preventive diplomacy to contribute to maintenance of international security and peace. The Kuwaiti delegation to the Council session includes Assistant Foreign Minister Sheikh Dr. Ahmad Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah, the Permanent Representative to the UN Mansour Al-Otaibi and Assistant Foreign Minister Nasser Al-Hayyen and other senior diplomats, (pickup previous) amh.gb