The Security Council
In the year 2004-05, India made a number of statements in public meetings of the Security Council on issues of importance such as Afghanistan, the Middle East, Timor- Leste, terrorism and the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction to non-state actors, as well as thematic issues such as UN peacekeeping operations, justice and the rule of law and women and peace and security.
The General Assembly
India made statements on all issues of political and strategic importance at the plenary session of the 59th United Nation General Assembly, including Work of the Organization; Report of the Security Council; Question of equitable representation on and increase in membership of the Security Council and related matters; Report of the International Atomic Energy Agency; the Question of Palestine; the Situation in the Middle East; the situation in Afghanistan and its implications for international peace and security and Emergency international assistance for peace, normalcy and reconstruction of war-stricken Afghanistan.
Terrorism
The Security Council’s Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) established pursuant to Security Council resolution 1373 (2001) followed an active programme of implementation involving appropriate legislative framework and measures to check financial flows to terrorists. India has to-date submitted four reports detailing legislative and other counter-measures in place against terrorism. India also made statements on three separate occasions in the Security Council in 2004-05 on the item “Threats to International Peace and Security Caused by Terrorist Acts”.
With the adoption of resolution 1535 of 26 March 2004 the Security Council established the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) to enhance
the CTC’s ability to monitor the implementation of resolution 1373 and effectively continue the capacity- building work in which it was engaged. It also reflected the intention of the CTC to assume a more proactive role in its dialogue with Member States, evaluate the implementation of Resolution 1373, facilitate technical assistance to Member States and promote closer cooperation and coordination with International, Regional and Sub-regional organisations.
The adoption of resolution 1566 (8 October 2004) by the Security Council which, inter alia, condemned in the strongest terms all acts of terrorism irrespective of their motivation and called upon Member States to cooperate fully to expeditiously adopt the draft Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT) and the draft international convention for the suppression of acts of nuclear terrorism, was welcomed by India as a logical extension of the existing multilateral cooperation on counter-terrorism and the ideas first enunciated in Security Council resolutions 1267 (1999) and 1373.
Peacekeeping
India is presently one of the leading troop contributors to UN Peacekeeping. India presently contributes troops to eight of the sixteen ongoing UN Peace -keeping operations.It is involved in the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC), the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) and has a major civilian police component in the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). It has also provided military personnel to the UN Missions in Burundi and Cote d’Ivoire, as also police officers to UN Missions in Sierra Leone and Cyprus. India will also be contributing an infantry battalion, together with specialized and enabling resources, including an Air Force and Police component, to the upcoming UN Mission in Sudan (UNMISUD).
Presently, two senior positions in the field and at UN Headquarters are held by Indians. Gen Randhir Kumar Mehta was appointed to the prestigious post of the Military Adviser to the Department of Peacekeeping Operations of the UN Secretariat on 29 January 2005.
The Centre for UN Peacekeeping (CUNPK), which was established in September 2000 as a joint effort of the Ministry of External Affairs and Ministry of Defence, with the objective of meeting UN training requirements and research, held various peacekeeping related events in the course of the year. The ‘Asia Pacific Peace Operations -
Lessons Learned Seminar’ was co-hosted by CUNPK with the United States Centre of Excellence for Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance, from 19-23 April 2004. The Seminar was attended by 35 foreign participants from 15 countries and 35 participants from India. CUNPK also conducted two international training capsules with the aim of providing integrated training in UN peacekeeping to Military contingent Junior Officers and Military Observers. A total of 26 foreign officers and 57 Indian officers attended these capsules. The participation of some nominees from developing countries was funded by Government of India. A National Seminar was held on 11-12 October 2004 to explore the topic
‘Future of Peace Operations – Implications for India’, in which 68 military and civilian personnel participated. 15 foreign and 20 Indian officers will be taking part in the UN Logistics & Staff Officers capsule scheduled to be conducted in January 2005.
India has a bilateral dialogue on peacekeeping with U.S.
and UK. The fourth meeting of the Indo-UK Joint Working Group on Peacekeeping was held in CUNPK, New Delhi from 23-25 November 2004. The meeting saw a comprehensive exchange of views on the emerging challenges in peacekeeping and an understanding of mutual perspectives on various conceptual and operational dimensions of peacekeeping. Apart from an exchange of experiences and ideas, the JWG is also a forum for planning joint activities and identifying institutional cooperation in peacekeeping. In this framework, a three- week ‘Train the Trainer’ programme was conducted in New Delhi by Centrex, the U.K. national police training institute, for Indian police officers involved in training for UN peacekeeping. Further initiatives in bilateral cooperation including a mutual exchange of instructors for peacekeeping training Centres have been identified.
Non-Aligned Movement
India participated at the XIV Ministerial Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement which was held in Durban, South Africa from 17-19 August 2004. Minister of State for External Affairs Shri Rao Inderjit Singh led the Indian delegation. The Conference adopted the Durban Declaration reiterating NAM’s commitment to strengthening multilateralism and the centrality of the United Nations. The theme of the Conference
“Challenges to Multilateralism in the 21st century” was discussed in the interactive Ministerial session. In his statement, Shri Rao Inderjit Singh brought out the integral link between non-alignment and multilateralism. He also
From left to right: Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi,Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and German Vice-Chancellor Joschka Fisher during the G-4 Meeting in New York on 21 September 2004.
Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh addressing the 59th session of UN General Assembly in New York on 23 September 2004.
stressed the need for UN reforms, of ensuring balance between the developmental and promotional aspects of UN, as distinct from regulatory aspects. He emphasized the need for pooling together the capabilities in major developing countries and made some concrete suggestions in this regard.
India participated at the Ministerial Meeting of the NAM Committee on Palestine held at Putrajaya, Malaysia on 13 May 2004 which decided to establish a Ministerial delegation to be led by the Malaysian chair, to interact with the Quartet (UN, EU, US and Russia) and the P-5, to facilitate forward movement in the Middle East peace process. Reiterating its solidarity with the Palestinian cause and expressing concern at the grave political and humanitarian situation in the occupied territories and the unravelling of the peace process, the meeting also urged the U.N. Security Council to authorize an international presence and establish a UN Peacekeeping Mission in the occupied territories; convene a special meeting on Palestine on the sidelines of the next UNGA and further mobilize international public opinion and civil society.
India also supported adoption, by the General Assembly, of the NAM resolution entitled “Reaffirming the central role of the United Nations in the maintenance of international peace and security and promotion of international cooperation”, on 5 August 2004.
The Annual Meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Non-Aligned Movement was held on the margins of the 59th session of the UN General Assembly on 29 September 2004. India participated in the interactive debate held during the meeting on the topic “Reforming the United Nations to meet Global Threats and Challenges in the 21st Century”. Based on the views expressed by the delegates, the inputs of NAM on the issue of UN reform were forwarded to the UN Secretary General’s High Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change.
Middle East
The situation in the Middle East was a matter of continued debate in the UN this year.The Tenth Emergency Special Session of the General Assembly on the Situation in the Occupied East Jerusalem and the rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territory was reconvened on 16-20 July 2004 to consider the item on the “Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice on the legal consequences of the construction of a wall in the occupied Palestinian territory”. India made a statement at the meeting and voted in favour of the resolution which, inter alia,
acknowledged the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice. The resolution was adopted by a vote of 150 votes in favour, 6 against and 10 abstentions.
Consideration of Agenda Items on the situation in the Middle East and the Question of Palestine was taken up at the General Assembly on 29-30 November 2004.
Several countries, including India, participated in the debate on these items. While expressing regret and condolences over the death of President Arafat, most speakers called upon the parties concerned to put an end to violence and resume political dialogue through implementation of the “Quartet” Roadmap. Many delegations were of the view that elections scheduled in the Palestinian Authority and Israel’s disengagement plan offered new opportunities to fulfil the vision of two States living side by side within secure and recognised borders.
India voted in favour of the traditional resolutions under the above agenda items. India also participated in an open debate of the Security Council on the item ‘The situation in the Middle East’.
Iraq
Following the request of the Iraqi Governing Council and the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) for UN facilitation in the transitional political process, the UN Secretary General’s Special Advisor Lakhdar Brahimi visited Iraq in February and April 2004 and outlined a detailed roadmap for political transition. UN Security Council resolution 1546 adopted unanimously on 8 June 2004 endorsed the Brahimi timetable for Iraqi political transition and stated that the U.N. should play a leading role in the process, as requested by the Iraqi Government.
As the first step in the above plan, an Iraqi Interim Government (IIG) took over sovereignty on 30 June 2004 with the simultaneous dissolution of the Iraqi Governing Council. The U.N. Security Council and the UN Secretary General welcomed the handover of full responsibility and authority for governing Iraq to the IIG and the end of the occupation. On 14 July 2004, Mr. Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, who was serving as Pakistan’s ambassador to the U.S was nominated as the Secretary General’s Special Representative for Iraq. The second step of the Brahimi Plan was completed in mid-August 2004 when the U.N.
facilitated the convening of a representative National Conference of over a thousand delegates, which in turn selected the members of the Interim National Council, set up to advise the Interim Government on policy matters. The UN also assisted in a limited manner in organizing the direct national elections held on 31 January
2005 to elect a Transitional Government. The UN assisted in establishing an independent Electoral Commission and in the technical preparation involving drafting of a legislative framework, preparation of voters’ lists and training of electoral workers. The elections are to be followed by the drafting of a new constitution and convening of a referendum to approve it, followed by the setting up of a constitutionally elected permanent Iraqi Government by 31 December 2005.
Apart from outlining the timetable for Iraqi political transition, UN Security Council resolution 1546 also determined the thorny issue regarding status of the multinational force and its relationship with the Iraqi Government, by mandating the setting up of the MNF on the basis of the request of the IIG; by endorsing a
‘security partnership’ between the MNF and the IIG and by making the continuation of the MNF in Iraq beyond the stipulated one year, contingent upon the wishes of the IIG. UNSCR 1546 also included provisions for full transfer of economic powers including the disbursal of the Development Fund of Iraq and the Oil-for-food Programme.
Thus, from being a marginal player in the immediate aftermath of the war, the UN moved on to play a bigger role in the Iraqi political transition process. While the U.N. is being called upon to play a larger role and has the necessary mandate for it under UNSCR 1546, in reality, it is hamstrung by the difficult security situation and has had only a limited impact on the ground. Although the UN has been re-engaged in Iraq, whether it would be able to play a more substantive role and lead the forthcoming critical steps in the transition process remain to be seen.
India welcomed the unanimous adoption of UNSCR 1546, viewing the endorsement of the Interim Government of Iraq as the first step towards the transparent transfer of full sovereignty to the people of Iraq. Noting that the role of the UN had been unanimously accepted, it expected that the UN would play a central role in the developing situation in Iraq. Since the priority, in India’s view, was to ensure an early return to conditions of security and normalcy for all the people of Iraq, and keeping in mind its historic and long-standing relationship with the Iraqi people, India reiterated its commitment to assist Iraq in the arduous task of political and economic reconstruction.
India announced a contribution of $ 30 million towards humanitarian assistance and reconstruction needs of Iraq through the ‘International Reconstruction Fund Facility for Iraq (IRFF) set up by the UN. In June 2004, India
conveyed its interest in having the contribution earmarked for electoral assistance in Iraq. Subsequently, pursuant to the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Election Commission of India and the United Nations for Cooperation in Electoral Assistance on 29 August 2004, India has offered assistance to Iraq, through the United Nations, in training of election officials and other election-related areas, as also financial assistance of $ 5 million through the IRFF. Of this, an amount of $ 2.5 million has been earmarked for the UN Iraq Trust Fund for Iraqi elections.
Afghanistan
In the UN, India continued to be supportive of a strong, united, sovereign and independent Afghanistan. On 8 December 2004 the UN General Assembly took up two items for discussion: ‘The situation in Afghanistan and its implications for international peace and security’ and
‘Emergency international assistance for peace, normalcy and reconstruction of war-stricken Afghanistan’. A number of countries, including India, made statements under these agenda items. While India commended the Afghan people for the successful electoral process and the election of President Karzai as the first democratically elected President of Afghanistan, it also cautioned about the fragile security situation in the country, especially continuing terrorist activity; drug production and challenges to the consolidation of the central government.
All speakers, without exception, noted the remarkable progress made by Afghanistan in its transition process, in particular the successful adoption of a Constitution and holding of presidential elections. Many delegations, however, referred to the continuing challenges faced by Afghanistan including, inter alia, terrorist threats, presence of militias, drug production and trafficking and criminal activity. Several delegations also referred to the need to conduct timely and credible parliamentary and local elections. Demonstrative of continued international interest in Afghanistan, as many as 145 Member States, including India, co-sponsored the General Assembly resolution on Afghanistan, which was adopted by consensus.
Information
The Committee on Information (COI) which makes recommendations to the General Assembly on the policy and activities of the Department of Public Information (DPI) held its annual session in New York in April–May 2004. The main issue of interest continued to be the controversy over the United Nations Information Centres
(UNICs). It was agreed that any decision on regionalisation of UNICs would be deferred until a detailed status report was made available to the Committee on the functioning of the Regional Information Centre that has been functional in Brussels since February 2004. Upon conclusion of its proceedings, the Committee adopted two resolutions on “Information in the service of humanity” and “United Nations Public Information Activities and Policies”. The Committee also took a decision to expand its membership from 102 to 107 to include Qatar, Iceland, Luxembourg, Madagascar and Cape Verde. The two resolutions and the decision were subsequently endorsed by the Fourth Committee when it discussed the agenda item: “Questions Relating to Information” on 21 October 2004. These were thereafter adopted by the plenary of the General Assembly on 10 December 2004.
The Economic and Social Council
The substantive session of ECOSOC was held in New York from 28 June -23 July 2004. The theme for the high- level segment this year was “Resources Mobilisation and Enabling Environment for Poverty Eradication in the context of the implementation of the Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the Decade 2001-2010”. A Ministerial Declaration was adopted at the conclusion of the high-level segment, which recognised the weak implementation of the Programme of Implementation for the LDCs, reaffirmed that good governance both at national and international levels was essential for the implementation of the commitments embodied in the Programme of Action and emphasised the need for concrete and substantial international support from governments and international organisations to the efforts by LDCs themselves.
The ECOSOC decided to endorse a strategy for smooth transition of countries graduating from Least Developed Country status and the recommendation of the Committee on Development Policy to graduate Cape Verde and Maldives from the group of Least Developed Countries and requested the General Assembly to take note of the recommendation.
The ECOSOC reviewed the work of the ad hoc advisory groups of the ECOSOC on African countries emerging from conflict and decided to extend the mandate of the ad hoc advisory groups on Guinea-Bissau and Burundi till the substantive session in 2005. The ECOSOC also decided to reactivate the ad hoc advisory group on Haiti and mandated the group to provide advice on Haiti’s long-
term development strategy to promote socio-economic recovery and stability for consideration of the ECOSOC at its substantive session in 2005.
The ECOSOC decided to upgrade the Ad hoc Group of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters to a Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters and to expand its mandate to consider, inter alia, how new and emerging issues could affect international cooperation in tax matters and develop assessments and appropriate recommendations.
59th General Assembly
India continued to play an active role in the Second Committee. The General Assembly decided to convene a high-level plenary meeting of the Assembly at the commencement of the 60th session in 2005, to undertake a comprehensive review of the progress made in the fulfilment of all the commitments contained in the Millennium Declaration, including the internationally agreed development goals and the global partnership required for their achievement, and of the progress made in the integrated and coordinated implementation of the outcomes of the major UN conferences and summits in the economic, social and related fields. In the light of this decision, deliberations on economic, environment and development issues in the Second Committee focused on the implementation of the outcomes of the major UN conferences and summits and the need for increased resource flows for development. Delegations also emphasised the need to discuss new and innovative sources of financing for development, to complement the increased aid flows. The General Assembly decided to consider the proposals within the overall framework for the follow-up of the International Conference on Financing for Development.
The report of the World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalisation entitled “A fair globalisation:
Creating opportunities for all” received broad support of delegations. A special meeting was organised by co-chairs of the World Commission, Finnish President Tarja Halonen and Tanzanian President Benjamin William Mkapa, on 20 September 2004 at the United Nations to launch the report. Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh in his message on this occasion highlighted that effective national action required an enabling and facilitatory international environment, in which countries may formulate policies designed to promote economic growth and social justice, and expressed the hope that the report would lead to the development of a broader international