S/PV.3128 Security Council

The PRESIDENT (interprctation from French): The Security Council will now begin its consideration of the item on its agenda. The Security Council is meeting in accordance with the understanding reached in its prior consultations. Members of the Council have before them document $/24111 containing the report of the Secretary-General pursuant to the statement adopted by the Summit Meeting of the Security Council on 31 January 1992. Following consultations among members of the Security Council, I have been authorized to make the following statement on behalf of the Council: "In line with the presidential statement of 30 June 1992 (S/24210), the Security Council has begun to examine the Secretary-General's report "An Agenda for Peace" (S/24111). "This examination of "An Agenda tor Peace" by the Security Council will be coordinated with the discussions carried out in the General Assembly. The Council welcomes in this regard the ccntact already established between the Presidents of the two organs and invites its President to continue and intensify such contacts, "The Security 'ouncil intends to examine the proposals of the Secretary-General which concern or are addressed to it. For this purpose, the members of the Council have decided to meet at least once a month on the report, such meetings being prepared for, as necessary, by a working group. "One objective of this examination is to arrive at conclusions which would be considered during a special meeting of the Council. The Council will determine the date of this meeting bearing in mind the progress of the work in the present session of the General Assembly, but it hopes to hold the meeting at the latest next spring. "fhe Security Council has followed with close interest the views expressed by Member States in the General Assembly during the general debate as well as during the discussions on item 10 of the agenda of the General Assembly. It has also noted the report of the special session of the Special Committee on Peace-keeping Operations (A/47/386). It has now identified the Secretary-~General's proposals which concern or are addressed to it. "Without prejudice to the further examination of other proposals of the Secretary-General, and taking into account the greatly increased number and complexity of peace-keeping operations authorized by the Council during the recent months, the Council believes that two suggestions contained in "An Agenda for Peace" should be considered at this moment: "The Security Council, in accordance with the recommendations contained in paragraph 51 of the Secretary General's report, encourages Member States to inform the Secretary~General of their general willingness to provide forces or capabilities te the United Nations for peace-keeping operations and the type of units or capabilities that might be available at short notica, subject to overriding national defence requirements and the approval of the Governments providing them. It further encourages the Secretariat and those Member States which have indicated such willingness to enter into direct dialogue so as to enable the Secretery-General to know with greater clarity what forces or capabilities might be made available to the United Nations for particular peace-keeping operations and in what time scale, "The Security Council shares the view of the Secretary-General in paragraph 52 of his report concerning the need for an augmentation of the strength and capability of military staff serving in the Secretariat and of civilian staff dealing with peace-keeping matters more generally in the Secretariat. The Council suggests to the Secretary-General that he report to it, as well as to the General Assembly, on this subject as soon as possible. The Secretary-General might consider in his report the establishment in the Secretariat of an enhanced peace-keeping planning staff and an operations centre in order to deal with the greater com, lexity of initial planning and control in the field of peace-keeping operations. The Council further suggests to Member States that they consider making available to the Secretariat appropriately experienced military or civilian staff, for a fixed period of time, to help with work on peace~keeping operations. "Moreover, the Security Council intends to discuss those paragraphs which are addressed to it including paragraph 41 concerning the special economic problems which may concern other States when sanctions are imposed on a State, paragraphs 64 and 65 concerning the role of regional organizations and paragraph 25 concerning resort by the United Nations to fact-finding." The Security Council has thus concluded the present stage of its consideration of the item on its agenda. The meeting rose at 11.25 a.m.