S/PV.3294 Security Council

The Council will now proceed to the consideration of its report to the General Assembly, the draft of which has been prepared by the Secretariat. I wish to note that, in accordance with the decision taken last June, we are considering the report for the first time in a public meeting. I shall now call on the Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, who will make an explanatory statement. Mr. SEVAN (Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs): The draft annual report of the Security Council for the period from 16 June 1992 to 15 June 1993, to be submitted to the General Assembly in pursuance of paragraph 3 of Article 24 and paragraph 1 of Article 15 of the Charter of the United Nations, has been prepared by the Secretariat in line with the revised format agreed upon by the Security Council in 1974, 1985 and 1993. It will be recalled that in 1974 the Council decided to omit summaries of statements at formal meetings. In 1985 it decided not to summarize other documents of which the complete texts are already available or are to be included in the quarterly supplements. Accordingly, the report indicates the meetings and documentation pertaining to each item but does not include a summary of the statements made at formal meetings or a summary of the communications received. Coverage of meetings is limited to an account of all motions and proposals put forward or decisions and resolutions adopted and any reservations expressed, together with an indication of those delegations or speakers who took the floor. The results of the votes are recorded and all documents received by the Council are listed chronologically under each relevant chapter. The details of discussions in formal meetings of the Council and other communications received are to be found, respectively, in the verbatim records of the Security Council and the quarterly supplements to which the report makes reference. In June 1993, the Council expressed its agreement with the proposals related to the future format, adoption and timely submission of the annual report, which were circulated in a note by the President of the Security Council dated 30 June 1993 in document S/26015. The decisions pertaining to the issue of the formal report concern the appendices, specifically appendices V and VI, listing resolutions adopted by the Council and presidential statements. As agreed upon by members of the Council, the two appendices provide cross-references for each resolution and presidential statement to the relevant chapter, section and sub-section of the report. The table of contents at the beginning of the report also provides cross-references for resolutions and statements according to subject-matter. The draft report was circulated on 11 October 1993 to the current members of the Security Council and also to respective members whose terms of office expired on 31 December 1992 - that is, Austria, Belgium, Ecuador, India and Zimbabwe - for their comments, if any. We have also made it available to interested delegations that are not members of the Council. Comments concerning the introduction and appendix III were received from the delegation of Spain; in fact, this was the only comment we have received, for which I thank that delegation. The Secretariat has prepared a revised draft of the introduction, which members have before them, reflecting the changes agreed upon in the informal consultations yesterday.

I should like to express appreciation to the Secretariat for the work it has undertaken in preparing this factual report, which corresponds to the agreement by the members of the Council on the timely submission and format of the report, as reflected in the note by the President of the Security Council of 30 June 1993, document S/26015. Members of the Council have before them the draft report for the period 16 June 1992 to 15 June 1993, as circulated by the Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs on 11 October 1993, and corrigendum. May I take it that the draft report is adopted by the Council? There being no objection, it is so decided. This decision will be reflected in a note by the President of the Security Council, to be issued as document S/26596. The Security Council has thus concluded its consideration of the item on its agenda. The meeting rose at 12:20 p.m.