NEW YORK, Nov 30 (Hina) - The United Nations Security Council on Tuesday the Council's role and that of other UN bodies in the prevention and settlement of armed conflicts. The two-day discussion was initiated by the Council's
chairman for November, Slovene Ambassador Danilo Turk. Indicative of the interest for the issue is the fact that the ambassadors of more than 20 countries took part in the Council's work besides the representatives of the Council's 15 member-states. Also attending was Croatia's standing representative in New York, Ivan Simonovic. The discussion was opened by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who emphasised the duty of every Security Council and all other UN member-states to act towards the prevention of conflicts and the elimination of the crises' real root causes, which he said were mostly economic or social. Ambassador Simonovic spoke about the need of preventive
NEW YORK, Nov 30 (Hina) - The United Nations Security Council on
Tuesday the Council's role and that of other UN bodies in the
prevention and settlement of armed conflicts.
The two-day discussion was initiated by the Council's chairman for
November, Slovene Ambassador Danilo Turk. Indicative of the
interest for the issue is the fact that the ambassadors of more than
20 countries took part in the Council's work besides the
representatives of the Council's 15 member-states. Also attending
was Croatia's standing representative in New York, Ivan
Simonovic.
The discussion was opened by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who
emphasised the duty of every Security Council and all other UN
member-states to act towards the prevention of conflicts and the
elimination of the crises' real root causes, which he said were
mostly economic or social.
Ambassador Simonovic spoke about the need of preventive UN action.
Given Croatia's experience, he also pointed to the importance of
what takes place in the post-conflict period.
Simonovic said, "the commitment of international community must be
coordinated and sustained over time. It must also be comprehensive,
thus to address the economic, social, cultural and humanitarian
problems each and every of which, if left unattended, can ignite or
reignite the conflict."
The Croatian ambassador pointed out that eight years after the
dissolution of the former Yugoslav federation, the succession
issue had not yet been regulated, and that the previous mandates of
UN observers of Prevlaka, Croatia's southern-most tip bordering
with the Yugoslav Republic of Montenegro, had not settled this
security issue.
Simonovic also spoke about the role which UN's Economic and Social
Council (ECOSOC) can play in the prevention and settlement of armed
conflicts.
As Croatia assumes its membership in ECOSOC on 1 January, it will
focus all of its efforts on the elimination of the root causes of the
conflicts, he said, agreeing with Secretary-General Annan that
those causes lay in poverty, and the economic and social
underdevelopment.
(hina) ha mm