Statement by the Bangladesh Delegation under Agenda Item 83: Report of the Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on the Strengthening of the Role of the Organizations at the Sixth Committee of the 71st Session of the UN General Assembly
10 October 2016, Trusteeship Council Chamber
Mr. Chairman/Distinguished delegates,
Bangladesh aligns itself with the Statement delivered by the Islamic Republic of Iran on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).
We take note of the Report of the Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on the strengthening of the role of the Organisation held in February 2016 and the corresponding reports of the Secretary General.
Bangladesh believes that the renewed focus on reinvigorating the work of the United Nations, particularly the General Assembly creates an opportunity for infusing further momentum into the work and outcomes of the Charter Committee. Some of the issues under the remit of the Committee are already being addressed sporadically in other forums, yet the potential for the Committee to deal with these various issues in a cohesive fashion remains largely untapped. This needs to be reversed with the demonstration of sufficient political will of all member states.
Pacific settlement of disputes is one of the underlying issues for the Charter Committee’s work, as reinforced by the Manila Declaration of 1982. We should
collectively reflect how we can use the Committee to navigate and enhance our understanding and use of proven tools like mediation, conciliation, arbitration, international judicial opinions and others to promote peaceful settlement of disputes and thus strengthen the international rule of law.
The Charter Committee has indeed added value to the ongoing debate on the merits and demerits of sanctions regimes, especially when they hurt the interest of civilians or third parties. The sanctions regimes are often couched in legal and technical provisions that pose different layers of challenges in compliance, depending on the legal and administrative contexts at the national level. We believe the Charter Committee can help move forward the discussions in this regard in line with the periodicity agreed during the last session of the Committee.
To conclude, we reiterate that it should be the substance of the Committee’s work that should guide its working methods. If there is sufficient proof of our collective will to take forward the work of the Committee there should not be any major difficulty in further streamlining its working methods in a corresponding manner.
I thank you.