UNITED
NATIONS, May 2
-- Should the
UN Security
Council become
more
Accountable,
Coherent and
Transparent?
That was the
question as
the
new ACT
grouping was
launched
Thursday in
the UN's
ECOSOC
Chamber.
After
the proponents
spoke, the UK
Political
Coordinator
said his
country
will meet with
ACT while
preparing the
Program of
Work for its
Council
presidency in
June. He
noted,
however, that
the Security
Council is the
master of its
own
procedures.
But
who's being
served by
these
procedures?
Ireland's
Permanent
Representative
described the
Council's
debates as
"ritualistic;"
Uruguay's PR
complained
ever so
diplomatically
about the
recent
radical shift
in UN
Peacekeeping
-- away from
its previously
claimed
impartiality,
we say --
without
sufficiently
consulting the
Troop
Contributing
Countries.
The
Swiss
Permanent
Representative,
who has been
working
particularly
hard on this
since the
Small Five
initiative was
essentially
killed
off by
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
lawyer
Patricia
O'Brien last
May, opened
the floor not
only to
members
states, but
then to NGOs
and to the
media.
Inner
City Press,
descending
from the dark
back of the
ECOSOC
chamber, with
its unfinished
ceiling, was
given the
floor and
asked if ACT
will
question why
the wrap-up
sessions at
the end of the
month are
closed
to the press
and public,
along with
meetings like
that on Jordan
and
its Syrian
refugees. This
is an issue
another new
group, the
Free UN
Coalition for
Access, is
working on.
Also,
Inner City
Press asked,
why are
impacted
countries
always kept
out of
the Council's
consultations,
loitering in
the Quiet Room
or at the
stakeout with
the press?
Norway's
representative
-- not its
Permanent
Representative
as the UK
political
coordinator
called her --
said these
issues would
be
considered
going forward,
ACT is just
beginning. We
wish it well.
There
are those they
don't, who
think it is
still a threat
to more
fundamental
Council
reform.
Japan's
representative
spoke, and
brought
up the O'Brien
letter. For an
analysis of
the effects of
various
reform
proposals, see
PfC.
Watch this
site.
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