Opening Up Security Council Consultations.

• Author: Fowler, Robert

The Member States of the United Nations have conferrred upon the Security Council the primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security, and have agreed that the Council acts on their behalf when carrying out its duties (Art. 24 (1) of the United Nations Charter). The devolution of power is unique and unprecedented: nowhere else in the Charter have Member States entrusted a select few of their number with the responsibility for decision-making, in what is arguably the most vital area of our collective activity. Nor is there any other area in which all Member States have agreed to carry out the decisions of those few so selected.

In Canada's view, the power entrusted to the Security Council by Member States comes with the obligation of assuring that Council decisions attract the widest possible support among the United Nations membership. Only in this way can effective implementation of these decisions be ensured. Without such compliance by the general membership of the United Nations, the credibility and effectiveness of the Council will fade away, and with it mankind's best attempt at collective security decision-making.

Therefore, Council members must not only ensure that non-members remain well-seized of the Council's activities, but must also create opportunities for non-members to present their views to the Council before formal decisions are taken. The latter is particularly important for those non-members directly involved and affected by matters before the Council, as provided for in Articles 31 and 32 of the Charter.

To achieve this, Council members need to move away from closed, secretive, behind-the-scenes deliberations and decision-making that characterize today's Council toward a more open and transparent process. In our view, greater transparency is tantamount to greater effectiveness. Much could be gained by breaking the habit of recent years' automatic recourse to informal consultations to discuss issues that could more usefully and effectively be dealt with in formal meetings of the Council, open to all Members and Observers of the United Nations.

This increased use of open meetings of the Council would create more opportunities for non-members to express their views on issues of which the Council is seized. Its deliberations only stand to benefit from the widest possible exchange of ideas, particularly when they originate from those who must ultimately give effect to the Council's decisions.

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