ISLAMABAD: The United Nations Security Council on Tuesday unanimously adopted a Pakistan-sponsored resolution on “Strengthening Mechanisms for the Peaceful Settlement of Disputes”, during a special signature event at the UN Headquarters in New York.
The resolution urges member states to take effective measures to implement the UN Security Council resolutions for peaceful settlement of disputes — including long-standing issues such as Jammu and Kashmir and Palestine.
The adoption of the resolution, in the UN Security Council session presided over by Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar marks a significant diplomatic achievement for Islamabad.
The resolution is an important contribution to the promotion of international peace and security through the use of preventive diplomacy, conflict prevention measures and dispute resolution by peaceful means.
The Security Council Resolution 2788 (2005) seeks to strengthen mechanisms for peaceful settlement of disputes, as envisaged in Chapter VI of the United Nations Charter, and urges member states to utilise peaceful means for settling disputes.
The UNSC member states and the United Nations have been encouraged to explore ways and means to prevent disputes from escalating, including but not limited to timely diplomatic efforts, mediation, confidence-building and facilitation of dialogue at the international, regional and subregional levels.
The resolution calls for enhancing efforts by all regional and subregional organisations for peaceful settlement of disputes and to strengthen cooperation between these organisations and the United Nations.
As an active member of the Security Council, Pakistan seeks to contribute to the promotion and maintenance of international peace and security, including through peaceful settlement of disputes.
The adoption of Pakistan-sponsored resolution would serve as an important instrument to achieve these goals for peace and security at the regional and global level.
The Security Council meeting was held under the agenda item “Maintenance of International Peace and Security”, which underscored growing concerns over protracted and unresolved disputes threatening global peace and security.
The resolution called for reinforced multilateral efforts to address these issues — one of two signature events proposed by Pakistan under its current presidency of the Council.
Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister, who especially came to New York over the weekend to preside over the high-level event, put the resolution to a vote, which was unanimously adopted by the 15-member Security Council.
The outcome reflected Pakistan’s leadership role in spearheading adoption of a resolution by the Council – a reflection of effective diplomacy in action.
Tuesday’s meeting was convened to debate “Promoting International Peace and Security through Multilateralism and the Peaceful Settlement of Disputes”.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who opened the debate, commended Pakistan’s Deputy PM Ishaq Dar for convening the debate and for utilising the Council’s presidency to put forward a resolution urging all Member States to make full use of the tools in collective pursuit of global peace, saying, “This is needed now more than ever.”
“The architects of the United Nations Charter recognised that the peaceful resolution of disputes is the lifeline when geopolitical tensions escalate… when unresolved disputes fuel the flames of conflict …and when states lose trust in each other,” the UN chief said.
Analysts say no crisis illustrates the gap between words and action better than the Council’s resolution of April 21, 1948, which called for a plebiscite, to be held under the UN auspices, to allow the people in the disputed region of Jammu and Kashmir to determine their own future.
Under the terms of the resolution, the Security Council urged all member-states to utilise effectively the mechanisms for pacific settlement of disputes as outlined in Article 33 of the United Nations Charter.
These include negotiation, enquiry, mediation, conciliation, arbitration, judicial settlement, resort to regional agencies or arrangements, or other peaceful means of their own choice.
In this regard, the Council reaffirmed its role, under Chapter VI of the UN Charter, to recommend appropriate procedures or methods of adjustment for the peaceful settlement of disputes, including by taking into consideration that legal disputes should, as a general rule, be referred by the parties to the International Court of Justice.
The Council encouraged the Secretary-General to ensure that the United Nations is able to lead and support mediation and preventive diplomacy efforts and to continue to use his good offices. It also calls on member states to support and cooperate with the UN chief in this regard.
The resolution requests the Secretary-General to provide, one year following the adoption of this resolution, concrete recommendations for further strengthening the mechanisms for peaceful settlement of disputes.
The Council also urges regional and sub-regional organisations to enhance their efforts for peaceful settlement of disputes, consistent with the United Nations Charter and relevant Security Council resolutions.
“Around the world,” the UN Secretary-General said in his remarks, “we see an utter disregard” for – if not outright violations of – international law — including international human rights law, international refugee law, international humanitarian law, and the UN Charter itself, without any accountability.
“These failures to uphold international obligations are coming at a time of widening geopolitical divides and conflicts,” with staggering costs — measured in human lives, shattered communities, and lost futures, Guterres said.
“We need look no further than the horror show in Gaza — with a level of death and destruction without parallel in recent times.”
Diplomacy, he said, may not have always succeeded in preventing conflicts, violence and instability, but it still holds the power to stop them.
