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Mr Chairman,
I have the honour to speak today on behalf of Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
CANZ continues to be a strong supporter of the rule of law, at both the international and national levels. We consider the rule of law essential to lasting peace and security, the realization of sustainable development and economic growth, and the promotion of human rights, accountability and democracy. The UN Charter is central to this, and it is the common responsibility of Member States to support the UN’s work to promote the rule of law.
CANZ welcomes the Sixth Committee continuing its discussions under this item, and supports avoiding the duplication of work being done in other UN fora. CANZ agrees with the selection of one or two concrete sub-topics on which to focus our work, as called for in General Assembly resolution 61/39. We support a focus that is practical and action-oriented, so we may demonstrate clearly the benefits of our work to the General Assembly. While there are many different ways to describe precisely the meaning of the “rule of law”, we consider that the Sixth Committee has a sufficiently shared understanding to underpin our current work for this item.
CANZ welcomes the establishment of the Rule of Law Coordination and Resource Group and the Rule of Law Unit called for in the 2005 World Summit Outcome Document. We are grateful to the Deputy Secretary-General for organizing the informal briefing in April on the Group’s work.
We strongly support the Rule of Law Unit’s preliminary programme of work, including the priority of having a one UN system work plan for rule of law. It is a significant challenge to coordinate and harmonize all the activities of the various UN rule of law actors. The benefits to be gained are substantial, including avoiding duplication, promoting synergy and coherence, and maximizing the impact of UN resources. We also support the Unit’s goal of developing common policies and strategies, in particular a one UN system rule of law guidance note, and intensifying the UN’s cooperation with other relevant organizations and donors.
We call upon the Secretary-General and Member States to provide the necessary assistance and support to the Unit, including through a combination of secondment of staff and adequate resources that will ensure the Unit's future sustainability. CANZ considers it would be useful for the Sixth Committee to make the Unit’s progress a regular feature of its discussion under this item, and would welcome any Secretary-General's report to that effect.
Mr Chairman
As we did last year, CANZ supports a sub-topic based on strengthening international criminal justice at the international and national levels, in particular, so-called ‘residual’ or ‘legacy’ issues that arise as the international and hybrid criminal courts and tribunals complete their cases. The topic of international criminal justice is wide and broad-ranging, and we believe some focus would ensure that we achieve a useful outcome for the General Assembly.
In this regard, we welcome the joint paper of the ICTY and ICTR of September 2007 on residual functions of ad hoc tribunals to the Security Council. This report provides a solid starting point for our consideration of the issues, which also relate to the Special Court for Sierra Leone and the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia. This work will also be relevant in future to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. We believe more could be done as a priority on the UN’s response to dealing with the responsibilities that will continue beyond the conclusion of the cases of these important bodies. The first of the ad hoc tribunals may close in 2009. If we do not prepare for addressing these issues, we may undermine much of the good work that has been done.
The second sub-topic that we supported last year was technical assistance and capacity building. We recognize that the continual development and sheer volume of international law presents a real challenge for many developing States. CANZ fully supports enhancing the delivery of UN rule of law technical assistance and capacity building to its Member States. Many UN actors are engaged in providing States with technical assistance, including the provision of assistance on the implementation of international treaties and other obligations, and the drafting of legislation and model laws. We believe a key tool for improving delivery of the UN’s rule of law assistance, and also of other relevant organizations and donors, is the Rule of Law Unit. This role for the Unit would be a natural fit for its current work plan and modest resources.
Canada, Australia and New Zealand look forward to engaging constructively on this item.
Thank you
Mr Chairman
