New York, 6 June 2019
Photo: Twitter (@Portugal_UN)
Mr. President,
Thank you for convening this, always timely, open debate. This new opportunity to address the SC Working Methods constitutes further evidence of your diligent role both as President of the Council and as Chair of the “Informal Working Group on Documentation and Other Procedural Questions”. I also thank the briefers for their comprehensive inputs.
Portugal is a committed member of the ACT Group and thus we align our intervention with the statement delivered by Switzerland. Likewise we also associate ourselves with the statement read by New Zealand on behalf of a cross-regional group of countries and we very much welcome the intervention of the South African Ambassador on behalf of the E10.
Complementing their interventions, I would like to very briefly reiterate the following:
1) Indeed we must guarantee due process in all sanctions committees, namely through the possible expansion of the Ombudsman’s mandate and the strengthening of its independence;
2) Also crucial is ensuring an equitable access of all Council members to chair the subsidiary bodies as well as a fair share of penholderships on the dossiers;
3) And we advocate for an early involvement of incoming elected members in the work of the Council.
Mr. President, to conclude, we trust that, during the coming months and under your able stewardship, the Informal Working Group will achieve further progress on all open items and adopt the draft presidential notes on specific working methods of the Security Council. This will certainly contribute to further enhance the inclusiveness, but also the effectiveness, of the Security Council work.
Thank you.
