1. The Open-ended Working Group achieved substantial progress during the fifty-first session of the General Assembly in its discussions on the working methods and transparency of the Security Council. The results of the debates are reflected in the negotiating paper of the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries on cluster II issues,¹ which was first submitted to the Working Group in March 1997, and in conference room papers 3 and 8 of the Bureau,² prepared on the basis of the debates of the Working Group on the negotiating paper submitted by the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries. During its deliberations in July 1997, the Working Group also discussed in detail the working methods and transparency of the Council based on part B of conference room paper 8, but no new conference room paper was prepared as a result of the discussions at that time. The present revised conference room paper attempts to incorporate the views expressed in those discussions as well as comments made in the meetings of the Working Group on 12 and 13 and from 23 to 26 February 1998.³

(a) The Security Council should conduct its business in a public format open to Member States of the United Nations, unless it decides otherwise;

(b) When it so decides, the Security Council may meet in private and/or conduct its business in informal consultations;

(c) The Security Council should hold substantive orientation debates open to all Member States at the beginning of its consideration of any substantive matter;

(d) Open public meetings should also be held, as appropriate, with the concurrence of the Secretary-General, when he/she, his/her special representatives and/or envoys, the heads or representatives of United Nations agencies or field missions report to the Council.

3.^**

4. Suggested improvements to the present practice:

(a) In addition to the Security Council’s monthly forecast of its programme of work, distributed to all Member States, the Council’s provisional monthly schedule of work and its updated versions should also be circulated as soon as they have been agreed upon by the Council. The Security Council should [, as a rule,] consider its monthly programme of work in a formal meeting;

(b) The provisional agenda, including indications about actions expected to be taken at Security Council meetings (e.g., decisions on draft resolutions and presidential statements, reports, exchange of views, etc.) and the [annotated] agenda for informal consultations of the whole, including a list of issues to be discussed under other matters whenever they are known in advance, should be included in the Journal of the United Nations.

5.^*

6. Suggested improvements to the present practice:

(a) The present practice followed by the Presidents of the Security Council of briefing non-members should be continued on days when informal consultations are held. These briefings should be arranged [as soon as possible]/[immediately] after such meetings or informal consultations. Interpretation should be provided for these briefings. The President of the Security Council will decide whether such briefings should also be distributed in writing. If the briefings are provided in writing they should also be transmitted to Permanent Missions through electronic mail;

(b) A short but substantive/analytical/factual summary prepared by the Secretariat of the informal consultations of the Security Council should be circulated as an official document of the Council to all Member States the day after such meetings. The summaries should also be transmitted to Permanent Missions through electronic mail;

(c) The President of the Security Council should make draft resolutions and draft presidential statements available as soon as they become the basis for informal consultations of the Council, or earlier if authorized by the author of the draft. If not distributed, the President, in briefing the membership, should provide information about the main elements of such draft resolutions, presidential statements or other documents under consideration by the Council;

(d) Information about consultations with and briefings to the troop-contributing countries should be included in briefings of the President immediately following such consultations or briefings;

[(e) A written summary of the consultations with and briefings to the troop-contributing countries should promptly be made available to all Member States.]

8. Suggested improvements to the present practice:

(a) Consultations between members of the Security Council and troop-contributing countries, both current and potential, should be held promptly and on a regular basis before and during the decision-making process on the establishment, conduct, review and termination of peacekeeping operations, including the renewal and change of mandates. The Security Council should not consider specific operational issues of existing or pending peacekeeping operations without, at least, consulting its major contributors/troop-contributing countries;

(b) Consultations with troop-contributing countries should be convened and chaired by the President of the Security Council, supported by a representative of the Secretariat;

(c) Upon the request of a troop-contributing country, the President of the Council should promptly convene consultations with troop-contributing countries;

(d) Consideration should be given to inviting, to briefings with troop-contributing countries, Member States contributing civilian components e.g., civilian police, [and other substantial contributors; alternatively, separate consultations could be convened by the President of the Security Council with such contributing countries when the need arises];

(e) Consideration should also be given to inviting other countries affected by and/or involved, e.g. by transit or transport, in [multi-faceted] [peacekeeping] operations, including, where appropriate, host countries;

(f) The Security Council should, as appropriate, make use of proposals and/or information received in consultations with troop-contributing countries.

9.^*

10. Suggested improvements to the present practice:

[(a) Upon the completion of his/her Presidency, each President of the Security Council should provide an assessment of the work of the Council during his/her Presidency to be attached to the annual report of the Council to the General Assembly. These assessments should also be distributed to non-members of the Council immediately after they are issued by the outgoing President;

(b) The annual report of the Security Council to the General Assembly should give a substantive and analytical account of the Council’s work and it should be made available to the General Assembly not later than 30 August;

[(c) The annual report of the Security Council should also include, as appropriate, information on consultations of the whole undertaken prior to actions or deliberations by the Security Council on issues within its mandate and on the progress leading to such action;]

12. Suggested improvements to the present practice:

(a) Meetings of the Security Council and informal consultations of the whole:

(b) The members of the Security Council should more frequently resort to the "Arria formula", whereby Council members, on the initiative of a Council member, can hear views and obtain information related to issues under consideration by the Council;

(c) When a request for a meeting with the President of the Council is submitted in writing by a non-member of the Security Council for the purpose of discussing an urgent matter affecting the interests of that State, the President of the Security Council should acknowledge such a request in writing. On receipt of such a request, the President should promptly meet the non-member in question and inform the Council about the démarche at the first subsequent formal meeting of the Council or informal consultations of the whole.

13.^*

14. Suggested improvements to the present practice:

The Security Council should meet promptly when a Member State or a State which is not a member of the United Nations (in accordance with Article 35.2 of the Charter) requests the convening of an urgent meeting of the Security Council to investigate any dispute, or any situation which might lead to international friction or give rise to a dispute, in order to determine whether the continuance of the dispute or situation is likely to endanger the maintenance of international peace and security. The President of the Council should circulate such requests promptly as documents of the Council. The President should convene a meeting of the Council to hear the State in question. The Council should immediately decide how to pursue the matter.

18. Suggested improvements to the present practice:

The Secretariat should establish an effective mechanism for alerting non-members of the Security Council of unscheduled or emergency meetings of the Council during nights, weekends or holidays (e.g. a voice recording, a website and/or electronic message or facsimile transmission to all Member States).

19.^*

20. Suggested improvements to the present practice:

The President of the Security Council, the President of the General Assembly and the Secretary-General, on the basis of the relevant provisions of the Charter, should have regular monthly consultations and/or more frequently in the event of an international crisis or other urgent development. Other interested parties [, such as members of the Bureau of the General Assembly,] could be invited to participate.

21.^*

The conduct of operational and humanitarian activities must conform to the guiding principles of humanitarian assistance and the principles of the United Nations development assistance. In cases when, as a transitory and exceptional measure, the Security Council is involved in overseeing and mandating humanitarian and operational assistance, the President of the Security Council should consult the Presidents of the concerned Executive Boards before the Council acts. The decisions of the respective Executive Boards and of the General Assembly shall be final in all aspects of such programmes.

22. Suggested improvements to the present practice:

Meetings of subsidiary organs of the Council established in pursuance of Article 29 of the Charter should be more transparent [and open to non-members of the Council] [as appropriate] in their proceedings (i.e., announcements of meetings in the Journal of the United Nations, briefings to non-members, etc.).

(c) Briefings of the chairmen of sanctions committees and other subsidiary organs:

The chairman should give an oral briefing after each meeting. Briefings of the chairmen of sanctions committees and other subsidiary organs should be announced in the Journal. [Could be transferred to section II.C: Briefings by the President of the Security Council to non-members, availability of draft resolutions and summaries of meetings and consultations.]

(d) Information regarding the substantive work of the subsidiary organs of the Council, including the sanctions committees, should be included in the annex of the annual report of the Council to the General Assembly. [Could be transferred to section II.E: Report of the Security Council to the General Assembly.]

23.^*

24. Suggested improvements to the present practice:

The Security Council, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Charter, should more frequently [when necessary] request the International Court of Justice to give an advisory opinion on any legal question.

25. Suggested improvements to present practice:

(a) In its relations with regional arrangements and agencies, the Security Council should fully implement the provisions of General Assembly resolution 49/57 of 9 December 1994 and annex I to resolution 51/242 of 15 September 1997, entitled "Coordination";

(b) Regional arrangements and agencies should be consulted, at appropriate levels, on matters affecting the maintenance of international peace and security in accordance with Chapter VIII of the Charter and the relevant mandates of regional arrangements and agencies concerned.

¹ Official Records of the General Assembly, Fifty-first Session, Supplement No. 47 (A/51/47), annex V.

² Ibid., annexes IV and IX.

³ A/AC.247/1998/CRP.4.

⁴ On the established practice and improvements taken by the Security Council so far, see Official Records of the General Assembly, Fifty-first Session, Supplement No. 47 (A/51/47), annex IX, on this item and other measures discussed in the present document.

1. During the fifty-first session of the General Assembly, the Open-ended Working Group achieved substantial progress in its discussions on the working methods and transparency of the Security Council. The debates were based on the negotiating paper of the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries on cluster II issues,¹ which was first submitted to the Working Group in March 1997, and on conference room papers 3 and 8 of the Bureau.² During its deliberations in July 1997, the Working Group continued its discussion of working methods and transparency of the Council. However, no new conference room paper was prepared as a result of the discussions at that time. The Bureau, therefore, during the fifty-second session of the General Assembly, prepared document A/AC.247/1998/CRP.4, which took into account earlier discussions. It was subsequently revised and issued as document A/AC.247/1998/CRP.4/Rev.1. The present draft attempts to incorporate the views expressed, in April and May 1998, during the deliberations on revision 1 of conference room paper 4.

2. Suggested improvements to the present practice:³

(a) The Security Council should conduct its business in a public format open to all Member States of the United Nations;

(b) When it so decides, the Security Council may meet in private and/or conduct its business in consultations of the whole;

(c) The Security Council should hold substantive orientation debates open to all Member States at the beginning of its consideration of any substantive matter;

(d) [The Security Council should, more often, conduct open debates and orientation discussions on the important items at the ministerial level;]

(e) Open public meetings should also be held, as appropriate and with the concurrence of the Secretary-General, when he/she, his/her special representatives and/or special envoys or the heads or representatives of United Nations bodies, agencies or field missions report to the Council.^**

Incorporate provisions to this effect into the rules of procedure of the Security Council or, as appropriate, statements by the President of the Council.

4. Suggested improvements to the present practice:

(a) In addition to the Security Council’s monthly forecast of its programme of work distributed to all Member States, the Council’s provisional monthly schedule of work and its updated versions should also be circulated as soon as they have been agreed upon by the Council. Whenever possible, the Council should consider its monthly programme of work at a formal meeting;

(b) The provisional agenda, including indications about actions expected to be taken at Security Council meetings (e.g., decisions on draft resolutions and presidential statements, reports, exchanges of views, etc.) and the agenda for informal consultations of the whole, including a list of issues to be discussed under other matters whenever they are known in advance, should be included in the Journal of the United Nations.

5. Institutionalization:

Incorporate provisions to this effect into the rules of procedure of the Security Council or, as appropriate, statements by the President of the Council.

6. Suggested improvements to the present practice:

(a) The present practice followed by the Presidency of the Security Council of briefing non-members should be continued. The briefings should take place immediately after meetings or informal consultations of the Council. Whenever possible, interpretation should be provided for these briefings. Briefings for non-members should be closed and held before briefings for the media. The President of the Council will decide whether written records of such briefings should also be distributed. If written records of the briefings are to be provided, they should also be transmitted to the Permanent Missions to the United Nations through electronic mail;

(b) A short factual summary of the informal consultations of the Security Council should be prepared by the Secretariat and circulated as an official document of the Council to all Member States the day after such meetings. The summaries should also be transmitted to permanent missions through electronic mail;

(c) The President of the Security Council should make draft resolutions and draft presidential statements available as soon as they become the basis for informal consultations of the Council, or earlier if authorized by the author of the draft. If not distributed, the President, in briefing non-members of the Council, should provide information about the main elements of such draft resolutions, presidential statements or other documents under consideration by the Council;

(d) Immediately following meetings between Security Council members, troop-contributing countries, other contributors and the Secretariat, the President should brief interested non-members of the Security Council on the contents of such meetings;

(e) A written summary of meetings with troop-contributing countries should be made available promptly to all Member States.

7. Institutionalization:

Incorporate provisions to this effect into the rules of procedure of the Security Council or, as appropriate, statements by the President of the Council.

8. Suggested improvements to the present practice:

(a) Meetings between members of the Security Council and troop-contributing countries, both current and prospective, should be held on a regular basis before and during the decision-making process on the establishment, conduct, review and termination of peacekeeping operations, including the renewal and change of mandates, as well as specific operational issues. In case of emergencies, such meetings should be held promptly;

(b) Meetings with troop-contributing countries should be convened and chaired by the President of the Security Council, supported by the Secretariat;

(c) Upon the request of a troop-contributing country, the President of the Council should promptly convene meetings with troop-contributing countries;

(d) Other countries contributing to peacekeeping operations should be invited, as appropriate, to these meetings;

(e) Countries directly concerned and/or affected by peacekeeping operations, including host countries, should also, in specific circumstances and as appropriate, be invited to these meetings;

(f) Meetings should be announced in the Journal of the United Nations;

(g) The Security Council should make full use of proposals and/or information received in meetings with troop-contributing countries.

9. Institutionalization:

Incorporate provisions to this effect into the rules of procedure of the Security Council or, as appropriate, statements by the President of the Council.

10. Suggested improvements to the present practice:

(a) Upon the completion of his/her Presidency, each President of the Security Council should provide a substantive and analytical assessment of the work of the Council including, as appropriate, informal consultations of the whole, held during his/her Presidency. These assessments should be distributed to non-members of the Council immediately after they are issued by the outgoing President. They should also be attached to the annual report of the Council to the General Assembly;

(b) The annual report of the Security Council to the General Assembly should give a detailed and analytical account of the Council’s work and it should be made available to the General Assembly not later than 30 August;

(c) The annual report of the Security Council should also include, as appropriate, information on decisions reached at the consultations of the whole;

(d) The Security Council should include in its annual report information on requests received under Article 50 of the Charter and actions taken by the Council thereon;

(e) The annual report should enable Member States to assess the extent to which General Assembly and Security Council resolutions have been taken into account by the Council in its decision-making process on issues falling within the scope of the General Assembly and of the Security Council;

(f) The Security Council should, in preparing its annual report to the General Assembly, fully take into account resolution 51/193 of 17 December 1996. In particular, it should:

(g) The Security Council should, when necessary, submit special reports to the General Assembly in accordance with Article 24 (3) of the Charter, for the consideration of the Assembly in accordance with Article 15 of the Charter;

(h) The Security Council is invited, through an appropriate procedure or mechanism, to update the General Assembly on a regular basis on the steps it has taken or is contemplating taking with respect to improving its reporting to the Assembly.

11. Institutionalization:

Incorporate provisions to this effect into the rules of procedure of the Security Council or, as appropriate, statements by the President of the Council.

12. Suggested improvements to the present practice:

(a) The Security Council should, more frequently, hold public meetings to hear the views of non-members of the Council;

(b) When a non-member of the Council submits a written request for a meeting with the President of the Council to discuss an urgent matter affecting its interests, the President should acknowledge such a request in writing. Upon receipt of such a request, the President should promptly meet the non-member in question and inform the Council about the démarche;

(e) The Security Council should invite non-members of the Council to participate [in the discussions] in its informal consultations on matters directly affecting them, [in accordance with] [under similar arrangements as stipulated] in Articles 31 and 32 of the Charter.

13. Institutionalization:

Incorporate provisions to this effect into the rules of procedure of the Security Council or, as appropriate, statements by the President of the Council.

14. Suggested improvements to the present practice:

Members of the Security Council could, as appropriate, resort to the "Arria formula" to hear, on the initiative of a Council member, views and obtain information related to issues under consideration by the Council.

15. Institutionalization:

Incorporate provisions to this effect into the rules of procedure of the Security Council or, as appropriate, statements by the President of the Council.

16. Suggested improvements to the present practice:

When a Member State, the Secretary-General or a State which is not a member of the United Nations requests an urgent meeting of the Security Council, the President of the Council should immediately circulate such request as a document of the Council and promptly convene a meeting of the Council to hear the State in question or the Secretary-General. The Council should immediately decide how to pursue the matter.

17. Institutionalization:

Incorporate provisions to this effect into the rules of procedure of the Security Council or, as appropriate, statements by the President of the Council.

18. Suggested improvements to the present practice:

(a) The Security Council should take measures providing for more effective implementation of the right contained in Article 50 of the Charter for any State, whether a Member of the United Nations or not, to consult the Council with regard to problems arising from its implementation of preventive or enforcement measures imposed by the Council. Such consultations should be held promptly upon a request submitted by the State concerned [or the Secretary-General];

(b) The Security Council should promptly establish an effective mechanism to provide relief to affected States under Article 50 of the Charter [on the basis of automaticity of application];

(c) The Security Council should fully implement annex II to General Assembly resolution 51/242 of 15 September 1997, entitled "Question of sanctions imposed by the United Nations".

19. Institutionalization:

Incorporate provisions to this effect into the rules of procedure of the Security Council or, as appropriate, statements by the President of the Council.

20. Suggested improvements to the present practice:

The Secretariat should establish an effective mechanism for alerting non-members of the Security Council of unscheduled or emergency meetings of the Council during nights, weekends and holidays (e.g., a voice recording, a website and/or an electronic message or facsimile transmission to all Member States).

21. Institutionalization:

To be implemented by the Secretariat as soon as possible, but could also, to this effect, be incorporated into the rules of procedure of the Security Council or, as appropriate, statements by the President of the Council.

22. Suggested improvements to the present practice:

(a) The President of the Security Council, the President of the General Assembly and the Secretary-General should hold regular monthly consultations, to which Members of the Bureau of the General Assembly could be invited, when the need arises. In the event of an international crisis or any other urgent development, such consultations should be held more frequently;

(b) The President of the General Assembly is requested to raise with the President of the Security Council, during their monthly informal meetings and when deemed appropriate, the measures mentioned in section E above and to report to the Assembly on the steps taken by the Council in this regard.

23. Institutionalization:

Incorporate provisions to this effect into the rules of procedure of the Security Council or, as appropriate, statements by the President of the Council.

24. Suggested improvements to the present practice:

The conduct of operational and humanitarian activities must conform to the guiding principles of humanitarian assistance and the principles of United Nations development assistance. In cases when, as a transitory and exceptional measure, the Security Council is involved in overseeing and mandating humanitarian and operational assistance, the President of the Council should consult the presidents of the executive boards concerned before the Council acts. The decisions of the respective executive boards and of the General Assembly shall be final in all aspects of such programmes.

25. Institutionalization:

Incorporate provisions to this effect into the rules of procedure of the Security Council or, as appropriate, statements by the President of the Council.

26. Suggested improvements to the present practice:

(a) Sanctions committees:

(b) Other subsidiary organs:

28. Suggested improvements to the present practice:

In accordance with relevant provisions of the Charter, the Security Council should more frequently request the International Court of Justice to give an advisory opinion on any legal question.

29. Suggested improvements to the present practice:

[In accordance with Article 65 of the Charter, the Security Council should consider requesting the Economic and Social Council to furnish it with information on matters relevant to the work of the Security Council.]

30. Institutionalization:

Incorporate provisions to this effect into the rules of procedure of the Security Council or, as appropriate, statements by the President of the Council.

31. Suggested improvements to the present practice:

(a) In its relations with regional arrangements and agencies, the Security Council should fully implement the provisions of General Assembly resolution 49/57 of 9 December 1994 and annex I to resolution 51/242 of 15 September 1997, entitled "Coordination";

(b) Regional arrangements and agencies should be consulted on matters affecting the maintenance of international peace and security in accordance with Chapter VIII of the Charter and the relevant mandates of regional arrangements and agencies concerned.

32. Institutionalization:

Incorporate provisions to this effect into the rules of procedure of the Security Council or, as appropriate, statements by the President of the Council.

33. Suggested improvements to the present practice:

The Security Council should finalize its provisional rules of procedure. Towards this end, the following steps should be taken by the Council:

– Note by the President of the Security Council dated 28 May 1993 (S/25859);

– Statement by the President of the Security Council dated 24 July 1994 (S/PRST/1994/36);

In paragraph 6 (b), replace the end of the last sentence with: "... should provide information about the main elements of the draft resolutions and/or presidential statements under consideration by the Council;".

In paragraph 8, add a new subparagraph (e) as follows: "(e) A summary of the consultations with troop-contributing countries should promptly be made available to all Member States."

In paragraph 10:

In paragraph 16, add the following sentence at the end of subparagraph (a): "Such consultations with the Council should be held promptly after a request for such consultations has been submitted by the Member State or States concerned;"

In paragraph 22 (a) (ii), delete "taken into account/".

In paragraph 24, line 3, delete "in particular".

In paragraph 25 (a), line 2: delete "take into account/".

At the end of paragraph 4 (a), add: "In this regard, the Council should consider the provisional work programme for the month in a formal session".

In paragraph 6 (b), replace "should provide information about the existence of draft resolutions to the Council" by "should provide information about the main elements of the draft resolutions, presidential statements or other documents under consideration by the Council".