AZERBAIJAN’S NON-PERMANENT MEMBERSHIP AT UNSC ENDS
Legal Monitor Worldwide
January 8, 2014 Wednesday
Azerbaijan vacated its seat on the UN Security Council, the world
body’s power centre, as its two-year term expired on December 31,
2013, AzerTag state news agency reported.
For the first time in its history since regaining independence,
the Republic of Azerbaijan was directly involved in discussions and
decision-making process at various levels on the international agenda.
Azerbaijan revealed its principled position on a number of topics,
thus, taking advantage of the opportunities provided by the Security
Council membership.
The issues Azerbaijan paid more attention were rule of law,
prevention and resolution of conflicts, protection of civilians in
an armed conflict, fight against terrorism, cooperation between the
UN and regional organizations as well as Middle East peace process,
situation in Syria, Afghanistan and some states in Africa.
Azerbaijan assumed UN Security Council rotating presidency two times
in May 2012 and October 2013. The country organized a number of
discussions and events on the important issues.
The central theme of Azerbaijan’s first presidency in May 2012 was
“Threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist
acts: strengthening international cooperation in the implementation
of counterterrorism obligations”. This topic was discussed at the
high-level thematic meeting of the Security Council, held on 4 May 2012
under the chairmanship of President Ilham Aliyev and with attendance
of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. The statement of the President
of the Security Council was adopted as the final document.
The statement underlines the importance of fight against all forms
and manifestations of terrorism. In addition, it highlighted the
importance of the principle of territorial integrity of states,
prevention of terrorism, promotion of respect and dialogue among
religions and cultures as a means to fight it.
During its second presidency in the Security Council, Azerbaijan
convened on 28 October a high-level meeting of the Security Council on
the theme of “Strengthening partnership synergy between the United
Nations and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)” – the
first ever meeting of the Council on this subject. The purpose of the
meeting was to review the current state of cooperation between the
United Nations and the OIC, as the second largest intergovernmental
organization, in the maintenance of international peace and security,
and to explore ideas, measures and joint actions for strengthening
the partnership synergy between the two organizations.
Chaired by Mr. Elmar Mammadyarov, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister, the
meeting was attended by Secretaries-General of the two organizations,
Mr. Ban Ki-Moon and Dr. Ekmelleddin Ihsanoglu, as well as by the
high-level representatives of States members of the Security Council.
The discussions focused on the critical issues in the agenda of the
Security Council and on the ways of strengthening close cooperation
and partnership between the United Nations and other international
organizations, including in particular the OIC, in addressing those
issues more effectively.
During its presidency, Azerbaijan made every effort to press ahead
with national interests at a global level. In regard to the ongoing
conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, concerns were voiced over
the continued occupation of the Azerbaijani territories by Armenia
and calls were made for the resolution of the conflict on the basis
of the principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity and the
inviolability of internationally recognized borders of Azerbaijan
and in line with Security Council resolutions 822, 853, 874 and 884
adopted in 1993. In addition, the country raised the issue of bringing
perpetrators of outrages on humanity to trial.
During the Azerbaijani Presidency of the Security Council in May
2012, it had organized an Arria Formula meeting to encourage a
frank exchange of views, within a flexible procedural framework, on
the role of mediation, judicial settlement and justice in promoting
durable and international law-based peace and reconciliation. It was
attended by 120 representatives of UN member states, UN Secretariat,
international intergovernmental organizations, civil society and
scientific community. The event was addressed by Deputy Foreign
Minister of Azerbaijan Araz Azimov and Professor Malcolm N. Shaw QC,
Senior Fellow at the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law at the
University of Cambridge.
Azerbaijan, which pays attention to the development of bilateral
relations with the African nations, tried to contribute to resolution
of problems the African continent faced. The important undertaking
during Azerbaijan presidency was the official mission of the Security
Council to Africa from 3 to 9 October. During this four-leg mission,
the members of the Council visited the Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Rwanda, Uganda and Ethiopia with the aim of taking stock of and
discussing the current political, security and humanitarian situation
in Africa’s Great Lakes region, as well as showcasing their support
to the UN-led and regional peace efforts.
The 7th annual joint consultative meeting between the African Union
Peace and Security Council and the United Nations Security Council
presided over by permanent representative of Azerbaijan to the UN
Agshin Mehdiyev was held in Addis-Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia.
The meeting, co-chaired by Equatorial Guinea and Azerbaijan in their
respective capacities as presidents of both bodies, had discussions
and exchange of views on the situation in the Great Lakes region,
Somalia, the Central African Republic and the Sahel region, the
relations between the Sudan and South Sudan, and on the enhancement
of partnership between the African Union and the United Nations. The
meeting was concluded with the adoption of a Joint Communique, which
was issued as a document of the Security Council.
Azerbaijan`s both presidencies saw 59 open and closed meetings,
7 resolutions, 3 statements of the Council`s President and 13 press
statements.
During the past two years, the cooperation between the UN member
countries, UN Secretariat, non-governmental organizations, think
tanks has been strengthened.©