71 UNGA:Statement by H.E. Mrs. Ana Silvia Rodríguez Abascal, Ambassador, Deputy Permanent Representative of Cuba to the United Nations, upon presentation of the Annual Report of the Security Council. New York, 28 August 2017.

Mr. Chairman,

Our delegation is grateful to you for convening this meeting in order to discuss the Annual Report of the Security Council to the General Assembly, for the period from 1 August 2015 to 31 December 2016, contained in document A/71/2.

Mr. Chairman,

Cuba regrets that the report presented is, as in previous years, merely a descriptive account of meetings, activities and decisions of the Council, when the vast majority of the United Nations Member States have reiterated the need to present an exhaustive and analytical annual report on the work of this body.

How much longer will we have to wait for this formal and little substantive procedure to become an exercise of true accountability to the General Assembly, allowing all Member States to assess the causes and implications of the actions undertaken by the Security Council?

We reiterate that the Security Council, in carrying out the functions entailed in the primary responsibility for the maintainance of international peace and security as stipulated in the Charter of the United Nations, is acting on behalf of all Member States, and therefore, it should comply with the obligation under articles 15 and 24 of the Charter to submit special reports on its actions to the General Assembly for its consideration.

Mr. Chairman,

Cuba reiterates its concern about the lack of transparency and democracy of the Security Council.

Even though in the reporting period there was an increased number of public meetings and an unprecedented process of consultations and exchanges with Member States during the process of selecting and appointing the Secretary-General, the Council has a continued tendency to work basically in closed formats and make decisions without addressing the concerns of non-permanent members.

Urgent changes are needed in the working methods of the Security Council that will enable a true participation of all members in its work and decision-making. This includes the formalization of its rules of procedure, which have remained provisional for more than 70 years.

In that regard, Cuba once again proposes that the Security Council´s closed consultations be the exception; expanding its membership in the two categories -permanent and non-permanent-, without selective or discriminatory criteria, in order to correct the under-representation of developing countries in that organ; and making the obsolete and undemocratic right of veto disappear.

Mr. Chairman,

In addition to a change in the Security Council working methods and composition of members, this organ should adjust its functions in accordance with the mandate established in the Charter and abide by all the resolutions of the General Assembly, chief deliberative, policymaking and representative organ of the United Nations.

The Security Council´s tendency to address issues and assume functions that are not within its purview, thereby usurping the role conferred upon other bodies, especially the General Assembly, must cease. We stress the need for an appropriate balance among the principal organs of the United Nations, in accordance with the Charter.

A reform of the United Nations Organization, like the one currently promoted, will not be effective or real without a profound process of  reform of the Security Council. A truly transparent, representative, democratic and efficient organ is urgently required.

Thank you very much.

Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations.