New York, 13 December 2007 – The General Assembly’s Open-ended Working Group on Security Council reform will hold its first meeting of the 62nd Session tomorrow (Friday), 14 December at 10 am.

At the meeting, GA President Srgjan Kerim said on 6 December, he will inform delegations how the process will be carried forward, based on his consultations with Member States. He specified that he would present both a timetable for the process, as well as a task force that he has appointed. (Letter from President Kerim, 6 December)

In closing he asked Member States to come to the meeting with proposals for “concrete elements” that could form the basis of intergovernmental negotiations. Member States agreed to conduct intergovernmental negotiations before the end of the 62nd Session, in Resolution 61/47 of 17 September 2007.

The precursor to the President’s announcement was a three-day joint debate on Council reform that took place in the General Assembly and Security Council from 12-14 November 2007. In that debate, Member States largely confirmed their previous positions on reform along the same lines and groupings that have been in place since before the 2005 World Summit. Member States differed over whether the appropriate next step was additional consultations through the Working Group – supported by Egypt and members of the Uniting for Consensus group – or immediate negotiations, supported by India and others including the G4 group.

President Kerim stated in his remarks after the debate that the next steps would be an “objective and transparent process to first identify the negotiables” and then proceed to intergovernmental negotiations, which would be centered around the Open-ended Working Group.

In sum, Kerim identified seven “pillars” of future intergovernmental negotiations that he believed had been expressed by the membership:

“Security Council reform ... must ... go hand in hand with the transformation of the wider United Nations system;

Prudent and principle oriented guidance by the President of the General Assembly is required, though it must be based on a joint venture with Member States in good faith and mutual respect;

The way forward ought to be accomplished through an objective and transparent process to first identify the negotiables in order to then move to intergovernmental negotiations;

The Open-ended Working Group should carry out consultations on the framework and the modalities for intergovernmental negotiations;

Further steps must contain components and notions that will allow the membership to reach a general agreement on all aspects of Security Council reform, in particular on both the composition of the Council and its working methods;

The reform of the Security Council must accommodate the interests and concerns of all sides, especially those who are currently underrepresented; and

Member States should refrain from steps which could serve to undermine the current momentum and consensus to continue a process with the intention of achieving result oriented solutions.”

For a detailed summary of the November debate, see the update by the Center for UN Reform Education.

For the statements made by governments at the debate, see this page of ReformtheUN.org.

The e-Newsletter of ReformtheUN.org is a free service. To subscribe, go to http://reformtheun.org/mailman/listinfo/latestdevelopments. Please forward this announcement widely to individuals and organizations that have expressed an interest in UN reform.