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South Africa's Vote in the United Nations Security Council NATIONAL
ASSEMBLY FOR ORAL REPLY QUESTION NO: 22 PUBLISHED IN INTERNAL
QUESTION PAPER NO 3 OF 20 FEBRUARY 2007
MR DHM GIBSON (DA) TO ASK THE
MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS:
a) Whether, in view of South Africa's recent
vote against the United Nations Security Council's resolution condemning human
rights abuses in Burma, she will provide the contents of the UN Security Council
draft resolution on Burma, if not, why not: if so,
(i) what are the relevant
details and (ii) why did South Africa vote this way; b) Whether South Africa
has taken any subsequent steps in the UN's Human Rights Council and General Assembly
to deal with this matter; if not, why not; if so, what steps.N227E REPLY:
(a)
Yes, the Minister will provide the contents of the resolution
South Africa
like the rest of the international community remains concerned about the human
rights situation in Myanmar and about human rights abuses anywhere where they
may occur. In this regard, South Africa's vote against the proposed UN Security
Council resolution was not a vote against the people of Myanmar. We also support
the call by the UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Professor Gambari
for the military rulers in Myanmar to move the country towards democratisation.
i)
The draft resolution It urged the Government of Myanmar to release all political
prisoners and make tangible progress towards national reconciliation, leading
to genuine democratic transition; It called on the Government of Myanmar to cease
military attacks against civilian in ethnic minority regions and in particular
to put an end to the associated human rights and humanitarian law violations against
persons belonging to ethnic nationalities, including widespread rape and other
forms of sexual violence carried out by members of the armed forces.
ii)
We are of the view that there is a growing tendency to undermine multilaterism
and other institutions of the United Nations by taking issues to the Security
Council that should be handled by the relevant United Nations institution. The
UN Charter gives primary responsibility to the UNSC for the maintenance of international
peace and security. The adoption of this resolution would have set a precedent
for the work of the Council, because any member of the Council could bring any
country for consideration, even though it might not pose a threat to regional
and international peace and security. The adoption of the Myanmar resolution would
have also complicated an already overloaded agenda of the Security Council. The
proposed UN Security Council resolution on Myanmar would have undermined current
efforts by the UN Secretary-General to help find a resolution of the situation
in Myanmar. Therefore, the issue of Myanmar at this stage should have been better
handled by other United Nations bodies such as the Human Rights Council. b)
Since the vote in the United Nations Security Council, the issue has not been
considered by both the General Assembly and the Human Rights Council
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