17 Nov 2023
Mr Chairperson,
1 I have the honour to introduce, on behalf of the Bureau, the draft resolution contained in document A/C.6/78/L.4, entitled “Strengthening and promoting the international treaty framework”. My colleague Pedro Sloboda from Brazil and I had the honour of coordinating the informal consultations on this draft resolution.
2 This item was first included in the agenda of the Sixth Committee at the 73rd session of the General Assembly in 2018 to, among other things, provide an opportunity for Member States to address shortcomings in treaty registration, have an exchange of views regarding their treaty-making practice, identify trends and share best practices, and discuss other treaty-related topics.
3 The co-coordinators are grateful to all delegations for their constructive engagement in the negotiations, which led to this draft resolution. And it gives us great pleasure to report that apart from the necessary technical updates to General Assembly resolution 76/120 of 9 December 2021, the draft resolution contains a number of important substantive updates.
4 We will now provide an overview of key aspects of the draft resolution in the order that they appear in the resolution.
(a) First, as with the previous resolution, the draft resolution will draw attention to the need for support for the organization, by the Treaty Section of the United Nations Office of Legal Affairs, of workshops on treaty law and practice at the national and regional levels. In this regard, the draft resolution notes that such workshops have not been organized since 2016, including due to insufficiency of funds, invites States and interested organizations and institutions to make voluntary contributions towards the financing of such workshops or otherwise assist in their implementation and possible expansion, and expresses appreciation for the voluntary contribution that had been made to support the organization of such workshops.
(b) Second, building on the strong support of Member States for the work of the Treaty Section, the draft resolution calls upon the Secretary-General to strengthen the capacity of the Treaty Section to perform its responsibilities and functions under the Charter of the United Nations, multilateral treaties deposited with the Secretary-General and relevant General Assembly resolutions, as well as to meet the increasing demands in the performance of these functions.
(c) Third, the draft resolution welcomes the thematic debate on “Best practices of depositaries of multilateral treaties”, which was held this year under the agenda item pursuant to resolution 76/120. The draft resolution also takes note of the subtopics that were suggested for consideration for future thematic debates, and requests the Secretariat to maintain a non-exhaustive indicative list of such subtopics and circulate it sufficiently in advance of the meetings of the Sixth Committee on the agenda item.
(d) Fourth, in relation to the way forward for this agenda item, the draft resolution provides for the continuation of the thematic debate with a decision to undertake a regular thematic debate to foster a technical exchange of views on practice relating to the strengthening and promoting of the international treaty framework. The subtopic chosen for the thematic debate at the 80th session of the General Assembly in 2025 is “The role of technology in shaping treaty-making practice”.
(e) In connection with the subtopic for the thematic debate at the 80th session, the draft resolution also requests the Secretary-General to invite Governments and international organizations to submit information on their practice relating to the subtopic, and to provide, at the 80th session, a report on practice relating to the subtopic which takes into account these submissions.
(f) Finally, the draft resolution requests the Secretary-General to strengthen the capacity of the Treaty Section to support the regular thematic debate in the Sixth Committee, including for the preparation of the report on the subtopic selected for each session.
Mr Chairperson,
5 I wish to take this opportunity, on behalf of Pedro Sloboda and myself, to sincerely thank delegations for the successful conclusion of our important work on this resolution at the present session. We would also like to thank the Chair of the Sixth Committee and the Bureau for your leadership and guidance. And we wish to express our thanks to Chief of the Treaty Section Mr David Nanopoulos and colleagues from the Treaty Section for their contributions to our work, which included, in the case of David, making himself available at our informal consultations to answer questions. And, last but not least, we wish to thank the Sixth Committee Secretariat and, in particular, Mr Carlos Fuentes, for all the valuable assistance that they provided.
6 This concludes my introduction of draft resolution A/C.6/78/L.4. My co-coordinator and I recommend that the Sixth Committee adopt it without a vote.
7 Thank you for your attention.
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