HOLY SEE OBSERVER ADDRESSES REFORM OF THE UNITED NATIONS

VATICAN CITY, FEB 1, 2005 (VIS) - Archbishop Celestino Migliore, Holy See permanent observer to the United Nations, spoke yesterday in New York during an informal meeting of the plenary to discuss an exchange of views on the recommendations contained in the report of the High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change.

  "The recommendations," he said, "clearly involve the streamlining and adaptation of the structure and working methods of this Organization. ... My delegation takes the floor, moved by the expectations that the Holy See in these last years has placed in the primary role of international law in promoting the peaceful coexistence and the well being of the world's peoples, and in the role of the United Nations as their guarantor and driving force."

  The archbishop remarked on the possible structural changes within the United Nations involving the Security Council and General Assembly, "the enhancement of the Secretariat as the principal interlocutor and the reform of ECOSOC through a slightly new lens, that of the linkage of development and security. My delegation finds the treatment of this last theme particularly interesting, because it applies not only to the relationship between conflict and poverty, but also to the causes of terrorism, the promotion of social rights and the struggle against poverty and unemployment as preventative measures." 

  Archbishop Migliore said that the Holy See "welcomes the much needed efforts to find adequate criteria for Security Council membership and the updating of the U.N. electoral system."

  In closing, the nuncio spoke of Article 51 of the U.N. Charter on the right to self defense: "In this connection, my delegation would like to restate that legitimate defense must place particular focus on people and their safety.  Every state has a responsibility to protect its own people but, when it is unable or unwilling to do so, that responsibility should be taken up by the wider international community. Many times, during recent conflicts, the Holy See has had occasion to repeat this conviction, when 'humanitarian intervention' was talked of as a kind of legitimate defense, and such an intervention was presented as an obligation on the international community in order to guarantee the survival of individuals and communities in the face of the action or inaction of a state or group of states."
DELSS/REFORM:SELF DEFENSE/UN:MIGLIORE        VIS 20050201 (490)