Priorities in the Security Council
Serving the international community
- Austrian UN-OfficersPhoto: Foto Bundesheer
Since becoming a member of the United Nations in 1955, Austria has put particular emphasis on peacekeeping and conflict prevention, and, with some 60,000 troops, has become one of the largest troop contributors for UN operations. For the years 2009 and 2010, Austria has been elected as a member of the UN Security Council. With Vienna as one of the UN’s seats, Austria has always considered the United Nations as the primary centre for successful multilateral cooperation.
To a large extent the work in the Security Council is dominated by current international developments. In preparation for our membership in the Security Council, Austria has paid particular attention to deepen and enhance our relations with the countries of Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Pacific area.
Austria now acts as a member of the Security Council for the third time, this time also as a member of the European Union. Assuming this responsibility gives Austria a great chance and obligation to serve the international community. We will strive to make most of our traditional role as a facilitator for solutions on behalf of the entire membership in an impartial and balanced way. . We will give particular attention to the concerns of small Member States.
As a non-permanent member, Austria will work for political solutions that are based on the rule of law, the protection of human rights, the necessity of constructive dialogue and effective multilateral cooperation. Austria will continue to actively support the UN’s work for conflict prevention and peacebuilding as well as all efforts for further disarmament and non-proliferation.
In November 2009, Austria will serve as the Security Council’s presidency.
Conflict prevention and Peacebuilding
Austria is an active supporter of post-conflict peace-building activities that go beyond crisis intervention. These activities aim to sustain longer-term development and the establishment of civil society and good governance structures and institutions in order to prevent conflicts from re-occurring. The Security Council takes these tasks increasingly into account when formulating new mandates for peacekeeping operations.
In implementing a coherent and comprehensive approach to conflict prevention and solution, Austria provides special expertise through the Austrian Center for Conflict Resolution in Burg Schlaining.
Disarmament and Non-Proliferation
Austria actively participates in various disarmament bodies under the United Nations system, in disarmament and arms control treaty negotiations.
The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), which was signed in 1996, represents one important step in this direction because it not only bans nuclear tests and their harmful consequences to the environment, but also limits the possibilities for development of new nuclear weapons. The PrepCom (Preparatory Commission) of the organization controlling compliance with this treaty was set up in Vienna in 1997 (CTBTO).
Vienna is also the home to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which, through its controls over the use of all nuclear material, plays an important role in the prevention of secret nuclear weapons programs. Concluded in 1968, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) is regarded as a cornerstone of international arms control policy. With the adoption by Cuba in 2002, the NPT now stands at 188 contracting states and has thus almost reached the status of universality. Austria supported the indefinite extension of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), prohibiting the development and transfer of nuclear weapons to non nuclear weapon states as well as obliging the five nuclear weapon states to disarm with the ultimate goal of total elimination of nuclear weapons. In order to assess compliance with the treaty, review conferences are being held every 5 years.
The illicit trade of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) is an important factor in fuelling numerous conflicts worldwide. It is estimated that at least 500.000 people are killed each year by these weapons. There is a close connection between destabilising accumulations and transfers of SALW and the increasing number of internal conflicts and the high rate of violence and crime in post-conflict situations. More than 90 percent of the victims of acts of violence associated with SALW are civilians, of whom 80 percent are women and children.
Cluster munitions cause tremendous suffering among civilians in conflict and post-conflict areas around the world. Unexploded sub-munitions contaminate entire regions for decades after the fighting has ceased. Cluster munitions are currently stockpiled in over 70 States and the number of sub-munitions reaches into the billions worldwide. At the end of May 2008, 107 States agreed in Dublin on a text of a Cluster Munitions Convention. The Convention was signed in Oslo on 3 December 2008. Once in force, it can become the most important contribution to international humanitarian law and disarmament since the Ottawa Convention banning anti-personnel mines. The Convention contains a categorical ban against cluster munitions that cause unacceptable harm against civilians and sets new standards in the assistance of victims.
Dialogue among Civilizations
Austria’s longstanding commitment to the dialogue of cultures and religions is based on our firm belief that human rights and fundamental freedoms are the common ground on which we stand and that no conflict is too complex to durably resist dialogue. Austria strongly focuses on women, youth, religious leadership, media and education as the most crucial areas in which innovative and action-oriented dialogue is needed.
The most recent Austrian initiative was the international conference "Europe and the Arab World - Connecting Partners in Dialogue" in December 2008 at Vienna, that brought together representatives from the EU 27, the 22 Member States of the Arab League, as well as experts from the world of politics, business, the civil society, and culture. Participants at the conference included the Foreign Ministers of Oman, Morocco, Jordan, Yemen, the United Arab Emirates, Spain, Hungary, the Czech Republic, the Palestinian Authority, the Egyptian Minister of Culture, the Iraqi Human Rights Minister, EU Foreign Affairs Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the Saudi Prince Turki Al-Faisal, and the Grand Mufti of Syria.
The Rule of Law initiative
Starting in November 2004 the Austrian Mission, in cooperation with the Institute for International Law and Justice at New York University School of Law, convened a series of panel discussions on various aspects of the central theme. As a result of this process, a final report on "The Security Council and the Rule of Law" was published, including specific recommendations how the Security Council could support the rule of law in its various fields of activity in order to strengthen an international system based on rules.
See the final report: The UN Security Council and the Rule of Law
