Text of the Speech made by the President Mr. Arthur J. Goldberg (United States of America) in the Security Council Meeting No. 1237 held on 4 September 1965
Text of the Speech made by the President Mr. Arthur J. Goldberg (United States of America) in the Security Council Meeting No. 1237 held on 4 September 1965
In convening this meeting of the Security Council and before saying a few words in deserved tribute to my predecessor as President of the Security Council, I would like to address myself to the calling of this meeting.
For the past few days, the Secretary-General, I myself as President, and members of the Council have been in consultation about how the United Nations could best exercise its responsibility to help maintain peace in Kashmir, where, as is well known, United Nations observers are on the ground, and with respect to which the Security Council has taken action of numerous occasions in the past.
On 1 September, three days ago-I almost said three long days ago the Secretary-General sent to the Prime Minister of India and the President of Pakistan an appeal for a cease-fire [S/6647]. Virtually continuous consultations since then have revealed a general desire that the Council be convened urgently to take up its responsibility. The military news from the area, as is well known and as has been reported in the world Press, continues to be grave, and the United Nations observers on the ground have been unable to carry out their functions freely. In the light of these consultations and these extraordinary and serious circumstances, as President of the Security Council I called this morning for a Council meeting this afternoon in the following words:
"Consultations by the Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council with members of the Council have revealed a general desire that the Security Council be convened promptly to consider, in the light of the Secretary-General's appeal for a cease-fire, the serious conflict now taking place in Kashmir.
"Since, under the circumstances, a meeting is necessary, I have, as Security Council President, called a meeting of the Council for 3 p.m. today, 4 September."
Rules 1 to 3 of our provisional rules of procedure provide that the Council can be convened by the President under various circumstances: when issues are brought to it by the General Assembly, the Secretary-General or a Member State (rule 3); when a member of the Council requests a meeting (rule 2); and at any time that the President deems a meeting necessary (rule 1). This was explained to the Council by the Chairman of the Committee of Experts on the rules, in his report of 5 February 1946, almost twenty years ago, as follows:
"...the Committee adopted a new and more flexible wording which does not expressly provide for 'extraordinary' meetings, while, however, leaving to the President of the Council the power to call meetings :
"(a) When he deems it necessary (rule 1); "(b) At the request of any member of the Council (rule 2);
"(c) When it is provided for by the Charter (rule 3)." In addition, perhaps because of my juristic background, I have researched the relevant precedents. A specific precedent for the convening of the Council in these or comparable circumstances can be found in its 847th meeting, on 7 September 1959, when the representative of Italy was the President of the Council, In July 1965, in fact one day after the lamented death of my distinguished predecessor, Adlai E. Stevension, the President of the Security Council, at that time the representative of the Soviet Union, Mr. Morozov, asked for the Council to be convened on the basis of a telegram from Mr. Jottin cury, which was never transformed into a formal request for a meeting by any member of the United Nations or the Security Council. It would appear to me, therefore, in reading this background, that the President of the Council was at that time convening a meeting on the basis of his judgement as President, I believe that in that case, as I read the record, members of the Council were willing to meet, but not on an urgent basis, and that the meeting in fact took place, without a change in the underlying circumstances, on 20 July 1965.
The practice of the Council-although not the rules--is that the President consults members about the timing of the meeting. There have, in this case, been extensive consultations over the past three days-not only by myself, but by the Secretary-General as well-both about the desirability and about the timing of the meeting. I know the Secretary General has done everything possible, and I have tried to the best of my ability in the present urgent circumstances, to keep all members informed of developments as they occurred. The Secretary-General, I believe, has seen all members of the Council; I have been in touch personally with most members of the Council at various times over the past few days; and in addition, of course, we have had the benefit of a flow of information about these consultations by the able and hard working members of the United Nations Secretariat.
Members of the Council were informed yesterday that the time of a meeting might be announced then, and later were also informed that they should be available this week-end as it might be necessary to call a meeting today. This morning, as President of the Council, I set the time for the Council meeting at 3 p.m. today. I regret that, in the light of the emergency and the extraordinary circumstances which face us, time did not permit me to advise all members in advance of the exact hour of the meeting. I hope that, if this has inconvenienced any members, they will bear with me in these serious times, and that we can all turn our attention promptly and substantively to helping restore peace in Kashmir. I would tender my profound apologies to any member of the Council who was inconvenienced by my inability-and it was only a physical inability, due to lack of time to call each one early this morning in regard of the precise time of the meeting.
I have made this preliminary statement to make clear the circumstances under which this meeting has been called.