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Statement by Mr Hugh Adsett, Representative of Canada to the United Nations, on behalf of Canada, Australia and New Zealand to the Ad Hoc Committee on criminal accountability of United Nations officials and experts on Mission.
7 April 2008
(As delivered)
I have the honour today to speak on behalf of Australia and New Zealand as well as Canada.
CANZ remains deeply disturbed by crimes of sexual exploitation and abuse, as well as other serious crimes, committed by UN peacekeepers and other personnel. The impact of such crimes on the victims, and on the reputation of the UN and its Member States, is so great that one case of criminal conduct is one case too many.
Our efforts over the upcoming week should aim to build on the work completed during our focus on this issue in the fall. We warmly welcome adoption of Resolution A/62/63 and all delegations in the General Assembly should be proud of the result. In encouraging Member States to exercise jurisdiction over their nationals who are participating in UN operations overseas, the resolution was a good first step in addressing this issue. At the same time, we should recognize that the resolution was only a first step and that important work remains to be done.
In the long term, CANZ supports, in principle, the Secretariat's call for a convention that requires Member States to exercise jurisdiction over their nationals who are participating in UN operations overseas. CANZ would welcome further discussions and work to achieve this end.
In the short term, however, CANZ considers that our time now could most usefully be spent in focussed discussion on implementation of Resolution A/62/63, in particular, the cooperation aspects called for by the Resolution, to ensure that those who commit serious crimes are held accountable. This requires cooperation at several levels, including among States, between States and the UN, and within the UN itself. That cooperation also needs to be wide-ranging, for example, relating to information sharing, collection of evidence, availability of witnesses, and investigations and prosecutions.
We welcome your return, Madame Telalian, as Chair of the Ad Hoc Committee and look forward to engaging with our counterparts to continue our important work. Additionally, we look forward to a fruitful discussion on this issue this coming fall, when we will have the benefit of the Secretary-General’s report addressing jurisdictional issues. A comprehensive Secretary-General's report on this issue will help us to understand the jurisdictional gap that needs to be addressed. We agreed in the Resolution that the Secretary-General would compile information on Member States’ extra-territorial application of criminal jurisdiction. We encourage all States to provide the information to the Secretary-General that has been requested.