UN SECURITY COUNCIL Please find attached the statement made by Belarus PR H.E. Mr. Valentin Rybakov at the recent UN Security Council debate on cooperation between the UN and the CSTO. debate
«Cooperation between the United Nations and regional and subregional organizations in maintaining international peace and security (CSTO)»
Distinguished Mr. President,
Distinguished Members of the Council,
Secretary General of the CSTO, dear guests,
On the eve of the 30th anniversary of the Collective Security Treaty Organization and the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the CSTO itself, we deem discussions on cooperation between the UN and the CSTO to be very pertinent.
Over recent times the CSTO has made significant and difficult strides to transform from an essentially defensive alliance to a multifunctional security organization that possesses effective instruments and collective mechanisms to combat a broad range of contemporary challenges and threats.
The CSTO is a regional organization as under Chapter VIII of the UN Charter, and it makes a significant contribution to providing security and stability in the European and Eurasian areas. The principles of the United Nations, including the right to collective self-defense enshrined in Article 51 of the UN Charter, form the basis of the CSTO, and we view the development of cooperation between the two organizations in areas of mutual interest as a natural and logical step.
Belarus welcomes the positively proven practice of regular statements by the CSTO on UN agenda items and also the dissemination of statements by the Organization as official documents not only of the General Assembly, but also of the UN Security Council.
We believe it is very important to continue the practice of preparing periodic reports of the UN Secretary General on cooperation with regional and other organizations, and also the practice of adopting relevant resolutions of the UN General Assembly on biennial basis. Frankly, the fact that the work on the resolution often takes on a political hue in our opinion just proves that the CSTO is a strong organization, whose significance some states would rather ignore.
Practical cooperation between the UN and the CSTO is based on a Joint Declaration on cooperation between the two secretariats dated 18 March 2010 and a number of memoranda of understanding between the CSTO Secretariat and the relevant structures and departments of the UN Secretariat. We are pleased that the ad hoc contacts between the organizations have moved to systematic cooperation.
Belarus favors developing practical cooperation between the CSTO and the relevant UN structures in the area of the maintenance of international peace and security.
As part of its work on maintaining international peace and security, the Organization has placed a particular focus on the situation in Afghanistan, which directly borders the outer limits of the CSTO. Belarus will continue to support the initiatives of the CSTO partners at the UN to forester security in Afghanistan and the bordering regions and to eradicate challenges and threats associated with terrorism and extremism. In this context, the establishment of systematic interaction between the CSTO Secretariat and the UN Counter-Terrorism Office is of particular importance. The basis for this can be found in the relevant Memorandum dated 9 November 2018.
Peacekeeping is another promising area for cooperation. In 2011 Belarus put forward an initiative to develop cooperation between the CSTO and the UN in this area. Belarus thus pays particular attention to this dialogue between the two organizations on this topic.
The CSTO collective peacekeeping forces were used for the first time in January 2022 in Kazakhstan upon the request of the President of the country and in full compliance with the UN Charter and the Collective Security Treaty. The Member States of the Organization and international experts, including UN representatives, commended the timely and swift nature of the decisions to conduct a peacekeeping operation. The President of the Republic of Belarus Mr. Aleksandr Lukashenko during the recent extraordinary session of the CSTO Collective Security Council pointed out that the actions of the collective forces “allowed us to prevent the plans of those who ordered the events and executed this artificially provoked conflict in the country and helped to normalize the situation”, and also “demonstrated the ability and the capacity of the Organization”.
The significant potential of the CSTO in the area of peacekeeping can be highly useful for the UN peacekeeping system, where there is a large shortage of specialists, equipment and infrastructure. We believe that the dispatch of mobile hospitals, military doctors or mine clearance teams, as well as equipment and infrastructure, could become the potential form for the CSTO to participate in UN peacekeeping operations within the Security Council mandates.
One could also think about other areas of joint work that are not directly linked to the work of the UN Security Council, but non the less are important in terms of preventive diplomacy. International information security is particularly pertinent given the sharp spike in the number of incidents in the area of information and communication technologies, which are not only becoming more disruptive and widespread, but to a significant extent are undermining trust between countries.
Belarus as a candidate for a non-permanent seat at the UN Security Council for 2024-2025 confirms its readiness to promote all joint initiatives of the UN and the CSTO for the cause of international peace and security.
Thank you for your attention.