安保理改革に関する政府間交渉会合におけるG4ステートメント

令和3年4月19日

(Check against delivery)

Madam Co-Chairs,

Thank you for convening this fourth round of the Intergovernmental Negotiations on Security Council reform. I have the honour to deliver this statement on behalf of the G4 – Brazil, Germany, India and my own country, Japan.

Thanks to your well-thought-out schedule of the IGN meetings, the Member States have concluded stating or restating their positions on all five key clusters in the previous three meetings. On that basis, today’s discussion on “the status of IGN documents” is of critical importance for seeking the way forward to reinvigorate the IGN process towards realizing the Security Council reform.

Madam Co-Chairs,

During this 75^th session, once again, we have heard an overwhelming majority of the Member States express their deep disappointment at the lack of progress in the IGN. There is a strong desire to achieve more.

As a matter of course, negotiations in the UN General Assembly are conducted under its rules of procedure and on the basis of a text. And that text is rolled over to the following session if the negotiations do not conclude by the end of that session.

This simple and obvious process has not been followed in the IGN over the past 12 years, compelling the Member States to repeat the same statement of their positions year after year, like a broken record, as if the previous sessions had never existed. It has become abundantly clear over the last 12 years that until we have a text that can be the basis for our discussion, we will remain deadlocked.
To fix these fundamental and structural defects of the IGN and “instil new life” in our discussions, we reiterate, once again, our call for;

application of the General Assembly rules of procedure, and
a text that can serve as the basis for our discussion.

Madam Co-Chairs,

The IGN is in desperate need of a document that accurately reflects the positions of the Member States, and which should become the basis of our discussion.

Therefore, G4 and others have consistently requested throughout this session that you create “a single consolidated document with attribution” and it is clear that this request is gaining stronger support by a clear majority in this hall.

This single consolidated document can be drafted by updating the "Revised elements of commonality and issues for further consideration” of 2019 and by adding attribution to it based on what we heard during the previous three meetings as well as what is inscribed in the “Framework document” of 2015. In that way, none of the previous efforts would be lost – and we would be ready to move on the next step in the constructive manner.

This new document should accurately reflect the positions of Member States and groups, sorted out by each cluster. The document should be open to corrections by any Member State or group that feels its positions are not accurately reflected. This should be done in the next round in May. Attribution will enhance the document’s legitimacy and the transparency of our work, and will greatly help the Member States better understand each other's views.

Most importantly, this document should then be rolled over as a single document to serve as the basis of our future discussions. Only then can we give much-needed focus to our work. What we are seeking is therefore not a compilation text, but a single document that is in a format that lends itself to serving as the basis of our work in the next IGN session.

Madam Co-Chairs,

We are convinced that this is the only way to create a real living document of the IGN – actually, the only way to give real life to the IGN – which will function well as an open, inclusive, transparent and Member States-driven process.

No matter what some Member States might say, you have the full mandate to draft such a document aimed at facilitating the discussion in the IGN and realize our commitment. Let us not forget that our Heads of State and Government unanimously agreed to “instil new life in the discussions on the reform of the Security Council” in their declaration on the commemoration of the 75^th anniversary of the United Nations.

We know you will listen carefully to today’s discussion and take determined action to consolidate the hours of discussion in the IGN into an outcome document after this meeting. You will have our full support, not only of the G4 but of all the Member States that have been constructively engaged in this intergovernmental process.

We are also convinced that additional IGN meetings should be held till the end of this session to properly consider this IGN outcome document. In this regard, we request you to convene the 5th IGN meeting in May to consider the single document that we expect you to share with the Member States, as well as further meetings in June and July, as needed.

I thank you.