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Azerbaijan's Non-Permanent Membership At UNSC Ends

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  • Azerbaijan's Non-Permanent Membership At UNSC Ends

    AZERBAIJAN'S NON-PERMANENT MEMBERSHIP AT UNSC ENDS

    Legal Monitor Worldwide
    January 8, 2014 Wednesday

    Azerbaijan vacated its seat on the UN Security Council, the world
    body's power centre, as its two-year term expired on December 31,
    2013, AzerTag state news agency reported.

    For the first time in its history since regaining independence,
    the Republic of Azerbaijan was directly involved in discussions and
    decision-making process at various levels on the international agenda.

    Azerbaijan revealed its principled position on a number of topics,
    thus, taking advantage of the opportunities provided by the Security
    Council membership.

    The issues Azerbaijan paid more attention were rule of law,
    prevention and resolution of conflicts, protection of civilians in
    an armed conflict, fight against terrorism, cooperation between the
    UN and regional organizations as well as Middle East peace process,
    situation in Syria, Afghanistan and some states in Africa.

    Azerbaijan assumed UN Security Council rotating presidency two times
    in May 2012 and October 2013. The country organized a number of
    discussions and events on the important issues.

    The central theme of Azerbaijan's first presidency in May 2012 was
    "Threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist
    acts: strengthening international cooperation in the implementation
    of counterterrorism obligations". This topic was discussed at the
    high-level thematic meeting of the Security Council, held on 4 May 2012
    under the chairmanship of President Ilham Aliyev and with attendance
    of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. The statement of the President
    of the Security Council was adopted as the final document.

    The statement underlines the importance of fight against all forms
    and manifestations of terrorism. In addition, it highlighted the
    importance of the principle of territorial integrity of states,
    prevention of terrorism, promotion of respect and dialogue among
    religions and cultures as a means to fight it.

    During its second presidency in the Security Council, Azerbaijan
    convened on 28 October a high-level meeting of the Security Council on
    the theme of "Strengthening partnership synergy between the United
    Nations and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)" - the
    first ever meeting of the Council on this subject. The purpose of the
    meeting was to review the current state of cooperation between the
    United Nations and the OIC, as the second largest intergovernmental
    organization, in the maintenance of international peace and security,
    and to explore ideas, measures and joint actions for strengthening
    the partnership synergy between the two organizations.

    Chaired by Mr. Elmar Mammadyarov, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister, the
    meeting was attended by Secretaries-General of the two organizations,
    Mr. Ban Ki-Moon and Dr. Ekmelleddin Ihsanoglu, as well as by the
    high-level representatives of States members of the Security Council.

    The discussions focused on the critical issues in the agenda of the
    Security Council and on the ways of strengthening close cooperation
    and partnership between the United Nations and other international
    organizations, including in particular the OIC, in addressing those
    issues more effectively.

    During its presidency, Azerbaijan made every effort to press ahead
    with national interests at a global level. In regard to the ongoing
    conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, concerns were voiced over
    the continued occupation of the Azerbaijani territories by Armenia
    and calls were made for the resolution of the conflict on the basis
    of the principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity and the
    inviolability of internationally recognized borders of Azerbaijan
    and in line with Security Council resolutions 822, 853, 874 and 884
    adopted in 1993. In addition, the country raised the issue of bringing
    perpetrators of outrages on humanity to trial.

    During the Azerbaijani Presidency of the Security Council in May
    2012, it had organized an Arria Formula meeting to encourage a
    frank exchange of views, within a flexible procedural framework, on
    the role of mediation, judicial settlement and justice in promoting
    durable and international law-based peace and reconciliation. It was
    attended by 120 representatives of UN member states, UN Secretariat,
    international intergovernmental organizations, civil society and
    scientific community. The event was addressed by Deputy Foreign
    Minister of Azerbaijan Araz Azimov and Professor Malcolm N. Shaw QC,
    Senior Fellow at the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law at the
    University of Cambridge.

    Azerbaijan, which pays attention to the development of bilateral
    relations with the African nations, tried to contribute to resolution
    of problems the African continent faced. The important undertaking
    during Azerbaijan presidency was the official mission of the Security
    Council to Africa from 3 to 9 October. During this four-leg mission,
    the members of the Council visited the Democratic Republic of the
    Congo, Rwanda, Uganda and Ethiopia with the aim of taking stock of and
    discussing the current political, security and humanitarian situation
    in Africa's Great Lakes region, as well as showcasing their support
    to the UN-led and regional peace efforts.

    The 7th annual joint consultative meeting between the African Union
    Peace and Security Council and the United Nations Security Council
    presided over by permanent representative of Azerbaijan to the UN
    Agshin Mehdiyev was held in Addis-Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia.

    The meeting, co-chaired by Equatorial Guinea and Azerbaijan in their
    respective capacities as presidents of both bodies, had discussions
    and exchange of views on the situation in the Great Lakes region,
    Somalia, the Central African Republic and the Sahel region, the
    relations between the Sudan and South Sudan, and on the enhancement
    of partnership between the African Union and the United Nations. The
    meeting was concluded with the adoption of a Joint Communique, which
    was issued as a document of the Security Council.

    Azerbaijan`s both presidencies saw 59 open and closed meetings,
    7 resolutions, 3 statements of the Council`s President and 13 press
    statements.

    During the past two years, the cooperation between the UN member
    countries, UN Secretariat, non-governmental organizations, think
    tanks has been strengthened.©

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