Proposed by Ambassador Hans
Corell, Former Under Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and Legal Counsel of
the United Nations
We, the Permanent Members of
the Security Council,
Mindful of the responsibility of the
Security Council under the Charter of the United Nations for the maintenance of
international peace and security;
Realizing that the ever present
threats to international peace and security are now exacerbated by the effects
of climate change in combination with a rapidly growing world population;
Aware of the fact that failure on
the part of the Security Council to act in situations where action is obviously
required may cause unnecessary human suffering and may tempt others to
intervene, including by the use of force, without the required authorization of
the of the Council;
Realizing that such actions by others
will undermine the respect for the Charter of the United Nations and may in
themselves pose a direct threat to international peace and security;
Conscious of the fact that a failure
by the members of Security Council to set the example by scrupulously adhering
to international law and the Charter of the United Nations will have
devastating effects on the efforts to establish the rule of law at the national
and international level,
Have agreed to make the following solemn
undertaking: We pledge:
- To scrupulously adhere to
the obligations under international law that we have undertaken and in
particular those laid down in the Charter of the United Nations;
- To make use of our veto
power in the Security Council only if our most serious and direct national
interests are affected and to explain, in case we do use this power, the
reasons for doing so;
- To refrain in our
international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial
integrity or political independence of any state unless in self-defence in
accordance with Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations or in
accordance with a clear and unambiguous mandate by the Security Council under
Chapter VII;
- To take forceful action to
intervene in situations when international peace and security are threatened by
governments that seriously violate human rights or fail to protect their
populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against
humanity or when otherwise the responsibility to protect is engaged.
[Note by Ambassador Corell: I would like to
emphasize that the intention behind this proposal is to inspire a serious
discussion of the issue and that the text should be regarded as food for
thought rather than an attempt to propose the exact wording of such a
declaration.]