Preparatory Committee for the United Nations Conference of Plenipotentiaries on Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against Humanity - General Assembly, First Session, 7th plenary meeting

Distinguished delegates, I call to order the seventh meeting of the Preparatory Committee.

This meeting of the Plenary has been called in order to consider the question of the election of the Bureau of the Preparatory Committee.

I'd like to recall the decision taken by the Preparatory Committee at the meeting of the plenary on Wednesday, 21 January, by which the committee decided that a bureau of 10 members be established, being composed of two members for each regional group and consisting of the chair, eight vice Chairs and our Rapporteur. That the election of the other nine members of the Bureau take place at a plenary meeting specifically called to deal with this matter. That the four nominations already received from regional groups continue to stand and that additional nominations for each regional group be made from the floor on the day of the election.

Having given the regional groups several days to consult and solicit nominations for the additional seat now allocated to each regional group under the new arrangement, which was decided upon by the Preparatory Committee, I understand that we are now in a position to revert to the consideration of this election of the Bureau in accordance with Rule 103 of the Rules of Procedure of the General Assembly.

Distinguished delegates, before proceeding, I wish to recall that the Bureau of our Prep Comm. Is to be distinguished from. From the Bureau of the Diplomatic Conference. The Diplomatic Conference Bureau will be formed separately. Under the rules of procedure for the Diplomatic Conference, there is no automatic carryover of membership of the PrepCom Bureau to the Diplomatic Conference Bureau.

A separate nomination and election process will apply for the filling of that Bureau.

Distinguished delegates, I now propose to proceed as follows. We will first take care of the election of the Rapporteur of the Preparatory Committee, following which we will turn to the election of the Vice chairs of the PrepCom Proceeding Group by group. For each regional group election, I will recall the nomination submitted for that group last year and then open the floor for a further nomination to fill the second seat allocated to each Group to be made from the floor. I recall that Bureau members serve on an ad personam basis. Accordingly, for a nomination to be valid, it has to identify not only the member State concerned, but also the name of the person in question.

I will then put the nominations for that group to election by the Preparatory Committee in accordance with the standard procedure. Sorry, standard practice. That practice is to elect nominees by acclamation when the number of nominations equals the number of positions to be filled, and by secret ballot when the number of nominees exceeds the number of positions available. The nomination of each candidate shall be limited to one speaker, after which the Committee shall immediately proceed to the election.

Distinguished delegates, we will commence with the election of the Rapporteur to the Preparatory Committee. I recall that Mr. Theodolus Pitakis of Cyprus was nominated last year by the Group of Asia Pacific States for the post of Rapporteur. Are there any other nominations?

I see none. We have a single nomination for the position of Rapporteur, as I mentioned. In these circumstances, the general practice is to dispense with election by secret ballot and simply proceed to elect the candidate by acclamation accordingly. May I take it that it is the wish of this Preparatory committee to elect Mr. Pitakis of Cyprus as Rapporteur by acclamation? I see no objection.

It is so decided.

I congratulate Mr. Pitakis on his election as the Rapporteur of this Preparatory Committee. And I invite him now to take his seat at the podium.

Distinguished colleagues, let us proceed now to elect the Vice presidents. The Vice chairs.

We shall begin with the election of the Vice Chairs from the African States States Group. I have been informed by the Secretariat that the African States group nominated Ms. Marang Sanyang of the Gambia last year for the post of Vice Chair.

Are there any nominations for the additional Vice Chair from the Africa Group, The delegation of Lesotho?

Thank you very much. Mr. Chair. I confirm that there is another nomination which has been endorsed. Mr. Meshet Dean.

Samir Busahar of Algeria has been endorsed as the Vice Chair. I so confirm. On behalf of African group. Thank you.

I thank the distinguished delegate of Lesotho. May I ask if there are any other nominations?

I see none. Since we have the same number of nominations as positions, I believe we can dispense with election by secret ballot and simply proceed to elect both candidates by acclamation. May I take it that it is the wish of the Preparatory committee to elect Ms. Sanyang of the Gambia and Mr. Gusahel of Algeria as Vice Chairs? I see no objection. It is so decided.

Distinguished Delegates, I'm afraid we're having some microphone difficulties at this side, so I will suspend the meeting for two minutes while the technical team try to address this problem. Please do not leave the room.

The meeting is adjourned for shortly.

Distinguished delegates, the plenary meeting resumes.

Proceeding in alphabetical order. Let us now consider the nominations for the Group of Asia Pacific States.

I recall that we have elected Mr. Pittakis of Cyprus as the Rapporteur of our Committee. As such, and in accordance with the decision to expand the size of the bureau to 10, the group of Asia Pacific States is also entitled to an additional position of Vice Chair of the Preparatory Committee. May I ask if there are any nominations for the additional Vice Chair from the Group of Asia Pacific States?

I see. The delegation of the Marshall Islands. The distinguished delegate of the Marshall Islands has the floor.

Thank you, Chair. Chair.

As Chair of the Asia Pacific Group for January, the Marshall Islands conveys the candidacy of UN Ambassador Ibrahim Alabai of the Syrian Arab Republic for the remaining Asia Opposition Group of Bureau. Vice Chair. Thank you, Chair.

I thank the distinguished delegate of the Marshall Islands for that nomination. May I ask if there are any other nominations for the Asia Pacific Group of States? I see none. Since we have the same number of nominations as positions, I believe that we can dispense with the resort to the secret ballot and simply proceed to elect the candidate by acclamation. May I take it that it is the wish of the Preparatory Committee to elect His Excellency Ambassador Ibrahim Olabi of the Syrian Arab Republic as Vice Chair?

I see no objection. It is so decided. I congratulate Ambassador Olabi on his election.

Distinguished delegates, next we will consider the nominations for the Eastern European States. I have been informed by the Secretariat that His Excellency Ambassador Andriy Melnick of Ukraine was nominated for the post of Vice Chair last year. May I ask if there are any nominations for the additional Vice Chair position from among the Eastern European States?

I see. The delegation of Bulgaria. The distinguished delegate of Bulgaria has the floor.

Thank you, Chair. As Chair of the Eastern European Regional Group for the month of January, I would like to inform you that two more candidatures have been submitted, which in chronological order of the submissions are as Ms. Natasha Shebenik, Slovenia, Legal Advisor at the Permanent Mission of Slovenia to the United nations and Mr. Ivan Volodyn, Russian Federation Deputy Director of the Legal Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Thank you.

I thank the distinguished delegate of Bulgaria for her nominations. May I ask if there are any other nominations?

I see none. Since we have the same Number of nominees? Sorry, I beg your pardon.

That was Alternative A.

We're in Alternative B territory here. I see. Since there are more nominations than allocated positions in the Bureau, the Preparatory Committee will have to hold an election by secret ballot to fill these two seats. At this point, I propose to proceed with the election of the next regional group and then return immediately to the conduct of this secret ballot.

Distinguished delegates, let us now turn to the Group of Latin American and Caribbean States. I have been informed by the Secretariat that that the Group of Latin American and Caribbean States nominated, but have nominated Ms. Ana Paula Labaye Arroyo of Mexico for the post of Vice Chair last year. May I ask if there are any nominations for the additional Vice Chair position from the Group of Latin American and Caribbean States? I see. The delegation of Colombia.

The distinguished delegate of Columbia has the floor.

Gracias. Thank you, Chair, for giving me the floor, addressing you in my capacity as Colombia's Chair of the Group of Latin America and Caribbean for the month of January. Indeed, as you indicated, our group had nominated candidate Ana Paulo Lavallo from Mexico for the first seat in the Bureau for Grulak. The Permanent representative of Dominican Republic expressed his interest in nominating Mr. Max Abrea Mea, First Secretary of the Permanent Mission of the Dominican Republic with the United nations to occupy the Post of the 2nd Vice Chair of the Bureau for Grulaux. Thank you.

I thank the distinguished delegate of Colombia for her nomination. May I ask if there are any other nominations? I see none. Since we have the same number of nominations as positions, I believe we can dispense with, resort to the secret ballot and simply proceed to elect both candidates by acclamation. May I take it that it is the wish of the Preparatory committee to elect Ms. La Valle Arroyo of Mexico and Mr. Brea Meir of the Dominican Republic as Vice Chairs?

I see no objection. It is so decided.

I congratulate Ms. Leballe Arroyo of Mexico and Mr. Brea Mela of the Dominican Republic on their election.

The final group to consider is the Western European and Other States Group. Distinguished delegates. Since I was elected Chair of the Preparatory Committee on the opening day of this session of the Preparatory Committee as a nominee of the Western European and Other States Group. The Group only has one further position, the position of Vice Chair to fill. May I ask if there are any nominations for the position of Vice Chair from the Western European and Other States Group?

I see. The delegation of Portugal. The distinguished delegate of Portugal has the floor.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

As well. Coordinator for the month of January, Portugal has received notification for one nomination for the additional seat allocated to the Waorg, that of Ambassador Juan Forner Rovira, Permanent Representative of the Principality of Andorra. I thank you, Mr. Chair.

I thank the distinguished delegate of Portugal for that nomination. May I ask if there are any other nominations? I see none. Since we have the same number of nominations as positions, I believe that we can dispense with election by secret ballot and simply proceed to elect this candidate by acclamation. May I take it that it is the wish of the Proprietary Committee to elect Ambassador Forner Rovira of Andorra as Vice Chair?

I see no objection. It is so decided.

I congratulate Ambassador Fornier Rovira of Andorra on his election.

Distinguished delegates, the Preparatory Committee will now proceed in accordance with Rule 103 of the Rules of Procedure of the General assembly to elect the two Vice Chairs from among the Eastern European states. I recall that we have received the nominations of of His Excellency Andriy Melnik of Ukraine last year, as well as those of Ms. Natasha Shebenik of Slovenia and Mr. Ivan Volodyn from the Russian Federation today. I recall further that Rule 103 of the Rules of Procedure provide as follows. Each main Committee shall elect a Chairman, three vice Chairman and a Rapporteur. In the case of other committees, each shall elect a chairman, one or more vice Chairman and a Rapporteur.

These officers shall be elected on the basis of equitable geographic distribution, experience and personal competence. The elections shall be held by secret ballot unless the Committee decides otherwise. In an election where only one candidate is stating, the nomination of each candidate shall be limited to one speaker, from which the Committee shall immediately proceed to the election. I will now explain the balloting procedure. The conference officers will first distribute the ballot papers to the representatives sitting behind their name plates.

The name of the candidates have been printed on the ballot paper. An additional blank line has been provided for inscribing another eligible candidate, if desirable.

Once you have received the ballot papers, you may place an X in the box next to the name of the candidate printed on the ballot paper or or write down on the blank line the name of one representative and the name of the Eastern European state which he or she represents. I remind delegations that we have received the nominations of Ambassador Andriy melnyk of Ukraine, Ms. Natasha Szevanik of Slovenia, and Mr. Ivan Volodyn from the Russian Federation. I stress that since there are two Vice chair positions available, you may only indicate your choice of two names on the ballot paper. The ballot will be considered invalid if it contains votes for more than two candidates or if it contains the name of a representative who represents a state which is not from among the Eastern European states, or if you write down the name of a state State only a blank ballot paper will be considered an abstention. If a ballot contains a notation other than a vote in favour of an eligible candidate, the notation will be disregarded.

After the ballot papers are collected, the tellers assisted by the Secretariat will count the votes and I will announce the results in accordance with Rule 125 of the Rules of Procedure of the General Assembly. The majority required is the majority of the members present and voting. If I see no objection, the Committee will proceed to the secret ballot in accordance with this procedure that I have just outlined. It is China.

Thank you. Chair. I have a.

Floor.

I have a procedural motion. Just now you mentioned Rule 103.

It also says unless otherwise decided by the Committee, that is to say, we can elect one or more than one Vice Chair.

So my question is, is it possible that the Committee decides that regarding the Eastern Europe Group, one more vacancy can be added or one more seat can be added because this complies with Rule 103 also based on our experience on BB&J at that time for the Asia Pacific, according to GA resolution, there should be only three from each regional group. But later on there were nine candidates from the Asia Pacific group and then they decided to rotate for the three seats. I know that this depends on the Eastern Europe group. I don't know whether they have enough time to coordinate on this matter. Not until this morning did we come to know the situation for different regional groups.

Therefore, one option is perhaps maybe this Committee can consider the expansion of the seats or maybe the Eastern Europe group can consider the option of rotating the seats. Thank you.

I thank the distinguished delegate of China for those comments.

He referenced Rule 103 which makes. Which refers to the question of whether unless otherwise decided by the Committee. My understanding of Rule 103 is that that clause, unless otherwise decided by the Committee relates to the question of whether the ballot is to be conducted in secret or otherwise. The rule itself refers to.

The equitable geographic distribution of seats with among the Vice Chairs and other officers. As the distinguished delegate of China will recall, a decision was made in this Committee that a bureau of 10 should be established just a few days ago consisting of two representatives of each regional group, that being an equitable geographic distribution.

Do I understand the delegate of China to be asking for that decision of this Preparatory Committee to be revisited? Because I do not see how within Rule 103 what is being suggested can be achieved without a revisitation of that decision.

Thank you, Chair, for your remarks. Our suggestion. One of our suggestions is that this Committee shall consider the possibility of expanding the size of the bureau, for example, to expand it to 11 seats. Another option is maybe we can listen to the opinion of the Eastern European Group whether they have considered the possibility of rotating the seats among the three candidates. I understand that there are precedents of rotation, while in the final analysis we respect the decision of the Chair and other delegates.

Thank you.

I see the distinguished delegate of Bulgaria. You have the floor.

Thank you, Chair.

As Chair of the Eastern European Group, I would like to quickly respond to what has just been put as question by the Chinese delegate. There haven't been conducted any informal consultations within the Eastern European Group on the issue of potential rotating of the seats of the Bureau. And it is not to my knowledge that we are foreseeing such consultations at this moment. If this could be answering the question put by China, I'll leave it here. Otherwise, I stand corrected by the members of the Eastern European Group.

Thank you.

I thank the distinguished delegate of Bulgaria for her comments. My understanding on the basis of that is that there has been no consultation or suggestion of consultation on that matter within that particular region group. And I would therefore propose to proceed as originally outlined.

I see no objection. I'll. Now.

Before we proceed to the secret ballot, I. I would like to recall that in accordance with Rule 128 of the Rules of Procedure of the General assembly, the Chair may permit members to explain their votes either before or after the voting, except when the vote is taken by secret ballot. Therefore, there shall be no explanation of vote before or after the vote. I should also like to remind delegations that pursuant to Rule 128 of the Rules of Procedure, no representative shall interrupt the voting except on a point of order. On the actual conduct of the voting, all delegates are also requested to remain at their seats so that the voting process can proceed in an orderly manner. I thank you for your cooperation.

I wish to inform the Committee that the following delegations have agreed to serve as tellers. Representatives of Bulgaria, Chile, Niger, the Philippines and Portugal.

I now ask the conference officers to distribute the ballot papers. Ballot papers are now being distributed and the voting process has therefore begun. I ask representatives to use only those ballot papers that have been distributed and to cross the box next to the names of the candidates printed on the ballot paper or to write the name of the other candidates and the names of the respective Eastern European state which they represent. I repeat that ballot papers containing votes for more than two candidates or containing only the name of a country will be declared invalid. Likewise, if a ballot contains one valid and one invalid vote, only the valid vote will be counted.

Furthermore, Rule 125 provides that the Preparatory Committee's decisions are made by a majority of members. Members present in voting.

The successful candidates will be the candidates that receive the highest number of votes, assuming that each receives a number of votes equal to a majority of members present and voting. I now invite the tellers and the conference officers to approach the podium with the ballot boxes when ready so that we can verify that the box is empty.

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I now invite the tellers and the conference officers to approach the podium with the ballot box so we can verify that the boxes are empty.

I. I ask that the tellers accompany the conference officers as they collect the ballot papers.

Tellers to come to the top of the room, please.

Please proceed to collect the ballot papers.

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Distinguished delegates, may I request any delegations who may not have voted to do so now by approaching the podium to cast their vote.

I see none. The voting is now closed. No more ballot papers will be accepted. The results of the vote will be announced. Once they are tallied, I suspend the meeting for approximately half an hour.

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Distinguished delegates, the meeting of the Preparatory Committee is resumed.

The results of the ballot are as follows.

Number of ballot papers, 169.

Number of invalid ballots, 0.

Number of valid ballots, 169. Abstentions, 4. Number of members present and voting. 165. Majority required.

83. The following are the numbers of votes obtained by the candidates. Ambassador Andriy Melnik, Ukraine. 126. Ms. Natasha Shebenik of Slovenia, 112.

Mr. Ivan Volodyn, Russian Federation, 74.

Having obtained the required majority, Ambassador Andrey Melnik of Ukraine and Ms. Natasha Shebinik of Slovenia are deemed elected Vice chairs of the Preparatory Committee.

I congratulate both on their election.

Distinguished delegates, we have thus concluded the election of the Bureau. Before adjourning this session of the Plenary, I'd like to provide some information about the plan for the final meeting of this session of the Preparatory Committee on Friday. As delegations will have seen from the approved program of work, two items are listed for Friday's meeting. Oral report on the Working Group and adoption of the summary of proceedings of the PrepCom first session. The oral Report on the Working Group is a very brief oral report on the discussions in the Working Group to be delivered by me.

The summary of proceedings of the PrepCom. The second item to be dealt with on Friday will involve consideration of a decision on the participation of stakeholders other than those referred to in paragraph 16 of General Assembly 79122, I.e. the non ECOSOC stakeholders. Once we have dealt with that, we will proceed then to consider and adopt a brief summary of proceedings of the first session and adopt in which we will be will be recorded the decision on the participation of non ecosoc stakeholders. That summary report will eventually be incorporated into the report of the Preparatory Committee to be adopted at the end of the second session of the PREPCOM next year and to be transmitted to the the Diplomatic Conference.

A draft of the summary report for consideration on Friday will be circulated to all delegations on Thursday. The Plenary will now adjourn. Upon adjournment, we will take a short break and then recommence the meeting of the Working Group. The Plenary will next meet on Friday morning at 10:00am the meeting is adjourned.

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