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New York UN

EXPLANATION OF POSITION BY MR NATHANIEL KHNG, COUNSELLOR (LEGAL), PERMANENT MISSION OF SINGAPORE TO THE UNITED NATIONS, ON DRAFT RESOLUTION A/C.6/77/L.4 UNDER AGENDA ITEM 78, ON CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY, SIXTH COMMITTEE, 18 NOVEMBER 2022

18 November 2022

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1 Singapore joined consensus on the resolution that was just adopted, as we support open and constructive discussions on the substance of the draft articles and on the issue of what further action, if any, to be taken on the draft articles.  As we noted in our statement during the Sixth Committee’s plenary debate, there remains divergence of views on the substance of the draft articles.  We hope that the resumed sessions of the Committee in 2023 and 2024 may help us to resolve the complex issues that have been raised in the numerous statements and written submissions on this topic.


2 My delegation is pleased that the Committee has eventually adopted the resolution without a vote, in keeping with its tradition of decision-making by consensus.  We had concerns with how the negotiations this year were conducted, in particular, that a draft text was to be tabled for action after only three rounds of informal consultations, despite there being interest in and ample time for further negotiations.  And I note, by way of comparison, from a statement delivered earlier by Canada on behalf of a group of States on another resolution, that the coordinators for that other resolution, Bangladesh and Malaysia, “left no stone unturned, facilitating informal meetings between delegations up to the deadline”.  We were concerned that the Committee might have suffered from the same inflexibility that was shown last year, which resulted in silence being broken on a procedural way forward.


3 My delegation is therefore glad that this year, there was ultimately further engagement that resulted in a revised text that enjoyed consensus, due to delegations that were committed to achieving this outcome and that pushed hard in the final stages for engagement, flexibility and compromise. For our part, we actively supported engagement, flexibility and compromise in finding a procedural way forward.  We appreciate the efforts of other similarly-minded delegations.


4 Singapore stands ready to engage constructively and collaboratively in the discussions that will take place on the substance of the draft articles and the Commission’s recommendations on the draft articles.


5 Thank you Mr Chairperson.


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