Mandate of UN SC resolution cannot be willfully interpreted

The mandate of the UN Security Council's resolutions cannot be willfully interpreted, said Li Baodong, China's permanent representative to the UN on Wednesday after he abstained from a vote on a draft resolution on the protection of children in armed conflicts.

The Council adopted the resolution with 11 votes in favor. China, Russia, Pakistan and Azerbaijan abstained.

Li said in his explanatory speech after the vote that children and armed conflicts is an important item for the Security Council.

However, this draft resolution failed to accommodate the reasonable concerns of the Council members, and at the same time, it was hastily put into vote without adequate consultations, he said.

"China finds it difficult to support this draft resolution which leads to serious differences among the members of the Council," he said.

The resolution "strongly condemns" all violations of applicable international law involving the recruitment and use of children in armed conflict as well as killing, abduction, attacks on schools and hospitals. In accordance with the UN Charter and the relevant resolutions of the Council, the Security Council should focus on the protection of children in the situation of armed conflicts, Li said.

"The mandate of the UN Security Council's resolutions cannot be willfully interpreted," he noted. "To equalize the incident of terrorist attack in Pakistan to armed conflict has exceeded the mandate of the Security Council."

"Pakistan is at the forefront of the international anti- terrorist fight and makes important contributions to the support of international cooperation on fighting against terrorism. The international community need to provide more support and help to Pakistani anti-terrorist efforts instead of creating difficulties and obstacles," said the ambassador.

Pakistan's Acting Permanent Representative Raza Bashir Tarar said in his statement that the process of consultations of the Council was bereft of openness and willingness to achieve consensus.

"Discrimination and double standards in exercise of different mandates is a reality," he said.

Pakistan had made proposals expressing concern at inclusion in the Secretary-General's report on children and armed conflict of situations that are not in the mandate. "We reiterated the need for fully respecting the mandate in the future reports," Tarar said.