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STATEMENT BY

MS. NUR AZURA ABD KARIM

COUNSELLOR

PERMANENT MISSION OF MALAYSIA TO THE UNITED NATIONS

 

ON AGENDA ITEM 87:

STRENGTHENING AND PROMOTING THE INTERNATIONAL TREATY

FRAMEWORK

 

AT THE SIXTH COMMITTEE OF

THE 78TH SESSION OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY

 

NEW YORK, 19 OCTOBER 2023

Mr. Chairman,

 

Malaysia wishes to underscore that the registration and publication of treaties and international agreements pursuant to Article 102(1) of the Charter of the United Nations as well as Article 80 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties 1969 will promote greater degree of transparency in the conduct of international relations.

 

2.     Further, Malaysia wishes to reiterate its view to support the approach that the registration of treaties or international agreements by the depositary as per Article 1 paragraph 3 of the Regulations should be encouraged and not obligatory as this would be in accordance of Article 77 of Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties.

 

3.     With regard to the regulations to give effect to Article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations (“Regulations”), once again Malaysia welcomes the timely review of the Regulations in order to facilitate electronic submissions and uses of electronic format to register treaties and international agreements in order to adapt with the latest advancements in information technology and heighten the treaty registration practices and system.

 

4.     For the purpose of discussion on the subtopic “Best practices of depositaries of multilateral treaties”, upon perusal of Article 5, Article 12 paragraph 1 of the Regulation as well as the Summary of Practice of the Secretary-General as Depositary of Multilateral Treaties (“Summary Practice”), Malaysia notes that the duties of the Secretariat are, among others, to register and publish the treaties and international instruments in the original language or languages, followed by a translation in English and French. Meanwhile, the Member States are required to provide the certified copy of the treaty/international agreement and, where available, courtesy translation of the text into any of UN’s official languages for expediting translations into English and French for publication.

 

5.     In lieu of the challenges faced by the Secretariat in dealing with the backlog in registering and publishing treaties and international agreements as well as shortage of resources by Member States, it would be beneficial to reconsider translation requirement into both English and French by the Secretariat. Malaysia opined that such consideration would promote and accord equal respect to all official languages of the United Nations and would help reduce the backlog faced by the Secretariat.

 

6.     Malaysia looks forward to futher discussions and exchange of views particularly on how we can support efforts to enhance and strengthen the international treaty framework.

 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.