Prime Minister Julia Gillard and
Foreign Minister Bob Carr thanked Australia's regional and global partners for
the confidence they had shown in Australia and underlined that Australia would
play a constructive role across the breadth of the Council's peace and security
agenda.
Australia's key priorities will
include Afghanistan, Syria, Iran and North Korea. Australia will also work to
ensure the effectiveness of UNSC sanctions regimes, including those targeting
individuals associated with Al-Qaida. Ms Gillard and Senator Carr
congratulated Luxembourg, South Korea, Argentina and Rwanda, which were also
elected to serve as non-permanent members for 2013-14.
The UN Security Council is at the core
of the UN – it has primary responsibility in the global system for the
maintenance of international peace and security. It has the power to make
decisions that are binding on all UN Member States and to authorise coercive
measures including sanctions and the use of force.
The Security Council's work matters
to Australia – its decisions directly affect Australian personnel deployed
under Security Council mandates, including in Afghanistan and East Timor.
The Council oversees 15 peacekeeping
operations (with 117,000 personnel deployed) and 13 political and
peace-building missions across four continents. After the US, the UN has the
largest number of troops deployed in the world. These deployments are
authorised by the Security Council.
The Council also manages 13 sanctions
regimes and eight subsidiary bodies covering topics such as weapons of mass
destruction, terrorism, women and children and armed conflict, and women, peace
and security.
This will be Australia's fifth term
on the Security Council since joining the UN as a founding member in 1945.
Australia held the first Presidency of the Security Council in 1946. It has
been 27 years since Australia last served on the Council in 1985-86.
Australia's re-election to the
Council for the 2013-14 term reflects Australia's positive standing in global
affairs and the significant contribution Australia makes to international peace
and security.
Australia is the 12th largest contributor to the UN regular and
peacekeeping budgets and has deployed 65,000 personnel to over 50 UN and other
peace and security operations since 1947, including in East Timor, Solomon
Islands and Bougainville.Extract from Bob Carr bolg http://bobcarrblog.wordpress.com/
Senator Carr recently meet with Greg Mclean and representatives of Unions affiliates to GUFS in Australia (including the PSI) .