Communist Review - From January 1, 2020, Vietnam will officially assume the role of a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for the 2020-2021 tenure (E10) and the rotating Presidency of the United Nations Security Council with the record votes (192/193 votes). Serving as the E10, Vietnam may assume the penholdership, chair/co-chair or participate in the shaping of the Security Council’s documents and chairing negotiations on this documents. Taking on the “Penholder” will bring Vietnam both opportunities and challenges in the 2020-2021 tenure.

The “Penholder” system at the United Nations Security Council

After the end of the Cold War, the activities of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) increased rapidly. During the 90s of the twentieth century, the P3 (the US, France, the UK)⁽¹⁾ performed leadership roles and drafted most Council documents and its “self-appointed” chaired position of  drafting of the Council's documents. Even though penholder assignments have been informal and unwritten, they have continued unchanged and largely unchallenged, reflecting the permanent positions of the P3 on the Council during this period ⁽²⁾.

The practice of the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (P5)⁽³⁾  had a precedent for exchanging and discussing a draft amongst themselves before circulating it to the elected members (E10), had appeared occasionally for many years. It was not until 2006 that the precedent was paid attention to and agreed to apply by the Security Council members to  regular and periodic issues in the Council meetings. For example, in 2006, the P3 leaded to the adoption  of the Council’s decision on nuclear non-proliferation in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea  (DPPK) and Iran, and agreed it’s content among themselves and then negotiate it with China and Russia. When the P5 reached a consensus, the draft Resolution was circulated to E10 for studying and commenting. Finally, when the E10 reached a consensus, the draft  resolution was set for meeting and approval. However, in this period, the E10 usually do not make any amendments to the draft resolution drafted by the P5, because this  might disturb the wording agreed to among the P5. Thus, it can be seen that the mechanism of drafting the Security Council's documents has helped the P5 to pre-control the content of the drafts and limit the opportunities for the E10 to take initiative and lead the problem.

By 2008, the drafting and negotiation of Security Council documents had been extended to more situation-specific issues on the Council's agenda. Accordingly, the P3 assume the penholdership on nearly all conflict-specific agenda items. Also around that time, the name “penholder” entered the vernacular of the Security Council. After many years of discussion, exchange as well as negotiation efforts, in April 2014, the term “Penholder” was officially mentioned and used in the Note of the President of the United Nations Security Council (S/2014/268), saying that “any member of the Council could be a penholder”⁽⁴⁾. The document also emphasised Council members’ commitment to enhancing the participation of all members in the drafting process, including through early and timely exchanges and consultations. In early 2017, the Informal Working Group of the Security Council (IWG) chaired by Japan exchanged, discussed and reached some consensus on updating the content of the president’s Note on the basis of Note 2014, but the content of the "Penholder" system remained unchanged compared to the practice. However, in August 2017, Following several months of negotiations led by Japan, the chair of IWG and on the basis of the results of IWG, Ambassador, Head of the Egyptian delegation, President of UNSC Amr Abdellatif Aboulatta issued Note 507, which provided some of specific guidelines related to the “penholder” system, such as “silent procedure" and “more than one Council member may act as “co-penholders”, when it is deemed to add value, taking into account as appropriate the expertise and/or contributions of Council members on the subjects” ⁽⁵⁾.

Thus, it can be understood that "penholder" system allow a Security Council member to draft Security Council documents, including resolutions and presidential statements and press statements.

The role of the “Penholder” system at the United Nations Security Council

The "Penholder" system has a broader and larger role than its name, as the function goes beyond drafting an outcome text and chairing the subsequent negotiations, the penholder takes the initiative on all Council activities concerning that situation, such as holding emergency meetings, organising open debates, and leading visiting missions as the Security Council's monthly president.

The reality shows that the E10 have an increasingly important role for burn-sharing and contribution to the effectiveness and transparence of the Security Council, and also make significant contributions to the success of Security Council meetings. Serving as a “penholder”, the E10 also have an influence on the direction of voting at the Security Council.  Finland is the first country which had the initiative to organize annual workshop since 2003 for current and newly elected non-permanent Council members. The first annual workshop took place in New York City (USA) in November 2003, focused on the role of the elected ten (E10) when participating the UNSC. The report prepared by Finland at the workshop emphasized: The E10 likewise had been able to influence the shaping of draft resolutions… The P5 could not put draft resolutions to a vote without first considering the views of the elected members. In that way, the E10 played an important role in shaping not only how the Council voted but on what texts it voted”⁽⁶⁾.

Over the past 5 years, the E10 have succeeded in leading the formulation of many important Security Council resolutions. For each case, the resolution was passed by accepting new initiatives instead of seeking prior consensus from the members. The most prominent and longest-standing example concerns the penholder system is that Sweden and Kuwait have chaired shaping and successful negotiation of the UN Security Council Resolution on humanitarian aspects of the conflict in Syria in 2018. The Council presidency co-leading visiting missions undertaken during its presidency, Bolivia co-led a visiting mission to the Democratic Republic of the Congo during its October 2018 presidency with the penholder, France. Earlier, in 2016, Egypt, Japan, New Zealand, Spain and Uruguay jointly shaped and adopted Resolution No. 2286 on healthcare in armed conflict.  This draft was co-sponsored by most Council members and United Nations members. Permanent members China and Russia have in recent years occasionally served as co-penholders with the US on non-proliferation issues. Elected members have served as penholders on Afghanistan, Guinea Bissau and some thematic issues.

The limitations of "Penholder" system

Since 2008, penholder distribution remains unchanged, with the P3 holding the pen on nearly all situation-specific issues. In June 2018, Russia circulated a draft note by the president proposing changes to the penholder system with the stated aim of enhancing Council effectiveness. The Russian draft said that all Council members should serve as penholders or co-penholders and proposed that the process of designating penholders should be similar to that of appointing chairs of Council subsidiary bodies and should ideally be completed by 1 October. In January 2019, The permanent representatives of the 15 countries, including the 10 elected members and 5 incoming ones⁽⁷⁾ co-signed a letter to the president of the Security Council in which they stated their shared position on the need for fair burden-sharing and an equal distribution of work among all Council members. The letter stressed that: “a more equal distribution of work among all members would positively affect the overall effectiveness of the Council” (8). The letter also pointed out that the Council should make better use of the expertise that the chairs of sanctions committees develop on the situations discussed in their respective committees and urged that chairs of sanctions committees become co-penholders on those dossiers"⁽⁹⁾.

Although the "Penholder" system is considered effective, there are some limitations. The practice of the Permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (P5)  discussing a draft amongst themselves before circulating it to the elected members (E10) at the last minute, makes it difficult for the E10 countries to make substantive contributions (if any) to the drafts.

This gives the Security Council no opportunity to receive new ideas and approaches from the elected E10 countries. Furthermore, the countries   undertake this task for many years are at risk of being "tired" of carrying out a repetitive task in the long run. In 2015, on behalf of six elected member states (10) Ambassador,  the Head of Angolan delegation, noted that the penholder system diminished the opportunity for wider Council engagement, especially by the E10, and significantly increased the risk of Council products being crafted in a way that serves only the interests of the P5⁽¹¹⁾.

For more than 10 years, penholders often forwarded/sent draft documents to Security Council members close to the time of meeting/consultation. This gave the Security Council little time to research and negotiate the draft. Therefore, as non-permanent members of the Security Council (according to the election term), E10 countries have expressed questions about the penholder system, as well as concerns about the increasing gap between E10 and P5 countries in implementing this system.

For 3 consecutive years open debates on working methods, in 2015, 2016 and 2017, the penholder system was one of the topics brought up most often. The permanent representative of New Zealand, Ambassador Gerard van Bohemen, speaking during the 2016 open debate on working methods, said: Penholders routinely take zero drafts straight to meetings of so-called experts. This precludes any real effort at building genuine consensus on the key policy questions to be considered. Non-penholders must choose between accepting a text largely as presented, or risk being accused of torpedoing important documents if they wish to make substantive policy proposals ⁽¹²⁾.

In addition, compared with the 1990s, the role of the President of the Security Council was challenged when the drafters directly sent documents to member countries and lead negotiations on the pursuing issues. In 2004, at the annual Security Council workshop in New York City, it was suggested that “this diminished the President’s role in this area. States that sponsored a resolution, moreover, tended to confer primarily with States that could veto their draft resolution, giving the E-10 less voice in the process”⁽¹³⁾.

Moreover, The "penholder" system reduces the chances of The Council Presidency in demonstrating their role in drafting and chairing negotiations on relevant documents. In fact, the P5 countries assume the “penholdership” on the draft documents of the Security Council, while the president of the committees under the Security Council are usually undertaken by E10 countries. The appointment of th Presidency of committees under the Security Council is controlled by P5 countries⁽¹⁴⁾.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Hoai Trung, Head of the Vietnamese delegation and four delegation leaders of non-permanent members of the United Nations Security Council for the 2020-2021 term at the Security Council meeting room_Photo: vietnamplus.vn

Issues raised for Vietnam

Officially assuming the E10 position for the 2020-2021 term and the rotatingpresidency of the United Nations Security Council from January 1, 2020, Vietnam may assume the "penholdership" on some issues in 2020 and 2021, especially in the month of president of the Security Council. This gives Vietnam many opportunities but also many challenges when participating in the "Penholder" system in the 2020-2021 term. Specifically:

Regarding  opportunities

Firstly, assuming the position of E10, Vietnam may server as penholder or co-penholder with other countries to give ideas, promote appropriate initiatives in the draft Council documents on issues that Vietnam is interested in and prioritize in the 2020-2021 term. During the 2008-2009 tenure, Vietnam has chaired successful negotiation the Resolution No. 1889 (2009) on women, peace and security. Therefore, in the 2020-2021 tenure, Vietnam can continue to focus on somepriorissues in the previous tenure and other promotion priorities in this tenure through skillful making use of the penholder or co-penholder.

Secondly, Vietnam can take advantage of its “Penholder” role to chair and lead negotiations, discussions among UN Security Council members, contributing to solidarity, transparency and effectiveness of the Security Council in the 2020-2021 tenure.

Thirdly, this is an opportunity for Vietnam to study, participate and select issues that can lead and mediate (feasible and appropriate to its capabilities) according to the Secretariat’s Directive No. 25-CT/TW, dated August 8, 2018 on “Promoting and elevating the Vietnamese multilateral diplomacy until 2030” through the "penholder"or co-penholderon common concernsof all Security Council members.

Regarding challenges

In fact, the "Penholder" system is a new one, which has hardly been implemented in the 2008-2009 term when Vietnam assumed the position of E10 at the United Nations Security Council. In the 2020-2021 term, Vietnam will face a number of new difficulties and challenges:

Firstly, Vietnam will have to get used to penholder/directly drafting Security Council documents on specific issues and chair the negotiations of drafts (if any).

Secondly, for complex issues, the inexperience will make Vietnam difficult to choose the time and how to transfer draft documents to Security Council members appropriately and effectively.

Thirdly, as the rotating Security Council precidensy,Vietnam may face challenges in coordinating, coordinating and handling relations with P5 and E10, especially thepenholder (usually a P5 country).

It can be said that the "Penholder" system is not a issue to the UN Security Council, but it is a relatively new one for Vietnam when serving as the E10 position for the 2020 – 2021 tenure. Therefore, to fulfill the role of E10 for the second time, Vietnam need: 1- Grasping  the foreign policy of the Party and the State; 2–Upholding the stance and principles of the Party and the State; 3-  Maintaining the political courage of communist soldier in the peace time; 4- Upholding the righteousness and love peace in dealing with complicated issues, relating to the interests of many countries, especially P5 countries; 5- Promoting the work of strategic research, dynamics research in multilateral forums in general and the United Nations in particular, thereby making appropriate forecasts for expressing views on complex issues arised at the Security Council; 6 - Building a friendly image, goodwill to listen, share, sincerely and selectively receiving opinions of other Security Council members; 7 - Applying skillfully and flexibly the principle of "Keeping calm is to cope with multi-unexpected changes” - Vietnam's diplomatic art in the style of President Ho Chi Minh is a intact value lesson to Vietnamese foreign affairs over the historical periods.

Good implementation of the above contents will contribute to the effective implementation of foreign policy: “Proactively participating and promoting Vietnam’s role in multilateral mechanisms, especially the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the United Nations. Proactively and actively participate in multilateral mechanisms on national defense and security, including participating in higher-level cooperation activities, such as UN peacekeeping activities, non-traditional security rehearsals and other activities”⁽¹⁵⁾ in the spirit of the 12th Party Congress; promoting the implementation of Directive No. 25/CT-TW, August 8, 2018, the Party Central Committee's Secretariat, on "Promoting and raising the level of multilateral external relations by 2030” and Resolution No. 28-NQ/TW, October 25, 2013, of the Party Central Committee (session XI), on “National defense strategy in the new situation”, as well as contributing to the draft of the the 6^th National Congress Documents./.

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(1) Three Permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.

(2) The penholder system. See: https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/Penholders.pdf

(3) The US, French, The UK, Chinese, Russian.

(4) Note of President of the Security Council on April 14, 2014 (S/2014/268). See: https://undocs.org/S/2014/268

(5) Note No. 507 of the President of the United Nations Security Council (S/2017/507) August 30, 2017. See: https://undocs.org/en/S/2017/507

(6) Letter of the Ambassador, Head of the Finnish delegation to the United Nations to the president of the Security Council, February 19, 2004. See: https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/s_2004_135.pdf

(7) Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, Equatorial Guinea, Germany, Indonesia Cambodia, Kuwait, Kuwait, Netherlands, Peru, Poland, Sweden and South Africa.

(8) Letters of 15 countries including 10 current E10 countries and 5 newly elected E10 countries to the president of the Security Council on October 24, 2018 (*S/2018/1024) See: https: //www.securitycouncilreport .org / atf / cf /% 7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9% 7D / s_2018_1024.pdf

(9) See: https: //www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/s_2018_1024.pdf

(10) Chile, Jordan, Malaysia, New Zealand, and Spain

(11) The penholders system. See: https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/Penholders.pdf

(12) Report of the 7740 UN Security Council meeting, July 19, 2016 (S/PV.7740). See: https://www.undocs.org/S/PV.7740

(13) Letter from the Ambassador, Head of the Finnish Delegation to the United Nations to the Chairman of the Security Council on 31 May 2005. See: https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/s_2005_228.pdf

(14) Lead Roles within the Council in 2019: Penholders and Chairs of Subsidiary Bodies. See: https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/monthly-forecast/2019-02/lead-roles-within-the-council-in-2019-penholders-and-chairs-of-subsidiary-bodies.php

(15) Document of the 12th National Delegation Congress, Office of the Party Central Committee, Hanoi, 2016, p. 35