JAPAN and the WORLD Magazine OCTOBER ISSUE 2015 #Issue 13 | Page 37

FRANCOPHONIE
国際連合安全保障理事会
UNITED NATIONS
SECURITY COUNCIL
私 が学んだ1 0のレッスン
BOOKS
THE TEN
LESSONS
LEARNED
WORDS: MR. BONIFACE LÉZONA
T
he United Nations Security Council
is the organ of the United Nations
which has the main responsability of
maintaining international peace and
security. It is also one of the six main organs
of the United Nations along with the General
Assembly, the Economic and Social Council, the
Trusteeship Council, the International Court of
Justice, and the Secretariat.
Few books in print cover the practical workings
of the United Nations Security Council,
especially the pragmatic conditions that govern
its inner workings, and this was the principal
impetus behind the book by Boniface Lezona.
Through 10 lessons he learned during his modest
experience on the Security Council, the author
attempts to contribute to the understanding of
the workings of the UN Security Council from
theoretical and pragmatic viewpoints.
Lesson One covers the activities and authority of
the Security Council and highlights the roles and
mission fulfilled by the Security Council member
states. Lesson Two touches on the Security Council
member states and describes five permanent
members and ten non-permanent members
that make up the 15-member council. Each of
the permanent members has veto power and is
considered one of the “landlords” of the Security
Council, while non-permanent members are
considered “tenants.” Nevertheless, these member
states must live together while constrained by the
ultimate goal of the world’s peace.
The main topic of Lesson Three is the
occupational profiles of the ambassadors
representing the member states. A comparative
study shows that 86.66%, or 13 of the 15 member
states’ ambassadors during this time, are career
diplomats. This indicates the level of trust
political leaders place in international relations
specialists. Lesson Four focuses on the arena or
framework of the Security Council. The Security
Council Chamber which is specifically reserved
for the public meetings and the Consultation
Room are the main venues where debates take
place, with the concerned players explaining
their activities and deliberating world peace,
stability, and justice.
Lesson Five, on the presidency of the Security
Council, covers the many emotions ranging from
honor to distress that the author experienced
while presiding as Security Council president.
Lesson Six is on political coordination, in other
JAPAN AND THE WORLD MAGAZINE
words the delegates network of the Security
Council Members which role is to work closely
with the secretariat of the Security Council in
order to increase transparency and efficacy of this
UN body. Political coordinators are considered
as focal points of their respective delegation.
Lesson Seven covers the organization of the work
of the Security Council and how to deal with
other aspects or issues, while in Lesson Eight the
author touches on the election that takes place
when the United Nations Secretary-General’s
term of office expires. The theme of Lesson
Nine is the evils that are aggravating conditions
on the African continent such as war, military
conflict, poverty, disease, and supranational
organized crime. The final Lesson Ten explores
the threat of nuclear weapons and proposes ways
and means to achieve the process of the nuclear
disarmament and non-proliferation.
In conclusion, there is a bold appeal to the
Security Council to address the new and
unprecedented international circumstances that
are prone to rapid and multifarious change.
This work of 117 pages was published by Kojin
Shoten (Tokyo) and would be a welcome addition
to the libraries of United Nations member
states as well as researchers and students of
international relations and political science.
*Boniface Lézona was a member of the Congo-
Brazzaville Delegation to the UN Security Council, for
the period 2006-2007, and Counsellor at the Permanent
Mission of Congo to the United Nations, New York.
国
際連合安全保障理事会は、
国際平和と安
全保障の維持をその主要な責務とする機
関である。国際連合安全保障理事会は国
際連合総会、国際連合経済社会理事会、
国際連合信託統治理事会、国際司法裁判所、国際連合
事務局と共に、
国際連合の主要６機関を構成している。
国連安全保障理事会を実用的方法で扱った著作、
とり
わけ、
その内部で統治する実践的環境を扱った著作の
少ないことが、
ボニレゾナが当該著作を書くに至った主
な理由である。
１０のレッスンで学んだ、
つつましい経験を通じて、著者
BONIFACE LÉZONA
Boniface Lézona was born in Brazzaville, the
capital of the Republic of Congo, and has 25
years of experience as a career diplomat.
Following are some of the posts he served in
during his career:
1999–2005
Head of the Division: UN General Assembly
and Security Council, Ministry of Foreign
Affairs and Cooperation.
2006–2010
Counsellor at the Permanent Mission of
Congo to the United Nations, New York.
2011–2012
Deputy Coordinator of the Cellule in
relationship with the Congolese Diaspora,
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation.
2013-2015
Chargé d’Affaires a.i. of the Embassy of the
Republic of Congo in Japan.
He obtained degrees from the Ecole Nationale
d’Administration et de Magistrature in Brazzaville
and the Institut des Relations Internationales
du Cameroun (IRIC) in Yaounde as well as
the United Nations Institute for Training and
Research (UNITAR) and the Diplomatic Academy
of Pretoria, South Africa. From 2008 to 2010,
he attended numerous seminars at the
International Peace Institute (IPI), in New York.
は、
理論的、
実践的見地から、
安保理の運営の理解に貢
OCTOBER 2015 // 36