... against Mali, and how did it become a point of contention in today’s Security Council? What might Russia’s veto mean in its approach to implementing and expressing its foreign policy within the UNSC?
Understanding UN Sanctions
Mikhail Margelov:
Dis-United Nations and Conceptual Mazes of the New World Order
Since its founding in 1945, the United Nations has amassed a renowned reputation for its mind-blowing humanitarian achievements, as well as its blatant political failures. Though at times successful ...
Working Paper No. 74 / 2023
Working Paper No. 74 / 2023
The working paper seeks to analyze constitutive voting patterns of Sub-Saharan states of Africa at the UN General Assembly. The methodology proposed in this paper offers an opportunity to explore this issue topic-wise as well as in a broader sense. The paper considers a number of indicators that help assess the involvement of the continent’s different countries in the voting processes, builds on the various types of strategic behavior in the...
... based international order”.
This slogan-like concept
, frequently abused by some politicians, is a precondition for multilateral cooperation aimed towards promoting peace and prosperity for allhumankind . Indeed, the purposes and principles of the United Nations (as laid out in Articles 1 and 2 of the Charter) would suffice to achieve, step by step, enhanced human rights, development, self-determination, fair trade, international solidarity, peace and security. Nearly 77 years after the entry into ...
A true reform of the UN cannot start in New York; it should start in national capitals of member states
Blowing out 75 candles is great exercise for the lungs. The United Nations turned 75 this year. It is a remarkable accomplishment in itself. The League of Nations, which preceded the UN, survived for two decades only. Still, can we cheerfully say at this jubilee (and with every passing year), is the body's ambition ...
... most open to interpretation. Whilst there are many (and often well grounded) accusations that unrecognised states are simply vassals of external powers this is not a phenomenon unique to unrecognised entities. Many recognised states with a seat in the United Nations forfeit numerous traditional sovereign attributes willingly (for example the legislative power granted by Monaco to France) yet are not deemed to have surrendered their independence. In addition, whilst unrecognised states undoubtedly struggle ...
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly." (MLK)
The international community strongly denounced the violence in Syria but so far it hasn’t been able to provide an effective framework to prevent and stop these atrocities. The responsibility to protect (R2P) doctrine - adopted in 2005 to embody the promises made by world leaders...
... intervention, which defines who has the right to authorize military intervention.
Criterion 6: Right authority
It is rather important to ensure that a military intervention is legitimate and has broad support from the international community. The United Nations Security Council is the only international body that should represent the world’s voice and make decisions with binding force. But the politicization of the Security Council sometimes prevents it from making just decisions that could ...
In this entry I explore fourth and fifth criteria for military intervention, which are to determine whether the international community can supply adequate means and whether the intervention can bring more good than harm.
4 and 5 Criteria: Proportional means and reasonable prospect
Proportional means and reasonable prospect are intertwined ideas that can be looked at together. Reasonable prospect means that after intervention the situation in the country must be better than if the intervention...
... and are not likely to give up on their interests easily.
To be continued...
[1] U.N. Security Council, 3368th meeting.Resolution 912 (S/RES/912). 21 April 1994.
[2] U.N. Security Council. Report of the Independent Inquiry into the actions of the United Nations during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda (S/1999/1257).16 December 1999.
[3] U.N. Security Council. 6498 th meeting. Resolution 1973 (S/RES/1973). 17 March 2011.
[4] U.N. Refugee Agency. Syria Regional Refugee Response. http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/regional....
In my previous blog entry I talked about the politicized and selective approaches of UN Member States to making decision on intervention into intra-state conflicts. So, what could be the solution to this problem? What is needed to minimize the politicization? Clear criteria for military intervention should be defined in international law, so that when an intra-state conflict erupts, the international community, having timely assessed the conflict on the ground, could run through a checklist of those...