Categories
-Top News Europe World

UN faces existential threat from Ukraine conflict

The Charter itself has paralysed the UN by conferring veto powers for permanent members at the Security Council, which alone can act, a report by Arul Louis

Paralysed by its own Charter and structure, the world organisation that is charged with preventing wars confronts an existential challenge from Russias ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

When Russia, a UN Security Council Permanent Member, sent its troops into a smaller neighbour defying the UN Charter and all norms of international relations on February 24, 2022, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had said: “This is the saddest moment in my tenure as Secretary-General of the UN.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (R) meets with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in Kiev on April 28, 2022. (Ukrainian Presidential Office/Handout via Xinhua/IANS)

Beyond sadness from the betrayal and the pain inflicted on nations around the world, especially the poorest, the war drives into the very foundation of the UN built nearly 78 years ago.

Guterres warned this month, “I fear the world is not sleepwalking into a wider war, I fear it is doing so with its eyes wide open”.

And the invasion has raised questions about the UN’s resolve “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war”, as the first sentence of its Charter declares.

Yet the Charter itself has paralysed the UN by conferring veto powers for permanent members at the Security Council, which alone can act.

Russia’s vetoes have mired the Council in the morass of inaction renewing calls for its reform.

Describing the situation, General Assembly President Csaba Korosi said: “The Security Council — the main guarantor of international peace and security – has remained blocked, unable to fully carry out its mandate.”

“Growing numbers are now demanding its reform,” he said noting that at the Assembly’s High-Level Week in September, “one-third of world leaders underscored the urgent need to reform the Council — more than double the number in 2021”.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin at a meeting in Petersburg in 2019. (File Photo: UN)

While the reform process — in which India has a special interest as an aspirant for a permanent seat –that has itself been stymied for nearly two decades has come to the fore, it is not likely to happen any time soon.

But the General Assembly, which does not have the enforcement powers of the Council, has used the imbroglio to set a precedent forcing permanent members when they wield their veto to face it and explain their action.

Russia appeared before the Assembly to answer for its vetoes while facing a barrage of criticism.

The Assembly also revived a seldom-used action under the 1950 Uniting for Peace Resolution of calling for an emergency special session when the Council fails in its primary duty of maintaining peace and security.

It passed a resolution in March demanding that Russia “immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw all of its military forces from the territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognised borders”.

It received 141 votes — getting more than two-thirds of the votes 193 required for it — while India was among the 35 countries that abstained.

This, as well as the subsequent three passed last year ultimately were but an exercise in moral authority with no means to enforce it.

A proposal made by Mexico and France in 2015 calling on permanent members to refrain from using their vetoes on issues involving them also has been getting a re-airing– but to no avail.

Russia’s Permanent Representative Vasily Nebenza vetoes the resolution at the UN Security Council.

India, which was a member of the Council last year was caught in the middle of the polarisation at the UN, both at the Council and the Assembly, because of its dependence on Russian arms and the support it had received at crucial times in the Security Council from its predecessor the Soviet Union.

India abstained at least 11 times on substantive resolutions relating to Ukraine in both chambers of the UN, including resolutions at the Council sponsored by Moscow.

India faced tremendous pressure from the West to join in voting on resolutions against Russia and openly take a definitive stand condemning Moscow.

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar told the Security Council in September 2022: “As the Ukraine conflict continues to rage, we are often asked whose side we are on. And our answer, each time, is straight and honest. India is on the side of peace and will remain firmly there.”

And while keeping the semblance of neutrality while voting, India came closest to taking a stand in support of Ukraine — and by inference against Russia — when he said, “we are on the side that respects the UN Charter and its founding principles”.

Now out of the Council, New Delhi’s profile has been lowered and it also does not have to publicly display its tight-rope walk as often, although it may yet have to do it again this week when the Assembly is likely to have a resolution around the invasion’s anniversary.

The pain of the invasion is felt far beyond the borders of Ukraine.

(Photo: Instagram/zelenskiy)

Guterres said: “The Russian invasion of Ukraine is inflicting untold suffering on the Ukrainian people, with profound global implications.”

The fallout of the war has set back the UN’s omnibus development goals.

More immediately, several countries came to the brink of famine and the spectre of hunger still stalks the world because of shortages of agricultural input, while many countries, including many developed nations, face severe energy and financial problems.

The war shut off exports of food grains from Ukraine and limited exports from Russia, the two countries that have become the world’s food baskets.

Besides depriving many countries of food grains, the shortages raised global prices.

The one victory for the UN has been the Black Sea agreement forged with Russia, Ukraine and Turkey in July to allow safe passage for ships carrying foodgrains from Ukrainian ports.

Guterres’s spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said that in about 1,500 trips by ships so far, “more than 21.3 million tonnes of grain and food products have been moved so far during the initiative, helping to bring down global food prices and stabilising markets”.

Csaba Korosi, president of the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). (Xinhua/Wang Ying/IANS)

A UN outfit, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has also made an impact during the war, working to protect nuclear facilities in Ukraine that were occupied by Russia’s forces while shelling around them.

It said that it has managed to station teams of safety and security experts at Ukraine’s nuclear power plants and at Chernobyl, the site of the 1986 disaster “to help reduce the risk of a severe nuclear accident during the ongoing conflict in the country”.

ALSO READ: Mr Guterres, end the Ukraine war

Categories
-Top News India News USA

Biden to present ideas for Security Council reforms at UNGA

US’ Permanent Representative Linda Thomas-Greenfield laid out what she said were six new principles for the Council, one of which is expanding its membership, reports Arul Louis

At next week’s high-level UN General Assembly (UNGA) meeting, US President Joe Biden will present a ideas for moving forward the Security Council reform process that includes expanding it, according to Washington’s Permanent Representative Linda Thomas-Greenfield.

Giving a basic outline of US plans for “moving the needle forward” on reforms, she said on Friday that “the President will present a bit more on this in his speech”.

“We will advance efforts to reform the UN Security Council that includes forging consensus around sensible and credible proposals to expand Security Council membership,” Thomas-Greenfield, who is a member of Biden’s cabinet, said while briefing reporters about the country’s priorities for the Assembly session, which will draw leaders from several countries.

“We will be having discussions with our P3 colleagues as well as others on the way forward,” she said using the acronym “P3” for the three Western permanent members, the US, Britain and France.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken “will also be engaging this week on the commitments we’ve made and how we see the process moving forward”, she said.

“And we will have further discussions with other member states on how we can just move the needle on this so that we can make some progress on UN reform and Security Council reform.”

US Ambassador to UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield

Thomas-Greenfield confirmed that Biden would address the Assembly on September 21, a break with the tradition of the US President as the second speaker after Brazil at the opening of the annual high-level session known as the General Debate that starts on September 20.

This is because Biden is scheduled to be in London on Monday for Queen Elizabeth’s funeral.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is staying away from the UN meeting this year, as are Presidents Xi Jinping of China and Vladimir Putin of Russia, who all met this week in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, at the 22nd Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit.

French President Emmanuel Macron will be in New York at the UN meeting and UK Prime Minister Liz Truss will make her debut there on the world stage following her election last week.

While the US, along with Britain and France, supports India getting a permanent seat on the Council, Washington’s agenda for reforms is broader.

Thomas-Greenfield laid out what she said were six new principles for the Council, one of which is expanding its membership.

Another relates to Russia blocking the Council from acting on its invasion of Ukraine and its fallout by using its veto power.

“Bilateral disputes must never be an excuse for obstructing the Council’s mandate or forgoing one’s responsibilities,” she said.

She proposed drastically cutting down the use of vetoes, tagging on the assurance that “we will refrain from the use of the veto except in rare, extraordinary circumstances”.

PM Modi and President Biden having casual talks before a group photo session at G-7 Summit, in Germany

She pointed out that since 2009, Russia has cast 26 vetoes, in 12 of which China joined it, while the US had only used it only four times during that period.A

Another principle Thomas-Greenfield proposed was bringing transparency to the Council while enhancing cooperation.

“Council members should engage frequently and substantively with the General Assembly and other UN bodies and UN member states”, she said.

“These principles are the start of a dialogue, one that President Biden, Secretary Blinken, and myself and so many others will pick up and take into our conversations during High-Level Week and in the weeks ahead.

“Our hope is to rally the world behind the Charter that we all committed to 77 years ago in San Francisco, and together, we will work to shape and reform it and the system it has created for the future,” she said.

Her adding the key qualifiers “sensible and credible” to the Council expansion proposal opens it to several suggestions.

The ideas for reform that have been proposed by several countries and groups include adding permanent members with veto power or without it (which India is amenable to); instead only giving extended terms beyond the current two years to some elected members, and expanding only non-permanent membership under present terms.

The other issue is which countries get the permanent memberships.

It is a touchy matter for the US which is uneasy about certain countries from the African or Arab block getting permanent seats just as China and Russia are leery about the possible elevation of some countries.

ALSO READ: China blocks terror tag for LeT’s Sajid Mir

Categories
Asia News USA

UNSC urged to condemn North Korea’s missile tests

North Korea staged its seventh and last round of missile launch of the year on January 30, reports Asian Lite News

The US and eight other countries have called on the UN Security Council (UNSC) to condemn North Korea’s recent missile tests after the council’s closed meeting apparently failed to take any concrete action against Pyongyang.

Friday’s meeting marked the second attempt by the US and other like-minded countries in just about two weeks to hold North Korea to account for its recent series of missile launches, Yonhap News Agency reported on Saturday.

North Korea staged its seventh and last round of missile launch of the year on January 30.

“The DPRK’s January 30 launch of an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) is a significant escalation in the DPRK’s recent violations of multiple Security Council resolutions and seeks to further destabilize the region. We condemn this unlawful action in the strongest terms,” US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said in a joint statement.

DPRK is the acronym for North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

The statement was signed by the UN representatives from eight other UNSC member countries — Albania, Brazil, Britain, France, Ireland, Japan, Norway and the United Arab Emirates.

They noted the IRBM marked the longest-range test conducted by North Korea since late 2017, also adding Pyongyang has so far fired nine ballistic missiles in the seven rounds of missile tests this year.

“The nine ballistic missiles launched in January is the largest number of launches the DPRK has conducted in a single month in the history of its WMD and ballistic missile programs,” they said in their joint statement.

“We call on all Council members to speak with one voice in condemning these dangerous and unlawful acts,” they added.

North Korea has maintained a self-imposed moratorium on nuclear and long-range missile testing since November 2017 when it last test fired an intercontinental ballistic missile, following its sixth and last nuclear test in September that year.

ALSO READ: Washington urges Pyongyang to join talks after missile test