I – Introduction

On Tuesday, October 4, the UN Security Council announced it would take up a draft resolution on Syria. This meeting was to be an instance, when the lessons some Security Council members had drawn from the experience with the resolutions on Libya could be reflected in their action on a draft resolution against Syria.

Several weeks earlier, journalists had been told that there were two different draft resolutions about Syria tabled at the Security Council.

One draft resolution on Syria had been proposed by Russia and China. Russia and China said their resolution had been designed to encourage a peaceful process to help the Syrian government deal both with its stated desire for reforms and with the extremist violence against the Syrian government that was making such reform difficult.

The other draft resolution was tabled by four of the European members of the Security Council –… weiter lesen

The challenge of Security Council reform has been on the agenda at the United Nations for decades with little obvious effect on the workings of the Security Council itself.(1)

But what happens when an action of the Security Council is an improvement over past Security Council practices and presents an important model for conflict resolution in line with the obligations of the Charter? Will there be recognition of the peaceful direction that the action points in or will it be ignored and members of the Security Council revert back to the practice of the past?

The situation I am referring to is the consideration by the Security Council of the sinking of the South Korean naval warship, the Cheonan. The dispute over the sinking of the Cheonan was brought to the Security Council in June and a Presidential Statement was agreed to in July.

An account of some… weiter lesen

The 2010 Review Conference for the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) opened in New York at the United Nations on Monday May 3.

At the opening session President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran spoke to the delegates gathered for the Review Conference. He said that “none of the non-nuclear states has ever been able to exercise their inalienable and legal rights for the peaceful use of nuclear energy without facing pressures and threats.” (1)

He was referring to the difficulty to utilize the right protected by Article IV of the Treaty, which states:

“Nothing in this Treaty shall be interpreted as affecting the inalienable right of all the Parties to the Treaty to develop research, production and use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes without discrimination and in conformity with articles I and II of this treaty.”(2)

At a press conference with President Ahmadinejad held the next day at the Millennium… weiter lesen

On Saturday Evening, January 3 the President of the General Assembly, Father Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann, arrived at the UN as the Security Council was preparing to hold a closed door meeting about the Gaza Crisis.

Earlier in the day, Israel had escalated the previous 8 days of bombing of Gaza by beginning a ground invasion into Gaza.

The situation in Gaza is that the 1.5 million civilians are trapped in a virtual prison as for the past 18 months prior to the invasion Israel has blockaded the crossing points into Gaza that it controls, and Egypt has closed the one crossing point it has control over.

Responding to the question from a journalist about what his reaction was to Israel’s actions in Gaza and the Israeli ground attack,  Brockmann said, “I think it’s a monstrosity. There’s no other way to name it.” (1)

He went on to explain that “once… weiter lesen

Though there was little coverage in the mainstream media, this past week there were further developments in the security council reform issue as the General Assembly in a late night meeting on September 15, passed on the issue of Security Council reform to the 63rd session and put dates for going into intergovernmental negotiations in the resolution.
 
There is an detailed update on what happened on Monday,  on www.centerforunreform.org  providing a rare account of the events that took place in the Open Ended Working Group in order to be able to pass a resolution so that the issue of Security Council reform could be passed on to the 63rd session of the General Assembly which began the following day. 

The following excerpt is from “Member States Renew Mandate for Working Group on Security Council Reform after Intense Discussions” by Jonas von Freiesleben, 16 September 2008

On Monday Afternoon, September 15, 2008

“… Kerim announced that… weiter lesen

Was there a chance to stop a major escalation of a conflict that was missed?

 On Thursday evening, August 7, the Russian Ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin arrived for a meeting of the United Nations Security Council with a request.  A letter he submitted to the Council (S/2008/533) asked that a meeting be held to discuss events taking place in Georgia. The members of the Security Council gathered and decided to hold consultations. The consultations were held in a closed door session. It was not till early in the morning on August 8, Friday, that a public meeting of the Security Council was convened.

 The meeting was convened around 1 a.m. Friday, August 8.

 In his statement to the members of the Security Council, the Russian Ambassador… weiter lesen