“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”,
“All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law”.
Articles 1 and 7 of the United Nation declaration of human rights appears to be the fairytale of our contemporary international relations. The creation of the United Nations in 1945, after WWII, was the turning point of international politics, the end of wars, and the rise of human rights and equality.
When you read the history of the UN creation and its principles, optimism, hope and belief in a new world order fills your mind, until the moment when China and Russia veto placing sanctions on the Syrian regime in October 2011, after the usage of tanks and soldiers by the army against the civilian protests in Syria, which killed approximately 2,700 civilians. Since 2011, Russia has vetoed at least 6 resolutions on Syria, ending with the gas attack on Idlib province in April 2017, which caused the death of dozens of people including children (McKirdy, 2017).
470,000 people have been killed in the Syrian conflict till 2016 (HRW, 2017), and what the UN has done was helpless!
Heng – Singapore via Cartooning for peace
2006 – 2015 Cartooning for Peace – All rights reserved –
Nevertheless, when you look at the many cases failed by the UN – Vietnam war in 1961, Israeli-Palestinian conflict 1929 – ?, the Bosnian massacre in 1992, Iraq invasion 2003, and an endless list of failures – the UN failure to end the bloodshed in the Syrian Conflict is not something unexpected. In the case of Vietnam war, the five superpowers were of opposing interest, where the US was issuing the war on Vietnam and the USSR was actually supporting the Vietnamese guerillas. Similarly, the US and the USSR were supporting different sides in the Korean war in 1950. Furthermore, the case in Iraq is summed up by the words of Canada’s Prime Minister Chretien rejecting the Invasion:
“That is not the debate at the UN .. You know, China might say, well we have a problem somewhere and you we’re know, we don’t like the regime and going to change the regime. It’s why its dangerous. You know, everybody will take that as a pretext”. In that sense the future of states, is quite directed by the superpower’s interests and plans” (Chretien, 2003)
The security council structure, is created according to the realist approach to ensure a balance of power. However, this gives the permanent members superiority over all nations (Gavrila, 2013). Additionally, In a lot of cases the superpowers have opposing interest, which makes it too hard to compromise. Therefore, world security and the prevail of human rights is obstructed (McWhinney, 2007). In other words, the UN decision making process, is countering its purpose on the protection of human rights, and letting down the promise it gave to the oppressed people. Thus, there are two options for the UN to follow. Either, reform its structure, or simply … Shut it down!
Yet, who told Roosevelt that we want them to “police” our world? (Eichelberger, 1977).
Unbalanced United Nations Security Council
Kofi Annan -26 September 2004
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Bibliography
Eichelberger, C. (1977). Organizing for peace: Personal History of the Founding of the United Nations. 1st ed. New York: Joanna Cotler Books, pp.236-237.
Euan McKirdy, C. (2017). 8 times Russia blocked a UN resolution on Syria. [online] CNN. Available at: http://edition.cnn.com/2017/04/13/middleeast/russia-unsc-syria-resolutions/index.html [Accessed 12 Oct. 2017].
Gavrila, M.A. (2013) Liberal and realist considerations of UN effectiveness. Available at: http://www.e-ir.info/2013/05/02/liberal-and-realist-considerations-of-un-effectiveness/ (Accessed: 23 November 2016).
Human Rights Watch. (2017). Syria. [online] Available at: https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2017/country-chapters/syria [Accessed 12 Oct. 2017].
McWhinney, Edward. “Canada and the 2003 Invasion of Iraq: Prime Minister Chretien’s Gloss on the UN Charter Principles on the Use of Force.” Canadian Yearbook of International Law 45 (2007): 271-290.
Ohn, C. (2010). The Causes of the Korean War, 1950-1953. International Journal of Korean Studies, [online] 14(2). Available at: http://www.ciaonet.org.ezproxy.mdx.ac.uk/record/19548?search=1 [Accessed 19 Oct. 2017].
the Guardian. (2011). Russia and China veto UN resolution against Syrian regime. [online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/oct/05/russia-china-veto-syria-resolution [Accessed 12 Oct. 2017].
By: Zainab – M00610385 – Dubai Campus
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