The Failure of Security Council in Ensuring Global Peace and Security, Essays (university) of International Law

Download The Failure of Security Council in Ensuring Global Peace and Security and more Essays (university) International Law in PDF only on Docsity! P a g e | 1 SUBJECT: INTERNATIONAL LAW DEPARTMENT OF LAW FAILURE OF SECURITY COUNCIL IN PRESENT WORLD INTRODUCTION: The maintenance of global peace and security is primarily the duty of the Security Council. Each of its fifteen members has one vote. According to the United Nations Charter, all Members are required to abide with Council decisions. When evaluating whether there is an aggression or threat to the peace, the Security Council is in charge. It suggests ways of adjusting the terms of settlement and encourages parties to a conflict to settle it peacefully. The Security Council occasionally has the option of using sanctions or even approving the use of force in order to preserve or restore global peace and security. Since the 1990s, the Security Council has advanced significantly. However, there are still significant obstacles standing in the way of its objective of ensuring global peace and security. As a preface, it should be noted that the definition of "peace and security" has changed over time. Originally, it simply denoted the nation-state's "national security." Later on, it came to refer to the "common security" of the international or global community, which is primarily the United Nations' responsibility. Human security is a more recent addition that focuses on people—particularly civilians in areas affected by war—and the obligations that governments have to them. In a different context, the term alludes to a wide range of worldwide difficulties that cause "insecurity." The first illustration would be;  Terrorism, which aims to sow discord and fear. States have struggled to come to terms with what constitutes terrorism because one person's terrorist may be another person's freedom fighter or even a government agent.  A less lethal but no less damaging kind of warfare is cyberattacks.  Shocks to the economy extend from one nation to another. Mafias and international crime require global answers. P a g e | 2  The Charter mentions further forms of security on a moral level, such as the freedom from hunger and the right to housing, employment, and health.1 As a result, the Security Council now functions as a form of executive body for handling global emergencies. And the Council has shown to be highly successful when it works in unison. FUNCTIONS OF SECURITY COUNCIL:  The Security Council is charged with special duties, has special decision-making authority, and is equipped with a variety of tools.  The Council's first course of action in the event of a potential dispute is to advise the parties to settle their differences through peaceful methods. To aid and direct efforts towards conflict resolution, the Council may name special representatives or request that the UN Secretary General do so.  The Council may issue cease-fire orders, deploy UN peacekeeping forces, or use enforcement measures including sanctions when a conflict is present.  The Council can take action to safeguard people caught in the conflict with or without the support of national governments, for instance by granting humanitarian agencies access across national boundaries.i POWER OF SECURITY COUNCIL: The most powerful organization inside the UN is the Security Council. The Security Council has the power to impose economic sanctions on nations, order cease-fires during conflicts, and approve the deployment of troops from UN member nations. The International Security Council has the authority to organize peacekeeping and special political missions, approve military enforcement actions, impose international penalties on member nations, and refer cases to the ICC. It is the only UN body with the authority to issue decisions that are enforceable against all members. WEAKNESS OF SECURITY COUCIL: In its decisions, national self-interests too often clash with global security concerns. The great hopes people had for the Council as the peace-maker after the Second World War and after the Cold War were barely fulfilled. It did not translate itself into a collective body that was able to 1 https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/j.ctvdf03xp.7.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3A0987a038bfe0ce65419136c611803 cd7&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_search_gsv2%2Fcontrol&origin=&initiator=&acceptTC=1 P a g e | 5 Few crises in recent years have captured the attention of the Security Council like the ongoing crisis in Ukraine. A total of 50 meetings on Ukraine were held by the Council in 2022: 36 open briefings, 6 adoptions, 4 Aria-formula meetings, 2 talks of "any other business," 1 meeting in closed consultations, and 1 private meeting. 42 of the 276 public meetings of the Council were held in Ukraine, which is more than 15% of all public meetings. Furthermore, the Ukrainian conflict was the main topic of discussion in 17 of the 22 sessions held in connection with the "Threats to international peace and security" agenda item. 4. Palestine Israel issue and Security Council:  Israeli occupation (1948-Now) Palestinians have been battling against what a UN investigator once called Israel's ethnic cleansing, ever since the establishment of the Jewish state in 1948. The Occupied Palestinian Territories have been a source of conflict for much of the twentieth century. The Palestinian Issue for the UN and especially for the Security Council (SC) is a main challenge which menaces continuous the international peace and security in the World. While the Israelis have a deep-seated desire to create a Home land on land that has deep spiritual significance for them as well as for three other faiths, the Palestinians are people dispossessed of faiths their lands and without self-autonomy, forced to endure an occupation not of their making. Since Israel's declaration of independence in 1948, the Palestinian Question has continued to be one of the Security Council's most often debated issues. Since Israel's victory over its neighbor’s Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon in 1948, there has been a problem with Palestinian refugees. The ensuing Palestinian refugee issue prompted the General Assembly to outline a path for people displaced from their homes who desire to live in peace to return in Resolution 194. What is left of the state of Palestine was annexed by Egypt (the Gaza Strip) and Transjordan (the West Bank) in the 1949 Armistice. Israel invaded these areas in 1967 as part of a preventative strike against Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. Israel took the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and the Golan Heights in less than a week. As a result, the Security Council was encouraged to adopt Resolution 242, which called for Israel to leave the lands it had occupied. The Yom Kippur War, which Syria and Egypt launched jointly in 1973, resulted in Resolution 338, which reaffirmed Resolution 242 and called for peace negotiations. Israel continued to rule all occupied territory. Since the implementation of a blockade began in 2007 when Hamas took control of the Gaza strip, the P a g e | 6 situation in Gaza has been volatile. Food, health, and gasoline shortages are crucial as a result of the embargo. The construction of gigantic border walls and the establishment of Israeli settlements, which annex large portions of Palestinian territory, have made it much harder to find a peaceful solution to the conflict. Israeli settlement and building, the Israeli wall, joint sovereignty over al-Quds [al-Sharif] (Jerusalem), and the right of return for 3.7 million stateless Palestinian refugees are some of the major problems that have plagued the stalled 'Peace Process'. The Israel-Palestine issue has yet to be settled by the UN. We note that US vetoes and pressure have shaped the SC's positions. Without a doubt, maintaining Israel's security is one of the United States' primary Middle East policies (Akhbari, 2007: 48). From 1950 until 1967, when Israel began to occupy the full territory of the former British Mandate of Palestine, an unstable peace, punctuated by violence and acts of force, was maintained in the area due to the unresolved Palestine question. Israel has consistently posed a threat to its bordering and neighboring nations. Additionally, the US has frequently exercised its veto power to thwart UN Security Council resolutions that criticized Israel's use of force against Palestinian civilians. 5. Kashmir struggle for freedom (1948 – Now): Despite numerous unimplemented UN resolutions on the subject, the ongoing conflict in the disputed Kashmir area has grown to be one of the worst human rights crises in history, defined by rape, torture, imprisonment of leaders and activists, and the disappearance of Kashmiris. Since obtaining independence from British colonial rulers in 1947, India and Pakistan have each claimed the entirety of this mountainous area. CONCLUSION: The Security Council's reform is both extraordinarily easy and extremely difficult. There are a lot of wonderful ideas about what to do, but because there are so many players and not enough political will, nothing gets done. The Security Council is allegedly one of the main global hotbeds of power and realpolitik. Participation offers access, information, authority, and influence. Legitimacy and efficacy are the fundamental ideals we should pursue. Years ago, David Caron wrote on the Security Council's legitimacy and said: P a g e | 7 “For an institution to be considered legitimate it must be recognized as a lawful authority; one that conforms to a particular standard and operates in such a manner that its actions and decisions are seen as legally or morally justified and proper.” For logically and precisely studying a subject like the Security Council. Unfortunately, it is too intricate and riddled with anomalies to allow for a fully rational conclusion. The Security Council, for instance, prioritizes interventionist peace operations inside of conflict-torn countries despite the fact that its goal is to uphold international peace and security. The Security Council is responsible for preserving world peace and security, yet in addition to allowing the bloodiest conflicts to continue indefinitely, it occasionally seems as though some of its members are helping to facilitate them. When we think about transforming the Security Council, we should remember that if we are to make decisions for the good of the world, we will need something that looks like an ‘executive committee’ or a ‘cabinet’. Perhaps all our present models are too wedded to the present context of ‘nation-state international relations’. Another paradigm based on more state-like institutions with democratic and political underpinnings may be required for "global governance." In any event, we can anticipate that in order to overcome all the roadblocks we have just seen and move forward with all the prospective reforms, it would likely take a lot of collaborative thought and possibly a global movement. ii https://www.dfat.gov.au/international-relations/international-organisations/un/unsc-2013-2014/Pages/the- role-of-the-united-nations-security- council#:~:text=The%20Council's%20powers%20include%20the,International%20Criminal%20Court%20(ICC).