United Nations Utter Failure in Bringing World Peace

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (C) and Isaias Afwerki (L), President of Eritrea, meet at the 66th General Assembly Session at the United Nations on September 21, 2011 in New York City.

United Nations Utter Failure in Bringing World Peace

By Bruh Tesfa,

The United Nations appears as if it’s in a state of paralysis for it rendered dysfunctional in meeting what are mandated of it in solving world conflicts as are written and ratified in its Charter.

Article 99 of the Charter empowers the Secretary-General to bring to the attention of the Security Council “any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security”. But the efficiency of these instruments is limited by the reluctance of the UN member States and particularly by the permanent members of the Security Council (SC) to confer more power upon the Secretary-General and his organization. The proposals for a UN Rapid Reaction Force, an important element for conflict prevention, has been thwarted for many years, even though eminent policy-makers and experts have called for it ^[1].

Clearly, the resistance by some members of the SC which limits the Secretary-General’s ability to make vital decision in conflict resolution is an important if not the most important factor which hampers the path for peace.

Today, we are seeing International laws, which all member states are required to abide by and follow through being violated left and right with impunity by those with big muscles within the Security Council and their client states. Some of the conflicts are as old as if not predate the establishment of the “world body” itself. Yet, despite many UN resolutions that were adopted with the intention to end these wars, for many of the countries involved there are no signs of peace in sight.

The issue surrounding the world is tragically unstable and without solution that it literally seems to be engulfed by an unquenchable fire. Let’s look around. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the India and Pakistan confrontation over Kashmir, the Eritrean-Ethiopian border issue, the wars in Somalia, Central African Republic and Democratic Republic of Congo are but few examples of international crisis that have been dragging for years. Sadly, the United Nations has done very little, if any, in combating them as a result of which the people continue to suffer.

America’s Duplicity in Handling World Conflict 

Speaking of international law, it’s interesting to note how the US government is showing great interest in the current Ukraine crisis, citing importance of respecting “international laws and treaties “ in protecting a sovereignty of a nation while totally ignoring similar treaties in other parts of the world to which it’s a signatory and a guarantor.

In support to his decision to impose additional sanctions on Russian officials over Crimea, Mr. Obama recently made a statement which one finds rather odd, especially given the way US handles similar situations in other parts of the world.

Granted that the peace loving people of the world are unequivocally for the respect of sovereignty of every nation as was articulated by the US President, it’s the hypocrisy with which world conflicts have been handled and America’s lack of sensitivities on other countries whose sovereignty have been violated that one takes Obama’s stand on Ukraine with a grain of salt...

This is how the US President was quoted as saying during the press conference on Ukraine.“the basic principles that government relations between nations in Europe and around the world must be upheld in the 21st century. And that includes respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity. The notion that nations do not just simply redraw borders or make decisions at the expense of their neighbors simply because they are larger or more powerful.”^[2]

Looking at the genesis that led to the 1998 Eritrean-Ethiopian war retrospectively, it’s worthy to note that one of the root causes of the problem was TPLF (Ethiopian) regime’s unilateral redrawing of Tigray’s map, which included a big chunk of Eritrean territory and the subsequent forceful eviction of Eritrean citizens from their villages, because it ( the Weyane regime) felt it’s larger and more powerful. Did we see the US government intervene in the same fashion as it is doing now with Ukraine to such total disregard to international law perpetrated by the belligerent Ethiopian regime, other than the usual lip service calling on both the aggressor and the victim to cease the hostilities, and often with the intention of appearing neutral“? Sadly not.

April 13th, 2014 marks twelve years since the EEBC (Eritrea Ethiopia Border Commission) delivered its verdict as mandated by the Algiers‘ Treaty and endorsed by the United Nations.^[3] Eritrea had fully accepted the decision shortly after the verdict was officially announced. Ethiopia, on the other hand, after initially accepting the verdict for what was clearly a political consumption and to buy time on how to make the next move finally rejected it citing some lame excuses that have no merit. To date and because of the latter’s refusal to abide by the EEBC final and binding ruling, the boundaries between the two countries remain without physical demarcation. As a result, a significant part of Eritrean territory, including Badme-the flash point of the conflict, still remains under Ethiopian occupation. A clear case of violation against Eritrea’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Yet, beyond its failure to fulfill its obligation as a guarantor, the

American Administration continues to appease Ethiopia’s lawlessness and disregard to the signed agreement by providing the regime with more financial and military support. Such type of double standard in which international laws are heavily politicized and being applied selectively to achieve certain political agenda exposes the US government’s flaws in its foreign policy and its discriminatory approach in solving world conflict.

As it’s difficult to awaken someone who pretends to be asleep, efforts by victimized countries in seeking world justice by calling on the UN repeatedly proved meaningless. It’s thus long overdue that all nations must stand in solidarity and demand that the World Body lives up to its responsibilities as are enshrined in its charter and take a drastic measure in reshaping its misguided policy and changing the way world conflicts are being managed. That should include but not limited to major reform within the Security Council, putting some restrictions on its unlimited power bestowed to it to intervene in world conflict which is often biased and to seek for more transparency so as to prevent that no permanent member of the SC abuses the system and that justice is served for all member states on equal terms..

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References:

Ref 1. Tanner, Fred. “Conflict prevention and conflict resolution: limits of multilateralism”; 30-09-2000 Article, International Review of the Red Cross, No. 839

Ref 2. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/obama-expands-us-sanctions-on-russian-officials-cronies/

Ref 3. http://haguejusticeportal.net/index.php?id=6162

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