UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL VETO: NOT SO UNITED

 

UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL VETO: NOT SO UNITED

There are 195 countries in the world today. This total comprises 193 countries that are member states of the United Nations and 2 countries that are non-member observer states, the Holy See and the State of Palestine.

Currently made up of 193 Member States, the UN and its work are guided by the purposes and principles contained in its founding Charter. The UN has evolved over the years to keep pace with a rapidly changing world.

The Security Council is one of the six main organs of the United Nations established under the UN Charter. Its primary responsibility is maintaining international peace and security. The Council is composed of 15 Members. There are five permanent members: China, France, Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the United States, and ten non-permanent members elected for two-year terms by the General Assembly. Each Member has one vote.

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The fifteen-member UN Security Council seeks to address threats to international security. Its five permanent members, chosen in the wake of World War II, have veto power. The Security Council fosters negotiations, imposes sanctions, and authorizes the use of force, including the deployment of peacekeeping missions.

According to Article 27 of the UN Charter, each member of the Security Council has one vote. Decisions on procedural matters require a minimum of nine 'yes' votes. Decisions of the Security Council on all other matters require a minimum of nine 'yes' votes including the concurring votes of the permanent members.

It was agreed by the drafters that if any one of the five permanent members cast a negative vote in the 15-member Security Council, the resolution or decision would not be approved.

The five permanent members have exercised the right of veto at one time or another.

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Those states, however, were distrustful of each other and did not want to put important decisions of security into the hands of a possibly hostile majority in the Council. For that reason the veto remained, but only for the five permanent member states.

As of May 2022, Russia/USSR has used its veto 121 times, the US 82 times, the UK 29 times, China 17 times, and France 16 times.

On 26 April 2022, the General Assembly adopted a resolution mandating a debate when a veto is cast in the Security Council.

So it is possible for 192 countries to have a common stand on an issue but get such stand overturned by a veto vote from just one of the five countries with veto votes.

This imbalance has led into crisis many times in the past and a feeling that “Some animals are more equal than others” in the United Nations.

This scenario has come to play in recent Russia/Ukraine and Israel/Gaza conflicts.

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The United Nations Security Council failed to adopt a resolution on the ongoing situation in Gaza after two competing draft resolutions were rejected by member states on Wednesday.

Russia and China vetoed a US-drafted resolution that called for “humanitarian pauses” and Israel’s right to defend itself. A second draft resolution sponsored by Russia, which called for a humanitarian ceasefire, failed to garner enough votes to pass. The United States was expected to veto the resolution had it garnered enough votes to put it on the path to approval.

The two resolutions were put to vote at the UN headquarters in New York after an intense open debate by members on “the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question”.

This was the second UNSC draft resolution put to vote since the Israel-Palestine war started three weeks ago. The first one was held on October 18, when the US blocked a resolution calling for “humanitarian pauses”. Twelve countries voted in favour.

The US response to the UNSC resolutions amid this conflict is in line with its historical use of its veto power to block any resolutions that might be critical of Israel or call for Palestinian statehood.

Since 1945, a total of 36 UNSC draft resolutions related to Israel-Palestine have been vetoed by one of the five permanent members – the US, Russia, China, the United Kingdom, and France. Out of these, 34 were vetoed by the US and two by Russia and China.

The majority of these resolutions were drafted to provide a framework for peace in the decades-long Israel-Palestine conflict, including asking Israel to adhere to international laws, calling for self-determination for Palestinian statehood, or condemning Israel for the displacement of Palestinians or settlement building in occupied Palestinian territories.

 

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The October 18, 2023 resolution called for “humanitarian pauses” and for Israel to rescind its evacuation order for northern Gaza was blocked. The US ambassador to the UN said: “Yes, resolutions are important, and yes, this Council must speak out. But the actions we take must be informed by the facts on the ground and support direct diplomacy that can save lives.”

After the Great March of Return, in 2018, the UNSC drafted a resolution condemning “the use of any excessive, disproportionate and indiscriminate force by the Israeli forces against Palestinian civilians” and calling for “lasting, comprehensive peace” with “two democratic States, Israel and Palestine”. The US vetoed the resolution, with then-US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley saying it presented “a grossly one-sided view of what has taken place in Gaza in recent weeks”.

After the US recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in 2017, a draft resolution said “actions which purport to have altered the character, status or demographic composition of the Holy City of Jerusalem have no legal effect, are null and void”. It demanded the status of Jerusalem to be determined in line with UN regulations. All of the 15 UNSC members voted in favour except the US, which vetoed it.

Following the second Intifada or uprising that started in 2000, a UNSC resolution expressed “grave concern at the continuation of the tragic and violent events that have taken place since September 2000”, condemned attacks against civilians and called for Israel “to abide scrupulously by its legal obligations and responsibilities under the Fourth Geneva Convention”.

Then-US Ambassador to the UN John Negroponte said the resolution intended to “isolate politically one of the parties to the conflict through an attempt to throw the weight of the Council behind the other party”. Twelve countries voted in favour, but the US vetoed.

All the above examples show the inequality entrenched in the Charter establishing and governing the United Nations.

So, the United Nations is NOT SO UNITED after all.

The Orwelian Animal Farm and Fela Anikulapo-Kuti’s Beast of No Nation readily come to mind.

(This write-up was inspired by a recent discussion with Professor Ayotunde Agbonjimi, A Professor of Law.)