The UN has a duty to justify any veto
The General Assembly on Tuesday passed a resolution calling on five permanent members of the Security Council to justify the use of the veto, a rare reform renewed by Russia’s occupation of Ukraine.
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AFP
The move, launched by Lichtenstein, Vito’s sole owner, directly targeting the United States, China, Russia, France and the United Kingdom, is aimed at “paying them a higher political price.” Asks not to mention the country and name where one does not exist.
Will the reform encourage the five permanent members to make less use of the veto provided for in the United Nations Charter? Or will knowingly provoke further against texts that are not immediately acceptable have a motivating effect?
The future will tell. Some countries may push the United States to use its veto in Israeli texts. Although it is well known that Moscow and Beijing will veto it, Washington could vote in the Security Council for its part on a draft resolution strengthening sanctions against North Korea.
Russia is far ahead
When asked about the reforms during his first visit to Russia after the occupation of Ukraine, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stressed that “veto is very favorable for moderate exercise”. “The veto may have been used multiple times. In many cases, it is used without the core interests of a country,” he added.
Since the first veto used (in the Syrian and Lebanese file by the Soviet Union in 1946), Russia has used it 143 times, more than the United States (86 times), the United Kingdom (30 times), China and France (18 times each).
Advancing for the first time two-and-a-half years ago, the reform, adopted Tuesday by the 193 member states of the General Assembly, provides for their conference within ten working days following opposition from one or more permanent members of the Security Council. The debate should take place in the context in which the veto was revealed. “
Nearly a hundred countries co-sponsored this text with Liechtenstein. The United States, the United Kingdom and France, along with other members of the European Union, have joined forces with extremism.
Russia target?
Russia and China did not support the text. This would further “divide” the UN, a Russian ambassador spoke anonymously before the adoption.
Liechtenstein ambassador Christian Wenveser assured that the plan was “not targeting anyone.” “It was not directed against Russia,” he said, adding that the referendum, after more than two years of fruitless pregnancy, coincided with the Security Council’s suspension of the Russian invasion due to Moscow’s veto rights.
As for the United States, Russia has been abusing its veto rights for two decades, and the adopted text should make it possible to fix this.
The resolution argues that “the United Nations seeks to promote the role, diversity and veto power of all of us who have no veto power and do not sit on the Security Council on matters of international peace and security.”
The text is not bound and nothing prevents a country from using its veto to explain to the General Assembly. Its application, with immediate effect, would “shed light” on the Security Council’s “restrictions” on the exercise of this right, although an ambassador argues that it should not be identified.
In addition to its five permanent members, the Security Council has ten members elected for two years without veto. Among the co-sponsors of the resolution were two countries, with the exception of Ukraine, Japan and Germany, seeking permanent membership in the expanded Security Council. This expansion, which better represents the current world, was again called for on Tuesday by Antonio Guterres, especially for the benefit of Africa, and has been a stumbling block for many years.
Recalling that the veto would be useful to guarantee peace, neither Brazil nor India, the other potential candidate for permanent office on the Council, supported the speech.
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