Georgetown Journal of International Law Online: United Nations

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By Alexandra Moffit

Picture: Globe License: Public Domain

United Nations

Under a new Secretary-General, the United Nations took several new steps based on studies in 2017.

· Antonio Guterres begins role as Secretary-General of the United Nations in January.

· The United Nations Security Council unanimously voted to issue new sanctions to North Korea. These sanctions were in response to its burgeoning nuclear program and its ballistic missile program.

· The United Nations’ agency that deals with aviation proposed a global drone registry that would aid local law enforcement agencies. This registry would be a step towards global regulations dealing with the small crafts.

· Russia and China vetoed resolutions that would have sanctioned Syria for its use of chemical weapons.

· United Nations agencies reported during 2017 that 2016 was the first time in the 21^st century that hunger increased. Possible reasons offered by the United Nations for this increase were climate change and conflict. These would cause an increase in food insecurity around the world. There are currently around 815 million chronically malnourished people around the world.

· The United Nations and other organizations began investing in blockchain technology. Organizations like the World Food Programme launched pilots that use blockchain in delivering food.

The United States and International Organizations

With the United States changing leadership as President Trump began his tenure in office, the United States changed its relationships with various international organizations significantly during 2017.

· The United States, in one of Donald Trump’s first acts as President, declared its intention to abandon the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The previous administration had negotiated the large free trade deal with various nations but had not come into effect yet.

· The United States withdrew from the Paris Climate Accords in June, becoming one of the only countries not party to the climate agreement.

· The United States, Canada, and Mexico began to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement following President Trump’s dissatisfaction with the agreement. A relocation or dissolution of the agreement would cause major changes in the economies of each nation, as well as trade laws.

· The United States withdrew from UNESCO, the United Nations cultural organization, in October. “At the time when conflicts continue to tear apart societies across the world, it is deeply regrettable for the United States to withdraw from the United Nations agency promoting education for peace and protecting culture under attack,” Director-General of UNESCO Irina Bokova said. The United States indicated its reason for leaving as the organization’s inclusion of Palestine as a member in 2011.

Refugees and International Organizations

As refugee numbers increased in 2017, various international organizations took steps to combat problems.

· Security in Burma has been conducting ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims. Some have sought asylum in Bangladesh. The crisis has had a global impact and is ongoing. A new UN pilot program could provide refugees in Bangladesh with work permits.

· International Organizations like the World Bank used their leverage to try to push Burma to stop its persecution of Rohingya Muslims. The World Bank announced it would be withholding a $200 million loan it had promised to the country.

· The United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees announced that there are over 3 million stateless people around the world. The agency urges countries to grant citizenship to these stateless people, which would provide them with basic health and personal rights.

April 14, 2018

By Anthony Ayres

2016 was a difficult year for international organizations and international governance. Many international institutions that have come to define the current world order suffered hits to their legitimacy.

The United Nations General Assembly

The United Nations General Assembly had a notable year in that it elected a new secretary general in a surprisingly quick decision. All fifteen ambassadors from the security council unanimously supported António Guterres, the former Portuguese Prime Minister, for the position. Many observers expected the selection process to last much longer, and some believed that Russia would block Guterres in favor of an eastern European. However, Russia seemed to favor the prospect of the decision coming during their time as president of the Security Council. Guterres is the former head of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). He served in that position for ten years and as such vowed to carry on being a spokesman for refugees and those who suffer. As the head of UNHCR he appealed to the conscience of the international community over the worst refugee crises since World War II. It remains to be seen whether he will continue to speak out for human rights as the Secretary General.

Guterres ended 2016 by appointing three women to high level leadership positions. Amina Mohammed will serve as his deputy, Maria Luiza Ribeir Viotto will serve as his chief of staff, and Kyung-wha Kang will serve as the special adviser on policy. Guterres has made achieving gender parity a priority of his tenure.

The United Nations Security Council

Outside of their support for Guterres, the United Nations Security Council did not reach much consensus in 2016. The most significant example of this has been the Security Council’s continued inability to meaningfully address the six-year civil war in Syria. After an entire year in which the United States and Russia were unable to come to any real agreement on the situation, the Security Council finally agreed to support a ceasefire that was formed not by the Security Council, but by Russia and Turkey. The Security Council remains deadlocked on any sort of international accountability for the war crimes carried out in Syria by both sides of the conflict.

The International Criminal Court

The International Criminal Court experienced a crisis of legitimacy this past year as South Africa became the second African country to announce that it planned to leave the International Criminal Court. Many supporters of the institution saw this as a decision that could lead to a mass exodus from the Court. South Africa’s main critique of the Court is that it focuses disproportionately on Africa, as all the people it has convicted so far have been African. The attempt at withdrawal by South Africa has since been blocked by South African courts.

The European Union

The European Union suffered a blow this past year with the UK voting in a referendum to leave the Union. Britain had not played a significant role in the governance of the European Union, with France and Germany playing more of a role as members of the Eurozone. But the UK was one of the most powerful countries in the European Union. Their vote to leave had immediate ramifications and continues to today. However, the nation has yet to leave the European Union as the negotiations on their departure have been slow moving.

March 28, 2017

by Navy Thompson

Photo: Flickr.com/UNclimatechange

On November 4, 2016, the world’s first binding, universal global climate change agreement became international law.

The Paris Agreement has officially entered into force after achieving its threshold conditions: more than fifty-five countries that together account for at least an estimated fifty-five percent of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions have become parties. According to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s web page, 100 parties have so far ratified the Agreement as of November 6, while another ninety-seven have yet to take such actions. Countries that have ratified the Paris Agreement and who have thus pledged to take substantial measures to combat climate change are some of the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitters, including the United States and China.

Initially adopted on December 12, 2015, during the twenty-first session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Paris Agreement aims to combat climate change and its effects internationally through concerted efforts to decrease greenhouse gas emissions and their impacts. Accordingly, the Agreement aims to hold the future increase in the global average temperature below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, as well as to make efforts to limit the rise in temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels during the twenty-first century. It also aims to bolster countries’ abilities to manage the impacts that will likely result from future climate change, in part through the strengthening and financing of climate resilience and development involving low greenhouse gas emissions.

However, exactly how the international community and individual countries implement the Paris Agreement remains to be seen. Governments have to submit their own action plans detailing how they will mitigate and manage the impacts of climate change nationally, as well as their efforts to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. Each government’s plan to combat climate change nationally will then be augmented over time, and will be replaced by more aggressive measures every five years. Country representatives will gather at the COP22 climate change meeting in Marrakesh, Morocco from November 7-18 to discuss details regarding the Paris Agreement’s implementation.

While many in the scientific community have praised the speed with which the Paris Agreement has come into force (previous projections gave 2020 as the year it would likely take effect), the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) has expressed continued concern for the future of the global climate. UNEP believes that the international community will need to decrease yearly greenhouse gas emissions by twelve to fourteen billion metric tons before 2030 for limiting climate change to below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) to be feasible. Even taking account of the promised reductions included in the Paris Agreement, the planet will likely still experience 2.9 to 3.4 degrees Celsius of warming, well above the desired figures.

Time will tell how effective the Paris Agreement will truly be in achieving its goals as countries develop and implement their own plans for reducing the emission of greenhouse gases and for fighting climate change more generally. What is clear now is that the Paris Agreement marks a positive and unprecedented historical initiative in the global effort to combat climate change and to protect the world’s people and environments from its effects. More broadly, it may pave the way for a more coordinated and united international political and legal community—one that is ready and prepared to tackle the world’s challenges as they arise.

November 06, 2016

By April Kent

In February, the United States presented a draft resolution negotiated with China to the U.N. Security Council to impose restrictions aimed at frustrating North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs. The proposed sanctions have been widely hailed as the toughest U.N. sanctions regime in over two decades, with one U.S. official quoted as saying, “this resolution will be felt, it will have an impact... The DPRK (North Korea) has never been subject to the kind of pressure that is in the resolution.” However, others have expressed doubts. The New York Times reported that analysts in South Korea and China are less than certain that sanctions will be sufficient to force North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons. The Wall Street Journal also recently published an article elaborating on the loopholes and oversights that will allow China to continue playing “a double game of rhetorically deploring North Korea’s nuclear program while propping it up in practice.” Whether the sanctions will have their intended effect remains to be seen.

April 27, 2016

By April Kent

Namibia is currently facing possible punishment for violating mandatory United Nations sanctions imposed on North Korea. On February 29, Vice News reported that a munitions plant was being built by North Korea in Namibia, citing a UN report. Namibia’s Minister of Defense Penda ya Ndakolo initially denied its existence to local Namibian newspaper, Die Republikein. However, the government has now confirmed that North Korea constructed the plant, but insists the project is not in violation of past United Nations Security Council sanctions. The UN has begun an investigation to determine when the plant was built, with the cooperation of the Namibian government.

April 25, 2016

By April Kent

On April 5, United Nations sanctions monitors reported that South Sudan violated the sanctions regime by failing to stop Darfur rebel group training in its territory. The panel of experts tasked by the United Nations to examine the existing sanctions regime in South Sudan last month recommended targeted sanctions on “high-level decision makers responsible for the actions and policies that threaten the peace, security and stability of the country.” As the conflict in the country continues, a new report from the United States-based Enough Project has proposed a “modernized” sanctions strategy against Sudan similar to that used by the United States to push Iran into serious negotiations. The report argues for easing sanctions which affect public health or education while tightening those on financial transactions by companies and individuals belonging to the National Congress Party, particularly the military and security services. Many view the report as offering renewed hope for peace in South Sudan.

April 20, 2016

By April Kent

Photo Credit: "Clashes in Burundi" by REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic

is licensed under CC Commercial 2.0.

On February 15, European Union foreign ministers released a statement that they were prepared to strengthen economic sanctions on Burundi following the failure of peace talks with opposition leaders: “The EU... stands ready to impose restrictive measures against those whose actions might have led or might lead to acts of violence and repression (and) serious human rights violations.”

The United Nations has repeatedly warned that the situation in Burundi has serious genocidal overtones, “catapulting the country back to the past” more than a decade after the civil war between Hutus and Tutsis in which tens of thousands were killed. As a result of the current political crisis, at least 400 people have already been killed and 220,000 have fled to neighboring countries.

The conflict erupted on April 25, 2015, when the ruling political party in Burundi announced that the incumbent President of Burundi, Pierre Nkurunziza, would run for a third term in the upcoming election. The announcement sparked protests by those opposed to Nkurunziza seeking an unconstitutional third term in office, setting off widespread demonstrations in the capital. In January 2016, Amnesty International published satellite images it believed to portray mass graves where killings took place. That same month, the African Union announced a plan to send 5,000 peacekeepers to Burundi, but the plan was shelved after President Nkurunziza declared a military intervention “too early.”

April 19, 2016

By William Stroupe

The United Nations Security Council has adopted its strongest ever sanctions against North Korea in the wake of a thinly-veiled banned missile test and the country’s recent claim to have developed a hydrogen bomb. Whereas previous sanctions have only targeted activities linked to nuclear proliferation, the tightened regime does not. The sanctions mandate inspection of all cargo entering and exiting the country in addition to banning sales of luxury goods and aviation fuel to North Korea. The regime also bans mineral and metal exports from North Korea, one of the country’s few reliable means of obtaining the hard currency it needs to sustain its dilapidated economy. Though facially exceptionally stringent, their effectiveness will rely on China’s willingness to rigorously enforce the new sanctions. China is North Korea’s biggest trading partner and source of economic assistance. Though China supported the sanctions in the U.N. Security Council, it is unclear whether it will take determined action in practice.

March 23, 2016

By Abbie Schepps

North Korea now boasts making nuclear warheads small enough to fit onto ballistic missiles. While skeptics question the miniaturized nuclear warhead’s validity, the international community has decided it is not unreasonable. South Korea has introduced unilateral sanctions. It designated 30 companies with links to the North’s nuclear and missile programs, as well as 38 North Korean nationals and two foreigners. All will be banned from the South Korean financial systems. This is the first time South Korea has targeted people and companies by name, a practice used by the United Nations, the United States, and the European Union. Additionally, in an effort to tighten import and export control, South Korea will deny any ships entry that have been to North Korea in the past 180 days. South Korea’s sanctions overlap with measures imposed by the United States and the United Nations. The sanctions illustrate the international community’s intentions to change North Korea.

March 18, 2016

By Olga Symeonoglou

"North Korea - Pyongyang" by stephan is licensed under CC BY 4.0

On January 5, North Korea announced that it had tested a hydrogen bomb. The claim was met with skepticism because the size of the earthquake produced by the detonation – with a reported magnitude between 4.2 and 5.1 – did not reach the strength that a hydrogen bomb would cause.

Hydrogen (or thermonuclear) bombs are far more powerful than atomic bombs. Atomic bombs create energy through fission (atoms splitting in half), while hydrogen bombs use the energy released from atomic fission to spark fusion (atoms fusing together). Only the United States, Russia, China, France, and Britain are known to have tested hydrogen bombs.

February 29, 2016

By Olga Symeonoglou

On February 4, a conference in London co-hosted by the United Nations, the United Kingdom, Kuwait, Germany, and Norway raised over $10 billion in humanitarian aid that will go to those affected by the civil war that has been raging in Syria. The money raised at the conference will supply food, medical care, and shelter, and will also go toward longer-term rebuilding. Despite this success, UN peace talks between the Syrian government and opposition were suspended by UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura until February 25 because of airstrikes on opposition forces by the Syrian government with support from Russia.

February 11, 2016

By Anne-Marie Carstens*

Developments in the Islamic State’s terror tactics have provoked heightened determination by many international actors not only to contain and reverse the militant group’s geographic spread, but also to curtail its sources of financial support. More than a year ago, news reports announced that Iraqi intelligence officers had seized flash drives confirming one lucrative source used by the Islamic State to finance its terrorist activities: trafficking in looted antiquities.

The practices by which the Islamic State relies on antiquities trafficking as a profit-making enterprise vary. In some instances, militants might engage directly in the armed looting of well-known but under-excavated archaeological sites. Yet reports also state that the Islamic State leadership has instituted a system that requires it to devote far less manpower to the looting of ancient sites. These reports maintain that the Islamic State has implemented a license-and-tax regime in some regions to cement its authority and legitimacy, granting licenses to looters in exchange for a tax on the proceeds from the finds. The tax, known as a khums tax, has a basis in Islamic history and traditionally was paid to authorities for profits derived from the ground.

December 04, 2015

By April Kent

The U.N. Security Council recently unanimously approved a resolution condemning the killings, torture, and human rights abuses plaguing Burundi, threatening sanctions against perpetrators of the violence. The resolution called for Burundi’s government “to immediately convene an inclusive and genuine inter-Burundian dialogue.” At least 240 people have been killed in Burundi since protests began in April against President Pierre Nkurunziza's successful bid for a third term. Many in the international community have pointed to the language used by the government to describe its opponents as reminiscent of the rhetoric that paved the way for the genocide in Rwanda. Britain’s U.N. Ambassador Matthew Rycroft stated, “We know that in the worst case what we’re talking about is a possible genocide, and we know that we have to do everything that we possibly can to prevent that.” The country’s foreign Minister countered that “Burundi is not in flames,” dismissing international concerns that his country is at risk of a Rwanda-like genocide.

November 17, 2015

By Megan Abbot

Libyans are frustrated with the slow pace of the UN-sponsored peace talks and are calling for further international assistance to support the country’s reconstruction efforts. The uprising against Qaddafi in 2011 united many different factions against the dictatorship, but the country has since devolved into civil war. Carlotta Gall reports for the New York Times that ordinary Libyans are frustrated by the government’s lack of progress toward peace-building, and that the process of constructing a new constitution during the civil war has been daunting. Warring factions have forced many people to flee Tripoli and Benghazi and to become refugees in Tunisia.

October 05, 2015

By Sarah Akbar

A United Nations mission to report on human rights abuses during the civil war in Yemen could become a reality after Dutch diplomats called for the U.N. to take action. The Netherlands submitted a U.N. resolution last Thursday urging the office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to “provide technical assistance” to the Yemeni government. This resolution could also make way for an authorization of a fact-finding mission that could shed more light on possible abuses. The Dutch resolution comes in the wake of a competing Saudi resolution submitted on Monday, urging the U.N. not to take action in the region. The two resolutions place the Unites States in a precarious position between two allies. Despite voicing its support for the Saudi-led coalition in the past, the United States has yet to make its opinion known on the subject.

October 02, 2015

By Victoria Hines

World leaders are anticipated to make the rigorous, if not impossible, attempt to introduce 169 targets for investment as part of the new Sustainable Development Goals. What then should the 160 Heads of State and leaders of multilateral bodies, including the World Trade Organization (WTO), focus their attention on to ensure such credible ideas are converted into effective policies? The Copenhagen Consensus Center, pending next week’s United Nations summit in New York for the adaptation of the post-2015 development agenda, has brought this crucial question to the forefront. Their findings suggest that freer trade from the completion of the WTO’s Doha agreement “would lift 160 million people out of extreme poverty, giving every person in the developing world an extra $1,000 in income every year by 2030.”

September 25, 2015

By Olga Symeonoglou

The UN General Assembly passed a resolution on September 10 that will allow the flags of non-member observer States to fly at the United Nations headquarters and offices. The two non-member observer states are Palestine and the Holy See. The resolution was initiated by Palestine, without support from the Vatican. 119 countries voted in favor of the resolution, 45 abstained (mostly EU countries), and eight voted against it, including Israel and the United States. Palestine sees this as a “step towards UN membership,” while Israel starkly opposed the resolution.

September 16, 2015

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