The Security Council’s influence over international affairs perceptibly diminished during 2011. In the first quarter of the year the Council was at the center of simultaneous crises, mandating the use of force to protect civilians in both Libya and Côte d’Ivoire. But this burst of activism proved unsustainable, and the remainder of 2011 has been characterized by increasingly acrimonious divisions within the Council.
Read the full Freidrich Ebert Stiftung paper here.
As diplomats at the United Nations pore over a draft resolution condemning the brutal Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad, experts say that lingering discomfort over the execution of the Libya mission is playing a crucial, if under-discussed, role in the deliberations.
The U.S. and the European Union plan to mount a rare diplomatic assault on Russia today at the United Nations, seeking to overcome an impasse on a Security Council resolution calling for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to go.
With the United States and its allies pressing President Bashar al-Assad to step down, the Arab League last week issued a detailed plan for a political transition in Syria. The plan was welcomed by the Obama administration, and Arab leaders quickly said they would refer it to the United Nations.
Admirers of the European Union frequently point out that it has a comprehensive selection of non-military crisis management tools. These include the bloc’s economic leverage, mechanisms for deploying civilian peace operations and close working relationships with the United Nations and other multilateral organisations.
SO MANY remarkable things have sprung from the Arab Spring that it's possible to overlook that, in addition to toppling aged tyrants and now menacing a more youthful one, it has accomplished something that decades of communism could not: warmth between China and Russia.
The United Nations on Thursday named its former leader Kofi Annan as the international troubleshooter to try to end the Syrian government's deadly crackdown on protests.
Read the full American Free Press (AFP) article here.
The United Nations on Thursday named its former leader Kofi Annan as the international troubleshooter to try to end the Syrian government’s deadly crackdown on protests.As special envoy for the UN and Arab League, Annan will “provide good offices aimed at bringing an end to all violence and human rights violations, and promoting a peaceful solution to the Syrian crisis,” the two bodies said in a statement.
Les diplomates sont nombreux à en parler comme de "la tentative diplomatique de la dernière chance". Quelques heures avant que l'émissaire spécial de l'ONU et de la Ligue arabe pour la Syrie, Kofi Annan, n'entame sa mission, samedi 10 mars à Damas, l'humeur au siège des Nations unies était à l'optimisme prudent.
The Security Council's credibility problem
The Security Council’s influence over international affairs perceptibly diminished during 2011. In the first quarter of the year the Council was at the center of simultaneous crises, mandating the use of force to protect civilians in both Libya and Côte d’Ivoire. But this burst of activism proved unsustainable, and the remainder of 2011 has been characterized by increasingly acrimonious divisions within the Council.
Read the full Freidrich Ebert Stiftung paper here.