What Mechanisms Are Available to the United Nations to Resolve International Disputes - Essay Example

? Resolving International Disputes Resolving International Disputes In the case of the United Nations (UN), the objectives are global and condescending as the body works for human rights, development, security and peace. Disputes related to the work environment are common and relate to disciplinary measures, harassment, discrimination, promotion, equity of treatment and renewal of contracts. The UN has an additional challenge in the form of geographical dispersion and cultural diversity1. Among the primary purposes of the UN are international dispute resolution and upkeep of international security and peace, which means that the body takes collective measures to prevent and remove threats to the security and peace. The mechanisms that are in place to facilitate such objectives include the Security Council, the International Court of Justice, the General Assembly and the Secretary General. Being the key organ charged with the responsibility of maintenance of security and peace, the Security Council calls upon parties involved in disputes for the purpose of settlement as per articles listed in Article 33 of its statutes2. The dispute mechanisms are structured processes that address grievances or disputes arising between parties engaged in societal, legal or business relationships. The mechanisms are used in resolution of disputes and usually incorporate negotiation, mediation and conciliation. Through the dispute settlement systems in place, the UN is the best-suited international institution to address the new challenges facing international security. This paper will discuss the mechanisms available to the United Nations to resolve international disputes and their merits. The Security Council has the key responsibility of maintaining security and peace among countries. Other organs of the UN may only make recommendations to member states, but the Security Council has the authority to implement 1 Winnefeld, J 2004, The changing nature of intra-state conflict, Rand, California, pp. 19. 2 Simma, S 2003, The charter of the United Nations, Oxford University Press, New York, pp. 56. binding decisions that member states have agreed to carry out3. Such decisions by the Security Council are referred to as Security Council resolutions. As described in Article One, the UN has a purpose to maintain international security and peace. Hence, it takes collective measures to prevent and remove threats to peace, suppresses acts of aggression and brings peace in conformity with the guidelines of international law and justice. It aims to develop friendly relations based on respect among nations. As an international body, the UN is determined to reaffirm faith in basic human rights, dignity and value of humanity. Its intention is to establish conditions that facilitate respect and justice for the obligations that stem from international sources of law and treaties as well as promoting better qualities of life, freedom and social progress4. The key motivation behind creating the UN was to save future generations from the threats of war. From the time it was created, the body has been striving to prevent the escalation of disputes into war as well as facilitating the restoration of peace in the event of armed conflicts. Typically, dispute mechanisms used by the UN are not judicial in nature since they are not deployed in courts of law. Instead, they are governed by core processes of human rights as defined by treaties of human rights5. The UN acknowledges that the absence of military conflicts or war between countries is not an assurance of international security and peace. Threats to international security and peace are seen in other sources outside of the military such as the instability arising from ecological, humanitarian, social and economic fields. Other factors that contribute to the insecurity are international environmental disputes that stem from 3 Thomas, G 2009, Admission to the United Nations: Charter Article 4 and the Rise of Universal Organization, Martinus Publishers, Chicago, pp. 64. 4 Merrills, J.G 2011, International dispute settlement, 5th edn., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 11. 5 Fomerand, J 2009, The A to Z of the United Nations, Scarfecrow Press, Maryland, pp. 70. noncompliance of multilateral obligations to treaties and apprehension over scarce resources. International security is constantly widening in scope, moving the focus from the protection of state borders from outside military hostility. Membership to the UN and procedures by appropriate bodies give priority to resolving such issues. The United States, United kingdom, USSR (now Russia), France and China ratified the UN Charter in 1945 that created the Security Council and became the first permanent members with the express capacity to veto resolutions6. (UNDP 2002, p. 73). There were six temporary members originally that rotated after two years. In 1965, rules were explicitly defined after the temporary members increased to 10. A charter was implemented that mandated the Council to investigate disputes and situations that could result in international tensions. This was achieved by investigating situations that were a threat to international peace, recommending peaceful procedures for dispute resolution and calling on member states to interrupt economic associations. The first meeting of the Security Council was held in 1946 in London, and the first peacekeeping mission followed two years later in the Middle East7. Member states are obliged to provide armed forces to enable the Security Council meet its designated responsibilities. When other means fail, force may be used as per decision by the council and the Military Staff Committee. Since political decisions may have other unintentional consequences, they are not always implemented. The UN has led the international community in establishing parameters of the expanded notion of security, specifically by promoting human security. 6 United Nations Development Program (UNDP) 2002, Human development report, Oxford University Press, New York, pp. 73. 7 Nagendra, S 2002, The UN and the development of international law, Clarendon Press, Oxford, pp. 72. The body strives to make its mechanisms legitimate, accessible, predictable, transparent, equitable and rights compliant8. Prevention of conflict is among the highest objectives of the UN. In the contemporary world, preventive action goes beyond conventional preventive diplomacy to include a wide scope of UN entities working in a wide range that includes eradication of poverty, rule of law, human rights, building democratic institutions, development and elections. When disputes result into wars, the Council's objective is to end them as soon as possible. On many occasions, it has issued directives of ceasefire which have prevented wider hostilities. It also deploys UN peacekeeping missions to reduce tensions in afflicted regions, separate opposing forces and create environments for sustainable peace after reaching settlements. It may also decide on economic sanctions, collective military action and enforcement measures9. The Secretary General’s mediation roles in the prevention and settlement of disputes derive from the Charter and have been developed by extensive practice. The roles can be set in motion at the initiative of the Secretary-General in response to requests from parties to a dispute, or as a result of a request from the General Assembly or the Security Council. The Secretary General heads a large and far-flung bureaucracy. Primarily, he is the body’s “good officer” and performs both mediating and diplomatic functions required in the resolution of conflicts10. His office stops conflicts before they set in motion and creating confidence that allows parties to turn to cooperation rather than confrontation. The roles can be set in motion at the initiative of the Secretary-General in response to requests from parties to a dispute, or as a result of a request 8 Vaughan, L, Roberts, A & Welsh, J 2010, The United Nations Security Council and war: the evolution of thought and practice since 1945, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 93. 9 Dore, G 2004, Tower of Babble: How the UN has fueled global chaos, Three Rivers, New York, pp. 37. 10 Charlene, M 2013, Capital of the world: the race to host the United Nations, New York University Press, New York, pp. 84. from the General Assembly or the Security Council. According to Article 98 of the Charter, the Secretary-General, in addition to acting in that power in all meetings of the Security Council, General Assembly, Social Council and of the Trusteeship Council, shall execute all the functions vested in him by these organs. These often include functions in the field of prevention and the peaceful settlement of disputes. The Secretary General’s role as an important peacemaking actor has progressed through extensive practice. The scope of activities carried out by the Secretary-General has comprised of facilitation, good offices, arbitration, mediation and dialogue processes. The UN has always modified its peace and security competences to satisfy evolving global realities. By means of ‘An agenda for peace: preventive diplomacy, peacemaking and peace-keeping’ and its appendage, the status paper of the Secretary General on the 50th anniversary of the UN, the UN took steps to improve its understanding and application of preventive diplomacy, making, keeping and building peace. The report of the Panel on UN Peace Operations and its implementation improved peacekeeping and reinforced its linkage to workable peace processes. For example, the Secretary General has acted as an arbitrator in the Rainbow Warrior dispute between New Zealand and France and also a mediator in the Venezuela-Guyana boundary dispute11. The objective in both cases was to prevent a diplomatic dispute from developing into more serious conflicts. The Secretary General has also successfully mediated conflicts between Russia and Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in 1993 and 1994 that arose from differences in terms of withdrawing Russian military bodies and auxiliary matters. He has drawn on his executive and independent authority to initiate action, such as that in the 1992 conflict, in the Abkhazia civil war. He has publically advocated for sharing of responsibility in 11 Weiss, T 2007, The Oxford handbook on the United Nations, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 83. matters of peace enforcement, peacemaking, peace keeping and preventive diplomacy between regional organizations and his office. This is because conflicts are likely to occur, especially those that involve secession and civil war where regional organizations can be unsuitable partners for the Secretary General’s office. There are a considerable number of stubborn low-intensity conflicts that may culminate into violence. Of particular alarm is the absence of improvement in peace processes in the Middle East and persistent tensions on the Korean Peninsula12. Both have the ability to cause considerable global and regional volatility. Consideration must also be accorded to unsettled territorial disputes that endure in diverse areas. While some of those disputes have been sent to the International Court of Justice, some are addressed through mediation. Others have the potential of degenerating into key flashpoints and international penalties. Many clashes today between nations involve a multifaceted web of goals and actors, local, as well as regional aspects, which pose difficult challenges for mediators. The conflicts often go beyond the borders of one country, spreading humanitarian challenges and instability and supplementing the number of would-be conflict parties13. Violence is often brought about by authorities that have no regard for the rights of their subjects as well as by split armed groups. Most of the armed groups combine criminal and political agendas, which are not easy to separate. Modern day conflicts require mediators to balance political mandates with humanitarian considerations, establish a rational but inclusive mediation process, and put together incentives for participation in the procedure while maintaining international standards and legal frameworks. Due to such complexities, mediators have to struggle with wide scopes of substantive issues. For example, in 12 White ND 2005, The law of international organizations, MUP, Manchester, pp. 101. 13 Fasulo, L 2004, An insider's guide to the UN, Yale University Press, New Haven, pp. 48. dissimilar ideologically-based conflicts that occurred within the 1970s and 1980s, conflicts associated the running of governments, and also natural and economic resources, overlook the present agenda. The disputes are largely covered with poor governance, socioeconomic tensions and ethnic polarization, and usually aggravated by climate change. Consequently, mediation and facilitation initiatives have gone beyond achieving a ceasefire and have instead focused on securing comprehensive settlements that address a wide scope of issues. They include sharing of power and wealth, inter alia, justice, constitutions, human rights and security matters. The experience of modern years has resulted in the UN focusing on building peace and initiatives to minimize a country's probability of lapsing or relapsing into conflict. This is done through improving national capabilities of conflict management and laying foundations for development and sustainable peace14. Building enduring peace in war-torn communities is one of the most intimidating of challenges for international security and peace. Building peace calls for sustained international support for national efforts across the widest scope of activities such as demobilizing and reintegrating participants; monitoring end of hostilities; fostering reconciliation after past carnages; helping in the organization and monitoring of elections of new governments; enhancing human rights protections that assist in the return of displaced persons and refugees and supporting security and justice sector reform. The UN has been at the axis of growing international efforts in building peace efforts, from the corroboration of peace accords parts of Africa, America and Cambodia from the 1990s, to successive efforts in securing peace and strengthening nations in West Africa, Timor-Leste and the Balkans, to modern operations in Sudan, Haiti and Afghanistan15. In recognition of the UN’s needs, to foresee and act in response 14 White ND 2005, The law of international organizations, MUP, Manchester, pp. 104. 15 Charlene, M 2013, Capital of the world: the race to host the United Nations, New York University Press, New York, pp. 92. to the challenges of building peace, the World Summit of 2005 approved the formation of a new Peacebuilding Commission. In the resolutions establishing the commission, the UN Security Council and General Assembly authorized it to bring all appropriate players together to inform on the planned strategies for recovery after conflicts and building of peace; to line up resources and help ensure conventional financing for such activities and to expand best practices in partnership with development, humanitarian and political actors. The decrees also identify the need for the Commission to lengthen the duration of global attention on countries just out of conflict and highlight gaps that are a threat to the building of peace. The Security Council and General Assembly and resolutions establishing the Peacebuilding Commission also provided for the founding of the Peacebuilding Support Office and a Peacebuilding Fund. As a mediator of peace, the UN is a neutral entity that helps parties towards communicating and finding common and acceptable solutions for their conflicts16. The body is independent in its performance of mediation proceedings and not accountable to anyone in the event that there is no settlement. However, it must stay within a code of ethics and professional rules. The qualities and characteristics that contribute towards this function are confidentiality, neutrality, impartiality, fairness and integrity. In addressing vulnerable parties, the UN acknowledges that although women are still a minority of combatants and war perpetrators, they are increasingly suffering the greatest harm. In modern conflicts, up to 90 percent of casualties are unarmed civilians, mostly children and women. Women in war-prone societies are faced with risks such as sexual violence that sometimes are deployed to achieve political and military objectives, yet they are poorly represented formal processes of peace. However, the Security 16 Ury, W 2001, Getting disputes resolved, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, pp. 69. Council acknowledges that the inclusion of women and gender perspectives in decision-making strengthens the projection for sustainable peace17. The acknowledgement specifically addresses the situation of women in armed conflict and calls for their involvement at all decision-making levels on the building of peace and resolution of conflict. The main deliberative assembly is the General Assembly, which is composed of all member states and meets in annual sessions although it also has a provision for emergency sessions18. Headed by an elected president on a rotating basis within regions, the General Assembly has 21 vice presidents. When it votes on crucial matters, the General Assembly requires a two-thirds majority of the votes of present members, and security and peace recommendations are among such matters. When all other security mechanisms make recommendations, it is usually the mandate of the Security Council to approve and deploy peacekeepers to places where armed conflicts have paused or ceased recently to discourage reoccurrence of hostilities and enforce peace agreements19. This role is augmented by active participation and encouraging of disarmament. The regulation of armaments was envisioned as a limiting factor in the use of economic and human resources in the creation of charters. 17 Stephen, S 2003, Act of creation: the founding of the United Nations, Westview Press, Chicago, pp. 38. 18 Yang, S 2003, China in the UN Security Council decision-making on Iraq, Routledge, New York, pp. 47. 19 Paul, K 2006, The parliament of man: the past, present, and future of the United Nations, Random House, New York, pp. 46. References Charlene, M 2013, Capital of the world: the race to host the United Nations, New York University Press, New York. Dore, G 2004, Tower of Babble: How the UN has fueled global chaos, Three Rivers, New York. Fasulo, L 2004, An insider's guide to the UN, Yale University Press, New Haven. Fomerand, J 2009, The A to Z of the United Nations, Scarfecrow Press, Maryland. Merrills, J.G 2011, International dispute settlement, 5th edn., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Nagendra, S 2002, The UN and the development of international law, Clarendon Press, Oxford. Paul, K 2006, The parliament of man: the past, present, and future of the United Nations, Random House, New York. Simma, S 2003, The charter of the United Nations, Oxford University Press, New York. Stephen, S 2003, Act of creation: the founding of the United Nations, Westview Press, Chicago. Thomas, G 2009, Admission to the United Nations: Charter Article 4 and the Rise of Universal Organization, Martinus Publishers, Chicago. United Nations Development Program (UNDP) 2002, Human development report, Oxford University Press, New York. Ury, W 2001, Getting disputes resolved, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco. Vaughan, L, Roberts, A & Welsh, J 2010, The United Nations Security Council and war: the evolution of thought and practice since 1945, Oxford University Press, Oxford. Weiss, T 2007, The Oxford handbook on the United Nations, Oxford University Press, Oxford. White ND 2005, The law of international organizations, MUP, Manchester. William, M & Paul R 2012, The last lion: defender of the realm, Little Brown, New York. Winnefeld, J 2004, The changing nature of intra-state conflict, Rand, California. Yang, S 2003, China in the UN Security Council decision-making on Iraq, Routledge, New York. Read More