International Order and Security - Essay Example

GLOBAL GOVERNANCE ESSAY: INTERNATIONAL ORDER AND SECURITY By of the of the of the School 8 May 2014 Executive Summary Following the 9/11 attacks in the USA, international order and security, specifically pertaining to counter terrorism measures and humanitarian issues became a top agenda in US politics. Every nation must have watched the impact of terrorism and realized the need to keep alert from such recurrence. Terrorism, war and conflicts as discussed in this document have been the recent man made causes of humanitarian crises that have left nations’ populations and economies devastated. Terrorism networks: It is a current issue that the USA cannot ignore. While terrorism has declined over the last decade, the USA like any other nation is not immune from terrorist crimes. Al-Qaeda organizations have been destroyed with most of their leaders, yet numerous attempts on terror have remained. Today, terrorist networks are far more dispersed and actively recruiting new members. Their effects are still felt in Arab/Islamic nations, yet they are collaborating with minor terror groups as far as in Africa, Asia and Europe among other continents. They take advantage of the latest technologies to develop and enhance their attack plans. Humanitarian crises resulting from conflicts and war: While western nations enjoy peace and stability, others as far as the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) suffer violence and a mix of crimes. Despite their cry for change of the autocratic regimes and democratic revolutions, majority of people are displaced from their homes or countries, others die in war, get attacks from diseases in refugee camps or lack basic needs. The foreign policy of the USA has in the past provided humanitarian assistance through reliefs and should continue to do so. USA, UN agencies, NGOs, volunteers and donors amongst humanitarian organizations have in the past taken measures to fight terror and humanitarian crises. The USA has moved across borders and with the support of allied nations, sent military troops in Arab nations like Iraq and Afghanistan on war against terrorism and humanitarian crises. The ICC has played central role in prosecuting perpetrators of war crimes, while the UN massively supports victims of wars and conflicts. However, most of their strategies are short term and could lose effectiveness with time. The following recommendations alongside existing measures would support international order and security. Based on the assessment of the past measures and trend on these crimes, it is recommended that the US move to: -Support negotiation to solve humanitarian crises and settle persistent disputes among nations or internally calm the situation. -Promote democratic transition. -Start a campaign to seek support of each nation despite its religion or culture, for them to be party to the ICC Statute to humanity. -Campaign for more cooperation in the international scene, for nations to render criminal or terrorist organizations and members in their nations for easier track down and dismantling of terrorist networks. This includes impeding their source of funds to execute crime where possible. 1. The main issues Terrorist networks The world has witnessed the rapid and destructive work of the terrorist groups for decades to date. Other than environmental factors like earthquakes that have destroyed billions of dollars and left many dead, terrorism activities in the wake of the 21st century demonstrated how necessary it was for nations to come together to combat it. Today, the USA is struggling to counter terrorism activities, yet this remains quite difficult because it is a long chain of linked gangs that are harmful to the society. Terrorist networks are established across the different nations of the world. Though most are established in the Middle East nations, their impacts are felt deeply in the USA, Europe and even Africa. This is because individual terrorists operate in a group and are more dispersed to execute their structured crimes. The USA has in the past managed to capture and destroy strong holds such as the Al-Qaeda; however, the network remains complex among others that still pose a threat to the USA and the global community. Humanitarian crisis Numerous societies in the world face various crises that need urgent attention to rescue the population. Civil wars and conflicts in nations and along borders have led to very complex emergencies upon breakout of violence, which threaten humanity’s survival. Most nations have been consistent zones for fuelled conflicts and war among people of different races, religions and political parties, which leaves families and communities destroyed. The case of Rwanda genocide is today reflected in most nations in conflicts over various resources or power. Recent cases of Syria, Somalia, South Sudan, Pakistan and in most Arab nations with uprising movements in the MENA region have demonstrated a humanitarian crisis generated in the specific nations of the world that are still in transition. This may be rather rare in western nations, but available in nations which have specific regions that seek session to be independent. People in some nations live in fear of what could occur upon the building up political pressure, movements and conflicts with their immediate neighbours. Civil wars have been felt broadly in South America: the historical civil conflicts of Colombia, and the recent riots and conflicts in Argentina’s city over the effects of the peso crisis. All these mentioned movements and civil crisis effect to devastating humanitarian issues either alone or when merged with other natural catastrophes. 2. How global governance currently operates in relation to a. Terrorist networks Considering the terrorism trend over the last two decades, most countries have been cooperating to track down terrorist networks and their diverse members. The western countries and their allies have been the worst hit by terrorism activities, which make them frontline actors in war against terrorism. Following 9/11bomb and subsequent attacks in both USA and Europe, different nations in these regions came together to fight terrorism across their borders. For example, the waged war in Iraq was product of cooperative efforts of USA, Britain and other nations that provided naval and airbases to support deployed troops both in logistic and intelligence (Schultz, 2013). Similarly, international relation organizations have developed policies that govern war on terror. Institution s like the UN and the core international human rights instruments are central to global governance issues. The international human rights conventions and the UN policies and approval could be a constraint when it comes to war. Opposition could occur from the global partners over the action taken by the USA or fall short of support by the international organizations and actors like the UN argued that US war on Iraq contravened UN’s charter (BBC, 2004). b. Humanitarian crisis There are different selective ways that the international community responds to humanitarian crisis. Foreign aids from diverse nations come in rescue the population from the situation in form of relief, especially where there are accumulated problems. United State humanitarian efforts have consistently responded to such crisis as part of their foreign policy concern for refugee assistance and relief operations (Margesson, 2013). Thanks to the established international norms against humanitarian oppression after the world wars; the violent humanitarian crises that occur within nations do not go free after the damage is done. The international criminal courts (ICC) currently prosecutes crimes against humanity and war crimes; their recent involvement can be uttered in cases of 2007 Kenyans conflicts and current criminal investigations of ICC in Dafur, Sudan (Arieff, Margesson, Browne & Weed, 2011). Other humanitarian interventions like the UN agencies, donors and volunteers civil society organizations offer humanitarian support and access to basic needs to restore order. 3. The main problems associated with a. Terrorist networks While the war on terrorism had risen over the last decade across the globe, it is crucial that governments understand that terrorist networks have become less centralized. They prefer to operate in smaller cells with dispersed command structures from different nations. Even after devastating 9/11 attacks, nations including USA are still very vulnerable to such networks. These extremists’ organizations could be quite smaller in size, yet many and in continuous recruitment of their members. As new technological development come into use in the social, political and economic activities worldwide, terrorists have massively exploited it to facilitate their communication, weapons creation, tap into governments’ conversations and to spread their propaganda (state.gov, 2006). Unlike before, modern terrorist organizations consist of learned individuals, with capacity to access funds and even make sophisticated explosives that are designated on specific targets. With better equipment, knowledge and technology, they have demonstrated to advance their weapons for larger targets of their crimes. b. Humanitarian crises arising from civil conflicts and wars The consequences of civil conflicts and wars are harsh on the communities involves, and often most people especially women and children die innocent of perpetrators actions. When the conflicts occur, immediate solutions are delayed; the problems develop into complex situation with accumulated humanitarian needs which can be avoided early in time. These crises have resulted in human displacements, where many are refugees for more than three years, death number increases either because of war or emanating deficiency of basic food and health access. Similarly, certain foreign assistances have failed to provide appropriate solution; instead people prefer to stay in camps where there is access of the needs. As time goes by humanitarian assistance resources are deleting, yet no long lasting solution is produced for the crises. The main problems associated with current global governance operation Jurisdiction of the ICC and member state of the Rome Statute A major issue in the maintaining order and security around the globe entails involvement of the ICC to investigate the people who are responsible for the crimes of violence and ensure accountability. However, the judicial mechanism may not be able to perform its prosecution on some countries because they have not ratified the treaty to the establishment of ICC. Hence non-member states to the Rome statute end up limiting ICC jurisdiction to countries where international crimes exists. You appreciate the effort of humanitarian agencies and other organizations in resolving health issues and basic needs that people require. However, the extent of other nations’ involvement could fuel conflicts, especially where there is tendency to support one group over the other. 4. Current proposals for reform (if any) of that area of global governance Most of the on-going measures against humanitarian crisis and terrorist networks have been supportive through their effectiveness and efficiency in solving the problems remains sceptical. It is vital to establish the root causes of the problems before venturing into resolving them. Today, terrorism is determined to spring from ideologies that justify murder, grievances blamed on others, political alienation and subcultures of conspiracy and misinformation (cbsnews.com, 2006). Majority of the nations in the western world and some third world countries that have been worst heat by terrorism acts understand the pain and have the burden to secure its citizens and economy by cooperating with other likeminded nations. More integrated counterterrorism assistance and international cooperation is recommended for better coordination worldwide on war against terror (UN, 2012). Other than supporting the victims of terrorism in the recovery process, the aim still focuses on dismantling the developing terrorist networks. Governments have to stay informed and ahead of the terrorists’ actions in order to determine their intentions and prevent attacks. So far UN blacklisting and open channels of nations’ communication make it possible to share information on terrorists’ organizations and members. However, it’s is vital to establish who funds the organizations or perpetrators of violence in human crises. One of the innovative strategies is to freeze assets for responsible organizations or connected individuals involved in funding such crimes (esteri.it, 2012). Looking into the trends of events and causes of the war and conflicts around the modern world, food and medication aids have been consistent, and after wars are over, the displaced society goes back. Most of these nations especially in MENA regions are struggling with democratic transitions. Others are conflicts over resources (oil or land), which all can be settled amicably without causing humanitarian crisis. 5. An assessment of what the most desirable form of reform would be Humanitarian crimes cannot be taken for granted in the international scene, whether occurring from Islamic nations, western world or Africa. No doubt of the pressing need for justice for the victims of crimes of humanity. It’s a high time the provision of the ICC treaty that allows its jurisdiction even to nations not party to the treaty or consented be applied to prosecute senior criminals in governments, secure justice for the voiceless (Morris, 2000). Of the past eight years, military invasion have been used to bring war to an end and track down criminals and terrorists in countries like Somalia, Afghanistan and currently in South Sudan. Anyone would applaud the effects this in fighting terrorism; however, other civil conflicts and wars can be settled via negotiation. USA and EU countries have mediated several talks to maintain peace and order along most nations’ borders, which is recommendable. However, USA among other nations and international agencies should be quick to respond to emerging crisis to save from a lot of devastation. The greater the conflict and war, the higher the damages of lives and properties. Economically the nations lag behind, which takes lot of effort to rebuild, while the exhaustive resources from contributing nation, donors, agencies like USAID and UN are depleted. A lot of nations today where acts of terrorism and humanitarian crisis exist are still struggling with liberation. Some have autocratic regimes, which the citizens are trying to free themselves. Terrorism takes advantage of such opportunities to execute and benefit from such eruptive violence. Assisting such nations to democratic transitions should continue being part of US foreign policy for long term objective of stability and peace. The aspect of integration and cooperation that comes with democratic transition help mitigates terrorist challenges due to better management and strategic decision taken to solve internal conflicts that terrorist exploits (Jebb, 2003). Already some countries are straining to host the number of increasing refugees, who also pose a threat to the nations’ security. 6. An assessment of how that reform would affect the interests of your country and recommendations for action, noting political realities United States has committed itself to cooperate with other nations to assist fight terror and restore order and security across the globe. United States conducts numerous economic activities with nations in MENA, South America and Asia; hence, disruptions of security and order through terrorism and man-made humanitarian crises affect the conducive environment of operations. Assisting in democratic transition for uprising nations would ensure peace and stability, which is critical for economic activities like trade between USA and the nation with conflicts. The following is recommended for USA: -Encourage negotiation to solve humanitarian crises and settle persistent disputes among nations or internally would calm the situation. Most importantly, what is expected of each party should be rolled out in stages until the solution is completely solved in agreement. - USA together with its allies has the capacity to promote democracy in nations with violent movements that result in substantial number of deaths, refugees and economic destruction. Political stability and security, but also democracy would alleviate chances of humanitarian crises and opportunities for terrorist networks to exploit. -USA should start a campaign to seek support of each nation despite of religion or culture to party to the ICC Statute, which should serve to improve international governance to crimes of humanity. -USA began the war on terror and should campaign for more cooperation in the international scene for nations to render criminal/terrorist organizations and members in their nations for easier track down and dismantling of terrorist networks. This includes impeding their source of funds to execute crime where possible. Reference List Arieff, A., Margesson, R., Browne, M.A., & Weed M.C. International Criminal Court Cases in Africa: Status and Policy Issues. [online] Available at: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL34665.pdf[Accessed 8 May 2014] Counter Terrorism Measures in Italy. [online] Available at:http://www.esteri.it/mae/en/politica_estera/temi_globali/lotta_terrorismo/[Accessed 9May 2014] Iraq War Illegal, Says Annan. [online] Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3661134.stm / [Accessed 7 May 2014] Jebb, C.R. The Fight for Legitimacy: Liberal Democracy versus Terrorism. [online] Available at:http://journals.hil.unb.ca/index.php/jcs/article/view/354/554/[Accessed 9 May 2014] Margesson, R. International Crises and Disasters: U.S. Humanitarian Assistance Response Mechanisms. [online] Available at: https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL33769.pdf [Accessed 8 May 2014] Morris, M. The Jurisdiction of the International Courts over Nationals of Non-party States. [online] Available at:http://scholarship.law.duke.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2746&context=faculty_scholarship/[Accessed 9 May 2014] National Strategy for Combating Terrorism. [online] Available at: http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/pdf/NSCT0906.pdf[Accessible 9 May2014] National Strategy for Combating Terrorism. [online] Available at: http://2001-2009.state.gov/s/ct/rls/wh/71803.htm [Accessible 8 May 2014] Schults D.S. Defending Obama on Syria, Wasserman Schultz says Bush invaded Iraq "alone." [online] Available at:http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2013/sep/13/debbie-wasserman-schultz/wasserman-schultz-bush-invaded-iraq-alone-syria/[Accessed 7 May 2014] UN. United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy: Activities of the United Nations system in implementing the Strategy. [online] Available at:http://www.un.org/en/terrorism/ctitf/pdfs/A%2066%20762%20English.pdf/[Accessed 7 May 2014] Read More