• Security Council and Syria

     

    When Intervention by Foreign Powers Is Justified

    by  • April 24, 2013 • Human Rights, Peace and Security, Security Council, Women's Issues • 1 Comment

    David Phillips

    One of the most complicated dynamics in international relations is whether foreign powers should intervene when a government is creating a humanitarian crisis among its own people. David L. Phillips, a former a senior adviser to the United States Department of State and to the United Nations, has repeatedly dealt with this problem, and in [...]

    Read more →
    WORLDVIEWS  

    Susan Rice’s Rise Beyond the United Nations

    by  • April 18, 2013 • Security Council, US-UN Relations, WORLDVIEWS • 2 Comments

    Susan E. Rice, US ambassador to the UN

    Many rumors abound regarding the future of America’s top envoy at the United Nations, Susan E. Rice. While she is still working as the United States ambassador to the UN, some media reports are predicting that she will become President Obama’s next national security adviser, succeeding Thomas E. Donilon. As to who might succeed her, [...]

    Read more →
     

    The Masterminds Behind Security Council Resolutions

    by  • March 14, 2013 • Africa, Peace and Security, Security Council, US-UN Relations • 7 Comments

    Security Council Meeting on the situation in Cyprus

    The United Nations Security Council bases its resolutions on agenda items as varied as the renewal of a peacekeeping force mandate in Haiti to responding to a missile launching in North Korea. With resolutions’ language often dense legalese that recalls, recognizes, emphasizes, demands and, at times, condemns and deplores the issue at hand, the style [...]

    Read more →
     

    Guatemala’s Role on the Security Council, as Viewed by Its Ambassador

    by  • March 5, 2013 • ICC, Security Council, UN Diplomats • 3 Comments

    Gert Rosenthal, Guatemala's ambassador to the UN

    Gert Rosenthal does not sound like a Spanish name, but the mother of Rosenthal, the Guatemalan ambassador to the United Nations, was born there and his father was German. To complicate matters, “a little accident happened,” he said, as his parents, Florence and Ludwig, left Germany in the 1930s, and Rosenthal was born in Amsterdam. [...]

    Read more →
     

    The International Court Judge’s Fight for Justice

    by  • February 21, 2013 • ICC, International Justice, Security Council • 2 Comments

    Judge Song of the ICC

      The president of the International Criminal Court, Judge Sang-Hyun Song, told a Columbia University audience recently that a major challenge facing the court is what he called a steady lack of political support from the United Nations Security Council and UN member states. “We need a far more consistent and vigilant approach by the [...]

    Read more →
    WORLDVIEWS  

    Protecting Civilians: How It Works

    by  • December 10, 2012 • Responsibility to Protect, WORLDVIEWS • 4 Comments

    A girl in Freetown, Sierra Leone

    CANBERRA, Australia — A steady rise has been occurring in the last two centuries in the proportion of civilians killed in armed conflict, either from direct violence or conflict-related hunger and disease. The international community has responded to the calls to protect innocent victims by developing two parallel principles, the protection of civilians and the [...]

    Read more →
    WORLDVIEWS  

    Close Cooperation Is Useful Between the General Assembly and Security Council

    by  • September 20, 2012 • General Assembly, Security Council, WORLDVIEWS • 4 Comments

    Nassir Abdulaziz Al Nasser of Qatar, the outgoing General Assembly president.

    If you ask people on the street which United Nations organ has more influence, the Security Council or the General Assembly, they will most probably answer: “The Security Council,” since it has the primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security and is the only UN organ that can issue legally binding decisions that  member [...]

    Read more →