35 Role of United Nations

Dr. Aneesh V. Pillai

1.0 Objectives

1.1 Introduction

1.2 United Nations

1.3 Role of United Nations

1.4 Other Initiatives

1.5 References

OBJECTIVES

To study about the role of United Nations in ensuring right to peace.

INTRODUCTION

The United Nations was established in 1945 with the primary object ‘to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war’ and hence one of its main purposes is to establish and maintain international peace. Under the UN framework, the primary responsibility of maintenance of peace is entrusted with the UN Security Council. The Security Council is empowered to adopt various measures based on Chapters VI, VII and VIII of the United Nations Charter for fulfilling its responsibility of establishing peace. Chapter VI of the UN Charter provides for the settlement of disputes through specific means and Chapter VII provides provisions related to various measures with respect to the Peace, Breaches of the Peace and Acts of Aggression. Chapter VIII of the Charter contains various provisions which deal with the involvement of regional arrangements and agencies in the maintenance of international peace. The founders of the UN were very clear in their vision that peace is the foundation for achieving other rights. Though right to peace is directly recognized under UN Charter, the provisions dealing with the establishment and maintenance of international peace directly or indirectly give effect to right to peace of millions of people.

UNITED NATIONS

The first international organization responsible for establishing peace in the world was League of Nations which was founded in 1919. However due to the out break of World War II, the new organization i.e. United Nations emerged. It was in 1942 through Declaration by United Nations Mr. Winston Churchill and Mr. Franklin D. Roosevelt coined the term United Nations. The United Nations officially came into existence on 24 October 1945, when the Charter had been ratified by China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and by a majority of other signatories. Since its inception, the UN has been called upon to maintain international peace and security, and to support the establishment of environments in which peace processes can be consolidated.

At present UN have five principal organs to handle the complex functions including the task of establishing peace. The first is the UN General Assembly. This is the main decision-making and representative assembly in the UN and is responsible for upholding the principles of the UN through its policies and recommendations. It is composed of all member states, is headed by a president elected from the member states. Secondly, UN Security Council which is the most powerful of all the branches. It has power to authorize the deployment UN member states’ militaries, can mandate a cease-fire during conflicts, and can enforce penalties on countries if they do not comply with given mandates. It is composed of five permanent members and ten rotating members. The next organ is the International Court of Justice, located in The Hague, Netherlands. This branch is responsible for the judicial matters of the UN. The Economic and Social Council is the fourth principal organ that assists the General Assembly in promoting economic and social development as well as cooperation of member states. Finally, Secretariat which is headed by the Secretary General. Its main responsibility is providing studies, information, and other data when needed by other UN branches for their meetings.

ROLE OF UNITED NATIONS

The idea of establishing peace was one of the fundamental purposes of UN. Hence, the topic of peace was in the discussion of UN since its inception. However, the right to peace concept which may be grounded on the UN Charter came into prominence in the middle of the 1970’s and has since been actively developed by the doctrine of international law at both the national and international levels and in the latter case-with the active participation of and support from the UN Secretary General, UN General Assembly, UN Human Rights Commission and the UNSECO.

A further development of the right to peace concept has been taking place mainly within the framework of the discussion on the solidarity rights or group rights or third generation of human right formulated and advanced by K. Vasak. The need for consolidation of right to peace in international law has been stressed by various jurists. According to V. Kartashkin, it was necessary to adopt a convention which would consolidate by way of agreement the right of each person to peace and liberty and to provide for respective measures in relation to thje cooperation between states for detecting, arresting, extraditing and punishing persons guilty of committing crimes against peace, of military crimes and crimes against humanity.

The important stages in the development of the right to peace concept and also in the matter of granting recognition to it at international level were : two conferences of experts held in 1978 and 1980 under the aegis of UNESCO, the reports by the UN Secretary General presented to the Human Rights Commission at its XXXVI and XXXVII sessions (1978 & 1981) and also the Seminar on the question of the interrelationship between human rights, peace and development held at UN Headquarters in New York in 1981.

The idea of establishing a right to peace as a human right has first came into lime light through a Declaration adopted by UN General Assembly. In 1978, Declaration on the Preparation of Societies for Life in Peace, was adopted by the General Assembly with no votes against, which states, “Every nation and every human being, regardless of race, conscience, language or sex, has the inherent right to life in peace. Respect for that right, as well as for the other human rights, is in the common interest of all mankind and an indispensable condition of advancement of all nations, large and small, in all fields.”

In 1981, General Assembly through its resolution 36/67 declared that the third Tuesday of September, the opening day of the regular sessions of the General Assembly should be officially proclaimed and observed as International Day of Peace and should be devoted to commemorating and strengthening the ideals of peace both within and among all nations and peoples. On 12 November 1984, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 39/11 annexing the Declaration on the Right of Peoples to Peace, which reaffirms “that the principal aim of the United Nations is the maintenance of international peace and security” and the “aspirations of all peoples to eradicate war from the life of mankind and, above all, to avert a world-wide nuclear catastrophe”. By virtue of operative paragraph 2, the Declaration proclaims “that the preservation of the right of peoples to peace and the promotion of its implementation constitute a fundamental obligation of each State”.

In paragraph 3, the Declaration: “demands that the policies of States be directed towards the elimination of the threat of war, particularly nuclear war, the renunciation of the use of force in international relations and the settlement of international disputes by peaceful means.” In its resolution 37/16, the General Assembly declared 1986 to be the International Year of Peace and decided to proclaim it solemnly on 24 October 1985, the fourteenth anniversary of the United Nations.

Followed by the observance of International Year of Peace, UN General Assembly has taken various initiatives towards establishing a right to peace. They are the Declaration on the Prevention and Removal of Disputes and Situations Which May Threaten International Peace and Security and on the Role of the United Nations in this Field, 1988; Declaration on Fact-finding by the United Nations in the Field of the Maintenance of International Peace and Security, 1991; Declaration on the Enhancement of Cooperation between the United Nations and Regional Arrangements or Agencies in the Maintenance of International Peace and Security, 1994; and Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace, 1999.

Philip Alston remarked that by the 1990s the right to peace had been dropped like a stone within the UN, due to its lack of clear meaning as a collective right thereby falling to capture the global imagination or strengthen peoples rights.

In its Resolution 2002/71, “Promotion of the right of peoples to peace”, of 25 April 2002, the Human Rights Commission linked the right to peace with the right to development, and affirmed: “that all States should promote the establishment, maintenance and strengthening of international peace and security and, to that end, should do their utmost to achieve general and complete disarmament under effective international control, as well as to ensure that the resources released by effective disarmament measures are used for comprehensive development, in particular that of the developing countries”. The Commission further urged: “the international community to devote part of the resources made available by the implementation of disarmament and arms limitation agreements to economic and social development, with a view to reducing the widening gap between developed and developing countries.”

In 2005, the Commission on Human Rights adopted a resolution entitled Promotion of Peace as a vital requirement for the full enjoyment of all human rights by all. The Human Rights Council replaced the Commission in 200610. A significant step in the journey toward the identification of a right to peace was the adoption of Resolution 11/4 on “The Right of Peoples to Peace” by the UN Human Rights Council on 17 June 2009. The resolution 11/4 affirmed in its preamble that “human rights include social, economic and cultural rights and the right to peace, a healthy environment and development, and that development is, in fact, the realization of these rights” (paragraph 15); that, pursuant to Article 28 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, “everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms …can be fully realized” (paragraph 17); and that a life without war is the primary international prerequisite for the material well-being, development and progress of countries and for the full implementation of the rights and fundamental human freedoms proclaimed by the United Nations”.

Pursuant to this resolution an expert workshop on the right of peoples to peace was organized by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) at the United Nations Office in Geneva on 15-16 December 2009, during which the expert participants explored the collective and individual aspects of the right to peace, linking this right to the principle of international solidarity, based on a common human dignity.

On 5 July 2012, the HRC adopted resolution 20/15 on “The promotion of the right to peace”. The resolution established an Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG) with the mandate of progressively negotiating a draft UN Declaration on the right to peace on the basis of the draft submitted by the Advisory Committee, and without prejudging relevant past, present and future views and proposals. The resolution was on the mandate to negotiate a text and not on the text itself, which was a different matter. The OEWG held its first session in 2013 and following this session it concluded that there were some governmental delegations while other stakeholders that recognize the existence of the right to peace and other groups do not, arguing that peace is not a human right, but a consequence of the full implementation of all human rights.

In June 2013, when considering the Working Group’s report of its first session the Council adopted resolution 23/16 by which it requested the Chairperson to prepare a new text on the basis of the discussions held during the first session of the working group and on the basis of the inter-sessional informal consultations. The second session of the open-ended working group took place from 30 June to 4 July 2014 in room XVIII, Palais des Nations, Geneva, Switzerland. In September 2014, the Council adopted resolution 27/17 by which it decided to hold a third session of the working group in 2015, with the objective of finalizing the declaration. It also requested the Chairperson-Rapporteur to conduct informal consultations and to prepare a revised text. The third session of the open-ended working group took place from 20 to 24 April 2015 in room XIX, Palais des Nations, Geneva, Switzerland. Though last three decades UN is actively working for establishing a binding document recognizing right to peace as a human right, UN has not yet achieved its target.

Other Initiatives

United Nations along with its efforts to establish a binding law on right to peace has taken a number of other initiatives for establishing peace at international level. They are:

i) Conflict prevention

Conflict prevention involves various diplomatic measures to keep intra-state or inter-state conflicts and disputes from developing as a situation which affects peace. It includes early warning, information gathering and a careful analysis of the factors driving the conflict. Conflict prevention activities may include the use of the Secretary-General’s “good offices,” preventive deployment of UN missions or conflict mediation led by the Department of Political Affairs.

ii) Peacemaking

Peacemaking generally includes measures to address conflicts in progress and usually involves diplomatic action to bring hostile parties to a negotiated agreement. The UN Secretary-General may exercise his or her “good offices” to facilitate the resolution of the conflict. Peacemakers may also be envoys, governments, groups of states, regional organizations or the United Nations. Peacemaking efforts may also be undertaken by unofficial and non-governmental groups, or by a prominent personality working independently.

iii) Peace enforcement

Peace enforcement involves the application of a range of coercive measures, including the use of military force. It requires the explicit authorization of the Security Council. It is used to restore international peace and security in situations where the Security Council has decided to act in the face of a threat to the peace, breach of the peace or act of aggression. The Council may utilize, where appropriate, regional organizations and agencies for enforcement action under its authority and in accordance with the UN Charter.

iv) Peace building

Peace building aims to reduce the risk of lapsing or relapsing into conflict by strengthening national capacities at all levels for conflict management, and to lay the foundation for sustainable peace and development. It is a complex, long-term process of creating the necessary conditions for sustainable peace. Peace building measures address core issues that effect the functioning of society and the State, and seek to enhance the capacity of the State to effectively and legitimately carry out its core functions.

v) Peacekeeping

UN peacekeeping operations are, in principle, deployed to support the implementation of a ceasefire or peace agreement, they are often required to play an active role in peacemaking efforts and may also be involved in early peace building activities. Such peacekeeping operations may use force to defend themselves, their mandate, and civilians, particularly in situations where the State is unable to provide security and maintain public order.

Conclusion

To sum up, Right to Peace is a principle that is a recognised right under the UN charter. The United Nations is regarded as the principle organisation responsible for peace keeping across nations. The concept of right to peace is a concept which is an element as the core of the UN charter. Other initiatives by the UN are conflict prevention, peace-making, peace enforcement, peace building and peace-keeping.

References

1. Bertrand G. Ramcharan,The Right to Life in International Law, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, UK, 1985
2. Donna J. Perry, “The Right to Life in Peace: An Essential Condition for Realizing the Right to Health”, Health and Human Rights 17: 1, 2015.’
3. Alfred de Zayas, Peace as a Human Right – The Jus Cogens Prohibition of Aggression, available at https://dezayasalfred.wordpress.com/2013/09/08/peace-as-a-human-right-the-jus-cogens-prohibition-of-aggression
4. William Schabas, Unimaginable Atrocities: Justice, Politics, and Rights at the War Crimes Tribunal, OUP, 2012
5. Human Rights Council, 15th Session, 13 September to 1 October 2010, available at http://eaford.org/en_statements/Human%20Rights%20and%20International%20Solidarity.ht m