Straw calls for reform of UN

[cal04]

The foreign secretary, Jack Straw, today outlined a far-reaching three-point plan for reform of the UN, suggesting new rules of responsibility for intervening in sovereign nations.Reopening the debate sparked when the US, Britain and the "coalition of the willing" broke with other members of the UN security council to invade Iraq, Mr Straw said "the international community may need to intervene" when sovereign states ignore their own responsibilities to their people and "international engagements".

He also called on the UN to evolve itself into a sort of "clearing house" for international relief efforts, and to act quicker in the face of humanitarian emergencies.In a speech to foreign policy experts at Chatham House in London, Mr Straw criticised the UN for failing to act more quickly on the crisis in Darfur, despite the urgings of the UK government.He told his audience that the secretary general of the UN should make it a greater personal prerogative to bring matters of concern to the security council.Mr Straw said: "Despite the warnings from United Nations staff this spring of looming catastrophe in Darfur, and active efforts by the UK to draw international attention to the situation, it took the security council until the end of July to agree a resolution."

He said that "to encourage a quicker response to emerging threats, the secretary general could consider making more use of his power, under Article 99 of the charter, to bring any matter which in his opinion may threaten international peace and security to the security council's attention".


But possibly the most significant section of the speech - echoing comments earlier this year from Tony Blair that the international community may need to look at the criteria under which it intervenes in sovereign nations - discussed the use of military force.
Mr Straw said: "Perhaps the most sensitive question in the debate about the tools at our disposal is that of collective intervention in another state - including, in the most extreme cases, the use of military force. But it is a discussion we need to have.
The foreign secretary conceded that the original UN charter backs the "Westphalian principle" of non-intervention in other states' internal affairs. But he said: "It can no longer be acceptable to classify situations such as that in Darfur, or before in Rwanda or Kosovo, as simply the concern of one national government."
He did not mention, in that context, the most controversial example of Iraq, but went on to say that states "also have responsibilities, towards their own people, and towards the international community and their international engagements. Where those responsibilities are manifestly ignored or abused, the international community may need to intervene."Mr Straw said the UK government is now giving "active consideration" to Mr Annan's report on the Darfur situation, which was given to them yesterday.

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/foreignaffairs/story/0,11538,1295942,00.html

[Dover]

1. I think if the world in going to avoid the growing threat of corporate

governance filling the power vacuum that exists in the as yet incomplete globalization infrastructure, global institutions like the U.N. and the World Court must be strengthened and improved. While no lawful institution is without it's problems, it is a far better choice than the alternative of corporations becoming the arbiters of global and national laws.

[struggle4progress]

2. kick

:kick: