Rory Sullivan, Helena Viñes Fiestas, and Rachel Crossley
Publication Date:
11-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
“We can't afford not to invest in the developing world. We all know that's where the greatest need is; but that is also where some of the greatest dynamism is.” Ban Ki Moon, UN Secretary-General speaking at the UN Global Compact Leaders Summit, June 2010.
Topic:
Development, Economics, International Trade and Finance, Markets, and Poverty
Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies
Abstract:
Like many of its member-states, the United Nations (UN) did not have a clear place in the world when the Cold War ended. For forty years, great power rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union had relegated this organization, originally founded upon Wilsonian ideals of collective security, to the task of monitoring ceasefires. When the wall fell, many in the west believed that the UN was poised to realize its potential and could, thus, be relied upon to contain and diffuse conflict in the post-Cold War order. Unfortunately for all parties involved, this proved to be overly optimistic. As missions in Somalia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Rwanda all made manifestly clear, the UN was unprepared to restore order in situations of pervasive violence. By the mid 1990s, the international community was thus faced with a choice: Either it could provide the UN with the legal space and the material resources it needed to impose peace on conflict ridden societies, or a different actor would have to assume this responsibility.
Ever since NATO's Operation Allied Force in 1999 resulted in a withdrawal of Serb forces from Kosovo and the establishment of governance arrangements for the province that included an important external presence (with UN, EU, NATO and OSCE missions) as well as Kosovo's own Provisional Institutions of Self Government, the precise future status of Kosovo has been in doubt. Two extreme options were favoured by Serbia and Kosovo, respectively: either for Kosovo to continue as a part of Serbia or for it to achieve independent status (most likely by attaining statehood). On 17 February 2008, a group of Kosovo leaders issued a Declaration of Independence. Serbia responded with a request that the UN General Assembly seek an opinion on the legality of Kosovo's action from the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The Court delivered its Opinion on 22 July 2010. What did the Court say and what are the political consequences of its Opinion?
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, International Law, and Sovereignty
In many ways, the world is at the beginning of what some are already calling the “Biological Century.” Discoveries in the life sciences have the potential to reshape the worlds of health, food production, energy, and climate change, to produce new fuels, heat- and drought-resistant food crops, and to eradicate deadly diseases. But biotechnological discoveries also have a dark side – potential immense harm may be caused through accidental or intentional release of designer pathogens. The globe is also facing a myriad of natural biological threats. Fifteen million people die each year of deadly infectious diseases, with new ones emerging every year, such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Avian Flu. In a world of 700 million international air passengers yearly, and almost all on flights shorter than the incubation period of infectious diseases, national health has become only as safe as global health.
Topic:
Security, International Cooperation, Treaties and Agreements, and Weapons of Mass Destruction
A consensus seems to exist on the need to tackle contemporary intra-state conflicts through a multiplicity of actors who display different comparative advantages and levels of expertise. For the United Nations as well as for the regional organisations that, since the end of the Cold War, have emerged as crisis management actors, working together is the way forward. The UN and the EU run or have run simultaneous operations in Africa (Democratic Republic of the Congo and Chad) and Kosovo and have largely institutionalised their cooperation; the UN took over operations initially deployed by the African Union in West Africa and in Burundi and the two institutions have created a hybrid UN-AU mission in Darfur; the EU is assisting the AU in the building-up of its Stand-by Force and finances AU operations; the EU, the OSCE and NATO have for some time shared the burden of security management in the Balkans. As noted in a UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) document, “reinforcing interoperability with key partners […] can enhance cooperation and ensure that we maximise finite global peacekeeping resources”. Indeed, given the scope of crisis management needs, not least the UN overstretch, burden-sharing has become an imperative and its corollary, inter-institutional partnerships, equally central. Yet, the establishment of partnerships among international institutions is facing important political and technical difficulties that make the prospect for an interlocking system unlikely.
Topic:
Conflict Prevention, Globalization, International Cooperation, Peace Studies, Regional Cooperation, and Peacekeeping
Political Geography:
Africa, Europe, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kosovo, and United Nations
On 26 October 2010, the UN Security Council (SC) marked the 10th anniversary of Security Council resolution (SCR) 1325. With the adoption of SCR 1325, the SC recognised the disproportionate impact of armed conflicts on women and girls for the first time and further emphasized the decisive role of women in preventing conflicts and consolidating peace. At the time of its adoption, SCR 1325 was recognized as a major breakthrough for greater gender equality in the area of peace and security and the acceptance of women as active agents in conflict management. Three further SCRs – 1820, 1888 and 1889 – now strengthen the women, peace and security (WPS) framework.
Topic:
Conflict Prevention, Security, Gender Issues, and War
Since 11 September 2001, countries across the world have adopted an enormous range of anti-terrorism laws with the potential to undermine even the most basic and long-established human rights. Fundamental principles such as habeas corpus and public trial before an independent and impartial tribunal have been thrown into question. Administrative detention without trial is no longer, in Justice John Paul Stevens's words, 'the hallmark of the totalitarian state', but already a reality in some democracies and under serious consideration in others.
The study on ―Delegitimizing Nuclear Weapons: Examining the Validity of Nuclear Deterrence‖ by Ken Berry, Patricia Lewis, Benoît Pélopidas, Nikolai Sokov and Ward Wilson was commissioned by the Swiss Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs and undertaken by the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, the Monterey Institute of International Studies.
Topic:
Security, Arms Control and Proliferation, Nuclear Weapons, Peace Studies, and Weapons of Mass Destruction
The following report, covering the period from September 2008 to August 2009 and submitted to the UN General Assembly, provides an overview of key aspects of the humanitarian and human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel, such as the Israeli blockade on Gaza, the firing of rockets against Israeli civilian areas, restrictions on freedom of movement in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and house demolitions and forced displacement in area C and East Jerusalem.
Topic:
Human Rights
Political Geography:
New York, Israel, Palestine, Gaza, and United Nations
Nearly 62 years ago, the United Nations recognized the right of the Jews, an ancient people 3,500 years old, to a state of their own in their ancestral homeland. I stand here today as the prime minister of Israel, the Jewish state, and I speak to you on behalf of my country and my people.