The origins of the UN

• Foundation: 1940-45

  • January 1942 (Washington): Allied Powers (26 countries) sign the declaration of the UN

  • October 1943 (Moscow Declaration): The US, USSR, UK and China declare the intention to establish a “general international organization” when the war is over

  • November 1943 (Tehran): Churchill, Stalin and Roosevelt: “a world family of democratic nations”

  • April 1945 (San francisco opera house): UN conference on IOs

    • Matter of dispute:

      • Role of regional organizations

      • Right to veto of permanent members in SC Status of ICJ jurisdiction

      • Roles of colonies/indepedence

• The charter:

  • Main organs of the UN

    1. General Assembly (GA)

    2. Security Council

    3. Secretariat

    4. Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)

    5. ICJ

    6. Trusteeship Council

  • General Assembly:

    • • Subsidiary organs: Main Committees

      • Commissions

      • Councils

      • Joint Inspection Unit

    • decision making

      • Important issues: 2/3 majority

      • Peace and security, election of members of UNSC and ECOSOC, acceptance of new members in GA suspension if GA membership and budgetary issues

      • Others issues: simple majority

      • UN GA decisions: political recommendations: not legally binding

    • UN membership:

      • Case: membership request by Palestine

        • Non-state observers status since 1974

        • request for full membership in 2011

        • Formal application by state ⇒ secretary general ⇒ UN SC: positive recommendation (9 vote needed including no veto)

          • The US vetoed, so the process was stopped

        • Memberships in UNESCO in 2011 and ICC in 2014

    • States and other entities in the UN

      1. Member states (193)

      2. Non member observer states (2): Holy see, Palestine (since 2012), Switzerland (until 2002)

      3. IGOs with observer statues (for example AU, OAS, ect..)

      4. EU (enhanced observer status since 2011)

    • States and other entities in the UN

      • The UN GA decides what rights observers have:

        • Rights to speak

        • Rights to vote on procedural matters

      • EU (since 2011): right to

        • speak

        • voting on procedural matters

        • submit proposal, amend proposal circulate documents

    • Regular budget (2)

      • Member state contributions: max 22% (USA), minimum 0,001% of total expenditures

      • The 128 least paying countries pay approximately 1,3 percent of the budget

      • Importance of agreement on decision-making by consensus

    UN GA: united for peace resolution

    • UN Resolution 337(1950): If UN SC fails to reach unaminty,

      • The UN GA “Shall consider the matter immediately”

      • The UN GA may establish a peace operation

      • Special emergency sessions called iL

      • Seven UNSC members in favor of such a session; OR

      • the majority of the members of the UN GA votes in favour.

      • Most recent emergency meeting on Urkraine (28 February 2022)

    • Resolution A/ES-11/L.2 (21 march 2022) “Humanitarian consequences of the aggression against Ukraine”.

Specialized agencies

• 15 specialized agencies, coordinated by ECOSOC

  • Independent IGOs created outside of or by UN organs with their own funding treaty and procedures, e.g. World Bank, IMF, WHO, UNESCO, and ILO.

  • Functional Specialization, e.g. food, labor, agriculture, intellectual property, etc…

  • Financed by members states through assessed contributions and voluntary contributions

    • Financed much more subject to domestic finances

UN funds and programs

The UN funds and programs (for example, UNFPA, UNDP, UNICEF, and UNHCR) are fully funded by voluntary contributions

Respond to UN GA/ ECOSOC

• Write reports to their actives, and have to be approved by the GA

UN funds, programs, agencies: funding

1. Core funding: goes toward the infrastructure and facilities. Going to the core mandates

2. Earmarked funding: the practice of setting particular money aside for a specific purpose. The term can be used in several contexts, such as in congressional appropriations of taxpayer funds to individual practices like mental accounting.

Forced Migration: regime or governance?

1951 International convention Relating to the Status of Refugees

• Definition of refugeeuee

• Rights of refugees

• Obligations of governments: non-refoulment(no allowed to send refugees back), access (to education, health services etc…) , non-discrimination

1967 Protocol: global applicability

2018 Global Compact on Refugees (UN General Assembly)

Forced Migration: UNHCR & IOM

UNHCR: UN program since 1951

IOM: UN related organization since 2016

UNHCR

Donors: voluntary donores (mainly USA and after Germany and EU)

IOM

International Organization

• 173 members states

• Based in Geneva

• Assessed and project-based contributions (voluntary, earmarked)

Activities : migration management: managing checkpoints, visa organization, repatriation and voluntary return, training of governmental staff (border control) focus on migrant, not only refugees

Global Health Governance

Earlier International cooperation on health:

1851 International Sanitary Conference in Paris

1903 International Sanitation Convention

1907 Rome Agreement: Office International D’Hygiène Publique

1920 Health Organization of the League of Nations

1948 World Health Organization (UN specialized agency)

a fragmented field

• National Health ministries

• WHO

• Other international organizations (WTO, UN HRC, UNICEF)

• Informal Organizations (G7, G20)

• Public-Private partnerships

• Philantropic Fondations

• Pharmaceutical companies

World Health Organizations (WHO):

Structure

• World health assembly

• Executive Board (34 members for 3 years)

• Director General and Secretariat

• Six Regionals offices ⇒ Highly decentralized

Rule-making

• Conventions: Framework convention on Tobacco Control

• Regulations

1951 International Sanitary Regulations

1969 International Health Regulations (IHR)

⇒ Require reporting by states of outbreaks of infectious diseases

2005 Reform of the IHR

• Recommendations of non-bindings stndars

WHO and Global Health crises

• 2003 SARS: travel restrictions; reformed International Health Regulations (2005)

  • Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC)

• 2014 Ebola: new emergencies program: global emergency workforce; Pandemic Influenza preparedness Framework

• 2019/2020 Covid-19: Balancing act between acquiring epidemiological information through WHO mission and Enforcing PHEIC

WHO sustainable financing Reform 2022

Sustainable Financing working group

Report adopted by WHO assembly by May 2022

• Aiming 50% share of assests and voluntary contribution by 2030

IO bureaucracy

Secretariat-Commission-Bureau

• Led by a secretary-general (UN, NATO) or a director-general (WHO)

• Secretariat staff: international civil servants

  • Independent of member states’ interests (members are more cosmopolitan and republican often rather than defending national interests)

• Staff hiring: regional distribution as key criteria (All regional groups have someone from their background in the secretariat?)

• Degree of authority: supportive, operational, or decision-making (certain importance given to the use of influence)

  • Not all about the structure but also the individual inside that have an influence

Regional groups in the UN

African Group (54)

• Asia-Pacific (53)

• Eastern-Europe (23)

• Latin American and Caribbean (33) (GRULAG)

• Western Europe and others (28) (WEOG)

UN Secretary-General

The secretary-general is appointed by the UNGA upon recommendation by the UN SC (Art. 97 charter)

Kofi Annan and the US ⇒ tension in the UN (the US search to have an independent role)

• The secretariat gives bureaucratic support to the other organs. it helps other branches fully fonction

• Agenda-setting role (Art. 99 charter): The SG has the authority “to bring to the attention of the security council any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security”.

  • “Agenda for peace, preventive diplomacy, peacemaking and peace-keeping”(Boutros Boutros-Ghali 1992)

  • Guterres: the situation in Myanmar for the attention of SC (though without Art, 99) ⇒ keep interesting because SG can easily fall back on it. However in this case they didn’t use it. So it is sometimes used in an informal way.

UN Security Council

15 members (P5+10), 5 permanent (China, France, UK, USA, Russia),

10 non-permanent members elected by GA elected by in GA for 2 years (art. 23 charter), determined by geographical distribution

• Primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security (Art. 24 Charter)

• Allowed to establish subsidiary bodies (Art. 29 charter), e.g.

  • International Criminal Tribunal (ICT) for the former Yugoslavia (1993-2017)

  • Counter-terrorism committee (2001) ⇒ decides on specific sanctions, and can put embargos

  • 1540 Committee on non-proliferation (2004)

  • Peacebuilding commission (2005) ⇒ in essence, created to support countries to come back to a certain level of security. Ensure the peace process is sustainable

Decision-making of the Security council

Decisions are legally binding (art. 25 charter)

• Substantive decisions: 9 affirmative votes, including the P5 (veto power) (Art. 27 charter)

• Procedural decisions: 9 votes (no veto possible)

  • (procedural law determines the manner in which the case is filed or appeal is made, the substantive law regulates the conduct of the individual or government agency)

New: the practice of abstentions

E.G. resolution 1973 (Lybia) was adopted with 5 absentations, including 2 P-5 members: China, Russia, India Brasil, and Germany.

“Responsibility Not to Veto” initiative

Enforcement powers: Chapter VII

• UN SC determines whether there exists “any threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression” (art. 39 CHarter) ⇒ “international

  • The view of what differentiates domestic and international issues has changed over the years

  • In relation to e.g… : civil war, apartheid, war crimes, and humanitarian crisis

• Article 41 Charter: measures not involving the use of force, e.g. sanctions (comprehensive vs. “smart” sanctions)

  • The security council has moved away from comprehensive to smart sanctions

    • Most importantly to regulate the impact of the sanctions imposed by the UN on a country. It is made in order to be more precautious about the impact on the population

• Article 42 Charter: action by air, sea, or land forces, include peace enforcement

  • Send in peace forces, even without the accordance of the country in case of major threat

UN peacekeeping (1): Non-coercive instrument of ensuring compliance

Peacekeeping was not quite defined by evolved over the years. Countries have to consent to it at the beginning or at a later stage. (because it is not included in the charter, so need of a consent at some time)

• Boutros-Guali: “agenda for peace”1992:

• “The deployment of a UN presence in the field, hitherto with the consent of all the parties concerned, normally involving UN military and/or police personnel and frequently civilians as well.

• Peace keeping is an activity that expands the possibilities for both the prevention of conflict and the making of peace” (S 20)

⇒ No standing army (need of negotiate with different parties in order to send a UN military troop, this is the role of the SC)

⇒ National Contingents wearing blue helmets

⇒ civilian staff recruited by UN Secretariat

UN peacekeeping (2): triangle

UN peacekeeping (3): Mandates

Multi-dimensional peacekeeping today:

• Maintain peace and security ⇒ contain threat in buffer zone

• Protect civilians

• Support organization of elections ⇒ need to have democratic elections in order to preserve some peace

• Dismarmament,

• Securirty sector reform

• Restore the Rule of law

• Promote Human Rights

• Peace-keeping was 6.4 billions USD in the past year (nothing compared to national militaries budget)

The changing nature of war….

• New challenge of the security council in order to intreprete the new types of wars/conflict

  • The SC was criticized for being incapable of dealing with new types of conflicts and atrocities

The responsiblity to protect (R2P)

2005 World summit outcome document:

• Responsibility to prevent, to react and to rebuild

• International community to have a responsability to use appropriate measures (peaceful and/ or according to the charter if need of intervention) when a state is unable to.

With authorization of the UN SC (!)

Example: UNSC resolution 1973 (17 March 2011) authiruzed military action in Lybia:

“Reitarting the responsibility of the lybian authorities to protect the lybian population(…)”

“Authorize members states(…) to take all necessary measures (..) to protect civilians and civilian populated areas under threat of attack in the Lybian Arab Jamahiriya(…)”

Reform of the UN Security Council (1)

• Last reform in 1965: membership extension from 11 to 15 members (4 additional non-permanent members)

• the current reform debate started in the 1990s

  • Legitimacy concerns ⇒ on the way of how the populations is affected but can not make any change or concerns

  • Effectiveness concers (e.g. Syria) ⇒

• World Summit debate in 2005

  • High Level Panel report

Reform of the UN security council (2)

1. Size UN SC

2. Regional Distribution (representation TCC and UN universal membership)

   ⇒ does it truly reflect the diversity of the world, need of a more equal distribution

3. Permanent membership not reflecting current global power distribution (abolish vs. expand)

   1. Competetion for permanent seats: (G4: Germany, India, Japan, Brasil vs Uniting for consensus/coffe club (Italy Spain Pakistan, South Korea, Argentina among others)

4. Veto power⇒ HLP proposal: “responsibility not to veto”

Condition for the UN SC reforms

art 108 charter: 2/3 majority in the UN GA

1. 2/3 majority of states need to ratify the amendment (i.e. the amendment needs to be accepted on the domestic level as well)

2. 2/3 majority should include the P5

See Binder/Heupel 2022 on possible reform agreements

Stalemate in reform of composition; focus on reform of working methods: more transparency, less vetoes (”responsibility not to veto" initiative)