scholarly journals Nationality versus Gender? The Administrative Politics of Gender Parity in the United Nations and the Implementation of SCR1325

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannah Davies
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
United Nations ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Peace Operations ◽  
Gender Parity ◽  
Un Security Council ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Shed Light

Abstract This article will shed light on an under-researched aspect of the implementation of gender policies in the UN Secretariat—the administrative and budgetary committees that establish the staff regulations for civilian personnel. The article will explore how the politics of UN recruitment invokes two primary identities—nationality and gender—and how these conflict with each other. Using demographic analysis of UN civilian staff in peace operations and a micro-case study of an ongoing attempt by the Secretary-General to change the staff rules and regulations to introduce a form of affirmative action to reach gender parity, this article finds that efforts to achieve the representative provisions of UN Security Council Resolution 1325, including through gender parity of civilians in peace operations, are hampered by the primacy of national identity in international organizations as well as by the highly politicized and nation state-driven process of administrative and budgetary decision-making. By focusing on the inner dynamics of decision-making in the United Nations, the article contributes to the literature on international organizations and gender by demonstrating how normative goals can be undermined by competition among member states over internal administrative processes arising from complex principal–agent relationships.

scholarly journals Theorizing or Negotiating the Law?: A Response to Devika Hovell

AJIL Unbound ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 110 ◽  
pp. 3-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonios Tzanakopoulos
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Public Interest ◽  
Due Process ◽  
Regional Level ◽  
Cholera Outbreak ◽  
A Value ◽  
Un Security Council ◽  
State Practice ◽  
The United Nations

Devika Hovell’s article is a very welcome and useful contribution to the debate regarding the “accountability” (whatever the term may mean) of international organizations, and the United Nations in particular. The author argues that scholarship has tended to focus on (descriptive) state practice to the detriment of (normative) theoretical appeal, and so the relevant discussion “has received inadequate theoretical attention.” In response, she sets out to tell the story of the United Nations being held to account through a highly theorized (and, if I may venture even at the outset, perhaps a bit stylized) scheme of contrasting “instrumentalist,” “dignitarian,” and “public interest” approaches to due process. This she applies to two case studies, one regarding targeted sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council, mainly in the context of antiterrorism; and one regarding the cholera outbreak in Haiti, where the United Nations has been implicated. Hovell critiques both the instrumentalist and dignitarian approaches, which correspond in broad terms to legal action at the international, and the domestic/regional level, respectively, and argues in favor of a “public interest” approach as better reflecting a “value-based” due process.

Beyond UN Accountability for Human Rights Violations

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-104
Author(s):  
Frédéric Mégret
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Human Rights Violations ◽  
Peace Operations ◽  
State Dependency ◽  
Host State ◽  
The United Nations

The overarching focus on the United Nations and its agents for human rights violations and abuses they may have committed, as well as the attention to troop contributing states and even ‘victims’, has broadly shifted attention away from the role of the host state in peace operation. This article seeks to unpack that omission and suggests that it is far more problematic than commonly thought, in particular because it tends to reproduce some of the problematic features of the political economy of peacekeeping that are the background of rights abuses in the first place. Instead, as part of a tradition of thinking of human rights in terms of sovereign protection, the article makes the case for taking much more seriously the role that the host state can and should have in order to address abuses by international organizations. It emphasises how international legal discourse has tended to ‘give up’ on the host state, but also how host states have themselves been problematically quiescent about violations occurring on their territory. This has forced victims to take the improbable route of seeking to hold the UN accountable directly, bereft of the sort of legal and political mediation which one would normally expect their sovereign to provide. The article contributes some thoughts as to why host states have not taken up their citizens’ cause more forcefully with the United Nations, including governmental weakness, a domestic culture of rights neglect, but also host state dependency on peace operations. The article then suggests some leads to rethink the role of the host state in such circumstances. It points out relevant avenues under international law as well as specifically under international human rights law, drawing on the literature developed to theorise the responsibilities of states in relation to private third-party non-state actors within their jurisdiction. It argues that there is no reason why the arguments developed with private actors, notably corporations, in mind could not be applied to public actors such as the UN. Finally, the article suggests some concrete ways in which the host state could more vigorously take up the cause of rights abuses against international organizations including by requiring the setting up of standing claims commissions or making more use of its consent to peace operations, as well as ways in which it could be forced to do so through domestic law recourses. The article concludes by suggesting that reinstating the host state within what should be its natural prerogatives will not only be a better way of dealing with UN abuses, but also more conducive to the goals of peacekeeping and state construction.

scholarly journals Central and Eastern Europe and the Decline of Russia in the United Nations Administrative Bodies: 1996-2015

2019 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 24-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michal Parízek ◽  
Ekaterina Ananyeva
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
United Nations ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Professional Staff ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Political Divide ◽  
New Eu Member States

In international organizations, states seek representation not only in decision-making and political fora but also in the administrative bodies, or secretariats. This article maps the representation of Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries in the secretariats of 36 bodies of the United Nations (UN) system in the years 1996-2015. The CEE region is interesting due to the deep political divide between Russia and the Western-oriented new EU member states. Using new empirical evidence regarding the participation of CEE countries’ citizens on the professional staff of the UN bodies, we show that Russia has dramatically lost much of its representation in the UN administration over the last twenty years. In contrast, a number of other CEE countries have considerably improved their position in it. In spite of that, the countries of the entire CEE region belong to those with an overall weak representation in the administrative bodies of the UN.

scholarly journals The Use of PMSCs by the United Nations in Times of Armed Conflict, Application of IHL and Responsibility Matters

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Javier Gamarro González
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
International Law ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Peace Operations ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
International Court Of Justice ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
International Court ◽  
The United Nations

The companies dealing with military and security matters are on the rise, and today they provide services to a very wide client list, which includes states and international organizations (IOs). It is well known that these companies have been deployed in a large number of armed conflicts, and indeed, some of them have become prominent in the sector not only for their military results but also for their abuses of international humanitarian law and human rights. Surprisingly, it is lesser known that the United Nations (UN) has also had recourse to private military and security companies in the context of United Nations military operations with regard to the maintenance of international peace and security.The engagement of private military security companies in UN peace operations entails multiple legal questions. This dissertation is especially intended to shed some light over the extent to which PMSCs deployment in UN peace operations is compatible with international humanitarian law and how the law of institutional responsibility deals with the violations of international humanitarian law committed by such companies when providing services to the UN. For that purpose and to that extent due recourse has been made to the most relevant international law sources on the matter, such as the Geneva Conventions, their Additional Protocols, and other relevant instruments such as the ILC Articles on State and IO responsibility, and the Montreux Document. Jus cogens and international custom, including the practice of international organizations and states, and opinion juris as ascertained by legal scholars and the International Court of Justice, play an essential role in this dissertation, since the United Nations has not become yet a party to any IHL treaty, thus employing an inductive methodology. A comparative approach was adopted in regard to the observations of the most eminent institutions and jurists, and domestic and international courts, including the International Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights for the purpose of ascertaining the different rules of attribution of conduct existing in international law. Besides, certain decisions of the latter Court were analysed in order to clarify by analogy whether the application of international humanitarian law and the imputation of acts can function under the same degree of control test.

The UN Security Council and Ghosts of Iraq

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Poorvi Chitalkar ◽  
David M. Malone
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
International Relations ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Security Council ◽  
Iraq War ◽  
International Security ◽  
Military Intervention ◽  
Un Security Council ◽  
The United Nations

This chapter examines the lingering effects of the United Nations Security Council's engagement with Iraq over four decades. When Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, the Security Council responded by imposing mandatory sanctions against Iraq and later that year authorized a United States-led military intervention. The Council then mandated weapons inspections and eventually a complex humanitarian program to mitigate the deleterious effects of the sanctions imposed against Iraq. In the next round of events in 2002–2003 it proved an ultimately unsuccessful political broker. Finally, the Council resorted to a marginal peacebuilding role after 2003. This chapter first retraces the Security Council's engagement with Iraq from 1980 onwards before discussing the Bush administration's unilateralism in the Iraq War. It also considers the Council's decision making on Iraq from 2002 to 2014 and how this engagement has both reflected and defined wider patterns of international relations, and how learning from Iraq has changed the Council's approach to promoting international security.

Transgender as a Humanitarian Category

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fadi Saleh
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Gender Variance ◽  
United Nations High Commissioner ◽  
Gender Variant ◽  
Ethnographic Fieldwork ◽  
High Commissioner ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Shed Light

Abstract In this article, the author foregrounds transgender as a useful category of analysis to shed light on the issue of gender variance and its articulations within the encounter between Syrian queer and gender-variant refugees and the humanitarian-asylum complex. Based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted with Syrian queer and gender-variant refugees in Istanbul in 2014 and 2015, this article contends that transgender as a term first circulates among the queer and gender-variant circles as a thinkable possibility primarily through its function as a humanitarian category, especially as propagated by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). By highlighting this specific encounter, the author attempts to demonstrate, however, that rather than focusing on what the term does to the persons it interpellates, one must map out and document the ways the term is taken up and negotiated by the Syrian queer and gender-variant populations themselves, a method that could help ameliorate the negativity attached to transgender as a Western term and show that other systems of identification and histories of gender variance in the Syrian or Syrian diasporic contexts do not simply disappear or are subsumed by transgender, but are further complicated by it and continue to exist alongside it.

The United Nations, Gendered Human Rights, and Peacekeeping since 1945

2020 ◽  
pp. 745-766
Author(s):  
Sandra Whitworth
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Peace Operations ◽  
Women And Gender ◽  
Representation Of Women ◽  
Un Peacekeeping ◽  
Women And Girls ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
And Gender

Feminist observers of peacekeeping have asked why very little has changed within the peacekeeping of the United Nations (UN) since 1945, despite a greater overall attention to questions of gender within the UN. For example, despite calls for greater representation of women on missions, they continue to constitute a small fraction of the personnel deployed; despite calls to “gender mainstream” missions, peace operations often result in heightened insecurity for some women and girls. This chapter examines the evolution of UN peacekeeping alongside an examination of the greater attention devoted to questions of women and gender within the UN system from 1945 to the present. It argues that the ultimately “problem-solving” approach to gender and peacekeeping adopted by the UN limits the possibility of any substantive impact its policies around gender may ever achieve.

scholarly journals INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS CONTRIBUTING TO ELECTIONS OBSERVATION AS AN INSTRUMENT OF SECURING HUMAN RIGHTS

2019 ◽  
pp. 71-81
Author(s):  
Hanna Taranenko
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Political Will ◽  
Electoral Support ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Globalized World

The purpose of this research is to investigate the role of international organizations in elections observation as an instrument of ensuring human rights. The objectives are to analyze the notions of democracy and human rights, democratization trends worldwide, current threats to human rights related to elections procedures and the role of international organizations as entities safeguarding human rights in the globalized world. In order to investigate this problem the researcher utilized such scientific methods as deduction and induction, historical and comparative method and the case study one. Historical and comparative methods were used to trace the evolution of international organizations’’ activities with regard to elections observation and compare various organizations’ pertinent processes and procedures. Case study method was used to collect and analyze qualitative data about international organizations’ activity related to elections observation and to define their role in ensuring human rights, in particular, freedom of expression. The notions of democracy and human rights, democratization trends worldwide, current threats to human rights related to elections procedures and the role of international organizations as entities safeguarding human rights in the globalized world were analyzed. As a result, it can be stated that in the increasingly globalized world there are various democratization trends. There are different visions and models of democracy, yet no single one can be considered optimal. It can be noted that international organizations play a significant role in elections observation as an instrument of ensuring human rights. The dynamic rhythm of global development helps to promote plurality of ideas, political ideologies and ethical values. It can be concluded that in this increasingly interconnected world democracy has the function of a mediator promoting understanding among countries, first of all, through the United Nations. Democracy as a type of political regime, i. e. type of relationship between the country leadership and the people cannot function effectively without active social groups and civil society organizations. The political context has to promote freedom of speech, independent media, rule of law, effective judiciary system and overall respect for human rights. Freedom of expression and political choices are among fundamental human rights guaranteed by democratic national and international laws. International organizations are among the most noteworthy entities on the world arena safeguarding human rights and free expression of people’s political will. International organizations are working actively in order to tackle current threats to human rights, in particular, freedom of expression and freedom of political will. To this end, the international and national organizations provide comprehensive electoral support. The United Nations, the European Union, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and the Council of Europe are actively engaged in providing electoral support and assist in holding objective and just elections worldwide, especially in transitioning countries. They play a key role in providing electoral support in accordance with the international organizations’ mission, bolstering democracy and safeguarding human rights. The role of international organizations in the globalized world as human rights protector continues to be vital and indispensable.

scholarly journals INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS CONTRIBUTING TO ELECTIONS OBSERVATION AS AN INSTRUMENT OF SECURING HUMAN RIGHTS

2019 ◽  
pp. 71-81
Author(s):  
Hanna Taranenko
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Political Will ◽  
Electoral Support ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Globalized World

The purpose of this research is to investigate the role of international organizations in elections observation as an instrument of ensuring human rights. The objectives are to analyze the notions of democracy and human rights, democratization trends worldwide, current threats to human rights related to elections procedures and the role of international organizations as entities safeguarding human rights in the globalized world. In order to investigate this problem the researcher utilized such scientific methods as deduction and induction, historical and comparative method and the case study one. Historical and comparative methods were used to trace the evolution of international organizations’’ activities with regard to elections observation and compare various organizations’ pertinent processes and procedures. Case study method was used to collect and analyze qualitative data about international organizations’ activity related to elections observation and to define their role in ensuring human rights, in particular, freedom of expression. The notions of democracy and human rights, democratization trends worldwide, current threats to human rights related to elections procedures and the role of international organizations as entities safeguarding human rights in the globalized world were analyzed. As a result, it can be stated that in the increasingly globalized world there are various democratization trends. There are different visions and models of democracy, yet no single one can be considered optimal. It can be noted that international organizations play a significant role in elections observation as an instrument of ensuring human rights. The dynamic rhythm of global development helps to promote plurality of ideas, political ideologies and ethical values. It can be concluded that in this increasingly interconnected world democracy has the function of a mediator promoting understanding among countries, first of all, through the United Nations. Democracy as a type of political regime, i. e. type of relationship between the country leadership and the people cannot function effectively without active social groups and civil society organizations. The political context has to promote freedom of speech, independent media, rule of law, effective judiciary system and overall respect for human rights. Freedom of expression and political choices are among fundamental human rights guaranteed by democratic national and international laws. International organizations are among the most noteworthy entities on the world arena safeguarding human rights and free expression of people’s political will. International organizations are working actively in order to tackle current threats to human rights, in particular, freedom of expression and freedom of political will. To this end, the international and national organizations provide comprehensive electoral support. The United Nations, the European Union, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and the Council of Europe are actively engaged in providing electoral support and assist in holding objective and just elections worldwide, especially in transitioning countries. They play a key role in providing electoral support in accordance with the international organizations’ mission, bolstering democracy and safeguarding human rights. The role of international organizations in the globalized world as human rights protector continues to be vital and indispensable.

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