Where Do We Stand and Where Do We Go

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 130-167
Author(s):  
Teresa F Mayr
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Member States ◽  
Robust Approach ◽  
Accountability System ◽  
Potential Source ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The United Nations

The value of resorting to the flexible concept of experts on mission is strongly engrained in the United Nations’ pursuit of its institutional mandate. However, the discretion left to the Organization in the process is a potential source of disputes with its member states. Besides the 1946 Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations, both the protection and the accountability system of experts has undergone little development since the creation of the United Nations. This article attempts to build the necessary framework for such a system, including by discussing its theoretical underpinnings as well as creating a hierarchy of authorities to settle disputes involving experts on mission. It departs from current ad hoc practices and advocates for a more robust approach that is based on the treaty text of the 1946 Convention but guided by a more realistic understanding of the role of experts.

Part 2 The United Nations: What it is, 2 The General Assembly

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Higgins Dame Rosalyn, DBE, QC ◽  
Webb Philippa ◽  
Akande Dapo ◽  
Sivakumaran Sandesh ◽  
Sloan James
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Security Council ◽  
Working Group ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Political Discussion ◽  
Member States ◽  
Un General Assembly ◽  
The United Nations

The UN General Assembly may be described as the world’s leading forum for political discussion. It currently has 193 member states—nearly four times its original membership of 51. In 2005, the General Assembly established an Ad Hoc Working Group on the Revitalization of the General Assembly and has re-established the group annually. A major preoccupation of the Working Group appears to be relations between the General Assembly and the Security Council, including a concern that the latter organ has encroached on the work of the former. This chapter discusses the General Assembly’s membership, voting, and procedure; meetings, regular, and special sessions; subordinate organs; voting; the role of the President; functions; limitations; and Article 11(2) of the UN Charter.

Building UNESCO science from the “dark zone”: Joseph Needham, Empire, and the wartime reorganization of international science from China, 1942–6

2021 ◽  
pp. 007327532098742
Author(s):  
Thomas Mougey
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
British Empire ◽  
Modern Science ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Scientific Cooperation ◽  
International Diplomacy ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Second World

In recent years historians have revisited the creation of the United Nations (UN) system by highlighting the enduring influence of Empire and recognizing the substantial role of cultural and scientific actors in wartime international diplomacy. The British biochemist Joseph Needham, who participated in the creation of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), was one of them. Yet, if historians have recognized his role as the leading architect of the sciences at UNESCO, they still fall short of engaging with the Chinese and imperial geography of his involvement with UNESCO. During the Second World War, Needham was stationed in war-torn China. As director of the Sino-British Scientific Cooperation Office, Needham not only organized Sino-British scientific cooperation against the Japanese invasion, but his mission inspired his engagement for a reform of international science and fueled an international campaign that led him to become the director of UNESCO’s Natural Science division after the war. By reconstructing his campaign in context, this article seeks to demonstrate how the imperial and transnational scientific networks of the wartime era fostered the creation of a scientific mandate for UNESCO. It situates Needham’s activism and ideas in the context of the Sino-Japanese war, imperial wartime technocracy, and China’s scientific nationalism. In so doing, it reveals a string of forgotten partners from China and the British Empire. Their conception of a reorganized international science and shared belief in modern science and its ideal of universality shaped Needham’s vision for science at UNESCO, while their activism contributed decisively to the success of his campaign. This inquiry hence participates in recent efforts to challenge the existing Eurocentrism corseting the historiography of the UN and expands the historiography of scientific internationalism beyond Europe and North America. Importantly, it also contributes to uncovering the technocratic ties established between Empire and the UN system from its onset.

scholarly journals The Role of the UN International Law Commission in the Codification of International Law

2020 ◽  
pp. 1384-1387
Author(s):  
Pedro Keil
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
International Law ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Progressive Development ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
International Law Commission ◽  
Law Commission

The creation of the International Law Commission arouses from the necessity imposed by the text of the UN Charter. According to article 13 paragraph 1 (a) of the Charter of the United Nations, the General Assembly is responsible for the promotion of the progressive development of international law and codification of such. In this regard, the Resolution 174 (II) of 21 November 1947 came with this purpose. So, the Commission’s nature is of an institutional and permanent subsidiary organ to the General Assembly of the UN, serving the purpose of perfecting the sources of law in the international ambit.

Security Council Legislation, Article 2(7) of the UN Charter, and the Principle of Subsidiarity

2011 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 539-559 ◽  
Author(s):  
NICHOLAS TSAGOURIAS
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Security Council ◽  
Dispute Settlement ◽  
International Peace ◽  
Member States ◽  
Peace And Security ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Law Making

AbstractThis article considers the relationship between the United Nations and its member states in view of the Security Council's assertion of legislative powers. It claims that the exponential growth in UN powers at the expense of the powers of its member states cannot be arrested by legal means, because of the nature of the UN system and the absence of legally enforceable criteria and compulsory dispute-settlement mechanisms. For this reason, it proposes a different approach to law-making in the area of international peace and security – one that is built around the principle of subsidiarity, as reflected in Article 2(7) of the UN Charter. The role of the principle of subsidiarity in this respect is to determine which authority is best suited to exercise legislative power and how such power should be exercised in order to attain the objective of peace and security more efficiently. It is thus contended that the principle of subsidiarity promotes co-operative relations between the United Nations and its member states by protecting the latters' jurisdictional authority from unnecessary interference.

Modifying the UN Charter through Subsequent Practice: Prospects for the Charter's Revitalisation

2012 ◽  
Vol 81 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Liang
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
International Law ◽  
The Other ◽  
Vienna Convention ◽  
Member States ◽  
Functional Potential ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
International Law Commission ◽  
Law Commission

Despite the vast challenges facing the United Nations in its ever expanding mandate, the task of reforming the organisation remains encumbered by its onerous amendment procedures. Recent attempts to instigate formal changes to the Charter of the United Nations have all failed. In this context, it is argued that greater attention should be paid to the other ways in which changes can be made to the Charter. The subsequent practice of member states and organs can play an important role in informing changes to the Charter's application. The idea that treaties can be modified through subsequent practice is not new under international law. While it was rejected as a principle that should be codified under the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, its utility is being presently re-considered by the International Law Commission. However, the functional potential of this doctrine vis-à-vis the Charter has attracted little academic scrutiny. This article pre-empts some of the issues that will be examined by the Commission, arguing that it is time to expand the role of subsequent practice, by not only using practice to inform interpretations to the Charter, but to embrace the opportunity for amendments to be also made through the subsequent practice of parties. This approach promises to open up greater prospects for the Charter's revitalisation. If the conditions for modification are carefully considered, the doctrine can be a useful instrument for Charter reform.

scholarly journals Remedies for Harm Caused by UN Peacekeepers

AJIL Unbound ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 108 ◽  
pp. 10-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce Rashkow
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Third Parties ◽  
Member States ◽  
Good Citizen ◽  
The World ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Dual Objectives ◽  
Do So

Since the creation of the United Nations, the need for the Organization to enjoy immunity from the juris-diction of Member States has been widely recognized as necessary to achieve its important and far ranging purposes. However, it has also been understood that this immunity was not intended to shield the Organization from responsibility as a “good citizen” on the world stage to respond to justifiable claims against the Organization by third parties resulting from the activities or operations of the Organization. The United Nations has generally achieved these dual objectives, although two recent situations in the peacekeeping context have raised questions about whether it continues to do so, namely the cases involving the Mothers of Srebrenica and the Haiti Cholera victims.

The Role of the United Nations in Promoting Transparency in the International Treaty Framework

2019 ◽  
pp. 662-680
Author(s):  
Jonathan Agar ◽  
Christel Mobech
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Member States ◽  
International Treaty ◽  
Publication Process ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Historical Origins

This chapter explores the role played by the United Nations in promoting transparency in the international treaty framework, as mandated under Article 102 of the Charter on the registration and publication of treaties. Beginning with an exploration of the historical origins of Article 102, an overview is provided of the role played by the different organs of the Organization in the registration and publication process. Drawing on the thousands of entries in the UN electronic treaty database, as well as the practice of the Secretariat of the United Nations in exercising its functions under Article 102, the chapter further explores some key trends in global treaty-making activity. Finally, consideration is given to the challenges faced by the Organization in realizing the aims of Article 102 and how the registration and publication process could be reinvigorated through action by member states in the General Assembly.

Part 3 The United Nations: What it Does, 21 Disaster Relief

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Higgins Dame Rosalyn, DBE, QC ◽  
Webb Philippa ◽  
Akande Dapo ◽  
Sivakumaran Sandesh ◽  
Sloan James
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
International Law ◽  
Disaster Relief ◽  
The State ◽  
General Applicability ◽  
Legal Standards ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The United Nations

This chapter begins by discussing the notion of disaster relief. Disaster relief is the relief provided by entities following a disaster, for present purposes, by actors outside the state affected by the disaster. As with the notion of a disaster, different instruments take different approaches to the content of disaster relief. The international law of disaster relief exists as a patchwork of norms. There are a few multilateral conventions in the area, which regulate the response to specific types of disasters, or to particular aspects of disasters. Other conventions of more general applicability also contain provisions that concern disaster relief. The remainder of the chapter covers the historical provision of disaster relief; the role of the United Nations (UN) in the creation of international law relating to disaster relief; and the provision of disaster relief, including coordination, cooperation, legal standards, funding, and reporting.

IMPROVING THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY’S WORKING METHODS AS A POSSIBILITY OF ENDING ITS MARGINALIZATION

2021 ◽  
pp. 61-72
Author(s):  
JELICA GORDANIĆ
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Working Group ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Member States ◽  
United Nations General ◽  
The United Nations

The paper analyses improving the United Nations General Assembly’s working methods as one of the possibilities of ending its marginalization. The General Assembly is facing numerous difficulties, including an overburdened agenda, repetitive agenda items, the need for better working organization and non-implementation of resolutions by the member states. Among the UN member states there is consent to improve the General Assembly’s working methods, but also disagreements on mechanisms it can be achieved. In order to strengthen the role and competencies of the General Assembly, an ad hoc working group on the revitalization of the work of the General Assembly (the AHWG) was established in 1991. So far, the AHWG group had made some contributions in improving the General Assembly’s working methods. The paper aims to show that efforts of the AHWG, although significant, are not sufficient to solve all problems of working methods of the General Assembly. The author concludes that the only effective way in solving the working methods of the General Assembly is the UN Charter revision.

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