United Nations was formed as an intergovernmental organization to maintain peace and security in the world, develop friendly relations among nations, and achieve international co-operation. One of the six principal organs of the UN is the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).
UNSC is the most powerful body of the UN. It constitutes of the Permanent Five, Big Five or (P5) members and 10 other temporary members who have a tenure of up to 2 years. P5 members are the UK, US, France, Russia, and China. Its main objective is to maintain peace and security in the world.
UNSC meets regularly to assess the security scenario in the world and take measures against nuclear proliferation, gender-based crimes, human rights violations and civilian killings at the time of war, etc. This all lies under the purview of the council. UNSC strives to maintain a peaceful world. UNSC is allowed to use sanctions to change the behavior of a country or regime, involved in the above-mentioned cases. It believes that sanctions are one method to keep non-compliant entities in line and adhere to what UNSC considers is helping in maintaining international peace and security. The first sanction ever to be used by UNSC was in 1966 on Southern Rhodesia condemning the illegitimate seizure of power.
One more method to maintain stability around the world, used by the Security Council, is the deployment of the Peacekeeping Forces. Peacekeeping missions mean that the UN designated army and police will be sent to these disturbed areas to confront the forces that disrupt the country by inflicting violence.
All of this seems good only on paper, and not in reality, because of the Veto Power enjoyed by the permanent members of the UNSC. Many times, this power wielded by the P5 has been used by them to protect their own interests, keeping the larger global cause at stake.
Analysis Of The Use Of Veto Power
Veto power has been used 287 times, to date, often by Russia. The first Veto was used by USSR regarding a resolution concerning the withdrawal of troops from Lebanon and Syria. Veto power is only a prerogative of the permanent five countries and can halt or change any decision being discussed or taken by the council.
In the initial years, especially during the cold-war period, USSR used the veto power to prevent any new country from joining the council. The US exercised its first veto on March 17, 1970. Since then it has cast 83 vetoes, mostly against UN’s resolutions on Israel. Similarly, United Kingdom cast its first veto on October 30, 1956, France on June 1946, and for China on December 13, 1955.
In the past there has emerged a pattern in the use of the Veto power by the P5. Nowadays, veto power is used mostly in the cases of resolutions which condemn mass violence or genocide in a country. Most of the P5 has vetoed these resolutions to protect their and their ally’s interests. Like, Russia and China use this power to reject any resolution which is against the Syrian regime. The US has used its veto power many times to protect Israel from the condemnation of its armed actions in the Gaza Strip.
Efforts To Correct This Problem
There is one more aspect which tells us that we are not shown the full picture. This is the concept of “pocket” or “hidden” veto. This refers to the times when a resolution is not even tabled due to threats of a veto from one of the P5 countries. This has raised several concerns, and various experts have suggested that the P5 should not use their veto power in the cases of genocides. And if they use this power, they have to provide a reasonable explanation, which has to within the ambit of the UN Charter and international laws.
But these suggestions have never been considered by the UNSC, as they faced strong opposition from the members. Keeping the recommendations in mind, there have been three initiatives to improve the working of the UNSC in order to make it more effective in taking prompt action whenever required. These initiatives were the French Initiative, ACT Code of Conduct & Elders Proposal. They were brought due to the inability of the council to act on the Syrian crisis.
Veto Power Used For Vested Interests
There have been several instances when personal biases of the five UNSC representatives, have trumped as a priority over a humanitarian crisis. This claim is evident by the contentious issue of the Gaza Strip and the Syrian crisis.
Israel has had a long history in the Gaza Strip. After Israel was declared as a sovereign nation by David Ben-Gurion in 1948, a war between the Arabs and the newly established Jewish state broke out. After an armistice was agreed upon by the warring nations, Israel decided to keep the small Gaza Strip of length 25 miles and width 5 miles under the control of Egypt. Then in 1956, after the Suez Canal crisis, Israel snatched Gaza Strip from Egypt but had to return it after bending to international pressure. Then again after the Six Day War, Israel invaded Gaza strip and captured it. But after signing the Oslo Peace Accord, again had to give it up.
Due to this topsy-turvy history of the area, it is sometimes difficult to keep account of who is in control of Gaza Strip. As of now, it is a self-governing Palestinian territory which borders Israel from the east and north side. Hamas won the elections to govern the land in 2006 and is governing till now. There have been many instances of rocket attacks from Gaza to Israel. This has led to retaliation from the Israel side. Last year in November, Gaza launched 300 rockets towards Israel. Israel responded in its own way by launching missiles attacking 70 posts of Hamas, including militant compounds and rocket launcher pads. This issue has been discussed by the UN. Most of the countries in the UNSC believe that the violence in Gaza Strip is Israel’s fault. But not the US. America has vetoed any resolution that is aimed at condemning Israel and has tried to introduce a new resolution condemning Hamas and their operations against Israel.
US has also recognized Jerusalem as the Israeli capital and has vetoed a UNSC resolution condemning the same. More than 40 times, the US has used its veto power to save the interests of Israel.
There is one more issue which has been shot down by the gun called Veto. This is the chemical attacks conducted by the Syrian regime. Most of the UNSC members, both the permanent ones and the temporary ones, believe that the Syrian president Bashar al-Assad has been using chemical weapons against his citizens. But Russia and China seem to believe otherwise. Whenever a resolution is tabled in the Security Council regarding the same, Russia has always vetoed it and China had sometimes vetoed it and sometimes abstained. Russia has also vetoed resolutions which condemned Syrian president for suppressing any opposition he faces, they also vetoed resolutions threatening to impose sanctions on Syria. More than 10 vetoes have been used by Russia to protect the interests of the Bashar al-Assad regime.
Veto Used Against The Interests Of India
After the attack on the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot, which was orchestrated by the JeM founder Masood Azhar, India started its effort in the UNSC to designate Masood Azhar as a terrorist. This move has been stalled by China by using its veto power.
US, UK, and France have moved resolutions to declare Masood Azhar as a global terrorist, but their efforts have always been hampered by China. Beijing considers itself an all-weather weather friend” of Pakistan. It has its CPEC project to think of and therefore, always shields the country and the terrorists that it(Pak) harbors within its borders. China has in total vetoed such a resolution by Indian allies in the UNSC 4 times.
This time, after the Pulwama attack, although China has condemned the attack, there are some sources that say that China will again veto the resolution which will be tabled by the French representative.