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In the coming days, presidents, prime ministers and top diplomats will descend on my adopted home of New York City for the annual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly. As I attempt to find a route around the inevitable security roadblocks impeding my cycle to work, those world leaders will be navigating far more consequential barriers: the ones holding back progress to peace and security for civilians in any one of the many current conflict zones.
From Ukraine and Gaza to Myanmar, Sudan and Haiti, violence is inflicting untold suffering on innocent people caught up in the consequences of decisions made by governments, militaries and paramilitary groups.
While in New York, leaders are expected to adopt the ambitious Pact for the Future to reinvigorate action to confront global challenges. But as genocide and human rights expert Mike Brand notes, the initiative will be hamstrung by the structure and veto power of the U.N. Security Council.
“The council is not only unrepresentative, but its five permanent members – France, the United Kingdom, United States, Russia and China – all stand accused of being directly or indirectly complicit in some of the worst mass atrocities currently taking place,” he notes.
One conflict the Security Council has managed to provide a united front on is Sudan’s civil war. But the resolutions passed and sanctions enforced have failed to stop the fighting. A more robust response in the shape of a U.N. peacekeeping force is unlikely, given that such a move would be resisted by both sides in the conflict, writes Jenna Russo, a former consultant to the United Nations whose research focuses on the protection of civilians in armed
conflicts.
Elsewhere, our contributors have been explaining the legality and consequences of Tuesday’s pager attack on Hezbollah.
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