Tag Archives: General Assembly
22 August 2012
Ban Ki-moon, the Secretary-General of United Nations (UN) published his 4th report on the Responsibility to Protect (RtoP), entitled Responsibility to protect: timely and decisive response. The report, published for the upcoming dialogue of the UN General Assembly, discusses measures that are available to States in order to implement the ‘third pillar’ of RtoP, meaning the responsibility of the international community to respond and take collective action, ‘in a timely and decisive manner’, if a State is manifestly failing to protect its population or perpetrates atrocity crimes itself. The report also discusses the necessity to protect and act responsibly during the implementation of RtoP, building on the concept of ‘responsibility while protecting’.
Source: UN | Responsibility to protect: timely and decisive response
14 February 2012
After the latest double veto against a Security Council (SC) Resolution to take action against the crackdown in Syria, the Arab League has now called for a joint UN-Arab peace mission. In doing so, the League stated that a “special responsibility” rests on the League, due to the failure of the SC to reach an agreement. On the UN side, the General Assembly (GA) has taken up discussion of a resolution similar to the one which was vetoed in the SC. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, addressed the GA on Monday and again stressed that Syria has manifestly failed to assume its responsibility to protect and responsibility now lies with the international community. She added that it is likely that crimes against humanity are taking place and that she has requested the SC to refer the situation to the International Criminal Court.
Source: UN News Centre | UN human rights chief urges General Assembly to act now to protect Syrians
Source: BBC | Syria unrest: Arab League observer mission head quits
23 November 2011
After the suspension of Syria from the Arab League a week earlier, yesterday a large majority of states in the Third Committee (human rights) of the UN General Assembly voted in favour of a resolution condemning the crackdown of the Syrian government on its people (122 states in favour, 13 against and 41 abstentions). The resolution was introduced by Britain, France and Germany and received strong regional support from Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. The resolution is not legally binding, but puts great diplomatic pressure on Syria to reassume its responsibility to protect and immediately end the grave human rights violations which have been taking place since the start of the uprising against the regime.
Source: http://www.un.org
27 October 2011
Judge Hisashi Owada, President of the International Court of Justice, gave his annual report on the activities of the Court to the UN General Assembly on 26 October 2011. He stated that it is vital that international law underpin developments on the global stage, especially in an ever increasingly globalized and interconnected world.
“It is no exaggeration to say that all regions of the world have become closely intertwined … In this 21st century, international politics are undeniably interconnected; a truly global economy has emerged; and our natural environment and global climate change have created new challenges. In these times of unprecedented interconnection between States and peoples, it is my sincere belief that a firm reliance on international law must underpin any and all future developments on the global stage.”
Source: http://www.un.org