Comments on: “The UN has failed” Part 2 http://theyescampaign.org/the-un-has-failed-part-2/ Vote Yes at www.VoteWorldParliament.org Thu, 10 Mar 2011 19:09:08 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: John T. Dale Jr. http://theyescampaign.org/the-un-has-failed-part-2/comment-page-1/#comment-209 John T. Dale Jr. Thu, 10 Mar 2011 18:44:11 +0000 http://theyescampaign.org/?p=24#comment-209 Here, I think the comments of D'Escoto and his niece are again, right on target. However, again, the full extent of General Assembly actions over the years and the full panoply of options open to the General Assembly are not discussed. The General Assembly many years ago created ongoing commissions or committees dealing with the human rights of the Palestinians, their right to return to their homeland, and has issued numerous resolutions reaffirming the duty of Israel to treat the Palestinians in conformity with the Geneva Conventions, etc. But only a change in the voting methods of the General Assembly, as discussed in my previous comment, will give the Assembly the added political authority to make these actions significant to the recalcitrant Member States The UN Security Council's fsilure to deal adequately with the Palestinian situation and to implement even its own resolutions is, again, the problem of the Member States who compose the Security Council and of the veto and representation structure of the Council, which puts the interests of certain states above the interests of the global public. When the Security Council fails to deal with some issue, in the opinion of the General Assembly, the authority to deal with it reverts to the General Assembly, and, under its Uniting for Peace Resolution, it can recommend actions to be taken by Member States. But if Member States do not implement the recommendations, the UN General Assembly has no overt power to compel them to carry them through. The most it could do would be to expel the recalcitrant Member States from the United Nations, which it has never done, but which it should at least raise as an agena item in order to make its serious intent more apparent. Here, I think the comments of D’Escoto and his niece are again, right on target. However, again, the full extent of General Assembly actions over the years and the full panoply of options open to the General Assembly are not discussed.

The General Assembly many years ago created ongoing commissions or committees dealing with the human rights of the Palestinians, their right to return to their homeland, and has issued numerous resolutions reaffirming the duty of Israel to treat the Palestinians in conformity with the Geneva Conventions, etc. But only a change in the voting methods of the General Assembly, as discussed in my previous comment, will give the Assembly the added political authority to make these actions significant to the recalcitrant Member States

The UN Security Council’s fsilure to deal adequately with the Palestinian situation and to implement even its own resolutions is, again, the problem of the Member States who compose the Security Council and of the veto and representation structure of the Council, which puts the interests of certain states above the interests of the global public.

When the Security Council fails to deal with some issue, in the opinion of the General Assembly, the authority to deal with it reverts to the General Assembly, and, under its Uniting for Peace Resolution, it can recommend actions to be taken by Member States. But if Member States do not implement the recommendations, the UN General Assembly has no overt power to compel them to carry them through. The most it could do would be to expel the recalcitrant Member States from the United Nations, which it has never done, but which it should at least raise as an agena item in order to make its serious intent more apparent.

]]>