Members of the UN Security Council vote in favor of putting North Korea's human rights situation on the council's agenda during a meeting on Dec. 22, 2014.

Members of the UN Security Council vote in favor of putting North Korea's human rights situation on the council's agenda during a meeting on Dec. 22, 2014. Frank Franklin II/AP

How UN Members Want To Bypass a Security Council Veto

Proposals from France and Brazil reopened a much-needed discussion on how to make the Security Council more responsive to mass atrocities like the Syrian conflict. By Stewart M. Patrick

PARIS — The veto held by the five permanent members (P5) of the UN Security Council is one of the most contentious rules of the United Nations. It was included in the UN Charter of 1945 as the explicit price for agreement among the P5—the members that bore the greatest responsibility for maintaining world order—to establish the UN in the first place. However, the veto has repeatedly stymied the Security Council in the face of mass atrocities, despite unanimous endorsement by all UN member states of their individual and collective responsibility to protect (R2P) all people from crimes against humanity.

Since 2011, Russia and China have cast four vetoes to block international action in Syria, where more than 200,000 have been killed since the conflict began. Wednesday in Paris, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius repeated [in French] France’s determination to overcome this paralysis by establishing a new international norm to accompany R2P: a “responsibility not to veto” (RN2V) that would apply in situations of mass atrocities.

The French proposal includes a trigger—a request by some subset of UN member states (perhaps fifty) to the secretary-general that (s)he determine whether atrocities are being committed. It also includes an important caveat—and potential Achilles heel: P5 members can still use a veto when they perceive a “vital national interest” at stake. At Wednesday’s conference at Sciences Po Paris, where Fabius spoke, I offered my own thoughts on the many hurdles and preconditions France and like-minded countries must surmount to translate these ambitions into reality. What follows is an abridged version of those remarks.

The desire to limit the use of the veto is both understandable and laudable, given growing frustration at the clear failures of a divided Security Council to prevent or end atrocities. The French have wisely framed their initiative not as an amendment to the UN Charter—something that has occurred only three times in the UN’s history—but as a voluntary code of conduct to be embraced by the P5. In principle, the code would reduce not only the explicit use of the veto—which is only the tip of the iceberg in Security Council diplomacy—but the more frequent abuse of the “silent veto” to forestall condemnation of or responses to atrocities.

Nonetheless, the French proposal contains conceptual ambiguities and raises practical dilemmas—raising doubts about whether it would actually shore up R2P. These quandaries need to be addressed before the norm can move forward.

First, proponents must decide the criteria to determine when the threshold for “mass atrocities” has been crossed—and who gets to make that determination. Inasmuch as any violent conflict is, sadly, likely to include some atrocities, there should presumably be at least some rule of thumb for when the RN2V principle kicks in. Is it a question of body count? Of the stated intent of perpetrators? There should also be provisions for decision-making when the P5 disagree. The initial French proposal would give the secretary-general such authority. This is legally innovative but problematic. The secretary-general is not a judge and it is unclear whether (s)he has (or should be given) the standing to make this determination.

Second, proponents must persuade skeptics that the “vital national interest” caveat is not a crippling loophole that P5 states can casually invoke. In the case of Syria, it could be argued that Russia and China have already defined coercion against the government of Bashar al-Assad as contrary to their national interests. From Moscow’s perspective, the Security Council’s failure to act in Syria is not evidence of its failure but of its working as intended, by allowing permanent members to veto coercion that is contrary to their perceived interests.

Third, a code of conduct to limit the use of the veto should be coupled with elaboration of yet another norm—proposed by Brazil—known as “responsibility while protecting” (RWP). RWP has its origins in the Libya operation. It emerged from criticism that Western powers hijacked UN Security Council Resolution 1973, intended to halt the imminent massacre of civilians, to pursue a broader campaign of regime change. In response, Brazil advocates the principle of RWP, designed to increase accountability by interveners. As Richard Gowan has written, “if Paris really wanted to secure support for veto restraint, it would make a parallel commitment that any armed intervention at regime change would require a separate explicit authorization.”

Despite these misgivings, establishing a norm that permanent members not veto a Security Council resolution in cases of mass atrocities could have at least two salutary effects.

  • First, it would presumably place pressure on each of the P5 to narrow or delimit their definition of “vital national interest” exceptions—and to offer more persuasive public justifications when they do use the veto in such circumstances.
  • Second, beyond creating a normative expectation, the new code could lay down a useful political marker. In the event that a P5 member used its veto in ways others perceived to violate the norm, countries intent on stopping genocide would be on firmer moral and political (though not necessarily legal) ground in intervening in an alternative multilateral manner—such as through NATO (as in Kosovo in 1999), through an ad hoc coalition, or through a Uniting for Peace resolution.

France has begun intense diplomatic efforts to win support from the other four permanent members. It faces an uphill struggle. Russia is adamantly opposed to any dilution of their veto prerogative, China has expressed skepticism, and the United Kingdom remains coy.

The Obama administration appears ambivalent. Although it has declared the prevention of atrocities itself to be a “core national interest,”it has misgivings about the proposed code. There are concerns that the current proposal is too open to competing interpretations, vague concerning the processes by which the RN2V would be triggered, unmoored from specific types of missions or contingencies, and vulnerable to manipulation by great powers, which might use it as a cloak to intervene for baser motives. (After all, Russia has already thrown around the term “atrocities” with reference to Ukraine, presumably to justify its assistance to separatists there.) Moreover, some worry that debates over RN2V within the UN General Assembly could deteriorate into a more general attack by non-permanent members on the P5 veto prerogative. Lastly, protracted negotiations for a code of conduct could detract from more practical steps to strengthen R2P atrocities prevention, including capacity building within vulnerable countries, as well as strengthening international tools to identify and respond to crisis situations.

Given strains between the West and Russia, in particular, the P5 are unlikely to reach agreement any time soon on voluntary limits to the veto.

Still, there may be useful steps France, the UK, and the United States (the Western “P3”) can take together:

  • First, as my colleague Matthew Waxman has suggested, the three countries should jointly declare their own position that the veto should never be used “to block timely and decisive action when genocide and crimes against humanity are manifestly occurring,” as long as other criteria, such as proportionality and necessity are satisfied. This step alone would raise the political costs of threatening a veto.
  • Second, the P3 should cooperate on a strategy to minimize the risk that discussions over RN2V within the UNGA do not deteriorate into a broader assault on the veto prerogative or a general debate on the (important but distracting) topic of Security Council expansion. It will be especially important for France to carefully identify a cosponsor (or cosponsors) from the developing world that can resist such pressures.
  • Third, the P3 should link the proposed norm with something resembling the Responsibility while Protecting proposal. Such a package deal could help reassure influential swing states like Brazil—as well as the influential African bloc—that their post-Libya concerns are being taken seriously.

Finally, before endorsing the RN2V, the Obama administration will need to consider its potential ramifications for U.S. freedom of action with respect to the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. As a staunch defender of Israel, the United States frequently finds itself isolated internationally, at times even from European allies, when it comes to Israeli conduct in the Occupied Territories. Since the UN High Level Event that endorsed R2P in 2005, the United States has used the veto three times with reference to Israel and the Occupied Territories. In all likelihood, it will feel the need to do so in the future.

Although there are many traps to avoid if the RN2V is to come into force, the proposal has reopened a much-needed discussion on how to make the Security Council more effective at addressing mass atrocities. The Syria conflict has made it clear that the status quo is unacceptable. Despite outstanding questions regarding its implementation, the French proposal should be pursued as far as possible to raise the political cost of a veto, restore the credibility of the Security Council, and, most importantly, prevent atrocities.

This post appears courtesy of CFR.org.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.