UN Security Council is an example of despotism
Regional-UN, Editorial, 4/26/2006

The United Nations Security Council yesterday in a resolution related to the Darfur Sudan conflict, favored by 12 Members of the 15-Member Council, with three abstaining, placed restrictions on the assets and international travel of Major General Gaffar Mohamed Elhassan, Commander of the Western Military Region for the Sudanese Air Force.

The measures were also directed at Adam Yacub Shant, Commander of the Sudanese Liberation Army rebel group; Gabril Abdul Kareem Badri, the Field Commander of another rebel group, the National Movement for Reform; and Sheikh Musa Hilal, the Paramount Chief of the Jalul Tribe in North Darfur.

Ambassador John Bolton of the United States had said the purpose of the targeted sanctions mechanism "is to apply pressure – and I don't think we should be ashamed to say that – to people who are violating the arms embargo, not contributing to our effort to establish an effective peace process in Darfur and to restore the deteriorating security situation there."

The sanctions, which involve freezing assets and imposing travel restrictions, were authorized by the council in Resolution 1591, adopted in March 2005.  Sanctions can be imposed on individuals who impede the peace process, violate international human rights laws or commit other atrocities or conduct banned military flights over the region.  The United Kingdom submitted a list of 12 individuals to the sanctions committee earlier in April, and the majority of members determined that there was sufficient evidence to impose sanctions on the four.

British Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry spoke of "the message we sent to the parties, whoever they are: If they do involve themselves in crimes against humanity, the sort of atrocities we have seen in Darfur, we will come after them."

From such statements, these individuals are supposed to be bad people as far their involvement in a negative way in the Darfur conflict. The UN Security Council is the highest and strongest security body as an international institution, composed of the supposedly top powers in the world as permanent members. The business of the UN Security Council is supposed to be world security. In this light of this, one is compelled what ask what does such a supposedly important body like this doing holding secret meetings about individuals and sentencing them?

I don't know anything about these people and what they have done, their guilt or innocence. But It would seem to me that if an individual is accused of wrong doing, that this individual would be afforded the opportunity to defend himself, in an open court of some sort, with proper representation.

But the UN Security Council, this body that is supposed to protect the world, is too important of a place for small and regular people. It appears to neither have the time to give people a chance to appear before it in proceedings, nor has the desire to open up its door for transparency about its work.

As such, the world's most important security body continues to show itself to be little more than a place of despotism, and an example of the worst instinct of big government and big powers. They want to save the world by trampling on the rights of the individual; and we are asked to trust such institutions against the bad guys and bad people.

I think the UN Security Council needs to be donated a nice mirror to be placed in front of its door, so that when they open their conference door while they sit inside deciding wisely and fairly about world security and world affairs, the participants can see themselves well. And if the American flag, among flags, happens to show up in the mirror, someone do me a favor and get it out of the way as respect for the fact that the UN Security Council is located on US territories.

By,
Jamil Kazoun

Previous Stories:
  Transparency: foundation for proper government   (5/17/2003)

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