| by Jonathan Kuttab This week saw the gathering of many world leaders at the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York. For many Americans, the only significant thing about this was the cringe-worthy speech of our president threatening to annihilate Iran and perhaps also the mass walkout of delegates when Netanyahu gave his speech justifying the war on Gaza, lambasting all those who dared to call it a genocide. The reason for this is that most Americans do not really understand the United Nations at all. Their country is so big and powerful that the rest of the world has become for them almost a peripheral phenomenon. I was shocked to hear that only about 5% of Americans even own a passport. Many Americans view the United Nations as an ineffective, largely dysfunctional organization. Some right-wing Christians even view it with suspicion as a precursor to “one-world government” and possibly the antichrist of the End Times. Some suspicion of the UN is warranted, since the most visible part of the United Nations, is its Security Council, where the most powerful nations, including the United States, hold veto power. This power is routinely used to prevent real sanctions, including military action, from being used against the United States and its allies, especially Israel. Over 45 instances have been recorded where the United States stood against the overwhelming majority of the countries of the world to protect Israel in totally unjustified situations, including six times since the current genocide in Gaza. Yet despite that glaring deficiency and the understandable frustration of those who expected so much from the United Nations, especially Palestinians, the institution was born out of great optimism and held such great promise for being an instrument of international cooperation, development, and conflict resolution. For one thing, the General Assembly and the Security Council, with its 5 permanent members and 10 rotating members elected to 2 year terms, are only two out of over 40 different organizations and agencies that have been functioning internationally with great success and effectiveness. These include the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) with a focus on children and child welfare, the World Health Organization (WHO), Universal Postal Unions (UPU), the World Trade Organization (WTO), the World Labor Organization (WLO), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), The High Commission on Refugees, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) and many other organizations. Each of these organizations, and many others, allow the 194 countries of the world to function more or less smoothly, and without them pure chaos will definitely reign. These organizations often require cooperation among the different nations, and they depend on these nations for their funding, as well as for continued voluntary compliance in accordance with multi-lateral treaties and conventions. They contribute to development, health, human rights, proper international trade, combatting international crimes and drug and human trafficking, manage systems for early warnings of tsunamis, provide for famine relief, protection of children, advancement of literacy and education, and addressing many other global issues. The past two decades have witnessed a reduction in the reliance on international law and its various departments and agencies, and occasionally even an open disdain for the authority of its institutions. This same phenomenon also applies to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Criminal Court (ICC), although these two are not part of the United Nations itself. The United States, which used to lead the world in promoting and expanding the international system, has now not only reduced respect for that system, but it seems determined to denigrate and fight that system, and impose sanctions on those who rely on it. Much of this sentiment arises out of the desire by the United States to please Israel and protect it from international law. It also coincides with the desire of the current administration to flex its muscles,display its power and avoid any constraints against its use of sheer military might to advance its interests. While previous administrations, including the Bush administration, used the United Nations and its institutions to provide a cover and justification for its policies, including its military operations, the current administration is blatant in its insistence on unilateral actions that often directly violate the United Nations Charter and the principles of international cooperation. While it is natural for many of us in the FOSNA network to be sceptical of the United Nations and frustrated at the absence of enforcement mechanisms that would make it more effective, we cannot submit to such despair. We must work actively to make the United Nations and its institutions, including UNRWA, more effective. This is necessary not only for the sake of peace and justice in Palestine/Israel, but also because the human race is facing serious existential threats that require greater, not less, international cooperation and joint action. These threats include global warming, new deadly viruses and pathogens, runaway Artificial Intelligence, and other threats not yet known or acknowledged. The Earth is a small planet in which everything is necessarily and increasingly interrelated. We need the United Nations and the entire architecture of international law to safeguard not only the most vulnerable among us, but perhaps the entire human race. We cannot be governed by greed, parochialism and selfish national interest , but we must also have laws, norms and safeguards for all, in order not only to thrive, but even if we are to survive. There is also a solid theological basis for this position. This is in fact God’s world and His creation with which we are entrusted as transient servants and caretakers, not as arrogant mindless masters, leaving only disaster for future generations. We will be held in judgement one day for how we have handled this task. |
South Africa seeks justice for Gaza
I’m republishing this post from my friend, Dr Chandra Muzaffar – president of the International Movement for a Just World (JUST). Chandra has been a long-term advocate for Palestine and is one of the best-informed people on the subject that I have ever met. Father Dave
