A lot has happened in the past
few days where we have seen a terror attack that was imaginable in the minds of
Kenyans. Yes we have seen grenade attacks here and there but a hostage situation,
in Nairobi, these are things we only see in the movies and to some it still is
a nightmare rather than a reality. I would like to take this opportunity to
send my condolences to the families of the victims who lost their lives at the
Westgate siege. I would also want to applaud all the Kenyan heroes who did
their part in making this situation almost bearable. To all the military forces
who risked their lives to save those of others, the volunteers who worked
tirelessly to ensure the injured were being treated, those who gave off their
time to support the police, journalists and everyone at the area with food,
moral support and any other thing they could I applaud you. Most of all
appreciation to every Kenyan who donated blood, money, resources and those who
went down on their knees to call upon God for protection and victory, your
prayers were answered. These have marked some of the saddest days in the Kenyan
history but like all the others, Kenyans shall overcome and this horror will
just be a dark past in our Kenyan history. It is in this time that Kenyans showed
what they could do for their country without necessarily waiting for what their
country could do for them.
As this was going on, nations
from all over the world send their messages of condolences others even helping
out with the military support and aid. Understanding the core of international
relations can help put to perspective why this was so and what exactly the
president meant by friendly nations. As Kenya was grappling with the effect of
the terror attack, world leaders gathered in New York for the annual United Nations
General Assembly. This is basically the gathering of the heads of states to
deliberate on issues affecting the International system and try to come up with
solutions to some of these problems. The General Assembly is the policy making
body of the UN. Here all the member countries have one vote and resolutions are
usually passed based on a simple majority unless its issues dealing with
budgetary allocation, admittance of new members or security issues that require
two thirds majority. As mentioned in the previous blog, all states are rational
and have selfish interests for the sake of their national security and this informs
the choice of the votes. In some instances when the resolutions do not really
affect a state directly, they might choose not to vote or support or oppose a
motion on the basis of who has proposed the motion. This is where friendly
nations come in. States will support other states that align their foreign
policies with theirs. How well a country supports another and their relations
inform the decisions to support or oppose a motion. States go through high
level lobbying to get support for resolutions and in many cases votes are
trade-offs for something that will benefit their country. Sometimes it comes in terms of aid and this is
commonly referred to as check-book diplomacy. African states have fallen victim
of these trade-offs and ended up signing and ratifying resolutions that do not
benefit their states case in point the famous Rome-statute.
There is also the Security
Council which is the most powerful organ of the United Nations. The Security
Council has 15 members. 5 who are permanent and have veto powers and 10 that
are rotational. The 5 veto powers include the United States of America, the
United Kingdom, France, Russia and China. Why you may ask did they qualify to
be the permanent member of the United Nations Security Council? Simple answer that
has been given in many of the literature is because they defeated the Axis
powers (Germany, Italy and Japan) in World War 2 to bring about world peace.
Well part from China which did not play a part in bringing an end to the war
but I guess the Chines were too many they had to be given a slot by default.
They (allies) also were the founders of the United Nations. The aim of the
Security Council is to maintain international peace a job they have failed
miserably (in my opinion) due to their selfish interests. For any resolution to
be passed all the five permanent members have to be on board but once any of
the powers veto a resolution, it cannot be passed. The veto powers by the USA
have worked against any resolution to bring peace between Israel and Palestine
at the same time Russia’s and China’s veto powers have frustrated any efforts
of bringing Syria to peace. There have been efforts to try and amend the veto
powers or make them rotational but the states with these powers have
continually vetoed this move. The other ten rotational members are usually
elected by the general assembly and only serve a term of two years.
The other very important organ of
the UN is the secretariat headed by the secretary general. The current SG is
Ban KI Moon of South Korea. The main aim of the secretariat is to carry out the
administrative, executive and political duties of the Organization. The members
of the secretariat are drawn from all over the world and thus they become
international civil servants. As for the Secretary General, The UNSC proposes
his name to the general assembly for a vote. In a perfect world, this organ and
the SG are supposed to be independent but history has proven otherwise.
The remaining three organs are
the Economic and Social Council, which deals with matters of economy and social
issues. They bring to the limelight issues to be discussed and propose policies
to improve the nature of economy and social issues. The trusteeship Council was
put in place to supervise the territories that were still under trust system to
help them attain self -government and help in the progress. Their mandate has
been fulfilled and was thus suspended in 1994. Last but not least is the international
Court of justice. This should however not be confused with the International Criminal
Court. Whereas ICC is meant to persecute individuals who perpetrate crimes
against humanity, the ICJ is meant to resolve disputes between states.
Now that is the basic structure
of the UN and these organs are responsible for the international relations as
we know it.
