Peaceful Settlement Of Disputes

PEACEFUL SETTLEMENT OF DISPUTES INT 626 - International Organisation

PEACEFUL SETTLEMENT OF DISPUTES Importance Charter United

of Peaceful Settlement

Procedures and Methods

Nations Experiences

Changing General

Roles of United Nations Organs

Appraisal and Future Requirement

Importance of Peaceful Settlement  Primary

function of United Nations is to maintain world peace.

 The

goals of promoting peace and security are mentioned first in the Charter, and peaceful settlement of disputes is also first and fundamental among the means for goal attainment.

 Developing

friendly relations among nations

 Harmonising

the actions of nations

 Taking

appropriate measures to strengthen universal peace

 Practising

tolerance and living together in peace, reinforce the desire for avoiding war.

Importance of Peaceful Settlement It

is salient as an alternative to the risks of conflict and nuclear war if survival is a foremost human value.

Peaceful

settlement require a spirit of cooperation and compromise among national states, but any other course holds little promise for survival in an interdependent world of states with nuclear capability.

Charter Procedures and Methods The

charter provides a logical progression of steps to be followed by states involved in disputes.

Each

member promises in adhering to the charter to settle all disputes by peaceful means and to refrain from the threat or use of force.

Charter Procedures and Methods If a dispute does arise, the parties should: Seek a solution by negotiation, Inquiry, Mediation, Conciliation, Arbitration, Judicial settlement, Resort to regional agencies or arrangements, Other peaceful means of their own choice.

Charter Procedures and Methods If the dispute is not so resolved, then a party to the dispute or any member of the United Nations or the Secretary General may bring the matter to the attention of the Security Council or of the General Assembly. The assumption was originally made that the Security Council would, in most case, be the referee since the primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security was lodged in the council. When a dispute does come before the Security Council, that body’s first and simplest option is to suggest to the disputants that they settle their dispute by one of the means of peaceful settlement listed above.

Charter Procedures and Methods Negotiation: the essence of the practise of diplomacy.  Good offices: the only traditional method of dispute settlement not listed in Article 33 of the charter but one frequently used by United Nations organs.  Inquiry: a process of fact-finding by the neutral team of investigators.  Mediation: a procedure involving the suggestion of terms of settlement by a third party.  Conciliation: similar to mediation except for the legal distinction that the third party is a commission or international body whose aid has been sought in finding a solution satisfactory to the disputants.  Arbitration: a means of applying legal principles to a controversy within limits previously agreed upon by the disputing parties.  Adjudication or judicial settlement: a process of submitting a dispute to an international court for decision. 

Charter Procedures and Methods  When

a dispute is called to the attention of the Security Council, the first step is to adopt the question as an agenda item. Prolonged disputes previously adopted as agenda items and never officially removed from the list of items of which the Council is “seized” may be taken up again at any future time without this preliminary step.  After the Security Council agrees to consider a dispute or situation, any party has a right to participate, without vote, in the discussion of that dispute.  Given issue may fail for lack of nine supporting votes or because of an occasional veto by a permanent member.

Charter Procedures and Methods Any

nine members may remove the item from the agenda and request an emergency session of the General Assembly under the Uniting for Peace Resolution if Security Council action is blocked by a veto. One device not mentioned in the Charter is calling on parties already engaged in armed hostilities to abide by a cease-fire.

Charter Procedures and Methods Until a dispute is finally resolved, the Security Council may retain the item on the agenda for a period of months or years. This allows for reconsideration on short notice To

follow up the results of previous Council recommendation

To

seek new, more effective means for settlement

To

consider new developments in situation.

Charter Procedures and Methods  If

the parties to a dispute can agree that a satisfactory result may be obtained by judicial settlement, they may submit their case, by mutual agreement, to the International Court of Justice.

 The

Secretary-General and his staff play a wide variety of roles in dealing with disputes. These range from merely receiving and transmitting information between governments and United Nations organs to calling the attention of those organs to threatening situations or to acting as the principal agent of the Security Council or the General Assembly in mediating a dispute or carrying out the steps called for in United Nations resolutions.

United Nations Experience More

than 180 disputes were debated by the Security Council and General Assembly during the period of forty-three years.

Through

the selection of a few case studies, a wide range of conditions may be illustrated concerning the ability of United Nations organs to contribute to the peaceful settlement of disputes.

The Iranian Question  In

January 1946, Iran complains that Soviet troops still occupying the Azerbaijan region were interfering with the internal affairs of Iran by encouraging a separatist movement there.

 The

Council is unable to use strong measures or coercion against a major power.

 Case

settlement through negotiations was hastened by United Nations exposure and pressure.

Former Italian Colonies  The

disposition of Libya, Italian Somaliland, and Eritrea by Italy.  Libya was to become an independent state not later than 1st January 1952.  Somaliland was to be placed under trusteeship for a period of ten years and was then to become independent.  In December 1950, the General Assembly approved a plan according to which Eritrea would be federated with Ethiopia as an autonomous unit under the Ethiopian Crown.  In general, the Assembly performed a difficult and complicated assignment quite effectively.

Indian-Pakistani Question  Known

as Kashmir dispute, one of the most prolonged and still unsettled (1947 – Present).  The Security Council established the United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP) to which it assigned responsibilities of investigation, good offices, and mediation.  Cease-fire line was established and United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) was set up to observe and report on the cease-fire.  United Nations efforts to resolve the Kashmir issue represent an exercise in repeated frustration, since the parties are unwilling to reach a compromise solution.

Race Conflict in South Africa  One

of the bitterest, most persistent, and least soluble problems confronting the United Nations  The policies of apartheid require complete separation of nonwhites from whites.  A series of General Assembly resolutions requesting South African negotiations with India and with Pakistan were ignored by South Africa.  The principal trading partners of South Africa-the United Kingdom, the United States, France, and West Germany-are unwilling to support universal economic sanctions, and their cooperation is essential for effective Security Council action.  Gradual changes of policies could eventually result from internal pressures.

Situation in the Dominican Republic  From

1961 to 1966 the political situation in the Dominican Republic was very unstable.  The Organisation of American States (OAS) became involved in the Dominican situation earlier than the United Nations, engaged in a wide range of activities, and provided the main channels by which a political settlement was finally achieved.  The Dominican situation demonstrates the impotency of the United Nations in coercing a major power.  It may be asserted that the United Nations, the OAS, and the United States all lost prestige as a result of the episode.

Situation Concerning Western Sahara  In

1975 Spain relinquished its claim to Spanish Sahara in the northwest Africa and in early 1976 the territory. Morocco received about two-thirds of the area and Mauritania received the rest.

 At

the same time the Polisario Front proclaimed the independence of the territory under principles of selfdetermination but the status of the territory has been reviewed by the General Assembly each year since 1964.

Situation Concerning Western Sahara  In

the United Nations for nearly 14 years, the General Assembly was the major forum for the dispute. In turn, the Assembly urged the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) acts as the principal intermediary in seeking a solution.

 The

Secretary-General engaged in extensive negotiations leading to the acceptance of a peace plan.

 The

flexibility of entire process and cooperation between the UN and the OAU are the factors accounting for the gradual amelioration of a long and bitter dispute.

Changing Roles of United Nations Organs  There

is a little question that the General Assembly has play a larger role in the processes of peaceful settlement of disputes than would have been predicted in 1945.

 Almost

21 percent of all disputes submitted to the United Nations have been dealt with solely by the General Assembly. Another 24 percent have been considered by both the Security Council and the General Assembly.

 Predictions

in the 1950s that the General Assembly might become the predominant agency for dispute settlement have been proved wrong.

Changing Roles of United Nations Organs  The

General Assembly stands ready to deal both with emergencies and the less urgent aspects of disputes when the Security Council is deadlocked.

 The

Secretary-General expanded role in dispute settlement in direct negotiation, appointment of representatives or mediators, and furnishing of full, prompt, and accurate information to the Council and the Assembly.

 The

Secretary General pointed out that the parties to the disputes sought his assistance for peaceful settlement prior to the necessity for submitting the dispute to the Security Council.

General Appraisal and Future Requirement  Many

controversies develop that are not submitted to the United Nations but are handled through other means.

 Nationalism

and sovereignty stand as bulwalks against the use of international channel for conflict resolution. However, small states have been willing to request United Nations aid in conflict resolution.

 Regional

organisations have played a relatively modest role in dispute settlement.

 The

attitudes and the policies of the members are the most critical factors.

General Appraisal and Future Requirement  The

provision of efficient channels of dispute settlement lies at the heart of any adequate system of organising a society.

 In

tomorrow’s world the necessity for humankind to provide satisfactory means for conflict resolution on a global scale is greater than was the imperative for similar national institutions at the time of gestation and birth of each state.

THANK YOU! PEACEFUL SETTLEMENT OF DISPUTES INT 626 - International Organisation