DUBAI: The veto power that some nations have at the UN Security Council must be democratized to allow other countries to participate in vital decision-making on world affairs, says a conflict-resolution expert.
Speaking to Arab News on Wednesday at the World Governments Summit in Dubai, Ashok Swain, professor of peace and conflict research at Uppsala University, said giving a few countries the power to stop the UN Security Council from taking decisions has deemed the body “useless” in ensuring a ceasefire in Gaza.
“We cannot really at this point in time give the world security to the whims of one or two countries in the UN Security Council, which has the veto power.”
He said a two-thirds majority vote in the UN General Assembly should be allowed to override the veto of countries in the security council.
Last year, the US vetoed a resolution put forward at the Security Council, calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza despite repeated warnings from the UN Chief Antonio Guterres of an impending “humanitarian catastrophe.”
“There is an error when the secretary-general of the UN is almost begging the UN to do something and the security council doesn’t agree to it. I think if the security council and secretary-general are not on the same page, how do you expect international organizations like the UN to deliver?”
Swain, who also serves as UNESCO Chair on International Water Cooperation at Uppsala University, said that democracy in Western societies is “almost dead.”
While Western democratic ideals have triumphed in the past, including contributing to the end of the Cold War, some leaders in the West misuse the word democracy for their own political gain, he added.
He said using the term in the context of the 18th or 19th centuries no longer works because societies have changed. Leaders must rearrange their priorities and direct their efforts to better serve their citizens, help the poor and solve critical world issues instead of waging wars.
Instead, Swain noted that some governments have been using their versions of democracy to divide societies.
“To win the elections, leaders are dividing the society between different communities, between different religious groups, and different ethnic groups. Actually, those elections are being fought not on the basis of what the policies they have been successful at, what kind of progress they have brought to the country, or to people or to the society in general, but based on dividing the society.”
The US, which is supposed to be the leader of the democratic free world, has lost “every moral right to call or take the stance of democracy” for failing to stop the war on Gaza, he added.
Swain said leaders must prioritize solving critical issues facing the world including civil wars, climate change, water scarcity, disease, income inequality, poverty and hunger. To achieve this they first need to stop all wars.
He said he was “shocked” at the “no anti-war moment” in the context of the Russia-Ukraine war.
“When the countries were going to war, no one really was looking at the repercussion. They were only talking about the nuclear bombs being used as if it is something of a game.”
He said rising tensions between the US and China were not based on “fighting over either capitalism or communism” but over what constitutes democracy as opposed to authoritarianism.
Without unity between China and the US, the world would face difficulties tackling vital challenges like climate change, he added.
Swain stressed that countries need to collaborate and change their priorities to shape a better future for generations to come.
“We are living in a 21st century. We do have such huge resources. We are trying to think of building houses (on) Mars, but we cannot feed the billions of people on this planet. And we don’t know how to really address these issues.”
Veto power for some nations at UN Security Council must be scrapped: Expert
https://arab.news/g7jhd
Veto power for some nations at UN Security Council must be scrapped: Expert
- This veto power has prevented a Gaza ceasefire and not helped to solve world conflict, says Prof. Ashok Swain
- Democracy in Western societies ‘almost dead’ and leaders are dividing people for political gain
Which countries currently have nuclear weapons?
- Russia, US, China, France, UK, India, Pakistan and North Korea possess nuclear weapons
- Israel has never acknowledged having nuclear weapons but is widely believed to have them
Nine countries currently either say they have nuclear weapons or are believed to possess them.
The first to have nuclear arms were the five original nuclear weapons states — the United States, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom.
All five are signatories to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, which commits countries that don’t have nuclear arms not to build or obtain them, and those that do to “pursue negotiations in good faith” aimed at nuclear disarmament.
Rivals India and Pakistan, which haven’t signed the NPT, have built up their nuclear arsenals over the years. India was the first to conduct a nuclear test in 1974, followed by another in 1998. Pakistan followed with its own nuclear tests just a few weeks later.
Israel, which also hasn’t signed the NPT, has never acknowledged having nuclear weapons but is widely believed to.
North Korea joined the NPT in 1985 but announced its withdrawal from the treaty in 2003, citing what it called US aggression. Since 2006, it has conducted a string of nuclear tests.
Iran long has insisted its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only and US intelligence agencies have assessed that Tehran is not actively pursuing the bomb now. But it has in recent years been enriching uranium to up to 60 percent purity — near weapons-grade levels of 90 percent.
In an annual assessment released this week, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute estimated that the nine countries had the following stockpiles of military nuclear warheads as of January:
Russia: 4,309
United States: 3,700
China: 600
France: 290
United Kingdom: 225
India: 180
Pakistan: 170
Israel: 90
North Korea: 50
Ukraine appoints new prosecutor general
- Kravchenko, 35, is now head of the state tax administration
- The prosecutor general’s post has remained vacant since October
KYIV: Ukraine’s parliament on Tuesday appointed Ruslan Kravchenko, one of the key investigators of alleged Russian war crimes during the occupation of the Kyiv region in 2022, as prosecutor general.
Kravchenko, 35, is now head of the state tax administration, and before that chaired the Kyiv region military administration.
He was involved in the recording and prosecuting of alleged Russian atrocities in the town of Bucha, which was occupied for 33 days in the early stages of Moscow’s full-scale invasion. Russia denies accusations of numerous executions, rapes and torture during the occupation.
Kravсhenko was also a prosecutor in Ukraine’s ousted President Viktor Yanukovych’s treason case.
The prosecutor general’s post has remained vacant since October, after Andriy Kostin resigned following a scandal around officials receiving fake disability status and avoiding military service.
Pope Leo to escape Rome’s summer heat with July stay at Castel Gandolfo
- The pontiff will spend July 6 to 20 about an hour’s drive south in Castel Gandolfo, the Vatican said
- All of Leo’s public and private audiences have been suspended from July 2 through July 23
VATICAN CITY: As temperatures in Rome swelter this month, reaching more than 35 degrees Celsius (95°F) under the hot Mediterranean sun, Pope Leo has decided to leave town.
The pontiff will spend July 6 to 20 about an hour’s drive south in Castel Gandolfo, a small hamlet on Lake Albano, the Vatican said on Tuesday.
Leo, elected pope on May 8 to replace the late Pope Francis, will also return to the lakeshore for at least one weekend in August, it said.
All of Leo’s public and private audiences have been suspended from July 2 through July 23, the Vatican said, as was usual under Francis, to allow the pontiff a period of rest. They will restart on July 30.
By going to Castel Gandolfo, Leo is restarting a summer tradition that was broken by Francis.
Dozens of popes over centuries have spent the summer months at Lake Albano, where temperatures are usually about ten degrees cooler than Rome, but Francis preferred to stay in his air-conditioned Vatican residence.
The Vatican has owned a papal palace and surrounding grounds in Castel Gandolfo since 1596. Spanning 55 hectares, the property includes official apartments, elaborate Renaissance-style gardens, a forest and a working dairy farm.
Francis, who shunned most of the trappings of the papacy, had the official papal palace turned into a museum.
Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni told Reuters the pope would not stay at the palace, which will remain a museum, and will instead stay on another Vatican property.
Leo will return to Castel Gandolfo for the weekend of August 15 to 17.
August 15, a Catholic feast day to celebrate Mary, the Mother of God, is an Italian public holiday. Many Italians spend that day, and much of August, at the beach.
Black boxes from India plane crash under study to ascertain cause of the disaster that killed 270
- A former pilot and an aviation expert said the recovery of the flight data and cockpit voice recorders, or black boxes, are crucial to piece together the sequence of events
NEW DELHI: Investigators in India are studying the black boxes of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner after recovering them from the aircraft wreckage to ascertain the cause of last week’s plane crash that left at least 270 people dead.
The black boxes will provide cockpit conversations and data related to the plane’s engine and control settings to investigators and help them in determining the cause of the crash.
The London-bound Air India aircraft, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, crashed on a medical college hostel soon after taking off from the western city of Ahmedabad. Only one passenger survived the crash, while 241 people on board and 29 on the ground were killed in one of India’s worst aviation disaster in decades.
Experts from India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau are probing the crash with assistance from the UK, the US and officials from Boeing.
Black box data is crucial
Amit Singh, a former pilot and an aviation expert, said the recovery of the flight data and cockpit voice recorders, or black boxes, are crucial to piece together the sequence of events.
The cockpit voice recorder records pilots’ conversation, emergency alarms and any distress signal made before a crash. The plane’s digital flight data recorder stores information related to engine and control settings. Both devices are designed to survive a crash.
“The data will reveal everything,” Singh said, adding that the technical details could be corroborated by the cockpit voice recorder that would help investigators know of any communication between air traffic control and the pilots.
India’s aviation regulatory body has said the aircraft made a mayday call before the crash.
Singh said the investigating authorities will scan CCTV footage of the nearby area and speak with witnesses to get to the root cause of the crash.
Additionally, Singh said, the investigators will also study the pilot training records, total load of the aircraft, thrust issues related to the plane’s engine, as well as its worthiness in terms of past performances and any previously reported issues.
Investigation into the crash could take time
Aurobindo Handa, former director general of India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, said the investigators across the world follow a standard UN-prescribed Manual of Accident Investigation, also called “DOC 9756,” which outlines detailed procedures to arrive at the most probable cause of a crash.
Handa said the investigation into last week’s crash would likely be a long process as the aircraft was badly charred. He added that ascertaining the condition of the black boxes recovered from the crash site was vital as the heat generated from the crash could be possibly higher than the bearable threshold of the device.
The Indian government has set up a separate, high-level committee to examine the causes leading to the crash and formulate procedures to prevent and handle aircraft emergencies in the future. The committee is expected to file a preliminary report within three months.
Authorities have also begun inspecting and carrying out additional maintenance and checks of Air India’s entire fleet of Boeing 787 Dreamliners to prevent any future incident. Air India has 33 Dreamliners in its fleet.
The plane that crashed was 12 years old. Boeing planes have been plagued by safety issues on other types of aircraft. There are currently around 1,200 of the 787 Dreamliner aircraft worldwide and this was the first deadly crash in 16 years of operation, according to experts.
Russian media say top official is in Pyongyang again to meet North Korean leader
SEOUL: A top Russian security official traveled to Pyongyang for the second time this month for another meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Russian state media reported Tuesday, the latest display of the countries’ deepening ties amid President Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine.
Russia’s Tass news agency said Russian Security Council Secretary Sergey Shoigu arrived in the North Korean capital on an unspecified “special” mission from Putin and was expected to meet with Kim. North Korean state media didn’t immediately confirm the visit.
Kim has supplied Russia with thousands of troops and large shipments of military equipment, including artillery and ballistic missiles, to support its military operation in Ukraine. Washington and Seoul have expressed concern that, in return, Kim may seek Russian technology transfers that could enhance the threat posed by his nuclear-armed military.
In April, Pyongyang and Moscow officially confirmed North Korean troops’ deployment to Russia for the first time, saying that soldiers of the two countries were fighting alongside each other to repel a Ukrainian incursion into Russia’s Kursk border region. Putin then thanked North Korea’s participation in the war and promised not to forget their sacrifices.
In their previous meeting on June 4, Kim told Shoigu that his government would “unconditionally support” Russia over the war in Ukraine and other critical international issues as they discussed strengthening the strategic partnership between their countries, according to North Korean state media. Tass then reported that Shoigu and Kim also discussed prospects for rebuilding the Kursk region and outlined steps to commemorate the combat contributions of North Korean soldiers.
