UNSC criticized for failing to prevent conflicts

NEW YORK, Aug 21 (KUNA) -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday criticized the Security Council for failing to prevent conflicts during the last decades because of its disunity and the abuse of the veto.
"It is time for a new era of collaboration, cooperation and action from the Security Council," Ban said in an address to a debate by the Council on "Maintenance of international peace and security - Conflict Prevention" under a request by its president, the UK. "Even modest United Nations actions can have an important impact when we have the Security Council's united support - speaking with one voice - for early engagement," he said.
When there is "limited consensus - when our actions come late and address only the lowest common denominator - the consequences can be measured in terrible loss of life, grave human suffering and tremendous loss of credibility for this Council and our institution," he argued.
He said today's debate takes place as the world is gripped by multiple violent conflicts, hence the need to "re-examine and refine our approach." He complained that Terrorism and organised crime fuel and feed violence and instability, and the "distinctions between terrorists, armed opposition and criminal enterprises are blurring." "These evolving patterns of violence pose a major challenge to our prevention work," he warned.
In her last speech to the Council before retiring, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Plillay, said the Council can take a number of "innovative" approaches to prevent threats to international peace and security.
For example, she said the use of the veto to stop actions intended to prevent or defuse conflict is a "short-term and ultimately counter-productive tactic." She also said that the Secretary-General "can be even more proactive in alerting to potential crisis, including situations that are not formally on the Council's agenda." She said that "early UN action to address human rights protects States, by warding off the threat of devastating violence." She suggested that, in order to further strengthen early warning, the Council "could also ask for more regular and comprehensive human rights reporting by protection actors." The Council also adopted a resolution urging member states to settle their political disputes peacefully. (end) sj.gb