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Security Council Powerless to Act in Georgia
Category: National Security
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Following a two hour-long UN Security Council meeting on Monday, Georgian Ambassador Irakli Alasania reported, “A full military invasion of Georgia is going on. Now I think the Security Council has to act.” Sadly for Georgia, Russia is one of the five permanent members of the Security Council and has threatened to veto any resolutions that would lead to decisive action on Georgia’s behalf.
A fragile cease-fire was reached yesterday in Georgia, following a Russian military campaign in the country that has resulted in an estimated 2,000 civilian deaths and 100,000 displaced persons. Since the start of the conflict on Thursday, only one UN airlift with humanitarian supplies has reached the Georgian capital of Tbilisi and international observers are still unable to travel to regions left inaccessible due to fighting.
At a Security Council meeting earlier this week, Ambassador Alasania repeatedly asked the Russian delegation if it intended to overthrow Georgia’s president, Mikhail Saakashvili. “We in Russia, we cannot see how we can do business with him [Saakashvili]. We make no secret of that,” said Russia’s UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin.
On Tuesday, France submitted a Security Council resolution that called for Russian and Georgian troops to return to their pre-August 7 positions and reaffirmed the territorial integrity of Georgia. The resolution also condemned Russia for committing hostilities during the Olympic Truce, an agreement the UN General Assembly has encouraged all member states to abide by during the Olympic Games. The draft was quickly dismissed by Russia’s ambassador.
The Security Council, established in 1946 by the UN Charter, is charged with maintaining international peace and security. On a visit to Yugoslavia, former Secretary General Kofi Annan said, “Unless the Security Council is restored to its preeminent position as the sole source of legitimacy on the use of force, we are on a dangerous path to anarchy.” Disturbingly, the current conflict in Georgia was instigated by a member of the Security Council itself. Russia’s military campaign against Georgia further erodes the legitimacy of what was once considered the UN’s hallmark institution.
With cries of ethnic cleansing and international law being invoked, decisive action from UN institutions is needed. What the current crisis in Georgia demonstrates is that these institutions – the Security Council foremost among them – are far from impervious to the meddling of authoritarian states.
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