Written in response to "Biden wants to update the U.N. Quick question: How?
It's incredible how much the real U.N. can resemble a Model United Nations conference sometimes."
The notion of membership in the global governance body should be the place to begin. The way forward is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, I think. Being a signatory to the UDHR should be the golden ticket to full voting power by a member of the United Nations. Any nation that fails to sign and commit to implementation by its government should preclude full voting authority.
The place to begin is with the United States addressing its shortfalls, beginning with ratifying the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. The United Kingdom is negligent in this as well.
Some nations have failed based on flawed and antiquated religious beliefs, while others failed because they are authoritarian states.
Authoritarianism and violation of freedom of belief are non-starters.
"Some non-western nations such as Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and the Soviet bloc were not as willing to participate in the process as others. These states abstained from voting for the document for reasons later made public.
In the case of Saudi Arabia, Islamic Law (Sharia) was seen to be in direct contradiction with Articles 16 and 18 of the Declaration. Article 16 ensures the right for any individual to marry and find a family, while Sharia Law states that marriage is to be solely between a man and a woman; article 18 ensures freedom of religion, while Sharia Law requires all Saudi citizens to follow Islamism. That is why Saudi Arabia is not a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which includes freedom of religion. Other states, such as the Soviet bloc, demanded more emphasis on socio‐economic rights than referenced in the document. South Africa's government was openly hostile to the Declaration due to the apartheid system that governed civil life in the country at the time.
In the picture: Students of Johns Hopkins University fight against South African apartheid, 1970. Source: Apartheid – A History and Overview
This context of exclusion that these non-western States were left in can be used as an excuse for them to violate human rights, leading the document sometimes to serve the opposite purpose of what it was written for."
"All United Nations member countries, including Saudi Arabia, Russia, and South Africa, have ratified at least one of nine major human rights treaties, and many have ratified more. However, some of the most powerful western states, despite being members of the United Nations, have not signed these key documents. For example, by custom and tacit general agreement, the United States always provides the head of UNICEF (United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund) headquartered in New York, which has not yet ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Nor has it ratified the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, along with the United Kingdom, which is equally remiss in this respect. Additionally, the association of the U.S. with the UDHR was brought to attention again when the George W. Bush administration refused to join the International Criminal Court (ICC)."
The Problem
"Russia, like the United States, is one of five permanent members of the Security Council, alongside China, France, and the United Kingdom. Ten non-permanent members are elected by region and serve two-year terms.
Any permanent five (P-5) can veto any proposed resolution to an international crisis that the council considers, giving them outsized power over international sanctions, peacekeeping missions, and even calling for a cease-fire when war breaks out. Moscow has relied on the veto power it inherited from the Soviet Union to safeguard allies like Syria and inoculate itself from the consequences of its invasion of Ukraine. (And while Russia has been the most aggressive with its veto in the past decade, the U.S. is the runner-up.)."
Image Credit: MSNBC
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