The UN And Syria: Time To Act Is Now
By: Alexactus T Kaure
THE end of the Cold War did not make the world much safer. In fact, the international community has to deal with another problem. The phenomenon of widespread civil wars in a number of nations is now dividing countries along the old ideological divide. One such conflict is the civil war that is tearing Syria apart. A number of countries are clearly taking sides in this ongoing conflict with serious consequences, of course.
To me this is totally the wrong way of solving such a crisis as history reminds us in other such cases. What might work better is a concerted international approach and this is where the United Nations should come in and very urgently. But it appears as if the UN has forgotten its original mission or mandate.
The principles of the UN, as explained in the Charter, are to save future generations from war, reaffirm human rights, and establish equal rights for all persons. In addition it also aims to promote justice, freedom, and social progress for the peoples of all of its member states.
The UN Security Council has the power to authorise the deployment of the UN member states’ militaries, can mandate a cease-fire during conflicts, and can enforce penalties on countries if they do not comply with given mandates. But the problem here has been with the five permanent members who seem to be pulling in different directions on many of the crucial issues facing the global community. The Cold War mentality is still prevailing. But the current conflict in Syria dictates that countries put their differences and interests aside in order to save human lives.
In a civil war the first casualties are information and truth because journalists, especially foreign ones, are usually not allowed to a country by those running the government. But report after report paint a picture of large scale devastation, bloodshed, displacement and suffering. And in such a situation women and children are usually the most affected. Like in the DRC or Liberia, where I was a UN Volunteer, rape is usually used as an indirect weapon of war by those carrying guns and I’m sure that in a Muslim country like Syria the situation must be worse there.
I’m aware that although the UN does not maintain its own military, it does have peacekeeping forces that are supplied by its member states. On approval of the UN Security Council, these peacekeepers are often sent to regions where armed conflict has recently ended to discourage combatants from resuming fight.
But this is an after-the-fact approach. There is a subtle difference between peace-keeping and peace-making. The latter is the one that is urgently needed in the present conflict in Syria, because the regime has now resorted to using all the sophisticated array of weaponry at its disposal against its own people. Thus, what started as another Arab Spring has become a full-blown civil war in the mold of Libya.
The limited efforts by the UN through their envoys – the latest now being Lakhdar Brahimi – are clearly not having any tangible results. Thus a more robust approach is needed and I cannot think of any except military intervention by the UN. Otherwise we will have to go the Libyan way where NATO forces had to intervene after so many lives were lost and infrastructure destroyed. That in my view makes the UN to appear toothless.
What the UN is doing now is just to pick up the pieces in the form of supporting those who fled to neighbouring countries like Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq. And with so many thousands Syrians scattered in different countries the humanitarian assistance might not be adequate.
The other problems that I foresee are the regional implications of this conflict. For example, we are told that Hezbollah from Lebanon is in Syria fighting against the rebels. Therefore there might be a spill-over of the conflict into Lebanon depending on who is supporting the rebels which might drag Israel into Lebanon because it always had issues to settle with Hezbollah. The other more frightening prospect would be a stand-off between Israel and its arch enemy Iran. Iran is clearly supporting the Syrian government and there are now reports that Israel is supporting the rebels. All these do not bode well for the region because even recently the USA provided Israel with US$10 billion worth of weapons.
Quo Vadis the Syrian quagmire? The ideal situation and perhaps lasting solution would be for Syrian people and the warring factions to talk peace. Because both the conditions that led to war and those that resulted from them would need a more holistic approach to peace-making, peace-keeping and peace-building. But with the current stalemate and intransigent on by both sides that process of talking seem remote at the moment. Thus if lives are to be saved and destruction to be ended the UN must intervene militarily. And the five permanent members of the UN Security Council have the key to this.