The United Nations Security Council: ways out of the Veto-Dilemma

Schütz, Maximilian

The United Nations Security Council: ways out of the Veto-Dilemma

Thesis / Dissertation

2024

Publisher

University of Cape Town

Department

Department of Public Law

Faculty

Faculty of Law

Abstract

Since February 2022, Ukraine has been at war with Russia. The war was initiated by Russia without any international legal legitimacy. Russia is a permanent member of the most powerful international executive body in the world - the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). As a permanent member, Russia holds the power to block draft resolutions of the UNSC with a veto. The main responsibility of the UNSC is the maintenance of peace and security. To this end, the UNSC is allowed to order decisive peacekeeping measures. In the Russo-Ukrainian War, however, the UNSC is unable to do so because the relevant draft resolutions are blocked by Russia - the aggressor itself. Even a reform of the veto per se - by amending the Charter of the United Nations (UN Charter) - can be blocked by vetoing the corresponding resolution. Progress is a distant prospect. This example reveals the most serious functional problem of the UNSC: the veto-dilemma. This minor dissertation examines the history of the veto-dilemma and explores its legal foundations. Two case studies are provided to demonstrate the human rights relevance of the veto-dilemma and to prove its negative role in the context of mass atrocity crimes. The thesis concludes by summarizing the main legal possibilities to regulate the veto power in order to contain its negative impact on human rights and to ensure the functionality of the UNSC. The findings are applied to the case studies and reveal that the UNSC's use of the veto has often been unlawful in the past. While the thesis does not offer an indisputable solution to the veto-dilemma, it does offer hope. It proves that international law provides mechanisms - such as the principles and purposes of the UN Charter or ius cogens norms - that, if lawfully applied by international courts, can save the United Nations from a long crisis of impotence.

Keywords

legal studies

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