Wars in Ukraine, Gaza and Syria: “The abuse of veto power by 5 countries in the UN Security Council blocks peace”

ROMA – “The abuse of the veto power by the 5 permanent member countries of the UN Security Council, in particular by the United States and Russia, is effectively preventing any real progress towards Peace in Ukraine, in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and in Israel, as well as in Syria”. This is what a new report published today by OXFAMon the eve of the United Nations General Assembly.

The United Nations humiliated by the despotic power of 5 powers. A dossier that reiterates a very serious problem of our times, that of the increasingly evident and dramatic uselessness, ineffectiveness of the UN, so desolately devoid of coercive intervention powers (at least on some issues of global interest) capable of changing things. An Organization, born immediately after the Second World War, today literally humiliated by the despotic power of the powers that emerged victorious from the Second World War.

The 23 conflicts examined. The report examined 23 of the most violent and protracted conflicts of the last decade – including Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Libya, Niger, the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, Venezuela and Yemen – revealing how 27 of the 30 vetoes cast by the UN Security Council concerned resolutions essential to the peaceful resolution of the crises in Palestine, Syria and Ukraine.

Over 1 million dead and 233 million people in need of help. In the same period in the countries analyzed, war has caused over 1 million victims and forced 233.5 million people to depend on humanitarian aid to survive, more than double compared to 2015. “The five permanent members of the Security Council – says Paolo Pezzati of Oxfam Italy expert in humanitarian crises – are exploiting their exclusive power of veto and negotiation, only to pursue their own particular geopolitical interests, thus undermining the ability to maintain world peace and security. A failure that today more than ever is clear to everyone: China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States have assumed responsibility for global security in an era that still responded to colonial logics, completely incompatible with a world that today desperately seeks peace and justice for all”.

In Syria, 4 million earthquake victims without aid. In 2023, Russia vetoed a proposal to extend cross-border humanitarian assistance for nine months to help the earthquake-stricken population in northern Syria, leaving 4.1 million people without basic necessities, food, water and medicine. It also used its veto power four times over Ukraine without the right to do so, according to UN rules, as an aggressor country.

The Security Council ignores UN General Assembly resolutions. While theUnited Nations General Assembly (UNGA) has approved in the last 10 years at least 77 resolutions in support of the right to self-determination and in defense of the human rights of the Palestinian people and for the end of the illegal occupation of Israel, the United States has used its veto power six times to block resolutions considered contrary to the interests of the ally Israel. “Most of the times – added Pezzati – the vetoes imposed by the permanent members of the Security Council have contradicted the will of the UN General Assembly, in which all States are represented.

The conduct of Italy. For the third time in a year, Italy has decided to abstain and not take a stand for respect for international humanitarian law. Yet another decision that debases our political tradition and our attempt to be considered a credible regional interlocutor for the resolution of this conflict”.

Forgotten crises and ineffective resolutions. The consequence is that the level of attention on one crisis or another is very different. Of the total crises analyzed by Oxfamalmost half have clearly passed into the background, with just 5 resolutions each. The most striking cases are Myanmar, on which only one was voted on, and Ethiopia or Venezuela, on which none were presented.

In 10 years 206 Resolutions: all totally useless. At the same time, however, it must be considered that the Security Council has approved almost 80 resolutions on both Sudan and South Sudan, 53 on Somalia and 48 on Libya, without any of them having led to a lasting Peace. On the crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo, instead, 25 resolutions have been voted on in the last 10 years, but despite this, the UN mission in the country has been systematically under-funded and poorly coordinated.

Policies that have increased the number of people receiving humanitarian assistance by a factor of four. “These policies of the Security Council, made of discontinuity and selfishness – Pezzati said – have caused humanitarian needs to explode to the point that organizations on the ground no longer have the capacity to respond. A new architecture is needed at the top to guarantee peace and security in the world. Globally, the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance has increased almost fourfold in the last decade, triggering an enormous need for funds”.

Funding is now entirely voluntary. The report also denounces the fact that while humanitarian funding continues to depend solely on voluntary contributions, those of UN member states for peacekeeping operations (peacekeeping) are mandatory. A clear distortion.

The call for immediate and radical reform. OXFAM calls for a complete reform of the UN Security Council, including the abolition of the veto power given to the 5 permanent members. “We need a United Nations system that does not betray the original principles and is in step with the times,” concludes Pezzati. “A Council that works for the majority of the global population and not for a few powerful people. Starting with the renunciation of the right of veto and the privileges attributed to the USA, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom, continuing with the recognition of the rank of members to a greater number of countries.”

The countries monitored. Oxfam monitored 23 crises, listed in the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) “Global Humanitarian Needs Overviews” for at least five consecutive years in the last decade. These are: Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Haiti, Iraq, Libya, Mali, Myanmar, Niger, Nigeria, Occupied Palestinian Territories and Israel, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, Venezuela and Yemen.

The details of the Resolutions voted and the vetoes imposed. Over the past decade, the UN Security Council has passed 482 resolutions and vetoed 30 resolutions on these 23 protracted crises. 8 out of 12 resolutions on Palestine and Israel; 15 out of 58 on Syria; 4 out of 7 on Ukraine; one on Venezuela; one on Mali and one on Yemen were vetoed, respectively.

The conduct of Russia and the USA. Russia and the United States have together cast 75 percent of the 88 vetoes at the UN Security Council since 1989, with China casting the rest; neither France nor the United Kingdom have used their veto power during this period.