UN Security Council

About half a year ago, during the night session of the emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on the 23rd of February 2022, Secretary-General António Guterres urged President Putin “to stop your troops from attacking Ukraine, give peace a chance”.

The role of women in peacekeeping has for long been neglected in a world where women have a unique role in their local and national environments to handle and solve conflicts. Several UN organs have actively contributed to the training and inclusion of women in peacebuilding and developed reports to highlight their contributions. The UN must therefore learn from best practices both from its own organs and the historical role of women as peacebuilders in countries such as Yemen in order to develop mechanisms to ensure gender parity in peacekeeping. 

De VN is druk bezig met het verkiezen van een nieuwe Secretaris-Generaal. NVVN Voorzitter Simone Filippini zette zich in voor een betere procedure en de eerste vrouwelijke SG

This edition mainly concerns the UN Commission of Inquiry for Human Rights in North Korea, created in March 2013, and the UN International Independent Investigation Commission (UNIIIC).

In a nearly 400 page-long report, the Commission of Inquiry completely and utterly condemned the North Korean state by accusing it of committing systematic and widespread crimes against humanity against its own citizens. These violations – essential components of the totalitarian system, according to the report – are of such gravity, scale and nature that they “reveal a state that does not have any parallel in the contemporary world.”

The firm conclusion by the COI that North Korea has been committing crimes against humanity needed further action. There was skepticism on the follow up. What were the chances that the UN Security Council would pick up on conclusions and recommendations and refer the case to be properly investigated by the International Criminal Court (ICC)?