UNO Reform

Democratisation of the UN General Assembly could make life-saving intervention possible against genocide

Göttingen, September 12, 2005

On the occasion of the impending UN summit in New York the Society for Threatened Peoples International (GfbV) regrets the inability of the world organisation to put a rapid end to genocide, mass expulsion and other serious crimes against humanity. "For the victims of genocide and ethnic leansing it is unacceptable that the five powers with the right of veto in the Security Council, USA, Great Britain, Russia, France and China repeatedly prevent a rapid and robust procedure against mass killing" says the president of the GfbV International, Tilman Zülch. "Although the UN fact-finding commissions have admitted the failure of the world organisation in Srebrenica and Ruanda, and although the continuing genocide is accepted in Darfur in the West Sudan, not even the British initiative of a draft agreement in the case of genocide has a chance of overcoming the resistance within the UN General Assembly. With our frequent initiatives at UN bodies for persecuted minorities for the ending of genocide and expulsion we are constantly confronted with the fact that the governments responsible deny the crimes and prevent UN intervention."

As a human rights organisation with consultative status at the Economic and Social Council of the UN the GfbV calls for a comprehensive democratisation of the world organisation and the creation of a UN force which is ready for action and in a position to react rapidly and robustly in the case of crimes against humanity. "The dominance of the UN by the five great powers must be ended step by step" says Zülch. "The UN General Assembly must no longer be dominated by the representatives of the governments, but supplemented by a democratically elected parliamentary assembly at the UN. Here the Parliament of the European Union could serve as a model. In conclusion international human rights organisations and representatives of the individual victims groups should be given the chance of being heard as well."