Keeping Tabs on a Troubled World

1 UN Archives, New York, File DAG-1/S.2.2.2.1-1.

2 Article 2(7) of the UN Charter states: `Nothing contained in the present Charter shall authorize the United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state or shall require the Members to submit such matters to settlement under the present Charter; but this principle shall not prejudice the application of enforcement measures under Chapter VII'. Member-states often consider UN investigations, even without on-site visits, as a form of intervention. It is important to recognize, however, that Article 2(7) is not an absolute prohibition. First, it only asserts that the Charter does not authorize intervention in domestic affairs; it does not prohibit such intervention if other sources of authorization can be found. Second, it does permit intervention for the application of Chapter VII enforcement measures. Third, there are different interpretations of what is meant by the word `intervention'.

3 Sovereignty is mentioned only two times in the Charter: in Article 2(1) and 78, both dealing with the sovereign equality of states. Article 2(7) is the chief provision of the UN Charter relating to non-intervention in domestic or `sovereign' affairs.

4 Article 99 states: `The Secretary-General may bring to the attention of the Security Council any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security'.

5 The male pronoun is used subsequently for convenience, and does not suggest in any way that the Secretary-General need be a male.

6 Glenn D. Paige, The Korea Decision: June 24-30, 1950, (New York: The Free Press, 1968) p. 73.

7 Trygve Lie, In the Cause of Peace: Seven Years with the United Nations (New York: MacMillan Co., 1954).

8 An `Investigatory Group on the Problem of Hungary' was created by General Assembly resolution 1004 (ES-II) to examine the situation after the invasion, but it was denied entry into the territory.

9 Interview with General Romeo Dallaire, `Rwanda: Autopsy of a Genocide', CBC News - Our Magazine, Thursday, 29 November 1994, CBC transcript, p. 12.

10 Article 34 of the UN Charter gives any member the right to bring any situation which threatens peace to the attention of the Security Council. Article 99 gives the Secretary-General the same right. The Security Council's Provisional Rules of Procedure (Rule 3) state that the Council shall meet if such disputes or situations are brought to its attention. Article 99, however, has seldom been invoked explicitly but implied invocations are more common. For a tabulation, see A. Walter Dorn, `Keeping Watch for Peace: Fact-finding by the UN Secretary-General', in Eric Fawcett & Hanna Newcombe, eds, UN Reform: Looking Ahead After 50 Years (Toronto: Science for Peace/Dundurn Press, 1995).

11 The UN has stationed observers in countries against the wishes of rebel forces in several instances, for instance in Greece in 1946 and in the Congo in 1960.

12 Night-vision devices are also used in some peace-keeping missions.

13 Russia began selling images from its reconnaissance satellites of 5-6 metre resolution in 1987 and since 1992 has been selling images of 2-metre resolution. (See William Broad, `Russia Is Now Selling Spy Photos From Space', New York Times, 4 October 1992.) The USA has declassified CIA reconnaissance satellite pictures from the period 1960 to 1972, but is not offering pictures made more recently.

14 At least 12 hours must be given to the inspected State Party before inspectors arrive at the point of entry in the state. See Article IX in The Chemical Weapons Convention with Selective Index (New York: United Nations, 1994), Sales No. E.95.IX.2.

15 Officially called the `Declaration on Fact-finding by the United Nations in the Field of the Maintenance of International Peace and Security'. It was adopted on 9 December 1991 without a vote in General Assembly resolution 46/59 and is annexed to the resolution.

16 Currently, Mr. Chinmaya Gharekhan, an Under-Secretary-General in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General, has the responsibility of giving daily briefings to Security Council members.

17 The Internet address of the UN's Home Page is http//www.un.org.

18 President Dwight Eisenhower, `Radio and Television Address by President Eisenhower on the Collapse of the Paris Summit Conference, May 25, 1960,' Documents on Disarmament 1960 (Washington, DC: US Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, 1961), p. 88.

19 Lester B. Pearson, `The Four Faces of Peace', Nobel Lectures: Peace (Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1972) Vol. 3, p. 129.

20 Government of Canada, Towards a Rapid Reaction Capability for the United Nations (Ottawa: Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and the Department of National Defence, 1995).