Multilateral Diplomacy in the United Nations

The Development of Multilateral Diplomacy

● During the 19th century, multi-lateral cooperation in the main was carried on through congresses and
conferences such as the Congress of Vienna 1815, and the Congress of Paris 1856 convened to deal
with particular situations.
● The regional institutions were set up as the first standing committees to deal with technical matters
such as the Commissions to regulate the Rhine, the Danube and other rivers.
● Universal Postal Union, one of the worldwide permanent organizations, was set up as a consequence
of the Berne Conference because of postal matters in 1874. It was established as a permanent body for
states to cooperate so that letters stamped and posted in one country could be transported and
delivered in to another.
● However in the 19th century, the discussion about political matters had no movement towards setting up
a permanent organization. The nearest approach to maintain peace was the First Hague Conference
of 1899 that established the Permanent Court of Arbitration.
● The tacit assumption that the affairs of Europe and world peace and war were nearly synonymous and
could be successfully regulated by the Concert of Europe, however was destroyed by the outbreak of
WW1 in 1914 that caused the destruction of the old European order in the following 4 years.

The League of Nations

● After the WWI , League of Nations was established in 1919 as an international governmental
organization ‘to promote international cooperation and to achieve international peace and security’.
● The League of Nations sought to achieve these aims by a covenant requiring the Member states to
agree on the obligation not to resort to war.
● USA’s failure to join as a member, followed by the economic downfall and the growth of dictatorships
led to the League itself gradually being perceived as irrelevant or impotent.

The United Nations

● The WWII followed from 1939 to 1945 causing the United Nations to be established.
● The maintenance of peace was still a goal, open to all States but different in its broader aims and in the
means to be adopted.
● Difference between the League of Nations and the United Nations
-The Charter of United Nations’ Preamble
We the peoples of the United Nations
Determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold
sorrow to mankind, and
To reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and
women and of nations large and small, and To establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations
arising from treaties and other sources of law can be maintained, and
To promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom; ……
● Article I of the charter which stated the foremost purposes of the organization is to
maintain peace and security and ‘to take effective measures for the prevention and
removal of threats to the peace and for the suppression of acts of aggression and other
breaches of the peace….’

The Differing Forms of Multilateral Diplomacy

● The direct involvement of States is required or call for action by civil society will be sufficient; or whether
by coordination of national bodies, by the action of an existing non-governmental body, or the creation
of a new one
 ● When states are to be involved, the intensity of the cooperation required is to be considered and
whether it may be best achieved through a program in which private participants such as the
Multinational Corporation are also entitled to join
● If limited to states only, whether sufficient intensity of participation will be achieved by an association or
whether an independent international organization with strong delegated powers to put its decisions
into effect is required.
● International agreement or series of bilateral agreements, carefully drafted is required which must
define the structure and purposes of the association or organization and any special privileges and
immunities to be conferred.

Associations and International Organizations

● States may form themselves in an international association without creating an independent legal
person, though if the objectives of such association are found useful, they usually progress to full legal
personality.
● International Organization is defined as an organization built by treaty, governed by international law,
possessing its own legal personality, and its membership largely composed of states.
● Organization given an international legal personality is entitled to conclude treaties and international
agreements in its own right and bring international claims in its own name or on behalf of its officers
and servants.
● An organization may be held liable for damage or injury from its activities, whether it excludes the
concurrent liability of its member states is complex or controversial question.
● When the international organization is given legal capacity in the law of a member state, it will not
normally be possible to bring legal proceedings in the courts of the other state against members in
respect of debts or obligations of the international organization.

Privileges and Immunities

● One factor that is relevant in determining the appropriate form of international cooperation on a specific
matter is whether the body to be established, its officers and servants are thought to require privileges,
protection, and immunities accorded to a diplomatic mission.
● Its head and members have to some extent provided a precedent and justification for the development
of protection for those engaged in multilateral forms of cooperation such as the military attaches and ad
hoc observers or inspectors of military installations are entitled on that basis of diplomatic privileges
and immunities.
● The law of state immunity provides a general immunity for the defense authorities as an organ of the
state and for its military advisers and officers as state representatives.
● League of Nations had no multilateral agreements defining in detail the privileges and immunities to be
granted to international organizations or persons connected with them even though they made
provisions for representatives of members, and officials of the league to enjoy diplomatic immunities
and privileges when engaged on business of the league.
● After 1945, both regional and worldwide international organizations had multiplied rapidly but after the
war, little effort was made to formulate privileges and immunities for them on a general basis.
● The negotiators of the international organization were left by which the individual organizations were
established to make provision: either in specific or general terms, for appropriate immunities and
privileges to be agreed by the States members to the organization itself, its premises, property,
archives, and communications, and to different classes of persons connected with the organization –
representative of member states, experts and staff members.
● The most important agreement made at this time was for the United Nations wherein the charter of the
United Nations made only very general provision for immunities and privileges.
 ● Article 104 stated that ‘[t]he organization shall enjoy in the territory of each of its members such legal
capacity as may be necessary for the exercise of its functions and the fulfillment of its purpose’
● Article 105 that the organization should enjoy ‘such immunities and privileges as are necessary for the
fulfillment of its purposes’ and the representatives of members and officials of the organization should
enjoy ‘such privileges and immunities as are necessary for the independent exercise of their functions
in connection with the organization’
● February 13, 1946 when the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the General
Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations and opened for accession by UN
members.
● The General Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations consults to the United
Nations legal personality, in particular the capacity to contact, to acquire and dispose immovable and
movable property, and to institute legal proceedings
● ‘It accords full immunity from jurisdiction and every form of legal process to the UN, its property and
assets, and inviolability to its premises and property, its archives and documents wherever located’
● ‘Multilateralism in the 20th century provided institutionalized collective action to deal with security
threats, development, human rights, and many more’
● Multilateralism showed in history that its forms and institutions are evolving although not sufficiently.
Kohler stated that historically, states pursue their interests by insisting unanimous for decisions, thus
limiting effective decision-taking. As the world changes, as the external and internal dynamics move,
multilateral institutions must adapt and change further.

The Charter
The word ‘charter’ originated in the group in the United States State Department engaged, under the
supervision of Dr. Leo Pasvolky, in the preparation of documents and drafts for the Dumbarton Oaks talks.

In 1944 the first formal international discussions was held at Dumbarton Oaks ( a private mansion in
Washington DC), Washington D.C. between representatives of the United States, United Kingdom, AND
SOVIET UNION this was followed by the similar talks between US, UK AND Republic Of China where in the
Soviet government refused to work with the Nationalist Chinese. Further talks took place at Yalta in February
1945. These talks resulted in a text of a draft Charter for the forthcoming of the United Nations Conference on
the International Organization.

The Charter was signed on June 26 by representatives of all the 51 nations taking part in the conference,
except Poland, which signed on 15 October, The Charter went into force on the 24th of October 1945.

Membership
● According to article 4.1 of the Charter, Membership in the United Nations is open to all other peace-
loving states which accepts the obligations contained in the present Charter and, in the judgement of
the Organization, are able and willing to carry out these obligations.
● Admission is effected by the decision of the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Security
Council.

Principal Organs
● The General Assembly
● The Security Council
● The Economic and Social Council
● The Secretariat
● The trusteeship council
● The International Court of Justice
The General Assembly
● The only organ in which all members of the UN are directly represented.
● The Assembly is charged to discuss and make recommendations about matter within the scope of the
UN Charter. (development of international law, promoting international cooperation in the economic and
social areas, and human rights)
● It receives and notes reports from the Security Council and other bodies.
● It approves the budget of the organization
● The General Assembly is not a deciding body but a recommending one.
● It can make recommendations with regard to disputes or situations under the Security council only if
they request so.

Meetings
● The General Assembly meets in regular session at United Nations Headquarters in New York
beginning with ministerial element starting on the third tuesday of September. The ‘Uniting for Peacec’
resolution of 1950 made specific provision for meetings at short notice.

Structure of the General Assembly

● Main Committees
○ Plenary Meeting which can be called at any time during a session is the final authority within the
General Assembly. The Assembly has set up six main committees on which each member
country maybe represented by one person.

The committees are:

● First Committee: Disarmament and International Security
● Second Committee: Economic and Financial
● Third Committee: Social, Humanitarian and Cultural
● Fourth Committee: Special Political and Decolonization
● Fifth Committee: Administrative and Budgetary
● Sixth Committee: Legal

● Procedural Committees
○ The General Committee - consists of 28 members; President of the Assembly, who presides,
and the 21 vice-presidents, together with the Chairmen of the six main committees. It assists the
president of the assembly over the arrangement of the agenda. It can also tender general
advice to the president on the handling of the sessions: in practice its advice covers procedural
issues and it may not decide political questions.
○ The Credentials Committee- is a committee of nine members, appointed at the beginning of
each session by the General Assembly on the proposal of the president. It also examines the
credentials presented by leaders of the delegations to the particular session and reports them to
the assembly.

● Standing Committees
○ Applied to two committees only, the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary
Questions (ACABQ) and the committee on Contributions. It examines and reports on regular
and peacekeeping budgets and the accounts of the United Nations and the administrative
budget of the Specialized Agencies and advises the General Assembly on the other
administrative and financial matters referred to it. It has 16 members.
 ○ The second standing committee, the committee on the contributions, advises the General
Assembly on the division of the expenses of the UN among its members, the assessments for
new members, appeals by members for a change of assessment an application of Article 19 in
case of arrears. It has 18 members and it seeks to avoid entanglement with the politics of
arrears.
○ Article 19 - “A member … in arrears in the payment of its financial contributions to the
organization shall have no vote in the General Assembly if the amount of its arrears equals or
exceeds the amount of the contributions due from it for the preceding two full years…”

CASE:
At the time of the Congo crisis of 1960, there was disagreement within the United Nations about paying for the
United Nations Emergency Force in the Middle East and for peacekeeping operations in the Congo. The Soviet
Union and its communist associates had taken the line from 1956 onwards that only the Security Council had
the authority to establish United Nations forces and decide how their operations should be financed, and the
Soviet Union in 1960 opposed peacekeeping activities in the Congo.

The Assembly failed to resolve the dispute between two organs and the Soviet Union and in respect of the
Congo, France began to withhold payments. The Assembly in 1961 decided by a majority to refer to the
International Court of Justice the question whether peacekeeping activities in the middle east and the Congo
constituted ‘expenses of the Organisation’ under Article 17 of the charter. The Court took, by majority vote, the
view that no limitation of the scope of the United Nations action, as implied by the opposing side, existed in
Article 17, thereby rejecting the Soviet and French contention and action. In 1964 when Soviet payments had
dropped seriously behind, the United States raised the possibility of action under Article 19 to suspend the
Soviet vote in the Assembly. There was naturally relief when crisis was averted by a so-called ‘non-objection
procedure’ which enabled the US to withdraw its pressure. But this procedural device thinly concealed a major
concession of principle proving the non-effectiveness of rules and committees when a leading power decides
not to comply.

Subsidiary and ad hoc bodies

● These are the remaining committees grouped together by the United Nations. In 2008 there were 31 of
them. It has four almost equal groups: political and disarmament, individual problems and crises,
administration, and the remainder, notably legal, social, and economic.
● They are the classic field of modern collective diplomacy conducted by mixed national teams that
contain specialist and diplomatic skills, increasingly through individuals knowledgeable in both areas.
● General Policy speeches, very often made by foreign ministers and occasionally by heads of
government are delivered in plenary session during the first two or three weeks of the regular Assembly
session.
● Decisions are taken in committees by a simple majority of those present and voting.

Order of roll-call voting

● The General Assembly shall normally vote by show of hands or by standing, but any representative
may request a roll-call. The roll-call shall be taken in the English alphabetical order of the names of the
members, beginning with the member whose name is drawn by lot by the president. This is according
to the rule 89 of the rules of procedure of the General Assembly.

The Security Council

The security council has the primary responsibility for the maintenance of peace and security.

Membership
 ● Originally, the Security Council had 11 members, 5 permanent and 6 non-permanent.
● The permanent members - Republic of China, France, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the
United Kingdom and Great Britain and the Northern Ireland, and the United States of America.
● The six non-permanent members - were to be elected by the General Assembly for two years, a
provision in Article 23.2 ensuring that three would be elected each year.
● Since that time there have been two important changes
○ Number of members
○ Identity of one of the permanent members
● Election of non-permanent members - due regard is to be paid to the contribution of members in the
maintenance of international peace and security and to the other purpose of the organization.
● Each year, elections to the Council take account of equitable geographical distribution by electing
members from each of the geographical groupings, often with agreed candidates nominated by the
groups.

Procedure
● The Security Council is organized so as to be able to function continuously.
● Every member of the council has to be represented at all times at the seat of the organization.
● The position of President - held for a month at a time by each of its members, in the alphabetical order
of their English names.

Functions
● The main functions of the Security Council are dealt with in Chapters VI and VII of The Charter.
○ Chapter VI (“”The Pacific Settlement of Disputes”)
■ The Council may call on the parties to a dispute to settle it by peaceful means;
■ may investigate any dispute or any situation which might lead to international friction or
give rise to a dispute, in order to determine whether the continuance of the dispute or
situation is likely to endanger the maintenance of peace and security;
■ or at any stage of such dispute or situation, may recommend procedures or methods of
adjustment;
■ any member of the United Nations or the secretary-general may bring such a dispute or
situation to the attention of the Council, or of the General Assembly;
■ any State not a member of the United Nations may bring to the attention of the same
bodies any dispute to which it is a party, if it accepts for the purposes of the dispute the
obligations of pacific settlement provided in the Charter.
○ Charter VII (“Action with respect to Threats to the Peace, Breaches of the Peace and Acts of
Aggression”)
■ The Council is given extensive powers, including the power to use armed force.
■ Under Article 25 of the Charter, Member States are obliged to comply with the decisions
of the Security Council (whereas resolutions of the General Assembly can, as a rule,
only have the force of recommendations.)
■ While up to 1989, owing to the power of veto of the permanent members of the Security
Council, the Council rarely exercised the powers granted to it by the provisions of the
Chapter VII, since that time, the Council has on a number of occasions adopted
resolutions which have been mandatory in nature, and involved sanctions and even the
use of force.
■ Military Staff Committee - Article 47 provides this, meant to assist the Security Council in
making plans for the application of armed force, has had from the beginning a purely
formal existence.
 ○ Article 51 of the Charter also provides that nothing contained in it shall impair the inherent right
of individual or collective self-defense, if an armed attack occurs against a member of the United
Nations, until the Security Council has taken measures necessary to maintain international
peace and security.
○ The Charter allows for the establishment of regional arrangements for dealing with such matters
relating to the maintenance of international peace and security as are appropriate for regional
action.
○ No enforcement action can be taken under regional arrangements or by regional agencies
without the authorization of the Security Council.

Enlargement of Membership
● It was accordingly decided in 1963 (ratified in 1965) that the membership of the Security Council should
be raised to 15, the number of permanent members remaining at 5.
● Geographical Distribution of non-permanent members:
○ Africa and Asia - 5
○ Eastern Europe - 1
○ Latin America and Carribean - 2
○ Western Europe and other States - 2
● When the SC numbered 11 members
○ procedural motion required seven (7) affirmative votes,
○ so that one such vote had to come from one of the five permanent members.
● When it was raised to 15
○ the number of affirmative votes required to carry a procedural motions at nine (9),
○ motions can be passed without a vote from any of the permanent members,
○ even with the support of the five permanent members a resolution also requires the positive
votes of four (4) non-permanent members if it is to be approved.
○ “Sixth Veto” - any seven of the 10 non-permanent members can collectively exercise this on a
matter on which the permanent members are not enthusiastic but on which no permanent
member wishes to vote negatively; whether alone or in company with others, a proposition can
be carried by the votes of non-permanent members only.
● Any amendment in the Charter would require the consent of each of the five permanent members and
⅔ majority in the General Assembly.

Replacement of the Republic of China by the People’s Republic

● San Francisco Conference - China was represented by the “Republic of China”
● After the Chinese Revolution in 1949 - Republic of China existed only as the CHiang Kai-shek
administration in Taiwan
● October 25, 1971 - Republic of China was replaced by the People’s Republic of China

Voting in the Security Council

● Article 27 of the Charter:
○ 1. Each member of the Security Council shall have one vote
○ 2. Decisions of the Security Council on procedural matters shall be made by an affirmative vote
of seven (7) members.
○ 3. Decisions of the Security Council on all other matters shall be made by an affirmative vote of
seven (7) members including the concurring votes of the permanent members; provided that in
decisions under Article VI and under paragraph 3 of Article 52, a party to dispute shall abstain
from voting.
 ● August 31, 1965 - the number of votes required for affirmative decisions was raised from seven (7) to
nine (9)
● Article 27.3 - effect is to create the so-called “veto”, exercisable by any of the permanent members. It
was only a measure of this kind that the constitution of the United Nations could be made to conform
with the realities of world power.
○ Modification (1946/7) - abstention by a permanent member was not to be regarded as the
exercise of a veto. Thus, if a permanent member abstained, such an abstention would not imply
failure of a draft resolution provided that there were sufficient affirmative to make up 7 or after
August 1965, 9.
CASE:
● 25 June 1950 - troops from North Korea crossed the boundary into South Korea and met resistance
from South Korean forces. The matter was at once brought to the attention of the Security Council. In
the debate the Secretary-General, Mr. trygve Lie, intervened to give his opinion that the attack was a
violation of the United Nations Charter. When a draft resolution was put to the vote calling for a
ceasefire and a withdrawal of forces, there was no veto. Under subsequent resolutions, approval was
given for an international force provided 16 States and organized under what was called a Unified
Command, which was under US leadership throughout the war. Hostilities eventually ended by an
Armistice agreement.
● “Uniting for Peace” agreement provided that if the Security Council were prevented by unanimity among
its permanent members from taking action in a case involving a threat to the peace, the Assembly
might be called within 24 hours at the request of 7 members of the Security Council, or of a majority of
Member States, to meet in emergency session for the purpose of making recommendations for
collective measures.

Use by the United Nations of armed forces

● Use of Military Forces
● Use of Veto
● 2 years after Korean war, the Security Council authorized the United Nations mediator in Palestine to
use military observers for truce supervision.
● After Suez crisis, a United Nations Emergency Force was placed on the border between Israel and
Egypt between the forces of the two countries.
● Peace keeping and the presence of UN blue helmets or blue berets in conflict areas.
● In approving a UN peace-keeping operations:
○ Council resolution spells out its mandate,
○ the protection of the force itself and of civilians in the area of deployment.
○ The use of the force permitted
○ Size of the force

Economic and Social Council

President: His Excellency Frederick Musiiwa Makamure Shava was elected seventy-second President of the
Economic and Social Council on 28 July 2016. He is currently the Ambassador and Permanent Representative
of the Republic of Zimbabwe to the United Nations in New York.

● Objectives:
○ With a view to the creation of conditions of stability and well-being which are necessary for
peaceful and friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights
and self-determination of peoples, the UN shall promote:
■ Higher standard of living, full employment, and conditions of economic and social
progress and development;
 ■ Solutions of international economic, social, health, and related problems; and
international cultural and educational cooperation; and
■ Universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all
without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion.
● Authority for carrying out the above functions is vested in the General Assembly and, under its
authority, in the Economic and Social council.
● The Council may make or initiate studies on the matters referred to, and may make recommendation
upon them to the General Assembly, to Member States, and to the Specialized Agents concerned.
● It may also make arrangements for consultation with non-governmental organizations.
● The Council enters formal relationships with the Specialized Agencies by negotiating special
agreements with each of them, subject to approval by the General Assembly.

Membership and Procedures

● It originally consisted of 18 members, of which ⅓ retired each year but remained eligible for immediate
re-election.
● The number was increased to 27 in 1963 and 54 to 1971.
● Decisions of the Council are made by a majority of members present and voting, each member having
one (1) vote.
● The Economic and Social Council had competition existing already in the International Labour
Organization (1919), The International Bank for Reconstruction and development, and the International
Monetary Fund, and later in the World Health Organization.

The Secretariat
● Article 97, “The Secretariat shall comprise a secretary-general and such staff as the Organisation may
require.”

The Secretary General

Trivia: António Guterres, the ninth Secretary-General of the United Nations, took office on 1st January 2017.
Prior to his appointment as Secretary-General, Mr. Guterres served as United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees from June 2005 to December 2015.

● “The Secretary-general shall be appointed by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the
Security Council. He shall be the chief administrative office of the Organisation.”
● Article 98 - the secretary-general “shall act in the capacity in all meetings of the General Assembly”,
“and shall perform such other functions as are entrusted to him by these organs.”
● Article 99 - “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.”

The Staff
● The staff of the secretariat is appointed by the secretary-general under regulations established by the
General Assembly.
● Consideration of their employment and in the determination of their conditions of service is, according
to Article 101.3
○ “...necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence and integrity. Due
regard shall be paid to the importance of recruiting staff on as wide a geographical basis as
possible.”
● The secretary-general and staff may not seek or receive instructions from any government or from any
other authority external to the organization. They re to refrain from any action which might reflect on
their position as international officials responsible only to the organization.
 ○ Article 100, each member of the United Nations undertakes to respect the exclusive
international character and responsibilities of the secretary-general and his staff and not to seek
to influence them in the discharge of their responsibilities.

Languages
● In all organs of the United Nations, other than the International Criminal Court of Justice, Chinese,
French, Russian, and Spanish shall be the official languages and, English and French the working
languages. But through time working languages increased adding, Spanish, Chinese, and Russian.

The Trusteeship Council

● It deals with a special task inherited from the Permanent Mandates Commission of the League of
Nations as modified by the changes in the world military and political situation brought about by the
Second World War.

Non-self governing territories

● During the Second World War various Allied declarations spoke in terms of freedom, and in case of
India a highly serious if unsuccessful, effort was made in 1942 to advance this progress beyond the
provincial self-government already achieved. India had in any case been a member of the League of
Nations while not yet independent from Britain, and it was accepted internationally that India would be
independently represented not only at politico-technical conferences such as the Chicago Civil Aviation
Conference in 1944 but also at the San Francisco Conference itself. American opinion, official and
unofficial was strongly opposed to the return of French and Dutch rule in Indochina and Indonesia
respectively, where strong nationalist movements had developed during Japanese occupation.
● There was an inevitable question whether there should be an Article in the United Nations Charter
about non-self governing territories should be raised and hotly debated in San Francisco. Majority
favoured the inclusion of such an article.
● Article 73, Members of the United Nations which have or assume responsibilities for the administration
of territories whose people have not yet attained full measure of self-government recognise the
principle that the interests of the inhabitants of these territories are paramount, and accept as a sacred
trust the obligation to promote to utmost, within the system of international peace and security
established by the present Charter, the well-being of the inhabitants of these territories.