Strengthening The Rule Of Law Through The Un Security Council

The UN Security Council formally acknowledged an obligation to promote justice and the rule of law in 2003. This volume examines the extent to which the Council has honoured this commitment when exercising its powers under the UN Charter to maintain international peace and security. It discusses both how the concept of the rule of law regulates, or influences, Security Council activity and how the Council has in turn shaped the notion of the rule of law. It explores in particular how this relationship has affected the Security Council’s three most prominent tools for the maintenance of international peace and security: peacekeeping, sanctions and force. In doing so, this volume identifies strategies for better promotion of the rule of law by the Security Council. This book will be of interest to scholars and students of international law, international relations, international development and peacekeeping.

These Policy Proposals are the product of a three-year Australian Research Council-funded project on 'Strengthening the Rule of Law through the UN Security Council'. The project is a collaboration between the Australian National University's Centre for International Governance and Justice and the Australian Government's Australian Civil-Military Centre. The project examined the relationship between the Security Council and the rule of law when it uses three of its most prominent tools for the maintenance of international peace and security, namely peace operations, sanctions and force. An important project aim was to develop policy proposals to enhance the Security Council's ability to strengthen the rule of law when it deploys peace operations, applies sanctions and authorises the use of force.During the course of the Strengthening the Rule of Law project a series of eight workshops were convened, involving highly engaged practitioners and academics. Four workshops took place at the Australian National University in Canberra and four were hosted by the Australian Mission to the United Nations in New York. Each workshop brought together a blend of 25-30 practitioners and academics who were experts and creative thinkers in the area of focus. Two hundred and twelve participants were involved across all workshops, drawn from across Australia and around the world. Practitioner participants came from various Australian government departments and agencies, as well as a range of UN Secretariat departments and agencies, diplomatic missions to the UN and non-government organisations.The Policy Proposals presented here emerged from the dialogue and debate that took place at these eight project workshops. The Proposals are framed by a responsive approach to the rule of law, informed by the empirical research of scholars in the field of regulatory studies. The significance of a responsive approach to the rule of law lies in its capacity to generate modest but meaningful progress in rule-of-law promotion both within the UN Security Council itself and in its interventions in the diverse conflict settings that trigger its responsibilities under the UN Charter.

The United Nations Security Council has increasingly resorted to sanctions as part of its efforts to prevent and resolve conflict. In this 2007 book, Farrall traces the evolution of the Security Council's sanctions powers and charts the contours of the UN sanctions system. He also evaluates the extent to which the Security Council's increasing commitment to strengthening the rule of law extends to its sanctions practice. The book identifies shortcomings in respect of key rule of law principles and advances pragmatic policy-reform proposals designed to ensure that UN sanctions promote, strengthen and reinforce the rule of law. In its appendices United Nations Sanctions and the Rule of Law contains summaries of all 25 UN sanctions regimes established to date by the Security Council. It forms an invaluable source of reference for diplomats, policymakers, scholars and advocates.

Identifies the major weaknesses in the current United Nations system and proposes fundamental reforms to address each. This title is also available as Open Access.

Efforts to reform the use of the veto -- Conclusions -- 11 Accountability -- Introduction -- Self-regulation -- The accountability, coherence and transparency (ACT) group -- The Office of the Ombudsperson -- Sibling UN organs -- The International Court of Justice -- Potential coordination with the ICJ -- The General Assembly -- Conclusions -- Final conclusions -- Index

This edited volume examines the role of international law in a changing global order. Can we, under the current significantly changing conditions, still observe an increasing juridification of international relations based on a universal understanding of values? Or are we, to the contrary, facing a tendency towards an informalization or a reformalization of international law, or even an erosion of international legal norms? Would it be appropriate to revisit classical elements of international law in order to react to structural changes, which may give rise to a more polycentric or non-polar world order? Or are we simply observing a slump in the development towards an international rule of law based on a universal understanding of values? In eleven chapters, distinguished scholars reflect on how to approach these questions from historical, system-oriented and actor-centered perspectives. The contributions engage with the rise of European international law since the 17th century, the decay of the international rule of law, compliance as an indicator for the state of international law, international law and informal law-making in times of populism, the rule of environmental law and complex problems, human rights in Europe in a hostile environment, the influence of the BRICS states on international law, the impact of non-state actors on international law, international law's contribution to global justice, the contestation of value-based norms and the international rule of law in light of legitimacy claims.

Traditional separation of powers theories assumed that governmental despotism will be prevented by dividing the branches of government which will check one another. Modern governments function with unexpected complicity among these branches. Sometimes one of the branches becomes overwhelming. Other governmental structures, however, tend to mitigate these tendencies to domination. Among other structures courts have achieved considerable autonomy vis-à-vis the traditional political branches of power. They tend to maintain considerable distance from political parties in the name of professionalism and expertise. The conditions and criteria of independence are not clear, and even less clear are the conditions of institutional integrity. Independence (including depolitization) of public institutions is of particular practical relevance in the post-Communist countries where political partisanship penetrated institutions under the single party system. Institutional integrity, particularly in the context of administration of justice, became a precondition for accession to the European Union. Given this practical challenge the present volume is centered around three key areas of institutional integrity, primarily within the administration of justice: First, in a broader theoretical-interdisciplinary context the criteria of institutional independence are discussed. The second major issue is the relation of neutralized institutions to branches of government with reference to accountability. Thirdly, comparative experience regarding judicial independence is discussed to determine techniques to enhance integrity.

This open access book analyses the interplay of sustainable development and human rights from different perspectives including fight against poverty, health, gender equality, working conditions, climate change and the role of private actors. Each aspect is addressed from a more human rights-focused angle and a development-policy angle. This allows comparisons between the different approaches but also seeks to close gaps which would remain if only one perspective would be at the center of the discussions. Specifically, the book shows the strong connections between human rights and the objectives of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the United Nations in 2015. Already the preamble of this document explicitly states that "the 17 Sustainable Development Goals ... seek to realise the human rights of all". Moreover, several goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda correspond to already existing individual human rights obligations. The contributions of this volume therefore also address how the implementation of human rights and SDGs can reinforce each other, but also point to critical shortcomings of the different approaches.