The UN Security Council is expected to meet today to discuss the Syrian crisis and government-backed assault on Eastern Ghouta - described by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres as “hell on Earth”.
The council is also likely to vote on a draft resolution demanding a 30-day ceasefire in Syria to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid and medical evacuations.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
In January, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Russia’s failure to resolve the issue of chemical weapons use in Syria called into question Russia’s relevance to the resolution.
“At a bare minimum, Russia must stop vetoing and at least abstain on future UNSC resolutions on this issue,” Tillerson said.
The council’s five permanent members - the US, the UK, France, Russia and China - all have the power to veto a resolution. This means that the body’s ability to maintain peace often depends upon its members’ narrow interests - leading critics to ask whether the council has any value.
In August, war crimes expert Carla del Ponte quit the UN panel probing alleged war crimes in Syrian, calling it “pointless”. “I give up,” del Ponte said. “The states in the Security Council don’t want justice.”
While military action taken without council’s blessing is still typically regarded as illegitimate, the UN has been “reduced to the status of a helpless spectator by Russia”, says The Atlantic.
Hannah Thomas-Peter of Sky News described the council last year as “a useless talking shop” with an “inglorious history of missing chances to avert catastrophe”.
She pointed to Syria, Rwanda and Bosnia as examples of its ineffectiveness.
-
How Tesla has put Elon Musk on track to be the world’s first trillionaireIn The Spotlight The package agreed by the Tesla board outlines several key milestones over a 10-year period
-
Cop30: is the UN climate summit over before it begins?Today’s Big Question Trump administration will not send any high-level representatives, while most nations failed to submit updated plans for cutting greenhouse gas emissions
-
‘The Big Crunch’: why science is divided over the future of the universeThe Explainer New study upends the prevailing theory about dark matter and says it is weakening
-
Nigeria confused by Trump invasion threatSpeed Read Trump has claimed the country is persecuting Christians
-
Sanae Takaichi: Japan’s Iron Lady set to be the country’s first woman prime ministerIn the Spotlight Takaichi is a member of Japan’s conservative, nationalist Liberal Democratic Party
-
Russia is ‘helping China’ prepare for an invasion of TaiwanIn the Spotlight Russia is reportedly allowing China access to military training
-
Interpol arrests hundreds in Africa-wide sextortion crackdownIN THE SPOTLIGHT A series of stings disrupts major cybercrime operations as law enforcement estimates millions in losses from schemes designed to prey on lonely users
-
Inside Syria’s al-Hol campUnder the radar Aid cuts mean authorities face ‘uphill struggle’ to maintain security
-
China is silently expanding its influence in American citiesUnder the Radar New York City and San Francisco, among others, have reportedly been targeted
-
How China uses 'dark fleets' to circumvent trade sanctionsThe Explainer The fleets are used to smuggle goods like oil and fish
-
Rubio says US brokered end to Syria conflictSpeed Read Syria's defense ministry was targeted in Israeli attacks on the capital
