The Secretary-General of the United Nations, while sending a letter to the President of the General Assembly of the United Nations, insists on the suspension of Iran’s right to vote due to non-payment of membership dues, that the UN Charter Internationally put.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has sent an official letter to Vulcan Bezker, chair of the UN General Assembly, reflecting on the debts of Iran and several other African countries over their annual membership dues to the United Nations and calling for a suspension of their voting rights.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mohammad Javad Zarif, criticized the UN policy and its disregard for US economic terrorism and wrote: The United Nations could claim a share of the $ 110 million stolen by the United States in its recent robbery.
He wrote on his Twitter account: In the world of “inverted facts”, the United Nations deprives Iran of the right to vote in the General Assembly due to late payment.
Threatening to suspend Iran’s voting rights; Endorsement of US unilateral policies
The United Nations General Assembly is the largest global gathering at the heart of the largest organization, comprising almost every country in the world. Each member of the General Assembly shall have one vote in accordance with paragraph (1) of Article (18) of the Charter of the United Nations, and the decisions of this important body shall be in accordance with paragraph (2) of Article (18):
Decisions of the General Assembly on important matters shall be taken by a two-thirds majority of the members present and voting; the following are important issues:
Advice on maintaining international peace and security – Election of non-permanent members of the Security Council – Election of members of the Economic and Social Council – Election of members of the Board of Trustees in accordance with paragraph 1 of Article 86 – Acceptance of new members – Suspension of members’ rights and benefits – Expulsion of members – Issues Related to custody and budget issues.
According to Article 19 of the Charter, “Members of the United Nations whose quota has been delayed in the expenditure of the Organization shall not be eligible to vote if their arrears are equal to or greater than two years’ quota. However, if the General Assembly determines that the negligence is due to causes beyond the control of that member, it may allow that member to vote.”
The question now is whether the imposition of unilateral and oppressive US sanctions on Iran and the freezing of its assets could not be an example of the culmination of Article 19 of the Charter, which states that the suspension of membership dues is unintentional?
The suspension of Iran’s suffrage can be seen in line with the hostile policies of pressure from some Western governments, especially the United States, which is disappointing in the form of the United Nations, which is supposed to uphold the rights of nations and governments.
Romwald Siura, an international expert in the United States and a member of the French Institute for Strategic and International Studies (IRIS), recently stresseing in a written interview with an IRNA reporter that Guttierez’s performance was weak, said: The performance of current UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has not only been very disappointing, but has undoubtedly failed because of its weakness in the face of pressure and unilateralism from the former US President Trump administration.
Referring to the critical world situation caused by the outbreak of the deadly coronavirus, he said: In such a situation where the duty of the United Nations is to support the governments involved in the problems, the abolition of the voting rights of these countries is the biggest political mistake of Guterres and a serious threat to the United Nations. Therefore, it should not be surprising if one day in the future these countries turn away from the United Nations and turn to regional groups. But was the United States, which for several years refused to pay its dues for membership in the United Nations, deprived of its right to vote? No!
United Nations; Seriousness in enforcing formal rules, negligence in performing essential tasks
The insistence on enforcing formal rules such as the right of countries to vote, even as Iran’s membership in the United Nations has been delayed due to unilateral US sanctions, raises the key question of whether the international organization will perform other tasks that inherent and important role it owes under the Charter been so insistent and serious? Widespread violation of international law; Countering America’s extreme unilateralism; Restoration of international peace and security; Fight against discrimination and injustice in the world; Tackling poverty; Corona crisis management; Widespread unemployment in the world, dealing with climate threats, etc.?
The answer is definitely no. International organizations such as the United Nations, although having independent legal personality, are governed by the will of governments. However, one day countries decided to achieve the goals that the same goals and ideals remain on the ground today, and many of them have not been achieved, by establishing the United Nations and granting it an independent legal personality.
The international community must ask itself how it has reacted to US unilateral sanctions that violate international law? International rules and regulations only allow the United Nations to take coercive economic action under sanctions under Article 39 of the Charter, in certain circumstances.
The United Nations General Assembly, in Resolution A / RES / 46/210 adopted in 1991, entitled “Economic Measures as a Means of Political and Economic Coercion Against Developing Countries, strongly urges industrialized nations to assert their superior position as a means of do not use economic pressure to change the economic, social and other policies of other countries.
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in its Resolution 152, adopted in 1983, condemned economic measures, especially when used against developing countries.
Paragraph (4) of the resolution of the Human Rights Commission, entitled “Human Rights and Unilateral Coercive Measures”, goes beyond this and explicitly describes trade restrictions, blockade, and prohibition of transactions and freezing of assets as human rights crimes.
Unilateral sanctions can also be seen as violating the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of other governments. Prohibition of interference in the internal affairs of other States in paragraph (7) of Article (2) of the Charter of the United Nations; Article (8) of the Montevideo Convention of 1933; Article (15) Charter of the Organization of American States 1948; Article (8) Charter of the Arab League 1945; Article (3) of the 1963 Charter of the Organization of African Unity is specified.
Is there a difference in importance between the different articles of the UN Charter? As long as the United Nations is unwilling or unable to carry out its inherent and fundamental tasks at the global level and to prove its philosophy of existence, it should not do so in a matter that is clearly due to behavior outside the rules and regulations of international government such as the United States.