Lecture | Seminar
The role of the UN in the conflict in Ukraine
- Date
- Wednesday 7 June 2023
- Time
- Address
-
Wijnhaven
Turfmarkt 99
2511 DP The Hague
While the UN provides refugee protection and humanitarian aid in Ukraine and is actively involved in the Black Sea Grain Initiative, its role in the domain of peace and security is limited: examples include speeches by the UN Secretary-General and the February 2023 General Assembly (GA) resolution demanding that the Russian Federation withdraw its troops from Ukrainian territory, in line with the UN Charter.
However, GA resolutions lack ‘bite’. The impossibility for the Security Council to act in this conflict has, again, raised the question as to what role the GA and other UN organs can still play. Various initiatives have been taken, such as the GA’s emergency special session and the adoption of GA Res. 76/262 (‘Standing mandate for a GA debate when a veto is cast in the Security Council’). Are these examples of ‘bypassing the UN Charter in the spirit of the Charter itself’, knowing that formal changes of the Charter are not a realistic perspective? Or does the Russian aggression against Ukraine and the use of its veto in the Security Council bring new stimuli to the long-standing negotiations about Security Council Reform?
Dr. Alanna O’Malley, Associate Professor at the Leiden University Institute for History, and Prof. Niels Blokker, Professor of International Institutional Law at Leiden University, will provide a presentation. This will be followed by a Q&A.
Registration, information and organisation
This meeting is co-organised with the Royal Netherlands Society of International Law. Please send an email to contact@knvir.org by Friday 2 June 2023 indicating whether you would like to attend the meeting in person or online via Zoom. For questions, please contact the Secretary at: board@knvir.org.