UN, Where Art Thou?

The United Nations has done little to stop the violence in Libya, and that may be all it can do.

As a desperate Moammar Gadhafi drags his country into chaos, the National Post editorial board demands, “Where is the United Nations Human Rights Council?” The organization remains silent in the face of the terrible violence in Libya, which the Post says is ironic considering its obsession with passing motions condemning Israel, the “one liberal democratic state in the Middle East.” If the body (which is dominated by Islamic and African states) is going to condemn Israel’s conduct in the 2009 Gaza conflict or its building settlements in Jerusalem, surely the massacre Gadhafi is committing deserves condemnation too, says the Post. What the editors hope such a condemnation would achieve other than add some balance to the obviously biased UNHRC is, however, unclear. Browbeating Israel certainly hasn’t changed its behaviour much, and it’s difficult to imagine Gadhafi would pull back from the brink of madness at the behest of a relatively powerless UN body. All the Post seems to be asking is that the UNHRC distribute its ineffectual edicts more evenly.

Echoing a Toronto Star editorial, Errol Mendes writes in the Ottawa Citizen that another UN organization, the Security Council, is the one that should take action. He rightly points out that despite statements from Gadhafi’s former diplomats, the violence in Libya does not fit the legal definition of genocide, but is nevertheless a serious crime and the Security Council should set in motion the process of bringing Libyan leaders before the International Criminal Court. “This action is critical,” Mendes writes, “and it would send a warning to other despots in the Middle East, including those in Iran, who think they can get away with similar actions in that country.”

The tacit admission in this argument is that it’s too late for UN members to intervene directly in Libya, and the best we can hope for is to send a message to other despots who may soon be in Gadhafi’s position. Unfortunately dictators tend not to be great listeners.