{"id":1850,"date":"2012-10-25T05:00:15","date_gmt":"2012-10-24T19:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=1850"},"modified":"2012-10-25T21:09:07","modified_gmt":"2012-10-25T11:09:07","slug":"un-security-council-down-to-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/un-security-council-down-to-work\/","title":{"rendered":"UN Security Council \u2013 down to work"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a><\/figure>\n

In a recent post<\/a>, Peter Jennings and I argued that if Australia won a seat at the global decision making peak body, the UN Security Council, we\u2019d benefit from picking some signature issues where Australia could contribute most effectively to solutions to pressing international problems.<\/p>\n

Our suggested to-do list included leveraging our expertise to help build the UN\u2019s capacity to help stabilise countries at risk of failing; highlighting Timor-Leste\u2019s continuing needs; championing global opposition to the use of Improvised Explosive Devices; promoting efforts to strengthen maritime security, such as counter-piracy (see ASPI\u2019s latest report<\/a> on this issue); and developing cooperative measures to address information security.<\/p>\n

Now we\u2019ve won our fifth two year term on the Council, (proving wrong those naysayers that predicted our ties with the US, and strong support for Israel would spell defeat), we\u2019ll need to respond to a whole host of global issues.<\/p>\n

Apart from Syria, where there\u2019s a rift within the Permanent Five, (China and Russia don\u2019t back enforcement measures), there\u2019ll no doubt be a great deal of the Council\u2019s attention focused on continuing conflicts in Africa, such as Darfur and Mali. Australia\u2019s relations with Africa have to date been led by our private sector\u2019s resource interests<\/a>. But we\u2019ll need a much higher level of Australian engagement with Africa, if we\u2019re to contribute constructively to Security Council sessions devoted to African affairs. Initiating an Australia\u2013African leaders dialogue is worth considering.<\/p>\n

We will get to chair the Council twice during our two year term, for a month each time. That will be our main chance to shape the UN\u2019s agenda. (The Australian Prime Minister of the day might choose to Chair a session to advance particular issues deemed of importance.)<\/p>\n

Council resolutions require nine votes to pass. So we\u2019ll inevitably be drawn into the politics of the P5 that exercise the veto. It will be crucial for us to adopt an independent approach here, if we\u2019re to win the respect of all Security Council members and to show we\u2019re serious about being an activist middle power with an independent foreign policy.<\/p>\n

As the Council meets in one form or another almost every working day of the year, there\u2019ll be a need for our New York mission to draw upon a wide range of \u2018back-office\u2019 stakeholders in Australia for ideas and support. This doesn\u2019t just mean the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, but AusAID, Defence, and bodies such as the Australian Civil-Military Centre (that\u2019s focused on doctrine development for complex emergencies), business and selected non-government groups.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a real risk, however, that for the next two years Australian governments may assume that as we\u2019ve now won the Council seat without a huge resource investment, we can be a successful non-permanent member of the Security Council on the cheap.<\/p>\n

The shameful leeching of resources from Foreign Affairs over recent years should be addressed as a matter of urgency. It\u2019s going to take more than just chocolate koalas<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Anthony Bergin is deputy director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. Image courtesy of Flickr user United Nations Photo<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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