Violating refugee laws… Shouldn’t the U.N. cease its activities in Vienna?
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ ΑΡΘΡΑ
By Ilias Kouskouvelis*
Students and, especially, practitioners of international relations have often expressed a nihilistic and rather dismissive opinion about the role of the United Nations, its utility and its effectiveness.
I have never and I do not share this point of view. As a person who, thirty years ago, even for a very short period of time, has served the United Nations, I always maintained that the Organization has contributed a lot, world widely. Most recently, my Department and my University, adopting a proposal of mine, have become members of the United Nations “Academic Impact Initiative Network”.
Yet, there are moments, like the present one, that I have my doubts about the United Nations efficiency of action. What is going on right now?
Humanity and European states, in particular, are facing the largest ever post-WWII refugee crisis! And it is at this moment that several European states are adopting policies that are contrary to the UN principles and undermine the relentless work of the UNHCR!
It is true that Ban Ki-Moon, the U.N. Secretary-General, on Friday 26, 2016, has voiced concern about the increasing border restrictions in the Balkans and Austria for migrants and refugees heading towards Central Europe, and urged all countries to keep their frontiers open. His spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said the restrictions imposed by Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia “were not in line with the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees”, and that the Secretary-General “calls on all countries to keep their borders open, and to act in a spirit of responsibility sharing and solidarity…”
What the spokesman said in his diplomatic language is that the five countries – among them the long time considered UN principled country, Austria – are violating humanitarian law!
And, what was the further United Nations action against such a violation, at the time when thousands of refugees, ostensibly remaining at the Greek border, want to keep moving towards Central Europe?
The answer is nothing!
So I am asking, hasn’t the time come that the United Nations Secretariat and the Secretary-General, the chief administrative officer of the Organization, show with actions their discontent? Especially towards a country that, being the third (after New York and Geneva) to host the United Nations Headquarters in its capital, should totally respect the United Nations principles and international law?
Everybody understands that this is a matter of the utmost symbolism! The “United Nations family in Vienna” includes more than a dozen UN services and intergovernmental organizations. Ironically, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is also based in Vienna..!
Thus, my question is simple: shouldn’t the United Nations consider ceasing (at least temporarily) the activities of any of these UN activities in Vienna?
I believe that such an action will increase the prestige of the Organization and will show that the United Nations mean to fulfil the role and mission entrusted to them by big and small nations around the World. Most important, it will show to the refugees that someone, other than volunteers, NGOs and simple citizens around the world, cares for them!
This is hard times, and hard times require hard decisions and action!
- Ilias Kouskouvelis is Professor of International Relations at the University of Macedonia, Greece.