Avishi Agarwal’s Post

You may have heard of the UN Security Council. But what is it all about and who is actually a member? The Security Council bears the main responsibility for maintaining peace and international security. It has 15 Members, and each Member has one vote. When international peace is threatened, the Security Council calls on the parties to a dispute to settle it peacefully and recommends methods or conditions for settlement. In some cases, the Security Council may impose sanctions or even authorise the use of force to maintain or restore international peace and security.  Unlike other bodies of the United Nations, the decisions of the Security Council are binding under international law. The Security Council also makes recommendations on the appointment of a new Secretary-General and on the admission of new members to the United Nations. The Security Council is made up of 5 permanent and 10 non-permanent members. In our infographic you can see who currently has a seat. The distribution of seats and whether someone deserves a permanent seat is regularly a matter of dispute. How do you see the role of the UN Security Council and do you think it should be reformed? Tell us in the comments!

One basic tenet of United Nations Charter is resolving any dispute through peaceful settlement as prescribed in the Charter. In similar vein, the ASEAN Treaty of Amity and Cooperation promote peaceful settlement of dispute with strong ASEAN unique non rule-based mechanism as acceptable customary state practice and opinio juris of international law. Malaysia and China lead the way in upholding peaceful settlement of dispute under the multilateral United Nations Charter.

Part 2: 6. **Negotiated Solutions with Strict Conditions:** While negotiations with such groups are fraught with moral and practical challenges, under certain conditions and with the right guarantees, dialogue may still be a necessary tool. Any negotiations should aim for disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration of fighters into society under strict oversight, along with guarantees for the protection of human rights. 7. **Preventing Financing and Arms Flows:** Intensifying international efforts to cut off the flow of funds and arms to the offending group through more stringent sanctions, banking regulations, and interdiction efforts. This includes tracking and stopping the sale of natural resources or other goods that finance their operations. 8. **Legal and Diplomatic Actions to Counter Impunity:** Enhancing efforts to prosecute those responsible for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide, through international courts or specially constituted tribunals, to signal that such acts will not go unpunished. Given the complexity and gravity of such situations, international responses must be carefully considered and ethically grounded, with a primary focus on protecting civilians and restoring peace. The international legal framework, including the principles of sovereignty and non-intervention, must be balanced against the imperative to prevent mass atrocities and protect human rights.

Violations of international humanitarian law are unfortunately widespread in many of today's armed conflicts. And while the international arms trade has never been as extensively regulated as it is today, weapons and munitions continue to flow, overtly and covertly, to some of the most brutal armed conflicts. Much more needs to be done by States to take their responsibilities seriously to not contribute to violations of international humanitarian law through the transfers of weapons and munitions. This Q&A can hopefully provide a useful overview to what international law says.

The Role of International Norms Violation of International Norms: The normalization of relations has occurred alongside ongoing violations of international law by Israel, including the expansion of settlements in the West Bank and the annexation of East Jerusalem. The tacit approval and support from the U.S. and its allies have allowed Israel to continue these practices with little consequence, undermining the credibility of international norms regarding occupation and human rights. UN Resolutions and Veto Power: The U.S. has frequently used its veto power in the UN Security Council to shield Israel from resolutions that condemn its actions or call for accountability. This has contributed to a perception that the normalization process serves to legitimize Israel's actions rather than promote a fair resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

📅 Digest of NACP’ news: 🌎International cooperation ▪️NACP Head discusses integrity of lobbying, cooperation and declaration with representatives of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine https://bit.ly/3wtHyJr 📂NACP results of April ▪️392 draft legal acts were monitored, corruption risks were identified in five of them: results of the NACP anti-corruption expertise in April https://bit.ly/3yd6pBX ▪️Inaccurate information worth more than UAH 55.8 million was found as a result of 51 full audits of declarations https://bit.ly/4b84QUc ▪️Conflict of interest: protocols and orders of the NACP in April https://bit.ly/3QEbz0a 🧩Anti-corruption policy ▪️Anti-corruption expertise and legislative initiatives: NACP and MPs identify priority areas of cooperation https://bit.ly/3woUlwG 🔎Lifestyle monitoring ▪️Member of Parliament was served a notice of suspicion for illicit enrichment of over UAH 11 million https://bit.ly/3QG4EU9 🖇️Virtuous defense system ▪️NACP joins expert consultations on reforming the defense procurement system according to NATO standards https://bit.ly/3JUdGsD

The United States decision to transfer antipersonnel landmines to Ukraine, in a reversal of its own policy, is reckless and marks an abandonment of international law. The prospect of Ukraine using landmines puts civilians at severe risk of harm and it encumbers the already vast clearance efforts that will be required for decades to come. The decision also marks yet another concerning setback in global efforts to strengthen the protection of civilians, and risks undermining years of progress made by states and civil society in establishing rules and norms against certain types of weapons, means and methods of warfare due to the likelihood of harm to civilians. The upcoming meeting in Siem Reap, Cambodia – a country that has suffered hugely from the scourge of landmines, is an opportunity for all States Parties to enact this moral obligation. We need to work to rebuild confidence in the value of rules and norms, and that positive normative pressure can shape behaviour in our shared global society. https://lnkd.in/ezDmcau3

While preparing the next LexisNexis France event next Wednesday, I went through this very interesting paper offering a good synthesis on the EU Directive on the violation of Union restrictive measures, while opening some hypothesis on how its provisions could be more efficiently implemented through the support of the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO). Few takeaways (reminders) on circumvention: ✅ The circumvention offence notably addresses cases in which designated persons, entities, and bodies use, transfer to a third party, or otherwise dispose of funds or economic resources directly or indirectly owned, held, or controlled by them in order to conceal these funds or economic resources. ✅Cases in which false or misleading information is provided to the competent authorities in order to conceal frozen funds or economic resources. ✅Failure to report assets belonging to, owned, held, or controlled by designed persons, entities, or bodies and also includes the failure to provide the competent authorities with information on frozen funds or economic resources in breach of the relevant obligations set out in the Council Regulations laying down Union restrictive measures. ❓ I will keep on questioning, and challenging, the double standard introduced through the humanitarian excuse, which, contrary to the current practice and policy(ies) should not open the door to preventing professional actors of this sector to exclude appropriate #duediligence, as for them to protect themselves, and the EU citizens from supporting, intentionnally or not, unappropriate actors. 👁🗨 As recalled in the paper, the possibility of extending the competence of the EPPO to violations of Union restrictive measures has been extensively debated over the past several months, but one reason could be also to prevent national authorities from not initiating some legal actions required in a field where national security is extensively involved. Looking forward to discuss this topic, and others, with Vincent Gaudel & Jan Dunin-Wasowicz Laura Roussillon All the credit to the authors Peter Csonka & Lucia Zoli #sanctions #EU #sanctionscompliance #circumvention https://lnkd.in/dnsVBwmt

Ukraine and the EU have signed a Framework Agreement for financing under the Ukraine Facility 🇺🇦🇪🇺 Together with the EU Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Olivérv Várhelyi we signed the corresponding agreements. The Framework Agreement provides guidance on how coordination, monitoring and reporting will be carried out under the Ukraine Facility. Importantly, it ensures close cooperation between the Ukrainian authorities and the EU institutions, including the European Commission, the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), and the European Court of Auditors. We will exchange information on the use of funds, coordinate our actions on financial initiatives, and conduct joint audits and inspections. For us, this cooperation is important not only for the operation under the Ukraine Facility but also for European integration as a whole. For its part, Ukraine is committed to ensuring transparency over the use of EU funds. This will include implementing a management and control system, regular reporting, compliance with EU sanctions requirements, and the fight against corruption. The Ministry of Economy of Ukraine will become the key body for interaction with the European Commission, serving as the National Coordinator for the implementation of the Ukraine Facility. The next step is for the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to ratify the Framework Agreement. This is a crucial step not only for the full launch of the Ukraine Facility, but also to enable us to receive €1.89 billion in bridge financing soon. I therefore believe that parliamentarians will support this decision.