Africa-Press – Eritrea. Every September, world leaders from around the world gather at the United Nations (UN) headquarters in New York to discuss the globe’s most important issues. This year, representing the 78th edition of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), saw the first day of the high-level General Debate open on 19 September. The following paragraphs provide an overview of the UN, before tracing its historic relations with Eritrea.
Background
The term “United Nations” was originally coined by the American President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the Declaration by UN dated 1 January 1942. The Declaration was formed in the midst of World War 2, as the representatives of 26 different nations pledged their governments to continue fighting together against the Axis Powers. Then, in 1945, representatives of 50 countries met in San Francisco at the UN Conference on International Organization to develop the UN Charter. The deliberations were guided by the framework that had been formulated by the representatives of China, the USSR, the UK, and the US throughout the previous year. Subsequently, the UN Charter was signed on 26 June 1945 by the representatives of the 50 countries. (Poland, which was not represented at the Conference, signed it later and became one of the original 51 member states). Finally, the UN officially came into existence on 24 October 1945, when the Charter was ratified by China, France, the USSR, the UK, and the US (the five permanent members of the Security Council, along with a majority of the other countries.
Since its founding, the UN has grown into the world’s premier multilateral body and contributed to some significant successes, including peace treaties, decolonization, an increase in access to education, human rights standards, eradication of diseases, a reduction in hunger, development of international law and landmark pacts to protect the environment, and helping to avoid a military confrontation between major global powers. Also, while the UN initially had just 51 member states, today it has 193 (with 2 observers, Palestine and the Vatican), representing nearly all of humanity.
At the same time, however, the UN has also come in for considerable criticism over the years. For instance, while, in principle, all nations small and large, rich and poor, are to have equal voice and representation, the true power at the UN lies with the Security Council, particularly with its permanent members. Moreover, the UN has often been criticized for showing excessive deference and favoritism toward its powerful member states and for lacking initiative and remaining paralyzed in the face of major conflicts in which major powers have an interest or stake. Not only has this been an outgrowth of its dependence on the funding of the major powers, but historically the latter have tacitly agreed that, whatever their differences, they were better off with a weaker and more compliant UN.
Increasingly, the UN has been racked by divisions, while there have been persistent calls for massive overhaul and reform. More and more, the UN is being seen as outdated and unreflective of the complex realities of today’s multipolar world. As declared in Eritrea’s statement at the UNGA, delivered by Foreign Minister Osman Saleh, “As the principal international platform, the United Nations must indeed be elevated – in terms of structure and mandate – to a cherished umbrella organization that can fulfill its historic mandate with efficacy and potency.”
Tracing decades of injustice
Even though Eritrea is one of the youngest states in the world, its history with the UN is actually quite long. While the UN espouses many noble values, ideals, and principles, its historic relationship with and treatment of Eritrea has been problematic and fraught with injustice.
In the immediate post-WW2 period, the UN overlooked Eritreans’ calls for independence. Contrary to principles recognized by the UN, and unlike the other Italian colonies that received independence at the end of World War II, Eritreans’ inviolable and inalienable right to self-determination was denied. After a lengthy international process seeking to develop an “appropriate” solution to the Eritrea question, on 2 December 1950, UN Resolution 390 (V), was passed by the UNGA. Resolution 390(V), which was backed and sponsored by the US, extinguished Eritreans’ hopes and aspirations for independence, federating Eritrea with Ethiopia as “an autonomous unit…under the sovereignty of the Ethiopian Crown.”
However, Ethiopia, an absolute monarchy ruled by Emperor Haile Selassie, viewed the federal structure with disdain and contempt. In November 1962, after years of steadily erasing the federation and subjecting Eritreans to repression, violence, and persecution, the imperial regime dissolved the Eritrean parliament under force of arms and annexed Eritrea, proclaiming it as the empire’s fourteenth province. Throughout this period, the UN and the international community remained silent and failed to muster a response. This was despite the fact that Eritrea had been guaranteed a review of its case by the UN if Ethiopia violated the international resolution. The UN also could not claim ignorance since many Eritrean political leaders and activists, on numerous occasions, appealed and petitioned to the organization in protest of Ethiopia’s actions.
Subsequently, over a period of several decades, the UN continuously refused to hear Eritreans’ calls for decolonization and protection. In fact, not once throughout the long period – from 1950 to 1991 – did Eritrea, the scene of Africa’s longest war, and victim of some of the grossest violations of human rights, figure on the agenda of the UN. In the foreword of the Proceedings of the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal of the International League for the Rights and Liberation of People ̧ convened in 1980, it was declared: “No important struggle – be it in terms of military intensity or in terms of political impact – is so poorly known, indeed ignored, as is that which the Eritrean people have been engaged in for 20 years.” Similarly, the following year, a decade before Eritrea would eventually gain independence, the International Commission of Jurists stated that:
“Of all the people who, since the Second World War, have been the victims of Great Power rivalries and ambitions, perhaps the one with the greatest claim for consideration is the people of Eritrea. Nevertheless, no nation has yet been willing to raise the issue of the rights of this people in the United Nations. The truth is that the ‘Eritrean question’ is a source of embarrassment both to the UN itself and to almost all ‘interested parties’”.
Nonetheless, in 1991, Eritrea was able to bring about what to many for so long seemed highly unlikely, if not essentially impossible: the defeat of Africa’s largest, best-equipped army and the achievement of independence. After holding an internationally-monitored referendum two years later – with 99.81 percent of Eritreans voting for independence from Ethiopia – the country formally announced its independence. Eritrea was finally admitted to the UN as its 182nd member by General Assembly Resolution 47/230 of 28 May 1993. Several months later, on 30 September, Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki addressed the 48th Session of the General Assembly. In a memorable speech, he proudly shared how the Eritrean people remained strong despite their struggle being ignored:
“[The years of] deafening silence pained our people. It also gave a free hand to the aggressors, thereby prolonging our suffering and increasing the sacrifices we had to make. But it neither shook our resolve nor undermined our belief in the justness of our cause and the inevitability of our victory. As an Eritrean proverb says: ‘The rod of truth may become thinner but it cannot be broken.’ Indeed, justice has finally prevailed. This is a source of hope and happiness not only for the Eritrean people, but for all those who cherish justice and peace.”
However, it was not long before the UN seemed to return to old form. Although Eritrea and Ethiopia had maintained generally strong and cordial relations after Eritrea’s independence, things would soon considerably deteriorate, and between May 1998 and June 2000 the two fought the largest and deadliest conventional war in contemporary African history. After the failure of several efforts by the international community to mediate an end the conflict, the two countries signed the Agreement on Cessation of Hostilities in Algiers in June 2000. Months later, in December 2000, Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki and PM Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia signed the Algiers Peace Agreement. Inter-alia, the agreements established an independent and impartial Boundary Commission to delimit and demarcate the border based on pertinent colonial treaties (from the years 1900, 1902, and 1908) and applicable international law.
After a lengthy litigation process lasting 14 months, the Eritrea Ethiopia Boundary Commission rendered its “final and binding” delimitation decision on 13 April 2002 at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague. While Eritrea accepted the decision hoping that the final determination of the border would open doors for lasting peace and development between the two countries and the region as a whole, Ethiopia essentially rejected it and sought an alternative mechanism to reopen the process. The UN, as one of the witnesses and guarantors of the agreement, completely failed to shoulder its legal and moral responsibility to ensure that Ethiopia comply with the decision. For years, it stood idly by as sovereign Eritrean territories remained under an illegal military occupation.
Finally, of course, in December 2009 and December 2011, the UN Security Council adopted resolutions imposing a series of punishing sanctions on Eritrea, despite the lack of any solid evidence for the claims and allegations raised. The measures were biased, unjustified, and not rooted in a genuine concern for international peace and security. Instead, they were engineered by previous US and Ethiopian governments in order to punish Eritrea for: a) refusing to yield its position and the legal course on the EEBC ruling, thus thwarting a key imperative for the former US administration’s “regional enforcer” and proxy, Ethiopia, and b) for Eritrea’s open and candid criticisms of flawed US policies in the Horn of Africa. For nearly a decade, far long after the alleged pretexts for their original imposition were clearly shown to be nonexistent, the unjust sanctions were maintained. Throughout, they were a great impediment to Eritrea’s nation-building and development efforts and also had a negative impact on peace and cooperation in the region.
Source: Eritrea Ministry Of Information
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