Global condemnation of Russia’s war on Ukraine underscores international community’s hypocrisy
The international condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been resounding, with economic sanctions, boycotts and a cacophony of strongly worded denunciations calling the attack an unprovoked and unjustified war of aggression. Following a week of condemnations pouring in from regional organizations such as the EU and OSCE, as well as national governments around the world, the near unanimity of the international sentiment was expressed most clearly in a UN General Assembly resolution adopted yesterday by a vote of 141-5, with 35 abstentions.
In the General Assembly’s resolution, adopted at an emergency session convened under the UN’s “Uniting for Peace” mechanism, the UN:
1. Reaffirms its commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders, extending to its territorial waters;
2. Deplores in the strongest terms the aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine in violation of Article 2 (4) of the Charter;
3. Demands that the Russian Federation immediately cease its use of force against Ukraine and to refrain from any further unlawful threat or use of force against any Member State;
While on one hand, this can be seen as a powerful statement strongly supporting a country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity while condemning acts of aggression as illegitimate, the General Assembly resolution also serves as a powerful reminder of the selectiveness of the international community’s outrage.
Anyone old enough to remember the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 – a naked act of aggression based on a much flimsier pretext than Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – should recall that the response of the international community was far more muted. There were individual governments that did oppose the invasion – most notably, Germany, France and Russia who together blocked a UN Security Council authorization for the invasion – but in general the criticisms were mild in comparison to the outcry from the international community that we are seeing today.
The relative silence 19 years ago from the planet’s ruling elite stood in marked contrast to the loud calls for peace from the planet’s people, who over the course of several months in late 2002 and early 2003 organized the largest global demonstrations ever in human history. These demonstrators, numbering in the tens of millions, were pleading with their elected governments to do whatever was in their power to stop the unprovoked US invasion of Iraq, but for the most part those pleas fell on deaf ears.
One of the main calls from protest organizers back then was for the UN to convene an emergency session of the General Assembly under Uniting for Peace. The US-based Center for Constitutional Rights even drafted a proposed “Uniting for Peace” resolution that governments could submit to the General Assembly, declaring that US military action against Iraq without a Security Council resolution was contrary to the UN Charter and international law.
But in contrast to the quick action by UN Member States this week, back then they completely ignored their responsibility to uphold international peace and the UN Charter. In fact, the Uniting for Peace mechanism is invoked so rarely, that the UN’s press release on this week’s General Assembly session noted that it has only been implemented “11 or 12 times since the adoption of General Assembly resolution 377 (V) on 3 November 1950, depending on how one characterises the first case.” The last time it was invoked was 1997.
This hypocrisy should be kept squarely in mind when listening governments today boldly call out Russia for its act of aggression against Ukraine. Now these world leaders and diplomats are falling over each other jostling for position in front of the cameras of the global media to loudly proclaim their opposition to the invasion of Ukraine, but many of these people were curiously silent two decades ago when the US carried out an unprovoked attack on a sovereign state which led to deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis, destroyed the nation, and included countless war crimes and atrocities.
Today, these self-serving hypocrites have found their voices in calling for peace, but they only do so because it is politically safe. In denouncing Russia’s war today, they are on the side of the US empire, so there is no price to pay in denouncing military aggression. But when the US launches its next illegal war, these voices will likely fall silent once again.
Compliance Campaign 