The UN Yawns at 40
SAMUELS, GERTRUDE
IN THE FACE OF TERRORISM The UN Yawns at 40 BY GERTRUDE SAMUELS United Nations Presidents and kings, foreign ministers and assorted other dignitaries have been participating since mid-September...
...What can be done...
...Nationals of GERTRUDE SAMUELS reports regularly on the United Nations for this magazine...
...As if to underscore its weakness, amid all the current pomp and circumstance the UN again demonstrated an inability to deal decisively with a critical issue...
...Yet at Turtle Bay no way could be found to respond to the challenge...
...Over the years, it has optimistically been called the "World Parliament oI'Man," lhc"HopeofMankind,' a "Workshop for Peace...
...Terrorism is world-wide...
...In South Africa whites murder blacks, and blacks murder blacks...
...Terzi got up, interrupting tartly: "I look at something different...
...One has only to look at the war still going on between Iran and Iraq," I began to interject...
...Indeed, one is forced to agree...
...The best known are the "International Convention Against the Taking of Hostages," adopted December 17, 1979, and "Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes Against International Protected Persons, including Diplomatic Agents,' adopted December 14, 1973...
...A stunning young woman dressed in sari and jewels, who holds a Master's degree from the University of Bombay, she said in reply to my question: "Certainly something has to be done about terrorism...
...An official in.the Press and Publication Department articulated the concern with some passion: "Is this the time to preach morals...
...One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter...
...In the Far East hundreds of Vietnamese" boat people" have been killed, raped and robbed in Thai waters...
...Walters was voicing the horror of many around the horseshoe table over the latest incident—the pirating of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro, the brutalizing of its passengers and crew, and the murder of 69-ycar-old Leon KlingholTer, a crippled American who was thrown overboard with his wheelchair...
...Three Israelis vacationing on a yacht in Cyprus were murdered by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO...
...Outside the Security Council chamber, with its large mural depicting mankind trying to leave behind the conflicts of the dark past, I talked to Ms...
...Here at the UN the word takes on more complicated connotations, as I learned during a week of interviewing permanent diplomats, envoys and civil servants...
...If he is apprehended, he should be prosecuted...
...Granted that the UN has no real power to enforce its treaties and conventions, several diplomats and civil servants at the bluish green glass and steel headquarters question why it has not at least created an atmosphere that would allow it to function as a strong international moral force...
...The 65-year-old international lawyer, who has held diplomatic posts in Geneva, London, Madrid, and Rome, observed: "When you have terrorism in a perfectly democratic country like West Germany or Holland or Japan, or even the United States, you have to realize it's not necessarily caused by economic or social reasons...
...In a hollow gesture, albeit with rare unanimity, the Council condemned terrorism...
...Realists, I hough, citing the 140-odd regional wars I lie UN has proved powerless lo prevent...
...I look at 5 million Palestinians who cannot return to their homes...
...Effective international action is required...
...It can only produce as its members are willing to produce...
...If he claims support, he should be denounced...
...The General Assembly considers legitimate the struggle of the peoples of South Africa, Namibia and Palestine, including armed struggle against foreign occupation and racist regimes...
...He should be shunned by all...
...Last June TWA Flight 84" was hijacked, and a U.S...
...It is not that the UN lacks instruments urging the prevention and punishment of terrorism...
...If the nations do not arrive at a consensus on this issue, it's difficult to see what the UN can do...
...I'm not one of those who arecynical about the UN...
...Several of those interviewed maintained that terrorism was mainly rooted in social and economic troubles...
...According to Webster's Third New International Dictionary, it is "the systematic use of terror as a means of coercion...
...In the Palestine National Council, terrorism has been condemned...
...It's always the time...
...To me, this is mainly due to the lack of political will on the part of the UN...
...It's been around for years and years...
...But what international action...
...Each one views problems not necessarily through the spectrum of the other 158 members...
...At the moment the UN is paralyzed...
...Yet it doesn't dispose those means...
...Launched by 51 countries in 1945, the organization has grown to its present agglomeration of 159 member slates...
...The UN is not this building...
...They kidnapped the U.S...
...If he seeks sanctuary, he should be turned away...
...The organization as such has no teeth...
...After a thoughtful pause, the43-year-old Akinyami replied: "Frankly, as a Foreign Minister, I can't answer that question because, in a way, one would have to say what one means by coercion, and what one means by terrorism...
...But the manner in which it can be done...
...Do you see terrorism as a weapon of coercion...
...have dubbed it the "International Debating Society" or simply the "Talk Shop...
...But terrorism is a worldwide phenomenon...
...We havea problem defining terrorism...
...Representatives of the South West Africa People's Organization (swapo) emerging from the Council chamber refused to address the subject...
...Is the UN doing enough...
...Savitri Kunadi, a counselor to the Mission of India...
...But the UN has no magic of its own, no enforcement power...
...Trying to gain a sense of the United Nations' reaction to the terrorism plaguing the world in this 40th anniversary year, one comes away struck by the fact that ultimately it seems to inspire a lassitude bordering on boredom...
...IN THE FACE OF TERRORISM The UN Yawns at 40 BY GERTRUDE SAMUELS United Nations Presidents and kings, foreign ministers and assorted other dignitaries have been participating since mid-September in the40th anniversary session of the United Nations, whose theme is "UN for a Better World...
...At the Brazilian Mission to the UN Ambassador George A. Maciel disagreed...
...Marines and nuns have been murdered, and the eldest daughter of El Salvador's President Jose Napoleon Duane was kidnapped...
...Terrorism," he went on, "is a very old item...
...The kidnapping of diplomats actually started in Brazil, in the 1960s...
...Ambassador Vernon A. Walters, addressing the Security Council in his capacity as president for October (the post rotates each month), declared: "The terrorist has put himself beyond the pale of civilized humanity...
...ambassador to Rio, then the German and Swiss ambassadors, and the consul-general of Japan in Sao Paulo...
...U.S...
...We're dealing with something that goes beyond any dictionary definition...
...But an official of the UN's Legal Department, who asked to remain anonymous, told me: "As far as the PLO is concerned, there is a general consensus that certain acts are not permissible, such as taking hostages, hijacking civilians and aircraft, and kidnapping diplomats...
...In the context of the escalation of terrorism in the Middle East, we feel that the shortest way of doing away with the terror is to find a comprehensive solution of the problem...
...It has the moral means to condemn, to codify international law, to prevent and reject terrorism...
...Seated in a corner of the carpeted corridor near the delegate's lounge, the bearded veteran diplomatic battler said: "My first point of reality is that the UN should define acts of terrorism...
...One waved me off, saying abruptly, "I do not have a mandate to discuss terrorism...
...The problem basically is that members can't agree on the definition of terrorism in certain situations...
...The diplomats were released in exchange for political prisoners...
...Not so Zehdi Labib Terzi, the accredited permanent observer of the PLO...
...The UN cannot even agree on a definition of terrorism...
...There are no cut and dried answers...
...As I've said, countries do disagree...
...In South America U.S...
...Yet their prophetic voices of righteousness eventually prevailed over large parts of the world population, whether it was Islam, Christianity or Judaism...
...For confronting the world body at the start of its fifth decade was the scourge of terrorism, which cast a pall over private meetings of the powerful and dominated corridor conversations...
...Expressions of good intentions, however, have not contributed to combating the terrorists and pirates...
...The causes should be removed...
...During the worst periods of history, groups of people have been persecuted, in many cases almost stamped out...
...the U. S., France, Britain, and the Soviet Union have been slain and held hostage in Beirut...
...When I asked Foreign Minister Akin-wamde B. Akinyami of Nigeria, a former professor of political science at the University of Lagos, whether he felt the UN was doing enough to counter terrorism, he responded: "Part of the problem is that the UN is representative of 159 countries...
...Navy seaman aboard was shot to death by three Lebanese who were allowed t o escape...
...We have problems defining under what circumstances it would be justified...
...Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar put the matter squarely in June at a UN 40th anniversary celebration in San Francisco: "Mere condemnation of such acts is insufficient...
Vol. 68 • October 1985 • No. 13
