Ban Ki-moon backs NATO over critics

Reuters’ correspondent Louis Charbonneau filed this story yesterday on some remarkable comments by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon: U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday defended NATO against criticism from Russia, China and other countries, which accuse the alliance of overstepping its U.N. mandate to protect civilians in Libya. It was an unusual move by the cautious ...

By , a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies.

Reuters' correspondent Louis Charbonneau filed this story yesterday on some remarkable comments by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon:

Reuters’ correspondent Louis Charbonneau filed this story yesterday on some remarkable comments by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon:

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday defended NATO against criticism from Russia, China and other countries, which accuse the alliance of overstepping its U.N. mandate to protect civilians in Libya.

It was an unusual move by the cautious head of the United Nations, who will complete his first five-year term at the end of the month and begin his second term in January. Ban has rarely taken public positions that pit him with some permanent members of the 15-nation Security Council against others.

"Security Council resolution 1973, I believe, was strictly enforced within the limit, within the mandate," Ban told reporters in New York. "This military operation done by the NATO forces was strictly within (resolution) 1973."

"I believe this is what we have seen, and there should be no misunderstanding on that," he said.

I have a couple reactions. First, I think the Secretary-General is clearly wrong that NATO’s operations conformed strictly to Resolution 1973. But it’s not altogether surprising that Ban would rise to NATO’s defense. After all, one thing at stake in how the Libya operation is perceived is the Responsibility to Protect, which has been a key project for the UN. Ban’s predecessor, Kofi Annan, soft-pedaled criticism of the (clearly illegal) 1999 Kosovo operation for precisely the same reason: he wanted to defend the principle of intervention on behalf of human rights. There are some deep questions raised by this pattern of choices. In essence, the UN’s top official is siding with certain UN members who support an evolving normative doctrine over others who, I believe, have black-letter law on their side. At a more tactical level, it’s worth noting that these are the kinds of statements that could only be made by a second-term Secretary-General, who no longer needs Russian or Chinese support to stay in office. 

David Bosco is a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies. He is the author of The Poseidon Project: The Struggle to Govern the World’s Oceans. Twitter: @multilateralist

Tag: NATO

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