Group of Friends in Defence of the Charter of the United Nations Steps Up Work for the Rights of All

First ministerial meeting of the Group of Friends, held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, September 23, 2021.

On July 6 representatives of 18 countries met virtually to officially launch the Group of Friends in Defence of the Charter of the United Nations. Most of the countries are subject to unilaterally imposed U.S. economic "sanctions" and blockades, considered acts of war under the UN Charter and international law.[1] In October, Zimbabwe became the 19th member.

Opening remarks were made by the Permanent Ambassador to the United Nations of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Samuel Moncada whose country played a key role during its presidency of the 120-member Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in getting the UN to celebrate the first ever International Day of Multilateralism and Diplomacy for Peace in April 2019. To mark the occasion, over two days a high level plenary of the General Assembly became a platform for demanding adherence to the rule of law and condemning the unilateral coercive measures and other forms of unlawful warfare engaged in by the U.S. in particular against the peoples of Cuba, Iran, Venezuela, Syria and other targeted countries.[2]

After Ambassador Moncada spoke, brief remarks were delivered by representatives of the Presidency and Cabinet of the UN General Assembly welcoming the new group, followed by statements of the ambassadors of member countries. The meeting concluded with the reading out of a joint declaration and a call to other members of the international community to consider joining the Group of Friends at their earliest convenience. Among other things the Declaration stated:

"We reaffirm our determination to fulfill our promise with "We the Peoples of the United Nations," as well as our pledge of leaving no one behind, while stressing the need to ensure the prevalence of legality over force. In this regard, we vow to spare no effort in preserving, promoting and defending at all relevant fora the prevalence and validity of the Charter of the United Nations, which, in the current international juncture, has a renewed and even more important value and relevance. We also underscore the need to avoid selective approaches and call for the full compliance with and strict adherence to both the letter and spirit of the tenets contained in the Charter of the United Nations, which are at the core of multilateralism and serve as the basis for modern day international law."

A Concept Note published in advance of the Group's official launch recalls that the experience of two destructive world wars led nations and world leaders to work together towards the establishment of multilateral formulas that would allow for overcoming the approach that had prevailed up to then in international relations: large vs. small; strong vs. weak.[3] It says that after a failed attempt with the League of Nations, the United Nations emerged out of the ashes of World War II with a firm purpose, expressed in the Preamble of its founding Charter, of "saving succeeding generations from the scourge of war while ensuring the maintenance of international peace and security, the development of friendly relations among nations, the promotion of human rights, and the achievement of international cooperation."

It notes that the UN Charter, the first international legally-binding agreement of a multilateral nature, contains within it the tenets and pillars of modern-day international law and expressly forbids war as an instrument of foreign policy. It expresses concern that the multilateralism at the core of the UN Charter is under unprecedented attack at this time, with the imposition of unilateral coercive measures by some UN member states against others one manifestation of this. It also decries the systematic violations of the norms of international law, and the "non-existent exceptionalism" that certain powers seem to claim for themselves as they disregard the principles enshrined in the Charter such as the sovereign equality of states, among others.

The Group's stand is that even though the UN has not always lived up to expectations, it remains the best option to face the complex and emerging threats and challenges faced by humanity, making compliance with and strict adherence to the purposes and principles of its Charter indispensable for "preserving and promoting peace and security, the rule of law, economic development and social progress, and all human rights for all."

The objective of the Group is to serve as a platform for promoting the prevalence of legality over force and for discussing possible means and coordinating joint initiatives for fostering respect for the principles of sovereignty, the equality of States and non-interference in their internal affairs, the peaceful settlement of disputes, and to refrain from the use or threat of use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any State, as enshrined in the UN Charter. As well it intends to promote the values of dialogue, tolerance and solidarity, "mindful of the fact that these are all at the core of international relations and necessary for the peaceful coexistence among nations."

Since the Group was launched in July it has held three more meetings.

The foreign ministers of its 18 member countries met on the sidelines of the High-Level Debate at the 76th Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York in September to assess recent developments internationally, including challenges and threats to the Charter of the United Nations, and adopted a political declaration.[4] In it they conveyed their support to nations and peoples subjected to unilateral and arbitrary approaches that violate both the purposes and principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations and the basic norms of international law, and called for full respect for "the inalienable right of peoples to self-determination, as well as the territorial integrity and political independence of all nations." They also resolved to expand the work of the Group of Friends beyond the United Nations Headquarters in New York to Offices of the UN in Geneva, Nairobi, and Vienna and the Headquarters of other UN Specialized Agencies.

At the General Assembly Debate, presidents, prime ministers and foreign ministers of countries belonging to the Group of Friends in Defence of the Charter used their interventions to draw attention to their mutual concerns and the need for all UN members to be held to the same standards of international law.

The Group held two meetings in October. One was at the Commemorative Meeting in Belgrade, Serbia marking the 60th anniversary of the First Conference of the NAM on October 11. The other one took place on the sidelines of the General Assembly in New York when the annual report of the UN Human Rights Council was delivered. A statement issued at that meeting reiterated Group members' "serious concern at the current and growing threats against the Charter of the United Nations," zeroing in on "attempts to ignore and even substitute the purposes and principles contained in the UN Charter with a new set of so-called 'rules' that have never been discussed in an inclusive or transparent manner; and to selective approaches or accommodative interpretations of the provisions of the UN Charter." These practices, the statement said, have resulted in "massive violations of human rights and other tenets of international law, which, in many instances, remain unpunished to this very date."

It further said that the Group rejected "all kinds of double standards that undermine human rights and prevent a harmonious environment and progress in this field and expressed concern at the proliferation of unilateral mechanisms that pretend to conduct an impartial assessment of the human rights situation in specific States, especially when that is done without the due consent and participation of their governments.

The statement called for an end to the politicization of human rights and preventing the name of the United Nations being misused for objectives contrary to the purposes and principles of its founding Charter.

The Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) considers the initiative taken by member countries of the Group of Friends in Defence of the Charter of the United Nations, in opposition to the flouting of international law in a hundred and one ways, especially by the U.S. and those appeasing it, to be an important one deserving of everyone's support. The momentum building on many fronts of international affairs to expose the concocted "rules-based order" for what it is -- an attempt by the U.S. to impose its "rule" on everyone else out of a desperation to maintain the fiction of it being the world's "indispensable" nation -- is encouraging.

Proceedings of the July 6, 2021 Virtual Launch of the Group of Friends in Defence of the UN Charter can be viewed here. 

Notes

1. The founding members are Algeria, Angola, Belarus, Bolivia, Cambodia, China, Cuba, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Iran, the Lao People's Democratic Republic, Nicaragua, the State of Palestine, Russia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Syria, and Venezuela.

2. "Non-Aligned Movement Calls for Reaffirmation of Fundamental Principles of International Law and an End to Unilateral Coercive Measures," TML Weekly, April 27, 2019 

3. Concept Note - Group of Friends in Defence of the Charter of the United Nations 

4. Political Declaration Adopted During the First Ministerial Meeting of the Group of Friends in Defense of the Charter of the United Nations 

This article was published in

Volume 51 Number 22 - November 8, 2021

Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2021/Articles/MS51224.HTM

    

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