Kosovo advisory seeks voice for non-members at the U.N.

Room to spare: The UN Security Council is a closed shop, but unrecognized countries are now seeking a seat at the table

LONDON (Tiraspol Times) - With Kosovo being barred from the United Nations, a lobbying group which works on behalf of the disputed territory is now calling for reform of the UN system and for the introduction of a so-called "Universal Right of Address" before the UN Security Council.

If implemented, the reform would guarantee "a voice for the voiceless" by giving unrecognized states and other non-members an equal right to be heard on issues directly pertaining to their situations.

The move will prevent situations such as the repeated 2007 incidents in which one member of the UN Security Council, the United States, forcefully blocked Abkhazia's from bringing its views forward at a hearing where only its adversary, the Republic of Georgia, was allowed to speak. Unlike unrecognized Abkhazia, Georgia has UN membership, seeks to become part of NATO and is a firm ally of the United States with troops in Iraq.

Based in London and with offices in Washington and New York, the lobbying and advisory group Independent Diplomat is behind the new campaign to improve the function
of the United Nations Security Council.

" - We are calling for the introduction of what we call the "Universal Right of Address": that all parties (as defined by the UN) to disputes on the Council agenda have the opportunity to address the Council's meetings directly, but also hear directly the Council's views," reads a communiqué which the diplomatic advisory group made available to The Tiraspol Times and Weekly Review.

Advisory to unrecognized countries

Independent Diplomat is the world's first non-profit diplomatic advisory group. It specializes in advising unrecognized countries on how to find its way through the United Nations and other international institutions. It is run by Carne Ross, a former British diplomat with extensive Security Council experience, who quit the UK Foreign Office over the Iraq war.

The group currently has four new and emerging countries on its client list: In Europe, they are the newly declared Republic of Kosovo as well as the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), which split from Greek Cyprus in 1974. In the African continent, the group works for Somaliland - a de facto independent country - and for Western Sahara, which despite widespread diplomatic recognition is still waiting for the UN to follow through on a promised independence referendum.

The new "Universal Right of Address" will allow these client states and others, such as Transnistria (Pridnestrovie) and Abkhazia, to present their own side of the story at the United Nations in discussions involving the future of their territories and their populations.

In April 2007, Abkhazia was excluded from talks on conflict resolution that involved it directly. The United States refused to grant an entry visa for Abkhazia's foreign minister to appear at the United Nations. American UN representative Alejandro Wolff explained that "we did it because we could," but a new Universal Right of Address will prevent a single country from blocking the right of others to speak.

" - This project, our first foray into advocacy, is inspired by the experiences of our clients," explains Independent Diplomat. "Four of our current clients are parties to conflicts on the agenda of the Security Council, but none has access to the Council. Their voices are ignored by the very body that is tasked to make decisions about their future. An obvious
example is case of Kosovo, whose democratically-elected (and UN-supported) government was excluded from Council discussion of Kosovo for most of the final status process."

Blacklist prevents Pridnestrovie from being heard

It is not just Kosovo which is blocked from stating its case to the United Nations. Pridnestrovie has suffered a similar fate in international conferences, and both the EU and the United States keep most of the unrecognized country's leadership on a visa-blacklist which prevent them from leaving the country and speaking up at international events where the future of their people is being decided.

" - When most of the conflict in the twenty-first century is inside rather than between states, it's time for the Security Council to deal with this reality," says the diplomatic advisory group.

" - We believe that such an innovation will give the Council a better basis for its decisions, improve its communication with the parties to disputes before it, and thereby help the Council be more accessible, effective and legitimate," it states. "Our initial contacts with our clients, UN members - both inside and outside of the Security Council - and other interested parties have been met with much interest and support for our idea."

Kosovo has a Taiwan-like status, with no right to speak at the United Nations as unrecognized or partially recognized states. Opposition from veto-wielding, permanent members of the UN Security Council prevents such entities from becoming UN members. In the case of Kosovo, both Russia and China oppose membership. In Taiwan's case, the opposition is led by China.
(Photo credit: NATO)

See also:
» Unrecognized countries seek voice in conflict settlement talks
» Abkhazia excluded from conflict talks; US pleased
» US blocks Abkhazia from UN talks on its own future