United Nations Peace and Security Framework: Addressing Contemporary Threats

Abstract

The United Nations was formed out of desperation for the maintenance of world peace and security to prevent war, aggression, conflicts, and loss of lives, which was evident in the First and Second World Wars. Its framework on world peace and security places the UNSC at the centre stage of maintaining international peace and security. Article 39 of the UN Charter emboldens the UNSC to determine whether a situation threatens or breaches international peace and security and to choose the remedial action to be undertaken under Articles 40, 41, and 42 of the UN Charter. The UN Charter envisages that threats to international peace and security have two key characteristics. One, that they are between states. Two, that they involve the use of armed force. This is a problem because contemporary threats to world peace do not exhibit these two key characteristics. They are not necessarily occasioned by states against other states. They do not always involve the use of force. This study aims to determine whether the UN’s framework on world peace and security is well adapted to address contemporary threats to global peace and security. It examines the UN’s legal and institutional framework for maintaining international peace and security. It focuses on contemporary threats, such as infectious diseases, climate change, cyber operations, and human trafficking. It also investigates the challenges posed by contemporary threats to the UNSC’s primary mandate to maintain global peace. Using the doctrinal legal research methodology, the study establishes that even though the UNSC has the core mandate to maintain international peace and security, other organs, such as the UNGA, the Secretariat and the Secretary-General, and the ICJ, as well as regional arrangements carry out some functions in maintaining international peace and security. The study finds that contemporary threats challenge the UN’s framework on global peace and security. Non-traditional threats render its legal and institutional framework inadequate. The study finds that the UN faces several difficulties in the quest to maintain international peace and security in the face of contemporary threats, such as anachronism, lack of definitions of key terms like “threat to peace” and “breach of peace”, inadequate enforcement action, inconsistency, and double incidence of mandates. It concludes that the UN is not well adapted to address non-traditional threats to international peace and security. It is in the interest of stakeholders to take steps towards meeting these concerns. The study makes specific recommendations that could alleviate the obstacles faced by the UN’s peace and security framework in maintaining international peace and security.