James5

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Over the winter I visited Geneva for two weeks studying Institutions in International Law, this post is part of a series on what I learnt and thought about the institutions we visited. See them all here.

The job of the Secretariat of an international institution is to provide administrative support to the institution. This means it provides information, studies and research to allow the institution to carry on its functions, organises the conferences and meetings of the Members, consults with Members, helps to resolve disputes, and sometimes provides assistance for Members who need it.

Some Secretariats are well-known and relatively interventionist, the WTO and UN Secretariats come to mind as high-profile bodies who drive a great deal of policy making and action within their institutions. For example, the UN Secretary-General, under Kofi Annan, produced the Peoples’ Report in 2000 which ultimately led to the Millennium Declaration.

There’s debate over the autonomy given to some Secretariats, whether they should be allowed to actively pursue their own agenda or should be restrained by the Members’ wishes. This obviously raises issues of accountability and good governance if an unelected Secretariat is shaping and pushing the agenda of an institution.

Perhaps one of the crucial most roles for the Secretariat, however, is to act as the ‘institutional memory’ of an international institution. Whereas, Member representatives may come and go, the Secretariat’s staff is relatively stable. It is the Secretariat who know the procedure and how things work. They know intimately the history of an organisation, what is realistic and what is unachievable. This role is critical to the proper functioning of any institution.

What the Secretariat does ultimately demonstrate, is that these institutions are more then just the some of their Members. That they aren’t just forums for discussion and negotiation of certain issues. Rather they are actors in their own right, and who is in charge can make a real difference to the direction and results of the work of the institution.

Popularity: 7% [?]

International politics is a strange world, for example the connection between Rwanda and Georgia. Russian peace-keepers ended up in South-Ossetia due to a compromise reached when trying to get peace-keepers into Rwanda.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Did you know that India is consistently in the top three contributors of peacekeepers for the United Nations? There have been some domestic calls for India to rethink its current contribution. An interesting debate is underway. It’s easy to forget (not know about) the important role countries like India play in international peace-keeping. While the US might be the worlds sheriff, India could very well be its peacekeeper.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Opinio Juris has a good discussion going over the limits of the powers of the UN Security Council - particularly in referring matters to non-UN judicial bodies such as the ICC.

Chapter VII of the UN Charter grants the Security Council wide discretionary power in regards to maintaining “peace and security”, and even though there was some controversy over the creation of judicial bodies like the ICTR and ICTY (as the Security Council has no judicial power it was questioned whether it had the power to create bodies that did), it now seems clear that the Security Council is able to create subsidiary judicial organs such as the ad hoc tribunals.

I can’t imagine this power wouldn’t also extend to referrals to bodies such as the ICC, given this precedent and the wide discretion available to the Security Council when dealing with matters. The problem is extending the powers of the ICC beyond its signatory nations - even though Sudan hasn’t signed up to the Rome Statute the Security Council is effectively placing their head of state under the ICC’s jurisdiction.

This is especially interesting for the United States who, not having signed the Rome Statute and actively signing immunity agreements, is potentially opening itself up to ‘back door’ ICC prosecution. Of course, given their veto power on the Council they have nothing to fear in reality, but the precedent is now there.

Popularity: 6% [?]

The BBC reports on a lack of funding/support for the UN-AU peacekeeping mission in Sudan. Some UNAMID soldiers are using blue plastic bags to indicate they are with the UN due to the lack of supply of blue helmets.

Popularity: 2% [?]