On Thursday 22 May, the UN
Security Council voted on a resolution to refer the situation in Syria to the
International Criminal Court for possible prosecution of war crimes and crimes
against humanity committed during the conflict. Vetoes by China and Russia prevented the UN Security Council from adopting the resolution. All the other
13 members of the Council, including the United States, voted in favor.
France drafted the resolution and
managed to generate the wide support of nearly 60 states through its skillful
diplomacy. Its introduction of the resolution to the Council was powerful and
directly addressed China and Russia and their refusal to act on the situation
of Syria. France emphasized that the severity of Syria’s situation calls for a
unified international response, where Russia and China are the only ones
obstructing any such action. The statements by the other Council members
confronted at length and in detail the horrors of the atrocities and suffering
in Syria, all pointing to the shamefulness of the vetoes in this context.
France hereby successfully achieved its objective to isolate and condemn Russia
and China for their failure to act.
Both Chad and Argentina who
supported the resolution, also criticized the resolution in their statements. They
pointed out that the resolution allowed nationals of other non-member states,
such as the U.S., to stay immune from ICC jurisdiction over crimes committed on
Syrian territory. Moreover, they highlighted that the resolution banned any UN
funding of the costs for the Court from the referral. Had the referral been
adopted, the Court might not have been able to afford the money to pursue the
cases.
Samantha Power, United States
Ambassador to the UN, delivered a particularly strong and emotional statement. It
included the story of one victim’s suffering, who was present during the
meeting himself. According to Russia and
China, the statement by the U.S. was hypocritical because the U.S. had so far not
continued to pursue a political solution to Syria’s situation. However, the
other Council members mostly agreed that the effort for a political solution in
meetings in Geneva had failed, and several cited the resignation statement of
the UN Special Envoy for Syria. The emotional power of the Syrian
situation evoked by Ambassador Power and most other Council members only
enhanced the isolation of Russia and China and kept the debate almost entirely
clear of any other political concerns. This was France’s main objective and its
success was clear in the petulant tone of the closing statements by China and
Russia.
The full transcript of the UN Security Council meeting
can be found here.
