United Nations

Though no one questions the promise of regional partnerships, there are many impediments in practically achieving it as is evident from past partnership missions of the UN.

2015 is a very special year for the Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses, marking 50 years since it was established on November 11, 1965. Celebrating the landmark, the current issue of Strategic Analysis carries a section on ‘Fifty Years of IDSA and Strategic Thinking in India’. This section comprises reminiscences by authors who either headed the Institute or served as part of its faculty, about the Institute’s role in shaping strategic thinking and contributing to policy planning in the country over five decades.

The success of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1540 should not make the international community overlook persisting problems. The objective of the 1540 is to internationalise WMD security by targeting the entire supply chain.

The UN is convening a conference on Syria in Montreux from January 22 with 30 odd states including India attending the meet. While the US is standing in the way of Iran’s participation, Russia has stated clearly that Iran’s absence will prevent the conference from delivering the intended results.

The Group of Government Experts need to take into consideration complex and inter-related concerns of space activities before formulating the Transparency and Confidence Building Measures. The need is to have an effective mechanism and not an accommodative one.

Though its goal of securing a permanent seat in the Council during the 2011-12 term was ambitious, the efforts that it put in over the last two years were steered in that direction and have yielded favourable results.

With the release of the United Nations Internal Review Panel Report in November 2012, the deteriorating human rights situation in Sri Lanka has once again captured the attention of the world.

The events of the last ten days have once again focussed international attention on the DRC and lent support to voices clamouring for a review of the existing mandate of MONUSCO and the larger process by which these mandates are concretized.

The shortcomings of the UN Register of Conventional Arms have led to the failure of the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). For the Treaty to be robust and meaningful, the weapon systems which will matter in the future must be reflected in the very design of the instrument. Moreover, the Treaty should remain free from biases and prejudices of the past.

Despite a humungous infusion of military-logistical support, MONUSCO has achieved little in terms of fulfilling its primary mandate of protecting civilians in the DRC.