UN & Australia Flashcards
(15 cards)
Background Info on UN
Collection of 193 Countries, established in 1945, The US
League of Nations was original idea but failed at the end of
WW1, talks about resolutions not laws
Aims of the UN
Democratic Government
trade freely with one another (no tariffs)
world prosperity
reduce their weapons and armed conflict
Parts/Organs of UN
Security Council, General Assembly, Int Court of Justice
Security Council Definition & Role
enforce resolutions, made up of permanent and non-permanent members
Permanet Members: USA, UK, France, China,
Russian Federation, if one permanent member says no to a resolution it fails
Non-permant Members rotates
through all other countries yearly
General Assembly Definition & Role
-making resolutions,
-no legal action carried
-passes to the security council
Int. Court of Justice Definition & Role
Int. Court of Justice: Resolves
Disputes between countries
Composed of 15 judges- all from
different countries, UN votes judges in limited to max of 9yr term-If a judge is from one of the countries
involved they sit the case out
Treatie Def
written international agreement
Types of Treaties
Bilateral Treaty: agreement between two countries ( states)
Multilateral Treaty: between more than 2 states
Ratification
Ratification: treaty is signed then given to countries legislature fro government to
agree and put into law.
Types of Ratification
Monist: signed, put into law
there is no separation from int.
Law and nations law
Dualist: Signed, agreed on by
government, put into law
Treaties Case study
Whaling Case: Australia V Japan
Treaties made the Int. Whaling Commission to protect
Whaling convention treaty. Which banned whaling expect for scientific purposes
.
The Japanese found a way around this and said they where killing whales for scientific purposes then sold the meat to markets.Some whales that the Japanese killed where in Australian
waters activists rebelled against this ( Sea Shepherd’s) by causing damage to whaling boats.The Aus government brought the case to the ICJ
The ICJ concluded that Japan broke the convention it wasn’t for scientific purposes this stopped them from whaling for 10yrs
Until Japan withdrew from the treaty in 2018 under new government and
continued unlawful whaling
How Aus Contributed/Used the UN
Aus Minister for Affairs Herbet ‘Doc’ Evatt in 1945 when UN was formed helped write the charter for the UN.
A civilian flight was shot down by a Russian missile by Russian supporters who lived in Ukraine while Russia and Ukraine where in a civil war (2014-15)
Australians where on the flight, Aus was a non-permanent member of
the security council at this time and used it to pass a resolution fro an
investigation to be held to hold perps accountable and that people stuff
on the plane was left and not stolen by others at the crash sight this
gave access for Aus and other countries to retrieve bodies of there
civlians
Foreign Aid
assistance in the form of money, skills or other resources transferred from one country to another mainly for humanitarian reasons e.g Indonesia receives foreign aid.
Peacekeeping
UN Peacekeeping assist in countries who have been torn by conflict to achieve lasting peace. It does this by protecting civilians with armed forces, restoring the rule of law and legal institution such as the government (force is the last measure)
Case Study Peacekeeping
The ADF contributed a small movement control unit to the operation in Somalia UNOSOM
