International Organizations

I. Introduction

The proposed coalition to form a government between Austria's People's Party and Mr. Jorg Haider's Freedom Party (FPO) sparked widespread protest and criticism within the European Union (EU) and also outside Europe. The reason for this outcry is none other than Mr. Haider's policy statement and past remarks which seem to promote xenophobia, by inter alia proposing discriminatory immigration policies, and praising Nazi practices before and during World War II. On a number of occasions Mr. Haider publicly praised as honorable men Austrian Waffen SS veterans.

            On June 28, 2001, the Government of Serbia sent Slobodan Milosevic, the former president of Yugoslavia, to The Hague for trial on charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes.  The surrender of Milosevic complied with an international arrest warrant issued by a United Nations judicial body, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, headquartered in The Hague. Milosevic, a Serb nationalist leader, was indicted by the tribunal in May 1999 on allegations of murder and ethnic cleansing of ethnic Albanian civilians in Kosovo.

 

            On June 27, 2001, the International Court of Justice (the World Court) issued its judgment on the merits of the LaGrand Case (Germany v. United States).  Walter LaGrand and his brother, German nationals living in the United States, were arrested in Arizona in 1982 on suspicion of armed robbery and murder.  They were not informed of their rights under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, a multilateral treaty to which both Germany and the United States are parties.  Article 36, paragraph (1)(b) of the Convention provides:

 

1)  Introduction

 

On July 28, 2000, the United Nations Economic and Social Council decided to establish, by consensus resolution, a "Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues" as a subsidiary organ of the Council. ECOSOC Res. 2000/22 (available at: http://www.un.org/documents/ecosoc/dec/2000/edec2000-inf2-add2.pdf, pp. 50-52).

2)  Significance

 

 

Introduction

 

            The United Nations Security Council, in Resolution 1441 (November 8, 2002), unanimously deplored Iraq's lack of compliance with Resolution 687 (1991) on inspection, disarmament and renunciation of terrorism in Iraq, and went on to make several decisions under Chapter VII of the U.N. Charter. Resolution 687, like Resolution 1441, was adopted under Chapter VII.  Chapter VII gives the Council the authority to determine the existence of a threat to the peace, breach of the peace or act of aggression, and to take action accordingly. 

 

According to news reports, President Bush and his advisors are developing a new national security strategy based on pre-emptive action against terrorist groups and states that are trying to develop weapons of mass destruction.  It has been reported that the new policy reserves the right to act even if the threat is not judged to be imminent.  The pre-emptive action would not necessarily involve armed force, but that option is not ruled out.

 

On April 11, 2002, ten countries simultaneously deposited instruments of ratification to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, bringing the total number of States Parties to 66. [1] th ratification, which, pursuant to article 126 of the Treaty, will cause the Statute to enter into force on July 1, 2002. A special ceremony was held at the United Nations to mark the occasion of the 60