revistaieee7

Alfonso Iglesias Velasco and Anass Gouyez Ben Allal
The role of the United Nations...
and that of the nuclear states regarding non-proliferation, as well as its commitment
to intervene in the case of the use of these type of armaments by any state, while also
recalling the use, in this regard, of the right to legitimate defence –of Article 51 of the
Charter of the United Nations-.
On another occasion, the body tasked with maintaining peace decided, on the
very basis of Chapter VII of the Charter, to enforce an embargo on arms and military
material on South Africa, since it considered the acquisition of nuclear arms and material
by this state to represent a threat to international peace, and required all states to
refrain from any collaboration with this country for the manufacture and acquisition
of nuclear weapons -Resolution 418 (1977), of 4 November 1977-.
Faced with this mediocre intervention and the inertia of the Security Council, the
General Assembly took the initiative, by virtue of Article 11 de la Charter, of studying
the general principles for cooperation and the maintenance of international peace and
security, as well as the criteria which govern disarmament and the regulation of armaments.
Nevertheless, its activity has been of very limited scope, and it cannot replace
the role that the Security Council must play. The main reason for this is due to the
fact that the Charter of the United Nations enshrines the competence of the General
Assembly as subordinate to the Security Council in this field and it must limit itself
to simply powers of recommendation. 23 This reality may lead to confusion among the
bodies of the UN and end up paralysing the activities of the international organisation
concerning disarmament and non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
Nonetheless, the General Assembly has continued to take great pains to address this
matter, such as convening high level meetings on nuclear disarmament, its staunch
support for the negotiation and conclusion of a general convention on nuclear weapons
that would establish their prohibition and destruction, 24 or the conclusion of effective
international arrangements to afford guarantees to non-nuclear weapon States
against the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons. 25
As the reader will be aware, from the end of the Cold War the Security Council
began to be far more active. This stage began precisely with the Iraq-Kuwait crisis,
which concluded with the adoption in the Security Council of Resolution 687 (1991).
Since then, this body has adopted an increasing number of resolutions with different
purposes and spheres of activity. Furthermore, it has equipped itself with extensive
political responsibility and real authority since it bears the primary responsibility for
the maintenance of international peace and security.
Therefore, given the ineffectiveness of the treaties and other international instruments,
the Security Council has started to amass greater power. Its current role is not
23 Articles 11.2 and 12.1 of the Charter of the United Nations.
24 See, for instance, Resolution 69/58 of the General Assembly, of 2 December 2014.
25 See, for instance, Resolution 69/30 of the General Assembly, of 2 December 2014.
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