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UN Reform: the Tribune of Oppressed Peoples

By: Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis

[ Posted On: 2007-04-04 ]

Through four previous articles, we advocated the extension of the UN veto right (Security Council permanent membership) to India, Japan, Germany, Italy, Brazil, Mexico, Turkey and South Africa. We argued that this would help the international body reflect today's realities in the best possible way, and meet a reasonable level of global representativity, enabling at the same time the international community to eliminate Middle Eastern, Asiatic and African tyrannies, backward nationalistic oligarchies, and Islamic terrorism.

In the present article, we intend to question some basic approaches that until now worked rather as hindrance to the expansion of democratic rule, Freedom and Human Rights in various parts of the World. In other words, we go deeper, and attempt to consider how being pragmatist does not drive us to pure political immorality. We search the limits of Realpolitik whereby a UN SC Veto Right for China does not work to the prejudice of 50 million of Turkic Muslim people in Eastern Turkestan, or 5 million of Tibetan Buddhist people in Tibet. We cannot accept that the UN SC Veto Right if extended to India works against the rights of the Kashmiri Muslims, and when extended to Turkey functions to sheer detriment of the Kurds and the Aramaeans.

Furthermore, we believe that the UN cannot truly continue as an efficacious tool of diffusion of Democracy, Human Rights, and Freedom throughout the World without expressing an urgent, deep, and fully committed concern for the various peoples of the globe that have not yet reached Independence, Freedom, Political Auto-determination, Democratic Parliamentary Life, Institutionalized Education, and Self-organized Cultural Preservation, Promotion and Diffusion.

UN: A Society of Peoples.

Inheriting a burdened past from the Society of Nations, the UN was shaped on the ashes of Fascism and Nazism. Quite paradoxically, the basic name of the international body remained the same! Instead of the 'Society of Nations', we have had an international organization with a chosen title that plainly underscores again the 'Nations'; United is an adjective that does not change in anything the essence, the fact that the organization is a Congress, a Conference of Nations. To some extent, we have reason to believe that an unclear name leads to vague situations and choices.

Nation is 'the people who live in a nation or country', according to a modern dictionary (http://www.hyperdictionary.com/dictionary/nation). However, the term is politically very ambiguous, since a nation means a people, and at the same time a nation means a country, so the administration, the establishment, the government or eventually the ruling regime! It is immediately understood that the political usage of the term implies that we live in an … ideal world, whereby all the peoples form democratic societies with the elected majority forming the government, and the minority shaping the constructive opposition! Quite unfortunately, we do not live in such a world, and the progress of Democracy has been somewhat ambivalent over the past sixty years.

The Communist camp collapsed and many democracies replaced the totalitarian dictatorships of proletariat, with Ukraine being the most recent victory in this regard, Latin American countries moved away from the tradition of the military involvement in politics, several Asiatic countries made spectacular progress, South Africa is an exemplary African nation, but still large parts of the world are the realm of the oppression, the tyranny, the obscurantism, if not the reactive fanaticism.

The UN functioned rather as United Countries or United Governments, not as United Peoples. The famous Charter of the United Nations may start with the words "We the people", but this is not reflected in the political realities of dozens of oppressed peoples. Since numerous peoples have not yet achieved independence and freedom, it would be disastrous to formulate any UN reform without taking this reality into consideration, and without searching the correct remedy and solution.

In this case, the task is double, first to bring down tyrannies like that of Bashir Assad, and second to lead oppressed peoples like the Aramaeans and the Kurds of Syria, Turkey, Iraq and Iran, the Oromos and the Sidamas of 'Ethiopia', the Berbers of Algeria and Morocco, the Nubians of Sudan and Egypt, the Fur, the Beja, the Nuer, the Haussa, and the Dinka of Sudan, the Baluchis of Iran and Pakistan, the Turkmens of Eastern Turkestan (China), the Tibetans of China, the Yakutians of Eastern 'Russian' Siberia, the Chechens, the Daghestanis, the Osssetes, and the Abkhazians of the Caucasus, the Basks of Spain and France, to the international political and diplomatic surface, to the focus of the humanist interest, to the epicenter of the Search for Complete Implementation of the Democratic System allover the world. Here we should stress the point of the mass radicalization that may lead to fanaticism, hatred, and even terrorism. If we want to avoid the negative consequence, we must uproot the vicious reason.

The Tribune of Oppressed Peoples (TOP)

The Security Council and the General Assembly must accept the formation of the Tribune of Oppressed Peoples as a new body within the UN, where numerous representatives, first nominated by a Liberation Front or a Government in exile, and later elected by the non -liberated peoples, will represent all the peoples, who have not yet achieved independence. The Tribune of Oppressed Peoples will form therefore a complementary Assembly, and will be given an Observer seat in the Security Council.

The definition of an 'oppressed people' (eligible for a position of representative in the TOP) will have to meet several criteria.

1. Population – It must be over than 50000. Although several nations having a seat in the UN General Assembly are smaller than this figure, it would be a first practical step to set a certain limit in order to make of the TOP a truly functional body and a real tool for Democracy. If the figure looks minimal to some, they should keep in mind than there are several countries with a seat at the UN General Assembly with total population lower than 50000 people.

2. Majority of population in a given land – There is no limit in the surface of the land in question, be it part of a land, an enclave or an island. What matters is that there is a certain surface where at least 50000 people differ from the surrounding rest in terms of language, religion, and/or culture, and form the majority of the local inhabitants. At this starting point, it would not be practical to consider cases of scattered peoples and ethnic groups that do not make the majority of the inhabitants anywhere.

3. Language – It must other than the officially accepted – or imposed – language in the country (or countries) in question. Tibetan is different than Chinese, Aramaic is different than Arabic, and Oromo is other than Amharic.

4. Religion – It must be different than the officially accepted – or imposed – religion in the country (or countries) in question. Druse religion in Lebanon is different than Islam, Yazidi Kurdish religion in Iraq is other than Islam, and the Mandaeans of Iraq have nothing in common with either Christians or Muslims.

5. Culture – It must be different than the officially imposed.

6. Extent of Attested Oppression – The oppression can be attested in several levels: educational, cultural, religious, social, economic and political. As far as Education and Language are concerned, this implies the prohibition of teaching the oppressed group's language in the Public Primary and Secondary Education in a country. Oppression takes also the form of governmental negligence, as well as of any type of social hindrance, contempt, and disregard as expressed by an opposite linguistic group. With regard to Religion, any prohibition, obstruction, discrimination and/or inferiorization of a cult and/or religion, due to either governmental policies or social pressure, hatred and undemocratic attitudes, entitles automatically the followers of the oppressed cult and/or religion to participate in the TOP. Ethnic, linguistic and religious groups that are victims of social, economic and political oppression are also eligible to the TOP.

The UN TOP Preparatory Committee (TOP PC)

A UN TOP Preparatory Committee should collect specific indicators per country in this regard. The TOP PC will study all the countries, and all the applications presented by various liberation fronts, religious associations, and ethnic-cultural groups, political parties, and minority organizations will be dealt with. If an ethnic – linguistic and/or religious group does not participate proportionally in various sectors of the government, the economy, the military, and the academia, the group in question is automatically eligible in the TOP.

Oppression is attested in case an ethnic – linguistic and/or religious group represents 5% of the entire population of a country, and one cannot find even 2.5% of that group's natives among the professors of the universities, the directors of the ministries, the colonels and the generals, the top 100 businessmen, and/or the deputies of the Parliament of the country in question.

On the contrary, if the language of an ethnic – linguistic group is taught in the Primary and Secondary education, if the cult and the rituals of a religious group are free to be practiced without any sort of obstacle and/or burden, if the ethnic, linguistic, religious group's natives can reach proportionally in higher spheres of the economy, the military, the academia, the administration and the parliamentary life of the country they belong to, this signifies the absolute social and political integration of the group in question, and bears witness to their country's democratic, pluralistic and multicultural nature.

The TOP will function as pressurizing levier against undemocratic regimes.

The Tribune of Oppressed Peoples (TOP) will function first as top Counterweight of the General Assembly's and the Security Council's totalitarian and undemocratic regimes. It will be imperative for all the UN member states to recognize the TOP.

The TOP will be instituted as a Permanent Assembly, and will elect a Presidium to conduct the activities of the various committees. The TOP Assembly will also elect a Secretary General (annually), and he will be the TOP representative by the UN SC (endowed with Observer's status). The TOP Secretary General may exceptionally offer his observer's seat at the UN SC to a special personality, namely a political or religious leader of an oppressed people, if the TOP Permanent Assembly comes up with a majority vote in this regard.

One can anticipate that when the Chinese UN ambassador will be obliged to face the Dalai Lama, a new day in the History of the UN will have started.

There is no specific limit in the number of the eligible members in the TOP. All peoples and groups meeting the criteria will be offered a position of representative there.

The works of the TOP will focalize on the implementation of the Human Rights, Minority Rights, Education, Culture, Freedom and Democracy in the countries concerned. Its first duty will be to help in creating an international awareness about issues related to oppressed peoples, and in pressurizing the oppressing countries up to asphyxia.

The agenda of the TOP Assembly, Presidium, and Secretary General will encompass and highlight issues related to Endangered Languages, Persecuted Cults, Religions and Cultures, underscoring the need for raising funds to set up non governmental primary and secondary schools and to internationally monitor the schools' pertinent function. The effort should be extended up to the point of establishing basic municipal libraries in the language of the oppressed people. In case a language is not yet written, the TOP will coordinate efforts with UNESCO according in this regard special subsidies to groups of tasked specialists.

The TOP will function as a Consultative body attached to the UN Security Council, and will come up with suggestions and recommendations with regard to educational, cultural and religious developments demanded by oppressed peoples and ethnic – linguistic and/or religious groups. These will be discussed within the UN SC, the decisions will be mandatory, and specific action will therefore be taken against the oppressing countries. The most secure way for the world to advance to Democracy is to pressurize the totalitarian regimes that oppress ethnic, linguistic and religious groups.

The TOP will function as a Consultative body attached to the UN General Assembly, and will come up with suggestions and recommendations with regard to social, economic and political developments demanded by oppressed peoples and ethnic – linguistic and/or religious groups. These will be discussed within the UN General Assembly, the decisions will be presented to the UN SC for final confirmation, and action will be taken. It will first be concretized in economic sanctions against the oppressing countries. The UN Security Council will ultimately specify the details of embargo, blockade, etc.

When a TOP protestation against an oppressing country with regard to a major political issue is introduced in the Security Council, convocation will be issued, and the country accused by the TOP representative will have to stand and defend its position. The decision of the SC will be mandatory, and disregard from the part of the accused oppressor will automatically imply international intervention.

By introducing the concept of TOP, we intend to provide the UN with the correct tool for expanding and implementing Democracy in various parts of the world, where respect for Human Rights still remains among the top desiderata.

Article Source: http://www.afroarticles.com/article-dashboard

About The Author: Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis - is Orientalist, Assyriologist, Egyptologist, Iranologist, Islamologist, Historian and Political Scientist. Dr. Megalommatis, 49, is the author of 12 books, dozens of scholarly articles, hundreds of encyclopedia entries, and thousands of articles. He speaks, reads and writes more than 15, modern and ancient, languages.

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