Morning Multilateralism
Tuesday, June 30 2020
U.S. Secretary of State Pompeo will address the UN Security Council today as it considers renewing the UN arms embargo on Iran. In the face of Russian and Chinese opposition, the United States has been promoting a sanctions resolution that would authorize a series of measures to interdict weapons flowing to and from Iran. Given the draft resolution’s slim chances of passing, the question of whether the United States could instead “snapback” previous UN sanctions because of Iranian violations may soon come to a head. Security Council Report explains the dynamics:
China and Russia have challenged the legality of the US assertion that it still has a right to trigger a snapback mechanism, given that it withdrew from the JCPOA in May 2018. The US has argued that it still retains a right to invoke the provision given that resolution 2231 lists it as a party to the JCPOA.
Adopting a notably sharper tone, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus dismissed as “lame” complaints from several countries that contact tracing is too difficult to implement. (The director general noted that during Ebola outbreaks, WHO staff conducted contact tracing in conflict zones.) Meanwhile, the WHO updated a detailed timeline of its response to the coronavirus crisis.
At the organization’s virtual summit, ASEAN diplomats endorsed the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea as the basis for resolving maritime disputes in the region. Past attempts at clear ASEAN pronouncements have foundered, as several members with strong links to China (notably Cambodia and Laos) have used the organization’s consensus procedures to block or dilute statements perceived as critical of Beijing. For helpful background on the evolution of ASEAN’s position, see this piece by Richard David Heydarian.
Moscow mute: The International Atomic Energy Agency reported on elevated radiation readings in northern Europe:
[B]y Monday afternoon, 29 had voluntarily reported that nothing had happened on their territory that might have caused the concentrations of isotopes in the air. A few countries outside Europe reported similar findings…Russia wasn’t on the list of countries that had reported back to the IAEA by Monday.
The World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) approved a $40 million grant to Somalia to help the country confront a locust outbreak ravaging the country’s agriculture. IDA funds—aimed at low-income countries—are normally replenished through donor conferences every three years, but World Bank president David Malpass has raised the idea of a supplemental replenishment.
In a letter sent to the White House, almost 200 international lawyers condemned the recent U.S. sanctions imposed on personnel of the International Criminal Court.