Columns - Inside the glass house

Columns - Inside the glass house

N. Korea throws the numbers at P5

By Thalif Deen at the united nations

NEW YORK - The United Nations has had a long history of political hypocrisy: handling big powers with kid gloves and slamming the rest of the world with sledge hammers.

When civilians are killed in US military attacks in Iraq or when women and children die in bombings by US or NATO forces in Afghanistan, there is no hue and cry over war crimes or violations of the Geneva conventions.

But when civilians die in Sudan, Sri Lanka or the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Security Council threatens to pursue governments right to the doorstep of the International Criminal Court in the Hague.
Israel, which is neither a big power nor a permanent member of the Security Council, is an exception to the rule. While hundreds of women and children killed in Gaza constitute war crimes, Israel has not been penalized because it survives under the protective umbrella of a big power: the US.

Given that civilian deaths are unconscionable by any standards, why are such killings acceptable by the UN when they are committed by the big powers and Israel but not by others? Clearly, such hypocrisy continues to be a legitimate trade mark of the UN and its Security Council.

The UN Security Council members voting unanimously to slap tougher sanctions on North Korea in response to its recent nuclear test in violation of UN resolutions. AFP

On Friday, the Security Council tightened its sanctions on North Korea and penalised the country for testing a nuclear weapon. The 15-member Council also expressed its "gravest concern" on such weapons testing in violation of a previous resolution.

But the five major powers that gave their blessings to this resolution -- the US, Britain, France, China and Russia -- are not only the world's five declared nuclear powers but also have had no compunctions about testing their nukes in their own backyards -- if not in other people's backyards.

Just before the resolution was adopted, a statement by the North Korean Foreign Ministry read: "There is a limit to our patience. The nuclear test conducted in our nation this time is the earth's 2,054th nuclear test. The five permanent members of the Security Council have conducted 99.99 percent of the total nuclear tests."

And the North Koreans got their numbers right.

The online website PolitiFact quoted statistics from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) which listed some 2,051 nuclear tests worldwide since 1945.

The breakdown for the five permanent members of the Security Council follows: US - 1,030; Russia/USSR - 715; Britain - 45; France - 210; China - 45. Additionally, there have been a handful of other tests, although no exact numbers are available. These tests were conducted by India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea.

Carey Sublette of the Nuclear Weapon Archive, which monitors nuclear testing via public records, was quoted as saying: "So arguably, there have been as many as 13 nuclear tests conducted by countries other than the five permanent members of the UN Security Council."

And by his count, there have been a total of 2,054 nuclear tests. That means 99.37 percent of all the tests were done by the five permanent members of the Security Council. The North Koreans were not far off the mark.

While ignoring India, Pakistan and Israel, the Security Council has also been pursuing Iran, castigating the Iranians for their nuclear programme -- although Tehran has denied that it is developing nuclear weapons.

At a news conference Friday, Ali Abdussalam Treki of Libya, President-elect of the upcoming 64th session of the General Assembly, was asked about the Security Council's obsession with Iran's nuclear programme.

Firstly, he pointed out his country has voluntarily given up its nuclear weapons programme and was totally opposed to any country possessing such weapons. Over the years, the General Assembly, the UN's highest policy making body, has called for a nuclear weapons-free zone in the Middle East, he added.

"Where should we start?," asked Treki. "Should we start with the country which has the nuclear weapons in the Middle East (Israel) or the country accused of attempting to have nuclear weapons (Iran)?"

"We don't want Israel to have nuclear weapons and we don't want Iran to have nuclear weapons," he added.

By extension, he said, Libya does not want even the five permanent members of the Security Council to have what he called the world's most destructive and indiscriminate weapon.

Nuclear Tests by P5 since 1945