French UN comments wrong, misleading, says Prof. Boyle

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 March 2010, 00:12 GMT]
Responding to United Nation's France Ambassador, Gerard Araud's, comment on UN inaction on Sri Lanka's civilian slaughter that the UN Secretary General cannot intervene against the wishes of a UN member state, Professor Boyle, an expert in International Law and a professor at the University of Illinois College of Law, told TamilNet that the French statement is "simply wrong and deliberately misleading," and explained that "article 100 of the UN charter made it quite clear that UN Secretariat, including the Secretary General, was completely independent of the Member States of the United Nations."

Professor Boyle said, "[t]he French Ambassador to the U.N. is simply wrong and deliberately misleading when it comes to the requirements of the United Nations Charter. Thereunder, the United Nations Secretariat including the United Nations Secretary General are one of six Independent Organs of the United Nations Organization itself, as recognized by Chapter XV of the United Nations Charter, together with the Security Council, the General Assembly, the International Court of Justice, the Trusteeship Council, and the Economic and Social Council. When the United Nations Charter itself was drafted, it was made clear that no one of these Organs had any authority to direct or command any other Organ what to do. Each Organ was given its own independent powers and responsibilities under the terms of the United Nations Charter.

"Furthermore, article 100 of the Charter made it quite clear that the U.N. Secretariat, including the Secretary General, was completely independent of the Member States of the United Nations," Professor Boyle added.

Article 100 of Chapter XV, titled "The Secretariat," states:

1. In the performance of their duties the Secretary-General and the staff shall not seek or receive instructions from any government or from any other authority external to the Organization. They shall refrain from any action which might reflect on their position as international officials responsible only to the Organization.
2. Each Member of the United Nations undertakes to respect the exclusively international character of the responsibilities of the Secretary-General and the staff and not to seek to influence them in the discharge of their responsibilities.

"The U.N. Secretariat and the U.N. Secretary General have an absolute and independent U.N. Charter obligation to investigate war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide against Tamils by the Government of Sri Lanka irrespective of the wishes of the U.N. Member States, including France," Boyle said.

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