UN resolution on MH17: How Australia achieved what other nations could not

[nero_bolt]

Well done to Tony Abbott and Julie Bishop

New York:  The United Nations Security Council meets in a beautiful hall that was a gift to the world from the people of Norway when the organisation’s headquarters were built in New York after the dead of World War II were buried.

Since then it has often been a shrine to good intentions, a chamber in which plain language and firm resolve is mangled or obliterated by compromise and interference.

Not on Monday.

When Security Council members, with representatives of nations whose citizens were murdered aboard flight MH17 last week, gathered to pass unanimously an Australian resolution condemning the downing of the flight and demanding immediate access to the site of the atrocity, the dignified repatriation of the remains of the victims and an independent international investigation, the language used was powerful, angry and bitterly sad.

That the resolution survived Russia’s power of veto with its language and intent largely intact was the result of a smart and astonishingly fast diplomatic effort led by Australia

When the Security Council vote was held just after 3pm on Monday, Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop had been in the country for just a day. After arriving in Washington on Sunday, Ms Bishop had travelled straight to ambassador Kim Beazley’s residence in the city’s leafy north-western suburbs. There they sat down with CIA director John Brennan and some of his staff and James Clapper, US President Barack Obama’s director of national intelligence.

After the meeting Ms Bishop held a quick press conference in the entrance hall at the residence. The impact of the briefings was apparent. Ms Bishop’s cool reserve was intact, but seemed tempered by real anger.

Earlier in the day US Secretary of State John Kerry had revealed in TV interviews that bodies at the crash site had been moved by drunken separatists. There were reports of looting. Evidence was being tampered with.

Armed with the briefings, Ms Bishop and her team left the residence and took the  3½-hour train trip to New York.

For reasons of both politics and tragic circumstance, Australia is well placed to take the lead in the talks. With 37 of its citizens or residents killed, Australia’s interest is significant, but it is distant enough from European and transatlantic geopolitics to act as an honest broker between Ukraine, Russia and the US. 

It is a member of the Security Council, unlike the Netherlands, which has lost almost 200 citizens, and Malaysia, whose aircraft has been shot out over the sky, and Ukraine, in whose airspace the crime has been committed.

Lots more to read here.....

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/un-resolution-on-mh17-how-australia-achieved-what-other-nations-could-no...

[cherry*135]

I  would suggest that no matter who the PM of Australia was at this time (and the Foreign Affairs minister), the result would still be the same.

For reasons of both politics and tragic circumstance, Australia is well placed to take the lead in the talks. With 37 of its citizens or residents killed, Australia’s interest is significant, but it is distant enough from European and transatlantic geopolitics to act as an honest broker between Ukraine, Russia and the US. 

It is a member of the Security Council, unlike the Netherlands, which has lost almost 200 citizens, and Malaysia, whose aircraft has been shot out over the sky, and Ukraine, in whose airspace the crime has been committed.

[Anonymous]

yes thank you Tony and Julie for doing your job.

[cherry*135]

Abbott has never been a huge supporter of diplomacy or multi-lateral institutions like the UN. In opposition, the Coalition argued strongly against Australia’s ultimately successful bid for a seat on the UN Security Council, claiming it was a waste of money.

[cherry*135]

Congratulations for ex PM Ms Gillard for seeking a seat for Australia on the UN Security Council

2012

ABBOTT "And the problem with this whole Security Council bid is that it has cost money; worse it has distorted our priorities over so many years as so much time and effort goes into this, and not into managing the relationships which are absolutely vital to our future.”

Ms Gillard will use an address to the UN General Assembly to make a last-ditch push for a spot on the Security Council.

She said today Australia had been encouraged by support from the Pacific Islands and Caribbean nations.

Australia is competing against Finland and Luxembourg, with the top two finishers to get a seat. The two EU nations are expected to get strong support from their European counterparts.

 au

[debra9275]

OH was just saying he remembers abbott bagging JG & & the seat she won on the UN Security Council. Good on her for going ahead with it despite the ridicule.

[j*oono]

Paul Keating Ex-PM ‏@PmPaulKeating  2m

#operation dead cat bounce

[amber-eyed-girl]

Met Paul a long time ago. Around when that photo would have been taken.

A good outcome for today, I think of it as a combined effort from both parties.

the push for the seat and the talks that brought the UN resolution to reality.

[fiestas*girl]

wasnt bishop corrected at the UN for her poor choice of wording in the motion to be put forward?

she showed how really dumb she is

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

yes thank you Tony and Julie for doing your job.

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indeed job well done .

Timmermans - the Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs -  thanked Australia for taking the initiative. “Especially the personal commitment of Julie Bishop who made this possible,” he said, standing alongside Ms Bishop at a press conference after the vote. “Without her, the resolution would not be carried today and adopted by the Security Council.”

Argentina’s ambassador to the UN Security Council singled out the “courage of Australia”, while Belgium said it was “very grateful” to Australia for preparing the text.

The resolution was drafted, negotiated and adopted in the space of four days, considered as lightning speed for UN resolutions which generally take months.