The German UN Ambassador’s strange understanding of international law
Published: 05 April 2019 Author: Stefan Talmon DOI: 10.17176/20220113-143334-0
Following the United States’ illegal recognition of Israel’s annexation of the occupied Syrian Golan, on 26 March 2019 Syria asked the UN Security Council presidency, then held by France, to schedule an urgent meeting in order to “discuss the situation in the occupied Syrian Golan and the recent flagrant violation of the relevant Security Council’s resolution by a permanent Member State.”
The Security Council was scheduled to meet behind closed doors on 27 March 2019 to discuss the situation in the Middle East and, in particular, the mandate of the peacekeeping force on the Golan, known as United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF). In response to Syria’s request, France decided to turn that meeting into a public session and to give members an opportunity to address the action by the United States. However, unlike the other speakers, Germany’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Christoph Heusgen, did not dwell long on the subject. Rather, he used the opportunity for an all-out attack on the Syrian Government, stating: (more…)