Lebanon was elected yesterday to the United Nations Security Council. It is the first time since 1952 that Lebanon, a founding member of the United Nations, will serve on the council.
Lebanon received 180 out of 192 votes from the General Assembly, greatly surpassing the two-thirds majority needed for Security Council membership.
Advocates claim that Lebanon will bring an Arab voice of moderation to the Security Council, the international community’s most powerful decision-making body. Lebanon has a reputation for having one foot in the East and one foot in the West, and could give a unique voice and understanding to the needs of both.
However, not everyone agrees with this assessment. Critics characterize Lebanon as a fractured country, still nursing the wounds from its civil war. They point to a county plagued by violence, one that doesn’t even have a functioning government of its own, let alone a government that can project a unified voice on any pressing international issue.
There is evidence to support this. In 2005, former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated in Beirut. In 2006, a war between Hizballah and Israel left the country in ruin. In 2008, Hizballah briefly took over half of the capital when the government tried to shut down its communications system. And the formation of Lebanon’s cabinet has been deadlocked since June.
Also, Lebanon is involved in some of the worlds most complicated issues that the Security Council will be facing during its two year term.
Through its large Shiite population, Lebanon is closely linked with Iran, whose nuclear program has attracted much attention recently. Lebanon’s ambassador to the United Nations has stated that Lebanon supports Iran’s right to develop its own peaceful nuclear power capabilities, but respects the decisions of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN body tasked with monitoring countries’ nuclear power programs.
Another issue is that of the UN’s Hariri-murder probe. Syria, a main suspect in the case, still wields tremendous influence in Lebanon, especially amongst Hizballah and Amal. It’s not hard to imagine that this influence could have a negative effect on the investigation, or at least complicate it.
Lebanon is also deeply involved in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Over 400,000 Palestinian refugees are thought to live in Lebanon, which shares a border with Israel. It’s likely that this will have a strong influence over how Lebanon proceeds with this matter in terms of its Security Council participation.
Over the years, Lebanon itself has been the subject of numerous Security Council resolutions. One of those resolutions, 1701, put a stop to the 2006 War and called for the demilitarization of Lebanese territory south of the Litani river. However, in the past six months there has been at least three alleged violations of the resolution by Hizballah.
Currently, these events are being investigated by UNIFIL (which has been active in Lebanon since 1978), the UN force tasked with keeping the peace (and insuring the demilitarization) of the designated area in South Lebanon, but it will be interesting to see how Lebanon’s involvement on the Security Council effects these matters.
Another complicating factor for Lebanon is the mere presence of Hizballah in its political system. Hizballah is considered by some, including the United States, to be a terrorist organization. However, the voters must have taken the issue of Hizballah’s involvement in Lebanon’s government under consideration before voting, and if 180 out of 192 countries in the UN voted in favor of Lebanon, this could be seen as the international community indirectly legitimizing the movement’s existence.
There is no question that serving on the United Nations Security Council is a prestigious responsibility for the tiny nation, however it will be interesting to see how Lebanon proceeds on some of the most complicated of international affairs, many of which it is intimately involved.
