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On December 16, 1992, the United Nations Security Council established the United Nations Operation in Mozambique, known as ONUMOZ (from its name in French, Opération des Nations Unies au Mozambique). The agency was given extraordinary responsibility. Its duties were to demobilize the country after nearly two decades of civil war and supervise elections that would support its transition to a multiparty democracy. The basis for the mandate of ONUMOZ was the peace agreement signed in Rome on October 4, 1992, between the two contenders in the civil war, Frente de Libertação de Moçambique (the Mozambique Liberation Front, or FRELIMO) and the Resistência Nacional Moçambicana (the Mozambican National Resistance, or RENAMO). The former was headed by Joaquim Chissano, the president of Mozambique; the latter was led by Afonso Dhlakama.

Under the terms of Article 17 of the Charter of the United Nations, the regular expenses of the organization are to be “borne by the members as apportioned by the General Assembly.” Because collective security and peacekeeping are the central purposes for the existence of the United Nations, one might assume logically that expenses concerning them would be part of the assessed dues of all the members, as determined by the General Assembly. At its first session in 1946, the General Assembly adopted Rules of Procedure, including a provision under Rule 158 for the creation of a Committee on Contributions, which in turn under Rule 160 advises the General Assembly about the apportionment of the expenses of the United Nations based on the ability of each member state to pay, offering a specific set of criteria for the establishment of a scale of budgetary assessments for each country. All regular expenses, including those approved in advance by the General Assembly, and those incurred by the secretary-general in responding to unforeseen crises and situations, are assessed upon the member states, who are obliged to pay their dues. Under Article 19 of the U.N. Charter, any state falling in arrears on its assessment for two years may be denied its vote in the General Assembly.

The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 was the second flare-up between the two countries over the Kashmir Valley (Kashmir and Jammu) since the partition of India and Pakistan as independent countries in August, 1947. Under the scheme of partition provided by the Indian Independence Act of 1947, Kashmir—an autonomous kingdom ruled by a prince of the Dogra Dynasty, geographically as well as strategically situated between India and Pakistan—was given the option to accede to either country. In August, 1947, the Muslim inhabitants, especially the tribal groups of northern Kashmir, assisted by Pakistani paramilitary forces and claiming themselves Azad Kashmir (Free Kashmir), agitated against the possible accession to India, and the Hindu maharaja of the state sought asylum in India. Subsequently, the military forces of Pakistan and India were deployed on both sides of the international border for a showdown. This was the context for the First Kashmir War, during the fall and early winter of 1947.

Cyprus and the human rights of its people became a major issue at the United Nations in the 1950’s. From 1954 to 1958, Greece appealed five times to the General Assembly for the termination of British colonial rule and the application of self-determination for the island. The Greek appeals were aimed at internationalization of the issue and the exercise of pressure on Great Britain to withdraw from Cyprus. The settlement reached in 1959 and the subsequent establishment of an independent Cypriot republic in 1960, however, were not the direct result of U.N. involvement or application of human rights principles. Instead, a settlement was agreed upon in a Western setting through Greek-Turkish negotiations carried out in Zurich and London under British auspices.

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is a body of the United Nations (UN). It was created in the charter of the UN at the end of World War II. It is tasked with maintaining peace among nations. The charter grants the UN Security Council some powers, such as mediating between parties and investigating claims. The council can also impose economic sanctions on nations and may send in armed forces to enforce decisions and maintain peace.

By the time the Security Council of the United Nations authorized the formation of the first U.N. Protection Force (UNPROFOR I) for deployment in the former Yugoslavia on February 21, 1992, political circumstances had been deteriorating there for years and warfare had been sweeping across the nation’s westernmost corner for more than six months. Indeed, with the exception of its years under Tito’s rule, Yugoslavia had been troubled by communal conflict in general, and the tension between its Serbian and Croatian communities in particular, from its earliest days. Even its post-World War I creation in 1918 as the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes had less to do with the contracting parties’ strong desire for union than with Croatian fears that if the state was not quickly finalized they would find themselves facing alone an Italy that was already attacking Croatia’s Dalmatian coastline. Thereafter, matters worsened.

Immediately on achieving its independence in June of 1960, the Congo lapsed into a prolonged and politically complicated civil war. With the former Belgian colonial administration no longer in control, the politically unstable character of the Congo state became painfully obvious.