Back to Mr.Nyet? A Quick Look at UN Vetoes in the Last 20 Years and Beyond
Russia’s veto on the UN resolution condemning the Srebrenica massacre has prompted fear of a comeback to “veto diplomacy”, but it’s nothing really new.
“Counterproductive, confrontational and politically motivated”: on the 8th of July, Russia vetoed a UN resolution condemning the 1995 Srebrenica massacre and calling it a “crime of genocide”. In the same vote, China abstained, as well as non-permanent Security Council members Venezuela, Angola and Nigeria
This was the first veto at the Security Council in 2015. It may not be the last, though: Malaysia has recently been lobbying for a resolution for the creation of an international tribunal dedicated to prosecuting those responsible for the crash of MH17 over Ukraine, almost one year ago. The idea has been gaining ground in the last few weeks and Russia is not happy about it, calling it “counterproductive” and clearly stating its intent to oppose it.
This renewal of Russia’s diplomatic “nuisance” at the Security Council has prompted some experts to predict a comeback to the times of “Mr.Nyet”, the nickname given to soviet foreign minister Andrei Gromyko: during his time, from 1946 to 1968, the USSR vetoed about 80 UN resolutions.
The fear is not new: in 2008, after Russia had vetoed a resolution to impose sanctions against Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe, The Economist had reported on the event with the title “The return of Mr Nyet”.
And indeed, a look at the last 20 years of vetoes at the Security Council shows that Russia has been much more active since 2005. Between 1995 and 2005, Russia only used their veto right once, whereas the United States used it ten times. From 2005 to 2015 however, Russia vetoed nine resolutions against three for the United States.
Moreover, if American vetoes tend to revolve around a single issue, namely Israel, Russia’s vetoes concern a much wider array of topics.
In less than a year, between October 2011 and July 2012, Russia and China vetoed three resolutions on the Syrian situation. Beyond that however, Russia has been voicing its opposition, again quite often in collaboration with China, concerning countries such as Georgia, Myanmar, Cyprus and of course Ukraine.
This goes into contrast with the USA who, in the last twenty years, only vetoed against resolutions aiming at condemning Israel or recognizing Palestine (with the notable exception of a veto on a resolution regarding Bosnia).
This means that, even though at first glance one could think that Russia is simply doing the same thing that the USA were doing from 1995 to 2005, it’s actually very different, with Russia ready to veto on lots of very different issues, whereas the United States pretty much only considers the topic of Palestine to be taboo.
If Moscow were to oppose the creation of a MH17 international tribunal, it would be the third time in four years that Russia vetoes twice in a single year.
However, and though it seems clear that Russia has decided in the last few years to make a stronger use of its veto right, it is still pretty far from the worst days of the UN: immediately following World War 2, the USSR would veto on average one resolution each month.
Nor is it something that only the USSR or Russia has done: from 1980 to 1990, the United States vetoed 44 resolutions, which is more than 4 vetoes each year. The same decade, the USSR only used their veto right four times.
Moscow’s actions at the Security Council are therefore not particularly out of place, but rather the continuation of a trend that started in 2007. Much more unusual is the attitude of China, who vetoed six decisions in the last ten years. This may not seem much, until your realize that China has only vetoed nine decisions in the entire history of the United Nations.
