"We support the principle of the French initiative — we do not envisage a situation where the UK would use its veto to block action in response to a mass atrocity. Implementation, with support of the other five permanent members of the Security Council, remains an unresolved question," Rycroft said.
The British diplomat reminded that his country last used the veto right in 1989 when a draft resolution was being considered that called on the U.S. to immediately stop military intervention in Panama. The U.S. also voted against the document.
In 2013 French President Francois Hollande called on major powers — China, France, Russia, Britain and the United States — to voluntarily regulate their right to exercise their veto.
According to France's proposal, the UN Charter would not be amended and the change would be implemented through a mutual commitment from the permanent members. In concrete terms, if the Security Council were required to make a decision with regard to a mass crime, the permanent members would agree to suspend their right to veto. The criteria for implementation would be simple: at the request of at least 50 member states, the United Nations secretary general would be called upon to determine the nature of the crime. Once he had delivered his opinion, the code of conduct would immediately apply. To be realistically applicable, this code would exclude cases where the vital national interests of a permanent member of the Council were at stake.
Moscow opposes any changes to the order of using the veto right which allows the permanent members of the UN Security Council to block the resolutions even if they gain the necessary majority of the vote.
As UNIAN reported earlier, on July 29, Russia vetoed a UN Security Council resolution on setting up an MH17 international criminal tribunal to prosecute those responsible for downing a Malaysia Airlines plane over eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014, that killed all 298 people on board.
After the vote, Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders said that the Netherlands, Malaysia, Australia, Belgium, and Ukraine would continue to look for mechanisms to prosecute those responsible for the crime.
