The Iranian Review for UN Studies
Volume:2 Issue: 1, Winter and Spring 2019

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was adopted by the UN General Assembly on 10 December 1948 and Iran was among the 48 UN Member States who voted in favor of this historic resolution. Since then, Iran has acceded to many other international instruments of human rights. At the same time and especially after the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979, Iran has repeatedly referred to its different interpretation of some international norms of human rights, relying on the notion of cultural diversity.

According to the UN Secretary-General, JCPOA represents a major achievement in nuclear non-proliferation and diplomacy and has contributed to regional and international peace and security. The United Nations policy has always been formed to welcome such international agreements and to try to form a suitable bed for their full implementation. Considering the unilateral withdrawal from the JCPOA by the U.S and the favorable positions of the European countries in preserving it, the role that the Secretary-General of the United Nations can play as the chief administrative officer in this regard is very important. Based on article 99 of the UN Charter, the Secretary-General is to play his role in maintaining the integrity and commitment of the United Nations to its obligations in accordance with the document and UN Security Council resolution 2231. It seems that Mr Antonio Guterres with his good record in his former role in UNHCR, can play a positive role in maintaining the JCPOA.

The conquest of Constantinople in 1453 by the Ottomans compelled Europeans to open new routes for their high profited trade with the East which had been fundamentally damaged. Their sea voyages reached them to unknown spaces for profit-making on both east and west side of the Atlantic. The Mercantilism was momentum and at the same time a theorizing device for their endeavours. Slaves, as commercial commodities and the labour-force, were of the greatest profit and played an undeniable role for the industrialization, the genesis of the Industrial Revolution, and the misery of workers as one of its by-products. In 1919 International Labour Organization was founded as an evolutionary response to the dreadful conditions of workers, and for the strengthening of weakened bases of the liberal economic system.The Conditions and weakness had roots in European expansions and developments. The foundation was also a reactionary measure against the expansion of social uprisings all over the Europe and America, which might be led to the downfall of liberal governments in industrialized countries by adopting the Russian Revolution model.

This article seeks to analyze and explain the UNESCO’s procedures for the protection of cultural heritage in Syria and Iraq through comparative method and use of library resources. Cultural heritage in these countries has been always prone to destruction and theft due to armed conflicts. The terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq seek to eradicate the culture and identity of these two countries through destruction of cultural heritage (cultural cleansing) or illicit trade of cultural heritage. UNESCO has focused on combating cultural crimes within a special procedure, known as “Cultural Heritage Regime”, in order to protect the cultural heritage. According to the analysis of the present paper, UNESCO has failed to prevent the destruction of the cultural heritage in Syria and Iraq. However, this organization has been successful in reconstructing cultural heritage of Syria and Iraq. It also has acted successfully in cooperating with relevant institutions in order to confront with cultural crimes. Having regard to the UNESCO’s legal procedure, most of the rules applied to the status of cultural heritage in Syria and Iraq are related to the international rules for the protection of cultural heritage during armed conflicts, which include the UNESCO’s 1954 Convention for the Protection of Cultural Heritage in the Event of Armed Conflict and its protocols, as well as customary international humanitarian law. Regarding the declarative procedure, UNESCO has played an important role in alerting the international public opinion in order to protect the cultural heritage in Syria and Iraq.

In rare if important instances since the end of the cold war, the United Nations Security Council has resorted to maritime enforcement of its economic sanctions whereby Member States, acting nationally or through regional organizations or arrangements, are authorized to conduct maritime interdiction operations against foreign-flagged vessels suspected of carrying sanctioned cargo. This paper aims to provide a historical overview of such UN-mandated maritime embargoes so as to examine the Security Council’s evolving policy on the maritime enforcement of its sanctions.  Furthermore, in light of the legal constraints that the international law of the sea places on non-flag state interference with merchant shipping, the paper will also analyze the legal basis upon which the Security Council authorizes such embargoes in order to evaluate its legal and policy implications.

China’s participation in the United Nations peacekeeping missions has been very striking in recent years, notably since 2000. In accounting for China's such operations in the Middle East and North Africa, this article focuses on security perspective. The aim of the paper is to address China's peacekeeping policies in relation to the country’s strategic preferences and utilities. The findings show that the calculus behind China's ascendency in the peacekeeping engagement, and perhaps its foreign policy, has shifted with its improved international image not only in economic and diplomatic arenas but also security enhancement and balancing against the United States.  In other words, China is surpassing the U.S. as the leader in UN peacekeeping and crafting an image for itself within the international community which will be evaluated in three sections; firstly, shedding lights on China’s level of participation in the peacekeeping missions in the Middle East and North Africa, secondly, assessing its military strategy and, finally, noticing China’s balancing responses to the United States.