General News of Friday, 13 August 2004

Source: GNA

Law lecturer warns of global anarchy

Accra, Aug. 13, GNA- A Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Law, University of Ghana, Legon, Mr Emmanuel Yaw Benneh has warned of global anarchy if member states of the United Nations (UN) failed to adhere to the principles and values of the world body that ensured the rule of law.

This, he said, would lead to the gradual erosion of the very legitimacy of the UN as a guarantor of a just international order of peace and mutual respect of all nations.

Mr Benneh was speaking in Accra on Thursday on: "Developing the Rule of Law Among Nations- A Challenge to the UN", at a lecture organised by the United Nations Association (UNA) of Ghana, in conjunction with the UNA-UK Westminster branch and the UNA- Connecticut, USA at the British Council Hall.

The lecture attracted members of the Diplomatic Corps; Judiciary, Security Agencies, Traditional Rulers and Civil Society Groups. Mr Benneh said the unilateral military actions outside of the UN Charter under the guise of "humanitarian interventions"; "preventive war" and "regime change" particularly, in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Iraq, posed a challenge to the UN.

"They are evidence of a new reality of power politics, which appears to have taken hold of the relations between states," he said. He said the concept of the rule of law would remain a basic and essential ingredient in the harmonious relations of states.

Mr Emmanuel Amuasekyi-Amoah, Secretary-General of UNA-Gh, called on the US, the world's remaining super power, to operate within the confines of the UN Charter to ensure peace and security in the world. Mr Justice George Kinsley Acquah, the Chief Justice, who chaired the function, stressed on the importance of ensuring world peace by implementing the UN Charter on the rule of law among nations.