Madam, - Colette Browne (July 1st) is angry about the inaction of the United Nations on Zimbabwe, complaining about a "finger-wagging farce" and the "shrugging [of] collective shoulders". However, there is very little beyond finger-wagging that the UN can do.
Under Article 2, Subsection 7 of the UN Charter, the UN cannot interfere with anything that is essentially under the domestic jurisdiction of a member nation, unless that matter is a threat to international peace and security.
Since the Zimbabwean elections are within the domestic jurisdiction of Zimbabwe and do not threaten international peace and security, the UN Security Council is not authorised to take military action. In this case, the UN can do very little except apply international sanctions.
Also, Ms Browne's suggestion of an "EU military coalition" would be illegal under international law, unless it had a UN mandate (to which it isn't legally entitled).
The reason these rules are in place is to prevent the UN Security Council from bullying a member nation and to respect a country's right to conduct its own affairs. Sometimes this leads to situations where human rights are heavily abused (as in Zimbabwe), but if the UN could send in a peacekeeping force, this would allow the Security Council to pick and choose whom it likes and doesn't like, and I think we would have Iraq all over again.
The truth of the matter is that there is no easy solution. The dreadful abuses in Zimbabwe sicken me to the core, but unfortunately there is very little we can do. - Yours, etc,
JAMIE DONNELLY, Butterfield Grove, Dublin 14.