Hans von Sponeck is a German Diplomat and former UN Assistant Secretary-General who believes the United Nations is no longer able to fulfill its mandate. Von Sponeck’s opinion of the global body is informed by his personal experience working within it at the highest levels: he also served as the UN humanitarian coordinator for Iraq before resigning in 2000, in protest against the UN sanctions regime and its impact on the country’s civilian population.
On this episode of The InnerView, von Sponeck talks to Imran Garda about his resignation from the UN, and why he believes the organization is in a worse state than when he left it. Von Sponeck discusses the reasons why the global body is unable to sufficiently address a growing number of conflicts and humanitarian crises worldwide, from Gaza to Ukraine. He also discusses power struggles within the Security Council, the urgent need for reform, and opens up about his own family’s complicated past.
00:00 Meet Hans Von Sponeck
01:21 The state of the world
03:07 The UN Charter
04:51 Failures of the UN Security Council
06:40 “West against the rest”
07:48 Hans discusses the illegal war in Iraq
10:31 Incompetence of the UNSC and its permanent members
12:53 Article 6 and what country should be expelled from the UN
14:01 Atrocities in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and Lebanon
14:38 Hans’ life in Israel
16:30 His book “Liberating the United Nations: Realism with Hope”
17:30 How his father’s connection to Nazi Germany shaped him
23:01 German collective guilt
26:03 The war in Gaza
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