The Potential of the Union State of Russia and Belarus in the UN System
The UN normative structure has high potential for further development of the Union State and Eurasian integration. This structure has been established gradually through wide international consensus. The respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms has become the aim of international cooperation stipulated by Art. 1, para 3 and 4 of the UN Charter. The ethical category of “human dignity” was the basis for that norm. The derivatives from it - social and economic rights emerged in priorities of the U.S.S.R. and socialist states, and civil and political rights - as the strategies of the U. S., their allies and transnational corporations. The collapse of the Soviet Union, Warsaw Treaty Organization and the COMECON had impact on the UN normative structure: liberal interpretation of human rights has become the instrument of “pluralistic unipolarity”. Narrow interpretation of human rights as only civil and political was proposed as “universal”. The alternative of social and economic rights has left the political discourse. However, the stone was firmly laid: the UN normative structure prevented the U.S. and their allies from establishing their priorities as “universal values”. Strengthening the UN system is a priority for the coordination of the Union State in the UN system. The cooperation between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus at the UN Human Rights Council, participation in the human rights treaties, support for the Russian and Belorussian initiatives from China, India, Asia-Pacific, Latin American and African states - all these factors have created high potential of the UN system for the Union State. How can this potential be mobilized?