France to push against UN vetoes for mass crimes

France is organising a ministerial meeting on the sidelines of September's meeting of the UN General Assembly to press the permanent Security Council members to voluntarily refrain from using their veto in cases of mass crimes and atrocities.
France's UN Ambassador Gerard Araud announced the ministerial session after a workshop Monday at the International Peace Institute to explore ways of implementing the idea first raised by French President Francois Hollande at last September's high-level assembly meeting.
While Britain sent its ambassador and the United States sent a representative to the workshop, the other two veto-wielding permanent council members, Russia and China, did not attend, signalling an uphill struggle ahead to reach agreement on the proposal.