By Richard von Weizsäcker
Project SyndicateJanuary 2, 2002
The award of the Nobel Prize for Peace to the United Nations and to its Secretary General, Kofi Annan, is a cause for true celebration everywhere. But celebrations should never become an excuse for complacency. Yes, the UN has achieved much under Secretary General Annan's leadership. But the idea of the United Nations as a uniter of nations remains, in many parts of the world and for many of the world's most complex problems, more an ideal still to be achieved than a living reality.
Some of the most powerful nations in the world still do not see fully cooperating with or participating in UN affairs as in their interest. Beyond states, the world's many NGOs are growing fast and multiplying in their influence, but without formal rules to define their role in the international system. Their real power, despite Secretary General Annan's efforts to create a dialogue with them, stands outside the UN framework. Indeed, NGOs often assume tasks for which the current structure of the UN is unsuited or remains far too weak.
To assist them in their tasks, and to assure that the great global issues of the day are addressed in a forum that unites and does not divide, the UN needs to be strengthened in the fields in which NGO's are working so impressively. Such strengthening can only be achieved by a fundamental reform of the UN's internal structure.
When the UN was founded in 1945, the primary objective was to prevent the outbreak of World War III. So, at its foundation, only one powerful body was introduced, the Security Council on which the world's great military powers sat. The agenda of the Security Council was and remains power, and meeting crises, mostly with military means.
Today, however, the real threats to the majority of the world's population stems from dangers almost unknown back then: poverty, hunger, population growth, migration, the environment, and the like. For the UN to meet these challenges, its very structure must change.
Two new councils, each with comparable power to the Security Council, are needed: a Social Council and an Economic Council. The IMF, World Bank, and WTO should not only report to, but be dependent upon this new UN reformed structure.
Why are these new bodies needed? The world cannot do without rules; it cannot move forward against our age's most pressing problems without defined legal rules and the institutions that regulate international law. Because these institutions do not exist, the UN must now invent them. Of course some rules, such as rules governing the promulgation of trade sanctions, now exist within, say, the WTO. These rules, however, are but steps in the right direction: steps toward socially and ecologically sustainable free trade and against protectionism, especially that often practiced by rich countries. Across the board, more global rules are needed so that global efforts to confront poverty, disease, and mass migration can be made consistent, predictable and most of all effective.
We have the Rome Statute of International Criminal Code; we are heading for an innovative guide to best practice on how civil society organizations can best contribute to the work of the UN; and we now have a large coalition, far beyond NATO, combatting terrorism. I am grateful that one of the reactions to September 11th was, if I am not mistaken, a somewhat changed attitude within the USA vis-í -vis the UN. But it is of a paramount importance that these kinds of change, namely, to incorporate real power into the structure of the UN, make more progress.
In dangerous times such as these, the world's peoples need to prove their solidarity. The large coalition now fighting terrorism is one way to demonstrate this. But solidarity also must be recognized within the real power structures of the UN. The Secretary General convocation of a ``Dialogue of Civilizations'' is but a start here. Far more needs to be done. The institution of Social and Economic Councils at the UN would mark an enormous step in the right direction.
I have tried to present the ideas outlined here not only to the General Assembly but also to the permanent members of the Security Council. I have also been invited to present them to the US Senate. So far, none of those discussions have proved to be very fruitful. But just as the time is coming when the US will to come see the UN as indispensable, the Security Council and its members will come to see the creation of new bodies within the UN not as rivals, but as the only means for the world's people, in solidarity, to confront the myriad social and economic problems that they face.
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