Book Review
For Medicine, Conflict and Survival (Vol.22 No.1)
By: Richard
Lawson.
The United Nations and Its Future in the 21st Century
Edited by Vijay Mehta
Spokesman, Nottingham, 2005, 271pp., £10.00, ISBN 0 85124 707 5.
For better or for worse, the fate of humanity and our natural environment is intimately bound up with the fate of the United Nations, which is a unique and complex mixture of crystalline idealism and opaque Machiavellianism – with a bit of incompetence and (sadly) a dash of corruption thrown in. Anyone who wishes to understand and contribute to the future of humanity has to understand what is going on in the UN and this book is an excellent tool to aid that understanding. It comprises a series of eight lectures delivered between 1997 and 2004, reprinted from Medicine, Conflict & Survival, in the memory of Erskine Childers, who was an Irish UN worker and thinker, with much background information.
The breadth and depth of knowledge presented in such an easily absorbed way is truly mind expanding. Each contributor crosses and re-crosses the warp and weft of UN complexity in its history, its successes and its challenges. Razali Ismail, Malaysia’s permanent representative at the UN since 1988, presents a view of substantial yet realistic wisdom in terms of the need for reform for the organisation. He identifies the UN’s central problem in terms of its perception by its critics:
The United Nations has always been both less and more than what is hoped for. Proponents lament its inability to persevere and be more effective...Critics lament its over-extended involvement in international affairs.
Well known speakers are Professor Paul Rogers, Department of Peace Studies, Bradford University; Dr Caroline Lucas and Patricia McKenna, present and past Green MEPs; and Dr Jenny Tonge until recently a Liberal Democrat MP. Less well known are people like the Assistant Secretary General of the UN, Prof Dr Ramesh Thakur, and other UN officers such as Margaret Anstee, Jayanatha Dhanapala, Dennis Halliday, Rosalyn Higgins, Ramesh Thakur, Razali Ismail and Richard Jolly, who contribute years of experience in behind-the-scenes work.
The topic of UN reform is a constant thread throughout the book. No single template is provided, but the need for increased democratic representation is a frequent motif. Currently, UN General Assembly members are mere appointees of the Prime Minister: imagine how it would be if candidates for the General Assembly, perhaps refashioned into a World Parliament, had to offer themselves up for election.
‘Civil Society’ is the current buzz word, referring to the community of Non-Governmental Organisations who are slowly gaining access to the deliberations of the nations. But what is the democratic mandate of these free associations? They may have large paying memberships, who may cease support if they do not agree with what is being put forward, but the feedback from most organisations that I belong to is not all that detailed.
The third recurring topic is the problem of the relation of the American superpower to the UN. Things were bad enough in the days of the Cold War, when there were two superpowers. Margaret Anstee, who was Director General of the UN office in Vienna from 1987 to1992, relates that when they tried to set up a small office to give early warning of impending crises, the Soviet Union accused them of extending the Central Intelligence Agency, and the United States accused them of extending the KGB! Now, however, the dynamic has changed, with one superpower driving ahead with its own agenda. America has either set aside or undermined no less than eight international treaties.
At the same time, the superpower is undermining the functioning of the UN by starving it of funds. America owes one half of the debt that keeps the UN in a perpetual state of financial crisis. It is salutary to get the UN funding into perspective: UN peacekeeping expenses come in at 0.2 per cent of world military spending, UNICEF has a budget of 80 cents per capita (global), whereas the military have USD134 per capita, and the UN core budget stands at 4 per cent of the budget of New York City. With these tiny resources, it is no wonder that the UN often seems ineffective.
Not only do we get the benefit of the eight contributors, but the book also contains a valuable collection of UN reference documents. We have here the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Hague Agenda for Peace and Justice in the Twenty-first century, and two very important recent documents: the report of the High Level Panel (Our Shared Responsibility) and We the Peoples: Civil Society, the UN and Global Governance. These are worth reading in themselves, some for the clarity of purpose and the high principles that they express, and others for their immediate relevance as they determine what is happening on the international scene in coming months and years.
If there is any criticism to be made, it is that there is not enough debate on the role of the World Trade Organisation, and the question of the dominance of Trans-National Corporations over governments, whether democratically elected or not. This is a huge challenge to democracy and one that must be confronted as sharply in the debating chambers as it is in the streets outside G8 meetings. It is a pity also that there is no discussion of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine, the idea that the international community has a duty to intervene in countries where human rights violations are taking place. This idea is slowly penetrating into the debate, but it raises deep questions over what kind of interventions are envisaged, and at what stage and in which way they should be activated. However, R2P was only a nascent idea in the period covered by these lectures.
Overall, this is a most valuable contribution to the current debate over the future of the United Nations, and deserves to be read at least once by everyone who takes an interest in current events.
RICHARD LAWSON
Congresbury, BS49 5DX
(23 August 2005)
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For The
Gandhi Way, July 2005 From: Diana
Schumacher
“The United Nations and Its Future in the 21st Century”
Edited by Vijay Mehta
Contributors Margaret Anstee, Jayantha Dhanapala, Denis Halliday, Rosalyn Higgins, Razali Ismail, Richard Jolly, Caroline Lucas MEP, Patricia McKenna, Paul Rogers, Ramesh Thakur, Jenny Tonge.
Published by Spokesman for Action for UN Renewal 274 pages
ISBN 0 85124 707 5
Price £10.
It is sixty years since the UN Charter was signed in San Francisco on October 24th 1945. The October date is now officially designated the annual “United Nations Day”. The very first meeting of the UN General Assembly was historical and extremely productive. It happened to be held in the Methodist’s Westminster Central Hall, London, which was “requisitioned” by the UK government for the purpose, being about the only suitably large and centrally located venue still standing in post-war London. The disgruntled Methodists had to relocate their Sunday services to the London Coliseum until the UN event was concluded. The Methodist Trustees’ distress was particularly understandable, with the additional fact that alcohol, (supposedly the fuel of diplomacy!) was being served on their premises.
What has happened since (and is still happening at this moment), and the extent to which so many hard won peace treaties and UN agreements and institutions, are being undermined and eroded is partly the subject of this thought-provoking book. The text, based substantially on the Erskine Childers Lectures of 1997-2004, with some chapters added, looks at the strengths and weaknesses of the UN today, at the “Crossroads of Ideals and Reality” and at possible future reforms which may enable this noble organisation to serve as a useful instrument for building a culture of peace in the Twenty-first Century despite the undermining of certain self-interested council members.
In 2005, the UN which was born of the highest ideals, is beginning to show all the stresses and strains of the sixty year old ageing process. After all the political, economic and social setbacks recently endured there is every indication that we are at what Kofi Annan claimed in 2003 as “a fork in the road”. The UN Millennium Goals are not yet visibly being delivered, although we are over half way through the internationally agreed process. Certain senior UN members have decided to take unilateral action such as in the US/UK coalition in the war against Iraq. Poverty, famine, political and social injustice and environmental degradation are much more evident now than sixty years ago.
Whereas the statistics are not encouraging, the underlying reasons are extremely complex. Undoubtedly the UN was founded on an internationally agreed body of ethics, integrity and the concept of committed and collective mutual security. Its signatories were living in the aftermath of the Second World War which had left in its wake devastation, mistrust and misery endured by countless millions. Never again was the world to undergo the same disasters and in the past sixty years. The UN has accomplished some very considerable achievements in the fields of conflict resolution, peace keeping and the successful targeting of certain social and environmental issues.
As can be seen from the list of contributors to Mehta’s book, the views are all those of renowned experts, who have had considerable dealings with the UN and its multifaceted subsidiary organisations. They offer insights from different perspectives and traditions which makes for a balanced, if an overall somewhat pessimistic overview. Perhaps it is the materialism and economic greed of the last sixty years which has undermined the energy, ethics and integrity of the founders and the subsequent Secretary-Generals of the UN? We are left with many proposals and possible scenarios for UN reform, accountability and possibilities of its strengthening in order to build a safer world. The question is who will take responsibility? Will countries put aside their national and economic interest for the benefit of the world body? By what new or strengthened instruments will this be achieved?
The Afterword and Appendices (pp 166-283) are essential reading for understanding the history, aspirations and mechanisms of the UN. On the whole these are reports of documents, summaries of declarations and recommendations including UN pronouncements on Civil Society and Global Governance (which now require more explicit formulation). The UN Declaration of Human Rights (December 1948); The International Court of Justice; The UN Development Goals and the Hague Agenda for Peace and Justice in the 21st Century are also essential reading or revisiting. So, metaphorically armed by the information and insights assembled so masterfully by Vijay Mehta, what can Gandhians do to make a useful and positive contribution to UN efficacy? What is our shared responsibility for a safer and non violent world?
Apart from looking at our own lifestyles and economic demands which may curtail or contribute to the lifestyles of others (and this is a personal choice for each), I should like to quote the words of Erskine Childers in the concluding chapter of his final book “The Challenges to the United Nations: Building a Safer World” – (St Martin’s Press 1994).
“It is time, indeed it is overtime, to empower those whom the Charter proclaims to be the first authors of the United Nations – ‘We the Peoples’. In addition to the needed strengthening of NGO roles and access, we must press our governments now to do what even in 1945 (UK) Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevan (no ‘dreamer’) called a necessary ‘completion’ of the architecture of San Francisco.
The UN and its Future in the 21st Century depends on a new generation of thinking. In a world which is currently suffering from numerous wars, internecine strife, terrorism, social and economic injustice and environmental degradation, each of us has to bring into each situation and in each present moment hope, unity and forgiveness. It is only through building bridges in our immediate circumstances and local community that the world community will reach the aspirations in the UN Charter.
“We the Peoples”, by supporting and helping to strengthen the United Nations will be building a safer world for future generations. This book will equip you with some of the necessary tools.
© Diana Schumacher.
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By Peaceline, May/June 2005
The United Nations and its Future
in the 21st Century"
Editor: Vijay Mehta.
Contributors* Paul Rogers, Caroline Lucas MEP, Dennis Halliday, Jenny Tonge and others.
In 2005, the UN is celebrating its 60* anniversary. This is an historic opportunity to take stock of the past and see what lies ahead. This collection of essays assesses aspects of the organisation's history and what its future might be.
The UN is at once the symbol of humanity's collective aspirations for a better life in a safer world for all, and a forum planning collective action to achieve this. Pursuing these goals is even more significant now that the UN is under pressure to reorganise.
The book discusses the far-reaching reforms needed by the UN if it is to continue to play a central role over international peace and security. The book's contributors emphasise that the UN is the only body whereby respect for the rule of law and adherence to multilateral treaties can be achieved.
The publication of this book is well timed as the US is going through a crucial period of self-examination and needs reforming in order to make itself more relevant to the challenges of the 21st century. It includes important UN documents and the recommendations of the UN High Level Panel Report on threats, challenges and change in relation to poverty, environmental degradation, terrorism, civil war, conflict between states, weapons of mass destruction, and organised crime.
The book's chapters were originally given as lectures in honour of the UN's freethinker and constructive analyst, Erskine Childers.
Vijay Mehta is a writer and peace campaigner. He is currently secretary of London Region CND as well as Vice-Chair of Action for UN Renewal.
The book has just been published by Spokesman Books, price £10. 274pp.
It can be obtained from London Region CND for £10 (add £1 for postage if to be sent.)
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For World Disarm (Issue No 81) By: Frank Jackson (Co-chair, World Disarmament Campaign)
The United Nations and Its Future in the 21st Century
