A view from the United Nations
August 2006
The UN: Limping along
By Vicente García-Delgado, CIVICUS´ UN Representative
It took the UN Security Council no less than one full month to pass a resolution to cease the hostilities in Lebanon. One month and about 1,200 deaths between civilians and soldiers, including four UN observers. This is indeed an unacceptably slow and frustrating process. The images of young Lebanese men charging against UN offices in Beirut about two weeks ago are sadly understandable: they saw the UN as a monolithic international body paralysed by the refusal of the US to take immediate action to protect the civilian population. “Why is the UN failing us? Why are we being abandoned?” they must have thought. “What good is the UN for us, anyway?”
This is the latest example of a UN incapable of acting swiftly and energetically when the world confronts a breach of international peace, and it further reinforces the negative views so many citizens of good will hold about the Institution. The feelings of despair and disbelief shared by millions around the world who suffer quietly the consequences of UN inaction and lack of enforcement are fully understandable. According to latest figures, about 50,000 human beings, our sisters, our children, our brothers, die every single days from preventable causes amid a world of plenty.
But let’s be clear about it: Our fury against the UN, understandable as it may be, remains misplaced. The UN is not the culprit. The UN is not to blame for its inability to act. The UN is not responsible for its own inadequacies, for its lack of resources, for its lack of enforcement, for not having a permanent UN force capable of being deployed in a moment’s notice.
The UN is what the Member States make it, and more precisely, what the five Permanent Members of the Security Council make it. As long as these “lords of the world” refuse to give up their veto power (refuse even to restrain themselves on the use of the veto power) the UN shall continue to limp along, hostage to the whims and short-sighted national interests of a few powerful nations, and among them, one extremely powerful nation.
The UN, to serve its purpose in the XXI Century, needs to free itself from the stale strictures from 60 years ago. It needs to go beyond the elimination of the veto: it needs to transform itself from an intergovernmental organization to a supranational one, where national sovereignty is no longer the sovereign value. When the world is challenged by ever more complex global issues, and where a crisis anywhere is a crisis everywhere, national interests must be brought in line with the global interests. Only with a good measure of supra-nationalism at the UN does the world hold a chance to act coherently and effectively in the best interest of the world community. Only then do we have a chance to reach a more evolved system of global governance, capable of making ours a more just and equitable world.
It is my hope and my vision that one day, not too far into the future, even the most powerful nation among all nations shall realize that its national interest coincides with the interests of the Commons; that no one nation, however powerful, has the means to solve its national problems; that cooperation beats competition, and that trust trumps fear.
Meanwhile, the UN will continue to limp along. The Lebanon resolution is one month too late, but better late than never. Along the way, some important changes are being achieved: the idea of the international community having a “Responsibility to Protect” the citizens of a country from gross human rights violations perpetrated by their own governments, adopted at the 2005 UN World Summit, and are a blow to the very concept of national sovereignty. The International Criminal Court is another important achievement for the UN, encouraged by global civil society. And the UN continues to act as the primary humanitarian and peacekeeping world institution. Let us not forget the many UN services that benefit millions of the poor, the refugees, the infirm.
Let us continue to demand a transformed UN that is given the tools and the means to do its work. Let us insist on a democratic, open, transparent, independent UN. It is our only hope for a better future for all. And let us direct our fury where it belongs.
In solidarity,
Vicente García-Delgado, CIVICUS´ UN Representative
Please send your comments to CIVICUSUN@aol.com or kumi@civicus.org or editor@civicus.org
Below you will find all previous columns of Vicente García-Delgado, CIVICUS UN Representative (New York):
• The last thing the world needs: Dismantling the UN
• The world needs a more democratic United Nations
• UN Management Reform hits a nerve: roadblock or power grab?
• A UN Secretary-General for “We the Peoples”: Civil society calls for a more democratic selection process
• Charting new ways of participation: Is it time for a Parliamentary Assembly at the UN?
• Changing the tone: General Assembly President Jan Eliasson reaches out to Civil Society
• Changing the tone: General Assembly President Jan Eliasson reaches out to Civil Society
• Argentina: Thriving without the IMF
• The Big Letdown: UN Summit shortchanges the poor
• The World Summit : UN Reform will mean little unless poverty eradication tops the agenda
• Millions roar but the G8 whispers - Let the Millennium+5 Summit make up the difference
• “Global Justice - Northern citizens have a special responsibility to make it happen”
• Letting the United Nations be all that it can
• “Appointment with History: The world looks up to John Bolton to help achieve the MDGs”
• “We are rolling!: Civil society’s call for poverty eradication impacts the World Economic Forum and the Group of Seven”
• No more excuses!: The Tsunami must not be allowed to wash away the Millennium Development Goals
• A Call To Action 2005: Global Civil Society mobilizes to demand an end to poverty and the fulfilment of the Millennium Development Goals
• TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT: Should civil society and the Global Compact live under the same UN roof?
• The UN Global Compact: A big red herring disguised in UN blue?
• Happening now: A global revolution of consciousness
• Lasting security for all: Shifting from state security to security of the people
• The UN – Permanently relevant or temporarily relevant?
