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With international commerce practically at a standstill and
most of Europe in shambles, the United Nations was set-up in 1945 by the allied
powers to save succeeding generations from the tragedy of war, and to promote
economic and social stability within and between member states. Today its activities
support 192 nations in the five areas of peace and security, economic and social
development, human rights, humanitarian affairs and international law. It has
six main organs; five are based at the UN headquarters in New York: the General
Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the
Trusteeship Council, and the Secretariat, with the International Court of
Justice located in The Hague, Netherlands.
A Global Humanitarian
Organization
With such a wide remit, complexity of organization is to be
expected, particularly as there are dozens of sub-organs including 17
specialized agencies and numerous other affiliated international and
non-governmental organizations. In theory, the United Nations has unique
strengths as its presence is global and its comprehensive mandate spans social,
economic and emergency needs. The UN does not represent any particular nation
or commercial interests, and when majority policy decisions are taken, all
countries have a voice.
While its successes should be noted, particularly in the
area of humanitarian assistance, a number of obstacles facing the UN have and
continue to prevent it from achieving its goals and fulfilling its largely
humanitarian charter.
Reforming the UN
Since its inception, the UN has struggled to reconcile deep-rooted
political and economic differences between the developed North and the Global
South, which have been exacerbated by an increasing imbalance of power, asymmetrical
militarization, and a widening equality-gap. To this day, the main allied
victors of WWII retain their institutionalized advantages within the UN - through
disproportionate voting and veto privileges as evidenced by the Security
Council, manipulation of the UN's budgets and funding, and undermining the overall
authority of conventions, treaties and standards put forward by the UN's member
states.
Voting in the UN occurs in both the General Assembly and the
Security Council. However, the General Assembly, where each member state holds
one vote, pales in terms of its influence when compared with the Security
Council. The Security Council is the one organ with the power to make decisions
that all other governments must abide by. Each permanent member of this monopoly
of international power (China, France, Russia, England, and the U.S.) holds a veto
for every decision. As nearly all conflicts involve or affect one of the ‘big
5' in one way or another, the result is that most disputes are never brought
before the UN for fear of a veto. So in effect, all wars are waged
independently and without UN approval or debate. This reduces the organization's
role in relation to global security to that of peacekeeper, and even then, only
after a cease-fire has already been agreed.
Lack of Funding
In addition, the UN must contend with budgetary limitations
and complicated, unreliable cash flows. The United Nations and all its agencies
receive approximately $20 billion each year in funding. This is a very small
sum compared to most government budgets, and just a tiny fraction of the
world's military spending. When breaking this number down in more detail, the
regular budget gained through membership assessments covering all UN
activities, staff and infrastructure accounts for a mere 10% ($1.8bn) of its total
spending. In contrast, peacekeeping costs are around $5bn and have tripled in
the last decade. Some $11.7bn (59%) of the UN's programs, funds and specialized
agencies are subsidized through voluntary contributions which have declined
year-to-year.
As the UN must rely completely on their member states for
funding, late payments, delayed approvals and decreasing funds directly affect
the UN's basic ability to function as an organization. Though the regular
budget is approved by the General Assembly, as of November 30th 2007 members'
arrears topped $735 million, of which the United States alone owed $688 million
(94% of the regular budget arrears). Furthermore, voluntary contributions are
often confirmed by national parliaments retrospectively, causing UN programs to
bear the risk of exchange rate shifts. Thus there are always discrepancies
between the pledged and the received contributions in this area.
A More Effective
United Nations
The UN system is clearly in need of far-reaching reform. Between
member states, however, sharp disagreements remain on what kind of reform is
needed and for what purpose, as none are willing to concede that the
shortcomings of the UN are primarily rooted in a dysfunctional global order
motivated by economic and political self-interest. The UN's complexity and
inefficiency results from impossibly small budgets and scarcely any voice in
economic matters, as superpowers and transnational corporations clearly benefit
from maintaining a weakened UN.
The United Nations needs to become more democratic, more
efficient and above all, more powerful, and this reform must not be dictated by
national or corporate interests. One of the main functions of a reformed United
Nations must be to act as a conduit for international cooperation so that
sufficient resources can be rapidly mobilized to secure the basic human rights
of the three billion people who currently live less than two dollars a day, as
per the internationally agreed Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
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