The way UN’s constitution (The Charter) is formulated ensures that its powers are strictly constrained. At the same time the rights and privileges of those who won the Second World War are well and truly entrenched in a blatantly undemocratic manner in the Charter, causing much disenchantment in a world where the political, economic and social power centres have shifted significantly. The Veto power conferred on the P5 in the Security Council, limits its freedom of action to situations where the Veto wielders agree. The Cold War paralysed the U.N. and its Security Council substantially, hobbling it during those dangerous years of East -West confrontation.
Similarly, North - South relations remain clouded by suspicions traceable to the now distant colonial experience. This constraint continues to influence attitudes and is not helped by an overbearing, “we know best” approach of the West.
The Group of 77, originally intended to be the platform of developing countries on economic and social issues, is no longer 77. Relatively prosperous China (a P5 country), the second biggest economy in the world, works with it and it has grown to 134. Not all of its members are poor developing countries either. The per capita income of Singapore comfortably outstrips many of the developed world.
Non Aligned Movement
Similarly, the Non Aligned Movement, of which Sri Lanka has been a prominent member often punching way above its weight, originally intended to be the group not aligned to the East or the West, has tended to pull in different directions with no cohesive non-aligned focus. Nevertheless, it remains a platform of group strength for the weak and the meek. Some have dropped out of this group. India, an original Non-aligned stalwart, today is participating in military exercises with the US, Japan and Australia (The Quad?) designed to confront and contain China.
The tendency of the Security Council, when the P5 works in unison, to adopt decisions binding on all member states under Chapter 7 of the Charter and which should properly be the legislative responsibility of the General Assembly, has also come in for criticism.
Consistent with the objectives of the Charter, the UN has been seminally responsible for the unprecedented development of the international rule of law. The Secretary-General’s office is the repository of over 550 multilateral treaties, the vast majority of them negotiated under the auspices of the UN They cover almost every aspect of human interaction, including the environment, the oceans, aviation, trade, human rights, disarmament, terrorism, organised crime, the outer space, shipping, road rules, etc, and set a complex network of global standards for the conduct of individual states as never before. Sri Lanka played a significant role in advancing the UN’s anti terrorist agenda along with other affected countries, and should continue to do so.
The international rule of law thus established, seeps down to national level in many areas influencing the development of the rule of law within countries.
Admittedly, the entry into force of a multilateral treaty or a state becoming party to a treaty does not per se advance the condition of individual persons. But the very existence of these universally accepted standards, raises awareness and creates the incentive to strive for those higher goals. Sometimes, with a little bit of added pressure.
An obligation to settle international disputes by peaceful means was consecrated in the Charter, together with a prohibition on the use of force in international relations. The mission of the International Court of Justice, created by the Charter, is to resolve inter-State disputes peacefully in accordance with international law.
While the judgments and advisory opinions of the ICJ carry tremendous moral pressure, the Court itself has no authority to enforce them.
The UN and its agencies have been successful in mobilising the international community on various issues. As the scourge of terrorism surged across borders and became a threat to many countries, the UN was able to establish treaty based and Security Council sponsored rules and to mobilise states and resources to counter this threat.
Expertise was assembled, resources were mobilised, training was provided to countries that needed it, and awareness was raised to a high level. In the absence of the UN and its agencies, it is doubtful if these advances could have been achieved at a global level. Much more remains to be done. The confrontations of the moment may deny the world of future opportunities to collaborate should such threats raise their heads again.
The global response to health challenges such as the AIDS pandemic, the swine flu and avian flu threats that had the potential to cause havoc and Ebola epidemic were countered due to the existence of the UN, especially the WHO.
And now Covid-19. Despite the criticism piled on the WHO by the US, it is the first and last resort for many a poor country in this crisis. The U.N. has developed an impressive ability to raise awareness rapidly and mobilise member states to respond quickly to threats of this nature. The WHO dealt with the Covid-19 pandemic in a much more impressive manner than many better resourced countries.
Saved countless lives
The manner that the world body has responded to natural and manmade disasters has saved countless lives and alleviated much misery.
The UN has been successful in restoring normalcy to a number of global situations that threatened to cause untold violence and misery. Cambodia has emerged as a stable and increasingly prosperous country after a decade of conflict largely as a consequence of the Australian initiated and UN brokered peace and the subsequent peacekeeping operation. Timor-Leste, after a quarter century of conflict, has established itself as a peaceful member of the international community.
South Africa’s transition from apartheid to democracy and majority rule was painstakingly facilitated by the UN despite the obstructions posed over many years by some Veto wielding members of the UN.
The role of the world organisation in guiding the former Yugoslavia’s successor states to peace, after the initial explosion of violence, was not insignificant. Even the complex legal issues relating to succession were dealt with imaginatively by the world body, especially its Treaty Section and the Office of Legal Affairs. This brings us on to a vital and expanded area of UN activity – peacekeeping. Since its first peacekeeping operations on the borders of Israel and between India and Pakistan, its peacekeeping role has expanded substantially, with peacekeepers being given multidimensional mandates.
Today the UN is actively engaged in peacekeeping operations in 16 countries. It has over 120,000 personnel, performing peacekeeping functions, including civilian, police and military personnel, contributed voluntarily by 122 Member States, mainly by developing countries. Sri Lanka was a significant contributor to the peacekeeping force in Haiti and was gradually expanding its participation.
This effort needs to be revived proactively as contributions to peacekeeping is a means to extending our soft power and generating goodwill, in addition to tapping a source of income for the country. The cost of peacekeeping exceeds seven billion dollars, making it the costliest aspect of UN operations. Now, UN peacekeepers may be permitted to play an offensive role to defend their mandates, including the protection of civilians.
While there are impressive success stories, peacekeeping related criticisms also abound. The UN’s peacekeeping efforts may meet with greater success if their mandates are formulated with better information originating at ground level and following more structured consultations, including with host governments, if the mandates are clearly defined and the peacekeeping troops are better briefed, equipped and selected on the basis of experience and training, if operations are regularly reviewed and exit strategies are well defined. Unfortunately, there has been a tendency for some missions to be extended indefinitely.
As the world moves forward there is an increasing clamour to reform the United Nations to reflect contemporary political and economic reality. The most difficult challenge will be to reform the Security Council which substantially reflects the power structures of post-World War 11. Two of the P5 are Europeans and members of the EU. Three of the elected members would also be members of the EU.
Security Council
At present, the WEOG group in the Security Council with Belgium, Estonia and Germany (to be replaced by Norway and Ireland) has six members out of 15, which is grossly disproportionate in every sense. Africa has three of the elected members, Latin America and the Caribbean two and Asia two plus the Permanent seat (China).
Asia is underrepresented given that almost half the world population lives in Asia and world economy is dominated by it. Italy, the UN’s sixth-largest funder, provided leadership to a movement known as the Uniting for Consensus in opposition to the possible expansion of permanent seats.
Core members of the group include Canada, South Korea, Spain, Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan, Turkey, Argentina and Colombia.
They would like to see the creation of creating a new category of seats, still non-permanent, but elected for an extended duration (semi-permanent seats). The G4 group, India, Germany, Brazil and Japan, have been campaigning to expand the P5 category to 9. While the Security Council, an entity that reflects the privileges of the victors of a war concluded 75 years ago, may not be reformed by another war, the dramatically altered global socio-economic realities might help to change attitudes.
Making the international civil service of the U.N., of which Sri Lankans have occupied senior positions over the years, truly effective has been another challenge. Constantly criticised by the major contributors, it has chugged along for 75 years.
Achieved much in 75 years
While intermittent efforts have been made under different SGs, especially during the tenures of Kofi Annan and Ban Ki-moon, to make it more dynamic and responsive to contemporary needs, it is probably the time to approach this task in a comprehensive manner.
Creditably, Ban Ki-moon succeeded in bringing large numbers of women into managerial positions. The ability of the Organisation to deliver on its mandates efficiently to the satisfaction of member states continues to be questioned by its main funder. A former US Permanent Representative, John Bolton, once suggested that the secretariat building could be reduced to 10 floors and the world would not know the difference.
The UN has been described as a private club. Its members decide what the club should do. Although the world at large may have other higher expectations, the UN is able to deliver only what its sovereign membership and the Charter would permit it to do. The most effective results are achieved where a consensus is obtained.
But as Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold so succinctly proclaimed, the UN was not created to send humanity to heaven, simply to stop it from going to hell. Likewise, it has been said that if the UN did not exist we would have had to invent it.
Given the current global suspicions and rivalries, it is unlikely that we would succeed in creating a UN today from scratch. Despite all the criticisms for its failures, it has achieved much in its 75 years of existence. Just that successes do not garner headlines. It could be described as the most successful and truly global political organisation ever created.
In retrospect, one could say that the UN has navigated through the crashing waves of global discord and survived so far. It has also enjoyed moments of euphoric glee of success. On the whole, as was hopefully observed by Georges Bidault, Minister for Foreign Affairs and head of the French delegation to the San Francisco Conference, in the past 75 years, it has performed admirably, “Reconciling the requirements of the ideal with the possibilities of the real”.
Dr. Palitha Kohona, Sri Lanka’s former Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Former Foreign Secretary and Head of the UN Treaty Section.