Wall Street Journal published an article by the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan “Why the UN matters” (22.02.2005)Published: 2.03.2005 |
In the past year I have read many attacks on the
United Nations.
That pains me, because I have served the UN all my
life. I have done, and am still doing, everything
I can to correct its imperfections, and to improve
and strengthen it. And I believe profoundly in the
importance of that task, because a strong UN is of
vital importance to humanity.
When the appalling disaster of the tsunami struck
in the Indian Ocean, killing at least 150,000
people and destroying the livelihood of millions,
President Bush acted quickly to form a core group
of nations with available military forces in the
region. That was the right thing to do. It got the
relief efforts off to a flying start, which was
essential.
But a week later, when all involved came together
in Jakarta to plan and coordinate the
multinational effort, everyone, including the US,
agreed that the UN should take the lead.
Why? For two reasons.
First, the UN had the necessary skills. Its Office
for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs,
which I formed in 1997 soon after I took office,
is designed exactly for the role that was required
– a light structure, not getting in anyone’s way
or doing their job for them, but able quickly to
locate needed supplies and contact whatever
organization can deliver them.
But second, and even more important, everyone was
willing to work with the UN: the governments and
people of the affected countries, the donors, and
the non-profit organizations whose role is so
essential in all emergencies, great and small. All
of them recognize that the UN is the right body to
lead, because it is in no one’s pocket. It belongs
to the world.
Another example of the UN’s importance – a more
difficult one, because of its sharply divisive
political context -- is Iraq. Indisputably, the
war in Iraq two years ago caused many people on
all sides to lose faith in the UN. Those who
favoured military action against Saddam Hussein
were disappointed that the Security Council did
not – as they saw it – have the courage to enforce
its own resolutions. And those who opposed it were
frustrated at the UN’s inability to prevent a war
they thought unnecessary or premature.
And yet, when the US and its allies wanted an
Iraqi body with broad national and international
support to help them run the country, they turned
to the UN and my special representative, Sergio
Vieira de Mello, for help and advice. He persuaded
Paul Bremer that it should be a Governing Council,
not a mere advisory body, and he persuaded key
Iraqi leaders such as Ayatollah Sistani to let
their followers join it. Sergio and 21 of his
colleagues paid with their lives for their courage
and determination to help the Iraqi people - as,
alas, do too many brave servants of the UN whom
the world hears little about.
Last year, when the Coalition wanted to transfer
power to an interim Iraqi government, they turned
again to the UN for help. They knew that if the UN
were involved in choosing it the new government
would have a much better chance of being accepted
as legitimate and sovereign.
Both Iraqis and Americans turned to the UN for
help in organizing last month’s elections. The UN
helped to draft the electoral law and the law on
political parties, to choose and train the members
of the independent electoral commission and
hundreds of election organizers (who in turn
trained thousands of others), and to draw up the
voters’ lists. It was also there to give advice on
the actual conduct of the elections, the vote
count, and the announcement of the results. Again,
we had the necessary expertise – we have organized
or helped organize elections in 92 countries,
including most recently Afghanistan and Palestine.
But even more important was the legitimacy that
our involvement brought. The results of an
election organized by the coalition powers, or by
Iraqis that they had chosen, would have been far
less widely accepted in the outside world, and
probably in Iraq as well.
Now Iraqis have their own elected Transitional
National Assembly, and will soon have an elected
government answerable to it. The assembly has to
draft a constitution acceptable to all Iraqis, and
the government has to isolate its most violent
opponents by winning the trust of groups who did
not vote in the elections – mainly Sunni Arabs –
and bringing them into the political process.
Here too, the UN can help – and it will. We can
give expert advice, if asked, on the drafting of
the constitution. We can reach out to those groups
– mainly Sunni Arabs – who stayed away from the
elections, for whatever reason, but are willing to
pursue their goals through peaceful negotiation
and dialogue. And we can bring together the world
community in a joint effort to help Iraq rebuild
itself and heal the wounds of dictatorship and
war.
Even the scars left by past differences can be
turned into today’s opportunities. Precisely
because the United Nations did not agree on some
earlier actions in Iraq, today it has much needed
credibility with, and access to, Iraqi groups who
must agree to join in the new political process if
peace is to prevail. The UN can be useful because
it is seen as independent and impartial. If it
ever came to be seen as a mere instrument or
prolongation of US foreign policy, it would be
worthless to everyone.
I could go on. I could speak also about the 18
peace operations we have in war-torn countries
around the world, and the tens of millions of
homeless and hungry people, over and above those
affected by the tsunami, to whom we are bringing
relief. Indeed, when ill-informed critics try to
cut the UN off at the knees, the people they hurt
most are not diplomats or bureaucrats, but
innocent people caught in war or poverty, in
desperate need of the world’s help.
Some decry what they see as a lack of principle in
UN decision-making, pointing to the compromises
that inevitably emerge from a body of 191 member
states. Anyone who attacks the UN for failing to
serve the global interest should, as part of that
exercise, critically examine the decisions of each
nation within the body. They will find that there
is plenty of criticism to go round. But they
should also remember that the UN, like the US and
other great democracies, is a work in progress -
always struggling to lessen the gap between
reality and the ideals which gave it birth. That
such a gap exists is all the more reason why those
who value freedom and peace should work to build
the UN up, not tear it down.
Of course the UN is far from perfect – even if
some of the recent allegations made about it have
been overblown. The interim report of Mr. Paul
Volcker’s independent inquiry has helped put the
oil-for-food programme in perspective. Some of
the more hyperbolic assertions about it have been
proven untrue.
Yet I am the first to admit that real and
troubling failures – ethical lapses and lax
management – have been brought to light. I am
determined, with the help of member states, to
carry through the management reforms which are
clearly called for by Mr. Volcker’s findings.
Even more shocking are widespread cases of sexual
exploitation and abuse of minors by peacekeepers
and UN officials in the Democratic Republic of the
Congo and other African countries. Both the UN
Secretariat and the member states have been too
slow to realize the extent of this problem, take
effective measures to end it, and punish the
culprits. But we are now doing so, and I am
determined to see it through.
In my eight years as Secretary-General, I had
already done a lot – with the support of member
states – to make the UN more coherent and
efficient. Now we need to make it more transparent
and accountable – not only to diplomats
representing member governments, but also directly
to the public.
The UN cannot expect to survive into the 21st
century unless ordinary people throughout the
world feel that it does something for them –
helping to protect them against conflict (both
civil and international), but also against
poverty, hunger, disease and the erosion of their
natural environment. And in recent years, bitter
experience has taught us that a world in which
whole countries are left prey to misgovernment and
destitution is not safe for anyone. We must turn
the tide against disease and hunger, as well as
against terrorism, proliferating deadly weapons,
and crime -- starting, urgently, with decisions
from the Security Council to end the abominable
crimes in Darfur and bring war criminals to
international justice.
This September, we have a real opportunity to make
the UN more useful to all its members. Leaders
from all over the world are coming to a UN summit
in New York. I shall put before them an agenda of
bold but achievable proposals for making the UN
work better, and the world fairer and safer.
I believe Americans want to do that as much as any
people on earth. More than any other people, they
have the power to do it – if they listen to and
work with others, and take the lead in a concerted
effort. In the hope that they will give us that
lead, I look forward to September with great
excitement.
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