MANY TO MANY 67

It is with increasing sincerity and sense of urgency that both the world's so called experts and the general public are discussing how, in the words of the UN Charter, to "practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbours", while also maintaining peace and security through "..effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace.."

The UN Security Council is coming under increasing public pressure to renew and transform itself. The Report from the Stanley Foundation's "'Thirty-Third UN of the Next Decade" Conference notes that the composition of the Security Council is more reflective of the 1940s than the 1990s. Some conference participants saw the Security Council "as a voluntary dictatorship controlled by the five permanent members, granted special privileges and powers by the rather arbitrary fact that they were the victors of World War II."

It is furthermore clear to many observers that the Security Council's approach to peace enforcement actions is often hampered by unwillingness to intervene in what is seen as internal affairs of a sovereign state or by uncertainty as to whether the mission is that of peace keeping or of peace enforcement.

Lack of political will, lack of funds and the consistent emphasis on the rights of states overriding the rights of peoples are seen as major factors in the failures of the Security Council's efforts to securing peace and preventing the suffering of people in conflict-stricken countries.

The present tendency to give priority to the rights of a state rather than of-the peoples of a state in Security Council decision making, was exemplified by President Clinton when he explained the Security Council's reluctant response to the carnage in Rwanda: "We cannot dispatch our troops to solve every problem where our values are of defended by human misery. But we are prepared to defend ourselves and our fundamental interests when they are threatened." This quote is taken from a thought-provoking article by Ted Daley, published in-the Autumn 1998 issue of "Quarterly of the World Federalists Association of Northern California" in which is also stressed the need for the establishing of a UN Volunteer Force. Ted Daley describes this as a permanent "highly-trained, directly-recruited UN Volunteer Force" which - rather than defending and protecting national interests – would instead serve "our common human interest in preventing crimes against humanity and promoting a world rule of law."*

The Report of the Commission on Global Governance "Our Global Neighbourhood" also believes that "it is high time that this idea – a United Nations Volunteer Force – was made a reality". Such an international Volunteer Force (no larger than 10,000 personnel, suggests the Report), under the exclusive authority of the Security Council and the day-to-day directions of the UN Secretary-General, would complement already existing peacekeeping forces, by giving the Security Council the ability to back up preventive diplomacy with a "measure of immediate and convincing deployment on the ground." It would, suggests the Report, "provide the immediate spearhead and reconnaissance element for a later, much larger, operation" if necessary. It acknowledges, however, that even such an elite, highly trained, peace force, dedicated to upholding the objectives and principles of the United Nations, would depend on the same dedication of the UN member states for its successful service to peace.

The term security has today become a vastly more inclusive concept than in the post war years. The Commission on Global Governance Report discusses the broader concept of security and proposes that the norms for security policies in the new era could be the following:

* All people, no less than all states, have a right to a secure existence, and all states have an obligation to protect those rights.

* The primary goals of global security policy should be to prevent conflict and war and to maintain the integrity of the planet's life-support systems by eliminating the economic, social, environmental, political and military conditions that generate threats to the security of people and the planet, and by anticipating and managing crises before they escalate into armed conflicts.

* Military force is not a legitimate political instrument, except in self-defence or under UN auspices.

* The development of military capabilities beyond that required for national defence and support of UN action is a potential threat to the security of people.

* Weapons of mass destruction are not legitimate instruments of national defence.

* The production and trade in arms should be controlled by the international community.

In "New Roles for the Military", Brigadier Michael Harbottle, former Chief of Staff of the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus, points out that, considering today's wider interpretation of the meaning of security, the military should adapt its role accordingly. The military has, says the Brigadier, "the technological skills, the logistic capacity and, not least, the professional manpower to contribute a significant service to humankind. They possess. the infrastructure and the means to react rapidly to any emergency which may threaten life and the environment."

Although there is general agreement that the UN Security Council should be modernized and democratized, and in spite of Council reform having been discussed for years at great length, both within and outside the UN system, there is still very little evidence of progress in this regard. While the future role and structure, the number of members and of course the crucial issue of the veto right is continuously being debated, there is also the more subtle but even more basic question of restoring the trust and deserving the support of the world's peoples.


The 1998 "United Nations of the Next Decade" Conference, organised by the Stanley Foundation, concluded with a series of "General Recommendations" among which are the following:

UN Member States

* Develop a baseline norm for acceptable state behaviour toward its citizens and strengthen an international ethic to take action to protect people from the state when these principles are violated.

* Acknowledge that membership and participation in the United Nations is not a free good and require member states meet their resource obligations to allow the United Nations to budget its activities accordingly.

* Reallocate the financial burden for the United Nations across member states to reduce its dependence on any one state.

* Bring disputes to the Security Council or another UN organ before they have exploded into intractable conflicts.

Security Council and General Assembly

* Analyze the agendas of the Security Council and the General Assembly to reduce the degree to which UN organs deal with past issues and increase their responsiveness to current matters.

* Improve the education and public relations programme of the United Nations to better communicate its essential mission and to build an internationalist ethic of responsibility.

* Modernize and democratize the Security Council.

* Think creatively about ways of orchestrating a "velvet revolution" against the current benign dictators – ie., the permanent five – who govern the international system. This may be necessary to achieve substantial reforms -and to repair growing faults in the collective security system.

* Stimulate debate about the type of United Nations the international community wants in the future and consider what kinds of organisations are possible given expectations about the future geopolitical environment and trends toward globalisation.

Perhaps we need to remember Boutros Boutros-Ghali's words when in 1995 he pointed out that: "We – all of us – are the United Nations."


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Many to Many
a quarterly publication issued by
Operation Peace through Unity

Anthony Brooke and Gita Brooke, co-founders
Te Rangi, 4 Allison Street, Wanganui 5001, New Zealand
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OPTU is an accredited NGO in association with the UN Dept of Public Information
Many to Many
under the aegis of
Operation Peace Through Unity
is a communicating link between
'we, the peoples' of all nations, races, creeds and ideologies offering in the spirit of the preamble of the United Nations Charter an instrument for the furthering of better relationships based on deepening mutual understanding and the aspiration to promote unity and cooperation beyond all differences.