Geneva, 8 July 1999
ECE/GEN/99/16
A MORE
PEOPLE-CENTERED UNITED NATIONS
FOR THE
TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY
The
European Regional Hearing for the Millennium Assembly Tackles
the Issue
of Strengthening the United Nations
In its concluding session, the
regional hearing organized by the Economic Commission for Europe
in preparation for the Millennium Assembly of the United Nations
focused exclusively on the challenging issue of how to strengthen
the role of the United Nations in the twenty-first century.
The debates were chaired by His
Excellency Mr. Guido de Marco, President of Malta, stirred by two
moderators, Mr. Yves Berthelot, Executive Secretary of the ECE,
and Mr. Vladimir Petrovsky, Secretary General of the Conference
on Disarmament, and initiated by two panellists, Mrs. Brigitta
Dahl, Speaker of the Parliament, Stockholm, Sweden, and Mr. Theo
Van Boven, Professor, Faculty of Law, Maastricht, Netherlands.
The high stakes involved in the
issue of strengthening the United Nations were reflected
throughout the afternoon in the high level of emotional
involvement which could be detected in many of the statements and
proposals. Overall, what prevailed was a pervasive sense of
commitment to the United Nations as an institution and a genuine
desire to contribute to its enhanced effectiveness. Concrete
proposals to that end were put forward.
Perhaps one of the strongest and
most recurrent messages put forward by the participants was the
need for the United Nations to put the human dimension at
the centre of all of its activities. While this might be implicit
in the field of Human Rights, it is less obvious in matters of
security where the broad concept of "human security" is emerging, and in the economic sphere which
cannot be dissociated from its social implications.
Considering the growing
complexity and interdependency of problems in the new millennium,
a number of participants urged the United Nations to adopt
systematically a more integrated approach to its various
activities and to prioritize these activities.
While it was widely acknowledged
that during its first fifty-three years of existence, the United
Nations had been successful in adopting a whole range of
extremely valuable norms, standards and conventions, there was a
genuine concern that these were perhaps not publicized enough and
certainly not sufficiently implemented. To be effective in the
next millennium, the United Nations needs to make implementation
and compliance its top priorities.
To continue to be relevant and
effective in the new millennium, participants also believed that
the United Nations needs to adapt to evolving concepts and
practices. One such example is the concept of sovereignty. New
actors are appearing on the international stage that must be
contended with: parliamentarians, local authorities, business and
civil society. The United Nations needs to define new
partnerships accordingly. Particular attention was given to
the issue of cooperation with regional organizations including
NATO, the Council of Europe and the OSCE. These relationships
must be further developed within the parameters of the Charter.
A number of NGOs expressed a
strong desire to see their partnership with the United Nations
evolve on a more equal footing. To that effect, they aspire to
the establishment of a Civil Society Forum and to the
creation of mechanisms giving them better access to the various
United Nations bodies.
From an institutional point of
view, participants stressed the evident need for the United
Nations to enjoy adequate resources. They pointed out the
huge gap between the actual level of financial endowment of the
United Nations and the amount which would realistically be
required for it to carry out its multi-faceted mandate. Some
specifically referred to the Aridiculous@ allocations granted to the human rights budget.
Still on the institutional
front, participants concurred in believing that the
United Nations should address the problem of its democratic
deficit. Reform of the Security Council was topping the
agenda in this respect. While enlargement of membership or
elimination of the veto system were popular issues, concerns for
the incidence of these proposals on the effectiveness of the
Security Council were also heard. The Chairman of the Hearing
suggested alternatives such as having a minimum of two blocking
vetoes instead of one, or considering introducing weighing votes
such as is the practice in the European Union. The role of the
General Assembly was also alluded to and it was suggested that it
meet in various sessions year round.
The hearings were concluded on
remarks of President de Marco referring to the United Nations
recent experiences in the Balkans which raise major issues of
principles for the future. How should the United Nations deal
with massive violations of Human Rights? The United Nations had
observers in Srebrenica yet could not prevent the massacres that
occurred. How should the United Nations handle the precedent of
Kosovo where Member States intervened outside of the framework of
the Charter? These are the type of problems that must be resolved
for the United Nations to perform to its full potential in the
twenty-first century.
But at the end of the day, it
was recognized that Member States bare the main burden of what
the United Nations will be in the twenty-first century.
For further information,
please contact:
Information Unit
United Nations Economic
Commission for Europe (UN/ECE)
Palais des Nations, Room
356
CH - 1211 Geneva 10,
Switzerland
Tel: +41 22 917 44 44
Fax: +41 22 917 05 05
E-mail: [email protected]