Refurbishing the UN
By the Editor

TAKING into account the the fundamentals of the UN Charter, the high-level panel on System Wide Coherence has proposed recommendations of far-reaching import to make the world body an effective and vibrant organization.

Addressing a joint news conference along with two other co-chairpersons of the panel from Norway and Mozambique, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz strongly pleaded the idea of one United Nations for development at country level as well as one for development at the headquarters level for achieving the objectives of the world body.

It appears that the panel has proposed comprehensive proposals to reform working of the United Nations and if implemented in letter and in spirit these have the potential to deliver.

Likewise, it has been observed that different organs and wings of the UN working in a country act independently of each other and there is no cohesion in their working.

Therefore, the idea to have only one UN for development with plans to respond to the national needs would not only bring harmony and remove redundancies and overlapping but also result into more efficiency and saving in its work.

However, the panel had a specific mandate which did not include looking into the political aspects of the UN’s role and functioning. It is because of the erosion of the UN’s role as watchdog of the global peace and security that the organization has moved much away from the pious intentions expressed by its conceivers.

With the passage of time, the UN has become a spineless body with only symbolic relevance to its original mandate and authority.

In fact, the utility of the UN was being questioned even as early as in 50s and 60s when demands were made for shifting of its headquarters from New York to Geneva to get rid of dominating American influence.

The effectiveness of the world body was further diluted in the subsequent years but the real jolt came when the United States invaded Iraq in scant respect to the aspirations of the overwhelming majority of the member States.

Therefore, now that an all-encompassing exercise is being undertaken to reform the UN, we would urge that the issue should be thoroughly studied and debated so that a foolproof plan is devised to help the world body regain its genuine authority.●