After the world celebrated and welcomed the new millennium, many new tough issues on peace and human rights surfaced in the disputes over the cloning of human beings, the terrorist attacks against New York and other parts of the world, the fear over the use of nuclear and biochemical weapons by rogue states, AIDS, the deteriorating world environment and so on. At the same time, the UN, which was established in New York after the end of World War II to keep peace and uphold human rights, faces a major conundrum: Is the UN capable of dealing with new challenges emerging in the new era? Is the UN capable of fostering world peace and safeguarding the sacred values of human rights?
UN Security Council Resolution 1441 clearly indicates the UN's determination to eradicate, remove and disarm the rogue regime in Iraq, because the UN understands that political dictatorships are assassins of human rights and peace. Moreover, poverty and backward economies are often the nursery for dictatorships. Iraq not only harbored terrorists but also armed them. The US and the UK can no longer tolerate this corrosive force against human rights and world peace. Therefore, the allied forces launched an attack against Iraq on March 20. In only a few weeks, several major Iraqi cities, including Bagdad in early April, had fallen into the hands of the allied forces. It is about time for the UN to begin its peace-keeping campaign and install a democratic government.
The UN's accomplishments toward world peace and human-rights protection via the Security Council have been most impressive. The Security Council of the UN, which came into being after the World War II, has been the most powerful international body protecting world peace. The organization is spearheaded by the US, the UK, France, Russia and China, the five countries with the veto power. But in the post-World War II era, a new international order built on the standoff between democracies and totalitarianism emerged. As a result, tension in various regions of the world took shape. Caught in the middle of such struggles and tension, the UN has been placed in a difficult position.
ILLUSTRATION: YU SHA
The UN mechanism must be reconstructed, so as to effectively maintain world peace and safeguard human rights. The Security Council has its hands full in trying to resolve diplomatic conflicts and conducting weapons inspections. Its peacekeeping operations seemingly have only been able to ease regional conflicts to a certain degree. If the Security Council does not wish to be confined to these tasks, besides the five superpowers with veto rights, it must also give countries including Japan, India, Brazil and Germany the responsibility of maintaining regional peace and the balance of power. This would be on par with the new global-village economic era. Currently, the five superpowers are geographically distributed across three regions of the world -- Europe and Central and North Asia. At the same time, world peace must be built on the reduction and elimination of nuclear and biochemical weapons. The possession of nuclear weapons should no longer dictate who are the world's superpowers.
Much to the delight of the industrialized powers of the world, the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the poverty problem of China have pushed these two countries to strive for economic development and social stability. The world order thereafter underwent drastic changes again. Before 2000, the UN placed most of its emphasis on striving for peace through negotiation mechanisms. It tried to deal through the Security Council, with problems related to the rise of the third world, highlighting that poverty, totalitarianism and biochemical weapons were the nursery of terrorism.
On the other hand, the UN Social and Economic Council seems to serve an entirely different function. As the Security Council was apparently in chaos over whether the "veto right" of its permanent members was about to be exercised, the Social and Economic Council appears to have become paralyzed. In a backdrop of tense international relationships and insufficient budgets and funding for its operation, it has been difficult for the council to promote economic and educational development, provide medical aid, which are all things desperately needed by Third World countries. On the other hand, since the Richard Nixon era, the US has begun investing in China through the soft-drink giant Coke, prompting other industrialized countries of the world to funnel capital and technologies into China, initiating a campaign to eliminate poverty in the country. As a result, China has gradually departed from socialist dogma and began changing into a capitalist society.
The founding mission of the UN was to uphold world peace and protect human rights. The Social and Economic Council serves the function of helping poverty-stricken countries develop their economies, communities and educational systems. Countries in the Middle East may have rich oil resources, but they have been incapable of becoming affluent countries. They blame the exploitation of the industrialized countries and treat the right to drill oil wells in their countries as a diplomatic weapon. While Middle Eastern countries are in the process of transformation, they remain no different from other Third World countries. They continue to live under the rule of monarchs and totalitarian regimes, with little social change.
Poor countries cannot transform into democracies. Totalitarianism is usually a crutch that upholds stability in poverty-stricken countries. Therefore, common social characteristics of poor countries are suppression of the freedom of speech, the liberty to live a life of one's own choosing and even the right to maintain individual thoughts. These institutions rely on national heroes, traditional tribal chiefs and spiritual leaders whom the people are made to worship and other forms of manipulation of the public to maintain totalitarian and rogue regimes.
No money, no game -- that is the dilemma of the UN. Some of the organization's biggest problems include the shortage on funding and the inability of the members to pay their annual fees timely, paralyzing all the good work being done to promote world peace. It is perhaps worthwhile examining this question -- whether the UN is distributing a disproportionally large amount of its resources toward dealing with matters that were at most symptoms, crowding out expenses for addressing problems at their roots.
The development of the new global village economy took shape along with the emergence of the EU, GATT and then the WTO, organizations through which fair trade and the removal of trade barriers are promoted. On the other hand, the World Health Organization (WHO) also pushes for the provision of basic health and medical care as a fundamental human right. The aim of these organizations is to ensure fair distribution of gains from global economic development. To further this end, the World Bank at the same time should also seek to impose some kind "peace and human right" tax from international financial transactions. At the same time, the functions and performances of the various UN bodies must also be made even more transparent, so as to win the trust and support of member states.
The structures and functions of regional alliance groups must be enhanced. The current geographical categorization based on the five major continents of the world no longer makes any sense. The development of electronic, telecommunication and aviation technologies has already made the five continents one large global village. Hours-long air travel and the convergence of databases via state-of-the-art telecommunications have become indispensable parts of human lives and give civilization new, infinite possibilities. Ever since the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the stature of NATO has been on the decline. Economic alliances slowly replaced diplomatic alliances. The EU, the Pacific Rim regional economic alliance and OPEC are all economy-based alliances. They are also multilateral regional alliances, through which social and economic developments of the member states are fostered. Such regional structures must be implemented or strengthened in the Middle East, Africa and Central and South America. Participation in alliances must no longer be confined by the traditional views about continents. Any country should be able to transcend regional and geographical restrictions and participate in such alliances based on the level of its internationalization and substantive trade relationships. Participation in regional or cross-regional alliances based on individual levels of economic development can help each member state development win-win relationships, strengthen economic ties and stabilize political, cultural and amity relationships.
The regional alliances must necessarily coordinate and parallel the UN in terms of power and structure. They do not need to report to each other. Instead, there should be a division of labor among them for the accomplishment of world peace and human-rights protection. The UN can offer professional and technical assistance and guidance in the development of these regional groups, as well as help coordinate the communication and functions of these groups.
The organization of regional alliances should serve the purposes of furthering social stability and economic development, so as to eliminate poverty, reduce illiteracy and complete constructive multilateral and mutually-beneficial community development. Ultimately, these can heighten democratic values and respect for human rights, which will lead to the installment of democratic electoral systems and transparent rule-of-law systems.
Lee Chang-kuei (
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