THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE BETTER WORLD

The year 2020 marks a special anniversary for the United Nations: 75 years from the signing of the UN Charter in San Francisco. In 1945, soon after the end of the Second World War, nations worldwide decided to change the course of history and took the commitment to work together for peace. The United Nations was born out of the ashes of another international organization created to keep war away: the League of Nations which was created in June 1919, after World War I, as part of the Treaty of Versailles. However, when the Second World War broke out in 1939, the League closed down and its headquarters in Geneva remained empty throughout the war.

Consequently, in August 1941, the then-American President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, held a meeting aboard naval ship in Placenta Bay, located on the southeast coast of Newfoundland, Canada. The two leaders discussed the possibility of creating a body for international peace effort and a range of issues related to the war. Together they issued a statement that was called the Atlantic Charter. It was not a treaty, but only an affirmation that paved the way for the creation of the UN. It declared the realization of “certain common principles in the national policies of their respective countries on which they based their hopes for a better future for the world.”

The United States joined WWII in December 1941, and for the first time the term ‘United Nations’ was coined by President Roosevelt to identify those countries which were allied against the Axis powers. On January 1, 1942, representatives of 26 Allied nations met in Washington DC to sign the Declaration of the United Nations, which spelled out the war objectives of the Allied powers. Over the next couple of years, several meetings took place among the Allied big four, i.e. the United States of America, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and China, to decide on the postwar charter that would describe the precise role of the United Nations. The UN finally came into existence on October 24, 1945, after being ratified by 51 nations, which included five permanent members (France, the Republic of China, the Soviet Union, the UK, and the US) and 46 other signatories. The first meeting of the UN General Assembly took place on January 10, 1946.

The UN was built on the following three pillars.

1. Peace

The first pillar was peace. Its overriding aim was to succeed where its ill-fated predecessor, the League of Nations, had failed: avoid another world war. Established at the dawn of the Cold War, the UN became an essential forum for dialogue; since the fall of the Berlin Wall, it has played an important peace-building role in several countries.

2. Human Rights

The second pillar was human rights. In 1948, the UN General Assembly approved the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which set out for the first time the fundamental rights including civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights that all countries were obliged to uphold. Though the mechanisms the UN created to protect those rights have a mixed record, there is no doubt that the UDHR was a major milestone in making human rights an international priority.

3. Development

The third pillar was development. According to the UN Charter, member countries are committed to “promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom.” The development agenda also encompassed the objective of reducing inequalities among countries, including decolonization, which was also part of the post-World War II agenda. To promote development, the UN created five regional commissions between 1947 and 1973 and supported developing countries with technical assistance, an activity that became institutionalized with the creation of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in 1965.

Moreover, in January 1961, the UN resolved that the 1960s would be its first “decade of development,” an initiative promoted by former US President John F. Kennedy. As an essential element of that agenda, the UN sought to support the creation of a fairer global economic system that would enable shared progress. As the decolonization process progressed, and a growing number of developing countries became UN members, the organization became the world’s foremost platform for discussing and implementing changes to the world economic order. The UN later expanded its focus to ensuring that developing countries can access the financing they need. The 2002 International Conference on Financing for Development held in Monterrey, Mexico, and supported by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank was a milestone in this regard.

Specialized Agencies

UN Women is the latest addition to a dense network of specialized agencies reflecting the UN’s commitment to social development. These include United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The International Labour Organization (ILO) was also integrated into the UN system. Yet another essential node of this network is the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), established at the 1972 UN Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm, Sweden. Since then, a series of UN-sponsored conferences from the 1992 Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro to the 2015 Climate Change Conference (COP 21) in Paris have produced landmark agreements to combat climate change, protect biodiversity, and stop desertification. They represent our best hope for keeping our planet habitable. At a moment when the effects of climate change are becoming increasingly apparent, the importance of such efforts cannot be overstated.

Sustainable Development

It is the United Nations that has championed the broad concept of “sustainable development,” which recognizes that healthy, long-term development must account for economic, social and environmental issues. In 2000, the UN led the way in establishing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), followed, in 2015, by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are today the world’s main framework for advancing this agenda.

Funding

The amount a member state is required to contribute, known as its assessed contribution, is determined by a complex formula that factors in gross national income and population. Mandatory contributions help fund the regular budget, which should encompass administrative costs such as building maintenance as well as peacekeeping operations. However, States may also make voluntary contributions. Many UN organizations, such as UNICEF and UNHCR, rely almost solely on voluntary contributions. Despite the recent cooling of relations, the UN is still heavily reliant on US funding. The United States remains the largest donor; each year the US represents slightly less than one-fifth of the body’s collective budget. How long this remains true is yet to be seen. While President Trump has sought major funding cuts to UN agencies, Congress has, by and large, approved higher contributions than requested by his administration, and overall US funding has remained at par with prior years. However, if President Trump is successful in pushing through his ‘cuts’ to foreign aid spending, the UN will likely be forced to undergo significant changes. Already, the United Nations is facing a crisis of sorts where funding is concerned. On occasions, things as seemingly simple as the operation of UN buildings have been hindered, with working days being cut short owing to an inability to pay to keep the lights on.

Problems and Challenges

The United Nations relies on cooperation; this was perhaps an easier principle to agree on 75 years ago when States had collectively witnessed the death of over 85 million people. But memories fade and priorities change over time. Somewhat ironically, the joint belief of never again, that was so important in guiding the first years of the UN, has led to some of the deep-rooted issues within the structure of the organization today. In the early years, the institutional resilience of the UN was rooted in the US support to create a liberal, rules-based order, which was essential in setting up the United Nations. Every nation’s leader puts his/her country first, that’s why a global organization was needed to moderate and regulate conduct among themselves. This led to the One Country, One Vote principle of the UN General Assembly. However, it was clear that so many different voices would never result in swift decisions. The Security Council was established to become the UN’s rapid response body to international insecurity. As a reflection of the situation at the time, it was decided that China, France, Great Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union (now Russia) would become permanent members of the Security Council, with the other ten members (six in the original Charter) elected by the General Assembly. The five permanent members (P5) were bestowed with veto powers and, while the elected members could, in theory, build a majority, the reality remained that resolutions would only be accepted through effective cooperation.

In 1945, the P5 accounted for more than 50 percent of the world’s population, now that figure is just 26 percent. Without China, the other four permanent member states account for just 7.8 percent of the world population. The ineffectiveness of the UN Security Council has led to many concluding that multilateralism is faltering, if not failing, and it is clear that the Security Council in its current state is not fit for purpose. Divisions have been blindingly obvious in the Council’s inability to tackle the big issues of the day: Be it the securitization of human suffering, growing inequality, finding a joint response to Covid-19, or the conflict in Syria, the rapid response body has only resulted in gridlock. While any reform would need to be considered carefully, many commentators agree that the Security Council would benefit from expanding its permanent and elected membership, making it more representative of today’s geographical and political realities and consider removing the P5’s veto powers.

This special 75th anniversary of the UN comes amidst a new set of challenges, arguably on a par with those faced by those very first delegates. The United Nations stands at a pivotal crossroads: Covid-19 has led to a global public health crisis and resulted in a massive loss of life; the pandemic has resulted in the shutting down of borders and the fostering of isolationist sentiments among many member states; larger nations have gained undue influence in several key areas throughout the organization, and funding and support for the UN more generally appear to be in decline. UN75 should rightly be a time to reflect on the achievements of this great organization, but it should also present an opportunity to review, plan, and to adapt the changing demands placed upon it in the modern-day.

 

The writer is a PhD Scholar (English Literature).

He can be reached at: hbz77@yahoo.com