ECO-LOGIC: July/Aug 1997
UN REFORM - Restructuring for Global Governance
The United Nations has concluded that it is the institution of governance
that must be responsible for the security of people and it is preparing
to redefine national sovereignty, demilitarize national capabilities, and
disregard the protest of uncivil society - read: organizations not
accredited by the United Nations.
The new reformation is underway. It is a reformation, not only
of the United Nations, but of global societies. It is occurring daily
with the blessings and staunch assistance of the Clinton/Gore Administration
and many members of Congress.
On July 14, Kofi Annan released Maurice Strong's initial plan to begin
reforming (read: restructuring) the United Nations. The 95-page document,
entitled Renewing the United
Nations: A Programme for Reform, is a step-by-step program to
implement many of the recommendations advanced by the UN-funded Commission
on Global Governance in its 1995 report entitled Our
Global Neighborhood. The reform plan comes as no surprise.
Maurice Strong was a member of the Commission on Global Governance and
a lead author of its report. He was the first appointment of Kofi
Annan, just days after Annan's selection as UN Secretary-General.
As Executive Coordinator for Reform, Strong was hired specifically
to restructure the sprawling UN system into the mechanism for global governance
described in Our Global Neighborhood.
The reform plan was welcomed in Washington as evidence that the new
Secretary-General was serious about reducing the bloated world-wide bureaucracy.
A promise to eliminate 1000 staff positions and reduce overhead costs from
38 percent to 25 percent were the plan's key features heralded in the media.
Little, if any, attention was focused on the effect of the reform plan
on the structure of the institution. The report itself says: "Reform
is not intrinsically an exercise in cutting costs or reducing staff.
It is an exercise to assure the Organizations' relevance in a changing
world...." (1)
Assuring "relevance" may be the understatement of the century. The
plan puts into motion a fundamental shift of purpose for the existence
of the United Nations. The United Nations was created, and heretofore,
has functioned to serve its membership of sovereign nations. The
market, or service area for the United Nations is now shifting away from
sovereign nations to focus directly on the citizens of those nations.
The UN is no longer limiting its activities to providing services for nations,
but is now gearing up to provide "security for the people" within those
nations.
The UN reform package represents the final step in the evolution of
the meaning of the term "security." The UN Charter refers to "collective
security" which is agreement among nations not to use force against each
other and to defend each other from external attack. Collective security
evolved into "comprehensive security" during the 1980s. Comprehensive
security embraces the idea of disarmament, demobilization, and demilitarization.
The final step in the evolution is "human security," which includes all
of the above and "safety from chronic threats such as hunger, disease,
and repression, as well as protection from sudden and harmful disruptions
in the patterns of daily life." (2)
Is there a conflict between national sovereignty and the UN's determination
to provide "human security" to individual citizens within sovereign states?
You bet. But the UN has an answer. Listen to Maurice Strong and the
Commission on Global Governance:
"...countries are having to accept that in certain fields, sovereignty
has to be exercised collectively, particularly in respect of the global
commons." (3)
"...the principle of sovereignty...must be further adapted to recognize
changing realities." (4)
"...there is a need to weigh a state's right to autonomy against its
people's right to security." (5)
"It is time to begin thinking about self-determination in a new context
- the emerging context of a global neighborhood rather than the traditional
context of a world of separate states." (6)
"The concept of national sovereignty has been immutable, indeed a sacred
principle of international relations. It is a principle which will
yield only slowly and reluctantly to the new imperatives of global environmental
cooperation. What is needed is recognition of the reality that...it
is simply not feasible for sovereignty to be exercised unilaterally by
individual nation-states, however powerful." (7)
To Maurice Strong, national sovereignty is an obsolete concept. Maurice
Strong is the person responsible for restructuring the UN. The process
is now officially underway with changes that will have immediate consequences,
and others that are preparatory for more sweeping changes in the future
- as the world succumbs to the tightening grip of global governance.
Immediate structural changes include the creation of a new International
Criminal Court, an "Assembly of the People," a Petitions Council, and a
restructured UN Trusteeship Council. The new International Criminal Court
has been under development for several years. The idea is being presented
as a mechanism to prosecute war criminals. Our Global Neighborhood
describes this new UN entity not only in the context of war criminals,
but in the context of international law. The Court will have its
own "panel of prosecutors," who will be free to investigate within the
sovereign borders of member states - without interference from national,
state, or local governments. Considering the rapidly expanding body
of international law - ranging from the rights of children to the use of
fossil fuels and the use of land - this Court is a necessary component
to give meaning to global governance. "The very essence of global
governance is the capacity of the international community to ensure compliance
with the rules of society." (8)
The new Assembly of the People is to consist of 300 to 600 selected
representatives of NGOs (non-governmental organizations) accredited by
the United Nations. The first meeting is scheduled to precede a special
"Millennium" session of the UN General Assembly in the year 2000.
The function of the Assembly of the People is to provide direct input to
the General Assembly from representatives of "civil society."
Accredited NGOs will also supply five to seven selected representatives
to serve on the new Petitions Council. Their function will be to
screen petitions submitted from the network of accredited NGOs in the field
- the UN's new "early warning system" - and route the petitions to the
appropriate UN agency for response.
The UN Trusteeship Council, created originally to oversee the transition
of colonies to independence, is to become the trustees of the global commons.
Global commons is defined to be "The atmosphere, outer space, the oceans
beyond national jurisdiction, and the related environment and life-support
systems that contribute to the support of human life." (9) The United
Nations Center for Human Settlements (HABITAT) is being incorporated into
the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). The restructured UNEP
will administer all environmental treaties, more than 300 currently, and
will become the implementation and enforcement arm of the UN Trusteeship
Council. Programmatic activity is being shifted to the United Nations
Development Program (UNDP), into which will also be folded the United Nations
Children's Fund (UNICEF), and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
The reform program now underway is committed to reducing staff by 1,000,
and reducing the overhead costs from 38 to 25 percent. The reduced costs
are not to be returned to the contributing states, but instead, are to
be used to supplement development
activity in developing countries. "Reform is not an event; it
is a process. And the process will not end with the present report."
(10)
The reform process, initially, reorganizes the work of the United Nations
into five areas that are "the core mission of the United nations:
peace and security; economic and social affairs; development cooperation;
humanitarian affairs; and human rights." (11) Executive Committees
have already been organized for each of four areas. The fifth area,
human rights, is considered to cross all areas and is therefore represented
on each of the other Executive Committees. Virtually every one of
the more than 130 UN agencies, commissions, committees, and funds, has
been assigned to one or more of these four UN "Departments." The
heads of these new departments, along with several selected senior staff,
constitute the new Senior Management Group.
In every nation where there is a UN presence, all UN activity will
be consolidated under this authority of a "Special Representative of the
Secretary-General." All UN activity will be headquartered in a single,
special facility to be known as "UN House." All services will be
delivered under a single flag - the UN flag. South Africa is designated
to receive the first UN House, with six other nations scheduled to follow
shortly.
The Peace and Security Department includes three sub-departments:
Political Affairs; Peacekeeping Operations; and Disarmament and Arms
Regulations. Presently, the UN Charter does not authorize the UN
to maintain its own standing army. Troops must be provided by member
nations. This situation is untenable to the UN. "Troops...are,
in some cases not made available by member states or made available under
conditions that constrain an effective response." Amendments to the
UN Charter are being prepared. "Stronger cooperation" is required
from nations that have "relevant capabilities" and "regional or sub-regional
organizations" such as NATO. "Global security can be said to exist
only if the [Security] Council can dispatch military forces rapidly and
with the requisite predictability and reliability." (12)
The UN Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) and the UN Conference
on Disarmament, which meets three to four months each year in Geneva, will
be consolidated into the new Department for Disarmament and Arms Regulation,
headed by an Under-Secretary-General located in Geneva. Their objective
is to ultimately control all firearms. "The production and trade
in arms should be controlled by the international community. Military force
is not a legitimate political instrument, except in self-defense or under
UN auspices." (13)
The expanded and restructured UNEP will function under the Department
of Economic and Social Affairs, which will also oversee the United Nations
Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD); the Office of Drug Control
and Crime Prevention; the United Nations University and several commissions
of various sorts. This consolidation provides straight-lie administrative
authority from the Secretary-General to dozens of agencies and hundreds
of programs. It is a reform that has nothing to do with reducing
costs and everything to do with the consolidation of power.
These restructuring steps are preparatory for the implementation of
the new concept of security of the people. "The concept of global
security must be broadened from the traditional focus of security of states
to include the security of people and the security of the planet." (14)
The United Nations, through its program of reform, is becoming both the
protector and provider for the world.
The United Nations has concluded that it is the institution of governance
that must be responsible for the security of people and it is preparing
to redefine national sovereignty, demilitarize national capabilities, and
disregard the protest of uncivil society - read: organizations not
accredited by the United Nations.
The new reformation is underway. It is a reformation, not only
of the United Nations, but of global societies. It is occurring daily
with the blessings and staunch assistance of the Clinton/Gore Administration
and many members of Congress. The reformation is not accompanied
by black helicopters delivering UN soldiers. It is being actively
promoted through the UN Convention on Climate Change; the Convention on
Biological Diversity; the Convention on the Rights of the Child; the Convention
on the Law of the Sea; the Convention on Chemical Weapons; the Convention
on the International Criminal Court; the Convention on the Elimination
of all forms of Discrimination Against Women; The Convention on World Heritage
Sites; the UN World Wide Biosphere Reserve Network; the RAMSAR Convention
on Wetlands; the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species;
the Ecosystem Management Policy; the American Heritage Rivers Initiative;
the Sustainable Communities Initiative - and a host of other UN policies
that now dominate domestic policy in the United States. These policies
- initiated, implemented, and enforced - by the United Nations, are defacto
global governance. Global governance is not an event; it is a process.
It is a process that has been underway for years. By the year 2000,
enough of the policies will be in place, and sufficient restructuring of
the UN will have been accomplished, to claim that global governance is
the new reality. A reality from which there is no escape. -
eco-logic staff
Endnotes
1. Renewing the United Nations:
A Program for Reform, Report of the Secretary General, (A/51/1950),
July 14, 1997, p. 87.
2. Our Global Neighborhood:
Report of the Commission on Global Governance. (New York, NY,
Oxford University Press, 1995), p. 80.
3. Ibid, p. 70.
4. Ibid, p. 71.
5. Ibid, p. 71.
6. Ibid, p. 337.
7. Maurice Strong, "Stockholm to Rio: A Journey Down a Generation,"
(on file).
8. Our Global Neighborhood, Op. Cit., p. 326.
9. Ibid, p. 251.
10. Renewing the United Nations, Op. Cit., p. 14.
11. Ibid, p. 15.
12. Ibid, p. 37.
13. Our Global Neighborhood, Op. Cit., p. 338.
14. Ibid, p. 338.
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