UN needs to take new initiative<\/p>\n
By Agus Tarmidzi and Imron Cotan<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): When the Cold War era closed its final chapter,
\nmany enthusiastically predicted that the world would then be
\npacified and, hence, conflicts would also become a thing of the
\npast.<\/p>\n
History has accurately recorded the fact that the
\ninternational community has been successful in avoiding a head-on
\ncollision between the superpowers. We, however, failed to contain
\nthe emergence of the new types of conflicts originating inter
\nalia from racial hatred, religious discord and ethnic animosity.
\nSome have occurred within internationally recognized boundaries
\nof a sovereign state, while others have crossed national
\nboundaries.<\/p>\n
These conflicts have caused the loss of life of many innocent
\npeople and incalculable material damages. Worse still, while
\nwasting the already infinite natural resources, these conflicts
\nalso provided grounds for irresponsible elements to flagrantly
\nviolate the human rights upon which the fundamental fabric of
\nsociety is based.<\/p>\n
At the global level, many attempts have been taken to prevent
\nsuch tragedies from continuously unfolding. Boutros-Boutros
\nGhali, the former United Nations secretary-general, introduced
\n\"An Agenda for Peace\" as a road map to preserve and promote
\ninternational peace and security. The agenda contained the
\nconcept of \"peacekeeping, peacemaking and peace-building\", which
\nrequired the settlement of any conflicts by using peaceful means
\nin accordance with the principles contained in the UN Charter.<\/p>\n
The objectives were indeed noble. Unfortunately, the
\ninitiative went unheeded, for members of this global organization
\ndiffered on how to implement the concept. The expensively
\nprohibitive costs incurred by such peacekeeping, peacemaking and
\npeace-building activities had sent the concept to its final rest.<\/p>\n
As we witness the conflicts continue unabated. It is for this
\nparticular reason that UN secretary-general Kofi Annan recently
\nintroduced a new concept of \"humanitarian intervention\". It
\nenvisages that the international community, the UN in particular,
\nshould be able to intervene in any conflicts around the world to
\nsave the lives of innocent people, to protect human rights as
\nwell as to put off and find solutions to the prevailing
\nconflicts.<\/p>\n
Developing countries have cautiously studied this initiative,
\nfor they would obviously be at the receiving end of such
\nhumanitarian intervention for at least the following reasons:
\nfirst, conflicts normally occur in the developing countries,
\nsecond, humanitarian intervention cannot successfully be
\nperformed without military backups, and, third, humanitarian
\nintervention can only be performed against the developing
\ncountries.<\/p>\n
This is because developed countries -- especially those
\npermanent members of the UN Security Council -- will block any
\ndecisions to conduct such an operation in their own backyards.
\nThere is no doubt that Russia, for instance, will veto any
\ndecision of the UN Security Council to conduct a humanitarian
\nintervention in Chechnya or in the Ingushtia Republics.<\/p>\n
Another issue of similar importance over which the world has
\nso far failed to properly address is nuclear disarmament. We have
\nrecently been confronted with an unprecedented phenomenon in
\nwhich two archrivals in the South Asian region, Pakistan and
\nIndia, finally posited themselves as the new nuclear-weapon
\nstates.<\/p>\n
While adding a new dimension to the regional political
\ninteractions, this mere fact has furthermore cast doubts over the
\nachievement of nuclear disarmament under strict and effective
\ninternational control, as required by the 3rd UN Special Session
\nSpecially Devoted to Nuclear Disarmament (1978), and the
\nobjectives and principles agreed upon in the Conference of Non-
\nProliferation of Nuclear Weapons (1995).<\/p>\n
The situation becomes more alarming for the two major nuclear
\nweapon states, the United States and Russia, have continued to
\ndevelop their nuclear technology. The world was stunned when the
\nmedia reported that the United States had managed to produce a
\nprototype of a mini-nuclear warhead (W-88) which could be used to
\nachieve a limited military target. The three major nuclear weapon
\nstates, especially China, will certainly use this discouraging
\ndevelopment as a pretext to develop their own \"mini-nukes\". A new
\nnuclear arms race now looms large, making it almost impossible to
\nachieve nuclear disarmament.<\/p>\n
The efforts of the United States to review the Anti-Ballistic
\nMissiles Treaty (ABM Treaty) and the failure of this country to
\nratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) have
\nfurthermore aggravated the situation. As a sign of
\nrelentlessness, Russia has recently conducted a missile test
\ncapable of carrying multiple nuclear warheads. If the
\ninternational community fails to check these worrisome
\ndevelopments, the reemergence of a new round of Cold War will be
\nunavoidable.<\/p>\n
In short, as the new millennium inches nearer, the world is
\nstill being confronted with conflicts with ethnic, racial,
\nreligious and human rights notions and, second, a nuclear arms
\nrace which may trigger a new Cold War. It is therefore timely for
\nthe UN to ponder organizing a \"millennium summit\" to deal with
\nall the remaining issues of the 20th century in which all
\ncountries could, on an equal footing, participate in charting the
\nfuture of our planet. The summit's agenda should be overarching,
\ncovering social, economic, environmental, and political issues
\nincluding the two most pressing issues identified earlier.<\/p>\n
If the UN manages to organize the summit, we may hope the
\nworld would be a safer place to live in the next millennium.<\/p>\n
Agus Tarmidzi is former Indonesian ambassador\/permanent
\nRepresentative to the UN Office in Vienna and Geneva Switzerland
\nrespectively. Imron Cotan is currently the deputy assistant state
\nsecretary for political affairs.<\/p>",
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