UN needs reforming

UN needs reforming

Among the hundreds of world leaders currently attending the United Nations' ongoing golden jubilee at the world body's headquarters in New York is President Soeharto of Indonesia.

Soeharto, along with 15 other heads of state and government representing both industrialized and developing nations, called on the UN yesterday to increase its role and capability in both preventing armed conflicts and strengthening economic cooperation worldwide.

"The UN must be able to anticipate and prevent crisis, respond more rapidly to outbreaks of violence and efficiently manage and resolve crises when they occur. ...This is essential to the achievement of greater economic growth and integration, sustainable development, the eradication of poverty and the reduction of inequality," thus appealed the 16 leaders in a joint-statement issued yesterday.

We are of the opinion that the joint appeal made by Australia, Brazil, Canada, the Czech Republic, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, South Africa, and South Korea is prudent and a true reflection of the shortcomings and inefficiencies that the UN has demonstrated in coping with many international issues.

For years, many developing nations have criticized the UN for its inability to solve problems that would protect or favor Third World interests. To cite but two examples: The UN did nothing when Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan, and it turned a blind eye to the Israeli government's repeated violations of the UN charter in dealing with the Middle East simply because the Jewish state is backed by Western powers, particularly the United States.

All this -- not to mention other tragedies in South Africa, Bosnia, Rwanda and Somalia, which many believed would not have happened if the UN had been more responsive and efficient in carrying out its duty -- has incited many developing nations to demand that the world body restructure its charter. Adopted 50 years ago, the UN Charter needs to be reviewed and, when necessary, amended to address the events that could affect international peace and stability as well as global economic cooperation.

A restructuring of the UN should begin with the Security Council, whose five permanent members -- the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China -- no longer represent global and economic realities. Economic giants Japan and Germany should be given permanent member status, along with India, whose population ranks second in the world. Enlarging the group would also reassure the UN's other 180 members that the Council is by no means an institution for the strong to dictate their will over the weak.

The UN can boast of numerous achievements since its establishment in 1945. Yet despite its critical role in solving a number of crises such as the Korean War, the Gulf War of 1991, and Namibian independence, it is ironic that the greatest political events of the last decade -- the downfall of the Soviet Union, the end of the Cold War, and the unification of Germany -- did not involve UN participation.

Such milestones are further evidence of why the UN's function must be reviewed and its organization restructured.