Without SC reform, UN like Hamlet without Prince of Denmark: India
Nov 21, 2006 - 5:04:32 PM
, Reviewed by: Priya Saxena
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Developing countries need a rule based multilateral order much more than the developed countries. But these rules, to enable them to succeed, have to be truly fair and not geared entirely, as they are at present, to achieving the economic objectives of the developed world.
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By Indo Asian News Service,
[RxPG] United Nations, Nov 21 (IANS) India has accused the UN Security Council of encroaching into the jurisdiction of the General Assembly and sought restoration of the latter's role as the chief deliberative, policy making and representative organ of the world body.
There is need for respecting and maintaining the balance between the principal organs of the United Nations in accordance with their respective roles as laid down in the Charter, India's Permanent Representative Nirupam Sen said Monday during a UN General Assembly debate.
Some recent reports commissioned at great cost have revived discredited ideas like governance, he said, describing governance as 'the greatest encroachment of all because it seeks to recreate the General Assembly and its Fifth Committee in the image of the Security Council - the dominance of a few.'
'Any true reform of the United Nations without a comprehensive reform of the Security Council would be like Hamlet without the Prince of Denmark,' Sen said.
For it would leave untouched the present correlation of power which is a fetter on solutions and a part of the problem, he said noting 'there is effectively one veto in the IMF and five vetoes in the Security Council with no countervailing power of other countries to ensure a measure of optimality.'
Without a thorough going reform even the fundamental problems of the economy cannot be effectively tackled. Political will is required to transform thought into practical energy - this is the only law of thermodynamics that is needed here, Sen said.
Adapting a saying of Robespierre, 'power without virtue is pernicious but virtue without power is helpless', to describe the present balance between the Security Council and the General Assembly, he said, 'However, this is not a question of power alone but of public reason and equity, not politics but ethics.'
'India believes that the reform of the United Nations that establishes a just, fair and equitable balance of power and responsibilities among the General Assembly, the Security Council and the ECOSOC must be pursued as an ongoing and transparent process, Sen said.
Many years ago, he recalled, Ralphe Bunche, a citizen of USA and the first UN official to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, spoke of radical change, stating that 'the UN has no vested interest in the status quo.'
'We believe that vested interests today should not be allowed to ensure the continuation of status quo at the UN.
'To use some moving phrases spoken in New Delhi recently we want a United Nations that would not be dominated by 'power politics, military might and division' but would be 'a global force for peace, progress and prosperity', Sen said.
Developing countries need a rule based multilateral order much more than the developed countries. But these rules, to enable them to succeed, have to be truly fair and not geared entirely, as they are at present, to achieving the economic objectives of the developed world.
Therefore, a fundamental reform of international monetary, financial and trading institutions is essential to underpin new and truly fair rules, Sen said.
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