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NEED FOR UN REFORMS

Introduction:
 This year marks the 75th anniversary of The United Nations, which is not only
the most important political innovation of the twentieth century, but also the best

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arena for co-operation among nations on the planet. But if the UN is to continue
to fulfill its unique and vital global role in the twenty-first century, it must be

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upgraded in many ways. B
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UN Reforms
Security Council reform :
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 To change the UN structure and to change
the permanent membership of the UN
Security Council, which reflects the power
structure of the world as it was in 1945. There
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are several proposed plans, notably by the G4

nations, by the Uniting for Consensus
group, and by former UN Secretary-General
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Kofi Annan.
 UNSC reform is a long drawn process which encompasses five key issues:
i. categories of membership,
ii. the question of the veto held by the five permanent members,
iii. regional representation,
iv. the size of an enlarged Council and its working methods, and
v. the Security Council-General Assembly relationship.
 The composition of the UNSC no longer reflects global geopolitical realities.
Indeed, the Western Europe and Other Group (WEOG) now accounts for three
of the five permanent members (France, the United Kingdom, and the US). That
leaves only one permanent position for the Eastern European Group (Russia), one

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for the Asia-Pacific Group (China), and none for Africa or Latin America.
 The rotating seats on the Security Council do not adequately restore regional
balance. Even with two of the ten rotating Security Council seats, the Asia-Pacific
region is still massively under-represented.
 Asia’s inadequate representation poses a serious threat to the UN’s legitimacy,
which will only increase as the world’s most dynamic and populous region assumes
an increasingly important global role.

UN Secretariat Transparency reform

 To make the UN administration (usually called the UN Secretariat or “the
bureaucracy” more transparent, more accountable, and more efficient, including

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direct election of the Secretary-General by the people as in a presidential system.
 UN Secretariat/administration reforms seldom get much attention in the media,

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though within the Organization they are seen as widely contentious issues. They
run the bureaucracy of the UN, responding to the decisions by the Member States
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in the Security Council and the General Assembly.
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 Views of the former secretary general of the United Nations Development
Program
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* attributes the inefficiency of the UN administration to the “disconnect between
the merit and reward” and further advocates “reconnecting merit to make
the UN again an international meritocracy” to overcome the problem.
* He also advocates doing away with the regional representation and focusing
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on talent pool offered by the developing nations.

 Arguments of UN member states from the developing world: most desirable
senior posts within the Secretariat are filled under a “tradition” of regional
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representation that favors the United States and other affluent nations.
 Some of the initiatives include:
* The Secretary-General’s report Investing in the United Nations and the
Comprehensive review of governance and oversight within the UN (2006).
* From the Member States side there is the Four Nations Initiative, a cooperation
project by Chile, South Africa, Sweden and Thailand to promote governance
and management reforms, aiming at increased accountability and transparency.

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Democracy reform
Institutional democracy:
 To make the UN “more
democratic”, and a key institution
of a world democracy.
 Though, in reality, a direct
democracy would require the
presidential election of the UN
Secretary-General by direct vote of
the citizens of the democratic

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countries as well as the General Assembly and the International Court of Justice.
 Anything like direct election would be impossible as well in the many nations

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where an accurate direct vote would be impossible or where the local government
has power to influence the local voters as well as security of the ballot box.
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As a solution some have proposed a combination of direct and indirect
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democracy, whereby national governments might ratify the expressed will
of the people for such important posts as an empowered World Court.
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 Calls for diversity and democracy
* The UN vests the responsibility of implementing the UN decisions on the
national government. The nations in the UN contain representative democracies
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as well as absolute dictatorships and many other types of government.

* Allowing large powers to vote their population’s interests altogether raises
the question of whether they would really represent the interests and desires
of their individual citizens and the world community.
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 Process of implementation:
* Giving the UN any kind of actual governance power raises the question of
how these powers could be carried out.
Ex: when a vote of the UN General Assembly demands changes in the borders
or political status of a nation, or requires citizens in some nations to tax
themselves in favor of other nations, or demands the arrest of the leader of a
nation.
* The subsidiarity principle resolves some of these issues. It can be compared
to federalist principles where entities of the union retain some aspects of
sovereignty. Only when two or more members of the federation are affected
by any given act does the federal government have the authority to intervene.
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Giving a reformed UN more powers but enshrining the subsidiarity

principle in its Charter would guarantee that the UN does not evolve into a
world autocracy that can arbitrarily dictate policy.
 The reform also includes enough recognition of issues of the developing, least-
developed nations and forming a coordinated plan of action to address them.
 Multilateralism:
* The UN must adjust its structures by instituting reforms which would strengthen
multilateralism. Those included revitalizing the General Assembly, reforming
the Security Council, and more broadly, enhancing cooperation with regional
organizations, notably the African Union.
* It is in that spirit that France, Germany, Japan and Canada launched the

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Alliance for Multilateralism to demonstrate that a silent majority of States
support multilateralism and the United Nations

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Financing reform
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 The UN is funded in two ways—through mandatory payments and voluntary
contributions. Each of the organization’s 193 members is required to pay a
percentage of both the UN’s regular operating budget and the peacekeeping
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budget.
 Members also finance many of the UN’s more than 30 affiliated specialized
agencies, program and funds, like the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural
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Organization (UNESCO), UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and the International

Monetary Fund (IMF).
* Some of these agencies have assessed budgets. The World Health Organization
(WHO) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for example, are
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funded in part by mandatory payments.

* In addition to the compulsory contributions, nations may choose to voluntarily
provide more finances. Some funds and program are supported solely through
such optional payments, like the World Food Programme.
 The UN has categorized high level spending into five general groups. The
majority of funds end up in humanitarian and development assistance.
* Humanitarian assistance is short-term help provided in the case of natural or
man-made disasters.

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* Development assistance focuses on promoting sustainable development and

long-term impacts.
* Peacekeeping operations are the third highest category of expenses.
* Treaty-related and knowledge-creation activities reflect a broad category that
includes establishing standards and policies, work related to international
agreements and treaties, and research.
* Technical cooperation consists of funds that cannot be linked to development.
 This leaves the UN and its
specialised agencies depending
on the member states and

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voluntary organisations for
budgetary financing.

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Ex: The United States pays 22
percent of the general budget and
28 percent of the peacekeeping
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budget. These are the largest
shares of any nation. US under Trump is wielding funding cuts as a diplomatic
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tool in order to more closely align UN policy with that of the US. The administration
announced it will cut funding for the UN program that assists Palestinian refugees.
It’s a move that could have significant consequences for millions of people.
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Ex: The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has given significant amounts of money
to the organization. Over the past three years, the charitable foundation has
contributed almost $300 million annually
 Suggestions for funding include:
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* A tax on missiles, planes, tanks, and guns would provide the UN with its
entire budget, as well as pay for all peacekeeping efforts around the world,
including the resettlement of refugees and reparations to the victims of war.
* Another tax that the UN might promote would be some sort of global resources
dividend.
* Contributions based on per-capita: high-income countries contributing at least
$40 per capita annually, upper middle-income countries giving $8, lower-
middle-income countries $2, and low-income countries $1.

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Human rights reform

 The United Nations Commission on Human Rights came under fire during its
existence for the high-profile positions it gave to member states that did not
guarantee the human rights of their own citizens. Several nations known to have
been guilty of gross violations of human rights became members of the
organization, such as Libya, Cuba, Sudan, Algeria, China, Azerbaijan and
Vietnam. The election of human rights-abusing nations also caused frictions.
 It was partly because of these problems that Kofi Annan in the In Larger Freedom
report suggested setting up a new Human Rights Council as a subsidiary UN
body.
 On Wednesday, 15 March 2006, the United Nations General Assembly voted

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overwhelmingly in favour of establishing a new United Nations Human Rights

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Council, the successor to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, with
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the resolution receiving approval from 170 members of the 191-nation Assembly.
 The UNHRC has itself been criticised for the repressive states among its
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membership. The UNHRC has also been accused of anti-Israel bias, a particular
criticism being its focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Technology and new age reform

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 The reform includes ensuring that the UN is fit for the new age of sustainable
development. Specifically, the UN needs to strengthen its expertise in areas such
as ocean health, renewable energy systems, urban design, disease control,
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technological innovation, public-private partnerships, and peaceful cultural

cooperation. Some UN programs should be merged or closed, while other new
SDG-related UN programs should be created.
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United to Reform
 UN Secretary-General AntónioGuterres has made proposals to reform the United
Nations since the beginning of his term in January 2017. To improve the delivery
of our mandate, the United Nations has made sweeping changes in the
following areas:
* Development: The 2030 Agenda will require bold changes to the UN
development system for the emergence of a new generation of country teams,
centered on a strategic UN Development Assistance Framework and led by an
impartial, independent and empowered resident coordinator.
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* Management: A new management paradigm for the Secretariat and a United

Nations that empowers managers and staff, simplifies processes, increases
transparency and improves on the delivery of our mandates.
* Peace and Security: The overarching goals of the reform are to prioritize
prevention and sustaining peace; enhance the effectiveness and coherence of
peacekeeping operations and special political missions and move towards a
single, integrated peace and security pillar.
 The overarching goals of peace and security reform are to:
* prioritize prevention and sustain peace;
* enhance the effectiveness and coherence of peacekeeping operations and special

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political missions;
* continue moving towards a single, integrated peace and security pillar and

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align it more closely with the development and human rights pillars to create
greater coherence and cross-pillar coordination
Views of the United Nations Secretary-General :
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 “Reform is not an end in itself. The purpose of reform is simple and clear: to best
position the United Nations to deliver on humanity’s boldest agenda: the
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sustainable development goals. To better serve people: People in need. People with
hope. People who look to us to help improve their lives and also to improve our
world at a time of spiraling challenges and rapid, dramatic change.”
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Conclusion:
 Even at UN @75, it continues to inspire humanity. The Universal Declaration of
Human Rights remains the world’s moral charter, and the SDGs promise to provide
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new guideposts for global development cooperation. Yet the UN’s ability to continue
to fulfill its vast potential in a new and challenging century requires its member
states to commit to support the organization with the resources, political backing,
and reforms that this new era demands.

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