Bold plans for UN reform lost much of their substance before reaching the 2005 World Summit, but prospects remain good for securing advances in development and humanitarian programs.
Exceprt:
"Birthdays are often good moments to take stock. However, the results of the UN's 50th anniversary in 1995 should have led world leaders and observers to look askance at the prospects for any major overhaul of the UN in 2005, especially without American leadership. Sweden's UN ambassador, Anders Lidén, asked, "Did we not have the same debate 10 years ago?" Quite simply, the politics were wrong for any dramatic reform. Nonetheless, the secretary general decided to stake his legacy on the structural reform of the world organization. The results of the 2005 World Summit suggest that was an unfortunate choice."
FPA.org Resources
UN Reform, Democracy and Human Rights
Mark Malloch Brown, Chief of Staff to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, addressed the New York Democracy Forum on the subject of "UN Reform, Democracy and Human Rights."
The Future of the United Nations
Michael Reisman, Myres S. McDougal Professor of International Law at Yale University, Stephen Schlesinger, Director, World Policy Institute Robert Orr, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Strategic Planning and Jean Ping, President of the fifty-ninth session of the United Nations General Assembly on the "Future of the United Nations."
Online Resources:
Annan, Kofi, In Larger Freedom: Towards Development, Security and Human Rights for All. UN document A/59/2005, 21 March 2005. Prepared for the 2005 UN summit and available free online at www.un.org/largerfreedom.
High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change, A More Secure World: Our Shared Responsibility. New York, United Nations, 2004. Prepared for the 2005 UN summit and available free online at www.un.org/secureworld.
UN Millennium Project, Investing in Development: A Practical Plan to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals. New York, Earthscan Publications, 2005. 329 pp. Prepared for the 2005 UN summit and available free online at www.unmillenniumproject.org/reports/index.htm
Organization links
www.acuns.org The Academic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS) is a professional association whose Web site provides a host of materials of interest to researchers and teachers. Global Governance: A Review of Multilateralism and International Organizations is the quarterly journal of the association, published in collaboration with the UN University.
www.un.org The UN's own Web site is a good place to start for virtually any current or historical resolution and many recent background documents. There are also links to the various Web sites of the UN system.
www.unausa.org The United Nations Association of the United States of America is dedicated to enhancing U.S. participation in the UN system with its agenda of education, public research and policy analysis.
www.unfoundation.org Web site of the Washington, DC-based UN Foundation, set up by philanthropist Ted Turner. It produces a daily digest of news reports, “UN Wire,” from around the world to which readers may subscribe through www.unwire.org.
www.unhistory.org Web site of the United Nations Intellectual History Project, which is examining the historical origins of important ideas and recording the voices of key persons through an oral history.
Previously in the news:
Human rights: Principles defeat politics at the UN
International Herald Tribune
UN needs overhaul to cope in 21st century - Annan
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