Speech delivered at the UNU Millennium Conference
UNU Headquarters, Tokyo
19 January 2000

Predictions about the 21st century will be as dubious as prophecies made at the beginning of the 20th century, most of which did not come true. Today we live in a world of glaring contradictions. Inexorable forces of globalization are lowering national barriers and are enabling goods, money and information to travel freely and instantaneously all over the Earth.

Unlike the transfer of money and information, however, the movement of labour still creates controversy, and trade issues are still transacted on a government-to-government basis. Globalization is expanding, while internationalization - based on the premise of the existence of nation-states - is also running on a parallel track, as witnessed at the recent World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle.

Concepts and values are increasingly shared on a global basis, but resistance to globalization is also becoming stronger. It manifests itself in the form of growing nationalism - Japan being no exception - ethnic chauvinism or religious fundamentalism. We will probably continue to live in the midst of such contradictions for the foreseeable future.

The objective reality of interdependence is juxtaposed with the psychological resistance to it by assertions of national, ethnic, cultural and local identities. The United Nations cannot exist above these contradictory trends and is in fact sandwiched between unrealistically high expectations on one hand, and unjustifiably poor appreciation of its potential capacity, on the other.

Space does not permit a lengthy exposition of my vision of the United Nations of the 21st century. This paper will itemize what I consider to be necessary elements for endowing the United Nations - the sole universal political organization - with real clout, greater influence and higher legitimacy.

1) The Security Council must be strengthened by a limited expansion of its permanent as well as non-permanent membership. It is not realistic to abolish the veto of the big powers, but we should initiate restricting its use to enforcement action under Chapter VII of the U.N. Charter. It is also important not to apply the veto to the election of the Secretary-General. We are left with a bitter after-taste of the episode of three years ago. The mandate of the Secretary-General should be for two five-year terms each, or a single seven-year term to avoid undue politicization.

2. Since the end of the Cold War, the General Assembly has been in the shadow of the revitalized Security Council. This has to be changed: the General Assembly, after all, is the deliberative organ of all member states and confers universal legitimacy. I wonder why the "Uniting for Peace" resolution of 1950 was not dusted off and used at the time of the Kosovo crisis. The Security Council, however, preferred to ignore the assembly, and no action was taken to approve the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. I suggest a more frequent use of emergency special sessions of the General Assembly and the restoration of its interim committee of 1947 as an inter-sessional standing body. This may go someway towards restoring the balance between the assembly and the council.

3. As general opinion holds, the Economic and Social Council has to be strengthened. Each session of the ECOSOC should be thoroughly prepared by a small preparatory body. The ECOSOC has already been moving toward a more thematic, focused approach, but its reform cannot take place without revisiting the working methods of the second and third committees of the assembly.

4. It was a mistake to lower the criteria for membership of the United Nations, provided for in Article 4 of the Charter. In recent years, permitting micro-states to become members has weakened the Organization. No country that cannot afford a certain minimum contribution, say 0.1 % of the regular budget should be allowed membership in the United Nations. Small geographical entities should instead be encouraged to opt for associate membership to enjoy appropriate rights and privileges. This proposal should not, however, be applied retrospectively to existing member states.

5. Enhancing the Secretary-General's authority and the efficacy of the Secretariat is of vital importance. The International Civil Service Commission, which has sometimes been circumvented by the Fifth Committee of the General Assembly, should be used to ensure recruitment and retention of the highest caliber individuals from all member states. The U.N. emolument must be based on the Noblemaire principle. The Secretary-General should also be allowed to call upon the best minds available in the intellectual and scientific community for advice. With the help of UNESCO, the United Nations should resuscitate efforts for a universal text book on history.

6. All proposals for strengthening the United Nations will be hypocritical unless they are accompanied by serious efforts to improve its budgeting and financing. The League of Nations died from the short-sighted financial penury of its members. Its successor is in danger of facing a similar fate. All assessed contributions are legally binding, and late-paying states, especially developed states, should be penalized. Contributions should be based mostly on the "capacity to pay", that is, on gross national product, but special account should be taken of the rights and privileges of the permanent membership in the Security Council, as is done in case of peacekeeping assessments. Moreover, innovative methods of financing should be gradually introduced, such as facilitating of contributions by individuals and multi-national corporations and U.N. taxation of international air travel, with the proviso that this type of financing should not exceed one-third of the regular budget. Nor should it distort U.N. priorities.

7. The United Nations of tomorrow cannot exist without greater support by civil society. Therefore, the United Nations should create a consultative people's assembly chosen by direct vote of the people of the world. NGOs should have more frequent contact with U.N. agencies and should participate in their decision-making when appropriate. At the same time, their representativeness should continue to be closely scrutinized. There should also be more systematic interchange among parliamentarians of the world and more consultations with the business community and mass media leaders.

8. Global efforts of U.N. agencies should be supplemented by active regional collaboration in various regions. Asia, in particular, should promote greater collaboration of countries in the region, based on pragmatic needs, greater transparency and confidence-building measures. Regional cooperation and worldwide cooperation are complementary, and care should be exercised to ensure that each region does not degenerate into a sphere of influence under a regional hegemon.

9. Peacekeeping operations are like a tender flower in need of careful cultivation as a unique achievement of the United Nations since 1948. Peacekeeping should adapt to changing times and needs to become more robust in line with the greater complexity of tasks required. The Organization should, however, be careful not to become too reliant on military means for enforcement. Chapter VII provides for a wide variety of sanctions, and thought should be given to various nonmilitary means of putting pressure on violators of the Charter and international law, as provided for in Article 41 of the Charter. The principles of impartiality and nonpartisan approach should not be forsaken for high sounding moral exhortation even if this seems to be popular in some member states and in mass media, and is suggested in some quarters.

10. A constructive dialogue between the United Nations and the Group of Eight major nations should be encouraged. The G-8 provided a useful framework to identify a solution to the Kosovo crisis. The G-8 approximates a concert of powers in today's world in the absence of a serious revamping of the Security Council. Though composed only of developed states, it can be a useful instrument to resolve North-South disparity and conflict. The United Nations can restore its great relevance to the contemporary world by endeavouring to better reflect the relationship among the major powers. It should also not be forgotten that many worthwhile initiatives are taken by the so-called "middle powers" in fields such as disarmament and development.

How do we ensure that the above 10 proposals will be realized? In my view, there is no shortcut. It will be through the concerted, painstaking efforts of officials and leaders within and without the United Nations and member governments, joined by an ever widening circle of non-governmental actors and supporters all over the world. Practitioners have to become more visionary and less cynical. On the other hand, outside supporters and globalists should be more pragmatic and tactically oriented.

In the absence of any better alternative, we have to aim at a more effective United Nations. And it can be brought to reality only through the persistence, skill, imagination and dedication of all those who are convinced that national, local and other interests and concerns can and must be harmonized and satisfied within the universal framework of a radically revitalized United Nations.

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