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UNA-Canada Fact Sheets > Canada and the UN - The Process of Revitalization and Re-definition

"There is no question that world peace is still a UN objective... but issues such ashuman rights, the environment, health and disarmament have also come to the forefront. In the years ahead, we will need the UN more than ever. The critical question is the direction the UN will take. We as Canadians have an opportunity to influence that direction and to contribute to the revitalization of the UN."

Michael Oliver, Past President of UNA-Canada

Changing Times, Changing Needs

When global leaders met in San Francisco to form the United Nations over 50 years ago, the world was emerging from the horrors of the Second World War. After such devastation, it was natural for international peace and security to be the driving concern and overriding priority of the newly formed world body. Focused as they were on creating a lasting peace, few leaders anticipated the East-West polarity of the Cold War which hampered the ability of the UN to perform its operations.

Although the UN did accomplish a great deal, the international political situation prevented the UN from meeting its full potential. With the end of the Cold War, the international political environment (in which the UN acts) once again underwent a dramatic change, offering new challenges and opportunities. At the same time, a new range of issues has been pushed to the top of the international agenda. Intra-state conflicts, abuse of human rights, environmental degradation, and the role of women in society are just a few examples of global issues that were not originally considered by the architects of the United Nations Charter, but which must be addressed by the international community in order to maintain stability, promote just and sustainable social development, and improve the lives of all people. Because these issues were not central at the time of the creation of the UN, the ability and the authority of the UN to deal with them effectively is often called into question. In response to changing times and needs, it is necessary to examine the UN in order to redefine its purposes and, where possible, improve the organization to re-invigorate its operations.

The 50th Anniversary: A Time for Reflection and Recommendations

The UN's 50th anniversary in 1995 was a time to celebrate the accomplishments and ideals of the United Nations. It was also a time for reflection, a time to focus on how the UN could be improved to meet the needs of all people. In this light, Canada and its fellow UN members were asked to participate in the ongoing process of examining the UN's efforts and providing recommendations on how the organization's operations could be improved. In a time of revolutionary change, great promise, and extraordinary challenge, efforts are being taken to redefine and revitalize the role of the United Nations for the coming millennium.

Canadian Priorities for United Nations Reform: Proposals for Policy Changes by the United Nations and the Government of Canada, to help stimulate the reforms necessary to effectively adapt the UN to the new needs of the world. These recommendations were presented to Canada's Prime Minister, to Members of Parliament, and to foreign policy experts. Several of the Committee members' ideas were reflected in the November 1994 report of the Special Joint Committee Reviewing Canadian Foreign Policy. Key categories, recommendations, and rationales for change from Canada's UN/50 Committee included the following:

Security Council: The Security Council, the only UN organization capable of passing resolutions that bind member states, is the most powerful UN organ. The Council's permanent membership, however, no longer reflects the reality of global power. Furthermore, it lacks credibility as an impartial body because of the disproportional representation of rich Northern states. Suggested reforms to improve representation, and thereby the legitimacy of the Council, include increasing the number of Security Council members, supporting the principle of a fixed proportion of Council seats from the South, and making the expansion of the permanent membership contingent upon adding permanent seats for the South. Further reforms should include reducing the significance of the veto power possessed by permanent members.

Finance: Unlike Canada, many states do not pay their regular membership or peacekeeping dues to the UN (for a number of reasons). This has placed the UN in a precarious financial situation that is threatening its activities. Article 19 of the UN Charter states that members two years in arrears should lose their voting rights. One reform should be the enforcement of this article, thereby encouraging states to pay their dues. UN expenditures have also been a problem, leading to charges of inefficiency, mismanagement, and, in extreme cases, fraud within the UN. To improve the situation, an Auditor-General, responsible to and appointed by the General Assembly, should be appointed, while an internal management review system, accountable to the Secretary-General, should be implemented.

An Agenda for Peace: Intra-state crises were not addressed in the UN Charter. Recent humanitarian crises in areas such as Rwanda, the former Yugoslavia, and Somalia have raised a number of complex questions regarding whether the UN has the authority to intervene in humanitarian disasters, and if it does have this authority, whether it should use it. A further question concerns how the UN could intervene effectively. The Committee recommended that the Canadian government press for, and contribute troops to, a heavily armed UN rapid reaction force to perform such tasks as protecting humanitarian relief work, securing cease-fire lines, and preventing the escalation of conflicts in order to prevent (or diminish the scale of) future humanitarian disasters.

Arms Proliferation: Regional arms races and the international trade in arms are causes of great instability. Therefore, the UN's Register of Conventional Arms should be strengthened, and political settlements and agreements on arms controls should be pursued in order to reduce the arms trade and improve global security.

An Agenda for Development: The UN has achieved a great deal in the economic and social sphere over the last 50 years. Critics, however, point out that there is a duplication of work, limited responsiveness, and a lack of accountability within the UN's development sphere. Fifty percent of African children suffer from malnutrition, and the income gap between the richest 20 percent and poorest 20 percent of the world's population has doubled from 30:1 to 61:1 in the past 30 years. These facts indicate the need for reform to improve the UN's development efforts. One principal recommendation to improve the situation was to create a Sustainable Development Security Council, a high-level decision-making body within the UN, with the power to coordinate the UN's specialized agencies.

An Agenda for Human Rights: While the UN membership is composed of states, many of its goals were meant to promote human values. The two have not always been compatible, and many states have found it to be in their interests to maintain a weak human rights system under the UN. A number of UN human rights organs have evolved to monitor states' adherence to human rights standards, but the manner in which the system evolved has led to a lack of coordination and rational division of labour. These and other problems have resulted in inefficient and often ineffective efforts to protect human rights. To improve the situation, an early warning system should be developed in coordination with UN agencies such as the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the High Commissioner for Refugees. There should be a greater coordination of functions between the UN's specialized agencies and the Secretariat. A programme should be established under the High Commissioner for Human Rights to ensure an effective field presence when human rights are, or are in danger of, being violated, in order to provide better information to the international community and to deter abuse.

These are just a few of the many recommendations to come out of the Canadian UN 50/Committee, meant to improve the operations of the UN and thereby secure and improve the lives of all people. The recommendations constituted a major contribution to the ongoing debate about UN reform which draws on the expertise and commitment of individuals and groups around the world. The process of revitalizing and redefining the role of the United Nations did not conclude on the eve of the 50th Anniversary. In July 1997, Secretary-General Kofi Annan, with the assistance of Canadian Maurice Strong, will announce reforms to the UN Secretariat, provide recommendations to member states concerning structural changes to the UN, and indicate further steps towards the revitalization of the United Nations. Efforts to improve the UN, brought to the top of the world's agenda in 1995, have inspired the international community to continue the ongoing process of reform.

Obstacles to UN Reforms

Reforming the UN, however, is not a simple task. While members agree on the need for reform, few members agree on exactly what types of reform are required. Permanent members of the Security Council, for example, do not want to weaken their veto power, and are therefore extremely unlikely to support veto reforms. States pushing for a less interventionary United Nations will not support reforms by those who desire a more interventionary organization. National interests will often lead states to oppose reforms to the United Nations. Reforms to the United Nations will be largely based on consensus, and, as such, reformation is likely to be a slow process. Reformation could take the form of fundamental change or essentially cosmetic rearrangement. While this may be discouraging in the short term, it is encouraging that the international community agrees change is needed, and is actively involved in examining what might be done to improve the UN.

Canada has a significant role to play in influencing how the world body will approach emerging global issues. The United Nations Association in Canada (UNA-Canada) is committed to fostering an ongoing dialogue between the UN, Canadian government officials, and the Canadian public. Through its public awareness campaigns, educational forums, seminars, and audiences with officials, UNA-Canada seeks to ensure that Canada will continue to have an impact on the UN's process of redefinition and revitalization.

A copy of "Canadian Priorities for United Nations Reform: Proposals for Policy Changes by the United Nations and the Government of Canada" is available for a nominal charge from UNA-Canada. Please contact the United Nations Association in Canada at 309 Cooper Street, Suite 300, Ottawa, Ontario, K2P 0G5, tel.: 1-613-232-5751, fax: 1-613-563-2455, e-mail: info@unac.org for more details.