RESTRUCTURING OF THE UNITED NATIONS AND ITS AGENCIES TO SERVE AND PROTECT THE POOR OF THE WORLD
2004-11-04. The debate about the restructuring of the UN and its agencies is fundamentally about the nature of power in the world, about legitimacy in the global order and giving a voice to the voiceless in world affairs, said Patricia de Lille, ID Leader and International Affairs Spokesperson.
Addressing the National Assembly on the restructuring of the UN and its
Agencies in Cape Town today (Thursday), De Lille said the UN has
occupied the position as the world's most important international
organization and the Security Council remains the most important entity
for the maintenance of international peace and security.
However, De Lille said, there has always been something fundamentally wrong about the composition of the UN. It (the UN) has always been characterised by more discord and less collaboration with many of the great powers, notably the superpowers, always turning the Security Council into an instrument of their foreign policies. The ID believes that it is not only the UN that needs to be transformed but also the broader global governance architecture in order to make the necessary links between democracy, governance, peace and security and economic development. The entire unaccountable Bretton Woods institutions the World Bank, IMF and WTO should not only be brought back into the UN fold; but they too need serious transformation.
"These institutions have developed major jealousies and territorialities, precisely because they are illegitimate. Because of these jealousies and territorialities, they are not going to give up their ill-gained sovereignty easily; they are not going to hand it back to the UN on a silver platter. The UN will have to fight hard to reassert its own sovereignty and for the accountability of these other bodies," said Patricia de Lille.
If the world order is to be stabilized and democratised, there will have to be greater efforts at bringing about a rules-based order - an order that is able to convince rich and poor, big and small - to play by legitimately arrived at rules. Dictatorships at home and abroad need to be democratized. The UN should be the agency articulating both a principled and ethical global order, and through its commitment to multilateralism address poverty and the devastating HIV/AIDS crisis. It is only through such a rules-based multilateral order that both developed and developing countries could defend their interests and rights.
For further information contact Patricia de Lille, ID leader and International Affairs Spokesperson on 083 303 8352
Issued by Thulani Sithole, Media Officer: 084 233 3811
However, De Lille said, there has always been something fundamentally wrong about the composition of the UN. It (the UN) has always been characterised by more discord and less collaboration with many of the great powers, notably the superpowers, always turning the Security Council into an instrument of their foreign policies. The ID believes that it is not only the UN that needs to be transformed but also the broader global governance architecture in order to make the necessary links between democracy, governance, peace and security and economic development. The entire unaccountable Bretton Woods institutions the World Bank, IMF and WTO should not only be brought back into the UN fold; but they too need serious transformation.
"These institutions have developed major jealousies and territorialities, precisely because they are illegitimate. Because of these jealousies and territorialities, they are not going to give up their ill-gained sovereignty easily; they are not going to hand it back to the UN on a silver platter. The UN will have to fight hard to reassert its own sovereignty and for the accountability of these other bodies," said Patricia de Lille.
If the world order is to be stabilized and democratised, there will have to be greater efforts at bringing about a rules-based order - an order that is able to convince rich and poor, big and small - to play by legitimately arrived at rules. Dictatorships at home and abroad need to be democratized. The UN should be the agency articulating both a principled and ethical global order, and through its commitment to multilateralism address poverty and the devastating HIV/AIDS crisis. It is only through such a rules-based multilateral order that both developed and developing countries could defend their interests and rights.
For further information contact Patricia de Lille, ID leader and International Affairs Spokesperson on 083 303 8352
Issued by Thulani Sithole, Media Officer: 084 233 3811
