Common Misconceptions about the United Nations

Bob Edgar, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches

Is the U.N. making efforts to become a world government?

RESPONSE: Chapter 1, Article 2 of the United Nations founding charter states, “The Organization is based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all of its members.” The U.N. respects the territorial integrity and political independence of States. It does only what these sovereign States have agreed it can do: it is their instrument. The U.N. does not have a standing army and military assets of its own; it can only act as instructed by its Member States, and the execution of signed U.N. treaties, conventions and protocols occurs only when they are implemented into the national laws of the States. Member States work together through the U.N. to address common problems that cannot be addressed by a single nation alone. Such cooperation is an exercise of state sovereignty, not a limitation of it, as countries voluntarily decide to work to together because they feel it is in their best interest.

Does the inability of the Security Council to reach a decision on Iraq show that it is incapable of accomplishing its mission to maintain international peace and security?

RESPONSE: The purpose of the Security Council is to respond to threats to peace and security. Waging peace is much more difficult and much less apparent than waging war, thus, the deliberation that takes place within the Council often appears to be slow and inefficient. However, the efforts made by the Council towards peace have been numerous though they are not as clearly seen as acts of aggression. The wars prevented by the Council go relatively unnoticed. The U.N., through acts of the Security Council, provided a mechanism to assist in defusing emergencies, including but not limited to the Berlin crisis (1948- 1949), the Cuban missile crisis (1962) and the 1973 Middle East crisis. The U.N. also played a major role in ending wars in the Congo (1964), between Iran and Iraq (1988), and in El Salvador (1992), Mozambique (1994) and Guatemala (1996).

Do the five permanent members of the Security Council determine the agenda of the U. N. and dictate the power of the U.N. for the other 186 member states?

RESPONSE: The powers of the Security Council are limited to matters of peace and security. All other matters, including humanitarian and development activities, are handled within the General Assembly and specialized agencies. In the General Assembly all countries have the same voting rights, making it the most democratic of international institutions. Even in the Security Council, the five permanent members, though able to stop any action with which they disagree through their power of veto, must take the views of other States into account and cannot impose their will. No country, however powerful, is able to dictate U.N. policies single-handedly.

Can a nation act in manners consistent with rogue states and still be internationally recognized as a state because of the U.N? To that end, can the U.N. help keep dictators and other rogue leaders in power?

RESPONSE: States are admitted to the U.N. by the decision of the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council. Upon admittance, states accept the obligations of the U. N. Charter and are willing to carry out these obligations. Therefore, though certain member states are currently ruled by dictatorships, they were democratically-elected dictatorships, and thus, at the time of admittance they had accepted the obligations of the Charter. The U.N. acts as a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations to attain international peace and security. Thus, by the near universal admittance of states into the Organization, the hostile nature of certain states can potentially be pacified by interaction with peace-loving states through the forum of the U.N.

Does the U.N. drain taxpayers’ money?

RESPONSE: The annual cost of the entire U.N. system, including all of the U.N.’s specialized agencies, per person worldwide is 80 cents; whereas, on average, the world’s governments spend approximately the equivalent of $127 per person worldwide on their military-capabilities. In 2001, the U.N’s regular budget stood at $1.25 billion a year. This is equivalent to only about 4 per cent of New York City’s annual budget. For peacekeeping, the 1999 budget was at $907 million. This is less than four cans of soda consumed per household in the U.S. This is significantly less than the costs to wage war and then to repair the war damages.

Is the U.N. mainly involved in peacekeeping?

RESPONSE: Less than 30 per cent of U.N. activity concerns peacekeeping. The rest is devoted to development and humanitarian activities. The U.N. Development Programme has more than 130 offices around the world and spends 50 per cent of the U.N. system’s budget on operational activities for development: assisting refugees, the poor and the hungry, and promoting child survival, environmental protection, crime and drug control, human rights, women’s equality and democracy.

Has the U.N’s work of nation building around the world consistently failed?

RESPONSE: The U.N. has helped nearly 80 nations to consolidate the democratic process through technical assistance in preparing and holding elections. Member States most often seek advice and assistance on the legal, technical, administrative and human rights aspects of organizing and conducting democratic elections, or seek the Organization’s assistance in supporting the international observation of an electoral process. It organized the 1993 elections in Cambodia and has sent impartial observers to ensure free and fair elections in several countries, including Namibia, Nicaragua, Haiti, El Salvador, South Africa and Mozambique. The U.N. has also helped armed opposition movements transform themselves into political parties in El Salvador, Mozambique and Guatemala, among others.

Is the World Food Program a failure of the U.N?

RESPONSE: The U.N provides over 50% of the food aid in the world and it is the largest multilateral food fund. Contrary to national food aid, it has NO political motivation. The World Food Programme is the frontline agency of the U.N. in its fight against global hunger. In 2001, the WFP fed 77 million people in 82 countries, including most of the world’s refugees and internally displaced people, through relief and rehabilitation in areas of crisis and through the long-lasting development of better houses, clinics and schools, new agricultural skills and technology.

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