United Nations : An Adovcate of Peace and International Development?
United Nations : An Adovcate of Peace and International Development?
Introduction 316
"The purposes of the United Nations are...to maintain international peace and security...[and] To achieve international co-operation in solving international problems of an economic...character"
(UN Charter, 1945)
The United Nations has, since it's inception in 1945, been working tirelessly to promote international peace, socio-economic progress and international development (Allen, Thomas, 2000). This is a rather hefty mandate for even a organisation as large as the United Nations with its 184 nation state members, and its copious organs. Inevitably the organization has come under a great deal of criticism within these areas. This has lead to many contemporary authors calling for, "structural change and reform", for they find that the United Nations has failed to provide this world "with lasting peace" [and] "international development" (Hajnal, 1997). It has also led many to brandish the organisation as 'imperialistic', 'dogmatic' and 'autocratic', but it is also widely agreed that there is a vested need and a purpose for the United Nations in our world today. As the authors of The United Nations: A concise Guide state, this world does need such a body; "If the UN did not exist, it would be necessary to invent it" and the debate "..is not whether the UN has a future, but rather how it can be strengthened and made more effective" (Bailey, Daws, 1995)
In seeking to establish whether the United Nations is an 'effective advocate of peace and international development, this article sets out to analyse and evaluate the roles of the various UN systems, in particular the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, and the Member states of the organisation. The first part of this article would outline a brief background of the UN and its agencies. This would provide the basis for an evaluation of the United Nation's peace and development pursuits. This analysis will focus on ideals, outcomes, and impact (in measuring progress against plan and targets).
Background: The roles and functions of the United Nations
"The United Nations is a unique international organization of 188 sovereign States" (UN 2000).
The organisation was set up as a successor to the failed League of Nations, by the victors of the Second World War. The Charter of the United Nations "was ready to sign two months after the Nazi surrender in 1945" (Bailey, Daws, 1995). This Charter was made exclusive to all "peace loving" nations, once they accept its obligations which set out "basic principles for international relations (UN 2000). According to the Charter, the UN has four purposes: to maintain international peace and security, to develop friendly relations among nations, to cooperate in solving international problems and in promoting respect for human rights, and to be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations. These obligations have made the UN seem rather like a club for nobody is compelled to join and (well in theory) "the standards of admission should be high" (Bailey, Daws, 1995).
The organisation now consists of 188 sovereign states - large and small, rich and poor, with differing political views and social systems - all having a vote and a voice within the UN. The UN has six principal organs. Five of them - the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Trusteeship Council and Secretariat - are based at UN Headquarters in New York. The sixth, the International Court of Justice, is located at The Hague, the Netherlands (Allen, Thomas, 2000). As well as these the UN consists of programmes funds and specialised agencies such as the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), all working for development, humanitarian assistance and human rights.(UN 2000)
The United Nations : An advocate of peace?
"Collective security is the crowning UN Principle. The Charter's very first article charges its members in the interests of maintaining international peace and security"(Whittaker, 1995).
One cannot overestimate the importance of the pursuit of peace and security, within the United Nations system. The Security Council is the UN organisation that is charged with the goals of maintaining peace and security (Un Charter, Article 24). So therefore, to analyse and evaluate the UN's performance within the ambit of Peace and security, one needs to consider the Security Council's aims and objectives measured against it's actions.
The Security Council
There are 15 Council members. Five of these - China, France, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and United States - are permanent members. The other 10 are elected by the General Assembly for two-year terms. Permanent member of the Council have the power of a veto, which means if any of them vote against a proposal then it cannot be passed (Allen, Thomas, 2000). The Council performs several roles and "has varying degrees of coercive power" (Bailey, Daws, 1995). It can 'investigate', 'debate', 'prioritise' and suggest solutions to issues on its agenda. (GOOD QOUTE). The Council may also authorise peace keeping campaigns, however this is not expressed in the Charter, and Hammarkjold, jokingly names it Chapter six-and-a-half (Hammarkjold, 1964).
Now that I have outlined the roles and scope of the security council, I would now like to firstly look at the various doctrines and strategies of the UN peace operations.
The UN peace operations consist of three main activities: conflict prevention and peacemaking; peacekeeping; and peace building.(Good Qoute) In terms of conflict prevention the United Nations addresses the structural sources of conflict to build for peace by reinforcing crumbling foundations, usually through diplomacy. It is, by definition, low profile and when successful, perhaps unnoticed
9. When the Council considers a threat to international peace, it first explores ways to settle the dispute peacefully. It may suggest principles for a settlement or undertake mediation. In the event of fighting, the Council tries to secure ceasefire. It may send a peacekeeping mission to help the parties maintain the truce and to keep opposing forces apart.
0. The Council can take measures to enforce its decisions. It can impose economic sanctions or order an arms embargo. On rare occasions, the Council has authorised Member States to use "all necessary means," including collective military action, to see that its decisions are carried out.
1. The Council also makes recommendations to the General Assembly on the appointment of a new Secretary General and on the admission of new Members to the UN.
Doctrine, Strategy and Decision-Making for Peace Operations (What the UN does for Peace and Security)
2. Preserving peace and security are the central purpose of the UN. Under the Charter, Member States agree to settle disputes by peaceful means and refrain from threatening or using force against other States.
3. UN efforts have produced dramatic results in this. The UN helped defuse the Cuban missile crisis in 1962 and the Middle East crisis in 1973. In 1988, a UN-sponsored peace settlement ended the Iran-Iraq war, and in the following year UN-sponsored negotiations led to the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan. In the 1990s, the UN was instrumental in restoring sovereignty to Kuwait, and played a major role in ending civil wars in Cambodia, El Salvador, Guatemala and Mozambique, restoring the democratically elected government in Haiti and resolving or containing conflict in various other countries.
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3. UN efforts have produced dramatic results in this. The UN helped defuse the Cuban missile crisis in 1962 and the Middle East crisis in 1973. In 1988, a UN-sponsored peace settlement ended the Iran-Iraq war, and in the following year UN-sponsored negotiations led to the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan. In the 1990s, the UN was instrumental in restoring sovereignty to Kuwait, and played a major role in ending civil wars in Cambodia, El Salvador, Guatemala and Mozambique, restoring the democratically elected government in Haiti and resolving or containing conflict in various other countries.
4.
5. Conflict Prevention.
Peace-building
6. The UN is increasingly undertaking activities which focus on the underlying causes of violence. Development assistance is a key element of peace building. In cooperation with UN agencies, and with the participation of donor countries, host governments and NGOs, the United Nations works to support good governance, civil law and order, elections and human rights in countries struggling to deal with the aftermath of conflict. At the same time, it helps these countries rebuild administrative, health, educational and other services disrupted by conflict.
7. Some of these activities, such as the UN's supervision of the 1989 elections in Namibia, mine-clearance programmes in Mozambique and police training in Haiti, take place within the framework of a UN peacekeeping operation and may continue when the operation withdraws. Others are requested by governments, as in Liberia where the UN has opened a peace-building support office, in Cambodia where the UN maintains a human rights office, or in Guatemala where the UN is helping to implement peace agreements, which affect virtually all aspects of national life.
8. Peacemaking tries to halt conflicts in progress, by bringing hostile parties to agreement using diplomacy and mediation. The Security Council, in efforts to maintain international peace and security, may recommend ways to avoid or restore or secure peace - through negotiation, for example, or recourse to the International Court of Justice. Peacemakers may be envoys of Governments, groups of states, regional organisations, or the UN, or they may be unofficial and non-governmental, as was the case in the negotiations leading up to a peace accord for Mozambique. It may even be the work of a prominent personality, working independently.
9. The Secretary General plays an important role in peacemaking. The Secretary General may bring to the attention of the Security Council any matter which appears to threaten international peace and security; may use "good offices" to carry out mediation; or exercise "quiet diplomacy" behind the scenes, either personally or through special envoys. The Secretary General also undertakes "preventive diplomacy" aimed at resolving disputes before they escalate. The Secretary General may also send fact-finding mission, support regional peacemaking efforts or set up a local UN political office to help build trust between the parties in conflict.
20. Peacekeeping has evolved in the past decade from traditional model of observing ceasefires and force separations after inter-state wars, to a complex combined military/civilian model, working together to build peace in the aftermath of civil wars. The Security Council sets up UN peacekeeping operations and defines their scope and mandate in efforts to maintain peace and international security. Most operations involve military duties, such as a ceasefire or establishing a buffer zone while negotiators seek a long-term solution. Others may require civilian police or incorporate civilian personnel who help organize elections or monitor human rights. Some operations, like the one in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, have been deployed as a means to help prevent the outbreak of hostilities. Operations have also been deployed to monitor peace agreements in cooperation with peacekeeping forces of regional organizations.
21. Peacekeeping operations may last for a few months or continue for many years. The UN's operation at the ceasefire line between India and Pakistan in the State of Jammu and Kashmir, for example, was established in 1949, and UN peacekeepers have been in Cyprus since 1964. In contrast, the UN was able to complete its 1994 mission in the Aouzou Strip between Libya and Chad in a little over a month.
22. Since the UN deployed its first peacekeepers in 1948, some 118 countries have voluntarily provided more than 750,000 military and civilian police personnel. They have served, along with thousands of civilians, in 54 peacekeeping operations. Currently, some 35,400 military and civilian police personnel are deployed in 15 operations.
23. Until the end of the cold war, UN peacekeeping operations were mostly cease-fire monitoring mandates with no direct peace-building responsibilities. The "entry strategy" was straightforward: war, cease-fire, and invitation to monitor cease-fire compliance, deployment of military observers or units to do so, and continue seeking political settlement. But traditional peacekeeping has no built-in exit strategy. Traditional peacekeepers have remained in place for up to 50 years (Cyprus, the Middle East and India/Pakistan). They are relatively low cost, politically easier to maintain than to remove, but difficult to justify unless accompanied by efforts to transform a cease-fire accord into a lasting peace.
24. Since the end of the cold war, UN peacekeeping often combines with peace-building in settings of intra-State conflict, complicated by outside actors: political patrons; arms vendors; buyers of illicit commodity exports; regional powers that send their own forces into the fray; and by neighbouring States that host refugees perhaps forced to flee their homes. These conflicts are often decidedly "transnational" in character.
26. Risks and costs are much greater, and the complexity of the tasks and the volatility of the situation on the ground tend to increase together. Since the end of the cold war, such complex mandates have been the rule rather than the exception.
27. Nobody should have been surprised that these missions would be hard to accomplish. In the early 1990's, operations implementing peace accords were time-limited, rather than of indefinite duration, and successful conduct of national elections seemed to offer a ready exit strategy. However, UN operations since then have tended to deploy where conflict has brought no victory for any side. UN operations thus do not deploy into a post-conflict situation so much as to divert the unfinished conflict, and the agendas that drove it, and to make that diversion permanent.
28. The UN soon discovered "spoilers" who seek to undermine peace accords by violence. They challenged peace implementation in Cambodia, threw Angola, Somalia and Sierra Leone back into civil war, and orchestrated the murder of 800,000 people in Rwanda. The UN must deal with spoilers if it expects success in peacekeeping or peace building in situations of intrastate/transnational conflict. Spoilers may defect from peace accords when they have an independent source of income that pays soldiers, buys guns and enriches faction leaders. Where income streams from the export of illicit narcotics, gemstones, or other high-value commodities cannot be pinched off, peace is unsustainable. Neighbouring States can contribute to the problem in various ways; countering them requires active political, logistical and military support of great powers, or major regional powers. Ethnicity and religion are often factors.
29. History has taught that peacekeepers and peace-builders are inseparable partners in complex operations: while the peace-builders may not be able to function without the peacekeepers' support, the peacekeepers have no exit without the peace-builders' work.
30. More effective systems for long-term and short-term conflict prevention would be less costly options for the international community than military action, emergency humanitarian relief or reconstruction after a war has run its course.
31. Short-term prevention poses two key impediments to UN action. First, smaller Member States are legitimately concerned about sovereignty in the face of initiatives taken by stronger Member States, or by a regional organisation dominated by one of its members. The second impediment is the gap between verbal postures and financial and political support for prevention.
UN action for peace
... in Africa
32. UN peace efforts have taken many forms over the years, including the long campaign against apartheid in South Africa, active support for Namibian independence, some 20 peacekeeping operations and a number of electoral support missions. The UN has helped repatriate refugees to Mozambique, provided humanitarian assistance in Somalia and Sudan and undertaken diplomatic efforts to restore peace in the Great Lakes region. It has helped prevent new unrest in the Central African Republic, and it is helping to prepare for a referendum on the future of Western Sahara. At the request of the Security Council, the Secretary-General recently provided a comprehensive analysis of conflicts in Africa along with recommendations on how to promote durable peace. Most recently, the Security Council established new peacekeeping operations, in Sierra Leone, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Ethiopia and Eritrea.
... in Asia
33. The UN family continues working to strengthen Cambodian civil society, human rights and democracy following the massive 1992-1993 UN peacekeeping mission in that country.
34. In Afghanistan, the UN Special Mission has worked since 1993 to facilitate national reconciliation and reconstruction needed as a result of the country's protracted civil war. In spite of intense diplomatic efforts by the Secretary-General and his special envoys, fighting has continued at great humanitarian cost, severely hindering attempts by the UN system to provide assistance to the Afghan people.
35. In East Timor, UN-brokered talks between Indonesia and Portugal culminated in the May 1999 agreement, which paved the way for a popular consultation on the status of the territory. Under the agreement, a UN mission supervised voter registration and the August ballot, at which 78 per cent of East Timorese voted for independence from Indonesia over autonomy within that country. When the results were announced, militias opposing independence unleashed a campaign of violence, forcing some 200,000 East Timorese to flee their homes. The Security Council in September 1999 authorized the dispatch of an international security force, which helped to restore order. The UN Transitional Administration has replaced the international force and is overseeing East Timor's transition towards independence.
... in Europe
36. The UN worked strenuously towards resolving the conflict in the former Yugoslavia while providing relief assistance to some 4 million people. In 1991, the UN imposed an arms embargo, while the Secretary-General and his envoy conducted diplomatic efforts to end the fighting. From 1992 to 1995, UN peacekeepers sought to bring peace and security to Croatia, helped protect civilians in Bosnia and Herzegovina and helped ensure that the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia was not drawn into the war.
37. Following the 1995 Dayton-Paris peace agreements, four UN missions helped secure the peace. The largest of them, the UN Transitional Administration in Eastern Slavonia, oversaw the reintegration of this territory into Croatia.
38. In Kosovo (Federal Republic of Yugoslavia), the UN established in 1999 an interim international administration following the end of NATO air bombings and the withdrawal of Yugoslav forces. The Security Council vested in the UN administration unprecedented authority over the territory and people of Kosovo, including all legislative, executive and judiciary powers. Under the umbrella of the UN, the European Union, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the United Nations are working with the people of Kosovo to create a functioning, democratic society with substantial autonomy.
... in the Americas
39. UN peacemaking and peacekeeping have been instrumental in resolving protracted conflicts in Central America. In 1989, in Nicaragua, the peace effort led to the voluntary demobilization of the resistance movement, whose members turned in their weapons to the UN. In 1990, a UN mission observed Nicaragua's elections - the first UN-observed elections in an independent country.
40. In El Salvador, peace talks mediated by the Secretary-General ended 12 years of fighting, and a UN peacekeeping mission verified implementation of all agreements. In Guatemala, UN-assisted negotiations ended a 35-year civil war. Today, the UN Verification Mission in Guatemala works to see that the comprehensive peace agreements are fully implemented.
41. In Haiti, following international action to restore the democratically elected government, the UN has continued its work to consolidate democratic institutions.
... in the Middle East
42. UN concern over the Arab-Israeli conflict spans five decades and five full-fledged wars. The UN has defined principles for a just and lasting peace, including in two benchmark Security Council resolutions - 242 (1967) and 338 (1973) - which remain the basis for an overall settlement.
43. The UN has supported other initiatives aimed at solving underlying political problems and has despatched various peacekeeping operations to the region. The UN's first military observer group was set up in 1948 and maintains its presence in the area to this day. The UN's first peacekeeping force was also set up there, during the Suez crisis of 1956. Two peacekeeping forces are currently in the region. One, established in 1974, maintains an area of separation on the Golan Heights between Israeli and Syrian troops. The other, established in 1978, contributes to stability in southern Lebanon; in 2000, it verified the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the area
44. Elsewhere in the region, a UN observer mission monitors the demilitarised zone between Iraq and Kuwait following restoration of Kuwait's sovereignty in 1991.
Problems Involved In The UN Peacekeeping Operations
A. UN capacities to deploy operations rapidly and effectively
45. Why does it take so long for the UN to deploy following a Security Council resolution? In short, this is because, up to the time of agreement, only few of the basic building blocks are in place for the UN to rapidly acquire and deploy the human and material resources required to mount any complex peace operation. The need for the UN to strengthen capacity to deploy new field operations rapidly and effectively is generally agreed, but basic parameters for defining what "rapidity" and "effectiveness" entail, are not.
46. The first six to 12 weeks following a cease-fire are critical for establishing stable peace and the credibility of peacekeepers. Speedy deployment of military, civilian police and civilian expertise will not help to solidify a fragile peace unless they are equipped to do their job. Mission personnel need equipment and logistics support, cash in hand to procure goods and services, information assets, an operational strategy and a military and political "centre of gravity" sufficient to enable it to anticipate and overcome one or more of the parties' second thoughts about making peace. Lamentably, experience has shown that most of these logistic supports are not forthcoming because of various reasons:
i. Majority of the troops serving in the UN Peacekeeping operations are from developing countries. Although, often many of them can respond with troops who serve with distinction and dedication to high professional standards yet they are limited by the fact that they cannot fulfil the "Contingent Owned Equipment" (COE) agreements, which provide that contingents provide almost all the equipment, and supplies they need. The UN reimburses troop contributors for use of their equipment and provides services and support not covered under COE.
Yet the Secretary-General finds himself in an untenable position. A Security Council resolution specifying paper troop levels does not tell him whether he will be given the troops to put on the ground. Troops that eventually arrive may be under-equipped: countries have provided soldiers without rifles, or with rifles but no helmets, or with helmets but no flak jackets, or with no organic transport capability (trucks or troops carriers). Troops may be untrained in peacekeeping operations, and contingents are unlikely to have trained or worked together before. Units may have no personnel who can speak the mission language. Contingents may lack common operating procedures, common interpretations of key elements of command and control and of rules of engagement, common expectations about mission requirements for the use of force.
B. Lack of political Will By some Member States to Contribute Troops
47. Another major problem is the unwillingness of many Member States, especially from the developed countries to contribute to UN-led peacekeeping operations. Many Member States say "no" to deploying formed military units to UN-led peacekeeping operations, far more often than they say "yes". In the last few years 77 per cent of the troops in formed military units deployed in UN peacekeeping operations, as of end-June 2000, were contributed by developing countries. Permanent Members of the Security Council, while reducing their UN peacekeeping contributions, have contributed sizeable forces to NATO-led operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo, which provide a secure environment for UN missions to operate. No developed country contributes to the most difficult UN operations in Sierra Leone and the Congo. Murders, hostages, military downsizing, and limited national interest explain why it is increasingly difficult to convince national legislatures and public to support the deployment of their troops to UN-led operations.
C. Political Constraints and Disintegrated Chain of Command
48. Political constraints and problems of disintegrated chain of command are yet another. There are fewer political constraints on Governments to contribute civilian police than to contribute military personnel, but Member States still have practical difficulties doing so, because their police forces tend to be tailored to domestic needs alone. The time taken to obtain police and justice experts for missions often prevents the UN from deploying a mission's civilian police component rapidly and effectively. Moreover, they may comprise officers drawn from up to 40 countries, who have never met one another before, have little or no UN experience, and have received little mission-specific training or briefings, and whose policing practices and doctrines may vary widely. Civilian police generally rotate out of operations after six months to one year. All of which makes it difficult to achieve a cohesive and effective force.
49. The UN has similar problems to the ones outlined above in obtaining the services of qualified civilians to cope with the complex problems of current and future UN missions. Each new mission creates demands that the UN system is not able to meet on short notice.
50. When the UN had to staff missions with responsibilities for governance in East Timor and Kosovo, neither Secretariat nor UN agencies nor Member States, had personnel or funds to provide the technical expertise and experience required running a municipality or national ministry. A few Member States offered to provide candidates (some at no cost to the UN) but the Secretariat did not fully avail itself of those offers, partly to avoid lopsided geographic distribution in the missions' staffing.
D. Peacekeeping Viewed as Temporary Job
51. Another problem is the fact that peacekeeping is viewed only as a temporary job. In spite of the fact that the UN has managed to recruit qualified dedicated individuals for field assignments throughout the 1990s, yet, the UN system has not yet found a contractual mechanism to offer them some job security. They have managed ballots in Cambodia, dodged bullets in Somalia, evacuated just in time from Liberia and came to accept artillery fire in former Yugoslavia as a feature of their daily life. Mission recruits are told not to harbour false expectations about future employment because they are brought in to fill a "temporary" demand. Such conditions of service do not attract and retain the best performers for long. The view of peacekeeping as a temporary aberration, rather than a core function of the UN, needs to be rethought.
The need for change and changes occurred already
52. The UN was founded, in the words of its Charter, in order "to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war." Meeting this challenge is the most important function of the Organisation, and the yardstick by which it is judged by the peoples it serves. Over the last decade, the UN has repeatedly failed to meet the challenge and it can do no better today. Without institutional change, increased financial support, and renewed commitment by Member States, the UN will not be able to execute peacekeeping and peace-building tasks assigned by Member States. UN peacekeeping forces should not undertake many tasks, but when the UN does send forces to uphold peace, they must be prepared to defeat the lingering forces of war and violence.
53. To reduce tension and avert conflict, the Security Council have now recognised that the Secretary-General needs clear, strong sustained political support from Member States. Good intentions are no substitute for the ability to project credible force. Force can create a space in which peace can be built, but it cannot alone bring peace. Changes will be valueless unless Member States train and equip their forces, and have the political will to support the UN politically, financially and operationally.
54. As the Secretary General puts it during a panel discussion on UN Peace Operations (The Brahimi Report, Vol. 7 No. 3 - Winter 2000), "The UN is the sum of its parts and the primary responsibility for reform lies with Member States. Failures of the UN are not those of the Secretariat alone, or troop commanders, or the leaders of field missions. Most occurred because the Security Council and the Member States crafted and supported ambiguous, inconsistent and under-funded mandates and then stood back and watched as they failed, sometimes even adding critical public commentary as the credibility of the UN underwent its severest tests."
55. The Secretariat would need some combination of the following: (a) standing reserves of military, civilian police and civilian expertise, materiel and financing; (b) standby capacities available on short notice; (c) lead-time: the ability to foresee, plan for and initiate spending for potential new missions several months ahead of time; strengthening of analytical capacities aligned with mission planning; enhancement of existing standby capacities and establishment of new ones.
56. Many Member States have argued against a standing UN army or police force, reliable standby arrangements, financial expenses for building a reserve of equipment and planning for potential operations prior to the Secretary-General having been granted specific, crisis-driven legislative authority to do so. It follows that the UN cannot deploy operations "rapidly and effectively" within the timelines suggested, unless the changes referred to above come about.
57. The UN launched UNSAS (Standby Arrangements System) in the mid-1990s to enhance its rapid deployment capabilities and to respond to the growth in new complex peacekeeping operations. UNSAS is a database of military, civilian police and civilian assets and expertise indicated by Governments to be available for deployment to UN peacekeeping operations at seven, 15, 30, 60 or 90 days' notice. Of the 87 participating States, 31 have Memoranda of Understanding with the UN enumerating their responsibilities for preparedness of the personnel concerned. However, these MOU's also codify the conditional nature of their commitment. The MOU confirms that States maintain their sovereign right to "just say no" to a request from the Secretary-General to contribute those assets to an operation.
58. IT strategy and policy problems pervade the UN system. FALD's Communications Service can provide satellite links and local connectivity for missions to build IT networks and databases, but better strategy and policy are needed for the wider community to take advantage of the technology foundations that are now being laid.
59. When the UN deploys a mission, its elements must be able to exchange data easily: the UN system; mission recruits new to the UN system; regional organisations; bilateral aid agencies; and always, dozens to hundreds of humanitarian and development NGOs. They all need a mechanism that makes it easier to share information because each is but the tip of a large bureaucratic iceberg with its own culture, working methods and objectives.
60. Poorly planned, poorly integrated IT can foil such co-operation. Without agreed standards for data structure and interchange, the "interface" between the two is laborious manual re-coding, which defeats the purposes of investing in networks and computers, wastes labour, leads to failure to communicate policy or receive information on security threats or changes in the operational environment. Distributed, decentralised data systems need such common standards to function.
Disarmament
61. Halting the spread of arms and reducing and eventually eliminating all weapons of mass destruction are major goals of the United Nations. The UN has been an ongoing forum for disarmament negotiations, making recommendations and initiating studies. It supports multilateral negotiations in the Conference on Disarmament and in other international bodies. These negotiations have produced such agreements as the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (1968), the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (1996) and the treaties establishing nuclear-free zones.
62. Other treaties prohibit the development, production and stockpiling of chemical weapons (1992) and bacteriological weapons (1972), ban nuclear weapons from the seabed and ocean floor (1971) and outer space (1967); and ban or restrict other types of weapons. In 1997, more than 100 nations signed the Ottawa Convention outlawing landmines. The UN encourages all nations to adhere to this and other treaties banning destructive weapons of war. The UN is also supporting efforts to control small arms and light weapons. As decided by the General Assembly, an international conference in 2001 will focus on the illicit trade in small arms.
63. The Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, through a system of safeguards agreements, ensures that nuclear materials and equipment intended for peaceful uses are not diverted to military purposes. And in The Hague, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons collects information on chemical facilities worldwide and conducts routine inspections to ensure adherence to the chemical weapons convention.
Bibliography
United Nations Reform: A Selected Bibliography
Prepared by Peter Hajnal, University of Toronto
Revised January 27, 1997
4 10/12/2001
