The United Nations "spells - and it ought to spell - the end of the system of unilateral action, exlusive allaiances, and spheres of influence, and balances of power and all the other expedients which have been tried for centuries and have always failed." said President Roosevelt after the Crimean Conference where plans for the UN were laid. Yet today most of the expedients that Roosevelt said had always failed are back in full force.
As Brian Urquhart, a retired Undersecretary-General of the UN and one of its best trouble shooters said "the truth is that, in spite of all the great pronouncements of 1945, a respect for law or for third-party adjudication or for the decisions of the Security Council is very often lacking, and the United Nations is not the uncontested arbiter of matters of international peace and security. As a result, for the present at any rate, we are driven back to various expedients and improvisations. We are driven back to conflict control, good offices and quiet diplomacy in an effort at least to avoid confrontation; We use the expedients of time-gaining, face-saving, breaking mechanisms on the on-rush of events. The United Nations has sought out various back roads to peace. It has, for example, without ever admitting it, learned the technique of putting untreatable confrontational issues in deep freeze. It has learnt a great deal about pretexts and expedients for avoiding the worst. It has learnt that many problems are not susceptible to complete settlement."
However, with the current armed conflicts and the dangers of their spreading, a stronger framework for conflict resolution on the part of the UN, of national governments, and of non-governmental organizations needs to be developed. Without a firm political will for improved conflict resolution, we will not be able to counter the forces of violence and disorder.
René Wadlow, Association of World Citizens
#The_UN_Goals #peace #together
