Can the United Nations adapt to the 21st century?
| Author | Brian Urquhart |
| Published date | 01 March 2005 |
| Date | 01 March 2005 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/002070200506000115 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
BRIAN
URQUHART
Can
the
United
Nations
adapt
to
the
21St
century?
IT IS
VITALLY
IMPORTANT
TO
TAKE
SERIOUSLY
the question
of
whether
the UN can cope with the security problems
of
the 21 st centuryor not.
We are seeing, over and over again, how international problems even-
tually come back to the UN because it provides the last, and sometimes
the best, hope of resolving them. And we have some unusually ominous
problems
to
solve.
Canada
has been one
of
the most consistent, supportive,
and
unflappable members
of
the United Nations.
It
has stood with
the
organization in good times
and
in bad.
It
also has a tradition
of
encouraging new ideas and new thinking about international affairs.
Not
many countries do this. In the 1950s, we had Lester Pearson as the
champion
of
the technique
that
is now called peacekeeping. A
Canadian general, E.L.M. (Tommy) Burns, was the first-ever com-
mander
of
aUN peacekeeping force
and
did a great deal to set the tra-
dition and the form that would be followed in later operations. More
recently, in 2001, Canada sponsored an international commission on
intervention
and
state sovereignty
that
introduced at least one very
important new concept, "the responsibility to protect": the internation-
al responsibility
to
protect peoples anywhere in the world whose gov-
ernment has abandoned them and is in some cases persecuting them.
The
commission
put
the responsibility for humanitarian intervention
Sir
Brian
Urquhart
was
undersecretary
general
of
the
United
Nations
from 1974to
1986.Hejoined the
organization
in 1946and
remains
centrally
involved
in the
dialogue
over
renewing
theUN
system.
This
article
is
derived
froma
lecture
given
at
King's
College,
Halifax,
29
September
2004.
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
Winter
2004-2005
To continue reading
Request your trial