Defining the UN's Role
JHABVALA, DARIUS S.
THE PRICE OF PEACE Defining the UN's Role By Darius S. Jhabvala United Nations When the special session of the General Assembly convenes on May 14, the main item on the agenda will be...
...draft outline of a disarmament treaty specifies a number of measures for the development of the UN's peace-keeping role— among them, the improvement of non-judicial methods of peaceful settlement and the establishment of a peace observation corps and peace force with "sufficient armed forces and armaments so that no state could challenge it...
...Accordingly, to date the Russians have given financial support to all the peace-keeping operations undertaken by the Security Council (which, of course, were subject to their veto...
...And the basic question is not really a financial one, but a political one that involves issues of national sovereignty and national interests...
...The ground for this month's discussions was broken by a Working Group of 21 nations set up last year by the General Assembly...
...it and it alone is competent to discuss questions of financing peacekeeping operations...
...In other words, when the General Assembly discusses finances this month, it actually will be attempting to arrive at some consensus of what the member states want the United Nations to be— a conference forum, an organization with limited powers, or an organization with effective authority...
...This group presented a complicated, slide-rule formula of how operations should be financed, maintaining that since the permanent members of the Security Council bear the responsibility for the peace of the world, they should share the major part of the financial burden...
...After nearly two months of arguments behind closed doors, the Working Group, which in a sense is a microcosm of the whole Assembly, was able to come to only one conclusion: There is no general agreement on how to finance the peace-keeping machinery of the United Nations...
...Unless a positive concept is established and universally accepted by the states, irrespective of national sovereignty and national interest, the United Nations will continue to receive only ad hoc financial support —and the hopes the world has placed in it will inevitably suffer a severe blow...
...At the other end of the spectrum is the position of the Soviet Union and the Communist bloc...
...The Security Council, the Soviet delegate to the Working Group argued, has the prime responsibility for the maintenance of peace and security...
...Veteran UN observers have been aware for years that there never has been a common meeting point among nations on enforcement of UN "peace decisions...
...THE PRICE OF PEACE Defining the UN's Role By Darius S. Jhabvala United Nations When the special session of the General Assembly convenes on May 14, the main item on the agenda will be United Nations finances...
...There is still a third point of view in the Working Group, represented by the voluble, smaller nations in the organization which need the security umbrella of the UN much more than the great powers or countries that are members of miktary alliances...
...Such peace machinery as has been available in the past has existed either by the sufferance of a group of nations or was created on the initiative of the Secretary General...
...Yet there is a deficit, and while numerous nations are willing to sacrifice the lives of their soldiers in the service of the world body others will not even contribute their dollars...
...The Charter clearly provides for a UN force and a Military Staff Committee, but it has never been possible to use them fully to safeguard peace...
...The United States delegate argued that the UN should concentrate only on financing the Congo and Middle East situations, and leave aside the broader question of a permanent formula for future operations...
...The time has now come for the UN to make some decision on this aspect of the Charter...
...On the contrary, the U.S...
...Not that Washington has rejected the peace-keeping role of the United Nations...
...Considering what has been achieved, it is generally conceded that the amount of money at issue is insignificant...
...Of immediate concern is the deficit created by the failure of certain member states to support two vital and current operations—one in the Middle East, the other in the Congo...
...The total amount now owed to the UN stands at over $100 million, and the combined monthly expense for both operations is $10 million...
...The problem may be simply stated: How to provide the necessary funds to finance the peace and security operations of the world organization...
...What is new in each of these arguments is not the different points of view but that for the first time they have been categorically stated and put on record...
...Darius S. Jhabvala covers the UN for the New York Herald-Tribune...
...But its solution is difficult and the long-range consequences of any default could prove exceedingly grave...
Vol. 46 • May 1963 • No. 10
