Oct 25, 2010

Statement from UNPO on the 65th anniversary of the United Nations


As the United Nations celebrated its 65th Anniversary yesterday, the issue of those whose voices are excluded from its halls remains pressing. 

 

Below is a statement published by UNPO:

 

Celebrations took place around the globe on 24 October 2010, marking the day 65 years ago on which the United Nations was founded. Having witnessed two devastating global wars in the span of just 30 years, world leaders came together in San Francisco in 1945 to draft the charter of the United Nations. The organization was meant to maintain international peace and promote global cooperation in tackling some of the world’s most intractable economic, social and humanitarian problems. The United Nations has grown enormously in the past 65 years. Begun with just 51 members, today it boasts the membership of nearly every sovereign state in the world.

 

Despite its successes in many areas, the United Nations system has ultimately failed to adapt to changing global realities. In today's world the vast majority of conflicts occur within, rather than between states. While the UN has been successful in its mission of preventing another outbreak of global war like that seen in the first half of the twentieth century, ongoing conflicts throughout the world highlight the limitations of an institution which affords representation only to states.

 

UNPO marks this anniversary, therefore, by bringing to light those nations and peoples who remain unrepresented within this system of international governance. This includes those nations which remain unrecognized by the international community, as well as indigenous peoples and national minorities whose governments are not representative of their interests or who take little or no interest in their welfare. For almost 20 years, UNPO has seen the UN system evolve and worked to successfully bring the voices of these communities to the hallways, meeting rooms and offices of the United Nations.

 

UNPO has accomplished this through strategic engagement within the existing United Nations system, including the Human Rights Council, the Universal Periodic Review process, the human rights treaty bodies and advisory Forums on Indigenous Issues and Minorities. While UNPO has made great strides in ensuring that its Members’ voices are heard in these forums, there is still much work to be done in making the United Nations a more open and inclusive system, one more confident in its capacities, positive in its actions, and which recognizes and responds to the millions of voices which are excluded from the state-led system. Many have highlighted this anniversary as a day to celebrate the accomplishments of the United Nations; UNPO, however, marks this as a day on which we resolve to do more to bring the voices of the unrepresented to the UN system.