The problem with the United Nations - Part 1

The preamble to the charter of the United Nations reads:

WE THE PEOPLES OF THE UNITED NATIONS DETERMINED

to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind, and
to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and
to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained, and
to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,
AND FOR THESE ENDS

to practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbours, and
to unite our strength to maintain international peace and security, and
to ensure, by the acceptance of principles and the institution of methods, that armed force shall not be used, save in the common interest, and
to employ international machinery for the promotion of the economic and social advancement of all peoples,
HAVE RESOLVED TO COMBINE OUR EFFORTS TO ACCOMPLISH THESE AIMS

Accordingly, our respective Governments, through representatives assembled in the city of San Francisco, who have exhibited their full powers found to be in good and due form, have agreed to the present Charter of the United Nations and do hereby establish an international organization to be known as the United Nations.

1. THE SCOURGE OF WAR

"The scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind"

The generation who had the privilege of undergoing untold sorrow twice in their life is dead (even Bob Hope now) and the generation that had the pleasure of experiencing untold sorrow once is not far behind them.
The current world leaders have had no untold sorrow...none what so ever.

As a matter of fact, while my grandfather was dodging British bombs because the Germans had decided to set-up a V2 launch pad in his backyard, Bush's grandfather was wheeling and dealing with the nazis.
When WWII was over, my grandfather was homeless, Bush's grandfather was rich.

Maybe that is why George W. Bush and I have different opinions on war. I may not have experienced the scourge of war, but grandpa made damn sure that the sorrow did not go untold. If Preston Bush talked to his grandchildren at all about his wartime experience, I imagine that it was not a tale of sorrow.

The first problem with the United Nations is that there is no affiliation with its higher motives anymore. Our leaders are in desperate need of some untold sorrow.

2. FAITH IN FUMDAMENTAL HUMAN RIGHTS

"to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small"

Let’s go back in time to June 1945. Among the 50 initial signers of the UN Charter is the Russian Federation, at that time lead by the notorious Joseph Stalin. Now San Francisco is a fun town. I can imagine Joe flying in a day early to wet his whiskers before the big event.

So when it was time to put his John Hancock to this document, there is a distinct possibility that he suffered from a slight hangover (although if you ever downed vodka’s with anybody east of Germany, you know that that is hard to imagine).

But even in that condition he must have been able to make it to line two and read the ditty about human rights.

Maybe great dictators have a different perception of fundamental human rights, but I would think that at that point Joe would have dropped his pen and say: "Whoa comrades, nice piece of work, but this is just not for me."

Other countries that were among the first to sign the charter were Chile, China, Colombia, Cuba and Czechoslovakia (to stick to the C’s).
Was anybody paying attention or were they all out drinking the night before?

Okay, let’s just assume that all the countries signing the charter had every intention of working on their human rights issues.
Three years later, the UN adopts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. That is good, because now the countries that still don’t get it have a book to go by. Because some countries read slower than other countries, you need to give them a grace period to get up to speed and get with the program.

But enough is enough. Somewhere between then and the time that Tuvalu joined as the 188th member, some enlightened soul could have patted the Colombian delegate on the back and say: "Sorry man, it’s been 50 years. I know you tried, but maybe we set the bar a little too high for you. It sucks, but I have to ask you to clean out your office. Please do not make a scene or I will have security escort you to the door right now."
"Yo Tuvalu! We’re working on that office for you guys."

They should then have proceeded to sanction Colombia for breach of contract.
Not that there is much to sanction when it comes to Colombia. Their main export product has been blacklisted since the early 20th century, but that has only benefited the middle-men like Pablo Escobar, who offered to pay the national debt of Colombia as bale money after his arrest.

And maybe there we find the second problem with the UN. It has no control over its members.

It is like the substitute teacher before a class that knows their names won’t be remembered anyway and therefore seizing the opportunity to re-establish the boundaries of classroom misbehavior.

Right from the start, the UN should have required some form of warranty from its member-states to put the thumbscrews on when necessary. Let’s say that every member would deposit its national reserve as a lien and think of the possibilities.

"What was that, Holland? You won’t pull out of Indonesia? Say goodbye to your guilder and helloooo depression. UNESCO needs additional funding anyway. You just fed the starving children in Eritrea well into the 21st century. Read the small print in your contract."

I could be wrong, but my guess is that Indonesia could have established its own military dictatorship a lot sooner and it would have thought twice before becoming a UN member in 1950.


(to be continued)