The world is a dangerous place. In spite of almost insuperable financial and political obstacles, the UN has been the principal institution dealing with these dangers. An overriding problem which has limited the UN’s effectiveness has been, as says the New York Times, “Washington’s unremitting hostility to the UN”.

Still the UN has been remarkably successful both in peace-making and peace-keeping. This is the conclusion of the Rand Corporation, not a particularly liberal number-crunching think tank. The message is surprisingly upbeat. Even in the worst failed states, low income countries under stress can be helped into recovery. The UN has been quite effective in dealing with these problems. Of the eight UN-led missions studied by the Rand Corporation, seven have brought sustained peace. (Namibia, El Salvador, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, East Timor and Cambodia)

Question: why is it in the developed world’s interest to intervene? The answer is simple and overwhelming. Chaos is a travelling epidemic for crime, disease and general social instability. Atrocities committed within failed states spread to armed rebels in neighbouring countries. Since the 1970’s the number of civil wars had by 1990, increased sharply to over 50.

In 1992, the UN created a peacemaking and peacekeeping office, resulting in a rapid growth in UN activity in combating civil wars. By 2002, the number had dropped by 40% to about 30. In the last 15 years, more civil wars have ended than in the previous two centuries, in large part because of UN action. There are currently 17 peacekeeping missions involving 80,000 people. The annual cost of all UN peacekeeping operations in a year is less than what America spends in a month in Iraq.

Most of the failures such as Rwanda and Bosnia have occurred when the Security Council, which mandates these operations, cannot agree. When there is cooperation within the Security Council, even worst case examples such as Liberia, can be rescued. In that crime riddencountry, the United States, the UN and Nigeria have worked together for a power-sharing transitional government. Neighbouring Sierra Leone is no longer a theatre of killings, because Sierra Leone is prosecuting its criminals through a UN-backed special court. The underlying principle is that the culture of impunity that plagues much of Africa can only be stopped by internationally accepted legal means.

Currently the world body is involved in a major humanitarian disaster in the Sudan. The Secretary General has been pressing for a beefed up international force and has succeeded in gaining unanimous Security Council approval for 10,000 troops to serve as peacekeepers. The delays in the deliberations have come about because the US and the Sudan resist the use of the International Criminal Court, the legal body with the right to try criminals accused of crimes against humanity.

In the Congo, a major effort is being undertaken to eliminate the outrageous sex abuses which have hurt the UN’s reputation. It is important to understand that this is a sovereignty issue in which each country insists on control over their troops but at the same time must take the responsibility to monitor their soldiers. Procedures are being implemented for a zero-tolerance effort to implement this responsibility.

To prevent future disasters the UN has offered two proposals. One is a peace-building commission to alert the Security Council of upcoming tensions and potential conflicts. Another proposal which can meet the need for potentially preventive interventions is a rapid deployment force. That has long been on Kofi Annan’s wish list. Peacemaking and peacekeeping are not synonymous. Sometimes peacekeepers arrive to monitor an agreement which then unravels, leaving the peacekeepers to face hostile fire. Over the years, up to 102 nations have contributed troops and personnel and 2000 have died in this service.

World Press Freedom Day

On May 3, 2005 World Press Freedom Day brought together a diverse group of journalists. The mood of the participants at the discussions was somber, for very good reason. The Committee To Protect Journalists has reported that in 2004, 56 journalists have been killed, 124 are in prison, 19 are missing. Since 2000, 190 have died. Aside from working in war zones, they are murdered for reporting on rebel groups, government corruption, crime, and drug trafficking. The most murderous countries are the Philippines, Iraq, Columbia, Bagladesh and Russia.

Among the problems discussed was the corrosive effect of commercialization which is causing self censorship and skewing editorial choices, at least in part because news is now expected to be entertainment.

Many stories that the world should hear are not reported. A few examples: Where natural habitats have been altered, there is a dangerous increase of infectious disease. A team from Johns Hopkins University has found that even a 1% increase in deforestation in Peru increases the number of malaria breeding mosquitoes by 8%.

Another story: the World Health Organization has been campaigning in thirty countries in Asia and Africa against tens of thousands of cases each year, of obstetric fistula, a terrible complication of childbirth which kills the child and leaves the mother with chronic incontinence. Doctors say it could be prevented if girls were allowed to marry later and received adequate health care during pregnancy and delivery.

Other stories: In northern Uganda, a brutal campaign is continuing, in which children are trained to become killers. In Sierra Leone, the UN has ended the conflict and is bringing 28,000 child soldiers back into their villages. However peacekeepers are leaving and world attention and help is still needed.

Sylvain Ehrenfeld, IHEU Representative to the UN (New York) and Phyllis Ehrenfeld AEU’s National Service Conference Representative to the UN (New York).