UN Millennium Summit

By Chiranjibi Paudyal

Important For Developing Nations

THE Millennium Assembly of the United Nations has once again expressed its firm determination to fulfil the commitment made by the Millennium Summit held in the UN headquarters last month. It is expected that the general assembly of the world body will bring out concrete recommendations based on the commitment made during the millennium summit.

Commitment

The heads of state and government of over 150 nations and the representatives of about 189 member countries of the United Nations have expressed their commitment to reduce poverty, protect the environment, promote democracy, respect for the human right, reserve the spread of AIDS, maintain peace and security and maintain fundamental values, including freedom, equality, solidarity, tolerance and shared responsibility which are considered to be essential to international relations in the 21st century.

Though the words are not enough to resolve the burning problems of the world, the commitment made by the world leaders during the Millennium Summit, the biggest gathering in the history of the UN, seems to be very meaningful in the present context of the world where so many problems are cropping up even after the end of the Cold War.

The world has faced many problems, but poverty which is the root cause of many conflicts around the world, is the worst enemy of the mankind. The world leaders once again identified this serious problem and reiterated their commitment to reduce the poverty to at least half by 2015 which seems to be a ray of hope for ever a billion poverty stricken population of the world.

In spite of man’s efforts, world inequality has increased sharply over the past decades. According to the report of the UN agency, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the global inequality is worse now than before. The inequality has given rise to the conflicts around the world.

In 1950, the gap between the average income between the richest and poorest country was about 35 to one, while by 1992 the gap had widened to 72 to one. This is estimated to have widened further more. This is a very serious problem which needs to be addressed as soon as possible. The per capita income of the people of about 50 countries and most of them the countries of the sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, fell in the last decade. Famine, disease, civil war, terrorism, natural calamities, misuse of development aid and increasing number of corruption cases have made the situation worse in the developing countries and has left the number of absolute poverty at 1.2 billion people in 1998.

The developing countries, including Nepal, very strongly raised the issues of global problems including the poverty reduction. During the Millennium Summit, Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala stated that the growing gap between the haves and have nots would be a greater threat to the global security than other conflicts and that the world body should play a lead role in addressing this challenge in the coming days. Appreciation of Nepalese Prime Minister’s remark by many leaders of the developing world as well as the developed countries is a very positive point for Nepal.

The 32 point Millennium Declaration has clearly stated that the freedom, equality, solidarity, tolerance, respect for nature and shared responsibility are considered to be certain fundamental values to be essential to international relations in the twenty first century. The meeting of the world leaders have also stated that the democratic and participatory governance based on the will of the people best assures these rights.

Nepal is also one of the contributors to the UN peace keeping operations and the role of Nepal in the peace keeping operation is appreciated throughout the world. The world body is currently engaged in 14 peacekeeping operations most of them in the world’s poorest countries with more than 37,000 troops and civilian police deployed from East Timor to Cyprus and Sierra Leone at an annual cost of about $2.2 billion.

Nearly 1,000 UN civilian staffs are engaged in 14 other political and peace-building missions. Peacekeeping, security and disarmament also got priority in the summit. The UN members expressed their commitment to free the peoples from the scourge of war, whether within or between states which has claimed more than 5 million lives in the past decade and also seek to eliminate the dangers posed by weapons of mass destruction.

Nepal’s contribution to the United Nations specially in the UN peacekeeping force is highly appreciated throughout the world. Around 35,000 Nepalese soldiers have so far served in the various war torn regions of the world and around three dozen have laid down their lives for the cause of the world peace.

Safeguarding basic rights of the people, human rights and strengthening democracy, eradicating of poverty maintaining peace and security, preserving environment and promoting fundamental values and norms which are considered to be essential to international relations in the new millennium were some of the major concerns of the Millennium Summit.

The summit was a good forum for Nepal to explain Nepal’s position on various issues to the international community and shed light on Nepal’s commitment to democracy and human rights. Nepal’s Foreign Ministry believes that the visit of the Nepalese Prime Minister is expected to contribute to enhance Nepal’s identity and image in the international community and promote its larger national interests in the coming years.

Nepal also raised the issue of debt relief measures to the least developed countries and stressed the need to play a lead role by the United Nations. Most of the developing countries have sunk in debt and most of these developing nations are paying more back to the donors and aid institutions than they are spending on health and education.

The United Nations was established by 51 countries in 1945 with a view to creating peace in the world after the horrors of the Second World War. Even after half a century the world body has not been able to prevent the conflicts. When the UN was born, the world’s total population was 2.5 billion and now there are more than double that number-6 billion people - and the member nations of the UN have almost quadrupled to 189.

Adherence

The charter of the United Nations clearly enunciates the need and urgency to bring about world peace by halting the scourge of war and to put an end to the dangers of war is as vital as it was in 1945.

Nepal’s strong adherence to the policy of the United Nations and commitment to make significant contributions in the UN activities has undoubtedly enhanced Nepal’s identity and image throughout the world.

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