The
UN And The Principle Of Sharing
By Mohammed Mesbahi & Dr Angela Paine
14 February, 2007
Countercurrents.org
In 1948, the United Nations General
Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human rights. All the
world’s nations agreed that every human being in the world had
the right to adequate food, water, housing, healthcare, education, political
participation and employment. Almost sixty years later, a global economic
system based on competition and profit has failed to provide these essentials
for the majority of the world. 800 million people are still starving
to death in a world of plenty and the gap between the rich minority
and the poor majority has increased and continues
to increase.
The global economy needs
to be reformed or replaced, and the United Nations is currently the
only international body through which such fundamental economic change
can be facilitated. The only way the UN can address gross poverty and
inequality is by sharing
the world’s resources.
The UN was set up by the
victors of the Second World War: America, Britain, France, Russia, China,
with the primary objective of maintaining peace and security in the
world. Since the 1960s the UN has held a series of international conferences
as they realised that poverty in the south was as big a challenge as
world peace-keeping. These conferences have addressed many issues, including
the environment, population, food, women, human settlements, employment,
water and desertification. Unfortunately it is impossible to enforce
agreements from these conferences because member states are not accountable
to a higher international authority. There is only moral pressure to
deliver on commitments. The only force that can make governments implement
what they have agreed to is the force of popular disapproval.
The World Bank, IMF
and WTO
The
World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), both
established immediately after the Second World War, are technically
part of the UN. The IMF was originally set up to lend money to governments
in order to stabilize the international monetary system. But Edward
Holloway, British economist at the time, already predicted that it would
lead to un-payable indebtedness between nations.
By 1971, the IMF had re-written
its articles of association in order to grant itself permission to interfere
in almost any aspect of a country’s governance. Instead of facilitating
stable exchange rates and helping countries protect themselves against
financial fluctuations, it began pushing aside any and all obstacles
to capital flow and unfettered profit. This was virtually the opposite
of its original mandate. At the same time, the un-payable indebtedness
of the poorest countries was becoming apparent.
By the 1980s, Wall Street
and the United States Treasury Department were inextricably linked with
and able to influence the World Bank. Instead of facilitating investment
on behalf of the local poor economies, the World Bank began providing
and withholding loans in order to facilitate corporate access to these
countries. They financed more and more projects that would benefit major
corporations.
The World Bank began to impose
stringent conditions, known as ‘Structural
Adjustment Programs (SAPs)’, on recipient countries,
forcing them to adopt reforms. Conditions for the majority of the third
world worsened as a result.
As long as developing countries
continue to be dominated by debt
repayments as part of a ‘debt sustainability’
framework, the World Bank and IMF cannot honestly claim that they are
working for poverty reduction or
financing development. Debt relief comes with conditions
which undermine the sovereignty of the people of the countries affected,
and keeps the economies of the south tied to the interests of global
corporate profit.
In 1995 the WTO was formed
to replace the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). It’s
apparently democratic aims were to lower tariffs and non-tariff barriers
in order to increase international
trade. However, although 149 countries are members of the
WTO, it does not function democratically. The majority of the world’s
poor countries are not permitted to influence the WTO’s predetermined
trade talk agendas.
This has resulted in global
trade rules which favour the economically dominant countries. The trade
agreements have stripped away trade barriers previously imposed by third
world countries in order to protect their fragile home-grown industries,
their environment and their social institutions. At the same time the
rich countries pay out huge subsidies to protect their own industries.
Over the years the IMF, the
World Bank and the WTO have gained more and more power and, rather than
serving the interests of the UN, seek to dictate UN policies in a completely
undemocratic fashion.
Creating a Renewed
and Effective United Nations
The UN needs to become more
democratic, more efficient and above all, more powerful. It needs to
change in order to meet the urgent needs of those living in poverty.
Democratic change must not be dictated by the neoconservative administration
of the US or corporate interests. The UN was created in order to promote
peace and human rights for every member of the human race. Sharing the
world’s resources will greatly facilitate this process by creating
a fairer economy and fostering peaceful relations between nations.
Change to the structure and
funding of the UN is most likely to come about as a result of pressure
from member countries and the global public. Civil society groups are
plentiful, growing in number and size, and forming alliances. Below
are outlined the major changes that need to be implemented if the UN
system is to be effective in achieving its crucial humanitarian mandate.
1. Dissolve the Security
Council
The UN must be freed from
the constraints of the Security Council Veto. The Security Council is
a relic of the Second World War and should not hold the powerful position
within the UN that it does today. A truly democratic United Nations
should not have to concede to the veto of the victors of a war which
took place sixty years ago.
The Security Council must
be dissolved and the General Assembly must take its place as a democratic
world council, without veto powers. In this way, matters of security,
economy and human rights can be dealt with in a democratic fashion,
to the benefit the majority of the world.
2. Implement Global
Taxation to fund the UN
Clearly the current system
of funding doesn’t work. The current level of funding wouldn’t
provide enough money to run the UN properly even if every member state
paid their dues on time. A United Nations dependent on the meagre alms
meted out to it by reluctant nations can never carry out the work needed
to protect human rights. Global taxes would produce far greater and
more reliable revenue and result in a properly funded UN, able to carry
out its policies.
If the UN was funded by global
taxation, it would be freed from the constraints of its members. It
would be able to carry out the reforms needed to transform itself into
the democratic, effective organisation that the world needs. It would
be in a position to enforce international legislation and to overhaul
global economic structures making them subservient to its needs. It
would be able to curb the power of corporations making them subservient
to human rights.
Several forms of global taxation
have been put forward- even by the UN itself, before the US forced it
to withdraw these proposals by threatening to continue its non-payment
of dues in 1997. These include taxes on the arms trade, the trading
of currencies, air transport and pollution.
The adoption of any number
of such taxes would provide the UN with adequate resources to carry
out the millennium goals. International taxation would rid the poorer
countries of the burden of payment (always in dollars) of UN dues. International
taxation would prevent any one country from having undue influence on
UN policies.
3. Adopt the Principle
of Sharing
In order to fulfil its humanitarian
mandate and secure basic human needs across the world, a new economic
system based on sharing
essential resources, such as land, food, water and medicine,
must be implemented. A system of sharing would be based on cooperation,
not competition. It would replace existing aid and development structures
and would exist alongside an overhauled market-based economy that can
continue to supply non essential goods.
4. Restore the UN’s
democratic control over the Global Economy
The UN was originally intended
to oversee all aspects of the global economy, including the decisions
and practices of the international trade and finance institutions. In
order for the UN to create a democratic and fair global economy, it
needs to be freed from the constraints imposed on it by the World Bank,
IMF and WTO. Given the inherent bias of these three institutions, it
is essential that they are
progressively decommissioned. Their mandates must be transferred
back to the United Nations agencies which have all the necessary experience
to regulate and support international trade, finance and development.
Through global cooperation
and sharing resources for development purposes, the World Bank would
be rendered largely redundant and any remaining development funding
requirements could be administered through the United Nations Economic
and Social Council (ECOSOC).
Under a system of sharing,
a significant proportion of commercial goods would be cooperatively
owned and distributed by the global public under the auspices of the
United Nations. This would dramatically reduce dependence upon foreign
exchange reserves in developing countries. All remaining trade could
be regulated through the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD),
allowing the WTO to be progressively dismantled. The remaining trading
system should utilise an inherently balanced mechanism such as an International
Clearing Union, as initially proposed by John Maynard Keynes.
All multilateral debt must
also be completely forgiven. Balanced trading between nations and the
removal of debt burdens would mean less chance of countries experiencing
major balance of payment deficits. The IMF too could then be progressively
dismantled. When there is a need for short term emergency foreign exchange
loans, a new UN based Finance Organisation could lend money and provide
the necessary expertise in a pro-development manner and without corporate
influence.
The neo-liberal, US-based
global economic system must come to an end and the economic power and
political influence of corporations must be curbed. Corporations must
be made subservient to social needs and human rights.
The UN must also push forward
international legislation to put a stop to currency speculation. And
there must be an end to the profligate waste of money and resources
on the production of arms. International legislation, as agreed by the
UN, regarding arms limitation, must be respected.
Sharing the World’s
Land
Land is the world’s
most important resource; it is the provider and sustainer of life. Each
and every one of us has an equal birth-right to the earth. In his essay
“The Problem of the Modern World” John Mohawk states, “When
land became a ‘commodity’ and lost its status, Western civilization
began its history of subjugation and exploitation of the earth and earth
based cultures.”
All over the world land ownership
has gradually been eroded away, leaving the world majority landless.
The United Nations, who recently carried out a survey of land ownership
in 83 countries, found that three quarters of the land was owned by
less than 5% of the population. For example, in Brazil 183,397 square
miles belongs to 342 land owners, while the white minority in South
Africa still own 86% of the land, and in El Salvador 2% of the population
own 60% of the land.
At the present time the distribution
of land worldwide has deteriorated to the worst level ever as a result
of land and property speculation, resulting in a modernised feudal system,
where a tiny minority control most of the world’s land and the
majority pay exorbitant rents or interest on mortgages.
Sharing Water
The World Health Organisation
stated in 2002 that: “The Human right to water entitles everyone
to sufficient, safe, acceptable, physically accessible and affordable
water for personal and domestic uses.”
According to the World Health
Organization, 1.1 billion people have no access to clean drinking water,
while 2.4 billion lack proper sanitary provision. Water privatization
exacerbates the situation since people living in the poorest parts of
the world cannot afford to pay for water.
Yet in recent years the concept
of the right to water has been eroded by water privatization. In 1997
the World Water Council held its first World Water Forum in Morocco.
CEOs from some of the world’s largest water corporations, together
with representatives from the World Bank and the United Nations met
together to discuss the deregulation and privatization of water. In
2000 the World Water Council held their second World Water Forum in
Holland to consider how they could accelerate this process.
With the backing of the World
Bank and their structural adjustment programs, the water corporations
were able to overcome all objections to the removal of the universal
right to water, reclassifying it as an economic good, rather than a
human right.
Access to Medicine
and Basic Healthcare
Every member of the world
should be provided with free health care. In the past in the third world,
public health and sanitation measures have, to a limited extent, kept
certain diseases under control. But third world debt payments and structural
adjustments, imposed by the World Bank, have caused a breakdown of these
already meagre public health measures.
600 million people, most
of them children living in sub-Saharan Africa, face the daily threat
of death from malaria. Economic upheaval, armed conflict, structural
adjustment programs and third world debt have caused the breakdown of
anti-malarial control programs and the collapse of local primary health
services in the third world.
An estimated 38.6 million
people are infected with HIV, compared to a phenomenal 350-500 million
who suffer from malaria each year. Yet funding for the treatment of
HIV worldwide at $8.3 billion dwarfs the $600 million funding for malaria
control.
1.8 million people, 90% of
whom are under five, die every year from diarrhoeal diseases, mostly
in the third world. These children could be saved by the provision of
health education for their parents together with affordable clean drinking
water and adequate sanitation facilities.
We the People…
There has been much talk
in recent years about the need for a ‘global shift’ in consciousnesses.
This shift has, in fact, already occurred. But it is the entrenched
global economic system which prevents humanity from moving forward in
line with this shift. Our minds are heavily conditioned, and it is only
through our complacency that politicians have been allowed to construct
an economy which is based on competition and ruthless self interest.
We must acknowledge our role
in creating the conditions of injustice that condemn so many to absolute
poverty. Most importantly, we must participate in the creation of a
just world, which benefits the majority. The United Nations has the
potential to assist greatly in establishing a true global democracy
which can allow the individual to evolve socially, economically and
above all spiritually. We must give the UN our full support.
In order for global participation
to become a reality, it is essential that people understand more about
the UN. The aims and activities of the UN and its agencies should be
taught in schools around the world in an effort to raise awareness of
its vital role for humanity. Society at large, must recognize the important
historical role the UN has played with respect to governance, and consider
how the UN can be renewed for the future benefit of the global public.
Central to the work of the
United Nations is the conviction that lasting international peace and
security are only possible if the economic and social well-being of
people everywhere is assured. The only way this can be secured is through
a new economic system, based on the principle of sharing.
An effective UN, acting in
the interests of the majority, can ensure that resources which are essential
for meeting basic human needs are universally provided. This provision
must be free from the self interest of national governments, and political
thinking must be free from divisive ‘isms’- such as communism,
socialism and capitalism.
The measures set out above
can progressively eliminate poverty and rapidly accelerate international
development efforts far beyond their current potential. At the present
rate of overseas development assistance, the Millennium Development
Goals will not be reached by 2015, but by 2050. And even if the goals
were met in time, there would still be 900 million people living on
less than US$1 a day in 2015. Sending financial aid is not enough. A
system of sharing essential resources should replace
all existing aid and development efforts, as they are simply
too slow and ineffective.
A reformed UN system can
provide the necessary framework for a new global economy based on cooperation
and not competition. In order to initiate economic reform, a new agency
should be created, such as a UN Council for Resource Sharing (UNCRS).
The first activity the UNCRS should undertake is to initiate an UN emergency
redistribution program
(UNERP) to re-distribute food and other essential resources
to those living in extreme poverty.
Sharing the world’s
resources is the most efficient way to eliminate poverty and create
social and economic justice. It has the potential for uniting nations
through cooperative action and establishing peaceful international relations.
Mohammed Mesbahi
is the Chair and Founder of Share The World's Resources (www.stwr.net)
and Dr Angela Paine is STWR's chief researcher.
© Copyright 2006 Share
The World's Resources (www.stwr.net)
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