Remodeling the UN
December 21, 2006| By Nathaniel Ward
The United Nations has in many ways failed in its mission to reaffirm “fundamental human rights,” Heritage President Ed Feulner writes in The Chicago Sun-Times. “In recent years, the United Nations has often gone out of its way to avoid getting involved in the world's trouble spots. It ignored genocide in Darfur. Pulled out of Iraq in 2003. Done nothing to stem Iran's nuclear ambitions.”
He poses an important question: “Can an organization this compromised do much to improve things?”
Yes, he answers, but only if we recognize the fundamental limitations of the United Nations. He proposes a series of reforms the international community can undertake to improve the decrepit body:
- Establish a coalition “outside the formal UN structure” to serve the interests of the free world and not those of despots and terrorists.
- Create an alliance of countries devoted to free enterprise, rule of law and low regulation. “This would strengthen the world’s economy, promote peace and security, and act as an example of the power of free societies working and trading together.”
- “Demand a solid return” on investments in the UN. The top ten contributors to the United Nations—who pay 80 percent of its budget—should leverage their financial weight to push for the reforms the bureaucracy has resisted.
The new secretary-general, South Korea’s Ban Ki-Moon, would be wise to heed Feulner’s advice. Without change, the United Nations will lapse further into irrelevancy.
Nathaniel Ward is the Editor of MyHeritage.org—a website for members and supporters of The Heritage Foundation.
