“The United Nations today would be unrecognizable to the founders of 1945,” said U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Louise Frechette as she delivered the ninth annual Keith Davey Lecture at the Isabel Bader Theatre last night.
“The United Nations at 60: Too Old to Reform” responded to the popular view that the international organization does not have the structure to address current humanitarian crises.
Frechette is the highest-ranking Canadian in United Nations history. Dr. David Wright, a U of T faculty member and former Canadian Ambassador to NATO introduced Frechette as “one of the brightest stars in the constellation of public service.”
Frechette devoted a considerable amount of her lecture to the institution of peacekeeping, a central element of U.N. activity that, contrary to what most might think, was not part of the original charter.
“Peacekeeping was a later improvisation in which [former Canadian Prime Minister] Lester Pearson played a part,” explained Frechette. During the first 45 years of United Nations history, there were 15 peacekeeping missions to such conflict zones as the Suez Canal and the Belgian Congo. The presence of the United States and Russia on the Security Council prevented peacekeeping missions from resolving Cold War-related conflicts in Hungary, Vietnam and Afghanistan.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the number of peacekeeping missions has doubled, and the U.N. acted as a temporary government in East Timor and Kosovo.
“The peacekeepers have not created paradise anywhere, but those nations have a much better chance of a stable situation because of the U.N,” said Frechette.
The past 15 years have seen other reforms to the international body, demonstrating how it continues to evolve in response to a changing world. There are currently 70,000 U.N. troops engaged in missions around the world, more than any single nation except the United States.
“The U.N. has shown itself capable of innovation in criminal justice,” Frechette stated, describing how the mandate for the International Criminal Court changed the manner in which international law is practiced. The ICC attempts to hold human rights violators such as the perpetrators of genocide in Kosovo and Rwanda accountable to the international community.
The General Assembly is currently debating structural changes to U.N. that would strengthen its ability to address both natural and man-made humanitarian crises. While most nations are willing to formally condemn genocide and terrorism, other issues such as nuclear proliferation has inspired widespread controversy. Frechette acknowledges the work of U.N. reform will never be complete.
“Even if we successfully complete all the reforms on our current agenda there will still be more to do,” she said.
