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No. 56 | June 2011 | June 56 No development dialogue no. 56 | june 2011 Erskine Barton | june 2011 Childers 56 a democratic - For United Nations and the Rule Law no. of dialogue development no. 56 | june 2011 Erskine Barton Childers devoted his Erskine Childers’s thought-provoking career as an international civil servant and and pioneering ideas on reform of the his too short life thereafter to the tireless UN system were also published earlier on promotion of ideals and visions that in the very same Development Dialogue both acknowledged and were animated series. The current volume, presented 15 by the spirit of Dag Hammarskjöld. His years after the death of Childers as a kind writings testify to his convictions and of comprehensive homage , keeps alive not commitments, and thereby translate the only his thoughts in their relevance for legacy of the second Secretary-General today, but also the spirit of Hammarskjöld, of the United Nations into political whose untimely death occurred half a discourse and practice in our times. Like century ago this year. Hammarskjöld, he relentlessly promoted the ideal of and belief in the relevance of a truly united family of nations. So do all of those, who have provided their refl ections on the selected texts by Childers in this Erskine Barton Childers publication. Their statements are striking - For a democratic United Nations and the Rule of Law evidence of the continuing relevance of the positions taken by Childers, who was a friend to all of them. development dialogue development dialogue development dialogue is addressed to individuals is intended to provide is published by the and organisations in both a free forum for critical Dag Hammarskjöld the South and the North, discussion of international Foundation. Copies may including policy makers, development priorities for be downloaded or international institutions, the 21st century. obtained from the members of civil society, Dag Hammarskjöld Centre, the media and the research Övre Slottsgatan 2, community. se-753 10 Uppsala, Sweden, fax: +46-18-12 20 72, email: [email protected] website: www.dhf.uu.se Series editor Subscribers are kindly requested to Henning Melber inform the Dag Hammarskjöld Centre of any changes of address or Editors of this issue subscription cancellations. Marjolijn Snippe, Vijay Mehta and Henning Melber Editorial offi ce The Dag Hammarskjöld Centre Coordination and text editing Övre Slottsgatan 2 Peter Colenbrander SE-753 10 Uppsala, Sweden Phone: +46-(0)18-410 10 00 Production, design and layout Fax: +46-(0)18-12 20 72 Mattias Lasson E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.dhf.uu.se Printers X-O Graf Tryckeri The opinions expressed in the journal Uppsala, Sweden, are those of the authors and do not June 2011 necessarily refl ect the views of the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation. ISSN 0345-2328 ISBN 978-91-85214-62-4 Development Dialogue is a forum provided by the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation since 1972 for critical discussions of international development priorities and challenges. Its main focus is on North-South relations and alternative perspectives to dominant paradigms. Development Dialogue is published in consecutive numbers on average once or twice a year. development dialogue, no. 56 june 2011 Erskine Barton Childers - For a democratic United Nations and the Rule of Law Edited by Marjolijn Snippe, Vijay Mehta and Henning Melber Preface ............................................................................... 5 Henning Melber Introduction ......................................................................11 Vijay Mehta In a time beyond warnings – Strengthening the United Nations System ................................................15 Erskine Childers Erskine Childers – A life dedicated to building a working world community .................................. 35 Sven Hamrell Texts by Erskine Childers and commentaries United Nations myths and realities ....................................41 Commentary by Phyllis Bennis ..............................................52 Interventions – The roles of the United Nations, the Organisation of African Unity, governments, and the NGO community .......59 Commentary by Hanne Christensen .......................................72 An Agenda for Peace and an Agenda for Development ......79 Commentary by Muchkund Dubey ........................................87 The United Nations after the Gulf Crisis ...........................93 Commentary by Richard Falk .............................................107 The Gulf Crisis as a mirror .............................................. 115 Commentary by Denis J. Halliday .......................................127 Female participation in the United Nations .....................133 Commentary by Eva Haxton ...............................................143 The United Nations and global institutions .....................149 Commentary by Sir Richard Jolly ......................................... 157 The future of the United Nations - Europe’s responsibility ... 163 Commentary by Bruce Kent ................................................179 Who is the tailor of peace-keeping?................................. 185 Commentary by June Lambert .............................................194 The United Nations in the ‘New World Order’ ..............201 Commentary by Chandra Muzaff ar ...................................... 211 Seizing the day for United Nations reform ......................217 Commentary by William R. Pace ........................................229 The fi nancial arrangement of the United Nations ............243 Commentary by James A. Paul ............................................ 256 The United Nations in a world of confl ict .......................261 Commentary by Jan Pronk ..................................................269 Far too serious a matter to be left to governments ...........279 Commentary by Sir Brian Urquhart .....................................294 An Epilogue ...................................................................301 Marjolijn Snippe Notes on contributors ......................................................307 To the memory of Erskine Childers and for the future of his son David and his generation. Preface Henning Melber ‘…there will always be enough people to fi ght for a decent future’ (Dag Hammarskjöld) For Erskine Barton Childers, the United Nations’s second Secretary- General was a role model who inspired his own commitments. Childers clearly devoted his career as an international civil servant and his too short life thereafter to the tireless promotion of ideals and visions that both acknowledged and were animated by the spirit of Dag Hammarskjöld. His numerous writings, of which this volume contains only a selection, testify to his convictions and commitments, and thereby translate the legacy of ‘the boss’, as Hammarskjöld was referred to with fond respect by his staff , into political discourse and practice in our times. The Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation has long benefi ted from Erskine Childers’s inspiration. His thought-provoking and pioneering ideas on reform of the UN system were also published (with Sir Brian Urquhart as co-author) in the very same Development Dialogue series. They set unmatched standards in the reform debate and remain valid today.1 The current volume, published 15 years after the death of Childers as a kind of homage to the man, at the same time keeps alive the spirit of Hammarskjöld, whose untimely death occurred half a century ago this year. *** During his term in offi ce as Secretary-General, at a time when the ‘winds of change’ had just started to blow across Africa, Hammarskjöld had already clearly, and contrary to the prevailing Zeitgeist, dismissed any claims to superiority based on some kind of naturalist conception of dominance rooted in supposed biological advancement over others. He also questioned the legitimacy sought by dominant classes 1 See B. Urquhart and E. Childers (1990), ‘A World in Need of Leadership: Tomorrow’s United Nations’, Development Dialogue, Nos. 1-2; B. Urquhart and E. Childers (1996), A World in Need of Leadership: Tomorrow’s United Nations. A Fresh Appraisal, Uppsala: Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation (revised 2nd ed. of 1990 text); E. Childers and B. Urquhart (1991), ‘Towards a More Eff ective United Nations’, Development Dialogue, Nos. 1-2 (published in 1992); E. Childers and B. Urquhart (1994), ‘Renewing the United Nations System’, Development Dialogue, No. 1. 6 development dialogue june 2011 – erskine barton childers to justify their privileges. As he categorically stated in an address on ‘Asia, Africa, and the West’, delivered to the academic association of the University of Lund on 4 May 1959: The health and strength of a community depend on every citizen’s feeling of solidarity with the other citizens, and on his willingness, in the name of this solidarity, to shoulder his part of the burdens and responsibilities of the community. The same is of course true of humanity as a whole. And just [as] it cannot be argued that within a community an economic upper class holds its favored position by virtue of greater ability, as a quality which is, as it were, vested in the group by nature, so it is, of course, impossible to maintain this in regard to nations in their mutual relationships. He therefore concluded: We thus live in a world where, no more internationally than na- tionally, any distinct group can claim superiority in mental gifts and potentialities of development […] Those democratic ideals which demand equal opportunities for all
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