変容する国際社会と国連

変容する国際社会と国連

抄録

The United Nations is undergoing structural changes in the post Cold War world under the leadership of the new Secretary-General, Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali. There are also some concrete proposals for the reform of the United Nations. In the debate concerning the reform and institutional changes of the world body, one should not forget two important points.
One is the fact that the reform of the United Nations has always been on the agenda since its creation in 1945. In fact, the drafters of the Charter themselves knew of the need for structural changes as conditions surrounding the organization drastically change. The provision of Article 109 of the UN Charter regarding the General Conference for the review of the present Charter is a good evidence of this fact. During the Cold War period when the UN was practically paralyzed due to conflict between US and USSR, who had veto power in the Security Council, numerous proposals were presented formally and informally to make the world organization work effectively to meet the need of the day.
Many such proposals did not materialize because they required amendment of the Charter which could only be achieved with the support of five big powers. However, under these difficult conditions, some reforms were possible. For instance, in 1950, the General Assembly adopted the Uniting for Peace resolution under which the General Assembly was empowered to take action on the matter of peace and security if the Security Council was not able to act due to the use of veto by its permanent members. In the 1960's, the size of the Security Council was enlarged from 11 members to 15 in response to the increase in the membership of the UN itself. Likewise, the number of members of the Economic and Social Council was increased from 18 to 27, and later to 54.
The reform of the UN has been discussed throughout its history and some minor changes in fact have been introduced. When we discuss the structural reforms in the turbulent post Cold War era, we should keep in mind the historical experience of the UN reform.
Second point to be mentioned is the fact that the relationship between changes in the world and changes in the UN is mutual. It is true that the UN had to adapt to the changes taking place in the world. But there is the other side of a coin that the world also changes as a result of UN activities. The dissolution of colonies and the creation of many newly independent States in the 60's were the result of the UN actvities in monitoring the political, econimic and social development of the peoples living in the former colonies under the Trusteeship system or under Chapter XI of the Charter (“Declaration regarding Non-Self-Governing Territories”). To give another example, many international law principles, such as the right, to self-determination, permanent sovereignty over natural resources, and common heritage of mankind (with regard to resources in the deep seabed area), were created through the resolutions of the UN General Assembly.
As illustrated above, the relationship between the world changes and the UN structural changes is not a one-way relationship. They affect each other in a complex way and we have to analyze the relationship with more care.