The Financial Crisis

at the United Nations

NEW!! Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations on
How the USA is Crippling the United Nations Financially

Call for a Second Worldwide Vigil
for the United Nations

Protesting the Financial Crisis -
Demanding a Stronger and More Effective UN

We call for a second worldwide citizen's vigil for the United Nations, to be held on 23 October 1997 the eve of United Nations Day. The vigil will express our deep concern about the UN's serious financial crisis and it will show our support for a stronger and more effective UN. It will protest the delinquency of the debtor states and urge governments to increase their commitment to the UN and to pay their UN dues in full, on time and without condition.

Last year, the first worldwide vigil was held in thirty-two cities around the globe including Tokyo, Penang, Bombay, Rome, Santo Domingo, Ottawa, New York and San Francisco. Thousands of citizens participated in candlelight gatherings, marches, informational leafleting, meetings, lobbying and other creative activities, organized locally by many dozens of cooperating groups.

That vigil was a great success. But today, the threat to the future of the UN continues. We must again express our support and concern, powerfully and visibly. So we now call for a Second Vigil. This year, let a hundred cities join in this great citizen endeavor!

We will not accept that the United Nations is owed over two billion dollars in dues assessments by member states. Or that its small budget has been reduced and its staff deeply cut. Or that many related funds and programs in the UN system have been cut, too. Or that the global conferences that have been the UN's most democratic forums have been eliminated.

Especially we do not accept that the world's richest government, the United States of America, owes two-thirds of the delinquent sums and has pushed the UN to the verge of bankruptcy. Or that the Congress has linked payments of current and past dues to dozens of crippling and illegal "conditions." All governments may advocate changes in the UN, but this must be done in accordance with international law and agreed-upon procedures. Governments must honor their commitments to the UN and meet their financial obligations without condition, in full and on time.

The vigil will express our determined opposition to government sabotage of the UN and to the failure to provide the organization with the mandate and resources it needs to address the urgent problems facing humanity. The vigil will raise awareness of the UN in local communities throughout the globe. It will give us the opportunity to demand a stronger and more effective UN, more open to citizens concerns and more closely attuned to the needs of the world's people.

The vigil will make a forceful statement, that the media, politicians and the public cannot ignore.

Therefore, we call for local committees to come together and organize local vigils at dusk on October 23rd. Many participants will want to carry candles or small lights and many will wear UN-blue ribbons. Music may be appropriate to set the tone of the event. Vigils can assume many forms and take place in many locations.

We urge citizens groups and persons of good will across the globe to join us. If we work together, we can succeed beyond our dreams.

William Pace, Executive Director, World Federalist Movement

James Paul, Executive Director, Global Policy Forum

Horace Perera, Acting Secretary General, World Federation of United Nations Associations

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GLOBAL POLICY FORUM
monitoring global policy making at the United Nations

PO Box 20022
New York, N.Y. 10025
Phone: +1 (212) 501-7435
Fax: +1 (212) 595-8134
Web Site: www.globalpolicy.org

As Mr. Koch, the Mayor of New York City used to say...

"How am I doing?"

The United Nations with a normal budget of around 3 Billion dollars is now near minus -2 Billion dollars and going down...with the compounding of debit! The U.S.A. and a few other countries refuse to pay what they are legally obligated to pay year after year. By withholding funds they are forcing the restructuring and downsizing of an already small budget organization...in comparison to the contribution to world stability and safety-security, and size of other organizations...such as the World Bank, IMF and the Transnational Corporations TNCs, to name a few. This is forcing the UN to go with its hand out to the TNCs and other private businesses. The extent of corporations involvement with Governments is a major topic of discussion among NGOs at the UN already. See the Globalization: Government, People and Corporations: Accountability and Responsibility section of this website. The opening of the United Nations to the Private Sector without accountability and responsibility to "peoples issues" and the "social net"...which they have been willing to downsize, restructure and eliminate completely in some instances...is an area of concern. 10 of millions of jobs "dumped" in America, yet 120 million jobs created in China.

What is interesting is that money that is being paid to the UN is usually less than owed and earmarked for specific areas of the UN System and excludes others. Who gets the money and who gets excluded is interesting to the people.

"The financial crisis of the United Nations is a well known fact, less known perhaps is that many of the United Nations' hard-core economic functions, for example those that deal with global macroeconomic policies, international trade, finance, transnational corporations, the monetary system and technology are steadily being eroded, the major countries preferring to deal with them through the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, WTO and OECD. These economic issues are integral to the implementation of sustainable development policies, and critical for developing countries. Instead, economic issues have been replaced by, amongst others, the environment, social policies, drugs and law and order the so-called 'soft issues'. Meanwhile funds for development are increasingly being used for humanitarian activities, with little distinction being made between emergency relief and long-term development programmes.

At the same time, an increasing voice is being given to the voluntary donor-funded bodies such as the World Health Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Food Programme and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, as against the assessed funded organs - a distinction that is important yet not adequately understood or recognized by members. The coherence of implementing sustainable development goals is threatened by fragmentation of roles in various United Nations funds and programmes, especially in the present climate of shrinking funds and battle for turf. Ultimately, a strengthened United Nations that is able to tackle globalization and interdependence, requires the United Nations and United States relationship to be repaired. The follow-up of the Rio Conference and other global conferences will require establishing a political consensus for a reformed United Nations to raise its profile, involvement and resource-mobilizing capacity. The norm-setting role of the United Nations is no longer enough: we need to demonstrate that concrete results and outcomes are desirable and achievable. This is what the special session could achieve, given the political will."

H. E. Ambassador Razali Ismail is President of the United Nations General Assembly.

Stay tuned...We will expand on the details and facts of this concern and look forward to your inputs. We will also Link and "Bridge to the 21st Century" or at least Bridge to those NGOs and their websites who are doing something about this.

The philosophy of the NGOs at the United Nations is that all three groups of society; Government, People and the Private Sector have accountability and responsibility to the peoples of those they govern and those who work for and live in the communities-countries where the Private Sector conducts business. The UN NGOs have proven over the past 51 years at the United Nations to be a concerned, positive contributor and active citizen-partner with the 185 governments of the World represented at the UN.

Concerned, Caring Partnership is what UN NGOs is all about!

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