Derry Seddon: Changing UN not way ahead

The United States' startling and aggressively retrograde proposals for the future of the United Nations were reported in the Review section of the Weekend Herald; surprisingly, not on the front page of the main section where they belong. They belong there because they have the potential to greatly harm a huge number of people.

The American proposals include, as expected, fighting terrorism and spreading democracy, but then they go on to dismiss many previously agreed vital goals and agendas.

These have been agreed to by all nations at the UN. The US is proposing to brush aside the millennium development goals set by all members at the summit of 2000; request the deletion of the target of 0.7 per cent of GDP for official development assistance; strike out any mention of the International Criminal Court; remove all references to the Kyoto Treaty; and, almost as an encore, not allow any progress on the suggestion the nuclear powers should dismantle their nuclear weapons.

The report by David Usborne from the Independent appears to credit John Bolton, the recently appointed US ambassador, for this flurry of destructive activity (see link to article below).

Make no mistake, it is the executive branch of the US Government that wants this to happen. Just how much the US Congress is behind it is hard to gauge - it is currently in recess.

New Zealand has been a strong supporter of the UN and its aims. How do we feel about these proposals? With an election campaign in full swing, do we care? The current scandals make it difficult to defend, don't they? To make it worse, the meeting of the heads of state at the UN to discuss this is on the weekend of our election. Should we send all the leaders of the parties to attend?

Putting the millennium development goals alongside the proposals contained in the November 2001 World Health Organisation report on macroeconomics and health, a very strong case can be made that it is vital for all New Zealanders and other citizens of the world to convince the US that its proposals are flawed - to put it politely.

They will remove our potential ability to reduce the huge global burden of poverty, reduce and remove the risks of disease epidemics, slow down and reverse population growth, preserve arable land and protect water sources and last, but not least, produce a new and potentially large new portion of the world's economy for everyone's benefit.

All of this can be shown to be possible as a result of the policies put forward at the UN. The proposals have been tested, thoroughly researched, and costed. What we need now is the will to increase the efforts already started and push ahead with vigour.

We also need to alert our Government to this threat to human progress and to ask that the US proposals be vigorously attacked. We should argue that we, as a country, want the UN to continue, become stronger and more effective, and will commit more of our GDP - currently well short of our agreed 0.7 per cent - to being part of these development programmes.

* Derry Seddon is a retired GP and health services researcher who lives in Tauranga.