Download Preface - World Federalist Movement

The United Nations and Canada:
What Canada has done
and should be doing at the UN
Preface
The United Nations and Canada:
What Canada has done and should be doing at the UN
John E. Trent
One of the UN’s early (and great) Secretaries‐General, Dag Hammarskjold, is reported to
have said, “The United Nations was not created to take man to heaven, but to save
humanity from hell.” Our objective in this booklet is somewhat more restrained. It is to
show how the UN can help to assure a sustainable future on this earth of ours – and how
Canada can help it to do this. We can learn from Hammarskjold’s characterization that
while we cannot expect wonders from the UN, we can recognize that during its watch the
world has avoided international wars and has become wealthier and more integrated. Our
authors recognize both the UN’s achievements and its failings. But, they also believe in
the absolute necessity of effective international organizations to help the world make
decisions regarding global problems.
A good way to get a bird’s eye view of the United Nations is to analyse its functions as an
organization, meaning the UN’s utility in international relations ‐‐ how it fulfils its specific
international purposes. Because the media mostly reports conflicts and Security Council
blockages, the United Nations’ many and varied functions on behalf of the world are
relatively little known. Here is a partial list:
*Maintaining international peace and security
*Providing humanitarian assistance
*Promoting human rights and social justice
*Stewardship over the ‘Global Commons’ (including the atmosphere, outer space, the
oceans, and the environment, everything outside national boundaries)
*International law, courts, conventions, norm development and treaty making
*Inter‐state social and technical functions
Despite the headlines focussing on stories on conflict, the real international story should
be about cooperation. The reality is that our world functions pretty well on a day‐ to‐day
basis because of the many United Nations specialized agencies focusing on everything
from mail, communications and airlines to health, agriculture, trade and education.
Take, for example, the International Civil Aviation Association operating out of Montreal,
which facilitates the free flow of thousands of international flights every day. These
services are universally enjoyed but rarely recognized.
Nor does the United Nations rest on its laurels. Its capacity to adapt itself to changing
conditions is based on its legitimacy as an all‐inclusive universal organization and its
founding principles of peaceful settlement of disputes supported by economic and social
development and respect for human rights. Without having a single policeman for its first
ten years, it went from pacifist peacekeeping in the 1950’s to the present comprehensive
peace‐making missions. Peace operations are enhanced by criminal justice machinery and
the promotion of human rights. The UN leads in the pacification and re‐building of war‐
torn countries, the fight against communicable diseases, the struggle against poverty, and
support for democracy. Such activities demonstrate the utility of international institutions
and, even more, the validity of attempts by Canada to maximise their usefulness through
energetic participation and reform.
And up until the arrival of the Harper government, Canada has indeed played a leading
role at the UN. Since its founding, Canada has been one of the great champions of the
United Nations. A Canadian, Prof. John Humphrey, was the principal architect of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. Canadian diplomacy has supported the
broadening of membership in the UN, decolonization, North‐South Dialogue, the Rio
Summit on Environment and Development, negotiations to halt ozone layer depletion and
acid rain, and efforts to end apartheid in South Africa. More recent Canadian initiatives
include campaigns to ban land mines and curtail the trade in blood diamonds, the
establishment of the International Criminal Court, and orchestrating awareness of the
plight of child soldiers.
But, Canada did not just go along with the wave. We have never thought the UN was a
perfect institution. Canadians have always tried to improve and reform the UN. Former
Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in introducing
peacekeeping to the UN. For years we worked to improve the openness of the Security
Council. More recently, Canada funded the Commission that created the idea of the
international community’s ‘Responsibility to Protect’ citizens. “R2P” is slowly
reconstituting notions of sovereignty so that the world can get on with modernizing
international relations. Canada has been an active and successful player at the UN
because of our understanding of diplomacy and of international politics.
This is no longer the case. Increasingly the government of Canada is undermining the UN
and global cooperation. Some recent examples: We have not signed the treaty to regulate
the arms trade; Canadian diplomats at the UN, at the direction of their political masters,
make lacklustre contributions to debates on the Responsibility to Protect; we have
withdrawn from the Kyoto Protocol on climate change and the Convention on
Desertification; Canada has so far refused to join a UN peacekeeping mission to help Mali –
a country we used to support; even worse, out of 97,600 police, troops and civilian
peacekeepers on UN assignments as of July 31, only 157 were Canadians; our draft
legislation to implement the Convention on Cluster Munitions would nullify its intent. In
addition, cuts to the Department of Foreign Affairs budgets have reduced our diplomatic
capacity. We have drastically reduced the number of refugees Canada accepts and our aid
program has been cut and folded in with the Department of Foreign Affairs. Where Canada
was strong, it is now weak; where we were once prudent we are now hostile to much of
what the UN does and represents.
The UN is far from perfect. It is currently failing the people of Syria. Its human rights
forums often include those who are mistreating their own populations. Money is
sometimes wasted. Often we are distressed it cannot take decisions about our global
challenges. But, warts and all, it is necessary. It succeeds far more often than most
people realize. As the one organization that can convene all the world’s nations, it is the
basis for building a better framework for governing our interdependent world.
So, if we in this pamphlet, or if Canadians in general, want a UN that can help deal with
the world’s problems and make decisions, then we are going to have to work very hard to
bring about change in international institutions. We will have to demonstrate that we are
knowledgeable team players. We must be respected in the world for our foreign policy
and not marginalized. We cannot afford to simply ignore the UN, or worse, to continually
denigrate it. Canada must once again become a leader in world politics and at the UN. For
Canada, having strong international organizations to promote peace and justice must be
one of the fundamental principles of Canadian foreign policy.
For Further Reading
Paul Heinbecker (2010). Getting Back in the Game, A Foreign Policy Playbook for Canada,
Toronto, Key Porter Books.
Jean E. Krasno (ed.) (2004). The United Nations: Confronting the Challenges of Global
Society, Boulder, Lynne Rienner Publishers.
Clyde Sanger (ed.) (1988). Canadian and the United Nations, Ottawa, Minister of Supply
and Services Canada.
John E. Trent (2007). Modernizing the United Nations System, Opladen, Germany, Barbara
Budrich Publishers.
Thomas G. Weiss & Sam Daws (eds.) (2007).The Oxford Handbook on the United Nations,
Oxford, Oxford University Press.
This volume has been compiled and published as a project of the World Federalist Movement – Canada
(www.worldfederalistscanada.org). The views and opinions expressed in each of the articles are the sole
responsibility of the authors. It is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Unported License. To
order additional printed copies, contact World Federalist Movement – Canada (613 232‐0647, or by email:
[email protected]).