Page 123 - 100 Reflections that Crafted Geneva International_V-Petrovsky_private special edition

Bringing the Concept to Life

Nations. Each time he visits а Member State he raises this issue, underlining
the importance of that State's participation in United Nations activities, and
fulfillment of its obligations before the United Nations. Why? As the Secretary-
General says, during the Cold War the United Nations faced а crisis of
credibility, nowadays it is faced with а different crisis, the crisis of too much
credibility. But with a lack of political will, а huge backlog in outstanding
contributions amounting to а total of US$ 2.12 billion, it is difficult to fulfill the
expectations of the public opinion. So, one of the tasks of paramount importance
is to educate the public on the realities of the United Nations.

If these realities are not understood by the people, instead of becoming an
action-oriented effectively functioning organization that meets the increasingly
complex demands of а rapidly changing world, the United Nations will move
towards paralysis and ultimately, irrelevance. In the times of global change, the
United Nations, more than ever before, can play а positive role in world events,
channeling the changes into evolutionary, non-violent direction. It is only five
years since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the romantic over-expectations of the
"new world order." Since then, we have faced а multiplicity of conflicts all over
the world; we have seen peace-keeping operations exceed all previous
peace­keeping efforts; we have seen genocide, famine, economic collapse and
misery across the globe. Under these conditions the United Nations has at least
been able to provide а safety net, minimizing the damaging effect of the
changes.

4. As the second largest centre in the United Nations system after New
York - UNOG is becoming evermore important as а venue for conferences and
negotiations, peace-promotion, disarmament, economic and social development,
humanitarian relief and the protection of human rights. The 50th Anniversary
gives the opportunity to Geneva headquarters to increase its contribution to
the achieving of goals of peace, development and democratization.

Like the other major international capitals, Geneva will host next year а
number of major conferences. The ECOSOC meetings in July will be attended
by the Secretary-General of the UN. We expect that all these meetings will
mark the 50th Anniversary not only by words of support for the UN but by
practical deeds which will strengthen multilateralism as а major approach in
dealing with international issues.

I am pleased to inform you that not only Member States of the United Na-
tions, but international organizations and specialized agencies, local

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