Page 171 - 100 Reflections that Crafted Geneva International_V-Petrovsky_private special edition

Bringing the Concept to Life

des Nations has been the site for recent efforts to end hostilities in the former
Yugoslavia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, East Timor, Georgia, Liberia, and Yemen.

The 50th Anniversary is an important milestone and provides us with an
opportunity to reflect on the past, take stock of the present, and prepare for the
future. Concerning the past, it is important to understand the prevailing
political and security environment of the last 50 years. The UN was conceived
in the midst of our planet's most devastating war and our century's second
global conflict. It was weaned and “took its first steps” during the emergence of
the nuclear and outer space age. It had a difficult adolescence as its number of
‘parents” - UN Member States - increased dramatically during its teenage years.
Suffice it to say, the Organizaton has had its share of growing pains.

Much has been said of the effects that the Cold War had on the Organization.
While the Cold War prevented the UN from being utilized to its fullest
potential as a centre of agreed actions, the United Nations nevertheless
achieved important successes and provided an important forum for debate and
discussion during a time of global confrontation. During this period the first
United Nations peace-keeping operations were conceived and deployed, the
UN undertook numerous and diverse development programmes, and the
process of decolonization began in which the UN was instrumental. The
United Nations also provided and serviced the sites and structures at which
vital arms regulation and disarmament agreements such as the Treaty on the
Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons were concluded.

Concerning the present, the end of the Cold War has brought in its wake a
renewed vigour to the United Nations and has enabled Member States to
undertake numerous activities in the promotion of peace, development and
democracy that previously had been dismissed as “wishful thinking”. The
conditions that both permit and cause the UN activities to be undertaken in
the first place are no less significant than the UN activities themselves. The
cessation of the Cold War is only the tip of the iceberg: for a civilizational
change is discernable. This change is comprehensive and encompasses both
inter-State and inter-human relations.

The UN does not intend to support the status quo. Rather, its task is to channel
the change in a non-violent, evolutions, and democratic manner and minimize
the deleterious effects that civilizational changes often create. With these aims
in mind, the Secretary-General. at the behest and with the support of the 185
Member States, has issued three reports that map out a coherent strategy. The

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