70. Strong UN. Better World

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The UN: between success and disappointment

UN Secretary-General

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The United Nations at 70 can look back on a proud record of working with many partners to dismantle colonialism, triumph over apartheid, keep the peace in troubled places and articulate a body of treaties and law to safeguard human rights. Every day, the United Nations makes a positive difference for millions of people: vaccinating children; sheltering refugees; deploying peacekeepers; protecting the environment; supporting democratic elections and the rule of law. Every day, we defend human rights for all, regardless of race, religion, nationality, gender or sexual orientation.

The 70th anniversary falls in a year of momentous decisions on our common future. Building on the remarkable gains since the Millennium Development Goals were adopted in the year 2000, the Organization’s Member States have shaped an inspiring new endeavour: “Transforming our World: the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda”, with a set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals at the core. In December, the international community has committed to reach a bold climate change agreement to address this dire threat and help place the world on safer footing.

These are once-in-a-generation opportunities: we are the first generation that can erase poverty from the earth – and the last that can act to avoid the worst impacts of a warming world.

The United Nations is the hope and home of all humankind. The charter’s vision of a world of peace, and the values enshrined in the text – dignity, equal rights, tolerance and freedom – remain touchstones for people everywhere. With our fates ever more entwined, our future must be one of ever deeper cooperation. That is our duty today to “we the peoples”, in whose name the charter was drafted, and it is our responsibility to the “succeeding generations” who will follow and count on our wisdom and hard work. 

Grzegorz Schetyna

Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Republic of Poland

© East News

The 70th anniversary of the UN is a very important moment in the history of diplomacy. The organisation was founded as a response to the scourge of World War II with the purpose of protecting future generations from war and restoring faith in fundamental human rights. Over the years, the UN has witnessed landmark events, the birth of new nations, as well as crises. It has also played a unique role in promoting the development of international law.

This year’s anniversary provides a timely opportunity to consider Poland’s role in the UN and to take stock of the contribution made by our country, a founding member, to the work of this organisation. Poland has made a mark in its cooperation with the UN by involvement in activities ranging from support for peacekeeping operations and championing children’s rights to helping develop international criminal law.

Today, as Poland once again seeks a non-permanent seat on the Security Council, we thought it appropriate to present Poland’s role in the UN in a distinct manner. Together with POLITYKA magazine we have prepared a supplement which we hope will arouse your interest in the UN, broaden your knowledge about it, and encourage your active support for the organization.

On the occasion of its anniversary, I wish the UN every success for the future – in particular in carrying out its noble mission. I encourage you all to join the ranks of the friends of the UN around the world. 

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The 70th anniversary of the United Nations deserves a moment of reflection. How do we explain, for example, that today in Poland scepticism and disillusionment prevail over faith and hope in the perception of the role played by the UN ?

Adam Daniel Rotfeld

On

the face of it the answer is simple: scepticism and disillusionment are usually a function of expectations. The higher the expectations, the deeper the disillusionment. In the view of many of its critics, the UN is a “world government” that governs badly and fails to live up to expectations. Let us be clear about this: such an opinion of the organisation and the resentment felt towards it are misplaced.

From the start, the UN was never meant to assume the role of a world government. It was to replace the League of Nations, that existed during the interwar period, but not to repeat its mistakes. It was also designed to give global powers a bigger say in the decision-making process. The US, the Soviet Union (Russia), China, the United Kingdom and France became permanent members of the Security Council with veto power. The UN was established at a special moment in history, when the countries forming the anti-Hitler coalition were a step away from victory. This moment was reflected both in the name of the organisation and in specific provisions of its founding Charter.

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My first contact with the UN dates back to my university years. These were the years of the “thaw” – after October 1956, when John Roper from the United Kingdom, who later became a member of the House of Lords, attended one of our student seminars. John was the head of the British Student Association of the Friends of the UN at the time. He encouraged us to set up a similar organisation in Poland. Riding the wave of change in Poland, this had become possible.

I was one of the founding members of the Student Association of the Friends of the UN in Poland (SSP ONZ), and several years later I became the president of the organisation. SSP ONZ’s secretary-general was Janusz Kaczurba, later Poland’s representative at the organisations of the UN system in Geneva. We organised summer seminars and model meetings of the Security Council and the International Court of Justice.

Our association was a school of independent thinking for many who later became academics, diplomats and politicians. Marek Belka and Jacek Sariusz-Wolski were both members of the Łódź branch of SSP ONZ. In the next generation, Jarosław Pietras, who today is the Director-General in the Secretariat of the Council of the European Union, became the head of the Warsaw branch of SSP ONZ. Other members included Wojciech Sadurski, later a law professor in Sydney; Maria Frankowska, professor of international law in St. Louis; Jan Zielonka, currently a professor at Oxford University.

At the time, half a century ago, I could not imagine that I would one day have the honour of representing Poland on the UN podium. Nor did I ever expect that I would be invited by the Secretary-General of the UN to sit on his Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters for more than two terms - and to be its chairman.

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Many years have passed since then. Questions and doubts abound about whether the UN was not becoming outdated and tied down in bureaucratic knots. Why has the Preamble to the UN Charter: “We, the peoples of the United Nations are determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war (...)” - remained a dead letter? Why have the “immediately available” national contingents for international enforcement action - provided for in the Charter - never been called upon?

At the same time, many missions have been carried out under the aegis of the UN, some of them including Polish soldiers - along with peacekeeping operations (“the blue helmets”), even though such an activity is not mentioned even once in the Charter. This was made possible as a result of courageous thinking as well as through the actions of individuals

who were motivated by the spirit and objectives underpinning the United Nations.

One person who successfully defended the honour of the United Nations was Dag Hammarskjöld, the UN’s Secretary-General in 1953-61. It is thanks to him and his associates that the UN played a fundamental role in the decolonisation process and in the promotion of human rights and freedoms on a global scale.

Ever since then, in difficult moments, each of Hammarskjöld’s successors could ask himself a simple question: what would Dag Hammarskjöld have done in such a situation? Hammarskjöld set leadership standards for the heads of international security institutions.

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Some people believe that one of the reasons behind UN’s weakness is the anachronistic composition of the Security Council. Making the rounds for many years has been the proposal to add new

United Nations for the 21st Century”. It was presented by Minister Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz in 2002. We assumed that a treaty such as the UN Charter may, similar to the Old Testament that contains the Ten Commandments, be supplemented with a new act of a political nature, akin to a UN New Testament, and as such would be much simpler to agree on. We were encouraged by the adoption by the UN General Assembly of the report “Responsibility to Protect” by Gareth Evans and Mohamed Sahnoun. Proposals from that report are seen today as applicable law.

Sooner or later a document will be drafted that will identify solutions to the three fundamental challenges lying ahead for the United Nations in the 21st century. These challenges are: ensuring security, sustainable development and human rights. These are challenges for the emerging world, which is increasingly interdependent, while also internally contradictory. The order of this world is increasingly

© Author's private archive

Ban Ki-moon

powers to the Council’s permanent members: Germany, Japan, India, Brazil or the Republic of South Africa. In practice, thinking along these lines has met strong resistance. I recall a conversation with an Italian in a New York hotel. My interlocutor asked: “If Germany, why not Italy?” Diplomats from Africa asked: “If South Africa, why not Egypt?” and those from Latin America: “If Brazil, then why not Mexico or Argentina?”

Poland’s attempt to resolve this dilemma came in the form of the “New Political Act of the

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contested and undermined. But despite all of its frailties and weaknesses, there is no credible alternative to the UN. This is because it is we who are the United Nations. The UN was not created by aliens, but rather by 193 nations from all over the world. And if you criticise the UN and reduce its prestige then, paraphrasing Gogol, we can say: Who are you criticising? You are criticising yourselves...  Author – Warsaw University professor, former minister of foreign affairs

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Begging for the right cause

forces, it is the members, specifically the big powers, and not the organisation itself, that are to blame. Besides, even if it did, the Security Council would have to agree to their deployment.

As a rule, UN members do not have equal rights. The General Assembly, a body that represents all countries, does not have even a portion of the power vested in the Security Council and in that body only the permanent members really count.

Well, inequality is a common feature of social and natural life. If everybody had equal rights then it would probably be difficult to make any decision. But the powers alone are not able to take a binding decision, even if they are unanimous.

Marek Ostrowski talks to Roman Kuźniar, head of the Strategic Studies Department at Warsaw University

The UN Charter gives the UN a universal character; it does not exclude undemocratic countries, even revolting dictatorships whose presence is unwelcome in any forum. What is the use of such universality?

Democracy, contrary to what we think in Europe, is not the only way to legitimise power.

The UN intervention forces which are dispatched after a decision by the big powers are often too weak compared to the requirements, without enough funds for equipment and weapons, which are not provided in sufficient amounts by member states.

This argument against the UN is really misplaced.

Members, especially the big five, are reluctant to transfer to the UN some part of their armed forces to be used by the UN on a permanent basis. Western nations have invested in their own operational capabilities which is mainly true about NATO countries. Under President Bush, the Americans

The regular budget of the world’s main international organisation is not bigger than the budget of a large university in the US, or the fire department in Tokyo.

© Marek Szczepański/Forum

Marek Ostrowski: So much is said today about a widespread ‘democratic deficit’ affecting both international organisations and European Union bodies. The UN is called the organisation of nations, but actually it is an organisation of governments, not of peoples.

This is a semantic misunderstanding. In English, a nation is also a state. It is more important that peoples, nations are organised and are represented accordingly, through a state structure, in particular a government. The UN is an association of nations, an intergovernmental organisation. Otherwise it would not be able to function. Only governments are empowered to make binding commitments and only they have the instruments to fulfil these commitments.

And the peoples, which, after all, are internally diverse and divided, have to have one external representative. Individual social groups also have their own representation in the form of nongovernmental agencies and they are present at the UN, taking part in the work carried out by its bodies. Besides, they can exert pressure on their own governments regarding specific matters decided at the UN and this is what they have been doing. Hence the argument that the UN suffers from a democratic deficit is off the mark.

perhaps it saved us from a bigger war. And all the attempts to change this mechanism made so far have been blocked by the big powers.

Often it is tradition rooted in culture or religion.

In many countries, free elections – which we consider the core of democracy – could lead to a catastrophe, due to a different cultural context. In any case, democratic countries also commit big mistakes. After all, we do have embassies in undemocratic countries.

So why wouldn’t such countries have the right to be present in the UN? Since countries that cause problems are present in this forum, we can try solving such problems together, sometimes by imposing sanctions on them and influencing their behaviour. I admit that it is difficult and not very effective, you could even say immoral. But we don’t have another mechanism, so it’s better to stick with the one that exists.

If the principle of non-interference did not exist, terrible chaos would ensue. Everybody would seize the right to interfere under any pretext in the affairs of others; most often the powerful in the affairs of the weaker ones. This is the reason why the US did not join the League

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of Nations; it did not want to limit its “right” to interfere in Latin American countries according to the Monroe Doctrine.

The UN did not play a role in the most serious global crises.

This certainly is a matter for discussion. The fact alone that the UN exists and is a permanent forum for consultations also in crisis situations and that the Security Council can be called – as it often is – within 24 hours plays an important role in easing international tensions. The 1962 Cuban crisis is an excellent example of seeking a way out of such conflicts.

The principle of reciprocity is a sort of sanction, or better still, a guarantee that international law will be observed. And, as it turns out, the level of observance is significantly higher in the case of international law than in the case of domestic law. Let us not be swayed by such spectacular cases as the US aggression against Iraq or Russia’s against Ukraine. If the organisation does not have its own armed

Moreover, depending on its nature, a decision must have a majority of 9 or 11 votes (out of 15) which means that the support of non-permanent members is also needed. One should not equate the United Nations with the Security Council, with issues of security and peace. The organisation deals with thousands of other matters proving itself of great use there without the assistance of the Security Council. These decisions are taken in the UN’s other main organs and subsidiary bodies.

Were the founders of the UN, which came about after a terrible war, too naïve, basing the hope of the effectiveness of the organisation on the unanimity of five powers, which are usually at odds?

In the understanding of the UN founders, the principle of unanimity was supposed to prevent one power from being outvoted by the others which could lead to conflicts between them. We know that it is a significant limitation with respect to the goals of the UN, but

said that UN should be replaced with an organisation of “free states” that would have the ability to intervene when they so choose; that would be something! The problem right now lies elsewhere - in the ability to take decisions to send a UN military mission. After the intervention in Libya, which was an obvious abuse of the mandate by intervening states, the Security Council will not be quick to make a decision about establishing an operation based on Article 7 of the Charter, or when peace or security are threatened, that is an operation involving the use of force.

Earlier, there were controversial operations in Kosovo and against Iraq, when Washington claimed that Security Council resolutions gave it the right to intervene militarily, even though those resolutions did not authorise any such thing. Sometimes the UN is weak because of the mistake we make.

High ranking UN officials say their daily work resembles begging for funding, something that the UN is always short of.

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This is the reality of the job, resulting from a meagre budget, which outsiders often don’t see. The regular budget of the world’s main international organisation, made up of assessed contributions of member states, is not bigger than the budget of a large US university, or, as somebody once wrote, of the Tokyo fire department. What can it be used for? To pay for electricity and water, heating in winter, paper, translators, salaries of officials, repair, costs of a conference or two, the publication of reports.

But when it comes to operational activities or assistance, it is funded by voluntary contributions. The UN and its programmes are plastered with voluntary funds which are raised from various donors, state or private. Bill Gates realised once that he earned too much one year so he gave 1000 million dollars to the UN and this was equal to roughly half of its regular annual budget. Indeed, high ranking officials do beg for a good cause and not for themselves.

Most of the funds are raised from the EU and its member states, as well as countries such as Norway, Switzerland, Canada or Australia.

The UN, especially in the 1990s, was associated with scandals, mainly corruption, chaos and the mismanagement of its officials.

I would rather you refer to more current reports or audits. The UN is a sizeable bureaucratic body, but still quite small when it comes to the variety of matters it deals with compared to great corporations or offices in some member states. And excesses or pathologies can occur everywhere. Where there is man, there is sin, error, temptation. Everywhere, not just in the UN. It may be harder to deal with the most difficult cases, but not because it’s the UN, but rather because these officials come from member states, which immediately come to their defence as if they were protecting their own honour or interests.

Wealthier countries sometimes push through their candidates to positions by contributing funds allocated for operational activities. And if these people cause problems, they threaten to stop contributing. And should a problem arise with these people from the global south, their defence is based on claiming that the reason for the attack is the colour of his or her skin, not his or her incompetence. The problems of the UN come from its construction, which is the creation of its members. 

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Children and young people from the SSese Island in Uganda acting against social exclusion from the society. Hear Africa Foundation

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UNMIK Kosovo 16 (1) MINUSTAH Haiti 4 625

EUR.

UNFICYP Cyprus 922

AM.

Austria 187 Finland 338 France 906 Spain 616 The Netherlands 681 Ireland 371 Germany 175 Serbia 318 Slovakia 170 Sweden 279 Turkey 127 Ukraine 557 Great Britain 287 Italy 1111

UNTSO Middle East 148 UNAMA Afghanistan 18 (1) UNMOGIP India and Pakistan 46

UNIFIL Lebanon 10 463

ASIA

UNAMI Iraq 244

Argentina 374 Brazil 1295 Chile 369 Guatemala 223 Canada 112 Paraguay 121 Peru 229 El Salvador 194 Uruguay 146

UNDOF Golan Heights 795

Bangladesh 9395 China 3078 Fiji 626

UNAMID Darfur 17 792

Philippines 168 India 7860 Indonesia 2730 Japan 272 Yemen 1517 Jordan 1769

MONUSCO Democratic Republic of Congo 19 767 (2)

Cambodia 842 South Korea 620 Malaysia 878 Mongolia 945 Nepal 5332 Pakistan 7667 Sri Lanka 529

UNMISS South Sudan 12 526 (2)

Thailand 1000 Benin 1486 Burkina Faso 2832 Burundi 1275 Chad 1152 Dem. Rep. of Congo 963 Djibouti 159 Egypt 2050 Ethiopia 8292 Gabon 439 Gambia 309 Ghana 3070 Guinea 899 Cameroon 1376 Kenya 947 Congo 895 Malawi 911 Mali 109 Morocco 2317 Mauritania 149 Niger 2011 Nigeria 2936 Republic of South Africa 2173 Rwanda 5600 Senegal 3613 Tanzania 1322 Togo 1767 Tunisia 194 Côte d’Ivoire 163 Zambia 652

UNMIL Liberia 5 142 (5)

MINUSMA Mali 11 587

MINUSCA Central African Republic 10 576 MINURSO Western Sahara 210 (2) UNOCI Côte d’Ivoire 6 880 (2) UNISFA Abyei 4 529

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AFRICA

Humanitarian transport to Ukraine 2015.

...AND MISSIONS WHERE THEY SERVE

Number of people taking part in the mission (Number of Poles in parentheses)

EUROPE

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oming together in 2015 are three discussions, the aim of which is to find answers to the question about our joint responsibility for the shape of this world and to set directions

Number of people from given state

AMERICA

Foreign Affairs

WHERE THEY COME FROM*...

ASIA AND OCEANIA

of

PARTICIPATION IN UN PEACEKEEPING MISSIONS

AFRICA

Ministry

while global problems affect us directly. Public opinion polls conducted for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs clearly show that Poles feel coresponsible for global issues. As many as 71 per cent of Poles support the idea of Poland providing assistance to developing countries.

Moreover, the last 26 years of Poland’s history are seen as a great social and economic success in the international arena. Eleven years ago, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs established the Polish Aid programme, the aim of which is to support the growth of less developed countries. Our engagement is motivated by international solidarity, not only by our commitments as a European Union member state. A world moving towards equal development opportunities, good governance, care for the environment, and sustainable development is a safer, more stable and friendlier world for all of its inhabitants.

In addition to providing development aid, Poland is actively engaged in ensuring help, care and protection for the victims of armed conflict, natural disasters or other humanitarian crises triggered by natural and man-made factors. Since 2012, the Polish Aid programme has allocated 4.5 million euros for assistance to Syrian refugees that covered some 10,000 people. We are also taking steps to educate the residents of Poland and raise their awareness of global problems. The value of Poland’s official development aid (ODA) amounted to 1.425 billion zloty in 2014. Out of this sum, about 82 percent is allocated to multilateral assistance provided mainly through the European Union and the United Nations system. The remaining part of Polish ODA is donated as part of bilateral aid – through public finance sector institutions, diplomatic missions or non-governmental organisations.

Polish development aid is channelled mainly to recipients in the countries of Africa, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia. Bilateral aid, in turn, is offered in response to appeals from countries for humanitarian aid, regardless of the geographical priorities of Polish development cooperation.

In October, the Polish government adopted the 2016-2020 Multiannual Development Cooperation Programme. The document sets out the main geographic and thematic priorities for Polish aid for the next five years. For additional information about Polish development cooperation go to www.polskapomoc.gov.pl. 

*The graph excludes states that sent fewer than 100 people on missions, such as Poland (15).

the

© Jacek Uliszewski/KG PSP

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for development in the coming years. In August, Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa hosted a conference on financing for development. In September a UN summit took place on a new generation of development goals, the SDGs, that will set the directions for development cooperation for the next 15 years. In December Paris will host the 21st climate summit, the COP 21, during which countries should adopt concrete, legally binding commitments to counteract climate change.

What position will Poland take in this debate?

We are a member of the OECD, EU and NATO. We cannot and will not stand idly by

© Wojciech Niewiński

Polish development aid

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Finding a consensus on climate

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© ONZ Photo

United Nations Conference in San Francisco.

Delegates from 50 countries sign the UN Charter, which comes into force on 24 October, the day the UN is founded

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Tarawa, one of the islands of Kiribati, an island republic on the Pacific. It is heavily affected by climate change. Here, mangrove shoots are being planted for protection.

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First observation mission in Palestine.

The aim is to supervise the Arab-Israeli truce agreement. United Nations Truce Supervision Organization is created.

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The General Assembly adopts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Eleonor Roosevelt, champion of human rights.

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amount of greenhouse gases produced globally keeps growing instead of decreasing, mainly due to the dynamic growth of countries exempt from the reduction commitments.

Looking at the numbers, it seems that the critics are right. In fact, the stake is much higher than reaching an agreement that would be binding for all 196 parties. During the sub-

the negotiations turned into a fiasco. The escalating financial crisis made countries reevaluate their priorities. In view of the lack of a new agreement, in 2012 during the summit in Doha, Qatar, the Kyoto Protocol was extended until 2020.

Critics of the UN-led process claim that so far it has not yielded the) expected results – the

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09.1960

The UN Security Council adopts a resolution to send an army to South Korea, attacked by North Korea. UN forces begin a counteroffensive. Poles join a UN mission for the first time and supervise the truce between North and South Korea.

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UN General Assembly session, during which the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev bangs his shoe on the speaker’s podium.

Khrushchev demands the end of colonialism and in response the delegates from the US, Philippines and Canada accuse the USSR of imperial politics.

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ronmental, economic and social consequences.

The latest IPCC reports were released in 2014.

Yvo de Boer, former executive secretary of the UNFCCC, explains the uniqueness of the IPCC: “The scientists hired by the IPCC are divided into three working groups to produce comprehensive reports, their findings condensed into summaries for politicians. Government representatives debate these summaries and each time that they try to modify the content too much, the scholars resist it. This means that only the summaries for the politicians are being negotiated, not the scientific conclusions.

Some people may criticise the fact that politicians deal with science, but on the other hand they are developing a global consensus and do not have an excuse for the lack of political action anymore.” (POLITYKA 41/08).

In other words the panel provides a unique platform for translating current knowledge into political recommendations. As a result, negotiations have become much more rational and the pool of arguments has been reduced to those with scientific justification. Of course, there are participants who question the scientific findings and the credibility of the IPCC. Sceptics criticised the panel the day before the COP15 in Copenhagen. However, in view of the latest scientific findings no one questions the reports of the IPCC consultants anymore.

Is the UN a good forum for the coordination of activities to fight climate change?

Winston Churchill’s quote on democracy might serve as an answer. Multilateral negotiations and consensus have their shortcomings, but no one has come up with a better way of reaching a global agreement. This formula has worked perfectly in the case of ozone depletion. Now it is in the hands of politicians and societies to use it to tackle the climate crisis. 

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Congo intervention (today UN General Assembly adopts the InternaDemocratic Republic of the tional Declaration on the Elimination of All Congo). In June 1960, BelForms of Racial Discrimination. gium grants independence to the Congo. A civil war erupts, two provinces break away and UN Security Council the forces of Gen. Mobutu kill adopts Resolution 242, Prime Minister Lumumba. A which becomes the legal UN intervention prevented basis for activities leading the secession of the provinces to the establishment of and placed Mobutu Sese Seko peace in the Middle East. in power.

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© BE&W

ocial scientists argue that we live in a global risk society. Social development does not only generate prosperity, it also has negative effects.

People had come to realise this clearly in the 1980s, when scientists discovered that the ozone layer in the atmosphere was being depleted. This was caused by chlorofluorocarbons (CFC), gases used by people in cooling and air conditioning units. A consensus was reached that the problem of the ozone hole could not be solved by a single country; international cooperation was needed. Alert to the danger of the problem and aware of the scientific context, solutions were put forward leading to unprecedented global agreements under the auspices of the UN. As a result, in 1985 the Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer was adopted in Vienna and in 1987 the Montreal Protocol to the convention was signed, laying out a plan to phase out CFCs. The convention and the protocol has since been ratified by all UN countries, as well as by the Holy See and the Niue and Cook Islands. The ozone layer was saved.

Today humanity faces more serious challenges: climate change and global warming. The main culprit is the human race, responsible for the emission of greenhouse gases which destroy the system keeping the climate in balance.

© BE&W

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Will international multilateral negotiations led by the UN work also this time?

The question has not lost its validity since the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, when the conclusion was reached that the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) would be the best platform to develop a consensus. So far, there are 196 countries that are parties to the convention and they meet in annual Conferences of the Parties (COP). A key event in the history of the convention was the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, a document stipulating the commitments of the parties.

The protocol was a breakthrough. It targeted developed and post-socialist countries undergoing transformation (39 countries in total) and did not impose any obligations to reduce emissions on developing countries, including the two largest ones – China and India. This asymmetry has been the source of political tensions since the very beginning. It is is one of the reasons behind the long interval between the signing of the document in 1997 and its ratification in 2005. During that time it turned out that the United States, the country that emits the largest amount of greenhouse gases, does not intend to ratify the document.

The Kyoto Protocol was supposed to be replaced by a new agreement, to be signed in 2009 in Copenhagen during COP15. However,

© UN Photo/KB

By Edwin Bendyk

© UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

The environment knows no national borders. Governments, even regional structures such as the European Union, do not have enough power to effectively influence it. This can only be done through the United Nations.

sequent negotiation rounds and the COP conference, a common solution to global problems starts to emerge with respect to the basic principle of the modern world, which is the sovereignty of countries.

Poland has become an active participant in this process, chairing the Conference of Parties three times and hosting the COP twice.

Marcin Korolec, the government climate envoy, argues that Poland is a reliable partner having reduced its greenhouse gases emission by 32 per cent since 1988, far more than is required by the Kyoto Protocol. Poland also has great ambitions for development, as do countries with emerging markets. This makes Poland an ideal debate moderator.

During the COP19 in Warsaw in 2013, one could see how Poland performed this role.

Dramatic negotiations continued well past the set deadline, the last session started in the anticipation of a disaster. In that context, setting a road map for a new global climate agreement to be finalised during the COP 21 in Paris this year was an undeniable success for Poland which led the process.

Irrespective of the nature of the final outcome it is clear that it will apply to all parties of the convention. Will it save the world from a climate disaster?

The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) might provide some answers.

It was created in 1988 by the United Nations Environmental Programme and the World Meteorological Organization. The panel is tasked with the analysis of the available scientific information on climate change, its consequences and the preparation of recommendations. In practice, the IPCC engages thousands of scientists from around the world who prepare reports on climate and its possible envi-

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ork on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) began nearly three years ago. In 2012, a group was established consisting of representatives of 30 countries. Once a month they debated the selection of the most important goals. These were both representatives of donor countries, as well as of those receiving the funds. They tried to keep the final list of goals concise, transparent, and achievable.

The final document envisages a number of ambitious and diverse undertakings. They include ending poverty and hunger, ensuring good health, quality education and gender equality, providing clean energy and decent work. Altogether 17 goals that should set the priorities for the next 15 years.

In addition to typical development issues, the meaning of democracy, human rights, judicial independence, and accountability of officials to citizens were also emphasised. Poland will focus its efforts on this goal in view of our experience in decentralising power. The dif-

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he brand power and diplomatic attractiveness of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization comes in large part from the two lists it runs: World Heritage and World Memory. Since 1992, the latter includes the most valuable manuscripts, prints, and inscriptions with a global significance. On the other hand, the World Heritage list, more than a dozen years older, universally recognised and seen as the more prestigious, collects objects with a unique cultural or natural value. Being inscribed on the list is the object of desire on all continents. Political motivation certainly stands behind some of the included objects, especially appreciation of soft power, but the deciding factor is a precisely coded unique universal value, as well as authenticity and integrity.

The recognition of its meaning for the whole of humanity gives it visibility and becomes a basis for the creation of an attractive tourist product. Although being inscribed on the list

be wasted. As a result of this, the post-2015 development agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals, which are one of its components, place a much greater emphasis on the non-financial aspects of development and the associated relevant reforms than did the Millennium Development Goals.

Especially in the case of developing countries, ineffective tax and administration systems have to be reformed in order to use the raised funds for development purposes. More money in poor countries escapes through a porous tax system and administration than comes in as assistance from the rich. According to simulations published by the African Union, Africa loses some 50 billion dollars annually solely because of illegal financial transfers. This money could go towards building a transport, energy and digital infrastructure in developing countries, without which change will be extremely difficult.

The adoption of the post-2015 Development Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals agreed upon by the heads of state and government at the September summit in New York was only the first stage of a long and difficult process foreseen for the next 15 years 

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12.1979

The Security Council approves the obligatory embargo on arms imports to the Republic of South Africa

Wooden Tserkva of the Nativity of Holy Mother of God in Chotyniec - one in the 16 of the Carpathian region (Poland and Ukraine) registered 21 June 2013, UNESCO World Heritage List

05.1980

The UN General Assembly approves the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women

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The author is the President of the Polish National Commission fon UNESCO

Three years after the last instance of smallpox, the WHO officially announces that the illness has been eliminated

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The General Assembly adopts the convention to ban torture

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Change of China’s UN representative – replacing Taiwan

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The General Assembly approves the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and calls for its ratification.

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does not in itself create an immediate effect, it is UNESCO’s brand that attracts tourists and investors, and this translates into a positive effect on local development.

The list is not closed and there is an ongoing discussion about its limits. During the last UNESCO session in Bonn, the list was again expanded. Since July 2015, it has grown to include 1,031 entries. And the list’s composition is in no way determined by chronology, as evidenced by the addition of Brasilia – twentieth-century objects are becoming increasingly attractive, even though they can pose a challenge as a lesson in humility because of the tragic history of the 20th century. Geography is equally important, along with the search for an intercontinental parity to ease Europe’s current domination.

Objects are inscribed on the list by UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee, which is made up of 21 states chosen every four years. Poland is cochairing the committee’s work until 2017. For us, paradoxically, the fight for new entries is not

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the most important issue, but rather the creation, in Poland, of an effective protection system complying with the Paris Convention, which provided the basis for compiling the list and was ratified by our country nearly 40 years ago. This effort entails responsibility for the day-to-day protection of historical sites in Krakow, Warsaw, Zamosc, Torun (including their historical nature) or the object the whole world has its eyes on – the German Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Inclusion on the list is a special honour, but also a responsibility to take particular care of close to 30 most valuable cultural heritage objects and the only, so far, natural treasure, the Białowieża Forest. Poland and Belarus share this entry on the list. Trans-border objects have been given an excellent level of protection by UNESCO in recent years, and they have shown to be a good way for neighbours to work together closely. In addition to the Białowieża Forest, we cooperate with Germany on protecting the Park Muscau (which lies on both sides of the Nysa Łużycka River) and with Ukraine in saving wooden orthodox churches in the Carpathian Mountains. It is worth noting that Poland was, as an exception among the communist bloc countries, one of the first signatories of the Paris Convention. And Krakow, along with the salt mines in Wieliczka and Bochnia, joined the Galapagos Islands, the cathedral in Aachen and the National Park as the 12 objects on the first list in 1978.

Thus, the list became a kind of compensation and motivation. In Poland we were able to feel that someone appreciates our culture. Of course, for the convention that established UNESCO, it is not just the objects that are important but also the universal values that we must protect. 

The UN launches a peacekeeping mission in Namibia. The country’s first free election takes place.

Military forces of the Republic of South Africa withdraw from Namibia and the nation announces its independence.

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By Agnieszka Mazurczyk

ference between the Millennium Development Goals that expire in 2015 and the Sustainable Development Goals lies in the latter’s attempt to change the perception of today’s problems.

Natural disasters and the effects of climate change, migration flows triggered by armed conflicts or poverty affect both the developing countries and the developed countries.

Today nobody doubts that if we wanted to implement all of the proposed goals, the states that are the main donors would not be able to fund them by themselves. The costs of implementing the Sustainable Development Goals, as calculated by the UN Conference on Trade and Development, vary between 3.3 and 4.5 billion dollars annually. This does not include investments in the improvement of infrastructure related to agriculture, irrigation and power plants, which on a global scale could cost as much as 7 billion dollars annually, according to the Intergovernmental Expert Committee for Sustainable Financing.

Other factors, in addition to funding, are equally important to the process of implementing reforms. These include knowledge about the mechanisms of disbursing the awarded funds. Without this knowledge, the funds could

People all around the world are currying its favour, which gives it fame. It’s not surprising that UNESCO has more member states than the UN itself.

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The implementation of the Millennium Development Goals ends in 2015. They will be replaced by the Sustainable Development Goals negotiated over the last few years. There are as many as 17 of them and some are very ambitious.

UNESCO, or the list’s magnet © ONZ Photo / Evan Schneider

Goals for the world

The creation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is a success for all 193 UN member states.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, second from the left.

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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs is formed

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The Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro adopts the Climate Change Convention.

The event marks the first time that that governments, politicians and non-governmental organisations join ranks to protect the environment.

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France 152 (5.6)

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NET CONTRIBUTIONS RECEIVED

BY THE UNITED NATIONS IN 2015

The United Kingdom 141 (5.2) China 140 (5.1) Spain 81 (3) Canada 81 (3) Brazil 80 (2.9) Russia 66 (2.4) Australia 56 (2.1) others

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a total of $

including Poland 25 (0,9) reason – national objectives, which had, for years, made people pursue other goals. “Until 1989, the organisations of the United Nations system had been the only place where Poles could join the international labour market.

But when we joined NATO and the EU and the number of alternatives grew considerably, our best candidates turned towards the EU and NATO institutions,” explains Ambassador Winid.

It is certain that in 2064 Poland will hold the post of the chair of the General Assembly.

This is because the position is awarded on a rotational basis, voted for on an annual basis.

The UN is one of the largest employers in the world. It is worth keeping tabs on particular agencies, since each of them offers new vacancies on a regular basis. The YPP examination, although quite challenging, does not

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Millennium Development Goals for 2000–2015 are adopted during the Millennium Summit

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per cent

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UNPROFOR forces are sent The on a peacekeeping mission Statute of the to the former Yugoslavia, International but the operation ends in a Criminal humiliating failure. For three Tribunal is years, the UN soldiers watch adopted in the Serbian army besiege Rome Sarajevo; “Blue Helmets” do not intervene even during ethnic cleansing. Finally, NATO intervenes militarily and the 1995 Dayton Agreement ends the war.

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require any fees to be paid and candidates can take the exam multiple times. So the first time round, you can treat it as a litmus test to check what you are capable of. It is also a chance to gain some experience, which could prove helpful the next time round. “People think it is difficult to begin working for the UN, so they tend to give up,” says Mariola Ratschka. By doing this, we kill our own chances. 

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On the initiative of Poland and Israel, the UN General Assembly calls to commemorate the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which will be observed on January 27

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South Sudan is created as The UN establishes UNMEER, the UN a result of a six-year peace Mission for Ebola Emergency Response process, the country becomes the world’s newest nation

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ach UN agency has its own recruitment policy, and all available vacancies are advertised on their webpages. Virtually anyone can apply for the UN posts, although some positions require you to take an appropriate exam. The number of applicants is quite large. But according to Mariola Ratschka, the acting head of the UN Information Centre in Poland, it is always worth trying one’s luck. And there is a lot to gain since the United Nations is a good employer that offers interesting jobs, a good salary and a number of benefits, such as accommodation rental subsidies, insurance, or co-financing of school expenses for the employees’ families. After a five-year service, they are also entitled to a pension.

One can start working for the UN at an early age and with little or no experience. You need to have a good command of English or French.

An additional language would be a bonus, as would passing the Young Professional Programme (YPP) examination or successfully completing a series of qualification interviews.

In 2013 and 2014, more than a dozen people from Poland chose to go down this path to start working for the UN, including Tomasz Kułaga from Kraków.

If you have some professional experience, you could work at the UN as a volunteer. “This is

the United States 655 (22)

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By Agnieszka Mazurczyk

to appoint a new secretary general will be made next year. It is taken by the General Assembly and five permanent members of the Security Council, which recommend their own candidate. The whole process involves lengthy and complicated negotiations, but when it is formally taken, the remaining members of the General Assembly can only confirm the decision with applause.

Although, theoretically speaking, chances are equal for everyone, practice shows otherwise. We know, for instance, that a US candidate will always become the head of the Department of Political Affairs while a French candidate – the head of peacekeeping operations. It is unlikely that a Pole could become the UN secretarygeneral, as such a candidacy would need to be approved by Russia, the United States, France, United Kingdom and China.

Poles at the UN are mainly middle-level managers. Polish technical workers form the largest group. Four Polish citizens hold the P5 post, which, in the Polish public administration, corresponds to that of a director or an independent employee. We have five members of various committees, commissions and executive councils. If we look at the structure of the UN, these are advisory and expert bodies, which cooperate closely with the General Assembly. But if we look at the size of our country and Poland’s contributions to the UN budget (in the current budget, which is nearing its completion, we rank as the 20th contributor), our national representation, 70 people, can be considered as being rather small.

We do not hold any senior executive posts either.

On the one hand, says Mariola Ratschka, we do not typically believe we could get the job. Some Poles fear they would not be able to compete with international candidates and therefore decide not to apply in the first place.

However, there is also a much more important

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The UN employs more than 41,000 people, but this number includes only 70 Poles. Why so few?

nothing like our own unpaid internship, it is normal work, where you are paid a salary,” explains Mariola Ratschka. You need to be at least 25 years old and know a minimum of two foreign languages. Currently, there are over 7,000 volunteers from 140 countries working for the UN around the world. They help various communities to organise and hold local elections, support humanitarian projects and peacekeeping operations. A volunteer contract typically lasts for two years. You can apply for the post online, after which the best thing you can do is to start getting ready to leave for virtually any global destination, wherever help is most needed.

In order to get a senior position at the UN, you need to take part in competitions and reply to vacancy offers. Your country’s support is vital here. “Everyone is lobbying, including us,” says Bogusław Winid, Polish ambassador to the UN. “But first of all, you need to be included on the short list.” The best candidates are supported by a large group of people, including our embassy at the UN, the Department of Political Affairs, as well as the Department of United Nations and Human Rights at the foreign ministry. Last year in New York, when Professor Piotr Hofmański was elected to the International Criminal Court, as we approached the last stretch before the vote, the whole foreign ministry’s Department of Legal and Treaty as well as Polish embassies from various countries joined in supporting his candidacy and highlighting his achievements.

Of course there is also a number of highlevel posts around the position of the secretary general: his deputy, a number of lower deputies, chief of staff and heads of departments. Here the secretary general himself works with other permanent members of the Security Council to select his or her own assistants, so that a political and regional balance is maintained. The decision

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Trying one’s luck

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The UN General Assembly grants Palestine nonmember observer status

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The New York headquarters of the UN is in a way filled with a Polish spirit. This is thanks to Maciej Nowicki, who in 1947 joined the team designing the building. He worked in a tight circle of the biggest names, alongside Le Corbusier and Oscar Niemeyer. Half a century later another Polish architect had the opportunity to add his contribution to this creation. In 2010, Secretary General Ban Kimoon personally appointed Stefan Kuryłowicz to a seven-strong advisory committee to redesign the UN headquarters, as one of two European representatives.

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One of the most important words in the UN dictionary is “genocide”, coined by Polish lawyer Rafał Lemkin. He first used it in the indictment in the Nuremberg trials (Lemkin was the main adviser to the chief US prosecutor). A Pole also stood behind the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide passed by the UN in 1948, which was used half a century later as a basis for the criminal courts for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda and the creation of the International Criminal Court.

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The author of the Encyclopedia of international affairs and the UN published in 1974 is a Pole, Edmund Osmanczyk. It was the first book in the world to systematise the concepts associated with the UN. It has since seen many editions and translations. The last fourvolume edition of the UN Encyclopedia was published in New York in late 2002 and has nearly 3,000 pages.

Young enthusiasts

Izabela Bany – 2nd year student at the Interdepartmental Studies in Humanities at the Warsaw University, Poland’s youth delegate at the 69th UN General Assembly in 2014.

You don’t need to be a diplomat to take part in the UN General Assembly. Izabela and Maciej talk about the “Youth Delegate” programme, co-organised and co-financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which also chooses the candidates.

This year you were the coordinator of the “Youth Delegate” programme. Are young people interested in it?

More and more from year to year. However, we have high expectations for the candidates that go to New York. First of all, they have to possess considerable knowledge to write the application essay. This year we chose two girls. One of them wrote an excellent essay about security, while the other focused on the implementation of UN policies with the help of social media.

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How did you become interested in the programme?

I was looking into the programme already in 2012, when the first edition was taking place. When Maciej posted the photo with the secretarygeneral on Twitter, I thought: “By the time I’m 25 I will do the same” and I did. I took part in Model UN and this was the beginning of my adventure with the organisation. In the future I’d like to work at the UN. Maybe not as the secretary-general right away, of course.

What is the most vivid memory from your time as a UN delegate?

Along with the other delegates, we approached people like Samantha Power (US Ambassador at the UN), who could have just waived us away.

But she was able to give us 15 minutes just to ask about experiences.

But the most exciting event was when Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi, who work with the UN, received the Noble Peace Prize. Everybody was so excited at the headquarters that Malala won the award because they felt like they, too, had been honoured.

Maciej Chęciński – a fifth-year law student at the Warsaw University, the president of the Association of the United Nations in Poland, Polish youth delegate at the UN General Assembly in 2012.

As Poland’s first youth delegate, you set the path at the UN. Was it hard?

First, as the Association of the United Nations, we sent a proposal to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for Poland to join the already existing project.

The Ministry agreed that this really was a valuable initiative. I flew to New York to speak with delegates from various states, collect know-how and find out more about developments in their countries.

What did you learn from your time at the UN? Thanks to this programme I was able to see how the organisation works.

What problems it deals with and how hard people work to reach a compromise. It is important that the programme is financed by the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Thanks to this it is not directed only at a small group of people, but rather at all young, talented people who are interested in issues related to the UN. 

How do you look back at it?

The trip changed my thinking about the work at the UN. I was convinced that it was mainly banquets and such things, but the UN means hard work every day, a lot of meetings. It’s the most important forum for international cooperation. The delegates bring with them the best practices from their home countries, talk about them and then we bring this knowledge to our country. Everybody is learning from others over there. Maybe the UN, as an organisation, is disfunctional sometimes, but you cannot overlook the role it plays as a global, day-to-day forum for discussion.

You had an opportunity to meet Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

How is he?

I was hoping that the secretary-general would spend a little time with us, but it ended up with a speech and a courtesy photo. Then I found out from Polish diplomats that his calendar is so tight, that when he finds just half an hour for somebody it is a great honour. Honestly, I thought he was shorter, but he really is a tall man.

© UN Photo/Mark Garten

In 1989, Poland initiated the adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The first step was the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, adopted by the UN General Assembly in the late 1950s. Then, in 1978, Poland proposed a draft convention, which in large part was based on the ideas of Janusz Korczak. One of the initiators of the convention and also one of the editors of the final version was Polish lawyer, prof. Adam Łopatka.

A Polish delegation might have been absent at the UN founding conference, but famous Polish pianist Artur Rubinstein was present.

He was due to perform a concert, but not seeing the Polish delegation or even a Polish flag, he interrupted it saying: “Here in this room you want to make ... create a happy future for the world. I am missing the Polish flag that you fought for. I cannot tolerate this.

So, I will play the Polish anthem for you.

And please stand up!” The anthem was followed by a round of applause, which angered the Russian delegation.

The content of the articles solely expresses the views of their authors. The variety of views about the UN reflects the diversity and complexity of the UN itself. They should not be associated or connected with the positon of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

© UN Photo/McCreary

70 years ago, Poland was missing at the UN founding conference in San Francisco. The reason was a difference of opinion between the great powers over the recognition of the communist government in Poland. Despite this , members of the conference left an empty space for the Polish signature of the United Nations Charter in consideration of the great contribution made by Poles to the victory over Nazism. The seat was filled on October 15, 1945 by the representative of the Temporary Government of National Unity. And so Poland became the 51st founding member of the UN.

Print: Quad/Winkowski sp. z o.o.

© UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

How much Poland in the UN

Authors: Edwin Bendyk, Agnieszka Mazurczyk, Paweł Mrowiński, Marek Ostrowski, Jacek Purchla, Adam Daniel Rotfeld and materials prepared by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Managing editor: Łukasz Wójcik; Graphical design, composition: Janusz Fajto; Infographics: Lech Mazurczyk; Publisher: Polityka Sp. z o.o. SKA, ul. Słupecka 6, 02-309 Warszawa;

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Human Rights in the UN system “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” This is the way, Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 10, 1948, defines the essence of what human rights are, or rather what they should be.

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the 70th anniversary of the creation of the UN, it is worth to consider the meaning of these words and ask oneself about the role of human rights in the United Nations system. It is true that the United Nations Charter points to human rights, along with peace and security and development, as one of the three pillars upon which the organisation is based. But the same UN Charter did not envision a statutory organ to monitor their observance, although it established the Security Council to watch over peace and security, along with the Economic and Social

Council that deals with development issues. It was only after a number of years that first the Human Rights Committee, and later the Council, was created. Although it is positioned below the main statutory organs within the UN structure, the Council has nevertheless been equipped with mechanisms that, even if not of a coercive nature, give it a degree of power to influence the image and international standing of any country.The real problem experienced by the international community in the field of human rights is not related to the UN’s monitoring institutions, but to the questioning by some states of the universal nature of human rights. The rights of the individual, regarded by many as of the most important value, are considered by others as an alien philosophical concept introduced by the Western civilisation. Another essential element in the discussions about human rights at the UN is their association with the state of democracy in the world. For some societies, authoritarian systems may seem to be more attractive and more effective from the point of view of economic development than systems based on democracy and full respect for the rights of the individual. All these factors signify that the promotion of human rights at the UN is a long-term process and each step in the right direction, each new international convention meant to protect them is a major victory for those who consider human rights indispensable for the healthy transformation of the political systems of modern states.

Bearing in mind its own historical experiences and the path taken from communism to democracy, Poland is one of the most active promoters of human rights in the UN system. For example, it was one of the initiators and authors of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. In 2013, for the first time in history, a Polish diplomat chaired the Human Rights Council. In Geneva and New York, our diplomats act to protect the rights of women and children. Among our priorities are also the protection of the rights of religious minorities, especially Christians, freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. Poland plays a leading role in promoting the concept of good governance. We share the experiences gained during the period of our transformation and creation of sustainable and effective institutions of the modern, democratic state. We actively support independent democratic activists and nongovernmental organisations, both through the European Endowment for Democracy (EED), created as a Polish initiative, as well as the annual Warsaw Dialogue for Democracy. The latter is an innovative platform for the exchange of practical experiences of democratic activists from around the world. In the field of promotion of human rights and democracy, Poland is seen worldwide as an active and reliable partner. Although we cannot as yet compete with the wealthiest European countries in terms of financial resources allocated to supporting human rights, our contribution is the sum of Polish experiences and of our genuine commitment. 

Eleanor Roosevelt holds a poster of the Declaration of Human Rights.

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