United Nations birthday - Nations must unite behind UN

AS the UN turns 60, it is timely to scrutinise the role of the world’s only global organisation, which stands at a crossroads, facing an uncertain future and urgently in need of sweeping reforms.

Notwithstanding the birthday celebrations, confidence in the UN will be eroded by the emasculated nature of the package of reforms being unveiled at the historic World Summit in New York.

While its pledge to honour poverty goals features strongly in the report from Secretary General Kofi Annan, it is hard to disagree with the charge by former President Mary Robinson that world leaders are indulging in lip service. With major aspects of the original document diluted or jettisoned altogether, her accusation of hypocrisy cannot be lightly dismissed.