The Bali preparatory conference for the 2002 Earth Summit in Johannesburg is now behind us with nothing of significance agreed: neither a political statement, nor a Plan of Action. The World Food Summit in Rome is behind us too: only two developed nations were represented by heads of government (Italy, the host; and Spain, for the EU); and the final document was notable mainly for promoting the benefits of GM seeds.

Most of us are familiar now with the procedure of UN Summits. Draft documents are negotiated through a series of preparatory conferences, with disputed passages in brackets until – so often at the last minute and in the small hours – consensus is reached. Or not reached, as in Bali. A coalition of NGOs including Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, WWF and Oxfam fairly protest at the "horse-trading, back-room deals and bullying" that goes on among delegations – the protests of NGOs seem part of the procedure.

With every likelihood that, as with the Summit on Food, the Summit on Sustainable Development will scale down targets already agreed, those of us committed to working for a reformed and effective UN face a labour of Sisyphus. Summits are costly and fail to produce much in the way of concrete results – but they raise the profile of the issues and demonstrate the need for a multi-track strategy to implement goals. The UN, its member states, the private sector, big NGOs and Civil Society generally all have a role. With people of goodwill in each of those categories putting their backs to the boulder, we can surely get it over the brow of the hill and see that it serves some purpose there.

Alison Williams

He focuses in particular on the excessive influence of the United States on decision making, especially in the Security Council. For instance the US administration under Clinton stood alone, with its veto, against the entire Security Council and prevented Boutros Boutros-Ghali from being appointed to a second term as Secretary-General. As James Rubin, a Clinton appointee, said at the Democratic National Convention in August 1996 "The UN can only do what the US lets it do".

So it has been over such problems as Bosnia, Kosovo, Somalia, and Rwanda, all burning issues during the Boutros Boutros-Ghali years.

Those who want to see the UN living up to the hopes of the Charter should read this book carefully. There is room for change and manoeuvre. The success of the World Court Project. Which managed to win through to the International Court of Justice, shows what can be done through the UN Specialist Agencies where there is no veto – but plenty of economic pressure. Unvanquished is the title Boutros-Ghali has chosen for his book. He does not sound as if he was, nor should we be. It is high time to read again the sensible proposals for UN reform and renewal which he himself set out in his 1992 pamphlet An Agenda for Peace.

The ARC campaign was launched in the House of Commons on 7th May with Jeremy Corbyn MP in the chair.

Karl Miller, our Secretary and an initiator of this campaign, highlighted the enormous waste involved in armaments. Some of the poorest countries spend as much as 30% of their resources on buying weapons. Why not spend more effort on reducing the demand for the obscenely overblown arms trade? Shouldn’t governments, especially the governments of the major powers, honour Article 26 of the Charter of the UN, whose intention was to spend the least amount of human resources on armaments?

Kate Hudson, Chair of London CND, pointed out the environmental dangers of nuclear weapons, - besides the continuing threat it poses due to its proliferation. For example, the cancer rate in Plymouth, (where the refitting of the nuclear subs is taking place) is 20% higher than average.

Helen Hughes, UNA Disarmament Officer, listed many examples of the excessive nature of arms procurement. One of these was the South Africa, which is spending 4 times as much on armaments as on housing!

Liz Hutchins, NUS and Student CND, drew our attention to the hypocrisy of the arms system. While currently our government spends £33 billion on armaments it was deemed necessary to save £700 million on students grants.

Martin Hogbin, Co-ordinator of CAAT, gave a very lively exposition of the arms trade. He questioned whether the "defence" industry should be renamed the "offensive" industry. He lamented the discrepancy between the Labour Manifesto - anti-arms trade, ethical foreign policy, etc - and the reality, that most arms exports are going to countries high on the Amnesty list.

In the discussion one speaker from Nigeria pointed out that the illegal arms influx to Africa is, in many ways, destroying that continent. Another speaker thought that specific weapons, not just landmines, should be banned. Some people questioned the need for another group, such as ARC, to address issues relating to the arms trade, - though it was pointed out that ARC is concentrating on the importance that governments should observe Article 26 of the Charter which, so far, no other group has attempted to do.

It was agreed that a committee would be formed to develop and to carry forward the aims of ARC.

The United Nations High Commissioner For Refugees is Ruud Lubbers. UNHCR has many activities around the world, a recent count of people uprooted from their homes shows the number to be around 50 million, about 21.8 million of these have crossed a border and become refugees, UNHCR is involved in their care. About half of these refugees are women and children, many of whom end up in camps in a country bordering their own. But their problems are still not over, in particular women and girls often face the terrible ordeal of rape and violence and they are often excluded from being involved in planning and designing programmes involving themselves and their children. UNHCR has particular concern for refugee boys and girls in camps in Sudan, referring to them as the lost boys and girls of Sudan.

Central Africa has huge numbers of refugees seeking shelter in neighbouring countries, for example in Rwanda estimated figures show some 28,000 refugees from The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and 515 from Burundi. In The Republic of Congo the figures are startling, there are approx 10,000 refugees from Angola, 1,675 from Central African Republic (CAR), 54,284 from the DRC and 6,800 from Rwanda and Burundi. In the DRC the figures are even greater, The DRC is a huge country with nine bordering countries, they have approx 155,000 Angolan refugees, 5,770 from Burundi, 26,000 from CAR, 10,000 from Rwanda, 78,700 from Sudan, 14,000 from Uganda. These numbers are enormous and they show the fact that people cross borders in both directions seeking safer conditions. It is remarkable to note that the local inhabitants in the receiving villages and towns show great hospitality though they themselves usually have very little food and water for their own families.

The work of UNHCR is vital in order to establish the National Eligibility Commission through the local government and carry out registration exercises of accessible refugees. Provision of international protection and humanitarian assistance is needed for the refugees as well as the promotion of self-reliance activities. It is also part of the work of UNHCR to organise and facilitate the safe return of refugees to the country of origin when the situation permits. Obviously the task is huge and seems never ending.

The Erskine Childers Lecture 6 June 2002

Jenny Tonge, MP from the Chair introduced the speaker as a former Assistant Secretary-General. He was United Nations Humanitarian Co-ordinator in Iraq for some years and had resigned in protest against sanctions, the imposition of which he had opposed

Denis Halliday began with Dag Hammarskjold’s vision of the UN as "a venture in progress towards an international community living in peace under laws of justice ". These laws are now often violated or simply neglected by many member states.

The Security Council fails to respect international law. It protects the interests of its 5 permanent members though it is charged with the well-being of all, North and South. Yet we see the terrible impact of international inequality in: North-driven exploitation and globalisation, ethnic strife, genocide, refugees, degradation of the environment, double standards in the Security Council. ‘Might is right’ is still acceptable to some. The rejection of international law is arrogant and irresponsible. Apparently the ‘veto’ members of the UN are not keen to have an independent, strong Secretary-General, who might publicly admonish them and demand compliance with the obligations of membership.

The UN is the only legitimate world body. Global peace and security may well be impossible without a legally functioning and morally strong UN, subject to active oversight and monitoring, particularly of the proper functioning of the Security Council. But the role of the General Assembly has been diminished, as has that of the World Court.

Development assistance has been under-funded while billions of dollars go on arms research and development. Investment should be used instead to enhance social, political and economic improvements. The head of the World Bank acknowledges that poverty is the root cause of terrorism.

Double standards operate when vested interests dominate decisions. Rwanda, Chechnya, Palestine, the Gulf are examples of UN failures. For the credibility of the UN the Security Council must not be manipulated by the few and small countries must have rotational and equal presence on it.

The full text of Denis Halliday’s speech is on our website and also available in print on application to the Secretary, with a small donation to cover costs.

Our AGM was held on 16th February 2002 at Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church, 235 Shaftesbury Avenue, London.

After the Annual Report, which was enclosed with the March newsletter, the following were re-elected to the Executive: Chair: Jim Addington, Vice-Chairs: Stephen Cheleda and Vijay Mehta, Secretary: Karl Miller, Treasurer: Richard Pryor, Committee Members: Marko Gasic, Maureen O’Meara, Anna Rehin, Prue Wendt, Alison Williams. Ailsa Moore has since been co-opted. Sue Davis and Linda Melvern were unable to stand for re-election, due to other commitments; they were warmly thanked for their contribution to Act-UN, to which they continue to give active support.

The meeting then discussed ideas for future activities for the Executive’s consideration.

Tuesday 9th July, 7-9pm. No War on Iraq. Speakers: Tony Benn, Tam Dalyell (&George Galloway, Robert Waring and Kerry Pollard invited.) House of Commons, Committee Room 14. [Labour Action for Peace]

Anna Rehin