UNGA Prez says permanent members acting on "selfish motives" By Dharam Shourie

United Nations, Sept 24 (PTI) In an unprecedented act,
the President of the U.N. General Assembly (U.N.G.A.)
lambasted the five permanent members of the Security Council
accusing them of making decisions based on "selfish motives,"
for which the world's poor suffer.

The pressing problems of the day are man-made and "all
can be traced in large part to lack of democracy" at the U.N.,
said Father Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann of Nicaragua.
He also sharply criticised the present U.N. set up,
saying that the resolutions of the General Assembly, on which
all members are represented, are regarded as mere
recommendations that are casually ignored even though they
represent the views of 95 percent of the membership.
Under the Charter of U.N., only decisions of the Security
Council are binding on all members.
In a criticism of industrial nations, Brockmann said more
than half the world's people languish in hunger and poverty
while more and more money is spent on weapons, wars and
luxuries.
The current financial crisis, on top of the high cost of
food and humanitarian devastation caused by recurrent natural
phenomenon, will have "very serious" consequences that will
impede significant progress, if indeed any is made towards the
Millennium Development Goals (M.D.Gs.) which are themselves
insufficient, he added.
"It is always the poor who pay the price for the
unbridled greed and irresponsibility of the powerful," he
added.
Reminding the delegates that United Nations has
proclaimed next year as "Year of Reconciliation," Brockmann
urged them to change their mindset.
"We should emerge from this general debate in a state of
reconciliation, determined to stop treating each other
arrogantly and to stop attacking each other," he said, adding
that forgiveness is never a sign of weakness.
Immediate criticism of Brockmann, a former foreign
minister of his country, came from ranking Republican member
of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee Ileana
Ros-Lehtinen who slammed him for trying to use "his soapbox to
magnify the voices of those who oppose democracy and human
rights" and called for reform of the world body.
"Without reform, we are in danger of allowing
undemocratic forces to render the U.N. permanently impotent
and meaningless," Ros-Lehtinen said.
She added that U.S. Congress should swiftly enact pending
U.N. reform legislation that will condition American financial
support on the U.N's. willingness to stop accommodating "rouge
nations" who seek to wrestle control of its agenda away from
those seeking greater accountability and transparency.(MORE)
PTI DS
AMT