Problem with the United Nations

There are many people who believe the UN is incapable of managing global issues today largely because the UN Charter gives the five permanent members of the Security Council a veto over any resolution. Therefore the UN cannot take any action to prevent them or punish them for declaring illegal war on other countries, as both the Russians and Americans have recently done.

However, the Charter can be changed. Chapter 18 includes the following two important Articles:

Article 108

Amendments to the present Charter shall come into force for all Members of the United Nations when they have been adopted by a vote of two thirds of the members of the General Assembly and ratified in accordance with their respective constitutional processes by two thirds of the Members of the United Nations, including all the permanent members of the Security Council.

Article 109-1

A General Conference of the Members of the United Nations for the purpose of reviewing the present Charter may be held at a date and place to be fixed by a two-thirds vote of the members of the General Assembly and by a vote of any nine members of the Security Council. Each Member of the United Nations shall have one vote in the conference.

Groups trying to take action

There are several different groups that are trying to get the UN Charter changed, some of which propose using the above Articles while others propose different systems. Note that because changing the Charter is difficult and is taking a long time, groups evolve and change their names.

Article 109 is an international coalition of former Ambassadors, government officials, senior UN officials, academics, seasoned campaigners, non-profit executives and civil society organisations from around the world who are mobilising to renew the Charter of the UN.

Democracy Without Borders promotes the creation of a UN Parliamentary Assembly, a UN World Citizens’ Initiative and a UN Rapporteur on Democracy. So it sees much greater change than just a new Charter. It wants a democratic world community.

Global Governance Forum aims to promote global governance. This includes promoting UN reform by expanding the composition of the Security Council, constraining the use of the veto, establishing a directly elected Parliamentary Assembly, and creating an Earth System Council. Hence its aims are far wider than just creating a new Charter. Note that the UN is not a governance body. Its main aim is to stop any more world wars from happening.

Together First is committed to making the best ideas for global governance a reality. As far as we can tell, reform of the UN Charter is not on its agenda. Note that UNA-UK (to which UNA Coventry belongs) provides the secretariat for Together First.

Previous Groups

Coalition for the UN we need mentions ImPACT Coalition which evolved into the UN Charter Reform Coalition which used to be hosted by Global Governance Forum, a philosophical group which proposes many changes among which are the creation of a Second UN Charter. However the UN Charter Reform Coalition has now evolved into Article 109, cited above.