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2010 - The Challenges to Global Security: Kofi ANNAN
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22/12/99
Kofi ANNAN UN SECRETARY-GENERAL
At the dawn of the 21st century, state sovereignty, in its most basic sense,
is being redefined by the forces of globalisation and international co-operation.
The state is now widely understood to be the servant of its people, and
not vice versa. Individual sovereignty - human rights and fundamental freedoms
of each and every individual as enshrined in our Charter - has been enhanced
by a renewed consciousness of the right of every individual to control his
or her own destiny. These parallel developments do not lend themselves to easy interpretations or simple conclusions. They do, however, demand a willingness to think anew: about how the UN responds to the political, human rights and humanitarian crises affecting so much of the world; about the means employed by the international community in situations of need; and about our willingness to act in some areas of conflict, while limiting ourselves to humanitarian palliatives in many other crises where daily death tolls and suffering ought to shame us into action.
While the genocide in Rwanda will define for our generation the consequences of inaction in the face of mass murder, the more recent conflict in Kosovo has prompted important questions about the consequences of action in the absence of complete unity on the part of the international community. The inability of the international community in Kosovo to reconcile these two equally compelling interests - universal legitimacy and effectiveness in defence of human rights - has revealed the core challenge to the Security Council and the UN as a whole in the next century: to forge unity behind the principle that massive and systematic violations of human rights - wherever they may take place - should not be allowed to stand.
It is clear that sovereignty alone is not the only obstacle to effective action in human rights or humanitarian crises. No less significant are the ways in which UN member states define their national interest in any given crisis. Of course, the traditional pursuit of national interest is a permanent feature of international relations and of the life and work of the Security Council. But as the world has changed in profound ways since the end of the Cold War, I believe our conceptions of national interest have failed to follow suit.
A new, more broadly defined, more widely conceived definition of national interest in the new century would, I am convinced, induce states to find far greater unity in the pursuit of such basic Charter values as democracy, pluralism, human rights, and the rule of law. A global era requires global engagement. Indeed, in a growing number of challenges facing humanity, the collective interest is the national interest.
As important as the UN's enforcement power is its deterrent power. Unless it is able to assert itself collectively where the cause is just and the means available, its credibility in the eyes of the world may suffer. If states bent on criminal behaviour know that frontiers are not an absolute defence; if they know the Security Council will take action to halt crimes against humanity, then they will not embark on such a course of action in expectation of sovereign impunity.
Any such evolution in our understanding of state sovereignty and individual sovereignty will, in some quarters, be met with distrust, scepticism, even hostility. But it is an evolution that we should welcome. Why? Because, despite its limitations and imperfections, it is testimony to a humanity that cares more - not less - for the suffering in its midst; and a humanity that will do more - and not less - to end it.
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Kofi ANNAN
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2010
- The Challenges To Global Security | Foreword:
Cliff Beal | King
Abdullah II | Kofi
Annan | Ehud Barak
| Tony Blair | Jacques
Chirac | Bill
Clinton | Sadako
Ogato | James
Orbinski | Romano
Prodi | Lord
Robertson Of Port Ellen | Mary
Robinson | Javier
Solana | Cornelio
Sommaruga | James
Wolfensohn | Postscript:
Edward N. Luttwak | Postscript:
Lawrence Freedman