'Our Preparation Stands in Expectation'.

MANAGE THE GLOBALIZATION OF SOLIDARITY

In the context of the new millennium, it seems everything has been said about the past, present and future of the United Nations. I will focus only on five expectations that would play a central role in any responsible vision of the Organization.

The first expectation is to give globalization a human face. The management of the irreversible process of globalization is a complex task in which the world Organization should be the main architect. Radical reform of the United Nations is unlikely in the short term. Incremental or step-by-step reforms seem to be both realistic and feasible. They can lead to a UN architecture that is reasonably flexible and adaptable to the enormous challenges of globalization with a human face, so that it benefits the greatest number of people and nations--big, medium or small. Diplomacy including citizens' diplomacy as practiced by civil society, can make an important contribution to the humanization of the process of globalization, with the high set of moral principles usually expressed in the doctrine of human rights.

The second expectation, which derives naturally from the first one, is the vital need to eradicate poverty. Globalization cannot be built on misery. Poverty and ignorance are the main enemies of progress and will affect all plans to promote globalization.

The third expectation is the universalization of democracy. No responsible political leader in the year 2000 can declare himself anti-democratic. The democratic process may be simply described to be a means of limiting the arbitrary elements of power, by guaranteeing that the politicians who claim to speak for the people must ultimately be judged by the public and be fully accountable to civil society. Good governance is an accountable governance. And one of the fundamental virtues of democracy is that, in its normal functioning, it is apt to release the energies of every human being for the benefit of all.

The Third International Conference of New or Restored Democracies, held in Bucharest, Romania from 2 to 4 September 1997, adopted a substantive set of recommendations for achieving the goals of governance and democratization. This Conference and an upcoming one in Cotonou, Benin from 4 to 6 December 2000 are important events in the collective endeavours to promote communication on and better understanding of the challenges and prospects of democratization.

The fourth expectation is the universalization of the supremacy of international law. For the past 55 years, the United Nations has promoted the codification and progressive development of international law as a successful process that has surpassed the anticipation of its founders. International law is observed by "almost all nations almost all the time" because it is crucial for peaceful relations and cooperation. However, international law today is weak in promoting and defending moral values and ideal behaviour. Justice has not been the primary objective of jus gentium. The centrality of peace reflects its priority position in the whole area of public international law. The idea that imperfect law is better than the absence of law has been treated as a paramount obvious truth. Peace with justice belongs to the catalogue of the globalization era. The very process of globalization requires a narrative approach. A global community needs a global law. Fragmentation of universal international law into differen t bodies of law applied in different regions without verifying principles or institutions would be a disastrous repression that will affect the substance of globalization with a human face.

Finally, the fifth expectation is to make solidarity a tangible reality of the twenty-first century. An authentic human process of globalization cannot be conceived without the recognition of the duty of solidarity as an imperative prerequisite of globalization itself. Secretary-General Kofi Annan believes that "solutions can be found only if we address global issues together, through better cooperation, closer alliances, increased commitment and a renewed sense of solidarity". Indeed, solidarity should be regarded as an important political ideal. A real sense of solidarity can also help to solve the critical financial crisis faced by the United Nations. It should be noted that the greatest failures of the United Nations have not been caused by the imperfections of its Charter or by institutional difficulties of a structural nature, but by the collective inability of its Member States to cement their solidarity and fully assimilate in practice the Organization's noble ideals. And its real power is dependent u pon the genuine will of Member States to recognize, accept and increase that power through the globalization of their solidarity.

Dr. loan Voicu is a Romanian diplomat who has been involved in many United Nations activities since 1968.