An opportunity to reflect on the UN Charter.

The first discussion in the United Nations sixtieth anniversary series, "Inreach/Outreach", organized by the Outreach Division of the UN Department of Public Information on 23 June 2005, presented an opportunity to reflect on the Charter of the United Nations and the Organization's accomplishments and challenges in the new world.

Titled "The Charter: A Framework for States, A Promise to Peoples", discussion panellists included: Lawrence S. Finkelstein, retired professor of political science; Tonya Gonella Frichner, President of the American Indian Law Alliance; Giuseppe Nesi, professor and legal advisor at the Permanent Mission of Italy to the United Nations; Cora Weiss, President of the Hague Appeal for Peace; and Laurence Bropleh, Permanent Representative to the United Nations for the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs of the World Council of Churches. In opening the series, Raymond Sommereyns, Director of the Outreach Division, said that the UN Charter had stood the test of time but, as Secretary-General Kofi Annan stated, the Charter also "needed to reflect today's world".

"Is the promise fulfilled?" Dr. Bropleh raised the question as he said that Member States, as they look to the Charter, must exercise a spirit of openness and flexibility in order to have new possibilities that are at their doorsteps. As new powers emerge, new ways of engagement should be discovered, and that there must be equal respect in the community of nations. "It is not a perfect instrument, but it is the best we have got", he said.

Ms. Weiss stressed that people should realize that "we are important players in the total scheme of things and we cannot leave things to others". More significantly, "nothing will happen if there is no dream and if people do not put the dream into motion", she said. As stated in the UN Charter, it is "we the peoples" who start new ideas and new waves: the true test of the Charter's success would be if we sow the seeds for the abolition of war and see its demise. That would show that "we the peoples" were indeed determined to "save succeeding generations from the scourge of war". Dr. Bropleh reiterated that if we fulfil that promise, then fighting poverty would mean replacing desperation with hope.

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Ms. Frichner, speaking on the inclusion of indigenous people in the United Nations, noted that all groups come to the Organization with their own agendas and guidelines. It was important to unite without overlooking the rights of women, children and other major indigenous groups, she said.

Dr. Nesi stressed the need to reestablish the historical truth that the United Nations is a universal organization that "has the general competence to deal with all major issues", ranging from the maintenance of international peace and security to social and economic issues.

Mr. Finkelstein, who worked in the United Nations with Ralph Bunche and attended the 1945 San Francisco Conference, said that the "great virtues of the Charter are like the Constitution of the United States, they provide many opportunities for creative innovation" (see page 18). He believed that observers of the UN Charter's history should remain grateful that it has had such a pervasive impact upon the workings of the entire Organization.