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The UN at 60 : A case for early retirement
by Ian Hackett

On October 24th 2006 the UN celebrated its 60th anniversary; 60 years since it was set up to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war” and “to bring about by peaceful means, and in conformity with the principles of justice and international law, adjustment or settlement of international disputes or situations which might lead to a breach of the peace; to be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations in the attainment of these common ends.”

. From the beginning, the failure of the United Nations Charter, with its anti-democratic underpinning of a Security Council ruled by its “permanent members”, each with a power of veto, was inevitable. What we need now, as a matter of urgency, is a democratic convention capable of generating a democratic global framework that will allow us to deal with the threats we face.

Essentials of a World Constitution are:

1. A Bill of Rights.
2. A popularly elected legislature to enact world laws.
3. A world court to interpret those laws, with compulsory jurisdiction over world disputes.
4. A civilian executive branch with the power to enforce world laws directly upon individuals.
5. A system of checks and balances to prevent the abuse of power by any branch of the world government.
6. The control of all weapons of mass destruction by the world government, with the disarmament of all nations, under careful inspection, down to the level required for internal policing.
7. Carefully designed and limited power of taxation to support those functions necessary to world peace and the solution of problems affecting, to a vital degree, the welfare of all mankind.
8. Reasonable provision for amendments.
9. Participation in the world government to be open at all times to all nations.
10. All power not expressly delegated to the world government to be reserved to the nations and their peoples, thus leaving each nation free to choose its own political, social and economic systems.

The 21st century’s global convention would need to be initiated and sanctioned by most, if not all, of the world’s existing powers.

The 1797 Philadelphia convention took less than a year to create a new constitution for the new United States of America that would come into effect when 9 of the 13 states had ratified it.

Just as the implementation of the USA’s constitution led to the replacement of the New York based Confederation Congress that had presided ever more ineffectually over its fractious membership, a 21st century global convention will provide for the replacement of the similarly ineffectual New York based UN.

The global revolution arising from the world’s current contradictions must end one day, and a global convention will be needed to pick up the pieces and to organise a new framework for global democracy. All that remains in doubt is how soon it will happen and what will be left to organise when it does.

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