2001: the United Nations and Kofi Annan: 'the only negotiable route to global peace'.

• Position: The Nobel Prize

The centenary year of Nobel Prizes gave the Nobel Committee pause. It was time to consider historical continuities, the ideals of the unity of mankind and the promotion of justice and humanity as envisaged by Alfred Nobel. The culmination of this scrutiny was the recognition of the United Nations and Secretary-General Kofi Annan as the Nobel Peace Laureates for the first year of the new century--the first time the Organization as a whole and its serving chief executive had been so directly honoured The Prize was to applaud the spirit of strengthening cooperation among States, the promotion of global peace and security, as well as the international mobilization aimed at meeting the economic, social and environmental challenges of the world. The award also clearly demonstrated the conviction of the Norwegian Nobel Committee that the United Nations had come into its own, acting more fully the part it was meant to play and achieving many successes, despite occasional setbacks. The Committee proclaimed that "the only negotiable route to global peace and cooperation goes by way of the United Nations".

The Peace Prize was a vindication for the Organization since even as it challenges criticisms of being without power or effectiveness--it can recount its successes in peacekeeping operations, economic and human development, and human rights protection, operating as an instrument of peace, a focal point for international law and a forum for development of inter-racial understanding and amity. From the "repercussions of the Gulf War, the wars in the former Yugoslavia and especially in Kosovo, the status of East Timor (Timor-Leste), the war in the Congo and the implementation of the UN resolutions concerning the Middle East", the list of its global outreach is impressive. In his presentation speech, Nobel Committee Chairman Gunnar Berge said the UN had achieved more than its founders believed possible. "The UN could have won the award so often that in the end it never did." Its success lies in the fact, he said, that greater and smaller powers have been able to come together to face diverse global, regional and local challenges. Noting that the Prize was being awarded by the Committee in its centenary year, the citation proclaimed "that the only negotiable route to global peace and cooperation goes by way of the United Nations".

In its reference to Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the citation describes his pre-eminence "in bringing new life to the...