Looking Back. Looking Ahead.

THE UNITED NATIONS AND GLOBAL CHALLENEGES.

In the pages that follow, and in the forthcoming issues of the Chronicle, eminent women and men, who have given thought to what the Organization can and should represent and achieve, share their views on what the world expects of its United Nations in the new century.

First, a perspective from Secretary-General Kofi Annan, reflected in an address to scholars at a seminar in Beijing on "The United Nations in the Twenty-first Century", sponsored by the United Nations Association of China:

Our global mission takes many forms-from development to peacekeeping, to human rights and good governance. Today, however, I would like to concentrate on two issues.

The first is the one that I broached in my address to this year's General Assembly. It is a controversial issue, but I believe that one of my responsibilities as Secretary-General is to highlight major issues that the international community needs to confront, even when, perhaps especially when, they are controversial and difficult.

My objective was to stimulate a vigorous debate among Member States on what I consider one of the most important and difficult challenges facing us as we move into the new millennium.

How do we ensure that the United Nations plays its rightful, effective role in maintaining international peace and security?

Our role in the area of peace and security has evolved significantly over the last decade. Many of the new peacekeeping missions deployed over this period involved the United Nations in situations of internal conflict, where we sought to put an end to senseless bloodshed and often massive violations of human rights. But, as this year's Kosovo crisis showed us, there is as yet no consensus within the international community about its rights and responsibilities in such circumstances.

There is often a tension between the cardinal principle of sovereignty and the equally fundamental value of human rights, both enshrined in the United Nations Charter.

In recent years, there have been interventions in compelling humanitarian situations or where there have been gross and systematic violations of human rights. Our own Charter makes it clear that "armed force shall not be used, save in the common interest".

But what is the common interest?

In my speech to the General Assembly in October, I invited Member States to consider this vital question.

Who defines it?

Who acts to defend it; under whose authority?

Clearly, the Security...