An opportunity to reflect on the UN Charter.

• Author: Srivastava, Paritosh
• Position: EducationWatch

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...