A special partnership with the UN: an Asian perspective.

• Author: Davide, Jr., Hilario G.
• Position: United Nations' and Asia's partnership

The mission of the United Nations to carve out a safe, prosperous and just world from the ashes of the Second World War remains today an urgent global undertaking. For the past 61 years of its existence, the Organization's major organs contributed significantly, and greatly, to this end.

The UN Secretariat has played a catalytic role, steered by the distinguished services of its seven former Secretaries-General, under different turbulent periods of the United Nations history. The incumbent Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon of the Republic of Korea, the second Asian at the helm of the United Nations, has already proven, during his first few months in office, not only his diligence, competence, sincerity and dedication to duty, but also the Asian obsession for unity in diversity, where cooperation is not deterred by such dichotomies as North-South or East-West divides.

Asia is a continent where more than 60 per cent of the world's population live with their diverse languages, where Abrahamic (Christianity, Islam and Judaism) and Dharmic religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism), Confucianism, Taoism, Zen Buddhism and Shinto originated, and where three of the world's largest economies (China, India and Japan) contribute to the continent's gross domestic product (GDP)/purchasing power parity amounting to $18 trillion in 2003 and a GDP/per capita of $2,143. As an Asian, the Secretary-General is no stranger to heterogeneity and is highly qualified to lead his multinational civil servants in the service of the world and humanity.

The Secretary-General should now lay emphasis on the implementation of existing international commitments. Member States have generated a number of commitments, such as those stipulated in the Millennium Declaration, the Rio Declaration on the Environment and Development, the Monterrey Consensus on Financing for Development and the 2005 World Summit Outcome Document, whose goals have yet to be realized. Lest the UN planning process outpace its implementation, it behoves the Secretariat to take stock of unfinished businesses, pursue the reforms envisioned by the Secretary-General, set up benchmarks for implementation to ensure that concrete results can be reported back to Member States, and provide technical services to deserving countries so that they can measure up to their commitments.

While more emphasis should be given to ensure that international commitments come to fruition, it is equally important for the...