A victim of its own popularity?

• Position: United Nations - The Road to Reform - Cover Story

The UN is being restructured to serve its ends anew the Secretary-General stated in his 1992 report on the work of the Organization (A/47/1). "Yet, amid the tumult of demands placed upon it, the United Nations cannot afford to become a victim of its own popularity, suffering from a crisis of expectations rather than, as in the past, from a lack of credibility in its capacity to command consensos", the Secretary-General declared.

"In carrying out its added responsibilities, the institutional innovation and political resilience of the organization have been as striking as its financial insecurity."

A year later, in September 1993, Mr. Boutros-Ghali warned: "The unprecedented growth in the demand for the services of the United Nations has stretched financial resources to the breaking point."

Hand to mouth

Indeed, he announced to the Fifth Committee on 26 August that the UN was "living from hand to mouth". To deal with the grave financial crisis, he cracked down on overtime and travel, as well as the use of outside consultants.

Although the crisis was not new, the situation had become "very difficult", he went on. Earlier in the month, he had informed Heads of State and Government of the Security Council members that with total cash reserves sufficient for less than two months of operations, the financial situation of the UN might soon prevent it "from discharging its responsibilities for international peace and security".

A most serious problem facing the UN was the cash-flow situation regarding peace-keeping operations, the Secretary-General reported. On 11 August, a group of peace-keeping troop-contributing countries expressed concern (S/26273) over delays in reimbursement of expenses, which they said would make it difficult to participate in UN peace-keeping operations, particularly for developing countries.

Advisory Group

To help solve UN financial problems, the Ford Foundation, at the request of the Secretary-General, assembled in September 1992 an independent advisory group to recommend ways to create a secure, long-term financial base for the Organization. In February 1993, the group published a report entitled "Financing an Effective Nations", which the Secretary-General has described as "comprehensive" and containing "many valuable recommendations".

The group, which was co-chaired by Shijuro Ogata, former Deputy Governer of the Japan Development Bank, and Paul Volcker, former Board of Governors' Chairman of the United States Federal...