January 09, 2007

Proposal for Reform of theGeneral Assembly Representation/K.Zaim

1/14/2007

Tehran, Iran
His Excellency Ban Ki-moon
The Secretary General of
The United Nations
First Avenue at 46th Street
New York, NY 10017


Subject: Proposal for Reform of the
General Assembly Representation

Your Excellency,

The United Nations is meant to be a world government and, technically, an authoritative body much more powerful than the member countries. This, however, has not been the case, and the existing administrative structure of the UN does not allow for an independent and powerful world government.
The UN does not posses the strength it is expected to have, and not because there is any flaw in the idea of the UN, but in how its membership and representation is defined. Although this world body is the "United Nations" by definition, it is the "United Governments" by rule and practice. The strength of the UN is dependent on how strong and when and for what purpose the more powerful or favored member governments allow it to be. The UN should eventually be the final and independent authority serving the interests of the people of the world. However, because it is represented by the governments rather than the nations, it does not always enjoy the support of the peoples of the member countries. This may not be as serious of a case for countries where leaders are chosen through free elections, but, in the countries ruled by despots or in which free elections are rarely experienced, is of grave concern. The UN has, as a result, been a brokerage house for governments, a great number of which have not been and still are not true representatives of their peoples.

The flaw I see is in the way the "nations" are represented in the General Assembly. The representatives currently are all government appointees and bureaucrats, not true representatives of their respective peoples. As the result, the General Assembly is not a true representation of the united "nations".

Furthermore, if we, as the citizens of a united world, wish to look forward to a central federal government of the world, we must develop the instruments by which this dream can come true.

What I am about to propose is a major reform in the rules of the General Assembly representation, which is in line with my thinking of the future for the UN. I propose reform of the rules to require all member nations to elect their representatives to the General Assembly in free popular elections, much like presidents and parliamentarians are elected. The job of a nation's representation in the United Nations must be an extremely important responsibility and, as I see it, will some day become the "most important" responsibility in any country.

Therefore, I propose that the Article 9 of Chapter IV of the Charter be amended by adding section 3 and 4 as follows:
1. General Assembly shall consist of all the Members of the United Nations.
2. Each Member shall have not more than five representatives in the General Assembly.
3. The representation of each Member in the General Assembly shall be headed by one elected by popular vote of in the respective member nation. The elected representative holds the right to vote in the General Assembly.
4. The election of the UN representatives shall be conducted according to the rules and guidelines of the UN. UN reserves the right to supervise or observe elections of the General Assembly representatives.
The above proposed amendment will make UN business a very serious business and the UN a very powerful people-oriented world body.
Respectfully submitted,
Kourosh Zaim
An Iranian Political Activist
Kourosh_zaim@yahoo.com
Cell: +98-912-113 8108

بازگشت