Stories written by Boutros-Ghali Boutros
Boutros Boutros-Ghali was Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1992-1996.

THE ENVIRONMENT: MORE AWARENESS BUT NO PROGRESS

By Boutros-Ghali Boutros
The greatest environmental challenge the 21st century is water, writes Boutros Boutros-Ghali, secretary-general of the United Nations between 1992-1996. In this analysis, the author writes that the problem is not so much a lack of water on a global scale but inequities in its distribution. Brazil, Russia, Canada, the US, China, Indonesia, India, Colombia and the European Union monopolise almost two-thirds of global water resources. In the developing world, 90 percent of the water used has not been treated for impurities. In the poorest countries all of these problems accumulate and compound each other. The illnesses caused by contaminated water constitute a serious obstacle to economic development not only by causing millions of deaths but also by rendering hundreds of millions of people incapacitated In addition to the problems of pollution and waste is the fact that many countries depend for their water on sources outside of their countries. Therefore, the challenge, here as in many other areas, is to replace relations of force with relations of solidarity, cooperation, and collective administration. Education, particularly about the environment, must be made universal, for this is the only way to bring about the development of awareness and engender a sense of responsibility and commitment to safeguard the common patrimony of the earth.

THE NEW GHETTOS

By Boutros-Ghali Boutros
The fight against poverty must consist of a long-term policy and be monitored closely and continuously, writes Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1992-1996. In this article, Boutros-Ghali writes that without underestimating the importance of emergency aid, this sort of action should be avoided because it is effective only in the short term. More and more frequently, we find that once the crisis has passed and peace is restored, the area in question is abandoned to its fate and almost certain to slide back into misery. It is also necessary to take into account the profound diversity of the situations of those in dire need of assistance. The respective plights of the population of Monrovia during the civil war, the inhabitants of a favela, and a group of refugees cannot be approached in the same manner. Each situation has its own conditions and requires a specific response.

PEACEFUL CO-EXISTENCE: A PROVEN IDEA FOR A TUMULTUOUS WORLD

By Boutros-Ghali Boutros
The principle of peaceful co-existence has just turned fifty, and while the pessimists feel that it is out of fashion, the optimists believe that it is more important than ever, writes Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Secretary General of the UN from 1992-1996. On 29 April 1954, the China and India signed an Agreement on Trade and Communications between the Tibet region of China and India based on five principles: mutual respect for each other\'s territorial integrity and sovereignty; mutual non-aggression; mutual non-interference in each other\'s internal affairs; equality and mutual benefit; peaceful co-existence. In his article, the author writes that pessimists hold the five principles have lost their force because they are linked with the UN, marginalised since the end of the Cold War and the emergence of a single superpower. To apply the five principles there is no need to wait for an overhaul of the UN system, since the basic concepts are already in the Charter. They can be made more effective by taking into consideration the drastic technical changes brought about during the post-Cold War period, globalisation, the increasing gap between rich and poor countries, the multiplicity of internal wars, and the unilateralism of the lonely superpower\'s policy.

CURE ILLS OF GLOBALISATION BY DEMOCRATISING IT

By Boutros-Ghali Boutros
The current process of globalisation is generating widespread distress, destroying traditional connections of solidarity, and marginalising entire countries and even entire regions while raising the risk of war, exclusion, hatred, and ethnic and religious conflict, writes Boutros-Boutros Ghali, UN Secretary General from 1992-1996. In this article, the author argues that the globalisation of the economy must be accompanied by the development of a global movement for democracy. Global democracy cannot be limited to a transformation of the structures of national democracy. Its objective must be a new architecture structured in such a way that it is controlled directly not by citizens but by states, multi-national corporations, non-governmental organisations, municipalities, and political parties. This will require the creation of new political institutions as well as the reform of the existing international institutions. While these ideas may seem futuristic or utopian, the author writes that peace among nations grounded in a democratisation of globalisation is a desirable, and reachable, goal.

DEMOCRATISE GLOBALISATION BEFORE GLOBALISATION DENATURES DEMOCRACY

By Boutros-Ghali Boutros
While globalisation has generated great hope for much of the world, it has also given rise to numerous threats, writes Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1992-1996. The author writes that we must democratise globalisation before globalisation denatures democracy. To begin with, the UN system itself needs to be more thoroughly democratised, specifically the Security Council, which remains Eurocentric and does not take into account the emergence of new major powers over the last 50 years. The push to democratise risks undermining the logic that drives it if it results in the location of global power beyond the reach of the states, and if the new sites of power do not operate according to democratic principles. Only a new conception of solidarity can prevent or at least attenuate the inevitable exclusions that global society carries within itself. But solidarity cannot be decreed. It must arise out of a collective engagement, that is, the participation of states as well as the non-state actors of contemporary international society.

DEMOCRACY AND DEVELOPMENT MUST GO TOGETHER

By Boutros-Ghali Boutros
At the heart of the international debate is the relation between development and democracy, writes Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Secretary General of the United Nations from 1992-1996. In this article the author writes that these two concepts are inherently intertwined but have all too often been treated as separate. The achievement of both is fundamental to the future of world peace. Development is essential to complement and reinforce democracy. It represents the set of economic, social, and cultural aspirations to which all societies aspire. The right to development is a human right. It should involve all aspects of human life. Inequality, poverty, exclusion, religious fanaticism, racism, xenophobia, and lack of dialogue are all impediments to development which ought to be overcome if we are to work towards the establishment of a more global democratic culture. The mere fact that these are still common traits of modern societies highlights the need for participation and involvement in the democratic process. It reveals that freedom of opinion and expression are not only rights that are to be taken for granted, but rights that must be put into practice.

WILL UNILATERALISM DESTROY THE UN?

By Boutros-Ghali Boutros
Closely following world events, I fear that unilateralism may destroy the United Nations, writes Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1991-1995. To a certain extent, the UN plays the role of scapegoat, the author writes. The real problem is that the UN is not able to speak up. How can it defend itself by saying that a given dispute is due to Member State A when Member State A is its boss? If it were to use diplomatic weapons, it would have to say Country A is responsible. But Country A could then retaliate by stoping paying its dues and thus marginalising the whole UN machinery. The fact that we are confronted by new problems means there is a need for a drastic change in the UN. We must prepare ourselves for the third generation of international organisations, to succeed the UN as it succeeded the League of Nations. The third generation will not come about by changing the composition of the Security Council or by revolutionising the operation of the General Assembly by through drastic change in the overall concept. The change needed is to obtain the participation of non-State actors in international affairs. We will not be able to solve certain problems without the participation of, let us say, big cities, or non-governmental organisations, or multinational corporations.
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