CAMDUN-2

The Second International Conference On A More Democratic United Nations (CAMDUN-2), met under the title of "The United Nations and a New World Order for Peace and Justice" on 17-19 September 1991 at the UN's Vienna International Centre. The Conference was convened by Dr Hans Koechler, President of the International Progress Organization.

The Conference considered a wide range of proposals and suggestions on the subject of the reform and modernization of the United Nations, including those put forward by the Stockholm Initiative (1), Harold Stassen (2), Brian Urquhart and Erskine Childers (3), and by the participants of CAMDUN-1 (4).

The Concluding Plenary Session agreed to the release for distribution of the following lists of some of the issues that were discussed. Governments, non-governmental organizations and the interested public are invited to give these items their consideration.

LIST 1

Proposals that appear feasible under the UN Charter as it exists

1.1 Establishing a standing committee of the General Assembly of 15 rotating, geographically representative members, not at the same time members of the Security Council, to report to the Assembly on the adequacy of efforts made by the Council to resolve disputes and armed conflicts by peaceful means (Chapter VI), and if necessary by non-military measures of enforcement (Article 41) and non-offensive military measures (e.g. blockade under Article 42) (5).

1.2 Relinquishing by enlightened governments to their legislatures the selection of one or more of the five General Assembly representatives allowed to each member state(4).

1.3 Instituting a UN Second (peoples') Assembly as a subsidiary organ of the General Assembly under Article 22, representative of the peoples of the United Nations as global inhabitants (4).

1.4 Convening a regular assembly of public organizations under the auspices of the United Nations (6).

1.5 Drafting of an international convention on the Right of Peoples to Peace, elaborated from the UN's Declaration of 1984 on the Right of Peoples to Peace, to include provisions on collective equal rights of peoples and on the right to self-determination by legal and nonviolent means (7).

1.6 Making the appointment of the UN Secretary-General and other UN executive leaders
from professional search procedures instead of dominantly by parochial, national, geographical and political considerations (3).

1.7 Strengthening the roles of the UN's Administrative Committee on Coordination and of its Chair (the Secretary-General) towards the development of an international cabinet for a coordinated approach to global problems (3).

1.8 Adhering to Article 27(3) so that an abstention by a permanent member of the Security Council is not regarded as an affirmative vote (5).

1.9 Depriving member states which do not adhere to the financial rules of their right to vote in the General Assembly, strictly in accordance with the Charter (1), as provided by Article 19.

LIST 2

Proposals that may require Charter amendment

2.1 Instituting a UN duty on international trade, including financial movements (5), between member states, to provide the core funding of the Organization.

2.2 Enlarging the Security Council to 18 members (2).

2.3 Abolishing the Security Council "veto"(4) (8), by instituting non-discriminatory voting powers or failing this by providing for a non-concurring vote of permanent members to be overridden by a concurring vote of the non-permanent members (5).

2.4 Dividing the existing Chapter VII of the Charter into two distinct chapters to separate clearly non-military and non-offensive military enforcement measures from other "such action by air, sea, or land forces as may be necessary" (5).

2.5 Renaming the Security Council as "The Peace and Security Council" if under a revised Charter it continues to have "primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security."

REFERENCES

1. The Stockholm Initiative on Global Security and Governance. Common Responsibility in the 1990s. Stockholm: Office of the Prime Minister of Sweden, 1991.

2. Harold Stassen, Draft Charter Suggested for a Better United Nations Organization. 4th edition. New York: The Glenview Foundation, 1990.

3. Brian Urquhart and Erskine Childers, A World in Need of Leadership: Tomorrow's United Nations. Uppsala: Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation, 1990.

4. Proceedings of the 1990 International Conference On A More Democratic United Nations (CAMDUN-1). Building A More Democratic United Nations. London: Frank Cass & Co., 1991.

5. CAMDUN-2. The United Nations and a New World Order for Peace and Justice. 17-19 September 1991, Vienna.

6. Mikhail Gorbachev. Address to the 43rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly, 7 December 1988.

7. John Fried, The United Nations' Effort to Establish a Right of the Peoples to Peace. Pace Yearbook of International Law, Volume 2, pp.21-66. New York: Pace University School of Law, 1990.

8. Hans Koechler, The Voting Procedure in the United Nations Security Council. Examining a Normative Contradiction in the UN Charter and its Consequences on International Relations. Studies In International Relations, Volume 17, Vienna: International Progress Organization, 1991.