September 18 2017 kicks off the annual general assembly of the United Nations. This is an occasion for leaders of the entire world to get together and discuss the many issues that are going on the world. It is an occasion for the people of the world to give a thought on this world body’s work. We are allow here to wonder if the objectives that the United Nations set for itself are sustainable in today’s world. At today’s opening words of the general assembly session,a prominent world leader call for the need to » reform the United Nations in order to better serve the people it represents. » Indeed, the UN does need to be refomed in order to adress the needs of today’s world. Therefore, what types of reforms will better serve the people leaving in Africa.
We ought to give the UN its main merit and achievement the maintenance of international order. Since its creation, the UN had been able to maintain the world peace has it is related to the war between each states. Most conflicts had been resolved through diplomacy. And, France and Germany which had been at the center of the wars have achieved the goals of leaving in peace. Genocide has been avoided with the exception of the one that occurred in 1994 in Rwanda.
The UN can also be accredited for its humanitarian actions. In fact, the humanitarian actions has been the main achievement of the UN. In countries where there are civil wars, the United Nations through its peace keeping mission, was able to preserve the dignity of humans. It is for the preservation of human dignity that the United Nations broke its principle of sovereignty to intervene in Rwanda after more than a million people killed.
As we must know, the principle of sovereignty is at the essence of the United Nations existence. And its charter on article 2.7 states clearly that « Nothing contained in the present charter shall authorize the UN to intervienne in the domestic jurisdiction of any state or shall require the members to submit such matters to settlement under the present charter. » How can the UN better serve the people it represents when the principle of sovereignty limits its actions to matters that are generated by conflicts between states but not within each states.
For couple of years, we have assisted in many constitutional crisis in some African counties of the sub Saharan zone ( the Congo, the RDC, Gabon and so for). These constitutional crisis have been generated by the manipulation of the constitution in order to maintain dictatorships within the continent leaving the people of these nations powerless. The wars within these nations do alienate human rights. In some locations because of these civil conflicts, a lot young people do not go to school for a long period of time , women are raped and the government can’t provide security for its own population. This really goes against the the universal declaration of humans rights adopted in 1948. This is just to say that there are a lot of humanitarian opportunities for the UN that we wonder if the principle of sovereignty ought to be rethink. The millennium development goals declaration in which, the UN set to eradicate extreme poverty, to achieve universal primary education, to promote gender equality and empower women, to reduce child mortality.., can not be sustainable as long as these dictatorships remained unchecked, are enjoying the principle of sovereignty that let them inflict suffering to their own people. The reform should consider as well the humanitarian crisis and not to wait for a million people to be killed in order to intervene. One life is as important as the life of a million people.
Les chroniques de la diaspora 