October 19, 2009

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  In expressing love we belong among the undeveloped countries.  (Saul Bellow)

  This weekend we will be celebrating United Nations Day.  Most of you probably do not know that I am  quite involved with the United Nations.  (Not for my job – just as a hobby.)  The problem with saying that, is that most people only think of the United Nations as the Security Council and/or the General Assembly.  The worst part of the UN.  I actually am more involved with the UN Agencies such as UNICEF, UNESCO, WHO, etc.  They are the part of the UN that does a tremendous amount of good work all around the world in collaboration with the over 25,000 NGOs (Non-Government Organizations). 

  The paradigm of the Security Council and General Assembly, which is what you hear the most about, is one of competition and control.  Each country, especially the US, only gets involved if it can control the actions and feels that it is in competition with other countries.  And the US isn’t the only one.  However there are some great examples that would be good to emulate such as United Kingdom, Canada, and others.

  But the paradigm of the UN Agencies is one of collaboration and cooperation – not competition and control.  UNICEF, along with many NGOs, do a tremendous amount of good assisting the children in the world.  From assisting in the eradication of chidhood diseases (along with the WHO – World Health Organization), education, human rights for girls, etc.  UNESCO is an unsung hero.  It is through UNESCO that we have any international business dealings.  They are responsible for international mail procedures, international water rights, intellectual property rights across national boundaries, and many other scientific and business dealings. 

  I have been very involved with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which were goals set by all members of the UN (190 then, 192 now) to not just talk about doing the right things, but setting goals.  Like cutting in half the number of people worldwide who earn less than $1.00 a day, increasing the number of girls who obtain an elementary school education by a certain percentage, cutting the number of maternal deaths and infant deaths by one-half. etc. etc.  (There are eight in all.)  The Clinton Initiative has done a lot to promote these goals also.

  I have also been very involved with the United Nations Global Compact which is the United Nations working with the business sector around the world to promote the principles of Sustainability and Human Rights for workers to stamp out sweat shops.  The Sustainability emphasis is on the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) Accountability of Financial, Evironmental, and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) – or profit/planet/people.  Over 4,000 major corporations have signed on and I have assisted in the evaluation of their CoP’s (Communications on Progress) that each one must publish each year just like a corporate annual financial booklet.  It’s amazing how many companies in Brazil are ahead of the companies in the US in terms of Sustainability.  But it’s also amazing how many more US companies are performing Sustainability reporting – many of the Fortune 500 and also 100. 

  So when someone on FOX news says that the UN is worthless, realize that they’re talking about just the Security Council and the General Assembly and that they don’t know what they hell they’re talking about.  The UN is not only the best organization doing good around the world, it’s the only one that can do it at the international level.  The reason for the UN is that Global Problems require Global Solutions.  Global Problems will never be fixed by individual organizations, individual corporations, or individual countries.  It must be a Global Approach and the UN is the only organization set up to deal with these global issues.

  • 9:44 pm
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