23
Thirty-one years of the U.N. : an assessment
In its three decades of existence, the United Nations has kept pace with the ever-changing world situation and structure of international relations. It has become increasingly universal and representative of the vast segments of humanity. It has not only survived but has emerged as a forum for preserving and consolidating world peace, promoting decolonisation, reaffirming faith in fundamental human rights and promoting co-operation among nations.
India was one of the original signatories of the U.N. Charter when it was adopted in San Francisco thirty-one years ago today. Despite this passage of time the purposes and the principles of the Charter continue to be of value and relevance. The Charter contains all the ingredients necessary for establishing and maintaining conditions under which men and women can live in peace, freedom and dignity. The U.N. Charter Day provides a fitting occasion for rededication by all its member-states to the principles and purposes enshrined in the Charter.
Over the years, the U.N. system has demonstrated its indispensability. Its effectiveness however depends on what the Member-States make of it in the pursuit of the common cherished goals of peace, justice and progress. India's late Prime Minister Nehru said while addressing the U.N. General Assembly in 1960:
"The United Nations has played a great role and it is a little difficult now to think of this troubled world without the U.N. If it had defects, they lay in the world situation itself which inevitably it mirrored. If there had been no United Nations today, our first task would be to create something of that kind."
The United Nations provides a forum where Member-States can have a free and frank exchange of views. Such discussions focus attention on important international issues and generate the necessary political will to find solutions for them. With the United Nations becoming increasingly universal, we have to work collectively and in a spirit of co-operation so that it becomes a more effective instrument for the establishment of world peace and a new international economic and social order based on equality and justice.
