Proposal to Reform the United Nations

Proposal to Reform the United Nations

 

 

Preamble

It is obvious that the current United Nations is not democratic and fair because it is effectively controlled by the five States which have the veto power.

 

Even to amend it to become a better democratic global institution is impossible because the Security Council stops such process.

 

This situation must be stopped at any cost. The vast majority of the Member states are deprived of their equitable place and dignity in this present system. Therefore, they must be prepared to be brave and smart enough to re-form a new United Nations, if the existing system is not willing to be reformed in better and democratic way.

 

 

     1.    A new UN Charter should be adopted based on the current Charter with amendments to include the proposed changes herewith.

 

 

     2.    The functional and administrative organizational hierarchy should be as follows.

 

     3.    The General Assembly (UNGA) shall be made the apex body of the UN, and all other arms/offices/units of the UN shall be under the UNGA.

Resolutions shall be passed by the simple majority of the Members present.
 
Resolutions relating to recognition of new States, imposition of sanctions on States, employing military power on any State shall be passed by a simple majority of the General Assembly followed by a simple majority of the Security Council, or shall be passed by a two-thirds majority (special majority) of the General Assembly alone. 

 

 

    4.    The Members of the UN shall have multiple voting powers based on different criteria:

a.    Nominal membership – one voting power;

b.    Geographic area (landmass) – up to four additional voting powers;

c.     Population as at the base year 2024 – up to four additional voting powers;

d.    Reserved Forrest density – up to two additional voting powers;

e.    Economic power – up to four additional voting powers;

f.     Humanity index – up to two additional voting powers.

 

 

     5.    Each independent territory (let’s call it a country) regardless of its geographic or population size shall be made a Member of the UN, giving each such country one permanent voting power.

 

 

     6.    Based on the geographic (land) size of each Member, up to four voting powers must be given in proportion to Member’s geographic size. Thus, I propose that: 

a.    Russia having a total area of around 17,000,000 km² which is around 11% of the total global landmass must be given four voting powers;

b.    Canada, China, Australia, the United States, Brazil which each has roughly 5-6% of total global landmass must each be given three voting powers;

c.     India, Argentina, Kazakhstan, Algeria, DR Congo, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Indonesia, Libya, Sudan, Iran, Mongolia, Peru, Chad, Niger, Angola, Mali, South Africa, Colombia, Ethiopia, Bolivia, Mauritania, Egypt, Denmark (with Greenland) should each have two voting powers;

d.    Tanzania, Nigeria, Venezuela, Pakistan, Namibia, Mozambique, Turkey, Chile, Zambia, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Somalia, Central African Republic, South Sudan, Ukraine, Madagascar, Botswana, Kenya, France, Yemen, Thailand, Spain, Turkmenistan, Cameroon, Papua New Guinea, Sweden, Uzbekistan, Morocco, Iraq, Paraguay, Zimbabwe, Japan, Philippines, Congo, Finland, Vietnam, Malaysia, Norway, Cote d’Ivoire, Poland, Oman, Italy, Ecuador, Burkina Faso, New Zealand, Gabon, Western Sahara, Guinea, United Kingdom, Uganda, Ghana, Romania, Laos, Guyana, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Senegal, Cambodia, Uruguay, Suriname, Tunisia, Bangladesh, Nepal, Tajikistan, Greece, Nicaragua, North Korea, Malawi, Eritrea, Benin, Honduras, Liberia, Bulgaria, Cuba, Guatemala, Iceland, South Korea should have one additional voting power each. 

 

  

     7.    Based on population in each Member state (base year as 2024), up to four voting powers must be assigned in proportion to the population of each Member state. Thus, I propose that: 

a.    India and China should have four additional voting powers each;

b.    The United States, Indonesia, Pakistan, Nigeria, Brazil, Bangladesh, Russia, Mexico, Ethiopia, Japan, Philippines, Egypt, DR Congo, Vietnam should have three additional voting powers each;

c.     Iran, Turkey, Germany, Thailand, United Kingdom, Tanzania, France, South Africa, Italy, Kenya, Myanmar, Columbia, South Korea, Uganda, Sudan, Spain, Argentina, Algeria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Poland, Canada, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine, Angola, Uzbekistan, Yemen, Peru, Malaysia, Ghana, Mozambique, Nepal, Madagascar, Cote d’Ivoire, Venezuela, Cameroon, Niger, Australia, North Korea, Taiwan, Mali, Burkina Faso, Syria, Sri Lanka, Malawi, Zambia, Romania should each have two additional voting powers;

d.    Chile, Kazakhstan, Chad, Ecuador, Somalia, Guatemala, Senegal, Netherlands, Cambodia, Zimbabwe, Guinea, Rwanda, Benin, Burundi, Tunisia, Bolivia, Haiti, Belgium, Jordan, Dominican Republic, Cuba, South Sudan, Sweden, Honduras, Czech Republic, Azerbaijan, Greece, Papua New Guinea, Portugal, Hungary, Tajikistan, United Arab Emirates, Belarus, Israel, Togo, Austria, Switzerland, Sierra Leone, Laos, Hong Kong, Serbia, Nicaragua, Libya, Paraguay, Kyrgyzstan, Bulgaria, Turkmenistan, El Salvador, Congo, Singapore, Denmark, Slovakia, Central African Republic, Finland, Norway, Liberia, State of Palestine, Lebanon, New Zealand, Costa Rica, Ireland, Mauritania, Oman, Panama, Kuwait, Croatia, Eritrea, Georgia, Mongolia, Moldova, Uruguay, Puerto Rico, Bosnia, Albania, Jamaica, Armenia, Gambia, Lithuania, Qatar, Botswana, Namibia, Gabon, Lesotho, Guinea-Bissau, Slovenia, North Macedonia, Latvia, Equatorial Guinea, Trinidad and Tobago, Bahrain, Timor-Leste, Estonia, Mauritius, Cyprus, Eswatini, Djibouti, reunion should each have one additional voting power.

 

 

     8.    Based on the economic power (GDP or another globally accepted fair measure of the economic power of a state), up to four additional voting powers should be assigned to each Member state in proportion.  

The economic power shall be calculated once every two years.

 

 

     9.    The countries must be encouraged to foster and regenerate forests, and other natural resources.

As a basic principle in this regard, each country must be persuaded to keep at least 25% of its territorial land as reserved forests enacted and protected by strict laws and regulations within the country.
 
The UNGA must promulgate the standards and specifications so each member state could be guided accordingly.
 
Member states which perform not less than to 100% of these standards and specifications should be given two additional voting powers each; and Member states which perform at least to 75% of the above-mentioned standards and specifications must be given one additional voting power each.

 

 

    10. The countries must be encouraged to advance the living conditions of both humans and animals. Moreover, sustainable development including the 4R (Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) concept must be integrated in the culture and lifestyle of peoples.

 

An objective measure of how well each country performs the duties, responsibilities, functions, and powers of these matters must be globally defined as “Humanity Index”.

 

Depending on the performance of each Member state in this index alone, up to two additional voting powers must be assigned to each Member state.

 

 

    11. The Security Council of the United Nations (UNSC) shall have two layers of membership as illustrated below:

a.    Permanent Members – nine such member states: the United States, United Kingdom, Russia, China, France, India, a Latin American country (to be decided), an African country (to be decided), Middle East country (to be decided);

b.    Elected Members – nine such member states; each such state shall be elected annually for two years by the General Assembly on an equitable rotation basis; one third of such states are removed and new states are elected annually; only States having more than three voting power in the UNGA at the election moment is eligible for this election.

 

 

    12. Resolutions are passed by simple majority of the total members present and not present, in the UNSC unless a full veto is exercised.

 

 

    13. Each Permanent Member of the UNSC shall have half-veto power.

Each elected member state shall have quasi-veto power.
 
A full veto power can reject any proposal in the UNSC.
 
A full veto power can be constituted as follows:

1.    One half-veto + One half-veto

2.    One half-veto + Four quasi-veto

 

 

    14. A Permanent Member of the UNSC shall be deprived of two voting powers in the UNGA; and 

An elected Member of the UNSC shall be deprived of one voting power in the UNGA during its tenure in the UNSC.
 

 

    15. The Secretary General of the United Nations is the chief administration officer of the UN. 

His tenure shall be four years. A fit person is eligible to be elected as the Secretary General not more than twice.

 

Only fit persons who have been working as or are still working as a Deputy Secretary General or a Deputy Secretary are eligible to be elected as the Secretary General.

 

 

    16. The Secretary General is assisted by three Deputy Secretaries General (one as the Secretary of UNSC, one as the Secretary of UNGA, one as the Secretary of ESOC), a number of Deputy Secretaries and a number of Assistant Secretaries.

 

 

    17. ESOC shall retain its current network of international organizations either directly instituted under the UN system, or affiliated with treaties. In addition, I suggest the following institutions should be brought under the ESOC either way.

1.    The administration of the DNS system (including the root servers) of the Internet;

2.    The administration of the Domains (TLD) of the Internet;

3.    The administration of the IP and IP ports of the Internet;

4.    The SWIFT (Society for Worldwide International Financial Telecommunications);

5.    The Galileo Global Navigation Satellite System;

6.    The Interpol (integrating with the current UN agencies with similar interests).

 

 

    18. A Permanent Member state of the UNSC shall not be eligible to be elected as a Chairperson to the UNSC, the UNGA, the ESOC, or as the Secretary General of the UN; 

An elected Member state of the UNSC shall not be eligible to be elected as a Chairperson to the UNGA or the ESOC during its tenure in the UNSC.

 

 

    19. The Top-Level Domain .int shall be entirely reserved for the United Nations and its agencies (directly or affiliated).

 

 

    20. One of the primary objectives of the UN must be to make sure the accessibility to clean air and clean water (for drinking) in every State free of charge, and to make sure clean water (for drinking) and clean air not to become a commodity.

 

 

 

 

Submitted by:

 

Sumith Wanni Arachchige

 

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April 28, 2024