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The United Nations, with a new secretary-general at the helm, is expected to face in 2007 the daunting tasks of pressing on with its reforms, fulfilling the Responsibility to Protect, and promoting multilateral cooperation it advocates.

Moderate progress in UN reforms

One of the UN's primary tasks in 2006 was to implement the Outcome Document -- a blueprint adopted at the global summit in September 2005 in New York to renew the world organization.

In 2006, seemingly moderate but vital progress has been made in the UN reforms, spearheaded by outgoing Secretary-General Kofi Annan. The Human Rights Council and the Peace building Commission were set up and initial steps were taken to overhaul the UN's management practice.

Unlike its predecessor -- the Human Rights Commission, which was widely criticized for the practice of double standards and politicization -- the Human Rights Council has made it a principle that human rights issues should be dealt with in an impartial and non-selective manner, said Chen Jian, undersecretary-general for the General Assembly and Conference Management in an interview with Xinhua.

"Yet, the work of the council did not proceed in a very balanced way," Chen said. Since its inception, the council has convened three sessions to examine the human rights situation in the Middle East and adopted a resolution denouncing Israel.

"But it has also drawn criticism for failing to make due responses to mass violations of human rights in other parts of the world," he said.

The newly-created Peace building Commission, set up to help post-conflict countries avoid a relapse into bloodshed, has unveiled its plans to assist two war-battered African countries, Burundi and Sierra Leone, in building a lasting peace.

Noticeable progress was also achieved in the UN management reform. Annan presented in March a radical management overhaul report, setting forth 23 reform proposals. Some of the proposals have been put into practice, including the establishment of an ethics office and a strengthening of the UN's internal oversight service.

UN role enhanced in handling world affairs

The past year also witnessed the United Nations playing a stronger role in dealing with international affairs. Thorny problems popped up one after another in 2006, with a majority of them raised to the Security Council for a solution.

Greater involvement in world affairs by the United Nations, which was once described as being "irrelevant" after the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, "is due to a large extent to the setback the US administration's unilateral foreign policy has suffered," Chen said.

The Bush administration, seeing US troops increasingly bogged down in violence-ridden Iraq, adjusted its unilateral policy and chose to cooperate with other powers within the framework of the United Nations in coping with regional crises, such as the Iranian nuclear issue and the Israeli-Lebanese conflict.

"The adjustment paved the way for cooperation among world powers, making it possible for the world organization to play a stronger role in handling regional hot spots," Chen noted.

The UN Security Council adopted this year a series of resolutions regarding the situations in Iran, on the Korean Peninsula and in the Middle East.

"It is especially unusual for the 15-nation council to unanimously pass a resolution on this summer's Israeli-Lebanese conflict, which condemned Israel's invasion of its northern neighbor," Chen stressed. "In the past, the US always vetoed draft council resolutions decrying Israel's moves."

Nonetheless, it is too early to say that the power of the United Nations has been significantly enhanced. The United Nations only provides a stage for international cooperation. It is the 192member states who decide what kind of role the United Nations could play in international affairs.

Daunting challenges ahead

Former South Korean foreign minister Ban Ki-moon, who was sworn in as the next UN chief in mid-December, will formally take over from Annan on Jan. 1. Coming along with the world's top post are a series of daunting challenges facing the new secretary-general. Among them, carrying on the reform process, implementing the Responsibility to Protect, and promoting multilateral cooperation are the most significant.

"Ban would find that there is relatively little space left for him to put forward new reform proposals since his predecessor's plan has almost covered every possible aspect of the reforms," Chen said.

"What he has to do is to explore new ways to implement the reforms which can really benefit the organization but are blocked at the moment," Chen added.

The concept of Responsibility to Protect poses another challenge for the world body. The concept, initiated by Annan, calls for international intervention through the United Nations when a state is unwilling or unable to stop massive human rights violations.

The concept had been long rejected by the developing countries which feared that the West could use it as a pretext to interfere with their internal affairs. Only at the 2005 World Summit had the UN member states reached consensus on the issue in principle.

"How to put the concept into practice without violating a nation's sovereignty is a challenge for both the UN member states and secretary-general," Chen said.

The Iraqi war marked a serious defeat of the multilateralism represented by the United Nations. The gap of trust it left among member states, between the United States and other powers, and between the UN member states and the Secretariat has yet to be bridged.

Whether the trend of cooperation among major powers at the United Nations in 2006 could be maintained in 2007 mainly depends on the US attitude towards the United Nations.

"The most important task for Ban is to act as secretary-general on behalf of the 192 member states as a whole while establishing good relations with big powers, the United States in particular," Chen said.

(Xinhua News Agency December 30, 2006)