The Best of the Bureau/The_Best_of_the_Bureau_Bureau_Development_Inc._1992.iso/dp/0053/00534.txt

Text File | 1992-08-07 | 32KB | 568 lines

$Unique_ID{bob00534}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{United Kingdom
Britain and the United Nations}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Embassy of the United Kingdom, Washington DC}
$Affiliation{Embassy of the United Kingdom, Washington DC}
$Subject{million
pounds
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britain
development
countries
rights
british
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$Date{1990}
$Log{}
Title:       United Kingdom
Book:        Britain's Overseas Relations
Author:      Embassy of the United Kingdom, Washington DC
Affiliation: Embassy of the United Kingdom, Washington DC
Date:        1990

Britain and the United Nations

     Support for the United Nations and the purposes and principles of its
Charter has been a cornerstone of British policy since 1945. Britain sees a
strong and effective United Nations as a means of pursuing and achieving many
of its foreign policy objectives such as the peaceful resolution of disputes,
disarmament and arms control, the protection of human rights and the promotion
of the rule of law. It believes that all member states have a responsibility
to ensure that the organisation's efforts are devoted to the furtherance of
the principles enshrined in the Charter, and has suggested reforms to make it
more effective.

Keeping the Peace

     The maintenance of international peace and security was the primary
purpose envisaged for the United Nations at the time of its establishment.
Britain believes that it is appropriate for the United Nations, as the only
forum in which almost the whole international community is represented, to
seek to resolve disputes which threaten peace and stability whether on a
regional or world scale. As a permanent member of the Security Council,
Britain plays an active part in the Council's work and has sought to develop
and improve its role in the peaceful settlement of disputes.

     Britain has, for example, proposed a new form of Council meeting of a
private and formal nature which would include states engaged in the dispute
under discussion but would minimise opportunities for propaganda. Britain has
also encouraged financial and administrative reform aimed at rationalising
the work of the General Assembly.

     Britain strongly supports the United Nations' peacekeeping role, is the
major contributor to the UN Force in Cyprus and has provided logistic support
to the UN Interim Force in Lebanon.

Human Rights

     Britain has consistently supported the efforts of the United Nations to
promote human rights throughout the world through the establishment of
internationally accepted standards. The UN Charter itself includes among the
purposes of the United Nations the achievement of international co-operation
in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and fundamental
freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion.
Britain believes that this and the subsequent practice of the United Nations
has established human rights as a legitimate matter for international concern
and that the UN Charter imposes on member governments an obligation to
co-operate with appropriate UN bodies in the pursuit of policies which promote
human rights.

     Fundamental human rights provisions are set out in the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights proclaimed by the General Assembly in 1948, and in
the two International Covenants (one on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
and the other on Civil and Political Rights) which impose legal obligations on
those who ratify them and which came into force in 1976. Britain played a
large part in their drafting and ratified the two Covenants in 1976. It also
accepted the optional Article 41 of the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
recognising the competence of the Human Rights Committee established under
this Covenant to receive and consider state complaints. (It is not party to
the Optional Protocol to the Covenant which recognises the right of
individuals to submit communications to the Committee; Britain recognises the
right of individual petition under the European Convention on Human Rights.)
Britain is also a party to other international instruments, including
conventions on the elimination of racial discrimination and of discrimination
against women, prevention of genocide, the abolition of slavery, the status of
refugees and stateless persons, the political rights of women, and consent to
marriage. In March 1985 Britain signed the UN Convention against Torture which
was adopted with British support by the General Assembly in December 1984.

     The adoption of conventions and covenants in itself is insufficient to
secure the protection of human rights. It is up to states themselves to do
that. Britain constantly urges states to adhere to those standards which
have been agreed internationally as the basis of that protection. Britain has
also supported the establishment of additional mechanisms such as the
appointment of Special Rapporteurs or Representatives of the UN Commission on
Human Rights to investigate human rights abuses in specific countries or
globally.

     Britain plays a leading part in the discussion of human rights in the
various multilateral forums provided by the United Nations. In 1987 it was
re-elected to the UN Commission on Human Rights for a further three-year term,
and the British delegation will continue to build on the initiatives taken
there. There are British experts on the UN Sub-Commission on Prevention of
Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, on the Human Rights Committee
which monitors the implementation of the provisions of the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights by the parties to it), On the
Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination established under the
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and on the
UN Commission on the Status of Women.

Economic and Social Affairs

     The UN Charter states that 'the promotion of the economic and social
advancement of all peoples' is one of the principal aims of the United
Nations, and an estimated 90 per cent of the organisation's efforts, in terms
of resources and personnel, is now employed to this end. With the growing
concern over problems of development, the main emphasis has become
increasingly the provision of direct assistance for member states. The UN
system is now the largest single source of technical assistance for developing
countries, as well as providing considerable emergency and relief aid,
assistance for refugees and help in combating the problems associated with
drug production, trafficking and abuse. (The provision of capital assistance
has been generally confined to the World Bank group and regional development
banks whose operations are usually considered separately from those of the
rest of the UN system.)

     Successive British governments have affirmed their support for the
functional and developmental work of the United Nations. Britain is the sixth
largest contributor to the UN's regular budget, providing some 35.2 million
Pounds, 4.8 per cent of the total, in 1987. In addition, it contributed
some 7.3 million Pounds to the World Health Organisation, 3 million Pounds to
the International Labour Organisation and 5.7 million Pounds to the Food and
Agriculture Organisation. Britain provides considerable contributions to the
UN's voluntary funds, donating 23 million Pounds in 1987 for the UN
Development Programme, 17.7 million Pounds for the UN High Commissioner for
Refugees, 5.2 million Pounds for the UN Relief and Works Agency for
Palestinian Refugees, 15 million Pounds for the UN Children's Fund, 5 million
Pounds for the UN Fund for Population Activities, and about 500,000 Pounds for
the World Food Programme. Britain is also a major donor to the UN Fund for
Drug Abuse Control.

     In the deliberations of the governing bodies of the various agencies and
programmes, Britain encourages the deployment of the resources towards the
poorest countries and the poorest communities in the developing world. It also
seeks to promote the most efficient use of UN development resources and