These statistics paint a bleak picture. They reflect the inequalities between the privileged few (that’s you and me) and the rest of the world. And they point to some of the challenges that must be overcome before world peace is finally achieved.

I keep thinking about how people must have felt back in 1945 when the UN was created. Millions of Jews (as well as homosexuals, communists, Catholics and others) had been assassinated by Hitler’s Nazi regime. Europe was devastated. The only solution seemed to be to come together and work towards peace. Three years later, in 1948, that sentiment was strengthened when the UN adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which asked governments to ensure that all human beings, rich and poor, strong and weak, male and female, of all races and religions, be treated equally. See Daphne's article on Eleanor Roosevelt

When I visited the UN headquarters in New York for the first time in ’95, I was awed. I took the tour, bought a T-shirt and took a copy of the Declaration home with me. I felt incredibly inspired by the idealism that guided the formation of this organization and hopeful that "world peace" didn’t just have to be a bumper sticker slogan.

So what happened? Why are we still waiting for peace? Wars rage on, children continue to die of ailments ordinary to us, and our natural resources are more polluted than ever. It seems incredible to me that countries can produce so much destruction so quickly (as evidenced by every war) but take so long to improve living conditions of world citizens!

Unfortunately, many countries don’t seem as committed to world peace as before. And since countries make up the UN, their politics and priorities are ultimately what guide the work that gets done. As Patricia puts it, "The problems are enormous and the UN is limited in its functions - it has the largest membership of any world organization but not universal mandate because it’s not a world government."

I don’t want to sound as though the UN hasn’t been able to accomplish anything. It has. Thanks to UNICEF and WHO, 80 per cent of the world’s children have been immunized, saving 3 million lives a year. UN peacekeeping forces and diplomacy have diffused or ended wars in Mozambique (1994), El Salvador (1992) and Iran/Iraq (1988). And as a result of its decolonization efforts, more than 80 former colonies are now themselves Members of the UN. The list goes on and on.

But the success stories come at a high price and take a long time to be realized. And behind every bleak statistic is a real person who lacks the opportunities - and basic human rights - you and I take for granted.

Now consider this:
· In 1995 the world spent nearly $800 billion on defense (the US spent almost $300 billion of that), while the cost of achieving basic social services for all has been estimated at $400 billion over ten years - half of global military spending!
· In 1995, the United States spent 33 times more on defense than on official development assistance

Obviously, our priorities are screwed up! There is a growing consensus that, in the long run, the world can either continue to pursue the arms race or achieve social development for the benefit of all. It can’t do both. Unfortunately, governments such as the United States find it easier to increase military spending rather than fund development projects, leaving the UN to chip away at the problems instead of battling them head-on.

Before I became a Trekker, I lived and worked in one of the world’s poorest countries, Mozambique. Almost every UN agency had a project there and I knew several people who worked for them. Susan was at UNV, Jan-Thomas was at UNIDO, Rita at UNFPA, Sam at UNICEF. Although I wasn’t part of the UN, I did work for another large donor agency with many of the same objectives. Together, we tried to chip away at some of Mozambique’s most glaring problems by improving access to health care for the population, immunizing children, and training workers, among other things. And we did it for many reasons, but mainly because -- as cliché as it sounds -- we cared. As Sam said to me, "One of the key differences in working for a UN organization is the core commitment of the organization. Working for UNICEF means working to promote children’s rights - right to health care, education, freedom from abuse, and the right to be a healthy child. That, for me, provides more motivation than I would have if working solely for a profit-oriented company."

Working for the UN - or at least living by its ideals - means caring for the welfare of all peoples across the globe, not just the ones inside our political borders. It means accepting that each life matters, whether it’s a Mozambican woman stuck in floodwaters, or a Sudanese farmer fleeing the civil war, or an American youth caught up in the drug trade. They need our help, our resources, and our commitment.

The sense of urgency that existed after World War II has been replaced by general indifference, which is punctuated with bursts of solidarity whenever a catastrophe occurs (such as the earthquake in El Salvador or the famine in Ethiopia). But the urgency remains. And until all of the countries that make up the UN, especially the United States, make social development across the globe their number one priority, the statistics will continue to paint a bleak picture.

Visualize again world peace. Imagine a world where human rights are upheld, where all children go to school, and where our environment is protected. If you like what you see, then rekindle your idealism and help make it come true.

Daphne

Please email me at: daphne@ustrek.org