UN Reforms -Fact or Farce?

Berit Kjos (415-941-3228) February 1997

Kofi Annan. President Clinton praised him as "a man committed to a revitalized United Nations." Senator Jesse Helms who guards the purse strings pledged to work with him. Congress expressed its confidence in him. Who is this new leader of the United Nations? Will he indeed downsize the massive, inefficient and corrupt UN bureaucracy in order to gain over a billion dollars "owed" by the US?

In spite of his warm US reception, Secretary-General Kofi Annan from Ghana has not promised to trim the bureaucracy. But he has promised to reshape the UN to reflect the changes in the world. "If we do not change," he says, "we may lose our relevance."¹

What kind of change is on his mind?

First clue: Annan chose the Canadian business man, and veteran UN policy-maker, Maurice Strong, to "coordinate the effort to redesign the world organization for the future...."²

This fact brings little comfort to those who remember Strong's occult and environmental ties, globalist ambitions, and corrupt leadership. He led the 1992 "Earth Summit" in Rio de Janeiro (United Nations Conference on Environment and Development), which produced the controversial Biodiversity Treaty and Agenda 21-the plan for reorganizing the world along environmental guidelines.

He also heads the Earth Council, which works with the UN to implement an Earth Charter-a global code of conduct based on occult beliefs and globalist values. His publication, Earth Ethics, suggests that apes, our "fellow animals", should be treated as "full members of the community of equals."³

Second clue: Maurice Strong's plan for UN reform is documented in Our Global Neighborhood, the report of the UN Commission on Global Governance on which Strong served. This report not only echoes Strong's call for common values that oppose Biblical values, it also calls for a volunteer UN army under UN command, with UN police stationed in every region of the world:

"Governments are understandably reluctant to commit troops rapidly for UN action, particularly in civil wars and internal conflicts....

"In many of today's crises, it is clear than an early intervention could have prevented later negative developments.... This underlines the need for a highly trained UN Volunteer Force that is willing, if necessary, to take combat risks....This would be particularly useful in low-level but dangerous conflicts.

"Such an international Volunteer Force would be under the exclusive authority of the Security Council...."⁴

What if the US Congress disagrees with UN decisions. Could it simply press for a US veto on the Security Council?

Not if Strong implements his vision of reform. The United States, which is billed 25% of the huge UN budget, would be dismissed from the Security Council:

"We recommend that a new class of 'standing ' members be established.... Of these new members, two should be drawn from industrial countries and three from among the larger developing countries. Of the two from industrial countries, presumably one will be from Asia and one from Europe. Of the three from developing countries, we would expect one each to be drawn from Asia, Africa, and Latin America....

"The new standing members will not possess a veto, and we believe the aim should be for the power of the veto to be phased out."⁵

Third clue: In 1995, the Canadian Government published another UN report titled Toward A Rapid Reaction Capability for the United Nations. It states: "In order to help the Government of Canada in the preparation of its report, an International consultative Group was created, chaired by Sir Brian Urquhart of the Ford Foundation and Dr. John. C. Polanyi, Nobel Laureate of the University of Toronto, and consisting of experts drawn from governments, academic institutions and non-governmental organizations" - includes Dr. Jessica Mathews, Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations.

The following excerpts from the report open a window into the vast bureaucracies, monstrous power, and arrogant ambitions that drive the UN agenda and its worldwide network of disciples even closer to Maurice Strong's vision of "global governance." To speed the process, United States is expected to contribute people as well as its expertise in surveillance and reconnaissance technology. American taxes would fund and arm a system determined to destroy Christianity, Western culture, capitalism, and the US Constitution.

(The numbers at the end of the paragraphs below indicate the page number in the UN report on Rapid Reaction Capability.)

Executive Summary

"... This study's central objective is to recommend changes at all levels of the UN system which would give the UN an enhanced capability to respond rapidly to crisis situations..." (p. iv)

"Four separate issues are addressed:

[1] the need to harness advanced technologies....

[2] creation of a permanent group of civilian police...

[3] creation of a UN Standing Emergency Group...

[4] an independent source of revenue...." (vi)

Chapter Five: A PRACTICAL AGENDA FOR REFORM

"....The problem has been to find the capacity to deploy credible and effective forces at an early stage in a crisis and at short notice." Our Global Neighborhood, The Report of the Commission on Global Governance [including Maurice Strong]

Nothing can tie the hands of the Security Council in making decisions." (44)

"Member States should be encouraged to ratify [the Convention on the Safety of UN and Associated Personnel] and bring it into force as soon as possible.... "(52)

"...the UN would need to create a database which could capture information provided by national authorities." (53)

"To enhance rapid reaction, the UN and Member States need to address the nature of training to be conducted and the management systems which should be put into place to ensure that national training programs are responsive to the UN's requirements." (54)

Chapter six: A VISION OF THE FUTURE. (55)

"The fact that the theoretically best solution is not at present politically feasible does not mean that the system must simply muddle on indefinitely in its present condition. A great deal can be achieved without constitutional change, by changes in such salient features as geography, legal mandates and behavior." Sir Brian Urquhart and Esrskine Childers

"Advanced Technologies"

"The types of technologies which could play a greater role in peacekeeping operations are: surveillance technologies, communications equipment and enhanced information management systems...." (56)

"An attractive technology for a variety of peace operations is aerial reconnaissance of ground activity. Access to satellite capability... may have great strategic potential." (56)

"The ability to locate, identify and monitor virtually all vehicular movement... has obvious applicability to monitoring, surveillance and control missions."

"Command, Control, Communications, Computer and Intelligence systems would incorporate the full range of strategic and tactical communications networks, together with data processing capabilities and real-time information transfer...." (56)

"...surveillance technologies and information management systems could be integrated into an organization-wide system to enhance contingency planning.... " (57)

"The most problematic area in past peace operations has been civilian police.... Although the UN currently has more than 1,800 civilian police deployed... it has never been able to secure the numbers of high-quality civilian police personnel required for peace operations. This persistent problem can only be remedied over the long-term through the development and training of the UN's own civilian police units, building a corps of international civilian police...." (59)

"The most obvious advantage of a permanent, standing UN civilian police unit is reliability. The UN would not have to seek national contributions to peace operations.... It would not have to await the lengthy domestic processes of each Member State before a critical mass of police forces is assembled.... a permanent force could be trained to the high standards which the UN should demand."

"The Vanguard Concept ... is based on standby arrangements for nationally-based units linked to a UN operational headquarters. ... The presence of regional headquarters would provide for greater flexibility and reduce the time required for deployment.... "

"Governments are sometimes reluctant to release their forces for duty.... Even when Governments are disposed to concur... the process of seeking authorization is often slow....

"Ultimately, however, a UN rapid-reaction capability can be truly reliable only if it no longer depends on Member States of the UN for the supply of personnel.... If the UN is to build a rapid-reaction capability which is fully reliable, the challenge in years ahead will be to develop its own personnel, independent of state authority...." (60)

"Once a functioning base had been established, military and civilian units from participating UN member states could be assigned to the UN base for a period of about two years. Although these units would remain under national authority.... they would train collectively under the direction of the Secretary-General." (61)

"As they would remain under national command, national authorities would retain primary responsibility for their administration, pay and benefits."

"...there would need to be considerable redundancy of capabilities. This would provide the UN with options for the selection of national contingents to serve in regions having particular political, ethnic, cultural or religious sensitivities." (61)

"As professional volunteers develop into a cohesive UN force, they can assume responsibility for some of the riskier operations mandated by the Council but for which troop contributors have been hesitant to contribute.... Without the need to consult national authorities, the UN could cut response time significantly... As the 1995 Commission on Global Governance noted, "The very existence of an immediately available and effective UN Volunteer Force could be a deterrent. It is high time that this idea-a United Nations Volunteer Force-was made a realty." (62)

Note: If the UN stations among us its "highly trained" Volunteer Force armed with America's latest surveillance and reconnaissance technology-and if, in our land, it commands the "riskier operations" which our Congress would forbid-there will be no earthly place to hide from tyrannical leaders. But our God has provided a better peace and a more lasting shelter in Himself. It's "high time" to seek His wisdom, follow His ways, and prepare for persecution-even as we continue to fight the battle for truth, liberty, and godly children in this land.

"Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.

Put on the whole armor of God,

that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood,

but against principalities, against powers,

against the rulers of the darkness of this age,

against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Therefore take up the whole armor of God,

that you may be able to withstand in the evil day,

and having done all, to stand." (Ephesians 6:10-13)

To understand how our international education system is being used to produce compliant world citizens-and to equip our children with God's truth and armor -- read Brave New Schools (Harvest House Publishers. Available through Christian Bookstores or call (800) 829-5646.

Endnotes:

1 Steven Lee Myers, "New UN Chief in Washington, Finds the Climate Much Warmer, New York Times, 24 January 1997.

2 Betsy Pisik, The U.N. Report, The Washington Times, 1-20-97.

3 Cliff Kincaid, "Reform farce at the UN starring Annan," The Washington Times, 1-31-97.

4 Our Global Neighborhood, The Commission on Global Governance (Oxford University Press, 1995), 110,111.

5 Ibid., 240 241.