THE UNITED NATIONS OF THE FUTURE

The World Federalist Association has proposed the fol-lowing measures for making the United Nations an effective system for global governance:

1. Establish a UN Mediation/Conciliation Service of experts from all regions of the world to mediate international disputes.

2. Establish UN Peacekeeping Forces to separate belligerents and to supervise ceasefires.

3. Activate the Military Staff Committee, giving the Security Council joint command of forces used in a UN operation.

4. Create a permanent UN Police Force capable of insuring the security of indi-vidual nation-states.

5. Create a UN Disarmament Organization with free access to sites within na-tional borders.

6. Establish a UN Verification Agency to monitor compliance with arms con-trol agreements and to trace military preparations.

7. Create a UN Environmental Council as a principle organ of the UN, having the necessary power and authority to carry out regulatory and enforcement func-tions independent of the Security Council.

8. Centralize all human rights functions under a reconstituted Human Rights and Trusteeship Council. This would include investigation of discrimination and violations of the Geneva Conventions, and would raise their importance to a Council level.

9. Ratify all existing conventions on human rights, including the Convention against Racial Discrimination, the Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, and the American Convention on Human Rights.

10. Increase funding for existing UN economic and social programs.

11. Transform the General Assembly into a UN Parliament with law-making ability. Adopt the Binding Triad system, whereby a measure becomes binding law with the support of:

• two-thirds of the member nations,

• those nations representing a majority of the world’s population,

• those nations contributing the majority of the financial resources of the United Nations.

12. Create a Second Chamber whose members vote as individuals rather than government-directed Ambassadors.

13. Expand the fact-finding and early warning capabilities of the Secretary-General by developing a UN satellite system, expanding research and data collection capacities, and establishing regional representatives to assist the Secretary-General in fact-finding.

14. Give the World Court compulsory jurisdiction without crippling reserva-tions and make its decisions binding as World Law.

15. Create an International Criminal Court to try individuals violating interna-tional criminal laws enacted by the UN Legislature.

16. Establish a system of regional world courts subordinate to the International Court of Justice.

17. Abolish the single-nation veto in the Security Council.

18. Add five new permanent members without veto power to the Security Council.

19. Generate funding for the UN from taxes on the use of common resources, arms transfers, and national military expenditures above a certain level; fines on polluters; interest charges on upaid dues; and a peace dividend from national arms reductions.

These proposals will create a World Government with the time-honored form of a two-body Legislature. With a peacekeeping police force, open inspections of armaments, and enforced accountability for human rights violations, the United Nations will have sufficient pow-er to ensure the greatest good for the greatest number of the people of the world.