Role of UN in Global

Role of UN in Global Business

The eight "Millennium Development Goals" of the UN are: (Summarized from "Millennium Development Goals Report," 2006)

Eradicate poverty and hunger. The target, between 1990 and 2015, is to halve, the number of people living on less than a dollar a day and those suffering from hunger.

Achieve universal primary education. All children everywhere should be able to complete a full course of primary education by 2015.

Promote gender equality and hunger. Eliminate gender disparity at all levels of education no later than 2015.

Reduce Child Mortality. The mortality rate of children under five should be reduced by two-thirds between 1990 and 2015.

Improve Maternal Health. The maternal mortality rate, i.e., the death of mothers during childbirth, is targeted to be reduced by three quarters between 1990 & 2015.

Combat HIV / AIDS, Malaria and other diseases. To halt and begin to reverse by 2015, the spread of HIV / AIDS, malaria, and other major diseases.

Ensure Environmental Sustainability. To persuade individual countries to adopt policies of sustainable development; halve the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water by 2015; and to significantly improve the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers around the world.

Develop a Global Partnership for Development. To focus on the needs of the least developed countries; provide them with debt relief; promote a non-discriminatory trading system; increase job prospects of youth; provide access to affordable medicines and new technologies to the poor in developing countries.

Five most important "Global Issues" on UN Agenda for global businesses are:

i) Intellectual Property: The protection of intellectual property is most crucial for global business since without international enforcement of copyright laws, innovation and creativity in business would be severely curtailed. Moreover, it is ethically wrong to deprive people from the fruits of creation of their minds through illegal copying. ("Global Issues..." 2007) ii) International Finance: Providing financial assistance to developing countries by institutions such as the World Bank is absolutely essential for eradicating poverty and promoting stability. Without initiatives such as the UN's debt initiative for heavily indebted countries, global business would remain restricted to the relatively rich countries.

A iii) Development Cooperation: UN development co-operation through organizations such as the UNDP help counties to achieve sustainable human development. This, in turn, helps to promote international trade and business in the long-term.

A iv) International Trade Law: In order to promote global business, it is important to harmonize rules of international business as far as possible. The UN Commission on Trade Law (UNCITRAL) is actively involved in formulating modern, fair, and harmonized rules on commercial transactions, to facilitate international trade.

A v) Peace and Security: Last but not the least, nothing is as important for global business as peace and security. Maintaining peace is the number one priority of the UN, which is being enforced by the UN Security Council and the UN Peacekeeping force

3. UN plays an important role in protecting "Intellectual Property Rights" through its specialized agency called the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). It currently has 184 member states that determine the strategic direction and activities of the Organization. The five strategic goals of WIPO, as defined in its Program and Budget for 2006-2007 are to promote an IP culture; integrate IP into national development policies and programs; develop international IP laws and standards; deliver quality services in global IP protection systems; and increase the efficiency of WIPO's management and support processes. WIPO, a largely self-financing organization, works with a wide spectrum of stakeholders, including NGOs, and representatives of civil society and industrial groups to implement its goals. ("What is WIPO?" 2007)

4. The International Communications Union (ITU) is an agency of the UN, which acts as a global focal point for the development of the information and communication technology. Based in Geneva, Switzerland, it has 191 member countries and more than 700 sector members and associates. It provides a platform for governments and the private sector to develop international standards for global telecom networks and services, and plays a major role in the management of the radio-frequency spectrum and satellite orbits besides organizing important international telecomm events including workshops and symposia. ("About the ITU" 2007)

5. International Co-operation for an Enabling Environment: A supportive international as well as domestic climate is essential for achieving sustainable development goals. This is particularly true in the fields of finance, technology transfer, debt, trade and environmental and social issues. At the international level, such goals can be achieved by promoting an equitable, rule-based, and non-discriminatory trading and financial system; access of environmentally sound technology to developing countries, providing debt relief to the poorest countries and reversing the downward trend in Official Development Assistance (ODA). At the domestic level, good governance is required for institutional strengthening, human resource development, sound development planning, financial regulation and infrastructure development in order to benefit from increased international trade in a globalized world. ("International cooperation for..." 2001)

6. The UN Security Council is responsible for maintaining peace and security among nations. Under the UN charter, it has the powers to investigate any dispute which might lead to international friction; to determine the existence of a threat to peace and to recommend actions to be taken; to call on Members to apply economic sanctions and other measures to prevent or stop aggression; or to take military action against an aggressor. Apart from the 5 permanent members (i.e., the United States, Russia, France, Britain, and China) that have veto powers, it has 10 elected members. The current (2007) elected members are Belgium, Republic of Congo, Ghana, Indonesia, Italy, Panama, Peru, Qatar, Slovakia, and South Africa.

7. The United States has consistently exercised its veto powers to defeat U.N. Security Council Resolutions condemning Israel. Two examples of the exercise of such powers are:

a) UN Security Council Resolution # S/PV. 2238; Date: December 14, 2001;

Demanding the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Palestinian-controlled territory and condemning acts of terror against civilians. Countries Involved: Israel, Palestine.

A b) UN Security Council Resolution # S/PV.5565; Date: November 11, 2006;

Call for immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip and a cessation of violence from both parties (Israel and Palestinians) in the conflict.

Countries Involved: Israel, Palestine. ("Subjects of UN Security Council Vetoes" 2007)

8. On balance, the efforts of the UN decidedly promote global economic prosperity, mainly because most of its functions and agencies are directly or indirectly geared towards such a goal.

For example, it is a recognized fact that global peace and security are the most important pre-requisites for economic prosperity since wars, conflicts, and violent disturbances have been identified as major causes of poverty, famine, and hunger. Maintaining global peace is the primary function of the United Nations and the Security Council (one of UN's agencies) has the powers to resolve conflicts and even take action against aggressors. Various studies have also shown that increased global trade promotes prosperity and benefits the participants economically. For example, WTO's statistics reveal that there has been a 16 fold increase in world trade since 1950 and a six-fold rise in Global GDP during the corresponding period, resulting in reduction of poverty and increase in per capita incomes (Nordstrom and Vaughan, 1999). The only problem with such growth is the unequal distribution of its benefits. However, in order to mitigate this drawback, several U.N. organizations and initiatives are geared towards increasing international trade in a sustainable and equitable manner. These are evident in UN's Millennium Development Goals, the development activities of UN agencies such as the UNDP, and other UN initiatives such as the "International Co-operation for an Enabling Environment."