New Phase in UN Reforms

The expectations about UN reforms in the wake of the end of the Cold War are dampened due to the strongly held divergent viewpoints among various groups of governments. In contrast to the euphoria generated by official and non-official panels churning out scores of ideas and proposals, the reforms actually carried out have remained cosmetic and minimal. The exception to this dismal trend is the establishment of the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) and the Human Rights Council (HRC) in 2005 that provide the first exercise of reforms of an inter-governmental nature. There are several unique and innovative features associated with both these newly created bodies—their ambitious mandate, varied ways of composition, parallel structural supervision and so forth. The Asian and European regional groups have espoused often contrasting perspectives in negotiations on the creation of PBC and HRC, while the outcome of the bargaining showcases an interesting balance sheet of the gains and losses of principal organs of the UN, especially the General Assembly and the Security Council. Start-up and follow-up issues like sufficient funding of peacebuilding operations, efficacious coordination with an array of agencies and the independent and impartial scrutiny of human rights track record of countries are substantive and could stand between the success and failure of these innovations. Either way, the actual performance of these bodies may significantly influence the later stages of UN reforms.