The Hindu : Kerala News : UN could do with reforms: Tharoor

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Feb 08, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Kerala

Kerala

UN could do with reforms: Tharoor

Staff Reporter

Refutes reports on its ‘demise’

Admits the global body’s flaws
Calls for reforms in Security Council

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Former Under Secretary-General of the United Nations Shashi Tharoor has called for a reform of the United Nations to meet the challenges and requirements of the new millennium.

He was speaking to the students of the Law Academy Law College after inaugurating the All India Moot Court competition in the city on Thursday.

“The United Nations need reform not because it has failed but it has succeeded enough,” he said. “Reports about U.N.’s demise are exaggerated,” he said.

“When the U.N. succeeds the whole world wins. The blue flag of the U.N. symbolises humanity,” said Mr. Tharoor who joined the world body in 1978.

Acknowledging the limitations of the global institution, Mr. Tharoor said that there were instances when all the U.N. could do was to prevent a situation from getting worse. “The U.N. helped in maintaining the Cold War from getting hot. The institution suffered major collateral damage after the war in Iraq,” he said.

On the possibility of India’s entry into the U.N. Security Council as a permanent member, he said, “The threshold for entry is high. The five existing members are there by the virtue of the war which they won a century ago. So there is need for reform to meet the realities of the modern world. There should be some sort of a reform in the Security Council in the next 10 to 15 years,” he said.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Kerala

News Update

Stories in this Section