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UNITED NATIONS - / www.MaximsNews.com, UN/ - 26 October 2006 -- I've been getting some questions about the value of the United Nations and about what I've learned since I donated one-third of my wealth to start the U.N. Foundation almost nine years ago. Here's the answer: The fact is that the United Nations works — for the world's poor, for peace, for progress and for human rights and justice. And we need it to go on working if we're going to deal with the serious and sometimes frightening challenges facing us. I'll admit that cooperating through the United Nations can be difficult at times; and I'll admit that it can be improved. But anything worthwhile is hard — and frankly, I can't think of a more worthwhile endeavor than what the United Nations does to foster peace and prosperity on a global scale. Let's look at the reality. The reality is that the United Nations has succeeded in its essential mission of preventing World War III. The reality is that U.N. peacekeeping is an incredible value for the United States and the rest of the world. In fact, U.N. peacekeeping is one of the great bargains of all time, ensuring that no one country has to pay all the bills or take all the risks for peace and security around the world. The Rand Corp. has estimated that U.N. peacekeepers can do the job at a fraction of the cost of U.S. troops. The United States contributes none of the almost 100,000 U.N. peacekeepers deployed around the world. Financially, the United States' share of the United Nations' 17 peacekeeping operations is about $1 billion this year — equivalent to the cost of about five days of U.S. deployment in one country, Iraq. In the world of business, we call that a bargain. The reality is that the United Nations handles humanitarian emergencies skillfully. When the Asian tsunami struck, the United Nations was there immediately and got the job done — food, water, health, shelter — and it is still on the scene helping those communities rebuild. The people of New Orleans would have been lucky to have had such an efficient and effective response after Katrina. The reality is that there are dozens of unrecognized ways that the United Nations helps make our complicated world work. Its International Civil Aviation Organization makes possible the system of international air traffic. The Universal Postal Union makes it possible to put a U.S. stamp on an envelope and send a letter that will arrive in an Australian mailbox. The World Meteorological Organization monitors global weather patterns. The Food and Agricultural Organization helps keep the world fed. And the World Health Organization and other health agencies help research, monitor and contain diseases that transcend borders. And the reality is that most U.N. staffers are not sitting comfortably in New York, but rather deployed around the world: •They are living in mud huts trying to make agriculture work in Africa; •They are organizing blue helmets to keep the peace among warring factions, and the elections needed thereafter. •They are thinking up ways to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. •They are risking life and limb cleaning up land mines. •They are inoculating children. •They are giving comfort to the displaced and dispossessed in refugee camps. Could there be a more meaningful and necessary effort for people like me to invest in? I don't think so, and that's why I launched the U.N. Foundation. I'm delighted that so many others have recognized the valuable work the United Nations is doing. Since 2001, every dollar I've put in the U.N. Foundation has been matched by another dollar contributed by corporations, foundations or tens of thousands of individuals. In that time, the United Nations has evolved into an ever more effective partner organization. An interdependent world needs and deserves planetary philanthropy, not backyard philanthropy. Those of us who invest in the United Nations are planetary philanthropists — campaigning with it for the world's future by taking on the toughest global challenges. We're campaigning for a new energy future so that we are no longer beholden to the fossil fuels that are a threat to our security and our environment. We're campaigning to rid the world of preventable childhood diseases — measles and malaria and polio. We're on a campaign to elevate the status, the rights and the profile of adolescent girls. And we're campaigning to protect the great natural treasures of the world through our cooperation with the World Heritage Center. The world's greatest challenges are not just the obligation of governments — we're all responsible for the future. If we're going to take on these challenges, we need to make it possible for the United Nations to lead a worldwide partnership to tackle the toughest problems we've got. ~~~~~~ MaximsNews.com, An Independent Voice from the U.N., provides commentary and analysis from leading world figures: King Abdullah II (Jordan), HRH Prince Zeid Ra'ad Zeid Al-Hussein (Jordan), Sir Brian Urquhart, Hans Blix, Amb. Richard Holbrooke, Anwar Ibrahim, Bianca Jagger, Shashi Tharoor, Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, Kerry Kennedy, Ian Williams, Stephen Schlesinger, Sen. Timothy E. Wirth, Marc Morial, Amb. Jayantha Dhanapala (Sri Lanka), Amb. Pierre Schori (Sweden), Amb. William H. Luers, Mehri Madarshahi, J. Michael Adams, Gloria Feldt, Jeffrey Laurenti, Rodney D. Smith, Rory O'Connor, Genevieve Stamper, Max Stamper and others.
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