Towards the WSF 2005
“Reclaim Our UN”
Working Document
of the International Seminar “Reclaim Our UN”
Padua, 19-20 November 2004 (*)

1. Unilateralism is bad for the world. Multilateralism is not an option, it is
indispensable. The alternative is world chaos, wars, terrorism, growing
poverty, greater insecurity, injustice, environmental devastation.
2. The UN remains the highest form of multilateralism available today. It is full
of limitations, has been hijacked by powerful governments, but it is the only
one we have.
3. Most of the huge challenges facing humankind are global and to address
them we need a global solution. The UN, with representatives from 191
countries, is the only worldwide forum that can and has to be the
instrument for the people to achieve a world of peace and social justice, the
goals of its charter.
4. The weakening of the UN, the failure of governments to fulfill their
commitments to the decisions taken at the UN is part of a broader attack on
a world order based on international law. It extends to international
institutions the strategy of neoliberal globalisation, based on economic
power, deregulation and privatisation, against peoples’ rights and needs.
5. In the last ten years the emerging global civil society has become a new
actor. Millions of people and thousands of organisations have become active
against war, neoliberal globalisation and unilateralism, for a more
democratic and just world order. They continue to challenge the actions and
power of international institutions, developing alternatives from below on
peace, security, human rights, combating impunity, economic and social
justice, environmental sustainability.
6. As the UN system turns sixty, these mobilisations have filled the void left by
the inaction of governments and showed the path for a radical reform that
would make the UN system more democratic and effective.
7. Today these mobilisations have to be drawn together and developed on a
broader scale with a more focused and effective strategy, built on the
broadest participation, bringing together a diversity of perspectives and
experiences, and creating a new consensus. The key players in this process
have to be, first of all, the peoples who are excluded from global decision
making, social and grassroots movements, civil society organisations and
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NGOs, national and international networks, trade unions, religious groups,
migrants and refugees groups, local authorities.
8. Many long years of inconclusive studies, reports and debates of the intergovernmental
system have gone without reaching any conclusion. In order
to start a positive reform process, it is now clear that there is a need for a
global mobilisation of all sectors of civil society, from women to
environmentalists, from indigenous people to human rights activists.
9. The fundamental objectives of such a strategy of mobilisation can be
summarised as follows:
• oppose the strategy of “preventive and infinite” war, and unilateralism;
• reclaim and revitalise the UN system on the base of international law and
human rights, putting it at the centre of a multilateral order;
• democratise the UN system, opening its doors to local authorities, local
governments, other decentralised governments, parliaments, civil society
voices representing the plurality of social, ethnic, gender and other
diversities;
• ensure that the UN has the resources for implementing its mandate: prevent
war, eradicate the causes of war (economic, social and cultural), promoting
human rights, the global rule of law and international justice, and recover
control over economic, social and environmental issues, subordinating the
IMF, the World Bank and the WTO to the principles and agreements under
the UN and it’s agencies;
• promote general disarmament and the ban of all nuclear arms and of all
weapons of mass destruction;
• prevent conflicts, protect civilians, and react to humanitarian catastrophes.
10. New strengths and opportunities are available for this strategy of
mobilisation. The success of the global days of action such as February 15
2003 and March 20 2004 against the war in Iraq has shown the new strength
and awareness of global civil society. The greater concern of many
governments in defence of multilateralism offers opportunities for exerting
pressure.
11. This strategy of mobilisation should be developed at a variety of levels.
There is no opposition between actions at the local level, national struggles
for policy change and initiatives on international institutions. All civil
society work at local, national or regional level needs a change in the
international system of governance. A more democratic functioning of
international institutions would open up spaces for change at the national
and local level. Implementing the principle of subsidiarity would restore
decision making power for national and local democratic processes.
Building new solidarities would strengthen the search for alternatives in
countries of the South.
12. This strategy of mobilisation should develop from the bottom up with a
process of education and communication within civil society and social
movements. It should use the available means for changing national
policies. It should use all available spaces within international institutions
to demand and practice a more democratic and participatory functioning.
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13. Civil society has to monitor closely the activities of the UN and international
institutions. A global observatory on the international institutions could be
studied and established with the object to evaluate periodically the
commitment in practice of the UN activities to the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights.
14. 2005 can be a turning point for such a mobilisation at the local and global
level. We propose a global day of action for democracy, freedom and peace,
against all fundamentalisms and wars, to be held on the eve of the Summit
of Heads of State convened by the UN in New York in autumn 2005 for a
review of the commitments undertaken at the Millennium Summit and the
reform of UN.
15. Within the dynamics of the World Social Forum, the participants to the
international Seminar “Reclaim our UN” in Padua commit themselves to
work together to continue the dialogue on these issues and facilitate the
emergence of common mobilisations. At the WSF to be held in Porto Alegre
in January 2005, within the activities of terrain 11, we will hold a seminar on
the objectives of such mobilisations; another seminar where we will discuss
the action plan for 2005; an open meeting on the future of the UN system
bringing together social movements active on a variety of issues; we will ask
all other terrains to take up the question of a more democratic world order,
as a transversal issue, identifying possible specific strategies.
(Second section of the working document. This part does not
reflect the richness of the proposals that emerged in the Padua
Seminar because there was not enough time for discussing
them.)
16. This effort does not start today. Civil society has developed in the last
decade a variety of proposals and activities for reforming and democratising
the UN system. They were never considered by governments and
international institutions. Today many campaigns are demanding specific
changes in international institutions; these could be linked into a global
strategy of mobilisation.
17. The UN system has to be transformed in order to make it more democratic,
representative and accountable. Any process of reform must include the
active participation of key actors such as civil society organisations, local
governments and parliaments.
18. The fundamental aim of such a strategy is to make human security the core
mission of the UN system that should be reformed and restructured in order
to fulfill this mission.
19. The concept of human security includes the economic social and legal
dimensions, and the UN system should be reformed in order to extend its
activities in these fields, regaining control over the rules and institutions
regulating international finance, trade, social conditions, labour, the
environment.
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20. The creation of a Human Security and Development Council , with a
transformation of ECOSOC, could be studied as a tool of governance of
globalisation and control over IMF, World Bank and WTO, and on the
operation of multinational corporations.
21. As the representative body, the UN General Assembly should be brought
back at the centre of the UN, strengthened and democratized.
22. The present structure of the UN Security Council is unacceptable. Its
composition, activity and the unlimited veto power contradicts the very
concepts of democracy and human security.
23. The reform of the UN should include a renewed financial architecture
reducing the dependence on decisions by powerful states, and a move
towards a decentralisation of its locations and functions.
24. For too long the UN has been the exclusive domain of unaccountable
governments. It needs to open up to democratic processes involving new
actors representing the peoples. The status of civil society should be
improved and its voice and role should be strengthened. All institutions and
bodies within the UN system should be opened up to the involvement and
participation of civil society, maintaining a bottom up approach.
25. The role of Local Authorities, that are closer to the needs of people, should
be recognised and empowered.
26. Possible tools for recovering a democratic control over the activities of the
UN system are the development of a representative Parliamentarian
presence in the governance of the UN system.
27. An important experience of involvement of civil society in the development
of the UN system has been the creation of the International Criminal Court,
the adoption of universal jurisdiction laws at the national level and other
UN Human Right and Humanitarian organisations. Their power and
mandate should be preserved and expanded.
Assembly of the Peoples’ UN; Peace Roundtable (Italy); Ibase (Brasil); Inter
Press Service; Ubuntu; Euralat; Cives (Brasil); Attac (Brasil); Conseu/CIEMEN -
Centre Internacional Escarrè per a Minories ètniques i les Nacions; CADTM -
Comité pour l'annullation de la Dette du Tiers Monde; IDEAS; the
Interdepartmental Centre for Research and Services on Peoples’ and Human
rights; the UNESCO University Chair on “Human Rights, Democracy and
Peace” in Padua; Campaign for the Reform of the World Bank; ACLI (Italy);
Action for Economic Reforms (Philippines); Africa Peace Point (Kenya); Africa
Trade Network; Agesci (Italy); AIC - Alternative Information Center
(Israel/Palestine); Alianza por un Mundo Responsable y Solidario (Peru);
Alliance pour un monde responsable, pluriel et solidaire / Fondation Charles
Léopold Mayer pour le Progrès de l'Homme (Brasil); ANND - Arab NGO
Network for Development; ANONG - Cotidiano Mujer (Uruguay); ARCI
(Italy); Articulacion Feminista MARCOSUR; Attac France; Bahrain Association
for Human Rights (Bahrain); Beati i costruttori di pace (Italy); Bridge Initiative
(France); BGRF - Bulgarian Gender Research Foundation (Bulgaria); CAFOR
(Cameroon); CCFD - Comité Catholique contre la Faim et pour le
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Développement (France); Center Aziz Belal (Morocco); Centre Ubuntu
(Burundi); Centro de Investigacion para la Paz (Spain); CGIL (Italy); Cipsi
(Italy); CIDSE; CISL (Italy); Cities for Peace (United States); CNCA (Italy);
Comunidad de autodeterminacion «Vida y Dignidad» of Cacarica-Chocò
(Colombia); Comunidad de Paz San Jose de Apartadò (Colombia); CND –
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (GB); CONGO - Conference of NGOs in
consultative relationship with the United Nations; CUT (Brasil); Dawn - Dev.
Alternatives for Women; DION - Development Indian Ocean Network;
Disabled Peoples' International – Europe; Djazairouna - des familles victimes
du terrorisme (Algeria); Emmaus (Italy); FAL - Foro de Autoridades Locales de
Porto Alegre; Fastenopfer (Switzerland); Focsiv (Italy); Focus on the Global
South; Forum Mulher (Monzambique); Fride; General Board of Global
Ministries - United Methodist Church (United States); Groupe Medialternatif
(Haiti); Helsinki Process on Globalisation and Democracy; Instituto de Estudios
de CTA - Central de Trabalhadores Argentinos (Argentina); Instituto Ethos
(Brasil); IPB – International Peace Bureau; Le Mouvement de la Paix/French
Peace Movement (France); Legambiente (Italy); Libera (Italy); Mani Tese (Italy);
National Bureau of the Moroccon Federation of Trade Unions (Morocco); NGLS
Unctad; Oxford Research Group (England); Pax Christi (Italy); Peace Boat
Europe; Rodheci (Democratic Republic of Congo); Romania in the world
cultural association (Romania); SID – Society for International Development;
Social Watch; South Centre (Switzerland); The Socialist International;
Transnational Institute; UFPJ - United For Peace and Justice (United States);
Umoja As One (Kenya); University of Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic);
UN Millennium Campaign; WCL - World Confederation of Labour; World
Citizens Movement; World Federalist Movement.
(*) This document has been elaborated, thanks to the contribution of the co-ordinators of
the working groups during the International Seminar “Reclaim our UN” that took
place on November 19-20 2004 in Padua (Italy). The seminar saw the participation of
over 600 people representing 25 International networks, 50 national organisations and
284 Italian associations. This is a working document and therefore it is useful for
understanding the central elements of the discussion that took place in Padua and for
continuing the discussion up to the World Social Forum, that will take place in Porto
Alegre from the 26 to the 30 January. All the participants of the Padua seminar and
those that were not able to come can contribute with comments and proposals. Please
send them to: international@peacepoint.org . We will gather and circulate them. In
Porto Alegre we will discuss them all and try to find a common platform.

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