MEMBER FOR MAYO SAYS U.N. NEEDS TO CHANGE

A South Australian Federal Minister has told the United Nations that its policies are inadequate.

In his statement to the United Nations General Assembly, the Member for Mayo and Australian Minsiter for Foreign Affairs has criticised the U.N.'s policy of non-intervention in the activities of sovereign nations.

"Australia does not believe the UN is the answer to all the problems of the world," said Mr Downer, "but it does have a role to play, and, when we call on the UN, it must be able to fulfil that role effectively and expeditiously.

Mr Downer echoed U.S. sentiment that following the doctrines of the Geneva convention was insufficient when dealing with terrorists:

The world today is confronted by a menace not envisaged at the time the Geneva Conventions were drafted ... terrorist organisations and their footsoldiers – like those captured in Afghanistan – who bear arms on a battlefield but pay no heed to the laws of war, fight for no regular army, wear no uniform, and no recognisable insignia.

..... where a population is suffering serious harm, and the relevant State is unwilling or unable to stop this, the principle of non-intervention should yield to the collective responsibility to protect.

The UN is currently drafting a Convention Against Terrorism.

Mr Downer said that:

We have a proud record of contributing to UN activities, funding and debates, extending back to its formation in 1945.

But we are not an uncritical supporter.

The need to reform the UN has been a consistent theme since I first addressed the General Assembly, at the fifty-first session in 1996.

Such a need is all the more compelling today.

The reality is that there continue to be states failing or in precipitous decline for no reasons other than poor leadership and poor governance – with disastrous results for human lives.

Mr Downer reminded the U.N. that "A dangerous new dimension to this global challenge is the known ambition of terrorists to acquire weapons of mass destruction".

"It is therefore imperative that we take practical action against proliferation as it occurs" he said