A Proposed U.N. General Assembly Resolution

THE BINDING TRIAD COMPLEX

(This draft resolution for the U.N. General Assembly is presented for discussion by Richard Hudson, Executive Director of the Center for War/Peace Studies, after receiving comments from the CW/PS Board of Directors and others. Its purpose is to transform the world organization, without amending the U.N. Charter, into a body able to do the following:

(1)   Make decisions reflecting world realities, based on perceived justice and international law,

(2)   Establish an independent revenue-raising base for the U.N., and

(3)   Create structures able to develop solutions to global problems and institutions able to maintain them.)

Draft Resolution Establishing the Binding Triad Complex

The General Assembly, of the United Nations,

Observing that,

  • The global community is in a state of chaos unparalleled in the history of humankind,
  • The animosities based on nationalism, ethnicity, religion, gender, and economic disparities, given the Weapons of Mass Destruction in the hands of many states and a growing number of other entities, threaten to ignite a conflagration that could terminate the effort to build a human society worthy of its potential,
  • The clear road toward a world of sanity is for the many disparate groups of society, including governments, intergovernmental organizations, NGOs, academics, the media, and ordinary citizens, to coalesce into a movement in some fashion in order to bring this new order into existence.

Therefore, commits the General Assembly as a Committee of the Whole to establish such working groups as are necessary to achieve a decision-making system based primarily on cooperation between the U.N. Security Council, the General Assembly, and the Economic and Social Council, but also on other international bodies, in order to make possible realization of the original goals of the United Nations Charter.

Among the actions to be taken toward these ends are the following:

(1) Establishment in the General Assembly of a decision-making system founded on a requirement for three simultaneous majorities in order to approve binding resolutions. These majorities shall be based on three factors: first, one-nation, one vote (the same as now); second, population; third, contributions to the regular U.N. budget (a rough measure of GNP). This arrangement shall be rooted in Article 21 of the U.N. Charter, which states:

The General Assembly shall adopt its own rules of procedure. It shall elect its President for each session.

A Decision-Making Working Group (DMWG) shall be established by the General Assembly to develop guidelines for application of the three “legs” of the Binding Triad system for Global Decision-Making. Among the matters to be determined by the DMWG will be the size of majorities required for passage on the second and third legs, and possible percentage limitations on populations and the contributions to U.N. budget(s). The first leg of the Binding Triad vote will remain as it currently stands in the U.N. Charter, in Article 18, which states:

1. Each member of the General Assembly shall have one vote.

2. Decisions of the General Assembly on important questions shall be made by a two-thirds majority of the members present and voting. These questions shall include: recommendations with respect to the maintenance of international peace and security, the election of the non-permanent members of the Security Council, the election of the members of the Economic and Social Council, the election of members of the Trusteeship Council in accordance with paragraph 1(c) of Article 86, the admission of new Members to the United Nations, the suspension of the rights and privileges of membership, the expulsion of Members, questions relating to the operation of the trusteeship system, and budgetary questions.

3. Decisions on other questions, including the determination of additional categories of questions to be decided by a two-thirds majority, shall be made by a majority of the members present and voting.

Non-binding General Assembly decisions will be able to be approved in the same manner as at present, without majorities on the second and third legs of the BT. The DMWG shall recommend to the General Assembly the questions requiring use of the Binding Triad.

(2) Development of a closer working relationship between the Security Council and the General Assembly. The framers of the U.N. Charter clearly had in mind a higher level of cooperation between the two bodies than has eventuated, evidently for the reason that the Assembly’s non-binding resolutions adopted by a greatly expanded membership are not viewed with sufficient sympathy by the divergent interests of the power structure of the Security Council. (See Chapters IV and V of the U.N. Charter, which delineate the rules governing the operation of the Security Council and General Assembly.) In order to foster synergy between the Council and the Assembly, the Assembly will seek to join with the Council to create a Council-Assembly Working Group (CAWG) to advance the Organization’s capability of coping with issues of global security.

(3) Creation of considerably greater revenues to carry out the diverse social aims proclaimed in the U.N. Charter. Spurred by the glaring shortfall of funds available for improvements in the lives of those on Planet Earth, a growing number of people and groups have been developing proposals for various forms of global taxes for the purpose of human betterment. These small taxes, it is noted, would have a beneficial impact amounting to a great multiple of their total on the overall condition of Homo sapiens. To take advantage of this unprecedented opportunity, the Assembly establishes the U.N. Financial Working Group (UNFWG) to examine these various plans and the means of implementing them as soon as possible. The UNFWG shall include members of the Economic and Social Council. (The General Assembly has the implicit authority to levy taxes in the first paragraph of Article 17 of the U.N. Charter, which states that the Assembly “shall consider and approve the budget of the Organization.”

(4) Help for Failing States, which are a heavy burden not only on themselves, but also on their neighbors and, indeed, the rest of the world as well. As our shrinking planet undergoes a rapid transition from a haphazard jigsaw of sovereign nation states to – who knows what – it is our solemn responsibility to do our best to assure that those in trouble get a helping hand. With that in mind, the Assembly establishes the Helping Hand Working Group (HHWG) to aid our members in difficulty to improve their lot.

To conclude our presentation of the case for four new panels critical to tellurian travails, let us note that they are integral – all four are mutually supportive. We declare that if the Assembly will adopt this resolution – and act on it in a serious manner – it can go down in history as a major milestone demonstrating human sanity.