Weakened by the US invasion of Iraq the UN General Assembly now faces tough decisions about its rules, writes Deaglán de Bréadún
It wasn't part of the official United Nations tour, and I had never noticed it on my visits to the tall building on the East River in Manhattan. Usually when I arrive I'm heading for the press area on the third floor of the UN's headquarters and don't have time for a proper look around. But taking a break between stories this week I came across the meditation room. It is tucked away in a corner, and you have to seek it out. But when you think about it, isn't that the best kind of location? And you could hardly include it in the visitors' tour: "Here we have the meditation room. Oops, sorry sir, didn't mean to intrude."
A notice outside says the room was "personally planned and supervised in every detail" by the former secretary general Dag Hammarskjöld, of Sweden, who was born in 1905 and died in a mysterious plane crash in 1961, during the UN intervention in the Congo, well remembered here because 17 Irish soldiers lost their lives on peacekeeping duty at the time.
Coming from the region that nurtured Swedenborg and Kierkegaard, Hammarskjöld was something of a mystic. As you explore the meditation room you get a strange feeling of being in contact with the spirit of this man who perished 42 years ago in the African jungle.
A notice, doubtless penned by Hammarskjöld, tells you this is "a place where the doors may be open to the infinite lands of thought and prayer". The UN is the biggest conglomeration of cultures since the Tower of Babel, and there are no customary symbols of belief, as how would you accommodate Hindu and Muslim, Christian and atheist? Instead a block of iron ore is lit by a shaft of light. Hammarskjöld reminds visitors that it can be turned into a sword or a ploughshare: the choice is ours.
Instead of bluntly asking for silence, a sign points out tactfully that this is "a room of quiet where only thoughts should speak". Here indeed we have reached what the poet T. S. Eliot called "the still point of the turning world".
A man was meditating, breathing heavily with his legs crossed, so I didn't stay. This is the UN's commemoration corner: a wall display near the meditation room recalls the organisation's founding conference, in San Francisco, from April 25th to June 26th, 1945, "nine weeks, day and night". In a mood of great enthusiasm, the 10,000-word UN charter was approved late on the evening of June 25th. The text was printed overnight, using long-lasting paper and "ink intended to last centuries". The signing ceremony next day took eight hours, and US soldiers thronged the hall to be part of the great event.
Facsimiles of the signatures are on display, including a great flourish by the US president, Harry Truman. Then, six weeks later, Truman ordered the atom-bomb attacks on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing 110,000 people.
That was then, this is now, but what has changed? The US is still officially committed to the UN, and President Bush made a highly publicised speech there this week. But when perceived US interests are at stake, whether in wartime Japan or contemporary Iraq, the superpower goes it alone.
It's a conundrum the current secretary general, Kofi Annan, is trying to solve. He was talking turkey to the General Assembly this week: "It is not enough to denounce unilateralism unless we also face up squarely to the concerns that make some states feel uniquely vulnerable."
Sovereignty is sacred, according to the UN charter, but what if a "failed state" is being used as a launch pad for 9/11 style attacks? What about clandestine groups with access to radioactive "dirty bombs"? The doctrine of the pre-emptive strike is gaining ground: what if India attacked Pakistan or vice versa? Both of them are nuclear powers.
Annan was far too tactful to mention such a precise example, but everyone knew the kind of thing he was talking about when he warned against "a proliferation of the unilateral and lawless use of force, with or without justification".
Which brought him, and us, back to the Security Council, which is legally responsible for maintaining international peace and security. Changed times need changed rules, and Annan said the council should consider "an early authorisation of coercive measures to address certain types of threats - for instance, terrorist groups armed with weapons of mass destruction".
And should the doctrine of respect for state sovereignty extend to toleration of genocide, provided it takes place within a country's borders? When you put it like that, who will say no? Then there is the composition of the council, based on the international situation in 1945, which saw permanent seats and vetoes granted to the main victorious powers. The Chinese, French, Russians, British and Americans rule the roost, but what about the Brazilians, Argentinians, Nigerians, South Africans, Egyptians, Germans and Japanese, to name but a few?
As the Secretary General explored these issues, albeit in less specific terms, a member of the Irish delegation was heard to say: "He's stealing our best lines." When it was time for Bertie Ahern to speak, on Thursday, he gave two cheers for the Secretary General, although he did not echo Annan's suggestion that the Security Council should authorise pre-emptive strikes.
Consensus Man wants to "pre-empt the risk of conflict through a wide range of steps in the diplomatic, economic, humanitarian and other areas". (Among the invited guests listening to the Taoiseach's speech was Joe Burke, his businessman friend from Ireland.) Ireland's speech would normally have been given by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Brian Cowen, but the Secretary General had requested heads of state or government to make a special effort to attend this year's General Assembly. There was even a rumour that Libya's controversial Colonel Gadafy was on his way, but much to the chagrin of the photographers he didn't make it. One who did was Iraq's would-be leader, Ahmed Chalabi, who is a dead ringer for the Fianna Fáil politician Jackie Fahey.
Chalabi is a member of Iraq's interim governing council. The council's presidency rotates in alphabetical order each month, so he was indeed fortunate to hold the position in September, which gave him the opportunity to attend the General Assembly. Although he is reported to be "well got" with the Pentagon, Chalabi cuts a less than imposing figure. I looked in on a press conference he gave in the UN building and noted that he could not make himself heard at the back of the room, which was not much bigger than a school classroom. Maybe Gadafy could spare him a little of that notorious charisma.
If Chalabi is the future leader of Iraq, then we may be in even more trouble than we thought. A New York Times interview had made him sound like his own man, independent of the US, but now he was stressing his total agreement with the Washington line.
Domestically, it is all coming a little unstuck for Bush. His popularity is falling and the new Democratic Party contender, Gen Wesley Clark, who reportedly has Irish connections on both his wife and his mother's sides, has launched a strong campaign. Americans still feel vulnerable after 9/11, but if the Democrats put up a candidate in uniform they might take back the White House. Of course, it is early days yet.
Oddly, the UN could play a role in the presidential election. A sizeable UN military contingent, along with generous amounts of international aid, could take the desperate look off Bush's Iraqi policy. There is deep scepticism of and reluctance about his demand for $87 billion from US taxpayers. But to rework a phrase of John F. Kennedy, the motto at the UN seems to be: Ask not what you can do for George Bush but what he ever did for you.
Going global: How the UN works
Founded: In 1945, "to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind".
Membership: There were 51 states at the start, now there are 191.
General Assembly: Consists of all the member-states, each of which is entitled to one vote, regardless of size and population, although failure to contribute to the UN budget may lead to a loss of voting rights. Regular annual session opens in September each year at UN headquarters in New York. Nearly all the world's foreign ministers and many heads of state and government attend. Member-states are not obliged to implement its resolutions.
Security Council: Under the charter it has primary responsibility for maintenance of international peace and security. The five main victorious powers in the second World War - China, France, the Russian Federation, UK and US - have permanent seats. The other 10 members are elected on a rotating basis for two years each (Ireland was a member in 2001 and 2002). Resolutions are binding on all 191 UN member-states but must have the support of nine council members and can be vetoed by any of the permanent five.
Secretariat: The civil service of the UN, with about 15,000 members, headed by the Secretary General, Kofi Annan of Ghana.