24 October 2005 marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the United Nations. Since its beginning, the UN has been a vital element of Norway’s participation in the international community.
28/10/2005 :: The UN Charter was signed by 51 states, including Norway, and officially came into existence on 24 October 1945. In January 1946, the UN held its first General Assembly, and one month later, its first Secretary-General, Trygve Lie from Norway, was appointed. Mr Lie was Secretary-General for six years.
The UN was formed in the wake of the Second World War. The suffering caused by the war highlighted the need for a world-wide effort to promote peace. Many countries, including Norway, saw the importance of establishing an international tool to promote peace, security and development.
Since its beginning, the UN has been a vital element of Norway’s participation in the international community. Norway is one of the most important financial contributors. In 2004, its voluntary contributions to the UN system, including UN funds, programmes and specialised agencies, amounted to nearly 690 million USD (580 million EUR). In the case of several UN funds and programmes, Norway is in fact one of the three largest contributors in absolute figures. Norway has also contributed substantially to a number of UN peacekeeping missions, and over 50 000 Norwegians have served in UN-led peace operations.
The fast-changing world of today has put the UN system to some hard tests and has emphasised the need for extensive reforms. Norway is actively promoting the development of a stronger and more effective UN that will be the main basis for an international legal order and global security. Following the outcome of this autumn’s summit, Norway will continue its efforts to strengthen the UN’s legitimacy and effectiveness. Some of the key elements in this process are reform of the UN’s human rights and peace-building efforts, strengthening the UN’s capacity in the humanitarian field, intensifying efforts to reach the UN Millennium Development Goals and reform of the UN administration.
Norway has been a member of the UN Security Council four times, most recently in the period 2001-2002. The Security Council is made up of 15 members, five of which are permanent: China, France, Russia, the UK and the US. The remaining ten members are elected by the General Assembly for a two-year period. The Security Council’s main responsibility is to maintain international peace and security.
The UN has developed since its foundation in 1945. The number of Member States has quadrupled, and its tasks have both increased in number and changed in content. For example, the fight against poverty has become an important part of the UN’s work. The Millennium Summit in 2000 resulted in the Millennium Development Goals – eight specific goals to help the world’s poorest that are to be achieved by 2015. Various organisations, individual countries and the UN as a whole are all working towards achieving these goals. The Millennium Goals are a guiding principle of Norway’s development policy.
Norway considers it important that the UN is a forum in which all the Member States are heard, regardless of their size and regardless of other constellations of power. More and more of the problems we have to face are of a global nature and can only be solved within a global framework. This is shown very clearly by the fact that the demand for the UN’s services is greater than ever. Norway also underlines the importance of closer correlation between the tasks required of the UN and the funds provided by the Member States to solve these tasks.
The UN is the only inter-governmental organisation with a global mandate, global support and a broad, multi-sectoral area of responsibility. Norway believes this gives the UN a unique role as an arena for dealing with important issues that affect our common future.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs