Robert Muller: [GMW #2072] Upgrading The UN With A Bold Strategy Of New Institutions, Organs and Services For The Well-Being Of The Earth And Happiness Of Humanity

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

[GMW #2072] Upgrading The UN With A Bold Strategy Of New Institutions, Organs and Services For The Well-Being Of The Earth And Happiness Of Humanity

Idea Dream - Robert Muller's Ideas 1 to 500

~ Idea 1199 ~ 22 October 1997

Reading my journals of 1970, the twenty-fifth anniversary of the UN, and of 1985, the fortieth anniversary of which I was in charge, I am struck that the US and other big powers consistently complain about duplication, bureaucracy and excessive costs of the UN. This was again the case during the fiftieth anniversary of the UN in 1990, and is worse today since the US Congress even withholds the payment of the US contributions to the UN. I then remembered that even in the speeches of the US and the USSR during the first General Assembly of the UN in Lake Success in 1946, they complained about excessive costs! This all proves that the issue is primarily political. The big powers do not want a strong, effective UN. They want to keep their power and tax revenue, creating infinitely more duplications of expenses between themselves and the total of 185 nations at the expense of the taxpayers, prisoners of their nations.

My heart bleeds when I think that some essential services of the UN have been suppressed for that reason, and that the main talk today is the suppression or consolidation of more UN services. For instance, I lament that the UN Fiscal and Financial Branch in which I worked immediately after World War II has been suppressed. It could render most valuable services to the world community today on two subjects:

1. How is it possible that so many billionaires can arise in this world? What is the taxation of their incomes? How do they use tax havens which exist in the world?

2. At this time when we want to save forests to produce oxygen for our lungs, would it not be good to survey the taxation of this common wealth? Should forests not be tax-exempt or even receive tax incentives, instead of seeing owners forced to exploit or to sell them because of excessive land taxation? This is a subject which we would have taken up immediately in the Fiscal and Financial Commission and Branch of the UN.

I recommend therefore that this UN intergovernmental organ and its Secretariat be reestablished. I recommend that the current Secretary General propose to the General Assembly not exclusively consolidation and suppression of UN services but come up with a whole list, a bold strategy of new institutions, organs and services which he considers essential for the well-being of the Earth and happiness of humanity. The latter should be the only criteria.

It goes even beyond the Secretary General. The whole UN should be upgraded into a second generation UN urgently needed in the 21st century. A second Charter Conference and Bretton Woods Conference should be convened to that effect.

Robert's The Miracle, Joy and Art of Living,
Volume II Chapter 15 - Of Beauty and Art
Art can dissect and analyze.
Art can compose and harmonize.

The scientific age was accompanied by an excessive dissecting, often meaningless art.

The holistic age will now see the rebirth of a composing, inspiring, harmonizing art.

UN News Sources - UN Chronicle, United Nations News Service , UN Wire News Archive
References: Earth Charter, Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Rights of: Children, Women, Indigenous People
To Be Written: Rights of Nature, Birds, Animals, Fish, etc.

WORD FOR THE DAY
To speak gratitude is courteous and pleasant,
to enact gratitude is generous and noble,
but to live gratitude is to touch Heaven.
Johannes A. Gaertner

Robert Muller 1923 - 2010
Memorial Index

The World Association Of Former United Nations Interns and Fellows

www.wafunif.org

OFFICIAL RECORD

In Honor and Memory
of
Dr. Robert G. Muller
(1923-2010)

            The World Association of Former United Nations Internes and Fellows (WAFUNIF) records with profound grief the sad demise of Dr. Robert G. Muller, on 20th September 2010, the eve of the International Day of Peace.

            He was one of the most ardent supporters of this organization and, despite his various other engagements, he remained closely associated with it in multitudinous capacities until his last breath. Besides being one of the founding fathers and an original member, he was an honorary inductee and a distinguished promoter. He was an eminent patron and an imaginative mentor as well as an energetic advisor and a affable counsel. He further served WAFUNIF as Director-at-Large, Executive Director, Vice President, and Vice President Emeritus. As a noble man, with active disposition and pioneering spirit, he played an extremely constructive role in these positions. Specially, he gave a new push to the organization's programs on global peace, human entirety, environmental safeguard, and ecological balance. Still, going even far beyond, he used to talk about spirituality, universalism, and cosmology, as also to be our concerns.

            In recognition of these celebrated services and thoughts, the Association itself always held him with the highest esteem, including in particular the bestowal of the award of Outstanding Distinction.

Life Sketch:
            Hailing from France, as a young man of twenty five, he came to New York as a member of the first group of the UN Internes and Fellows (affectionately called Mohawks) in 1948. The internship led him to the corridors of the United Nations and opened the doors to his vision for global peace and harmony, setting him on a life path that took some forty years of work at the United Nations, raising him to the rank of Assistant Secretary-General. This afforded him opportunities of indulging deeply and practically in the domain of international affairs, giving him a purposeful channel to direct his energies.

            In 1986, as a co-founder, he became the Chancellor of the University for Peace at San Jose in Costa Rica. Here he worked laboriously and diligently in building up this institution in the cause of world peace and security, which continued to flourish, under his steerage.

Subsequently, as an ardent advocate of peace, he ran a broadcasting program Good Morning World that religiously spread the message of amicability all around. In the same zeal, he produced a World Core Curriculum, being taught in numerous schools around the world. Dwelling on the same lines, he furthermore developed several innovative Frameworks on Planetary and Cosmic Consciousness, Arts and Culture, and World Media Coverage. Ablazed with the very tenet, he wrote many books in various languages, evoking consciousness for a peaceful and harmonious planet. Thus, as an ardent advocate of peace, hope, and unity, he carried out his mission successfully.

            For his ideas and deeds for global harmony and human welfare, he was widely acclaimed as a great advocate of peace. Accordingly, he was accorded with many distinctions. Amongst these, he won the UNESCO Peace Education Prize with an honorary title of Father of Global Education (1989), Albert Scwitzer International Prize for the Humanities, Eleanor Roosevelt Man of Vision Award, WAFUNIF's Award of Outstanding Distinction (1995), Nuclear Age Peace Foundation World Citizen Award (2002), GOI Peace Award (2003), and Lifetime Achievement Award (2010).

            While we mourn deeply the loss, we stand here to honor and remember him for his exemplary character, profound affection, intense devotion, and momentous achievements. We pray for his salvation and offer the heartiest condolences to the bereaved family.

***

PS: For more details, please visit:
http://peaceday.tv/drmullertribute
http://www.RobertMuller.org

Books recommended by Robert are here.
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