“The UN can be a platform for solutions on the ground, not just a place that passes resolutions and negotiates treaties, but actually builds the community of practice that can actually solve the problem,” says Robert Orr, who has served as the principal policy advisor to the UN Secretary-General on issues such as climate change, energy, food security, global health and counter-terrorism.
During his interview with the UN News Center, Orr discusses how the United Nations had strove in its work on peace keeping and stabilizing the home of the peoples of the world.
Orr started working for the United Nations in 2004 when he was first invited by then UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.
Reflecting on how he viewed the United Nations since, he said the UN seemed different now from how it seemed years ago.
“The United Nations in 2004 was an Organization under siege. The United States had issues with the Organization relating to the war in Iraq. There were great divisions in the Security Council around the war in Iraq. The ‘oil-for-food’ program and all of the controversies around that had a sense of a siege mentality inside building. the organization has turned from defending itself to defending the nations at present. It has grown into dealing with global issues from climate change, to reaching communities,” Orr said in the interview.
The United Nations has also approved the anti-terror resolution to address the growing threat by foreign terrorists. “Resolutions alone will not be enough, promises on paper cannot keep us safe, lofty rhetoric and good intentions will not stop a single terrorist attack,” Obama said. The resolution passed requires nations to be equipped enough to suppress the terrorists and help the states build a number of front lines for further protection.
Sources:
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=49003#.VDdA0mfuJl0
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/09/24/politics/obama-united-nations/