If the UN didn't
already exist, "we'd have to invent
it," Sam Nunn, former Chairman
of the US Senate's Armed Services
Committee, told a news conference
at the World
Economic Forum's Annual Meeting
Saturday. He said that the UN and
its agencies
have a critical role to play in
coping with the global vulnerabilities
that
have become apparent since the
terror attacks of Sept. 11--and
to do that
job they may need to be strengthened.
Nunn,
who is now CEO of Nuclear Threat Initiative and is
also Rapporteur of the Annual Meeting 2002, said special
attention should be paid to the financial health of
the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
"Health is now part of security," he
said, citing statistics showing that as many
as 13 million people die each year as a result
of infectious diseases. Because of globalization,
he said, infections can spread from one part
of the globe to another almost instantly. As
a result, he said, we have to strengthen public
health systems "on a global basis," and
should be allocating additional aid funds for
that purpose.
"The UN has been viewed by many people
in the United States as inefficient," he
said, "but if it didn't exist we'd have
to invent it." Nunn said national governments
must also "get their house in order" to
defend themselves against the threat of terror
attacks, which he said are more likely to target
infrastructure than military facilities.
Governments
must provide resources and incentives, he said,
to deal with short-term and long-term
vulnerabilities. It will take a lot of resources,
he stressed, along with "strong and persistent
leadership." It is important, he added, "that
the long term start now."
|
