What's in UN's millennium gift?

At last count, over 125 heads of government are expected to assemble at the United Nations on September 6-8 to give their collective blessings to a "Millennium Declaration" that will project a "global vision for the 21st century".

The proposed declaration, as the American saying goes, is going to be the greatest single gift to mankind since the invention of sliced bread. Or so it seems.

But the 188 UN ambassadors, who are mandated to formulate this historic declaration on behalf of their leaders, are split right down the middle over what the global vision should and shouldn't look like

Should the world be free of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons? Should political and human rights take precedence over social and economic rights? Should there be a permanent war crimes tribunal to deal with genocide in the 21st century.

The world body apparently remains split over some of these politically sensitive issues - ranging from nuclear disarmament and global governance to humanitarian intervention and UN reforms - spelled out in the proposed declaration which is now in the process of being revised and re-written to meet the demands of member states. 

The world's five major nuclear powers the US, Britain, France, China and Russia have rejected a proposal to convene an international conference to identify ways of eliminating nuclear dangers.

All five, who are also veto-wielding permanent members of the Security Council, have implicitly argued that the elimination of nuclear weapons should not be seen as a global vision for the 21st century.

The overwhelming majority of developing nations who comprise the 114-member Non-Aligned Movement say that the preamble to the declaration should reaffirm the national sovereignty of member states.

Such a reaffirmation implicitly excludes any form of "humanitarian intervention" by the UN without the express permission of that country.

China has objected to "global governance" - a concept that incorporates multi-party democracy, respect for human rights and a free press - being included in the declaration.

The US, which has opposed the creation of an International Criminal Court (ICC), is objecting to a call urging all UN member states to sign and ratify the Rome Statute establishing the ICC.

Japan, which has long sought a permanent seat in the 15-member Security Council, is pushing for a commitment by the visiting heads of state for a "speedy" reform and enlargement of the Security Council.

But several countries have objected to the UN being rushed into restructuring the Security Council. They want the word "speedy" dropped from the declaration.

The bulk of the declaration, however, has received the approval of most member states. But they are mostly vague political and economic concepts traditionally generated by all UN conferences.

"We believe that the central challenge we face today is to ensure that globalisation becomes a positive force for all the world's people," says a draft declaration currently under discussion.

"For while globalisation offers great opportunities, at present it benefits are very unevenly distributed and its costs mainly borne by developing countries."

The only thing that everybody seems agreed on, is the platitude expressed in the preamble: "We, the heads of state and government of the member states of the United Nations, have gathered at the dawn of a new millennium at UN headquarters in New York, to reaffirm our faith in the Organisation and its Charter as indispensable foundations of a more peaceful, prosperous and just world." 

To produce a single declaration that will have the approval of every single head of state or government has been described as a monumental task.

And that job has been entrusted to the current President of the General Assembly, Theo-Ben Gurirab of Namibia, who is being assisted by two "facilitators", namely New Zealand and Guatemala.

Last week, Gurirab displayed a huge stack of papers consisting of scores of new proposals by individual member states who want all of them religiously incorporated in the declaration. 

But the Millennium Declaration, like most UN declarations, is expected to be limited only to a couple of pages.

An Asian diplomat told an informal meeting last month that trying to include all the proposals into a single document was "like trying to squeeze an elephant into a rabbit hole."

Another diplomat described the declaration as "already looking like a New York city Christmas tree."

After it is cut down to size, the Millennium Declaration will be just another UN document full of good intentions but defying implementation.