The Relevance of the United Nations Today

The ACT Division of the United Nations Association of Australia connects Canberra's community, government and other stakeholders to the UN and the global network of UN Associations. We work in the Canberra region to achieve positive change in support of the charter, aims, and ideals of the United Nations.

United Nations Association of Australia (UNAA) ACT

Professor John Langmore AM, Professorial Fellow in the School of Social and Political Sciences in the University of Melbourne since 2005.

ACT Legislative Assembly

The United Nations is being accused of irrelevance because it couldn’t stop the Russian invasion of Ukraine. There may have been too little diplomatic vitality, but the current neglect of peacebuilding by many countries must be recognised.The most interesting question is how can the UN’s effectiveness be increased? That depends most centrally on the degree of Member State commitment. John will review major aspects of Australia’s highly uneven multilateral engagement since 1996.Multi-national interest in Security Council reform is growing. A dialogue within Australia would be a useful start, which could lead to identification of organisational changes which would increase the Council’s effectiveness, and which Australia could then advocate.Acknowledgement and thanks to Mr Peter Cain MLA, Member for Ginninderra for being UNAA ACT's venue sponsor.

<h3>John Langmore AM, Professorial Fellow, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Melbourne</h3>John Langmore is a Professorial Fellow in the School of Social and Political Sciences in the University of Melbourne to which he was appointed in 2005. He has been a public servant and academic in Papua New Guinea; economic advisor to the Australian Treasurer; a Labor Member of the House of Representatives for 12 years; and a Divisional Director in the United Nations system in New York for seven years.

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