The award of the Nobel Prize for Peace to the United Nations and to its Secretary General, Kofi Annan, is a cause for true celebration everywhere. But celebrations should never become an excuse for complacency. Yes, the UN has achieved much under Secretary General Annan's leadership. But the idea of the United Nations as a uniter of nations remains, in many parts of the world and for many of the world's most complex problems, more an ideal still to be achieved than a living reality.
The award of the Nobel Prize for Peace to the United Nations and to its Secretary General, Kofi Annan, is a cause for true celebration everywhere. But celebrations should never become an excuse for complacency. Yes, the UN has achieved much under Secretary General Annan's leadership. But the idea of the United Nations as a uniter of nations remains, in many parts of the world and for many of the world's most complex problems, more an ideal still to be achieved than a living reality.