UN General Assembly
2000

“We, the peoples” is a powerful rendition of world affairs and a daunting portrait of life for future generations. It took intellect and diplomatic savoir-faire to state a complex case in such a concise and forceful way. We are grateful to the Secretary-General and his staff for producing it. “We, the peoples” are of course the opening words of the Charter, and I want to take them as a point of departure. Other speakers have done so before me and have argued in favour of a more robust structure for keeping the peace in the world community. They are right. The United Nations role in the area of preventing or limiting armed conflict was conceived as its principal purpose. The Brahimi report has shown how, in spite of that, the United Nations peacekeeping function has in fact become its Achilles heel. The Brahimi recommendations deserve to be implemented — the sooner the better. At present, the Netherlands Government and parliament are debating how to improve our national contribution to peacekeeping. 15 “We, the Peoples” can lead to reflections on a