Stories written by Kingsley Chiedu Moghalu
Kingsley Chiedu Moghalu, an international lawyer, is head of resource mobilisation and global partnerships at the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in Geneva, Switzerland. These are his personal views.

RESTORING ACCOUNTABILITY IN THE UNITED NATIONS

By Kingsley Chiedu Moghalu and - -
For the first time in its six decades of existence, the United Nations\' internal system of administrative justice has been significantly reformed, writes Kingsley Chiedu Moghalu, a member of the Redesign Panel on the United Nations System of Administration of Justice. The author writes that in the new system, independent judges with legal training and real judicial powers will review and issue decisions that are binding even on the Secretary-General, who was previously considered essentially above UN administrative law. Justice - including alternative methods of dispute resolution such as mediation -- will be accessible not just for UN staff in New York, Geneva, and Vienna, but also personnel in far-flung field outposts. There is still some distance to travel before the new system formally comes into effect in early 2009. But perhaps the innovative reforms will ultimately help create the culture of accountability in the UN that is so necessary if the organisation is to attract stronger political support. In addition, without this kind of reform, it might be impossible to achieve others - including restructuring the Security Council in a manner that reflects the realities of the 21st century rather than those of 1945.

A WORLD OF DISORDER

By Kingsley Chiedu Moghalu and - -
The international crisis generated by the US invasion of Iraq captures the tension in world politics between the \'\'international community\'\' as represented in the UN, and the role of power and its attendant interests, writes Kingsley Moghalu, an international lawyer and head of resource mobilisation and global partnerships at the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in Geneva, Switzerland. In this analysis, the author argues that the problem with a unipolar world is that international law --a significant component in the maintenance of order in world politics-- can become a major casualty. In such a world, international law can be violated with little direct consequence to the hegemonic power. Far from consolidating order, such use of power, even in the name of freedom, human rights, and liberal democracy, will rather increase disorder. A certain degree of anarchy will always exist in an international society based on sovereign states and mobile non-state actors that pursue frequently divergent interests. We must manage that anarchy by addressing the fundamental issues that exacerbate it. The way forward is not the balance of power of bye-gone years but a balance of approach in which the world\'s hegemon has not only special circumstances but special responsibilities of global leadership.
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