2006年VOA标准英语-UN Reforms Peacekeeping and Genocide Prevention

By Andre de Nesnera
Washington
06 November 2006

Outgoing U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has been pushing for reform of the institution throughout his decade-long tenure¹. In this report from Washington, Senior Correspondent André de Nesnera looks at two reforms passed by the General Assembly, one having to do with peacekeeping and the other with trying to prevent acts of genocide and gross violations² of human rights.

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Brazilian troops with the U.N. peacekeepers conduct a security sweep in the shantytown of Bel Air in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Feb. 18, 2005  
  
The United Nations is engaged in 18 peacekeeping missions around the world. More than 90,000 soldiers and support personnel are involved in places like Cyprus, Western Sahara, Georgia, Liberia, Haiti and Kosovo.

Often referred to as "Blue Helmets" because of their distinctive³ headgear, U.N. peacekeepers play a variety of roles, including monitoring peace agreements, supervising elections and helping⁴ provide reconstruction⁵ aid.

Former U.N. Under-Secretary General Brian Urquhart says the responsibility of U.N. peacekeepers is vital, but limited in scope.

He said, "Because one of the problems with the U.N. is that it's been very successful in peacekeeping, and then it has tended to leave the scene of the crime, which then reverts⁶ to some fearful form of violence or corruption⁷ or failure of some kind."

In an effort to expand the role of the United Nations in post-conflict areas, the General Assembly has created a new Peacebuilding Commission. The 31-member commission will expand the U.N. role beyond peacekeeping to assist countries in the very difficult transition from war to peace following a civil war.

Experts say this will mean helping nations in a variety of areas, such as reforming police forces, helping create a national army, making government institutions more effective, forming political parties and assisting in the creation of an independent and responsible media.

Analysts⁸ say, all of this will take time, but the creation of this commission is an important step in helping countries recover from devastating⁹ civil wars.

Experts say U.N. members also agreed on an important principle: to intervene in cases of genocide or ethnic¹⁰ cleansing¹¹. 
 
 
1994 Rwandan Massacre¹²
  
That principle is known as the responsibility to protect. And Nancy Soderberg, former alternate U.S. representative to the United Nations (1997-2001) says that is a revolutionary idea.

"The U.N. is founded on the basis of sovereignty, meaning that each country is responsible for its own affairs, and no country has a right to intervene in the internal affairs of another member. And that's enshrined in the [U.N.] charter, and it is very much how the U.N. drives. After the debacle of Bosnia, and, particularly, the genocide in Rwanda, the secretary-general said, 'we need to think again about what responsibility the international community has when things like this happen.' And, he pulled together the brightest minds in the world, and they came up with this new theory, which is the 'responsibility to protect' - which says, when a state is either unwilling¹³ or unable to protect its population, the issue of sovereignty yields to the responsibility of the international community to protect them," she said.

Analysts say, while the doctrine¹⁴ of the responsibility to protect has been accepted by the United Nations, the key issue is how do you implement¹⁵ it?

Michael Doyle was an adviser¹⁶ to outgoing U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

He said, "So, at the level of principle or doctrine, this is a good step forward. At the level of practice, the jury is still out. We have a case in front of us now called Darfur, where, whether it's technically¹⁷, legally genocide or not is disputed. But whether horrendous¹⁸ ethnic cleansing - rapes¹⁹, murders, all sorts of other abuses are taking place - is not disputed. And, so, we will see whether the Security Council steps up and fulfills²⁰ these new responsibilities that have been identified for it by the entire membership. We don't know yet."

 
Refugees in Darfur, Sudan 
  
For the past three years, Sudanese forces and pro-government Arab militias²¹ have been fighting rebel groups in Darfur. Khartoum is accused of war crimes against the region's black African population. As of now, Sudan has prevented a U.N. force from entering Darfur.

Experts say it is essential for the international community to act now to put teeth into the new principle of the responsibility to protect.

1 tenure   

n.终身职位；任期；(土地)保有权，保有期

参考例句：

• He remained popular throughout his tenure of the office of mayor.他在担任市长的整个任期内都深得民心。
• Land tenure is a leading political issue in many parts of the world.土地的保有权在世界很多地区是主要的政治问题。

2 violations   

违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸

参考例句：

• This is one of the commonest traffic violations. 这是常见的违反交通规则之例。
• These violations of the code must cease forthwith. 这些违犯法规的行为必须立即停止。

3 distinctive   

adj.特别的，有特色的，与众不同的

参考例句：

• She has a very distinctive way of walking.她走路的样子与别人很不相同。
• This bird has several distinctive features.这个鸟具有几种突出的特征。

4 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

5 reconstruction   

n.重建，再现，复原

参考例句：

• The country faces a huge task of national reconstruction following the war.战后，该国面临着重建家园的艰巨任务。
• In the period of reconstruction,technique decides everything.在重建时期，技术决定一切。

6 reverts   

恢复( revert的第三人称单数 )； 重提； 回到…上； 归还

参考例句：

• The mind reverts to the earliest days of colonial history. 我们回想到早期的殖民地历史。
• Macau reverts to Chinese sovereignty at midnight on December19. 澳门主权于十二月十九日零时回归中国。

7 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

8 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

9 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

10 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

11 cleansing   

n. 净化(垃圾) adj. 清洁用的 动词cleanse的现在分词

参考例句：

• medicated cleansing pads for sensitive skin 敏感皮肤药物清洗棉
• Soap is not the only cleansing agent. 肥皂并不是唯一的清洁剂。

12 massacre   

n.残杀，大屠杀；v.残杀，集体屠杀

参考例句：

• There was a terrible massacre of villagers here during the war.在战争中，这里的村民惨遭屠杀。
• If we forget the massacre,the massacre will happen again!忘记了大屠杀，大屠杀就有可能再次发生！

13 unwilling   

adj.不情愿的

参考例句：

• The natives were unwilling to be bent by colonial power.土著居民不愿受殖民势力的摆布。
• His tightfisted employer was unwilling to give him a raise.他那吝啬的雇主不肯给他加薪。

14 doctrine   

n.教义；主义；学说

参考例句：

• He was impelled to proclaim his doctrine.他不得不宣扬他的教义。
• The council met to consider changes to doctrine.宗教议会开会考虑更改教义。

15 implement   

n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行

参考例句：

• Don't undertake a project unless you can implement it.不要承担一项计划，除非你能完成这项计划。
• The best implement for digging a garden is a spade.在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。

16 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

17 technically   

adv.专门地，技术上地

参考例句：

• Technically it is the most advanced equipment ever.从技术上说，这是最先进的设备。
• The tomato is technically a fruit,although it is eaten as a vegetable.严格地说，西红柿是一种水果，尽管它是当作蔬菜吃的。

18 horrendous   

adj.可怕的，令人惊惧的

参考例句：

• He described it as the most horrendous experience of his life.他形容这是自己一生中最可怕的经历。
• The mining industry in China has a horrendous safety record.中国的煤矿工业具有令人不安的安全记录。

19 rapes   

n.芸苔( rape的名词复数 )；强奸罪；强奸案；肆意损坏v.以暴力夺取，强夺( rape的第三人称单数 )；强奸

参考例句：

• The man who had committed several rapes was arrested. 那个犯了多起强奸案的男人被抓起来了。 来自辞典例句
• The incidence of reported rapes rose 0.8 percent. 美国联邦调查局还发布了两份特别报告。 来自互联网

20 fulfills   

v.履行（诺言等）( fulfill的第三人称单数 )；执行（命令等）；达到（目的）；使结束

参考例句：

• He always fulfills his promises. 他总是履行自己的诺言。 来自辞典例句
• His own work amply fulfills this robust claim. 他自己的作品在很大程度上实现了这一正确主张。 来自辞典例句

21 militias   

n.民兵组织，民兵( militia的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The troops will not attempt to disarm the warring militias. 部队并不打算解除战斗中的民兵武装。 来自辞典例句
• The neighborhood was a battleground for Shiite and Sunni militias. 那里曾是什叶派和逊尼派武装分子的战场。 来自互联网