A Long Way Short

A lot of people have arrived unexpectedly in Europe this summer, and many of these are fleeing tyrannical regimes and warfare, especially from Syria. At the time of writing, the countries in the European Union have no effective system of coping with those who arrive “illegally” in large numbers. Every day, we see new twists and turns in this story. Some countries are welcoming refugees from countries at war with open arms. Others are building fences to keep them out. Most people see a distinction between “genuine refugees” and “economic migrants”, but without a working system, nothing can effectively be done to deal with either group. This is not just a European problem - other parts of the world are receiving migrants from less fortunate countries.

Bahá’u’lláh, the Founder of the Bahá’í Faith, urged the world to create a world government. Addressing the immediate future He said: “The signs of impending convulsions and chaos can now be discerned, inasmuch as the prevailing order appeareth to be lamentably defective.” Certainly, the richer parts of the world are incapable of coping in any organised way with the arrival of large numbers of refugees and other unregulated migrants. The world does not even agree on the rights a human being should have. Some countries do not allow their citizens to leave. Far more have no objection to their citizens leaving, but object to people arriving from outside. The world also seems incapable of preventing the organised people smuggling which is undertaken by criminal gangs.

What is more, the world has not created any real mechanism for preventing warfare, either within countries or between countries. The United Nations Organisation was, unfortunately, not set up with a mechanism for preventing the types of war which now occur; nor does the United Nations have the authority, or the armed forces, to intervene at an early stage when fighting does break out. It is the warfare and despotism which the world allows to continue which promotes mass emigration from certain unfortunate countries. The world has also not evolved past the stage of political and religious divisions and fanaticism. Presumably foreseeing this kind of chaos, Bahá’u’lláh predicted that, “Soon will the present-day order be rolled up, and a new one spread out in its stead.” In His letter to Queen Victoria, when talking about the rulers of the world, He said: “Should any one among you take up arms against another, rise ye all against him, for this is naught but manifest justice.” A world government would have the authority to take quick decisions to prevent situations from deteriorating. It would have a form of world police force which could be used in trouble spots, and as long as it functions in the right spirit, it would also have the affection and loyalty of the vast majority of the world’s citizens. In 1955, and again in 1995, the Bahá’ís made detailed proposals to the United Nations Organisation for major reform of the way it is organised and on the areas it should have authority to tackle, but unfortunately no changes have been made.

At present, the world is a long way short of what it could be. The nations need to put aside what they believe is their own interest in order to develop a form of world administration which will be able to sort out the problems which countries cannot solve by themselves.

(Note: cartoon thanks to Simon Kneebone)