The last United Nations General Assembly in New York was the right moment for Secretary General Guterres will reaffirm the direction that the System and the Organization must take in the coming years, as well as to define the focus of attention of the international agenda.
In this framework, the Secretary General’s commitment is aimed at the so-called Future Summitwhich will take place in September 2024, which aims to “rebuild trust and adapt obsolete multilateral institutions and frameworks to today’s world, based on equity and solidarity.”
This is an explicit recognition of the changing times we are experiencing, the ongoing reconfiguration of the international order, and the weakening and lack of results of the multilateral system. In fact, it has become evident that the advance of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) towards 2030 have serious problems, as does the promise of “leaving no one behind”. Today this agenda registers an advance of only 15 percent on the planet. He is literally in intensive care, after the perverse effects of covid-19.
The weight falls on the current situation in the commitment of governments, beyond the work that different United Nations agencies have been carrying out. Urgent measures are therefore needed to accelerate and materialize commitments across the 169 targets of the 17 Goals. This requires the annual allocation of US$500 billion, which is equivalent to five times the annual approvals of the World Bank Group. Will the key goals on extreme poverty, hunger, health and education be realistically achieved? We must assume 2030 as a flying goal and recalibrate the course towards 2050.
(Read also here: ‘Russia fails in its attempt to return to the UN Human Rights Council’).
The United Nations has the challenge of reinventing itself in coordination with its 193 member states; Otherwise, you risk irrelevance tomorrow.
And that is not precisely the legacy that we would like to leave to the next Secretary General in January 2027, nor the record of the work carried out by the countries and their unfulfilled promises, which will be recorded in the history books of international relations.
“We are not in normal times
and bold, expeditious and effective responses are required, within the framework of international law.”
A world in transition
The Summit of the Future It will take place in a transitional situation in the international order, characterized by fragility, fragmentation and conflict, under scrutiny and the redefinition of the concept of power.
The former chancellor of Spain Josep Piqué –who was a great friend of Colombia– considered in his book ‘The World That Comes to Us’ that we are experiencing a moment of recomposition of forces at a global level from the perspective of state and non-state actors, as well as rivalry for power or the influence on certain territories and their populations.
This reconfiguration would lead us to the constitution of a world of ‘post-Western synthesis’. That is, a new reality that is less Western in its center of gravity in the face of the emergence of Asia (China) and the convergence of values, ideas and beliefs of the past and present. The predominant power would not be replaced. On the contrary, there would be a kind of coexistence between powers (in decline and in emergence).
(Also read here: ‘UN Commission assures that it has evidence of war crimes in Israel and Gaza’).
For its part, since Colombian Council of International Relations (Cori) We have classified this scenario as ‘strategic competition’ between the United States and China, which is accompanied by revisionist actors such as Russia and Iran and has demonstrated a dynamism and competitiveness that is transforming the international political economy. This brings with it competition – with its due nuances – between two models: liberal democracy and market economy vs. illiberal democracy and state capitalism. It is a platform with conflicting visions about how to organize society and build an order of international relations.
We find ourselves, then, facing a world that demands answers to new issues. and challenges linked to the loss of biodiversity, migrations, the social contract, new technologies and artificial intelligence, misinformation, inequalities, the governance of outer space, citizen distrust, to name just a few.
Universal multilateralism
The international system is also marked by attacks on universal multilateralism. There are visions and political projects of some revisionist nations that want to build the false notion about the need for ‘competitive multilateralism’, which means the existence of multiple multilateralisms, which would be applied to different issues and times, in response to a world of nature. multipolar.
This approach would only lead to greater fragmentation of the world. Division would prevail over union; multipolarity would exacerbate geostrategic tensions; and collective actions – with a single goal – would be called into question. This is why, faced with the difficulties of the new global scenario, the golden rule must be: more leadership, more effective multilateralism, more solid institutions, more universalism, more inclusion, more consensus. Its central axis must be the United Nations as an organization that must prevent, anticipate and execute.
A Pact of the Future
The United Nations response is a call for common sense and the construction of “truly universal” multilateral institutions that contribute to rebuilding trust, as well as a safer and more peaceful world. This approach must be given in recognition of the realities of the 21st century, based on the principles of equity, solidarity and universality. They must be in accordance with the Charter and the principles of international law.
To achieve this objective, the Secretary General has rightly proposed, in his report ‘Our common agenda’, launch a “Future Pact” under five global priorities: (i) sustainable development and financing for development; (ii) international peace and security; (iii) science, technology and innovation and digital cooperation; (iv) youth and future generations; and (v) transform global governance.
All of this under the commitment to promote human rights, empower women and girls, and accelerate compliance with the SDGs.
(Also read here: ‘UN certifies that Russia uses torture, illegal detentions and sexual violence in war’).
This agenda is key to avoiding what has been called ‘social, financial and environmental collapse’ and would allow progress in the renewal of the System and the Organization. Likewise, it would contribute to providing global public goods, protecting global commons and attacking central issues such as the fulfillment of development goals, the reform of the international financial system, climate change, poverty and inequality, violence, international insecurity, among others.
The modernization – without any delay – of the General Secretariat, the revitalization of the General Assembly and its working methods, and the reform of the Security Council, through its democratization, representativeness and decision-making, deserve special mention. An example of the lack of capacity for action has been the responses to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in clear violation of the United Nations Charter. Where was the Security Council, whose main mission is to ensure international peace and security? What is happening with global security mechanisms? We are not in normal times and bold, expeditious and effective responses are required, within the framework of international law. Inaction – or hibernation for some – is not the best advisor in the face of the complexity of a global society that evolves at an exponential rate.
Final comments
The construction and commissioning of the ‘Future Pact’ It is perhaps one of the main challenges that the Secretary General will have to face in the coming years, which will require the deployment of his political and diplomatic capabilities, the generation of broad consensus, but also the commitment of the States. The time has come for Reformation (with a capital R), to build on the achievements made in the last 75 years and renew the schemes of the past. The depth, dimension and scope of this process remains to be seen.
Latin America is called to act with maturity and determination to advance jointly in the proposed changes and the construction of a more supportive future. The region is obliged to act with a single voice and in a coordinated manner. The era of ‘free riders’ is behind us. Today’s challenges require – no more, no less – to make decisions that will affect the well-being and future of the 1.8 billion young people in the world and the next generations. Each one of them cannot be failed. Responsibility, commitment and solidarity must set the tone.
At the San Francisco Conference of 1945 – the founding moment of the United Nations – the region stood out for its actions and conviction in democracy as a guarantee for respect for the rights of the most vulnerable and the promotion of peace, stability and international security. The turn is now in 2024 and we must rise to the occasion and the challenges.
(Also read here: ‘The UN, on the path to global irrelevance?’).
The roadmap is solidarity, cooperation and renewed universal multilateralismas guiding principles of a democratic and inclusive Latin America that must tirelessly seek to correct the course of an increasingly convulsed world.
We trust that the Government of Colombia is already preparing to take on this challenge with the rigor, prominence and leadership that has distinguished the country since the origins of the United Nations System.
Former president and former chancellor Alberto Lleras Camargo, who led the Colombian delegation to the San Francisco Conference, coined the famous phrase: “The OAS will be neither more nor less than what its member states want it to be.” Today, decades later, we are certain that “The UN will be neither more nor less than its member states want it to be.”
* President of the Colombian Council of International Relations (Cori), former chancellor (1998-2002) and former ambassador to the United Nations.
*Visiting fellow at the University of Oxford, member of the LSE Global South Advisory Board and former alternate ambassador to the United Nations.
#Future #Summit #opportunity #rethink #United #Nations #System