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ضرورة اصلاح وتجديد منظمة الأمم المتحدة

Oct 23, 2020 Madeleine Albright and Ibrahim Gambari

نيويورك ـ أصبح المجتمع الدولي بحاجة ماسة إلى أدوات وأفكار ومبادرات جديدة لمواجهة التهديدات والتحديات المشتركة التي تواجهها الدول الأعضاء في الأمم المتحدة البالغ عددها 193 دولة. تُمثل الذكرى السنوية الخامسة والسبعون للهيئة العالمية، التي سيتم الاحتفال بها في يوم الأمم المتحدة في 24 أكتوبر / تشرين الأول، فرصة لتحديد الشراكات التي نحتاج إليها لمواجهة التحديات التي سنواجهها في السنوات والعقود القادمة. في أعقاب جائحة كوفيد 19 - الأزمة الأكثر تكلفة والأكثر تأثيرًا منذ الحرب العالمية الثانية - أصبحت الحاجة إلى التجديد والانتعاش المؤسساتي واضحة المعالم.

من بين التهديدات والتحديات الأكثر خطورة، إلى جانب الأمراض الوبائية، نواجه أيضًا المناخ العالمي سريع التغير، والصراعات العنيفة، والنزوح واسع النطاق في الدول الهشة، والهجمات الإلكترونية المُعقدة. إن القاسم المشترك بين هذه التحديات هو أنها تتجاوز قدرة أي دولة على حلها بمفردها. يُعد التعاون الدولي أمرًا بالغ الأهمية، لكن هذا التعاون أصبح عُرضة للخطر بسبب عودة ظهور النزعة القومية التي تهدد هيكل النظام الدولي الذي بُني قبل ثلاثة أرباع قرن من الزمان.

من شأن صعود النزعة القومية أن يزيد من خطر ترك هيكل ومؤسسات منظومة الأمم المتحدة، التي تُشكل ضرورة أساسية ولكنها بحاجة إلى الإصلاح والتجديد، أو ستصبح عُرضة للتراجع أو التدهور أو حتى الانهيار. هذه النتيجة ستكون مأساوية، ليس فقط لتلك المؤسسات ولكن للبشرية جمعاء.

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Madeleine Albright

Writing for PS since 2020
2 Commentaries

Madeleine Albright, a former US secretary of state and ambassador to the United Nations, is a former co-chair of the Commission on Global Security, Justice & Governance.

Ibrahim Gambari

Writing for PS since 2020
2 Commentaries

Ibrahim Gambari, a former Nigerian foreign minister and ambassador to the United Nations, is a former co-chair of the Commission on Global Security, Justice & Governance.

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0 Comments on this paragraph, 20 Comments on this article

aethelwulf e Oct 28, 2020

Heart is in right place here.
But it’s not hard. The main problems.
Simply that a number of important national players are – by and large - openly opposed to a transparent honest rule of law and truth based liberal global order.
Like when the UN was born.
And despite the self evident benefits of such an order, especially for the poorest.
It’s ironic of course that China’s pathbreaking reforms from c1980 borrowed mainly from… the naughty West! From the noxious liberal order, ie freer markets and private property.
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Michael Public Oct 26, 2020

There are rules and there are enforcement of rules. The issue is that the USA, China and Russia (to single out the nuclear armed bullies) have no qualms flouting whatever rules are set in any forum. As there is no one to hold them in line - the rules are of no benefit.
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Victor Kamendrowsky Oct 26, 2020

Yes, we desperately need enlightened leadership, but the term "Global Governance" dooms the discussion even before it starts. Get real!
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Robert Johnston Oct 25, 2020

It is disheartening, even incomprehensible, to see such a "distinguished" panel, and such a huge effort at "consultation", almost totally ignore the UN nations' own goals for global development, the Sustainable Development Goals, agreed by UN members, not a self-appointed elite, and far more detailed than the anodyne cliches of the long-standing ineffective discourse on global institutions. Little or nothing is said about internatioinalizing international governance and programs to address the defining challenges of the moment, the pandemic, climate and unequal development, or to articulate them with the agreed SDGs and their far more specific agenda. Panel member Brundtland for example, former head of WHO, should understand the near-fatal weaknesses of that organization in the face of the pandemic, the potential seriousness of which was well understood even during her own tenure, to no effect. Similar and worse program ineffectiveness prevails in institutions dedicated, on paper, to climate change and development, but nearly totally lacking in serious operational programs.
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j. von Hettlingen Oct 24, 2020

Madeleine Albright and Ibrahim Gambari say when their Commission on Global Security, Justice & Governance presented their report - Confronting the Crisis of Global Goernance - in 2015 to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the United Nations, it “foreshadowed the return of virulent nationalism, fueled by surging migration, economic inequality.” Back then as today, leaders “dehumanize others and seek to divide rather than unite.” Today, such headlines no longer raise an eyebrow and trendlines show an upward direction.
According to the authors, “enlightened leadership is needed more than ever, supported by ideas and political pressure from civil society worldwide. By reviving cooperation to meet today’s many challenges, we can ensure that ‘the future we want,’ for today’s younger generation and all future generations, becomes the future we get.” If nothing is done to salvage the world body, “the UN system’s structure and institutions, essential but in need of repair and rejuvenation, may instead be left to decline, decay, and even collapse. Such an outcome would be tragic, not just for those institutions but for all of humanity.”
Despite the - what critics say - existential crisis the UN faces, there is still hope for “recovery” and “renewal.” The authors are determined to “help promote cooperative responses to today’s most pressing global problems,” and eager to back “the Roadmap for the Future We Want & UN We Need, presented last month to the President of the UN General Assembly at the UN75 Global Governance Forum.” From their own experience they know “that original ideas from external stakeholders can help move complex multilateral organizations toward positive-sum outcomes.”
Despite efforts to bolster multilateralism, the current pandemic risks to destroy the very idea of international solidarity and unity. Many countries are locked into a destructive zero-sum contest - vaccine nationalism and protectionism - that has fractured the post-war global system and diminished the UN’s capacity for collective action. The very premises of the multilateral world order upon which the UN was founded, are now falling apart.
Trump has thrown a wrecking ball at multilateralism, from weakening the WTO and NATO to pulling the US out of international agreements - the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran. Critics say the withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement and several UN organisations, such as the World Health Organization may be a harbinger of a broader unraveling of the system painstakingly constructed by the US after World War II. At present, climate change is a pressing issue and requires global commitment to a common effort to tackle it.
In connection with the United Nations 75th anniversary, the world body has presented a roadmap for the future. Its UN75 Global Governance Forum seeks to promote a more inclusive and effective world body through dialogue and recommendations that better harness the ideas, capabilities, and networks of both state and non-state actors for achieving the UN’s commitment to peace, sustainable development, human rights, and a stable climate.
The authors say they “also advocate a World Summit on Inclusive Global Governance, as called for in the Stimson Center’s recent “UN 2.0” report. To be held by September 2023, the summit would seek to upgrade and equip the global governance system to address major issues facing the international community, and to usher in a new compact with citizens to enhance and rebuild confidence in their multilateral institutions.”
It seems Covid-19 will have a lasting impact on us, and it takes time for the economy to recover. “In the lead-up to this 2023 leaders’ meeting, two G20 Summits, akin to those held in London and Pittsburgh to chart a way forward from the 2008 global financial crisis, should be convened in 2021, focusing on coordinated macroeconomic, social, and environmental policies to promote a durable recovery from COVID-19.”
To be sure, the UN is still doing vital work around the world. The problem is how to persuade member states to contribute to the world body’s budget. Although the world is struggling to manage its most pressing existential risk, sadly many countries put national interests before the global common good. Hence it is no surprise that the UN and its organisations are gridlocked in reforms that are urgently required to move forward. Above all the Security Council - stalemated by fundamental differences among its five permanent members - needs to reflect the geopolitical reality and meet the needs of the twentieth-century.
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ضرورة اصلاح وتجديد منظمة الأمم المتحدة

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