Our common agenda and the road to 2023
Today’s world needs more inclusive and networked multilateralism in order to successfully respond to complex global crises. File photo: Reuters
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Today’s world needs more inclusive and networked multilateralism in order to successfully respond to complex global crises. File photo: Reuters
Since World War II, the international community has not faced such a monumental test as the intertwined crises of Covid-19 and climate change, and the deep social and economic inequalities they have revealed. Yet, precisely at a time when global collective action is most needed to address these crises, exclusionary nationalism and growing tensions among the great powers, including a new Cold War-like stalemate between democracies and nations. autocracies, erode essential multilateral cooperation.
In his groundbreaking new report, “Our Common Agendaâ€, UN Secretary General António Guterres says “humanity faces a difficult and urgent choice: a breakthrough or a breakthroughâ€. Guterres emphasizes the core values ​​of trust and solidarity – and the need for a new social contract between citizens and their institutions at all levels of governance – in the search for a just and sustainable global recovery from the current pandemic. These values ​​must guide a politically savvy but ambitious strategy for the long-awaited institutional and legal changes in the post-1945 multilateral system.
For all the latest news, follow the Daily Star’s Google News channel. United Nations member states met under the leadership of Abdulla Shahid, President of the General Assembly, on October 25 in New York, where they were invited to propose a coordinated response to launch follow-up actions on many proposals by Guterres. Among his most timely ideas for building a more inclusive and networked multilateralism include an updated Agenda for Peace, supported by a new emergency platform to respond to complex global crises; the appointment of a Special Envoy for Future Generations; and innovations involving digital transformation, data analysis and strategic foresight.
We also applaud Guterres’ call for an ‘investment boost’ for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and for a green and just recovery for all countries (complementing the upcoming United Nations conference on the climate in Glasgow). His proposal to hold a biennial summit of world leaders representing the G20 and the United Nations Economic and Social Council, alongside the heads of the United Nations, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is the right way to guide this process. The 2015 report of the Commission on Global Security, Justice and Governance, which we co-chaired, made a similar recommendation: a “G20 +†that would convene the leaders of the group and all UN member states all together. two years in September during the High General Assembly -Level Week, with a small G20 secretariat to maintain and manage the relationship.
Given the urgent need to improve the governance of global commons, including the high seas, Antarctica, the atmosphere and outer space, we support Guterres’ suggestion to reassign the Trusteeship Council of Nations United. But the effective delivery of global public goods and the management of global public risks will require authorities that go beyond the “advice and guidance†role offered by the reconfigured body. In our 2015 report, for example, we proposed moving the United Nations Peacebuilding Commission from an advisory body to one empowered to coordinate international responses and mobilize resources for conflict situations that are not on the agenda of the Security Council. This Peacebuilding Council could also monitor early warning indicators to prevent the outbreak or recurrence of deadly violence.
Implementing Guterres’ ambitious proposals will require government buy-in, which in turn will require a dedicated intergovernmental reform process to rejuvenate the global governance system. Hurry up ; before the end of the year, UN member states are expected to approve a follow-up “modalities resolution” backing Guterres’ call for a future summit in September 2023.
Several steps should be taken to maximize the impact of the summit. To begin with, Preparatory Committees (PrepComs) should be convened around the world to discuss and advance innovations in global governance in the areas of peace, security and humanitarian action; sustainable development and recovery of Covid-19; human rights, inclusive governance and the rule of law; and climate governance. They should also think about how to promote integrated, system-wide reforms based on the ideas that emerge.
Second, building on the broad dialogues and surveys of the UN Global Conversation75, global and regional peoples’ forums and electronic dialogues should be established to increase global public awareness and channel civil society perspectives. in PrepComs and the summit.
Third, a high-level advisory board, made up of public intellectuals and former heads of state, and a related series of roundtables of UN ambassadors and experts should be created to channel additional ideas to PrepComs on how to strengthen the capacity of the global governance system to deal with major current and future threats.
Finally, the 2023 summit must be preceded by broad agreement that its outcome document will focus on selected, concrete, time-bound and measurable reform commitments to help deliver short and long term results. long term which are, at the very least, as ambitious as the 2005 outcome document (UN60).
These ideas and related proposals for innovation in global governance are elaborated in the recent Stimson Center report titled “Beyond the UN75: A Roadmap for Inclusive, Networked and Effective Global Governanceâ€. Combined with “Our Common Agenda” and the countless good ideas put forward by commissions, academics and advocacy organizations of the past, they can help restore trust and regenerate the solidarity needed to restore and strengthen people’s trust. in their multilateral institutions. Now is the time to get down to business.
Madeleine Albright is a former US Secretary of State and Ambassador to the United Nations. Ibrahim Gambari, former Nigerian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Ambassador to the United Nations.
Copyright: Project Syndicat, 2021
(Exclusive to The Daily Star)