NEW YORK, Sep 25 (IPS) – The Future Summit is now over, but the real and present world is still burning.
As the General Assembly, an annual tradition where dozens of heads of state descend on New York, begins, important questions about the role and future of the United Nations, a body created to maintain international peace and security nearly 80 years ago, remain unanswered.
Israel’s devastating war in Gaza has spilled over into Lebanon, twenty-five million are facing the prospect of starvation in conflict-ridden Sudan, and the deadly war in Ukraine continues, with the UN failing to either prevent or play an important mediating role in either case. of these conflicts.
The Pact for the Future – the text of the results of the conference, agreed by the governments after long and often controversial negotiations – covers everything from culture and sports to climate change, the Sustainable Development Goals, human rights, gender equality, poverty eradication, social cohesion. , peace and security, Security Council reform, disarmament, science and technology, youth, reform of financial institutions, data management, artificial intelligence, and, believe it or not, even space.
Surprisingly, most of the text is made up of recycled and reused words from previously agreed UN documents and the language is vague and aspirational.
There are no concrete, concrete conclusions that can further the lofty goals of the Convention. Instead, there are many calls for reports by the Secretary General and international meetings.
For example, with peace and security, the text of the results does not talk about the reasons for the rapid decline of UN mediation and the problem of UN peacekeeping in recent years, as in other countries, conflicting groups bypass or reject good offices. of SG and requested the departure of peacekeeping operations.
Instead, it calls for a “review” of peace operations and more international meetings to “discuss issues related to peace operations, peace building and conflicts.” In the old UN tradition, when it has no answers or a way forward, the UN calls for more reports and more meetings.
At a time when extreme brutality and the breakdown of law around the world is becoming the norm, as we are witnessing in Gaza, the only ‘new’ language expressed by this document is a request to the SG to “assess the need” for more resources for its human rights office.
Big initiatives, like the Future Summit, are not new. UN Secretaries General have called for world conferences which have been less successful.
The late Boutros Boutros-Ghali is to be commended for promoting the UN’s reforms without hesitation. His Peace Agenda, paved the way for the expansion of UN peacekeeping operations, increased UN-led mediation efforts and strategic efforts to prevent conflicts around the world, while reducing bureaucracy in the UN secretariat by eliminating more than a thousand vacancies.
Under the leadership of the late Kofi Annan, Great Freedom is credited with advancing the concept of the Sustainable Development Goals, the creation of a new peace-building structure and a new Human Rights Council, as an alternative to the defunct Commission on Human Rights.
Although these programs present new and practical ideas, their impact is limited.
Former SG Ban Ki-moon, in his humble way, did not convene special conferences, but instead successfully used existing international platforms to promote the call for action on climate change.
Contrary to previous initiatives, the input to the Future Conference, from SG Antonio Guterres, lacked focus, concrete and practical proposals, and courage. This led many UN observers to see the event as a public relations exercise designed to keep the UN’s faltering image afloat and gloss over the real failure of the organization.
This Conference was a missed opportunity to discuss some of the important issues facing the UN. Among these issues are: the conflict in the Security Council and the pay lip service to changing the SC by five permanently; compliance with international law, impunity and prevention of mass torture; the disappointing performance and flaws in the structure of the Human Rights Council; the questionable performance of the Peacebuilding Commission; the need to re-establish the role of the UN in peace and security; the reform of the torn UN framework built on the funding of the main secretariats controlled by the three P5 states; the need to review the role, appointment and mechanisms to ensure the independence of the Secretary General; and how the General Assembly can be “reinvented” and opened up to non-state actors – among other issues.
Despite all its faults, the UN is now more needed than ever, especially with the emergence of new threats and challenges to international peace and security and the upcoming threats related to climate change.
The thousands of UN staff deployed in many hot spots around the world deserve our respect and recognition, but they also deserve leadership and a bigger vision.
In this month’s edition of Diplomacy Now, five writers, well-versed in the UN system, either as analysts or insiders, offer opinions on the role and selection of the Secretary General, the need for and progress on Security Council reforms, and the goals of the Future Conference.
As with all translations the opinions expressed by these authors are not all our own. However, ICDI remains committed to the ethos and philosophy that open debate, dialogue, diplomacy, and mediation, rather than armed conflict and war, provide the way forward in resolving any conflict.
Jamal Benomar he is a former UN official. He served at the UN for 25 years, including as special envoy to Yemen and special adviser to former Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
The source: Diplomacy Now
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