-Tough global challenges on hand
Foreign Desk Report
NEW YORK: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for “effective and inclusive” multilateralism that serves as an instrument of global governance, especially “at a time of colossal global upheaval and risk.”
“We need to give multilateralism the capacities to confront our challenges, not only to meet immediate needs but to enable future generations to meet theirs,” he told a virtual press conference at which he launched the UN’s Comprehensive Response to COVID-19 on Thursday. “The problem is not that multilateralism is not up to the challenges the world faces,” the UN chief said.
“The problem is that today’s multilateralism lacks scale, ambition and teeth. And some of the instruments that do have teeth, show little or no appetite to bite, as has recently been the case with the difficulties faced by the Security Council”, he said highlighting the failure to reach consensus on crucial issues between the five permanent members Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.
As the world body on Friday commemorates the 75th anniversary of the adoption of the UN Charter, the founding document of the Organization, Guterres said there was a need to re-imagine the way nations cooperate. “We need a networked multilateralism, bringing together the UN system, regional organizations, international financial institutions, and others. And we need an inclusive multilateralism, drawing on the indispensable contributions of civil society, business, cities, regions and, in particular, with greater weight given to the voices of youth.”
Underling that in the 21st century, governments are no longer the only political and power reality, Guterres said, “We need an effective multilateralism that can function as an instrument of global governance where it is needed.” The Security Council has been strongly criticized for its inaction in dealing with the COVID19 pandemic and its failure to adopt even a single resolution on the global health and humanitarian crisis caused by the coronavirus.
“Let me be blunt, their relationships today have never been more dysfunctional. But I firmly believe that awakening will come when we recognize our shared fragilities, when the factors that today divide instead begin to force people to finally understand that division is a danger to everyone, starting with themselves,” the secretary-general said. He said he looks forward to discussing these matters with world leaders during the high-level UN General Assembly session in September in whatever format necessary.
“We absolutely must come together to reimagine and reinvent the world we share.” About the report he launched, the UN chief said not only does the report outline actions taken since the pandemic was declared, he said, it also offers a roadmap for building back better through greater global solidarity and unity.
