29 February 2024 – The Hindu

Secretary-General Issues Uncertainty About UN Future

• The UN Secretary General said that the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) had “perhaps fatally undermined its authority” at the start of the 55th regular session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC). Although reform is necessary, simple adjustments might not be sufficient given the divisions.

UNHRC: What is it?

• Strengthening the promotion and defence of human rights worldwide is the responsibility of the UN system’s intergovernmental Human Rights Council.

Creation:

• The UN General Assembly established the Council in 2006. It took the place of the old Human Rights Commission of the United Nations.
• The Human Rights Council’s secretariat is the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
• The OHCHR has its main office in Geneva, Switzerland.

Participants:

• The UNGA elects the 47 UN Member States that make up this organisation.
• An equitable geographic distribution determines the membership of the Council.

What Part Does the UN Play in the Current State of the World Order?

Handling International Power Rivalries:

• The post-World War II order, whose roots were laid while the Second World War was still raging and which the Allies believed would prevent another worldwide conflict, is at risk.
• The UN, along with its specialised agencies, money, and initiatives, serves as the foundation for this order.
• This international relations framework was designed to handle the great power rivalry that existed three quarters of a century ago.
• The initial signatories have seen fluctuations in power and affluence throughout time, and the number of states in the international community has more than quadrupled.

Maintaining the Sovereign Equality:

• The United Nations was established to prevent another world war by preserving the sovereign equality of all countries that adhere to the collective security doctrine.
• But when it came to the Security Council, which has five Permanent Members who are all Allied powers—including, naturally, two powerful colonial powers—sovereign equality crumbled.
• The foundations of sovereign equality were further impacted by the emergence of a bipolar global order.

Developing Multilateral Organisations:

• The World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) were founded at the Bretton Woods Conference in July 1944. The GATT was followed in 1947 by the World Trade Organisation (WTO), which was established in 1995.
• Together, these trade and financial frameworks aimed to liberalise international trade, prepare post-World War II reconstruction, and establish a common international economic order that would avoid the mistakes of the 1920s and 1930s.

Human rights and international law:

• The UN encourages the growth of international law and respect for human rights norms. The institution has created a number of treaties, conventions, and declarations that regulate disarmament, environmental protection, human rights, and humanitarian law, among other topics.
• Human rights violations around the world are tracked and addressed by the UNHRC and other specialised entities.

Development That Is Sustainable:

• In order to promote sustainable development globally, the UN is essential. All UN member nations endorsed the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in 2015, which lays out a comprehensive framework for addressing issues such as environmental degradation, poverty, inequality, and climate change.
• The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), two of the UN’s development agencies, assist nations in accomplishing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Humanitarian Support:

• Humanitarian aid to populations impacted by conflicts, natural disasters, and other catastrophes is largely provided by the UN.
• Through organisations like the World Food Programme (WFP), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the UN plans and executes relief efforts, assists internally displaced people and refugees, and strives to lessen suffering and safeguard vulnerable groups.

What Are the 21st-Century Multilateralism Challenges?

Restructuring Multilateralism: A Challenge:

• Because multilateralism is so ingrained in international power politics, reforming it is a challenging undertaking for a number of reasons. Therefore, each attempt to reform international organisations and frameworks inherently becomes an attempt to alter the existing power structure.
• Changes to the global order’s power structure are neither simple nor typical. Moreover, if done carelessly, it can have negative effects.

Disagreement Among Status Quo Powers:

• Multilateral reforms are viewed by the status quo powers as a zero-sum game. For example, within the framework of the Bretton Woods system, change was seen by the US and Europe as a threat to their power and sway.
• This makes voting or reaching a consensus on reform in these institutions difficult. The multiplex global system that is evolving seems to contradict with the principles of multilateralism. It appears that the new order is more multipolar and multicentered.

Chinese and American Values at odds:

• The confrontation between the US and China signals the end of the multilateralism of the previous seven decades. It represents yet another dramatic change within the UN. Since China’s resurgence is founded on commerce, innovation, and technology, it will be difficult for the US to lead a new, multifaceted organisation at a time when public confidence in free-market liberalism—the cornerstone of western civilization—is eroding globally.

Numerous Crisis Faces Multilateralism:

• Today’s multinational collaboration is dealing with several crises. First, most people no longer trust multilateralism because of ongoing deadlocks. Second, strong member nations of multilateralism believe it is no longer beneficial to them, posing a utility crisis for the organisation.
• The epidemic, de-globalization, populist nationalism, rising great-power tensions, and climatic emergency all contributed to the hardships.
• Due to this deadlock, states looked for other platforms, such as bilateral, plurilateral, and minilateral alliances, which further polarised international politics.

Problems with Multilateralism’s Concepts, Procedures, and Institutions:

• Multilateralism concepts are eroding due to global issues that need to be resolved across national boundaries. Examples include choices made by international criminal justice systems, national sovereignty in opposition to human rights issues, and health and environmental issues.
• The intricacy of contemporary society is not well captured by negotiation strategies and tactics.
• IT analogies like open software mode in terms of collaboration, organisation, negotiation, and decision-making may be more appropriate for today’s issues.
• Understanding how to address difficulties that go beyond pure politics may be aided by the negotiation experience of the scientific and technical groups.
• In practice, sectoral approaches are in opposition to ideas that are inherently transversal, like sustainable development.
• The growing influence of regionalism and the shifting power dynamics are not reflected in the current institutions. After several decades, the Security Council reform is still being debated, and despite recent advancements, developing and African economies still do not have enough voting rights at the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
• The swift rise of emerging global powers, like the BRICS, has significant effects on international governance and diplomacy. In a number of international fora, emerging nations are forming coalitions and taking shared positions. African nations are coming to the realisation that uniting to voice their concerns will help them defend them more effectively.

What Are the Various Problems with the UNSC’s Operation?

Mirroring the Colonial Mentality:

• These main Allied powers essentially received a perpetual veto from the UN. Following World War II, the US imposed international institutions that ignored socioeconomic development in favour of trade, capital, and technological dependency, without consulting the newly independent governments. This happened at a time when the rule of imperial nations was being undermined by growing calls for decolonization and the effects of a world struggle.

Disproportionate authority to a chosen few:

• The governance of the Bank and the Fund reflects the old world’s clinging to the power structures of the new organisations. The head of the IMF is chosen by “Europe” (really, Western Europe) but the head of the World Bank is always an American citizen.

Voting Rights:

• With a few restricted exceptions, member states of the Fund have essentially unchangeable voting rights. For example, the original BRICS members have vote rights of 2.22, 2.59, 2.63, 6.08, and 0.63 at the moment.
• When the votes of the UK (4.03), Germany (5.31), and the other members of the G-7 who often vote with the US are included, the US alone commands 16.5 percent of the vote; this proportion approaches 30.

Distribution of Funds:

• A majority vote of 85% is needed to allocate Special Drawing Rights and most reforms, hence giving the US a strong veto.
• By encouraging financial stability, giving counsel, and lending money to nations experiencing financial difficulties—as long as they abide by rules established by the Fund’s leadership—the IMF upholds international stability.

Opposing the Goals of Emerging Nations:

• Global connections were facilitated by the UN system, which was founded on now-firmly established international treaties, albeit at the expense of original UN Charter signatories. This paradigm was challenged by the Cold War, the breakup of the Soviet Union, and decolonization.
• But poor countries, notably former colonies, found it difficult to overcome the veto power of the Security Council and the Bretton Woods voting procedures. Notably, China acted as a rule-taker in some areas and a rule-maker in others.

Different Modern Faultlines:

• A shared global economy built on ever-greater cooperation was undermined by COVID-19, which closed borders for people, goods, and vaccines.
• Russia’s invasion of Ukraine revealed the hypocrisy of a powerful nation that is meant to enforce international law. Furthermore, the Gaza conflict has brought attention to the differences between developed and developing countries.
• The UN system’s cornerstones, the genocide convention and human rights, are being tested by this conflict for the commitment of a number of Permanent Members.

What Recommendations Are There for UNSC Reform?

The G-20’s role:

• The G-20 should prioritise developing accurate narratives around multilateral change first. The G-20 may form an engagement committee whose goal is to elevate the story in the international conversation.
• India ought to likewise implore Brazil and South Africa, the grouping’s future chairmen, to prioritise multilateral UNSC reforms in their presidential agendas.
• G-20 should keep pushing minilateral groups as a new kind of multilateralism and work to turn them into multi-stakeholder partnerships while promoting multilateral cooperation.
• A more fragmented world order can be avoided by forming networks of issue-based minilaterals, especially in areas pertaining to the administration of the global commons. This will assist to prevent competing coalitions where other actors take advantage of the same opportunities.

Comprehensive Reforms Are Needed:

• The world needs a thorough, all-encompassing reform process that addresses issues such as the veto, the relationship between the General Assembly and the Security Council, and the expansion of both permanent and non-permanent categories of Security Council membership. It also needs to improve working procedures.
• India emphasised that the UNGA’s primacy and legitimacy stem from the inclusiveness of its membership and the idea of the sovereign equality of each and every one of its members.

India’s Expected Contribution:

• India is able to express a benign multilateralism as a NAM-Plus that resonates with huge areas of the world and invites both the G7 and the BRICS into the tent because of the global vacuum, shift in relative power, and its own potential.
• India, along with Brazil, Germany, and Japan, has long advocated for UN reform, stating that it is a legitimate candidate for permanent membership at the UN high table.
• The efforts of Brazil, Germany, Japan, and India, the G4 countries, for permanent seats on the UNSC are supported by one another.

Comprehending UNSC Reforms in the Asian Century:

• Postcolonial sovereignty should be frozen in favour of peaceful coexistence while defining the Asian Century. One important lesson from both the growth of China and the United States is the importance of remaining out of other people’s internal issues.
• As former US President Jimmy Carter correctly noted, “China has not wasted a single penny on war,” in contrast to the US, which spent USD 3 trillion on military spending.

UN Charter Revisions Are Required to Address New Concerns:

• The charter must be amended in order to change the council’s composition, tenure, resolution approval criteria, or permanent members’ authority.
• When an amendment receives two thirds of the vote in the UNGA and is ratified by two thirds of the assembly’s member nations, including the UNSC P5, it becomes effective.
• Changes are infrequent when such obstacles are present. Since its adoption in 1945, the UN Charter has only been revised five times, with the most recent revisions coming into effect in 1973.
• The Security Council now has 15 members instead of just 11. These revisions added four more elected members to the group. In order to map the current facts, similar adjustments must be investigated.
• In an effort to avert another world war, the UN and its agencies founded the current global order, which is currently beset by formidable obstacles. The UN’s power structures, especially the P5’s veto power, are a reflection of an antiquated system that fails to take into consideration how the world is changing.
• To make sure the present global architecture is still relevant and useful in solving global concerns, it is imperative that it be reevaluated and maybe changed in light of the new difficulties the globe faces, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and geopolitical conflicts.