A Whiff of Hope at the UN
Can We Get Our Act Together?
by Bill Paton, 24 September 2024, Xishuangbanna
Over 130 world leaders, altogether representatives of 193 countries, are attending the Summit of the Future at United Nations Headquarters, which on Sunday adopted a Pact for the Future. It outlines a critically important vision, but reactions from many around the globe are likely to be cynicism and apathy. This attitude is tragically self-defeating. We must instead hold our leaders accountable for their promises, especially on long overdue reform of the UN Security Council, ending many of our wars and moving humanity forward.
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For a long time, it has been fashionable—on both the left and the right—to view the United Nations with cynicism, dismissing it as merely a "talk shop." This perspective is particularly prevalent in the United States and also resonates in many other parts of the world, but not everywhere. For instance, China's government and people are very much in favour of making the UN fairer and thus stronger, as are majorities in many other countries, from Canada, to Poland, to Kenya, to the Philippines to Columbia（see Pew Research.）
Use of the veto by the five Permanent members of the Security Council (or 'P5'), is what has most undermined potential for a more democratic United Nations Security Council and General Assembly, especially on matters of peace and security. Since 1989, the U.S. has used the veto by far the most (56% of the total times), more than 60 times alone in defense of Israel's occupation of Palestine. Russia most recently used it on the question of Ukraine (when it shouldn't have even been voting—see below). China has used the veto least, just 17 times, most recently together with Russia and in line with the Arab view, against a U.S. draft on Gaza it found too biased in Israel's favour. Commendably, the United Kingdom and France have refrained from using their vetoes at all for 35 years now.
The accompanying photo shows the results of a recent vote on a UN General Assembly Resolution advocating the lifting of sanctions on Cuba. A total of 187 member states voted in favor, yet the Resolution failed to pass due to a veto from the United States, with only one other state (Israel) voting against it. This is just one example of the undermining of what should be a vibrant global democracy, able to more effectively address our planet's most pressing issues.
Photo
Vetoing the will of 187 member states
In addition to failing to maintain peace, the Security Council is failing in another respect; it frequently fails to enforce its own Resolutions. For instance, read the Council's Resolution 2334 on Israel's settlements in Occupied Palestine, passed in 2016 with 14 votes in favour, none against, and the U.S. abstaining. Additionally, a sensible and important rule in the UN Charter states that a member of the Council which is a party to a conflict should not vote on Resolutions about settlement of that dispute. This is also not enforced.
There are, however, moments when the United Nations rises to the occasion. A notable example was the Millennium Summit in September 2000, where world leaders adopted the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a unified plan for poverty reduction, and then went on to actually meet the primary target of halving absolute poverty, though not all of the other goals were met. The MDGs were succeeded by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Yesterday the United Nations met our expectations once again. Over one hundred and thirty world leaders gathered for the annual global summit at the General Assembly, altogether representatives of 193 countries, who, following nine months of negotiations drafting the text, adopted a "Pact for the Future."
The opening of the Pact states:
"1. We, the Heads of State and Government, representing the peoples of the world, have gathered at United Nations Headquarters to protect the needs and interests of present and future generations through the actions in this Pact for the Future.
2. We are at a time of profound global transformation. We are confronted by rising catastrophic and existential risks, many caused by the choices we make. Fellow human beings are enduring terrible suffering. If we do not change course, we risk tipping into a future of persistent crisis and breakdown.
3. Yet this is also a moment of hope and opportunity. Global transformation is a chance for renewal and progress grounded in our common humanity. Advances in knowledge, science, technology, and innovation could deliver a breakthrough to a better and more sustainable future for all. The choice is ours."
This Pact is humanity's first ever comprehensive agreement on joint action on all the most important issues for humanity. There are sections on poverty and development again, but this time also on peace and security, youth and their future, science and technology and improving global governance. This last section contains the most critical actions agreed to be taken, on reforming the organization itself and in particular its most powerful organs, the Security Council and the General Assembly:
"Action 39. We will reform the UN Security Council, recognizing the urgent need to make it more representative, inclusive, transparent, efficient, effective, democratic and accountable.
And:
"(g) The question of the veto is a key element of Security Council reform. We will intensify efforts to reach an agreement on the future of the veto, including discussions on limiting its scope and use."
And:
"Action 41. We will strengthen the response of the Security Council for the maintenance of international peace and security and its relationship with the General Assembly."
And:
"We decide to: (a) Fully implement and adhere to all provisions of the United Nations Charter as they relate to the decision-making process in the UN Security Council, including Art. 27 (3) of the UN Charter." ['A party to a dispute shall abstain from voting on decisions under Chapter VI, and under paragraph 3 of Article 52'.]
There is much more in the Pact than this, on several important topics, for instance on autonomous weapons. The document will one day be of of great historic importance. However, as those 130 world leaders now fly home, many mass media outlets will provide only scant and skeptical coverage of it.
Admittedly, it is entirely possible the cynics will be right and we will suffer another decade of dithering and bickering without achieving meaningful agreement on Security Council reform or much else. We’ve already experienced over 30 years of this since the current Intergovernmental Negotiations on Security Council Reform began.
However, having forged this Pact—and made an exceedingly clear promise to one another and to ourselves, on this and other issues—we now have an opportunity to move forward. Over the next year, we could finally reach a compromise based on the agreed principles. It took less time than that to agree on the entire UN Charter. We could easily reconvene at the 80th United Nations Summit next September to agree on the promised reforms to the Council, thereby re-forging a body newly capable of stopping many of our wars. At the same time, we could also make progress on many of the other commitments in the Pact. We are perfectly capable.
Humanity is making its own challenges and shaping its own future. Yesterday demonstrated that we understand, and can even all agree on, what needs to be done. Now—we need to do it.
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