Sunday Times 2
UN’s 75th anniversary shadowed by right-wing nationalism, widespread authoritarianism and budgetary cuts
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 17 2019 (IPS) – When the six much-ballyhooed high-level UN meetings concluded late September, there were mixed feelings about the final outcomes.
And civil society organisations (CSOs), which were mostly disappointed with the results, are now gearing themselves for two upcoming key climate summit meetings: COP25 in Santiago, Chile in December and COP26 in Glasgow, Britain in late 2020, along with the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Women’s Conference scheduled to take place in September 2020 in New York.
But perhaps the most politically-significant event in 2020 will be the 75th anniversary of the United Nations which will take place amidst continued threats against multilateral institutions, rising right-wing nationalism, growing authoritarianism and widespread disinformation.
On Thursday, demonstrators take part in a protest called by Greenpeace activists ahead of the 2019 United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP25, in Santiago, Chile. The placards read: “These are the sacrificed, end to the coal now” and “President: coal poisons us” Reuters/Rodrigo Garrido
The anniversary will also take place in the shadow of one of the worst financial crises facing the world body – as Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that “the situation remains dire. And without immediate action, I can no longer guarantee the smooth functioning of the Organisation.”
“I urge you to help put the United Nations on a solid financial footing,” he pleaded last month before the 134 members of the Group of 77 developing countries, plus China.
Sesheeni Joud Selvaratnam, Sustainable Development Goals and Agenda 2030 lead at ActionAid, told IPS the United Nations would be marking its 75th anniversary next year against a backdrop of rising global hunger, the climate crisis and an unravelling of progress towards social justice and equality.
“It’s not too late to get the Sustainable Development Goals back on track, but the 2020 global summits must see political will and leadership that translates into real action on the ground.
“States turning up and making commitments at the High-Level Political Forum and UN General Assembly isn’t enough. Governments must be held accountable to their citizens on implementing and delivering on their promises by 2030, and ensuring the most vulnerable are not left behind,” said Selvaratnam.
Jens Martens, executive director of Global Policy Forum (New York/Bonn), told IPS the summits have put the UN back at the centre of the global debates on future justice.
At least, many Heads of State and Government have recognized the climate emergency and the importance of sustainable development by participating in the summits.
“They have launched countless new initiatives to implement the SDGs. This is of course better than the destructive policies of Trump, Brazil’s Bolsonaro & Co,” he noted.
But, being present at the summits, making nice speeches, dating Greta Thunberg, and expressing understanding for the concerns of young people is not enough, he added.
“As long as governments do not change fundamentally the framework conditions of sustainable development, this will remain symbolic policy and sometimes pure actionism.”
The summits were once again summits of announced actions. But the world does not need more hypocritical promises and announcements, he pointed out.
“It needs political decisions that make fiscal policies fairer, bring global economic and monetary policy into line with SDGs and human rights, and rapidly accelerate the exit from the fossil fuel economy”, said Martens, who has coordinated the international Civil Society Reflection Group on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
In an oped piece for IPS last week, Kul Gautam, a former UN Assistant Secretary-General said: Everybody says UN needs reforms. But the kind of reforms that are proposed by Member States are often timid and inadequate, and in the case of those proposed by some, e.g. the Trump administration, they are actually harmful and contrary to the multilateral ethos of the United Nations.
Such proposals are unlikely to command broad-based support, he warned.
It is time for the Secretary-General himself to take the initiative and commission a high-level panel to propose a more predictable and sustainable funding of the UN, said Gautam.
The 75th anniversary of the UN in 2020 is a perfect occasion for the S-G to present a bold proposal for a more sustainable funding mechanism for the UN in keeping with the ambitious Sustainable Development Agenda for 2030 that the UN has championed so boldly, he declared.
Teresa Anderson, climate policy coordinator at ActionAid, told IPS 2019 has seen an unprecedented uprising of ordinary citizens around the world, inspired by young people, taking to the streets to demand action on the climate crisis.
“They have exposed the failure of the richest polluting countries at the UN climate action summit to respond with the ambition needed to address the scale of the climate emergency.
“Ahead of the climate summit in Santiago this December, we’re demanding meaningful financial support to address the injustice of climate change. Important proposals to support countries dealing with climate-induced ‘loss and damage’ are on the table”, she added.
It’s critical that the world does not turn its back on the vulnerable countries left to pick up the pieces after climate disasters, Anderson declared.
The September summits covered several issues on the UN agenda, including Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Climate Action, Universal Health Care, Financing for Development (FfD), Nuclear Disarmament and Small Island Developing States (SIDS).
Still, what is particularly annoying, Martens told IPS, is that the UN provided an exposed stage at the summits for billionaire Bill Gates and numerous representatives of transnational corporations.
The last few decades have shown that the market-based solutions these corporate actors have propagated have not solved the global crises, but rather aggravated them, he noted.
Martens said the more than 300 representatives of civil society organisations (CSOs) which met parallel to the SDG Summit at the People’s Assembly have rightly stated in their declaration: “We are saddened by the persisting lack of political will and leadership to even begin to address these issues. This is not good enough. This is failure.”
According to Guterres, the summit did produce several positive initiatives. “Let me be specific about just a few”, he told at the conclusion of the meeting.
He said 77 countries – many in the industrialised world – had committed to net zero carbon emissions by 2050. And they were joined by 10 regions and more than 100 cities – including several of the world’s largest.
He also pointed out that 70 countries announced they will boost their National Determined Contributions by 2020, while well over 100 leaders in the private sector committed to accelerating their move into the green economy.
(The writer can be contacted at thalifdeen@ips.org)