International Peace and Security: New orientation for reformed multilateralism
Maintenance of International Peace and Security: New orientation for reformed multilateralism
Mr. President, Minister of External Affairs of India,
I begin by congratulating you and the delegation of India on your Presidency of the Security Council for the month of December. We welcome the focus of today’s open debate and support its intention to reinforce discussions on the kind of orientation required to realise the much-anticipated reform of the multilateral system. We thank the Secretary-General, H.E. Antonio Guterres for the depth and clarity of his statement as well as H.E. Csaba Korosi, President of the General Assembly for his insightful remarks. Seventy-seven (77) years ago, the founding fathers of the United Nations bequeathed to us a multilateral system which was designed to ensure global peace and stability. This system was anchored on the absolute prohibition of the unjustified use of force as well as the search to realise the aspirations for a more interdependent world. When we look across history, we see, over the years, the coordinated efforts that have been made for the maintenance of international peace and security, the promotion of international rule of law and the prevention of a calamitous world war.
We can only conclude that the founders were right in their ambitions and largely justified in their tireless efforts in San Francisco. However, we are also not oblivious to the fact that the nature and frequency of global crises in the post 1945 era have evolved. Today, we are witnesses to complex, interacting and reinforcing crises that range from sharp geopolitical differences, the escalated risks of nuclear weapons, increasing asymmetrical and transnational conflicts, widespread and systematic violation of human rights, debilitating pandemics, and the adverse impact of climate change on food systems, livelihoods, and the general management of societies. The challenges of the present era underpin the need for comprehensive and integrated reform of all the pillars of the multilateral system, especially the peace and security architecture as well as the development and financial systems. We will be remiss if we should lose sight of the fact that inadequacies in one pillar will certainly have consequences for the overall effective functioning of the multilateral system.
Mr. President,
While reforms are not an end in themselves, they are often necessary catalysts for calibrating a better approach to collectively realise the objectives we seek. It is therefore not surprising that over the three decades of frustrating discussions on the reform of the United Nations Security Council, there have been several calls for global solidarity to ensure an early reform of this noble institution. The most notable recent call was that made by our Heads of State and Government in the 75th Anniversary Political Declaration for us to instill new life into the reform process of the Security Council, under the aegis of the Intergovernmental Negotiations (IGN) process. In recalling the convergence of this global aspiration, we also reiterate the call by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to this Council a few weeks ago on the need to “revisit the vexed issue of the reform of the United Nations system, especially of the Security Council, and to do so on the basis of the African Common Position on UN Reform, as enunciated in the Ezulwini Consensus, if, indeed, the authority of this Council which, in recent times, appears to have been devalued, because of its anachronistic structure, is to be restored”.
Ghana believes that the conversations around the reform of the Security Council must necessarily be underpinned by the imperatives of Africa’s arguments, which is the only continent without a permanent membership of this Council. The historical injustice to the 54 Member States of Africa, with a population of more than 1.3 billion and a combined economy in excess of US$3.5 trillion must be prioritised. Africa, like all those that hold permanent membership of this Council, while even under colonial domination, played a veritable role in the successful end of the Second World War, in resources and several lives sacrificed. We are encouraged by the positive statements of several world leaders at the recent high-level week of the General Assembly and urge that the process of reform must yield real changes to the structure and practices of the Council, across the five (5) clusters of reform under discussion in the IGN process, in an effort to make it innovative in its approach. We also welcome the Secretary-General’s report on Our Common Agenda, including the New Agenda for Peace and believe a good faith engagement by Member States on these proposals could help bring about a new orientation in the nature and focus of the peace architecture. It is important that a reformed Security Council aspires to operate differently and we must avoid putting old wine in new wineskins and vice-versa.
Mr. President,
There were many assumptions underpinning the multilateral system, which today do not hold. In seeking new orientations for a reformed multilateralism therefore we should be cognisant of the assumptions we establish as bases for reforms. In this regard, we need to acknowledge that the challenges of today are beyond the reach of any few powerful countries to resolve. It requires a shared responsibility and a common understanding for their resolution. We therefore believe that the General Assembly, which is the most representative organ of the UN should be made to find more space in the reform agenda, and regional arrangements which were envisaged under Chapter VIII (8) of the Charter as effective collaborators of the collective security mechanism would need to be worked with more closely than ever before. For instance, we cannot attempt any legitimate resolution of terrorism on the African continent without the collaboration of institutions of the
African Union and the Regional Economic Communities such as ECOWAS. Also, emerging threats and a clarified understanding of the impact of other crises on peace and security imply that a reformed multilateralism would need to embrace an integrated approach to peace and security that accommodates the linkages from climate change, global public health emergencies and financial meltdowns.
Furthermore, a renewed multilateral system should take into consideration several of the international developmental institutions and processes outside the UN including the Bretton Woods Institutions that are failing to adequately respond to the pressing needs of the peoples of the world, especially those of the developing world. When there is a global financial and food crises, as we are presently experiencing, it should be expected that further down the road, there would be greater manifestations of socio-political instability, diminished capacity for conflict management, and further conflicts.
Mr. President,
In concluding, therefore, Ghana believes that a holistic renewal of multilateralism characterized by the inclusion of new concepts across the pillars of the work of the United Nations is necessary to get us much closer to having multilateralism work for all and not only for a few. Time is not on our side and we need to act now!
I thank you