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#5: Decolonizing the UN
The United Nations was established by the victors of World War II following an Anglo-Saxon model of internal management and external deployment. In addition to the ideas of humanism and the Enlightenment that the UN was endowed with, as reflected in its Charter, it was also influenced by the ways of the Western European colonial empires and their offspring in the American non-territorial empire. With a Western approach to goals, means and indicators, some deeply entrenched biases that go with it have come to haunt the UN in its claims and efforts to represent the whole of humanity, in its very broad diversity and richness. No surprise, therefore, that the legitimacy of the UN, where such powers and approaches / attitudes / mentalities still dominate, is increasingly questioned by the rest of the world, which feels like a guest and constantly lectured at in the supposedly common home that is the UN.
This open consultation will try to build on discussions regarding “decolonisation” that have been ongoing for decades, in one form or another, to see how they could apply to the UN. To make the task somewhat manageable, we will address with our expert guest speakers and everybody’s active participation four key questions: How would a decolonised UN look in its political, peacekeeping and peacebuilding structures and operations? What would be different and what would remain the same How can a new global deal be reached that is based on de facto equality and practical respect among the various actors, for the joint management for the broadest common good of the UN and the UN system, including the Bretton Woods Institutions? Might the UN’s eventual decolonisation have as side effect the doubting and eventual dismantling of the human rights protection system and other aspects that could be criticised as of Western origin?
The meeting summary can be found here.
#4: How multilateralism can more effectively enable action on climate change
International climate negotiations have delivered impressive treaties and systems of rules but governments are not living up to the spirit and, in many cases, the letter of the agreements. Pushing for more negotiated agreements and advertising every UNFCCC COP as a make-or-break moment only leads to disappointment and frustration, as COPs cannot change the reality of non-implementation of existing agreements. The imperative now is to increase actions by governments and business.
The Open Consultation explored ideas from several perspectives of how the UNFCCC process, other multilateral processes and wider international cooperation initiatives could enable governments to act more decisively and bring about meaningful change in terms of real GHG emission reductions, and delivery of support for adaptation and mitigation in developing countries. New universal legal texts / agreements at the international level are not needed; rather the focus must be on how to ramp up action at the regional, national and local levels. What further enablers may be needed globally to catalyse action locally, at the scale necessary to make a dent in the advancing climate crisis?
The meeting summary can be found here.
#3: Building a Culture of Peace at a Time of Global Turmoil
According to the Peace Research Institute of Oslo (PRIO), 59 state-based conflicts were recorded in 2023, the highest number since the end of World War II. The wars in Ukraine and Gaza were the primary generators of the tens of thousands of combat-related deaths as well as the loss of innocent civilian lives, with still no end in sight as 2024 draws to a close.
In parallel, inequality and insecurity about jobs and well-being, climate and diseases are on the rise, feeding a global wave of populist movements with authoritarian leanings. Xenophobic nationalism and shrinking civic space form part of that wave, with the Trump victory in the US elections likely to exacerbate the trend.
Faced by these multiple attacks and threats to peace, the international community seems to be struggling to imagine an alternative to confrontation and violence as a way forward. The seeming incapacity of international organizations, particularly the United Nations, to provide effective solutions to these issues has also eroded commitment to multilateralism as a path to the resolution of global problems.
Hence, the urgent question: How do we build a culture of peace under such conditions? In particular, how do we convince the world that peace is indeed a viable alternative? And how do we persuade parties on opposite sides of seemingly unbridgeable divides that it is possible to talk to one another to find common ground?
The meeting summary can be found here.
#2: Shifting geopolitics and its impact on global governance and the UN
The recent BRICS+ Summit in Russia, the result of the US elections, the continuing wars in Ukraine, the Middle East and elsewhere, rising tensions in the China-Taiwan Straits and the Korean Peninsula, climate change related-disasters and the inability to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for all, are some of the signs that point to an emerging new global geopolitical reality. How is all this expected to impact the management of the planet we share, its commons like the atmosphere/climate, biodiversity but also cyberspace/internet & AI, Outer Space, global finance and trade? How can shared risks such as climate change, pandemics, increasing indebtedness, mounting human insecurity, the danger of accidental or intentional nuclear catastrophe be addressed for the sake of present and future generations of humanity? And who is able, willing and legitimized to express the common good, the will of “the international community” and “international law” in an effective and legitimate way under the circumstances?
#1: Israel, the UN and Gaza
This was the first in the series of FOGGS Open Consultation Mondays and focused on the Israel-Palestine conflict, which flared up again following the Hamas attack on southern Israel and the taking of hostages on 7 October 2023 and the subsequent relentless retaliatory actions by Israel in the Gaza Strip and beyond. The desperate humanitarian situation in Gaza and the involvement of other regional and international actors in the hostilities threatened to lead the region to a major conflagration with potential global consequences. How can the situation be de-escalated, the lives of civilians respected, destruction halted and the two-state solution implemented?