David Passarelli is director of the Center for Policy Research at the United Nations University in New York. He says: The fraying of international solidarity is worrying.
The United Nations (UN) is a collaborative project of the governments of the world. Their successes and failures reflect the ebb and flow of confidence and political will. This can limit the organization’s ability to act in the face of a crisis.
The fraying of international solidarity is worrying. The UN remains our best response to global challenges. Whether it’s artificial intelligence, plastic pollution or climate change, people around the world instinctively place their trust and hope in solutions engineered by the UN – and with good reason. It provides humanitarian aid to 200 million people and fills countless gaps in development and conflict prevention.
No country is untouched by their work. All governments must be reminded of their pledge to demonstrate “unprecedented political will and leadership” for the benefit of present and future generations – and deliver on that pledge.
Anja Wehler-Schöck heads the International Politics department of the Tagesspiegel. She says: To kill the UN would be tantamount to declaring global bankruptcy.
A UN Security Council chaired – like this April – by the aggressor Russia? The body that is supposed to watch over world peace seems to have been taken to the point of absurdity. This also applies to a human rights council to which China belongs, or a women’s rights commission, whose members – until its expulsion at the end of 2022 – included Iran.
And yet it would be fatal to declare the UN dead. It would be tantamount to a global declaration of bankruptcy: project world peace – failed for all time. It is therefore important to endure the contradictions. In times of crisis, the UN can achieve many things, even decisive ones. They are die Platform for global dialogue. They provide urgently needed aid worldwide.
Joschka Fischer in an interview “Europe’s security will be permanently threatened by Russia”
At the same time, the international community must continue to work on the UN, even if reforms are currently more difficult than ever to achieve. That can’t be an excuse. Strong alliances are needed to make the UN fit for the future. And a Security Council that still reflects the situation after the Second World War is certainly not.
Moritz Rudolf researches as a China expert at Yale Law School in the USA. He says: Whatever comes after the UN will be even more Chinese and less Western.
Since Xi Jinping took power a good ten years ago, China has been systematically striving for more influence within the UN. The Chinese leadership uses the UN as a stage to present itself as a “responsible great power” and to present and promote global initiatives.
China has positioned itself as an ally of the Global South for years. Developing countries are China’s favored and willing partners in its efforts to transform the global order. After years of capacity building, China is increasingly able to find majorities within the UN system and effectively assert its own interests.
more on the subject
How is the world, Ms. Castellina? “Revolution is inevitable” Beatings in the buffer zone What does Turkey have to do with the violence against UN peacekeepers? A club of authoritarian states Iran becomes a member of China and Russia’s security alliance
We will never again have a global structure that reflects Western interests like the UN does. Germany should therefore invest more in the UN, pragmatically and strategically deepen relations with countries in the Global South and advertise its own achievements better. For whatever may follow the UN will be even more Chinese and less Western in character.
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2023-09-05 03:46:09
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