UN secretary general calls for ‘global governance’ with ‘teeth’
'We absolutely must come together to reimagine and reinvent the world we share,' says Antonio Guterres.
“The problem is that today’s multilateralism lacks scale, ambition and teeth,” Guterres said during a Thursday press conference on the launch of the UN’s “comprehensive response to COVID-19” — the novel coronavirus that originated in Wuhan, China.
“And some of the instruments that do have teeth, show little or no appetite to bite, as has recently been the case with the difficulties faced by the Security Council.”
In the interdependent world of today, “national interests are not easily separated from the global good,” Guterres said.
Moreover, economic and social upheaval caused by the coronavirus pandemic “has laid bare severe and systemic inequalities” across the world, and underscored its fragility in the face of “climate crisis,” the threat of nuclear war, and “lawlessness in cyberspace,” he warned.
In the face of such problems, “world leaders need to be humble and recognize the vital importance of unity and solidarity,” he said.
“We must reimagine the way nations cooperate,” Guterres contended.
“We need a networked multilateralism, bringing together the UN system, regional organizations, international financial institutions and others,” he said.
“And we need an effective multilateralism that can function as an instrument of global governance where it is needed.”
He reiterated the same message at a virtual press conference on June 26 to mark the 75th anniversary of the adoption of the UN Charter in San Francisco.
To emulate those who seized on the Charter as the opportunity to “plant something new” after the depression and world wars, multilateralism must change, he said.
“We need to reimagine multilateralism, give it teeth to function as the founders intended, and ensure that effective global governance is a reality when it is needed,” Guterres stated.
“We must also bring others to the table in an inclusive and networked multilateralism, since governments are only part of today’s political realities,” he added.
“Civil society, cities, the private sector and young people are essential voices in shaping the world we want.”
To the globe’s “fragilities” he mentioned Thursday, Guterres added further troubles: widespread and increasing distrust of national governments, “inequality, discrimination, corruption and lack of opportunities all over the world – grievances that still need to be addressed, including with a renewed social contract.”
There’s also the possibility of another pandemic of “a new virus transmitted as easily as COVID-19 but as deadly as Ebola,” he warned.
And there is “the plague of misinformation” to be fought.
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