From Far & Near
By Shashi Malla
It has been three months since China first reported a novel coronavirus to the World Health Organization (WHO). Unfortunately, for Planet Earth, international cooperation has been very prominent – through its complete absence. It has been the same with global solidarity.
Even now, the rich nations of the earth are too busy with their own afflictions and have not lost a thought about the poor and needy in the least developed countries, the hundreds of thousands of migrants fleeing climate change and war-ravaged regions, as well as ‘the wretched of the earth’ that cannot escape the war zones [Syria, Yemen].
International & Regional Institutions Impotent
All over the world, regional and international organizations have been rendered powerless and ineffective because of the lack of resolute and sustained leadership.
In the South Asian region, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was purposely made impotent by India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his realpolitik of bilateral confrontation with Pakistan. Since he laid the organization low long before the outbreak of Covid-19, SAARC cannot now be resuscitated for a joint, collaborative effort to battle the deadly virus.
The institutions of the rich, industrialized nations, the G – 7 and G – 20 have also turned out to be purposeless and incapable of taking any useful initiative vis-à-vis the pandemic. How could they, being currently led by two of the world’s most unscrupulous and unprincipled pseudo-leaders – Trump of the U.S. and Mohamed bin Salman al-Saud of Saudi Arabia?
The United Nations (UN) remains the only universal, multilateral international organization capable of launching a concerted effort to ameliorate the effects of the virus. After all, WHO is part and parcel of the worldwide network of public health of the US system. Unfortunately, the UN is compromised in its working because the rich nations – with some exceptions – have not contributed their fair share of contributions. The United States under the indomitable Trump has even seen fit to reduce its contribution!
The UN Security Council, which was supposed to be the executive arm of the world organization, had been stymied almost from the start first, by the intense rivalry of the super powers – the United States and the Soviet Union — during the Cold War, and secondly by the great powers thereafter by misusing the veto power for their own national interests. At the current state, it cannot function effectively until it is fully reformed – but that is another story.
The rest of the world lumped together – the ‘Lumpenproletariat’ or G – 173 – can now only pin their hopes on the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres and their own initiatives.
Among the possibilities is the resurrection of a more assertive role for the UN General Assembly (UNGA), in the face of the continued inability and unwillingness of the Security Council to act resolutely. Already in 1950, UNGA adopted the “Uniting for Peace” resolution overwhelmingly, which introduced machinery for calling an emergency session of the Assembly at short notice; asserted the right of the Assembly to pass judgement on threats to peace, breaches of the peace and acts of aggression when the Security Council was prevented from doing so; and also explore possibilities for UN peace-keeping operations.
In the present context, dire straits call for drastic measures, and Secretary General Guterres can rise to the occasion call a virtual emergency meeting of the UN General Assembly in New York where all member states have their permanent missions.
The assembled member states could vote to establish:
- A “Council of Elders” — personalities
- A“ Crisis Action Group” — countries
The “Council of Elders” would be composed of statesmen and respected true leaders who have proved themselves in the past in confronting various crises.There will be a balance between former and current executives. They will be responsible for giving advice and counsel to the second group. The UN Secretary General can constitute this group as soon as possible, and also undertake steps that the second group can also meet soon.
The group of ‘Elder Statesman’ could be composed of ( purely subjective and in no particular order):
- Mikhael Gorbachev of Russia (mastermind of glasnost &perestoika)
- Theresa May (former Prime Minister of UK)
- Mahathir Mohamad of Malaysia
- Gordon Brown of Scotland (former UK prime minister)
- Barack Obama (former US president)
- Lee Hsien Loong (current prime minister of Singapore)
- Frank-Walter Steinmeier (current federal president of Germany)
- Shashi Tharoor (Indian MP and former UN Under Secretary General)
- Bill Gates
- Jean-Claude Juncker (former President of the European Commission)
- Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani (Emir of Qatar)
[Readers are encouraged to make further suggestions, which will be included in an updated version]
The “Crisis Action Group” would comprise countries from both the G – 20 and G – 173 on a parity basis, with each group contributing only 10 members each, and five to be elected jointly in order to remain capable of determined action with a total membership of 25. All five permanent members of the UN Security Council will be represented, as well as, Switzerland, Japan, India, Brazil and South Africa.
In view of the fact that countries contributing troops and officers to UN Peace Keeping Operations have practically demonstrated their willingness and ability to serve the ideals of the UN Charter, they should be represented by two members.
The UN Secretary General would also have to goad the first batch of leaders of the “Crisis Action Group” to meet virtually as soon as possible. In the first instance the group would comprise: President Xi Jinping, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Chancellor Angela Merkel, Prime Minister JacindaArdern, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, President Moon Jae-in.
The writer can be reached at: shashipbmalla@hotmail.com
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