The U.N. and global governance institutions are ill-suited to address many modern, evolving threats and must reform or risk prolonging and deepening global crises. To address these borderless issues, a new high-level report, released today by the Commission on Global Security, Justice & Governance, carries targeted reforms that transcend national borders, and reach out to diverse stakeholders, including business groups, mayors, and civil society.
This nonpartisan 14 member commission led by former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former Nigerian Foreign Minister and U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Ibrahim Gambari, offers far-reaching recommendations to reform the U.N. and global governance institutions to better address new global challenges posed by conflict–affected states, climate change, and the hyper-connected global economy. The report titled Confronting the Crisis of Global Governance reflects the global perspective of commission members that have served in leading government and non-governmental posts in Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Lebanon, Netherlands, Nigeria, Tanzania, the United Nations, and the United States. The report and recommendations come in advance of the United Nations’ 70th Anniversary Summit in September.
“World leaders must grapple with new ways to approach 21st century threats posed by climate change, conflict, and cross-border economic shocks,” said Commission Co-Chair Madeleine Albright. “A failure to adapt effectively risks prolonging and deepening these global crises.”
Commission Members include:
Madeleine Albright—Former U.S. Secretary of State; Haifa Al Kaylani — Founding Chair of The Arab International Women’s Forum; Celso Amorim — Former Minister of Defense and Minister of Foreign Relations of Brazil; Lloyd Axworthy — Former Foreign Minister of Canada; Ibrahim Gambari —Former Nigerian Foreign Minister and U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs; Yoriko Kawaguchi— Former Foreign and Environment Minister of Japan; Jane Holl Lute — Former U.S. Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security and U.N. Assistant Secretary-General for Field Support; Asha-Rose Migiro — Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs of Tanzania and former U.N. Deputy Secretary-General; José Antonio Ocampo— Former Finance Minister of Colombia and U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs; Shyam Saran — Former Foreign Secretary and Chief Climate Change Negotiator of India; Michael Schaefer —Chairman of the BMW Foundation and former Ambassador of Germany to China; Jozias van Aartsen — Mayor of The Hague and former Foreign Minister of The Netherlands; Erna Witoelar — Founder of the Indonesian Environmental Forum and former Minister of Human Settlements and Regional Development; Wu Jianmin— Former Ambassador of China to the United Nations and France.
Commission recommendations include:
- Create next-generation U.N. conflict mediation and peace operations capacity: build responsive capacity to provide experienced mediators, including a greater proportion of women, for crisis and conflict prevention and peacebuilding; build capacity to deploy civilian, police, and military personnel to meet urgent peacekeeping requirements; build a new cadre of experienced personnel to serve as Heads of Mission and members of mission senior management teams; beyond transitional justice, invest in transformational justice; and coordinate activities closely with regional actors and local civil society, with particular attention to inclusion of women in peace processes.
- Strengthen the Responsibility to Prevent, Protect, and Rebuild: invest in early-warning capabilities and Responsibility to Protect (R2P) action plans for an approach to atrocities prevention that involves all U.N. agencies and programs; embed U.N. mission monitors in all forces participating in R2P implementation; and set concrete, achievable goals for all international actors seeking to prevent, react to, and rebuild after mass atrocities.
- Innovate climate governance: facilitate new kinds of engagement between the UNFCCC and other international regimes, subnational authorities, and civil society and business groups; establish an International Carbon Monitoring Entity, a Global Climate Action Clearinghouse, and a Climate Engineering Advisory Board to review all experiments involving atmospheric modification; and define a global goal for climate adaption comparable to the 2 degrees Centigrade atmospheric warming target set for climate change mitigation.
- Develop a green technology licensing facility within the Green Climate Fund: harness private-sector innovation for climate mitigation and adaptation, especially in support of vulnerable populations in developing countries.
- Establish a G20+ within a new framework for global economic cooperation to avert financial shocks and deliver on the Post-2015 Development Agenda: enhance G20-U.N.-Bretton Woods institutional coordination to prevent the spread of cross-border financial shocks, promote inclusive economic reform, and foster the equitable growth necessary for achieving the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals.
- Develop a global network of cybercrime centers and increase Internet access in the Global South through enhanced capacity-building: bolster the global response to cyber attacks through INTERPOL and national Computer Emergency Response Teams (CERTs), and increase Internet access and cybersecurity in the Global South through multiple initiatives, including the International Telecommunications Union’s Connect 2020 Agenda and the promotion of cyber hygiene.
- Establish the U.N. Global Partnership: give a greater voice to underrepresented policy issues, such as women’s rights, migration, and training a modern workforce, through new social compacts and a new hub and online platform whereby the entire UN system can tap into the expertise of civil society and the business community.
- Expand U.N. Security Council membership and nontraditional engagement: create more opportunities for countries, regional organizations, local authorities, and non-state actors to contribute to peacemaking, peacekeeping, and peacebuilding, while increasing the Council’s representative legitimacy and restraint in the use of the veto.
- Establish a U.N. Peacebuilding Council: transform the Peacebuilding Commission into a Council—similar to the Human Rights Commission’s transformation in 2005—with new coordination authorities, new financial and knowledge resources, and a new focus on prevention, including through “peacebuilding audits.”
- Strengthen and more fully use the International Court of Justice: expand acceptance of the World Court’s jurisdiction and make us of its authoritative advisory opinions in innovative ways.
“These proposals offer a smart path forward for regions, states, and peoples facing challenges of conflict, climate change, and a volatile globalized economy, toward solutions that promote both security and justice,” said Commission Co-Chair Ibrahim Gambari. “With the U.N. celebrating its 70th anniversary this year, now is a time for meaningful reform to better address modern threats and seize new opportunities.”
The Commission on Global Security, Justice & Governance is a project of The Hague Institute and the Stimson Center. More information on the Commission and its new report can be found at: www.GlobalSecurityJusticeGovernance.org