Morning Multilateralism

Tuesday, August 4 2020

• Two of the most prominent candidates to lead the World Trade Organization have expressed sympathy with U.S. concerns about overreach by the organization’s dispute resolution system. Via the Financial Times:

  Kenya’s Amina Mohamed and Nigerian Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala are the favourites to be appointed WTO director-general after incumbent Roberto Azevêdo steps down in September. In interviews with the Financial Times, both said that American criticisms of judicial over-reach by the organisation’s dispute settlement system were valid.

  By refusing to appoint new members of the appellate body, the United States has helped generate an organizational crisis. Attempting to untangle it will be a central challenge for the next director-general. These statements will undoubtedly be welcome in Washington. But it’s hard to know how seriously to take them. Given the consensus process for selecting WTO leaders, the candidates are all but required to say enough to keep the U.S. amenable to their candidacies.

• A small team from the World Health Organization has been in China for several weeks, preparing for a broader investigation of the virus’s origins. Reuters reports that the team has now interviewed several Chinese officials:

  “The team had extensive discussions with Chinese counterparts and received updates on epidemiological studies, biologic and genetic analysis and animal health research,” [WHO official] Christian Lindmeier told reporters, saying these included video discussions with Wuhan virologists and scientists.

• Picking up the baton from Germany, Indonesia assumes the presidency of the United Nations Security Council this month. Planned thematic meetings include a session on the link between terrorism and organized crime as well as one on pandemics. For a full report on the August plan of work, see here.

• A battle is brewing over China’s bid to secure a judgeship at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. As part of its broader diplomatic pushback against China, the United States has made loud objections. Because the United States has never ratified the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, however, the final decision on judges will be left to others. A Chinese national has held a judgeship on the tribunal since it began operating in 1996, so a decision to reject its candidate would mark a significant diplomatic shift.

• On the anniversary of a brutal ISIS offensive into Yazidi areas of Iraq, Nobel laureate Nadia Murad and human rights lawyer Amal Clooney blast the international community for inaction on crimes committed against the Yazidi:

  The establishment of UNITAD, the UN Investigative Team created by the Security Council, was a vital step to systematically collect evidence of ISIS’s crimes in Iraq. But this evidence is only useful if states assume their responsibility to prosecute ISIS perpetrators, either in their national courts, or by supporting prosecutions by the International Criminal Court or a new international court established to hold such trials.

• Very briefly noted:

  • The African Union’s attempt to mediate the dispute surrounding an Ethiopian dam continues.

  • Human Rights Watch considers the International Monetary Fund’s approach to corruption.

  • The World Bank announces a new country director in Pakistan, where the bank has more than 50 active projects.

  • An examination of NATO’s space policy.