The Week in Multilateralism
Friday, February 19, 2021
It’s been a banner week for pandemic multilateralism. The United Nations Security Council met at the level of foreign ministers to consider the pandemic and the international response. During his remarks at the session, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken made clear that the United States will pay its dues to the World Health Organization. The news is not a surprise but will come as a relief to the Geneva-based organization as the United States has been the organization’s largest funder. Even as they loosened the financial spigots, however, U.S. officials made clear their concern about the shape of the WHO investigation into the pandemic’s origins. Earlier in the week, U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan signaled “deep concern” about the course of the inquiry.
The pandemic response was also center stage at a G7 meeting on Friday. At the virtual head-of-state session—the first since the Biden administration took office—British prime minister Boris Johnson pushed for greater commitments to funding the purchase and distribution of vaccines to the developing world. The communique that followed the meeting described 2021 as a “turning point for multilateralism,” emphasized cooperation on the pandemic, and gave a nod to the idea of a new treaty on pandemics, which has been advocated by the European Union.
Incumbent UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has been coasting toward reappointment to another five-year term. None of the permanent members of the Security Council has raised objections, and he appears to enjoy support in the broader membership. So while the door is open for possible challengers, no one had walked through it or appeared likely to do so. Until this week. A 34-year old UN employee, Arora Akanksha, threw her hat into the ring. PassBlue has all the details on the unorthodox challenge:
Akanksha says she has received positive feedback from her colleagues since her announcement. It has, however, raised eyebrows in the broader UN community, considering that candidates tend to be former heads of states, government ministers or elected officials, such as Guterres. Kofi Annan, who was secretary-general from 1997 to 2006, was the first person in the post to be elected from the UN staff….
“I think it goes back to results; what results have you achieved by giving the elected officials the power for 75 years?” she said. “Where are we today? Have you made any dents in any of the areas that are important to people? No. So I think results speak for themselves.”
As the political turmoil in Myanmar continues, a key question is how involved the regional organization ASEAN will be in responding to it. Writing in The Diplomat, Sebastian Strangio profiles the efforts of Indonesia’s foreign minister to nudge the organization toward a more active role:
The coup looms as an important test for ASEAN, which claims to occupy a position of diplomatic centrality in Asian diplomacy, but has often been sluggish in its response to regional crises. This is because of ASEAN’s decision-making process, which is based on the principles of consensus – meaning that any ASEAN member state can veto a course of action – and an allergy to any hint of “intervention” in member states’ internal affairs….
If ASEAN is to act, Indonesia is the nation probably best positioned to make it happen, given its traditional position of leadership within the Southeast Asian bloc and its own experience of transition from military dictatorship since the fall of President Suharto in 1998. Some observers have even identified former President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as a potential special Indonesian or ASEAN envoy to Myanmar.
The Guardian reported on the race to lead the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), noting that the body’s role in addressing climate change has emerged as an issue. Environmental activists are particularly nervous about one contender for the top post:
One frontrunner to be his successor is Mathias Cormann, a former Australian finance minister, who has made it to the shortlist of four candidates. Scott Morrison, Australia’s prime minister, is lobbying hard, but green experts around the world fear that if appointed Cormann would try to impede the OECD’s climate and environmental work, despite making a statement that climate change would remain a priority.
Green campaigners said Cormann’s record suggested hostility towards climate action and an enthusiasm for fossil fuel interests. Last February, he accused Australia’s Labor party of making “extremist pronouncements” for pledging to reach net zero emissions by 2050.
India, which serves as chair of the BRICS this year, unveiled a new website for the bloc, which includes Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. This year marks the fifteenth anniversary for the group, but continued border tension between the two largest BRICS members has dampened the mood. China publicly acknowledged this week that it lost four soldiers during last summer’s clashes with India.
In an interview with the Financial Times, French president Emmanuel Macron opened up about the future of multilateralism. He raised eyebrows with comments about NATO, but his more significant intervention may have been one focused on relations with China. He suggested that the UN and the Security Council in particular might serve as a mechanism for improving U.S.-China relations:
[T]he UN Security Council “no longer works” as a means of resolving big regional crises, he said. Its permanent members were “mad” to have allowed it to be displaced by competing regional formats. A revived council could become a way of avoiding an escalation of tensions between the US and China — but Macron was not sure whether China would co-operate. France, the UK and Russia — the three other permanent members — all favoured re-engagement to “create a new zone of co-operation with China if China wants it”, he said. “And it is an open question. If China, in the next six months, does not want to co-operate in these structures, it will have made its choice.”
At least in U.S. policy circles, the notion of using certain UN mechanisms to ease relations with Beijing has received scant attention recently. Instead, the UN and other multilateral institutions have been discussed almost exclusively as battlegrounds for influence or mechanisms for combating Chinese policies.
Briefly noted:
A Senegalese national, Makhtar Diop, has become the first African head of the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation.
Thirty days after President Biden’s executive order, the United States has officially rejoined the Paris Agreement.
The UN Secretary General reportedly wants several thousand more troops for the peacekeeping mission in Central African Republic.
Finland launched a campaign to join the UN Human Rights Council.
The director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, is headed to Tehran to discuss cooperation.
Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund struck a deal that will allow the release of the next tranche of a loan package.