Part 4: Saving the UN from itself!

THE late Dag Hammarskjöld, the Second Secretary General of the United Nations (UN), famously said: ‘The United Nations was not created in order to bring us to heaven, but in order to save us from hell.”

That was back in 1954 – and 68 years later, Hammarskjöld’s wise words are again being quoted by those who strongly feel the global body has lost its way and is mainly serving the interests of the world’s richest nations, while poor lives no longer seem to matter.

But if Hammarskjöld’s patent observation is to be taken to its current logical extent, it is humanity’s turn to save the UN — not from hell, but from itself.

There’s never been a paved highway to heaven, but after decades of failure to get the north to listen to and engage with the south and South-South Cooperation halted at major roads by traffic signs within the UN system, more people in-the-know everywhere feel the UN has never been more threatened from within – and the south can save it.

Today, the south can indeed unite and build a new global alliance, led by developing countries, to drive their common agenda for building back better — and faster.

Like never before, the north is now also feeling problems once thought exclusive to developing nations, like extreme weather and shuddering economic jolts.

But the richest nations are learning, in hard ways, that Planet Earth responds, fast and furious, in different ways but everywhere, to humankind’s refusal to acknowledge and respect nature’s power.

In less than a decade, the north has been forced to adapt, most unwillingly, to preparations for hurricanes and heatwaves, floods and drought.

But while climate change, COVID-19 and the economic blowbacks from Ukraine have helped level the playing field and forced higher levels of awareness of the urgency for global action, the south is still left holding the short end of the stick on two counts: the north’s failure to deliver on loud promises at annual UN-sponsored Conference of Parties (COP) summits on Climate Change; and the poorest 90+ UN member states promised COVID vaccines — two years ago by the G-7 nations — are still to be received.

The economic and political turmoil unfolding in the north today sees the UK and German economies transitioning, at breakneck speed, from inflation to recession, while pressing conditions from higher prices and lower currency values are causing increased protests by European citizens who feel their scarce financial resources should be spent on improving conditions at home, instead of arming Ukraine.

The IMF is not only warning Britain that it’s chosen path to economic recovery is fraught with worsening problems, but also that unless current conditions improve, there’ll soon be street protests in major capitals over prices and failure of governments to address problems adequately.

However, the recipes and ingredients for closer and deeper South-South cooperation have long existed.

Caribbean Community (CARICOM) nations have (since 2013) called for reparations from Britain or the European Union (EU) for slavery and native genocide, with no response.

King Charles (as Prince of Wales) expressed (in Barbados in 2021 and Rwanda in 2022) royal sorrow for slavery, stopping short of offering the formal apology requested.

Interestingly, the slave trade started the process of populating the world with the People of African Descent (only now, belatedly but thankfully) being acknowledged by the UN.

Reparations is also tied to native genocide in many parts of the world — from Australia and New Zealand to the USA and Canada, the Caribbean and South America — following destruction of civilizations built by First People centuries before the Europeans arrived in 1492.

Queen Elizabeth’s death gave new life to Commonwealth member states’ realisation that the relationship between ex-coloniser and colonised again needs to be urgently revisited, updated and upgraded, this time including binding commitments to redress past wrongs.

Other elements of redress and today’s ingredients for recipes for the south binding together must also include acknowledgement of, apology and atonement for, slavery, as well as return of illegally-acquired jewels and artefacts — and easing-out of the eternity of royal leadership and constitutional rule by a monarchy over republics.

The list of common issues facing the south to be tabled for necessary dialogue with the north is long, but in addition to all the above, top agenda items should also include: Delivery on outrageously outstanding Climate Change and COVID-19 promises, development of new funding sources and mechanisms for accessing international aid, searching for and finding new and creative methods to address old problems — and uniting to share the supply of natural resources the North needs, according to new rules that rule-out old traditional South-North dependency.

The strongest and longest common denominator uniting Africa and the Caribbean today (as well as the USA, Canada, North and South America) is the TransAtlantic Slave Trade, which was declared — since 2001, by the UN — as the “worst crime against humanity.”

But short of annual memorial days and events, neither the General Assembly, nor the Security Council, has moved to promote reparations for the world’s worst crime, because UN resolutions are not binding.

However, CARICOM nations can signal the seriousness of the times by taking its quest for reparations from Europe to the next logical level: engaging African states and India to initiate related proceedings at the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The South also needs more dialogue with representatives of developing nations heading top UN bodies, to ensure more understandable perspectives of developing nations’ problems are shared at entities like (but not limited to) UNESCO, World Food Programme (WFP) and the Human Rights Commission, as well as the Committee on Racial Equality (CORE), Permanent Forum for People of African Descent, Framework Convention on Climate Change, Regional Economic and Social Commissions, the Decolonisation Committee, Scientific and Technical Bodies, among others.

The south needs to throw the lifeline out to save the UN — and CARICOM and Africa can lead the way.