Safeguarding the International Order

SUMMARY

The United Nations Committee submitted a written statement to the United Nations’ Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) Ministerial Meeting welcoming the United Nations’ New Agenda for Peace as a plan “to preserve and, where necessary, rebuild a stable and reliable collective security system that is based on multilateralism, freedom, peace and security.” The statement stresses the importance of prioritizing diplomacy and calls for greater use of the United Nations “as the most inclusive arena for diplomacy to manage global politics and its growing fractures.” The statement also proposes that serious thought be devoted to restructuring the United Nations Security Council “in order to restore and secure its ability to act decisively without jeopardizing acceptance and thus promote its general purpose as well as fortify its effectiveness.”

REPORT

SAFEGUARDING THE INTERNATIONAL ORDER

The international order appeared to be well-established and stable just a few years ago, yet the world is now facing alarming power shifts among major countries. As a result, scholars and policymakers are confronted with pressing questions regarding the international institutional order with an eye on harnessing multilateral cooperation in addressing shared challenges to keeping and sustaining global peace. In the face of paralleling and subsequent crises at various levels, the international order faces unprecedented challenges. Peace and security do not only form the core mandates of the United Nations but become a responsibility for all.

The United Nations Committee of the New York City Bar Association welcomes the New Agenda for Peace and is in alignment with its core principles. Said agenda forms a solid and comprehensive basis for the efforts to be undertaken in order to preserve and, where necessary, rebuild a stable and reliable collective security system that is based on multilateralism, freedom, peace and security. While the resolution of existing conflicts is an important and indispensable task, we agree that a keen primary focus should be targeted towards the prevention of conflicts. More often than not it requires far more effort to resolve an open conflict than to prevent latent conflicts from materializing.

We agree that diplomacy should be prioritized by all sides to bridge growing divides and that one important pillar to that end would be to reinforce global diplomacy and to complement it by establishing fundamental, regional frameworks which foster and promote the cooperation among States. We believe, in particular, that greater use should be made of the United Nations as the most inclusive arena for diplomacy to manage global politics and its growing fractures, as a potent functional platform for Member States to engage with one another, even when they lack formal diplomatic relations, are at war or do not recognize each other’s position, or are divisive and partisan.

At the same time, any collective system will only be operative and effective, if underpinned by mutual trust, respect, solidarity and adherence to the rule of law. We believe it is worth investing efforts in promoting trust and unity on various levels in order to set a reliable and sustainable basis for diplomacy in general, and most importantly, to safeguard peacebuilding missions in times of crisis and conflict.

Finally, while the United Nations in general and the Security Council have played, and are serving an important vital role, the United Nations Committee of the New York City Bar Association considers that serious thought could be devoted to restructuring the architecture of, in particular, the Security Council, in order to restore and secure its ability to act decisively without jeopardizing acceptance and thus promote its general purpose as well as fortify its effectiveness.

Respectfully drafted and submitted by Sophia Murashkovsky Romma, Ph.D., Esq., on behalf of the United Nations Committee of the New York City Bar Association on September 29, 2023