Time to Rethink the UN

The world is facing a series of complex emergencies ranging from climate change to the COVID-19 pandemic, biodiversity loss to food and water insecurity, economic uncertainty to gender discrimination, and now war. Each one of these emergencies has economic, social, environmental and governance dimensions that transcend national borders.

While the emergencies have become more global and interconnected in recent decades, the system of multilateral cooperation that is supposed to address them has not advanced much since its establishment after World War II, thus proving inadequate and ineffectively in dealing with them. A fundamental rethink of multilateralism is, therefore, urgently needed. With the publication of the UN Secretary-General's report Our Common Agenda in September 2021, a process has been set in motion to consider options for the renewal of this antiquated multilateral system. Thus, a window of opportunity is opening for the adoption of reforms at the proposed Summit of the Future in 2023, which could have far-reaching consequences for the future and success of global governance for the decades to come.

From many quarters, there is a call to revisit the conceptual and moral foundations as well as institutional architecture of the post-World War II multilateral system with a view to increasing the system’s legitimacy and capacity to address a broad range of contemporary multi-dimensional challenges. Key to all this is bringing about a modern, more effective, ethical, and people-centered United Nations, as the central node of global governance arrangements and indispensable tool for tackling shared challenges to human security.

With a view to supporting and contributing to the ongoing discussion on the OCA proposals and preparations for the 2023 Summit of the Future, the Foundation for Global Governance and Sustainability (FOGGS) and the Global Governance Forum (GGF) are co-organizing this virtual expert panel discussion to offer a public space for exchange and information sharing on the key proposals presented in Our Common Agenda and related policy issues. These include proposals for a UN Resilience Council, a Global Environment Agency, and the launch of the Global Catastrophic Risk Index.

The panelists:
Augusto Lopez-Claros, Executive Director, Global Governance Forum
Maria Fernanda Espinosa, Co-Chair, Coalition for the UN We Need (C4UN)
Arthur Dahl, President, International Environment Forum
Harris Gleckman, Board Member, FOGGS
Yvonne Rademacher, Senior Global Governance Adviser, FOGGS
Moderator: Nik Gowing, former BBC presenter

Organized by Foundation for Global Governance and Sustainability (FOGGS) and the Global Governance Forum (GGF)

The event was recorded for later viewing, and should be available soon.