The High-Level panel found that the United Nations “has been much more effective in addressing the major threats to peace and security than it is given credit for”, but that, nonetheless, major changes are needed “to be effective, efficient and equitable in providing collective security for all” in the 21st century.
It suggested two options for expansion of the Security Council and recommend changes in the General Assembly, Economic and Social Council and the Commission on Human Rights. It also proposes strengthening the UN secretary-general’s critical role in peace and security. To be more effective, it says, the secretary-general should be given more latitude to manage the UN Secretariat, and should be held correspondingly accountable.
The report identifies the collaboration with regional organisations such as the African Union, the Southern African Development Community and the Economic Community of West African States as crucial and sets out a series of principles that would govern a more structured partnership with the UN.
The recommendation on the use of assessed contributions by the Security Council to support peacekeeping operations undertaken under its authority and on its behalf would, for example, be particularly useful to the AU to enhance its peacekeeping operations.
There are some areas, though, that need more attention:
- The report could have provided elements of a comprehensive develop-ment and humanitarian strategy by identifying sources for much-needed humanitarian assistance for countries in distress, and specifying mechanisms to help developing countries alleviate extreme poverty and curb the spread of infectious diseases. The explanation for not doing so is that the panel was tasked to examine economic and social issues only as they relate to peace and security. Fortunately, the Jeffrey Sachs report on the Millennium Declaration has filled part of this gap. According to the secretary-general, most of the Millennium Declaration report’s recommendations have Africa clearly in mind. It calls on African states to adopt development strategies bold enough to meet the Millennium Development Goal’s (MDG) targets by 2015.
It calls on donors and Africans to identify the external financing gaps, and to fill these through Official Development Assistance (ODA) and significant debt-relief measures. It suggests that at least a dozen “MDG fast-track” countries be designated for a rapid scale-up of ODA, with more countries granted such status as soon as they are ready. It stresses the need for a major breakthrough in the Doha trade round. And it urges the immediate launching of a set of “quick-win” actions — such as the free mass distribution of malaria bed-nets, the expansion of school meal programmes using locally produced foods, and an end to user-fees for primary schools and essential health services.
- Africa’s special needs are not specifically addressed in the report. Nonetheless, in its resolution on the New Partnership for Africa’s Development of December 21 last year, the General Assembly “invites the High-Level Plenary Meeting which is to be held on the commencement of the 60th Session of the General Assembly, to address the special needs of the African continent”. In addressing the special situation of Africa, there is a critical need for an increase in financial commitment by the UN system, which is, in turn, dependent upon whether the UN system and its agencies receive additional financial resources for their joint programmes and new initiatives from the donor community.
The report does not articulate the ways of increasing financial resources to better assist African countries. Furthermore, the report does not address the issue of mutual accountability whereby both the donor community and the developing countries would honour their respective commitments. However, these omissions have now been redressed by Sachs, which should be seen as a compliment to the panel.
Both reports form the central message of the secretary-general’s In Larger Freedom report of March.
- There is a need to spell out in greater detail the precise mandate of the proposed Peacebuilding Commission and the sources of funds for peace-building operations and post-conflict reconstruction of war-torn areas. In addition, the institutional home for the commission has been the subject of vigorous debate, with many UN member states questioning the Security Council as its appropriate location.
- Finally, the report does not highlight the need for policy coherence in international assistance to Africa, as highlighted by the lack of complementarities in debt, aid and trade policies of the developed countries towards Africa. For example, for a period stretching back over 10 years, ODA to Africa has been almost offset by debt service payments by Africans.
Another example of incoherence is evident in trade and ODA relief, whereby, for nearly a quarter of a century starting from 1970, the dramatic decline in Africa’s market share amounted to an estimated income loss of $70-billion a year: almost five times the average annual ODA to Africa. The report has not adequately addressed how such policy incoherence can be remedied.
Nonetheless, the High-Level Panel report is a start — a good start, but not an end to the process of defining collective threats and challenges, and designing collective responses to them. Moreover, the implementation of the recommendations depends on adequate follow-up mechanisms.
The General Assembly summit in mid-September is expected to provide a climax to, and focus for, inter-governmental debate of the panel’s recommendations, while discussions in other forums such as the Group of Eight, the AU and other regional summits should provide further impetus for implementation. As noted in the report, building a more secure world takes much more than a report or a summit. It will take long-term and sustained resources and commitments commensurate with the scale of the challenges. Most of all, it will take leadership within states and in the inter-governmental bodies to translate recommendations and expectations into reality.
Professor Ibrahim A Gambari is UN under-secretary general for political affairs