On Wednesday 16 April, UNA-UK hosted former UN Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch-Brown in the first of a new speaker series, chaired by UNA-UK's Chair Ian Martin. The series will be a forum to discuss the challenges facing the United Nations of today, with its long-standing needs for reform, increasingly divided member states, and funding crisis, as well as the opportunities for progress and restoring faith in multilateralism.
Speaking on the theme "UNordered World: Trump, the UN and the Rest", Malloch-Brown described the dire impact of funding cuts on UN agencies and the current emergence of a new “interest-based, empire-based world order” that leaders such as President Trump and President Putin aspire to. However, he also pointed out that the disruption in the present moment could become a rallying point that “wakes up” member states to protect a rules-based multilateral system, with the UN being a key platform to facilitate this. Malloch-Brown also talked optimistically about the UN’s ability to make progress, even when it cannot gather support from all member states on certain issues. The recently signed Pandemic Treaty is one such example of progress being made despite the US’s increasing absence at the UN:
These kinds of coalitions of the willing seeking to embrace treaty-based, value-based, rule-of-law-based solutions to global problems...will not go away.
Malloch-Brown concluded with the observation that the US’s withdrawal of resources from the UN is likely to result in a significantly different and smaller organisation, but that this may bring a silver lining: an opportunity to simplify, rationalize, and build a more effective UN. Last month, the UN Secretary-General announced the UN80 initiative, which will prioritise reform to ensure the Organistion is effective, cost-efficient and responsive. Malloch-Brown noted that the selection process for the next UN Secretary-General, which is due to begin later this year, will be a crucial moment for this kind of work:
This [Secretary-General]... race offers the opportunity for a long overdue debate about the future shape, purpose, [and] functions of the UN.
Following his remarks, Malloch-Brown answered questions from the audience on topics including the UK’s role in the newly emerging world order, whether there would be opportunities for civil society in a slimmed-down UN model, and what changes at the UN might mean for world trade. When answering questions on Britain’s aid cuts and young people’s engagement with the UN, he strongly encouraged UNA-UK members to mobilise and make the Government aware that many people care deeply about the UK’s commitment to aid, as well as encouraging young people to pursue careers at the UN.
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