New Multilateralism Must Work More Closely with Regional Organizations, Civil Society, Deputy Secretary-General Tells Ghana Foreign Relations Council

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s remarks to the Ghana Council on Foreign Relations: “Multilateralism at 75:  What Next?”, today:

Thank you for the invitation to join you today.  The Ghana Council on Foreign Relations is an important forum for dialogue and I welcome this opportunity to speak with you at this pivotal moment in world affairs.

I’d like to start by recognizing the close ties between Ghana and the United Nations.  Ghana’s successful independence struggle, and its entry into the United Nations in 1957, inspired a wave of self-determination and decolonization efforts that, in turn, led to a dramatic increase in the Organization’s membership.

Across the decades since, United Nations agencies have worked hand-in-hand with the people of Ghana to advance economic growth, social progress, peace and human rights.  Today that relationship is embodied in a Sustainable Development Partnership.

Since the early 1970s, Ghanaian women and men have served as United Nations peacekeepers.  With nearly 2,500 soldiers, police, experts and staff now serving in a dozen operations and offices, Ghana is the tenth largest contributor.

And of course, Ghana’s illustrious son, the late Kofi Atta Annan, led the United Nations with verve and distinction.  He was active right to the very last of his days — a diplomatic elder but youthful in the energy he brought to his work for progress and peace.

Ghana’s achievements are noteworthy and important.  It is you who have built a strong democracy and made your country a pillar of stability in the region.  It is you who have integrated the Sustainable Development Goals into your agenda and budget.  With the United Nations and multilateralism as your helpmates, Ghana has built solid foundations for achieving further progress and staying resilient in the face of crises.

We meet today as the world wrestles with one such crisis:  the biggest global test since the founding of the United Nations:  the COVID-19 pandemic.  I offer my condolences for the lives lost from the spread of the virus in Ghana — more than 300 at last count.

President [Nana Addo Dankwa] Akufo-Addo spoke movingly about the impacts in his address to the General Assembly last month.  “We have learnt not to shake hands or hug our loved one”, he said.  And he went on, “For many people, the most difficult thing to deal with in these uncertain and unsettling times has been the silence forced on churches, mosques, temples and other places of worship.  Singing in groups has become a dangerous activity.”

The United Nations family stands with all Ghanaians as we confront this challenge.  Alongside the death and disruption, however, we should also recognize the ways that Ghana, and Africa in general, have responded.  Most countries on the continent acted rapidly.  Amid tremendous fears about the potential death and devastation, Africans have donned masks, deployed health workers and used the knowledge from previous disease outbreaks to largely dodge the worst of this one.

Of course, continued vigilance is of the utmost importance until a safe and effective vaccine is found and is accessible and afforded to everyone, everywhere.  The United Nations is calling for donors to step and meet the financing gap for the vaccine effort.

We are also pressing for a massive global rescue package to enable the world’s most vulnerable countries and people to cope with the devastating economic and social impacts.  Poverty is rising for the first time in three decades.  Some 130 million people are at risk of being pushed to the brink of starvation by the end of this year.  We are veering further off track in our work to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

Moreover, global solidarity has been lacking, as countries have gone largely in their own direction, seeing only to themselves.  Our global humanitarian response plan, targeting 63 countries facing conflict, disaster or other dire circumstances, is only 34.8 per cent funded.

The virus has also laid bare gaping inequalities and systemic injustices — within and among countries.  It has given the world a look at the upheaval that might be caused by climate change.  With massive amounts of resources being deployed now for pandemic-related stimulus and support plans and projects to reenergize economies, how the world allocates this money could be a “make-or-break moment” for climate action, biodiversity and the health of our planet.  Recovery from the pandemic is our chance to address these challenges and other, deeper ills.

You will note the title of my remarks:  multilateralism at 75.  In fact, it is the United Nations that turned 75 just four days ago as we marked the anniversary of the entry into force of its founding Charter.  Multilateralism has been around much longer, of course.  When used to its fullest, it has generated great progress.  When missing in action, it has abetted tragedy after tragedy.

The Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki, speaking last month to the United Nations Security Council, called for “a renaissance of multilateralism” at this crucial time.  “The people of the world are hungry for effective global governance that can really deliver for them,” he said.

Africa has contributed immensely to the advancement of multilateralism, through the African Union and other pan-continental endeavours that send a powerful message of cross-border awareness and solidarity.  The Continental Free Trade Area and the Great Green Wall come immediately to mind.  These have demonstrated not only African dynamism but also re-shaped the wider narrative about the continent, moving from a focus on security concerns to socioeconomic transformation and Africa’s presence and leadership in the world.

Ghana has been a leading voice in nurturing that ethos.  Ghana’s leadership role on regional peace and security issues, especially since assuming its role as the Chair of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Authority, is laudable.  In particular, the United Nations welcomes the growing cooperation between Ghana and the United Nations Office for West Africa (UNOWA) in preventing and mitigating an electoral crisis in Guinea and Côte d’Ivoire, as well as supporting the resolution of the crisis in Mali.

One cannot forget the critical role that President Akufo-Addo plays as an SDG [Sustainable Development Goals] Advocate to advance implementation of the SDGs.  In this respect, the United Nations welcomes initiatives such as the SDG Investment Fair that was organized by Ghana in the context of the launch of the African Continental Free Trade Area to promote the development of SDG financing road maps in collaboration with the World Economic Forum and the United Nations.

The role of women in advancing peace and security and sustainable development cannot be overemphasized.  In this regard, the United Nations also acknowledge Ghana’s contributions in multilateral efforts to promote the meaningful participation of women and gender equality.  

The Gender and Development Initiative for Africa, which was launched by President Akufo-Addo under the theme “Africa women as leaders in business and politics”, is also a useful model for promoting women’s participation in politics and other sectors.  We have already seen quick gains from this initiative with the emergence of three women presidential candidates for the upcoming election.

We need that collective sensibility and mobilization more than ever at this time.  Strengthened international cooperation will be crucial in stopping the pandemic, recovering from it, avoiding another and building a safer, better future for all.  Fortunately, we have a road map to guide us to the solutions we need: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.  Indeed, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals address many of the roots of the world’s current fragilities and vulnerabilities.

We also have Africa’s Agenda 2063.  Together, these plans can steer us through the recovery towards a more prosperous, equitable and sustainable world and address the world’s current fragilities and vulnerabilities.  Even before the pandemic, we had embarked on a Decade of Action to accelerate our work.  That effort is more urgent than ever.

I want to point to five critical areas that are the core of our socioeconomic response plan to COVID-19.  First, putting health first.  The pandemic has made clear we need to strengthen health services and health systems as a quintessential global public good.

Second, protecting people.  Societies around the world need to strengthen access to, and the quality of, basic services.  We also need a new generation of social protection.  Protecting people also means investing in people.  And today that must also mean taking advantage of the digital revolution. 

Ghana has made enormous leaps in building digital infrastructure to power the digital economy, and in using new technologies for health and agriculture as well as better targeting and expanding its social protection programme — LEAP.  Along with investments in education, these technologies can be powerful enablers and equalizers — and can help drive the pandemic recovery.

Third, keeping economies and households afloat by protecting jobs and small- and medium-sized enterprises.

Fourth, ensuring a strong macroeconomic response and multilateral collaboration, including from donors and the international financial institutions.

And fifth, promoting social cohesion and community resilience.  Cohesion requires inclusion.  Inclusion mean ending discrimination and marginalization.  And the most glaring example of such discrimination is gender inequality.  Women’s rights movements have made remarkable achievements in recent decades.  But as we mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of the landmark Beijing Declaration, the struggle faces a major pushback.  And violence against women and girls remains widespread everywhere in the world.

No single step would do more to fortify societies, improve health and protect the environment than ensuring equal rights of women and men.  No single step would do more to galvanize our economies, make governance more responsive and peace more durable, than to enable women’s leadership and meaningful participation.  This is the unfinished business of Beijing — and the biggest human rights challenge of our time.  Now is the time to go the extra mile in securing gender equality.

In an interconnected world, international cooperation may be an imperative — but it does not happen by itself.  It takes willing participants who grasp that today’s challenges transcend borders and that collaboration is the path to the common good.  The COVID-19 pandemic has brought this point home in the most tragic way.  But let’s remember that multilateralism is not only about warding off common threats; it is also about seizing common opportunities.

Moreover, international cooperation is not a single method or fixed practice.  It is a mindset that must keep pace with the times.  It is not an end in itself but, instead, a means for getting things done.  As the United Nations marks its seventy-fifth anniversary, we can see clearly that multilateralism must change.

Secretary-General António Guterres recognizes this, and has been calling for a networked multilateralism, in which the United Nations works more closely with regional organizations, such as the African Union, and others.  He is also promoting what he calls an inclusive multilateralism, in which the United Nations draws on the diverse and dynamic capacities of civil society, businesses, research institutions and other.  If multilateralism can be more networked and more inclusive, it will also be more effective — delivering the global governance the world needs at this time.

The world has been shaken to its core by a microscopic virus.  In these nine short months, we have learned lessons to last a lifetime.  We have seen how interconnected we are — and how unequal our world is.  We have come to understand just how much context matters, as country responses have varied significantly — and not always in ways that might have been predicted — based on leadership, demographics, economic power and the strength of local institutions and communities.

We have seen that human rights must be central to our response.  And we have seen the importance of global and national solidarity.  The crisis has opened the eyes of the world to so much that is wrong.  And so, it has also opened a door to do what it takes to get things right for the future.

The fieriest institution of the world is the United Nations with the Charter as our guiding light.  We continue to convene for peace, human rights and development, leaving no one behind.  Often the gap between the reality and our aspirations is wide.  We can but provide the space for hope to thrive as we strive daily in our work, be it negotiations, peacekeeping, humanitarian work, to close the gap.  Some days we succeed, on others we have more to do.

In the end, we must never fail for lack of trying to serve “We the peoples”.  I look forward to your contributions to the work ahead — and to our conversation today.  Thank you.