Meet interconnected global challenges “collectively” ─ Annan

Give up “old mindset of national security/economic growth at the expense of other countries” Thoughts of Kofi Annan
Edited excerpt for Today’s Insight News by Carolyn Bennett

Five principles I believe are essential for the future

conduct of international relations:

Collective responsibility

Global solidarity

Rule of law

Mutual accountability

Multilateralism

Kofi Annan’s final address as

UN Secretary-General, December 2006 [excerpt]

Now former UN Secretary General heading the Kofi Annan Foundation, he offered an Indonesian audience his insight on five years’ global reality and more immediate issues out of Copenhagen and the global economic crisis.

“…The last five years have seen severe global food shortages, soaring energy costs and, of course, the gravest economic crisis in more than 60 years. No continent, no country or community has escaped the fall-out,” Annan said. “The challenges of our time are many, complex and interconnected” ─ challenges that “cannot be tackled by any one country acting alone” ─ no matter how wealthy or powerful that country might be.… “We all live in the same boat and nations need not fear the success of another.…

“Multiple crises ─ of extreme poverty, famine, conflict, disease, natural disasters ─ will be made worse by climate change. Global terrorism, nuclear proliferation, piracy and the collapse of governance in various parts of the world have brought home the reality of our common vulnerability and the need for collective action.”

Old certainties of the political and economic order are disappearing. A system of global governance shaped largely by powerful countries in the North has shifted towards the emerging economies in the South.

These developments have left countries struggling to adapt but they need to catch up fast. The scale and urgency of the challenges demand it. A new style of leadership is required ─ one that looks beyond narrow national interests and recognizes that durable solutions will only come through multilateral action based on shared values and agreed goals.

Improvement in the quality of governance at international and national levels is required to ensure the meeting of countries and citizens’ demands for voice and fair representation. Leaders at the national level should strive for good governance based on a democratic political system, respect for human rights, and the rule of law. At the global level, governments should ask themselves whether the existing architecture of international institutions is adequate for the tasks before them.

The G20’s collective commitments to stimulate, regulate, and restructure global economic activity helped to calm nerves and restore confidence. Recession has not led to global depression but we are not out of the woods yet.… Crucially, we have not taken the steps needed to ensure that the mistakes and misjudgments that led to this crisis are not repeated.

Measures are also needed to prevent imbalanced growth and to ensure that the major economies reduce their long-term deficits.

Lessons that should have been learned from the initial success of the global response are in danger of being quickly forgotten. While anxiety levels in boardrooms and stock markets may have come down, the daily drama of survival has worsened for many in the world’s least developed countries including much of Africa. We risk forgetting the damage that has been caused to countries and communities that played no part in provoking this crisis.

Jobs have gone, incomes and opportunities lost. Tens of millions more people have been added to the already scandalously high number living below the poverty line. Therefore, together with collective action to prevent any repeat of this crisis, we also have to consider how we are going to step up protection for the most vulnerable on our planet.

Our common values and international solidarity require that we do more to tackle the inequalities in our world, not allow them to widen further; but we are actually seeing wealthier countries use this crisis to wriggle out of their development pledges.

Many African countries ─ who are not asking for charity but for stronger partnerships ─ fear their appeals may be rebuffed.…

• We need to see commitments met to mitigate the social impact of the crisis by ensuring that some of the enormous sums raised for global stimulus plans reach the least developed countries. 
• Reform of global financial institutions should also be stepped up to give a bigger voice not only to emerging economies but also to other developing countries.
•  Reform must be complemented by agreement on a timetable to tackle the unfairness in global economic rules and market distortions that heavily disadvantage developing countries.
•  Look again at the conditions so often attached to aid and loans, which unnecessarily constrain the policy autonomy of developing countries.
•  Measures to fix the immediate crisis and create greater stability in the long term will unravel if poor countries and poor people are left out or further disadvantaged.

These same lessons, based on shared values, must also guide us ─ and urgently ─ in tackling the crisis of climate change. As with the global economic crisis, those countries which have done least to cause global warming are paying the highest price. They are also, tragically, countries with the least resources to protect their people and adapt to the impact of climate change. “I believe climate change is the greatest challenge of modern times and the key test of leadership.…” Climate change must remain a top political priority for all countries. This means raising levels of ambition, educating publics, and rebuilding confidence in a multilateral process that delivers an agreement that is universal, effective and fair ─ with climate justice at its heart.

Fairness means that the industrialized countries responsible for the historic build up of emissions take the lead in cutting emissions dramatically and supporting mitigation and adaptation in developing countries. … The choice long-term is not a choice between being economically successful or environmentally sound; both areas of challenge are part of the same coin. The ability to look to the long-term is one of the qualities we need more than ever.

Political leaders will need to find the courage and vision to set aside special interests and ignore the tyranny of the electoral cycle. Focus instead on the implications of failure and the appalling burden this will place on future generations. However, leadership cannot be confined to politicians.… Governments alone cannot solve the world’s problems. We all need to accept our responsibility.

This responsibility imposes a heavy burden on our leaders but it also requires all sections of our communities ─ business, civil society, the media and the public ─ to call for collective action to find solutions for global challenges.

• The business sector must minimize the negative impacts of their operations and invest in clean energy and infrastructure at home and abroad.  
• Ensure that their pursuit of profit does not result in protectionism that prevents developing countries from accessing the knowledge and technology needed to shift to low carbon growth. 
• Civil society, academia, trade unions, professional associations, local authorities, youth and women’s groups have a contribution to make in education, in altering behavior, in pressing leaders to take sustained action.

We need to get out of the old mindset that the national security and economic growth of one country need come at the expense of another. In the modern inter-connected world, power and prosperity are not a zero-sum game. We all live in the same boat and nations need not fear the success of another.

It is cooperation … not competition that will lead to sustainable progress and durable peace.

Putting our common values of fairness and humanity into action will heal divisions, spread prosperity and bring stability.

Old certainties may be disappearing. The new multi-polar world in which we live may be more fluid and unpredictable; but if it leads to reformed institutions reflecting modern realities, more voices to help reach the right conclusions, and a consensus around shared values and goals ─ we should be confident. It is time to make further progress …. Our world depends upon it.

Sources and notes
“The Challenges for Leaders in a Multi-polar World” (speech by Kofi Annan, March 4, 2010 in
Jakarta, Indonesia), http://kofiannanfoundation.org/newsroom/speeches/2010/03/challenges-leaders-multipolar-world

While visiting Singapore former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan sat for an interview with Al Jazeera’s Teymoor Nabili in discussions covering China-African relations, African land sales, eradication of poverty, the Millennium Development Goals, invasion of Iraq, Middle East peace process, the Goldstone report, Annan’s role as mediator and the future of Kenya. Annan had come to Singapore to lecture at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore. The Al Jazeera program “Talk to Jazeera: Kofi Annan” began airing Wednesday, March 10, 2010. http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/talktojazeera/2010/03/201031163028606113.html

“The Kofi Annan Foundation supports Kofi Annan’s efforts to provide inspirational and catalytic leadership on critical global issues, particularly preserving and building peace and facilitating more equitable sharing of the benefits of globalization, by promoting poverty alleviation, good governance, human rights and the rule of law.” http://kofiannanfoundation.org/activities