D+C Development and Cooperation (No. 1, January/februrary
2002, p. 3)
Together We Stand
Dieter Brauer
One of the more hopeful and encouraging developments after the terrorist
attacks on the USA on September 11 is that multilateralism and joint
international action have received a new impetus. The Nobel Peace Prize
for United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and for the United Nations
Organisation is perhaps the most visible sign of this new thinking.
Kofi Annan and the UN were awarded the prize for their role in strengthening
international cooperation when dealing with the many problems confronting
our globe. It is a recognition of the fact that individual nations can
no longer cope with global challenges such as maintenance of peace,
reduction of poverty, the fight against AIDS, or the protection of climate
and environment.
But the Nobel Prize for Kofi Annan is not the only indication that
people around the world realise the need for concerted action in solving
global problems. Since September 11, several major international conferences
have succeeded in clearing the way for more intense cooperation. In
Marrakesh, Morocco, the negotiations over details of implementing the
Kyoto Protocol on combating climate change at last came to a compromise
which will allow a majority of nations to sign the agreement. In Doha,
Qatar, the ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organisation (WHO)
mustered the political will to enter into a new round of trade negotiations
– a decision which had been pending since the abortive Seattle
conference in 1999. In Bonn, Germany, representatives from 130 states
and stakeholder groups from all major sections of civil society adopted
a set of recommendations for action on freshwater which will be an important
input for the 2002 Johannesburg Rio+10 environment summit.
Clearly, it is being acknowledged that poverty, lack of education,
the absence of human and political rights, and the lack of equal chances
for individuals and whole groups within nations are a threat to peace
and security and can become a root cause of terror and despair. In Germany
and other countries in Europe, this has led to calls for more development
assistance to poor countries. The World Finance conference in Monterrey,
Mexico, in March 2002 will show whether words will be followed up by
action.
Perhaps even more encouraging than the promise of more finances for
development cooperation is that the shock of the September attacks has
led many people, at least in Europe, to take a new look at other cultures,
especially at Islam. In Germany, which has a muslim population of about
3 million, mostly of immigrant Turks, there is an unprecedented surge
of interest among non-muslims to know more about the world of Islam.
Books on the subject sell better than ever before; the media are full
of background stories which try to fill the information gap; and numerous
initiatives have been started to begin a dialogue between Christians
and muslims at the community level.
Kofi Annan in his Nobel Lecture in Oslo, Norway, put the need for a
cultural dialogue in the following words: “The idea that there
is one people in possession of the truth, one answer to the world’s
ills, or one solution to humnaity’s needs, has done untold harm
throughout history – especially in the last century. Today, however,
even amidst continuing ethnic conflict around the world, there is a
growing understanding that human diversity is both the reality that
makes dialogue necessary, and the very basis for that dialogue”.
It is ironical to observe that at this time when multilateralism seems
to be growing in a number of fields, it is the leading nation of the
world, the United States, which stands in the way of more effective
international cooperation to solve global problems. Although there has
been a wave of compassion, sympathy and support for the victims of terror
in New York and Washington from all parts of the world, and an unprecedented
willingness of governments to cooperate with the US in the Anti-Terror
Alliance, the Bush Administration continues to put its perceived national
interests above those of the international community as a whole. The
most recent example is the way Washington wrecked the seven-year-old
talks on a control mechanism for the 1975 convention forbidding the
development, production and storage of biological weapons. Although
one of the declared aims of the anti-terror campaign is to preclude
any attacks with such weapons from countries like Iraq, North Korea,
Iran, Libya, Syria and Sudan and enormous pressures are put on Iraq
to allow UN control teams into the country, the United States themselves
see it as a threat to their national security and economic interests
if they should allow international inspectors into their country. America’s
European allies were shocked to see the talks being suspended without
agreement until November 2002 with no solution in sight for a menacing
problem which could soon become a fuse for war in the Middle East.
Unilateral action by the United States also nearly wrecked the climate
protection talks when Washington refused to further negotiate on the
Kyoto Protocol although the country is in fact the largest source of
harmful greenhouse gases in the world. Fortunately in this case, the
other countries went ahead and concluded the Bonn and Marrakesh agreements
without the United States – something they should have done on
the bio-weapons convention as well, as some commentators said.
Another example of America’s hesitation to give up some aspects
of sovereignty in favour of international cooperation is its attitude
towards the proposed UN International Court of Justice: although recent
events have shown the need to establish such a court to deal with
crimes against humanity, Washington refuses to submit its own nationals
to potential jurisdiction of an International Court. At the same time,
however, it is pushing for the punishment of criminal politicians
like Yugoslavia’s former President Milosevic or Osama bin Laden
by the international community.
The Europeans must now take the lead in getting America on board when
it comes to strengthening international rather than unilateral action
in coping with global problems. “Humanity is indivisible”
said Kofi Annan. “New threats make no distinction between countries
and regions.” It is the awareness of this fact which must lead
to common action on an equal basis.
D+C Development and Cooperation,
published by: Deutsche Stiftung für internationale Entwicklung
(DSE)
Editorial office, postal address:
D+C Development and Cooperation, P.O. Box, D-60268 Frankfurt, Germany.
E-Mail: HDBrauer@cs.com
|
