BREAK FREE of Chamber of Echoes—

Hear! Hear!

“Today, the very foundations of the international legal order—strategic stability and the UN-centric system of international politics—are put to the test.” 

    “We will not be able to resolve mounting conflicts unless we understand the root causes of conflicts…; and restore faith in our ability… to unite … for the common good, and justice for all.” (excerpt from UNSC Statement by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov) 

    The exclusionist and capricious “… notorious ‘rules-based order’ … presents a direct threat to multilateralism and international peace.” 

Illegal sanctions, numerous protectionist measures, restrictions on access to technology directly contradict genuine multilateralism and create serious obstacles to achieving the goals of the United Nations development agenda.

Talk and more Talk 

    For well over a quarter century men and women meeting in places from Brazil to South Africa to the United States of America have talked about the world’s most populous nations and peoples’ languishing in want for a few nations and their holders of power and influence to end to their selfishness, plunder, and aggression. 

    

    In 1992, more than 178 countries met in beautifully exotic Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and signed on to talk about “a comprehensive plan of action to build a global partnership for sustainable development to improve human lives and protect the environment.” 

    In 2000, UN Member States meeting in the fashionable New York City home of Wall Street signed on to talk “of eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to reduce extreme poverty by 2015.” The latest talk of an end date to human want and suffering is 2030. 

    The focused talk has been around “17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)” calling on developed and developing countries to cooperate in “ending poverty and other deprivations” together with taking decisive actions to “improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests.”

17 UN Sustainable Development Goals

Goal 1: End poverty in all its forms everywhere.	Goal 10: Reduce inequality within and among countries.
Goal 2: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.	Goal 11: Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.
Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.	Goal 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.
Goal 4: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.	Goal 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.
Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.	Goal 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.
Goal 6: Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.	Goal 15: Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.
Goal 7: Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.	Goal 16: Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.
Goal 8: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.	Goal 17: Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development.
Goal 9: Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation.

    “… Major fundamental changes are necessary in other institutes of global governance if we want them to work to the benefit of all,” Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said. “This primarily concerns the United Nations Organization, which remains the embodiment of multilateralism against all the odds, with unique and universal legitimacy and universally recognized broad competencies.”

    But strengthening the “foundations of multipolarity” requires active support “not only by the United Nations;” but also “by other international organizations (including the ‘Group of Twenty’ where all countries of the Global Majority and the West are represented) ….” Also important are the BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s interactions (representing different regions and civilizations) “… based on equality, mutual respect, consensus and mutually accepted compromises”— “the golden standard of multilateral cooperation involving great powers.” Regional associations (including the CIS, the CSTO, the EAEU, ASEAN, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), the Arab League, the African Union and CELAC) have practical significance for the development of multipolarity.”

 

CIS - Commonwealth of Independent States; CSTO - Collective Security Treaty Organization; EAEU or EEU - Eurasian Economic Union; ASEAN - Association of Southeast Asian Nations; GCC - Gulf Cooperation Council; The Arab League - formerly League of Arab States; AU - The African Union; CELAC - Comunidad de Estados Latinoamericanos y Caribeños or Community of Latin American and Caribbean States)

    

Together with the potential of the United Nations, Lavrov said, “…it is important to develop multifaceted ties between these associations….” The United Nations is comprised of (from 1945) fifty-one Founding Members and 193 current Member States. https://www.un.org/en/library/unms.

Foreign Minister Lavrov concludes

    First and foremost is the necessity of reinstating “professional diplomacy, the culture of dialogue, the ability to listen and hear and to retain the channels of crisis communications… (bearing in mind that the) … lives of millions of people depend on the ability of politicians and diplomats to formulate something like a common perception of the future.”

    With its UN Charter as “our foothold” and “everyone, without exception, honor[ing] the letter and spirit of the Charter…, the body Nations “… will be able to overcome current disagreements and to reach consensus on most issues….”

“Let us work together in the interests of launching the history of genuine multilateralism that reflects the entire wealth of cultural and civilizational diversity of the world’s nations.”

“We invite everyone to join …” in “completely honest discussion.”

Source

“Statement by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during the UN Security Council meeting on multilateral cooperation in the interest of a more just, democratic and sustainable world order” New York City, USA, July 16, 2024 (Foreign policy News The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation 1342-16-07-2024) https://mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/news/1962040/

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