Has the United Nations system sufficiently adapted to the challenges of the 21st century world? If not, how does it need to change? These were the central questions addressed during the launch of the summary report of the Independent Commission on Multilateralism (ICM), entitled “Pulling Together: The Multilateral System and its Future," which was held in Vienna on December 14 at the (…)
Fourteenth ICM Retreat Discusses Engaging, Supporting, and Empowering Global Youth
People under the age of 24 make up 48% of the world’s population, representing a clear demographic and democratic imperative for their further inclusion and participation in policy-making circles at national and international levels. A lack of adequate representation has fostered a growing crisis of credibility and legitimacy among individual states and, consequently, the multilateral system. Including youth as fundamental partners in national and global policy, principally by empowering (…)
Thirteenth ICM Retreat Analyzes Global Pandemics and Global Public Health
The recent Ebola and Zika crises demonstrate the global vulnerability to emerging infectious diseases and the devastation they unleash. Apart from the human suffering they cause, health crises of this sort tend to have longer-term consequences, including in terms of security, economic growth and sustainable development. Ebola perhaps was most extreme in exposing the multilateral system’s weaknesses in preventing, preparing for and responding to global health crises. Such crises also (…)
Twelfth ICM Retreat Examines Weapons of Mass Destruction, Non-Proliferation, and Disarmament
The United Nations has been seized of the issue of weapons of mass destruction since its very beginning. There have been many achievements in the fields of non-proliferation and disarmament, but the multilateral system has not been able to deliver on its promises dating back to 1946. This is in part due to the fact that the required efforts to fill the legal gap in the non-proliferation and disarmament framework too often clash with the interests of the Permanent Members of the UN Security (…)
Eleventh ICM Retreat Discusses Humanitarian Engagements
An alarming number of countries are trapped in humanitarian crises that are increasingly protracted or recurring due to a combination of complex conflict dynamics, economic and development challenges, political instability, insecurity, and cyclical natural hazards. There are humanitarian needs on an epic scale occurring in simultaneous crises around the world. And in spite of the considerable growth of the international humanitarian sector and record levels of humanitarian financing, the gap (…)
Tenth ICM Retreat Analyzes Justice, Human Rights, and the International Legal System
Justice and accountability for human rights violations occupy a major place on the stage of international relations, both in the multilateral system anchored in the United Nations, as well as more globally. In recent decades, human rights norms and treaties have proliferated, a wide variety of international mechanisms to address violations were created, and a general commitment to combat impunity for those who violate these rights has emerged.
Regardless of the widespread implementation of (…)
Public Consultation on Fragile States and Fragile Cities
The ICM hosted a public consultation on December 16th on its discussion paper “Fragile States and Fragile Cities.”
Watch the webcast:
Nearly 1.2 billion people live in fragile states, including one‐third of the world’s poor. Challenges emerging from fragile states, such as transnational threats, regional spillovers, local insecurity, and underdevelopment require the attention of multilateral institutions. While there is no agreed upon definition of a “fragile state,” limited (…)