Despite the development of a variety of mechanisms to assist states in meeting their human rights obligations under international law, significant challenges in terms of implementation and compliance remain. This paper explores these challenges and offers recommendations to strengthen the multilateral system’s capacity to promote and ensure respect for human rights and foster accountability and justice for violations.
Over the past two decades, an abundance of legal and policy frameworks in the multilateral system have focused on women’s security and empowerment. However, women continue to be poorly represented in formal peacemaking activities, and they suffer disproportionately from the indirect effects of conflict. While change undoubtedly requires concerted action at individual and societal levels, there are also gaps, challenges, and tensions in the multilateral approach that are creating obstacles to progress.
The multilateral system continues to be under severe stress as the threat posed by terrorism and violent extremism metastasize. While some have argued that such “malignancies” are the consequences of inherently national problems, no one doubts that the threats they pose have become transnational in origin and effect, and can only be overcome through multilateral, global efforts.
The purpose of this paper is to highlight how the growing crisis of legitimacy in the relationship between citizens and governance institutions relates to the multilateral system. Given that the essence of multilateralism rests in the state, the efficiency and legitimacy of the multilateral system as a whole is affected when the state finds itself under stress, or no longer constitutes the primary source of political identification.