Fabrizio Hochschild-Drummond, special adviser to Secretary-General Guterres, also sees that countries are no longer putting the same effort into partnerships. “In competition between the biggest players, the smaller players keep their heads bowed. They don’t want to be drawn into the rivalry. The stronger the superpowers are, the more difficult it becomes. “But,” he says, “no country can solve all conflicts on its own. Not the west, but neither Russia, nor China”.
According to Van de Roer, the UN has lost its luster. “There is an atmosphere of concern.” To restore global cooperation, we need to work on visible successes, says Van de Roer. “The UN is no longer or hardly active in the big trouble spots with troops on the ground. Take Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen and of course Syria. As long as the member states cannot join forces and successes fail, that will cause skepticism to contribute. to UN missions. Political consensus is needed with confidence-building measures, visible to the world population. “
‘Don’t take the UN for granted’
What, according to Hochschild-Drummond, also does not contribute to the image of the UN are the failed missions, such as those in Rwanda and Srebrenica in the 1990s, which received a lot of attention worldwide. “But our successes are less visible: in many places there is peace and deadly diseases have been eradicated.”
He hopes that the world’s population will not take the UN for granted. “We only have to go back in time 75 years to realize where we come from. In a world before the UN, great powers ruled, without respect for human rights. There was famine, and torture and mass killings were common. It led to the Spanish. Flu and the First and Second World Wars ”.
Especially now, he says, countries must continue to work for the UN. He believes that the smaller players in particular lack leadership. “It’s just like in the boxing ring; you have to be willing to get some bruises. Smaller countries now leave it to the great powers. That while international cooperation is more important than ever.”
Strong together
“The founders of the UN faced the real threat of World War III. They managed to put in place a mechanism that kept the world safe for decades. But they didn’t have to deal with climate change, digital warfare and a global pandemic. If there is one thing the coronavirus shows us, it is that we need each other more than ever, ”said Hochschild-Drummond.
“Only when all countries work together can we make the world a better place for future generations – fulfilling the original mission of the founders of the UN.”
Yesterday, King Willem-Alexander came with a ‘birthday message’ to the UN, in which he drew attention to young people:
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