The UN in a world full of challenges

Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak to you, here at the Institute of International Relations and Political Science. I will address the challenges the world and therefore the United Nations are facing and am very much looking forward to hearing your views in the interactive debate following my presentation.

It is my great pleasure to visit Lithuania as we mark your 25 years of independence and of membership in the United Nations family. Twenty-five years ago the world was coming out of the Cold War. It was a time when walls were being torn down, most symbolically the one in Berlin. Today, it seems that we are back to building walls at a time when building bridges would seem so much more sensible. The transformations that the world is undergoing are too deep and complex for any one State to face on its own. Safeguarding our common future is a task that we can only achieve jointly in addressing collectively the substantial structural problems of an increasingly fragmented multilateral governance system. The current failure of the international community to agree and act on long term solutions to the refugee and migration crisis and its root causes is just one example that underscores the urgency of jointly addressing this task.

The United Nations system, created after WWII to be the centrepiece of the newly established international governance system, is facing significant changes. Let me highlight three essential changes that impact the multilateral system and list some trends that are in the process of fundamentally changing the way we do business.

First, the transformation of governance at all levels – at the global, regional, national and local governance levels is much deeper than most of us are aware of and is happening much faster than the ability of our institutions to adapt.

Second, with its current form, structures and way of doing business, the United Nations as a system is not well equipped enough to play its crucial role in this new governance landscape. It is running the risk of becoming irrelevant as a crucial actor facing the problems of the world, unless the right conclusions are drawn, and adjustments and actions are made accordingly.

And third, the United Nations system is an incredible repository of expertise, experience and human capital, which can and should be used much better to provide the necessary bridge between the old and evolving governance frameworks.

What do these three points mean to each one of us? We are facing a number of factors that imply significant changes for us as individuals and for our societies. The impact on, and power of, each one of us has evolved dramatically and will be even stronger in the future. Education and new communication technologies have inspired and empowered individuals like you and me as never before in human history. With more than 7.3 billion mobile phones worldwide, for example, everyone has a voice today and popular participation in governance at all levels is now possible in entirely new ways. With the new technological means any one of us can hold our governments to account.

Parallel to these new opportunities, inequality in income and opportunities are on the rise worldwide. This results in a growing trust deficit across all levels of our societies. Lack of confidence in the institutions that were set up to govern for the benefit of us all is on the increase. Our current systems and structures are not addressing these challenges sufficiently, at least not yet. The general public does not trust any longer the ‘authorities’ who, in their view, have lost their integrity. Accountability and justice are no longer being applied in an equitable manner. Consequently, populist and protest movements are on the rise as citizens look for alternative ways of making their concerns heard. The resulting divisive answer of ‘us against them’ dangerously undermines the need for shared responsibility for our common future in today’s very interconnected world.

Parallel to the changing relationship between individuals and institutions, the relationship between institutions at different levels is also undergoing changes. With 75% of the world’s population living in cities by 2050, mayors and city administrations, for example, will play an increasingly important role in key decisions affecting the majority of citizens. The functions and expectations of the State we are used to, are being recalibrated. At the regional level, we see a rise in the role and impact of regional organizations, fostering interaction between national institutions across regions.

Outdated governance systems and structures from the post WWII period no longer reflect current realities. New arrangements, such as the G7, G20, R20 and others have been established to overcome multilateral deadlock. But these organizations are also facing challenges to their legitimacy, in particular by civil society including the private sector. The rule of law is not applied equally to small and big, to friends and foe. National interests increasingly override the need for international solidarity and the ability to provide effective collective responses to armed conflicts and international crisis.

With an increasing number of non-state actors in the sphere of multilateral governance, the old Westphalian system with the State as the central actor in international politics is being questioned. Challenges can no longer be seen in isolation and labelled either as ‘security’ or ‘health’ or ‘environment’. Security threats cut across borders, in the form of terrorism, criminal networks or flows of arms, challenging the traditional distinction between inter-State and intra-State conflicts.

Our increasing individual mobility changes identities, alliances and allegiances – and as a result, our priorities. The total number of migrants has increased from an estimated 150 million in 2000 to an estimated 240 million and is growing. The balance between, and perception of ‘imigrants and migrants’, ‘host country and country of origin’ and ‘me and the foreigner’ is being realigned as people move. And it is realigned as economies develop, as you in Lithuania have been experiencing as well. If my numbers are correct, 825.000 Lithuanians, or almost one third of the population, have left their country since independence. They have made important contributions to the economies of their host countries but also to the development of Lithuania, not least by bringing home know-how and remittances . Faced with challenges, changes and transformation of such magnitude and on such fundamental levels, we as citizens need leadership and rules and norms for guidance, but are more and more frustrated in that regard. The increasing disregard for International Law and the growing gap between short-term political systems and the long-term solutions, that need to be developed to face our global problems, need really urgent attention.

This brings me to my second point referred to earlier, namely the role of the United Nations in this complex environment. As the facilitator of international governance, the United Nations was founded to provide legitimate collective facilitation to negotiate and agree upon rules and norms. But today’s realities are different from the circumstances in 1945 when the United Nations was created. In a sense, the shape of the table no longer accommodates the actors that should be sitting around it. The prime example of this is the United Nations Security Council, mandated to address issues that threaten international peace and security, but whose composition and structure mirrors geo-political realities of several decades ago. The changing circumstances go far beyond the core mandate of this body – the whole United Nations system has to adapt to the new realities and become sufficiently flexible and inclusive.

These shortcomings are real and have to be addressed. They are however only one side of the coin and should not blind us to the effective operational work of the United Nations system and its positive impact on people around the world on a daily basis. This essential contribution to a better and more prosperous world is largely unknown to and unappreciated by the wider public, often forgotten by politicians and unreported by world media. Humanitarian assistance, trade agreements, international dialling codes for our phones or roaming standards for the mobile phones we use, international standards for road signs and children’s car seats, or international guidelines for vaccinations as well as for our food are some of the many examples. Every person in this room is impacted by these examples every day.

The tragic situations in Syria and Yemen, for example, are other important cases in point. While the media rightly focuses on the political inability to solve these tragic situations, the important work of the United Nations system to relieve the distress of the civilians goes largely unnoticed. Since the beginning of these two conflicts, the United Nations family and other international organizations have provided shelter, food and clean water to millions of persons and vaccinated millions of children against polio and other diseases to name just a few of these unreported efforts to alleviate the impact of these tragic conflicts.

The capacity of my humanitarian colleagues to respond to the increasing number of complex conflicts with no political solution in sight is pushed to the limit. Many States are increasing their humanitarian funding – recognizing that if the United Nations did not provide support, nobody will. At the same time, the global humanitarian appeal is far from being funded. The needs are outstripping the resources at a level never seen before! Faced with this political and funding crisis, it is important to review the relationship between developmental and humanitarian actions and to focus on better and more effective prevention.

Preventive policies and actions aimed at addressing root causes and at consolidating institutions to reduce the risk of conflict and natural disasters are more effective and efficient and much cheaper than the humanitarian relief needed to respond to such crises. Short-term thinking, often tied to political electoral cycles and agendas, has to change to look at more sustainable solutions instead of short sighted quick fixes with costly consequences in human and financial terms. As recent history has shown, assistance can quickly become an unexpected and urgent necessity – also here in Europe.

A comprehensive and inclusive preventive strategy is the only way forward. The United Nations with its convening power and determination ‘to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war’, as stipulated in the Preamble of its Charter, has to tackle the challenges of the multilateral governance at a time of increasing fragmentation. Before being able to effectively doing so, the United Nations needs to adjust its fragmented and static system to the new realities referred to earlier. But how do we do that?

This brings me back to my third point on the repository of expertise, experience and human capital that exists in the United Nations system. Since its creation in 1945, the United Nations has developed extraordinary know-how and instruments to respond to any kind of imaginable situation affecting the daily lives of individuals everywhere. With its unique convening power and legitimacy, the UN bridges fragmentation and differences, and is able to bring different actors together.The policy frameworks adopted last year provide us with an opportunity to capitalize on the United Nation’s unique role in support of the implementation of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda – The Road Map for all 7 billion of us on our planet.

It’s an impressive Agenda with 17 Sustainable Development Goals touching upon all aspects of our daily life. It builds on the results of the Millennium Development Goals, which delivered some impressive results between 2000 – 2015. Let me give you a few examples:

1. Two decades ago, nearly half of the developing world lived in extreme poverty. This number was halved by more than 50% from 1.9 billion in 1990 to 836 million in 2015.
2. The world has witnessed dramatic improvement in gender equality in schooling – gender parity in primary school has been achieved in the majority of countries.
3. Globally, the under-five child mortality rate dropped from 90 to 43 deaths per 1.000 live births between 1990 and 2015.
4. Maternal mortality rate showed a decline of 45% worldwide, with most of the reduction occurring since 2000.
5. Official development assistance from developed countries increased by 66% in real terms from 2000 to 2014, reaching $135.2 billion.

With the adoption of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals our Member States have clearly reinforced our collective understanding that there will be no peace without development, no development without peace and neither of these without human rights. That understanding is and will remain the bedrock of our collective action to improve our lives and the state of our planet.
The policy frameworks adopted by our Member States last year, are of such major historical importance, that the year 2015 will be remembered as a reference year in multilateral diplomacy. This unequivocal commitment by our Member States was underlined in April this year when leaders from 175 countries signed the Paris Climate Agreement at the United Nations in New York. This was the most important endorsement of any international agreement in history, when the largest number of countries ever signed an international agreement on a single day – let me congratulate Lithuania for having been one of the 175 signatories of this Agreement. And the recent announcement that China and the USA have agreed to ratify the Paris Agreement, the two biggest CO2 committers worldwide, underlines the collective forward movement on this issue.

Together, these policy frameworks form a collective roadmap for humanity. This is the blueprint for action with a new mind-set and a new working-culture as we attempt to radically change the way we operate at international and at national levels.

This is going to be a gigantic challenge, but bearing in mind the processes by which these agreements have been negotiated, I am optimistic. In the preparations that led to the adoption of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, the United Nations brought together Member States, international and regional organizations, parliaments, civil society, academia, think tanks, and the private sector as well as close to 10 million persons online. This truly inclusive process gives me hope.

Better horizontal cooperation across issues, reflecting the interconnectedness of today’s challenges and transformation processes taking place around us, is a must at local, national, regional and international governance levels. More efficient collaboration across national Ministries and international organizations will be essential. Most governments are organized into individual ministries which do not coordinate enough among each other. The international system reflects this approach of vertical organization. This needs to change and here too, walls need to be torn down. Horizontal cooperation, with a more integrated, collaborative and inclusive approach will have to become the new norm. This also includes further linking international organizations with parliaments, who are essential for the implementation of international conventions. Parliaments in fact domesticate multilateral agreements – including the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – and pave the way for the implementation at national level, help to increase cooperation among ministries and hold governments accountable. Add to this the increasing importance of mayors and regional organizations, which I referred to earlier, and it becomes clear why the United Nations can no longer limit itself to being an organization made by States for States if it wants to remain relevant. The current ageing Westphalian governance model will have to be complemented by the inclusion of non-State actors, including civil society, the private sector, academia, think thanks, mayors, parliaments and media who increasingly need to be at the decision making table. National governments together with these non-state stakeholders will collectively be the ones to implement the Sustainable Development Goals at the national level. The United Nations can and should help facilitate the implementation processes.

With the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, we have the unique opportunity to adjust our structures and systems at all governance levels to address today’s and tomorrow’s challenges effectively. I am convinced that Member States, civil society, the private sector and other actors can - with the help of the United Nations family and with the required political backing and resources - deliver on these Global Goals. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals touch upon each individual’s daily life. Consequently, you and me, like any other individuals, have a repsonsibility to make our contribution.

Your country has been very active in the United Nations since it joined 25 years ago. Besides its active membership in the Security Council, it has been engaged in many of the areas that are crucial for the successful implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, such as peace and security, human rights, development and humanitarian aid, disarmament, education, trade, health and international trade. In this first 25 years of membership in the United Nations, your country has demonstrated that size does not matter for contributing to the international policy agenda. Yes, we are facing many challenges in our world today, but there is also much that we have achieved together and that we should be very proud of and continue to build on.
I take the opportunity to thank you for all the support you have given to the United Nations family so far, and am looking forward to further deepen the cooperation between Lithuania and the United Nations.

Thank you.