United Nations & Multilateralism - Archive

Global Policy Forum's Katarina Wahlberg warns that for the "first time in decades, worldwide scarcity of food is becoming a problem." Increasing demand of cereals for food consumption, cattle feeding and in particular biofuel production, is driving food prices to record levels. Especially the poor, who spend a majority of their income on food, will suffer. To make matters worse, the food price hike is also affecting the amount of food aid available, as governments have not increased funding for [...]

This Global Policy Forum report critically reviews the global food aid system. Author Katarina Wahlberg argues that food aid donors fall short in prioritizing the needs of the poor and hungry. Instead, donor countries use food aid to promote their own national strategic and commercial interests. Such food aid not only fails to reduce hunger, it can also harm long-term food security in recipient countries.

The UN mandate authorizing the Multinational Force in Iraq is up for renewal in late 2007. In this memorandum, Global Policy Forum argues that the Security Council should not renew the mandate. The memo recalls the many ways that the MNF violates international law and human rights. It points out that the political and humanitarian situation in Iraq is worsening and the great majority of Iraqis see the MNF as an occupying force that prevents national reconciliation. The Iraqi parliament [...]

In late 2007, the UN Security Council will consider renewal of the mandate that authorizes the presence of the US-led multinational force (MNF) in Iraq. Global Policy Forum outlines the little-known demands of the Iraqi parliament to ratify any new agreement on the MNF. The Iraqi constitution requires the cabinet to submit such agreement for ratification and the parliament has already passed a law demanding conformity with this provision. A majority of parliamentarians also wrote a letter to Security Council [...]

One day before UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon chaired the second "Global Compact Leaders Summit" in Geneva, a group of NGOs sponsored a hearing to assess the UN corporate initiative. Speakers addressed the failure of the Global Compact to hold its signatories accountable for basic human rights, as well as environmental and labor standards. The speakers also discussed how many translational corporations exploit their Global Compact memberships to advance their public relations, and oppose initiatives calling for binding international regulation [...]

This Global Policy Forum-Friedrich Ebert Foundation joint paper analyzes how UN relations with NGOs as well as the corporate sector affect international policymaking and multilateralism. The author, GPF-Europe's Jens Martens, warns that "despite the image of greater flexibility and efficiency," such partnerships could increase businesses' influence in politics while impeding long-term development strategies. Martens therefore calls for a system to regulate the UN's interaction with corporations, ensuring that profit-driven initiatives do not overshadow public interests.

Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) have acquired considerable importance at the UN since the beginning of the 1990s. Yet attempts made since the last review of the consultative arrangements between the UN and NGOs, in 1996, to reform NGOs’ formal opportunities for participation, have been unsuccessful. The recommendations made by the Cardoso-Panel on the future of UN-civil society relations played no apparent part in debates on UN reform in 2005. Instead, governments sent out the opposite signal during the Millennium+ 5 Summit [...]

This briefing paper analyzes the report "Mobilising Political Will," published by the Finnish government in the context of the "Helsinki Process on Globalisation and Democracy" conference. The Helsinki Process tries to bring more democracy into the global governance system, through a "multi-stakeholder approach," involving not only governments but also NGOs and business representatives. While participants generally expressed support for the multi-stakeholder approach, some NGO representatives hinted that sharp differences of opinion among the participants led to "too timid" suggestions on [...]

This Global Policy Forum and Friedrich Ebert Foundation Briefing Paper examines Secretary General Kofi Annan's UN reform agenda and notes that "for some, the initiatives are not sufficiently far-reaching, [yet] others view them as too radical and unsuitable to implement politically." The paper criticizes Annan for his weak stance on alternative development financing, including global taxes on currency transactions. It also draws attention to the need for greater civil society participation in the preparations for the Millennium+5 Summit in September [...]

The year 2005, it is to be hoped, will be a decisive year for thorough reform of the United Nations. The High-Level (heads of state and government) Plenary Meeting of the 60th Session of the UN General Assembly (Millennium +5 Summit) is due to meet in the middle of September 2005 to discuss the future institutional and sectoral development of the UN. On the agenda are the new challenges of global security, poverty eradication, the implementation of human rights, gender [...]