During his recent visit to London, Jan Eliasson, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, addressed a meeting of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on the UN (UN APPG) at the House of Lords on 6 November.
Organised in partnership with UNA-UK, the meeting was intended to give Mr Eliasson an opportunity to engage in a frank, informal discussion with civil society on the challenges facing the international community. Some 30 participants from NGOs, think tanks and media outlets joined MPs and Peers for the meeting, which was chaired by Lord Hannay of Chiswick.
In his opening remarks, Mr Eliasson spoke about the global context for the UN’s work, noting that we are moving through a period of particular turmoil and rapid change. From a shifting geostrategic landscape to the effects of longer-term trends such as urbanisation, migration and women’s empowerment, the net impact has been a convergence between international and domestic issues.
Mr Eliasson said that this poses a test for multilateralism and for national and international institutions. He went on to outline some of the challenges the UN was grappling with – notably extremism, unemployment and Ebola – before looking at UN initiatives to tackle them, including ’Human Rights Up Front’.
Participants raised a wide range of issues during the discussion, from the lack of progress on nuclear disarmament and the efficacy of aid, to deadlock in the UN Security Council and reform of the process for electing the Secretary-General.
In his answers, Mr Eliasson stressed the need for the UN and the international community to take a multidimensional approach to peace, development and human rights, and to focus on prevention. He emphasised the benefits of taking a regional approach to crises from the outset. And he spoke of the need for leadership, from national governments and the UN.
Throughout the discussion, Mr Eliasson and participants returned to the theme of ‘values’. There was agreement that the concept of universal values, on which the UN rests, was being undermined by increasingly trenchant views on human rights, cultural relativism and disaffection. Civil society around the world had a crucial role to play in demonstrating popular commitment to these values.
Mr Eliasson concluded the session by pointing to the importance of seeing the world as it is, while keeping firmly in mind our aspiration for how it should be.
Mr Eliasson’s other activities in London included meetings with government ministers and delivering the opening keynote address at The Economist World Water Summit.
