By Douglas Roche
This article was previously published in The Hill Times, September 30, 2024
EDMONTON— Suddenly, there he was all over the United Nations. First, a visionary speech to the Summit of the Future. Then a meeting with Haiti’s prime minister to shore up U.N. support for that beleaguered island state. On to co-hosting a meeting of the Sustainable Development Advocates to drive action on the 2030 agenda on education, climate change, and gender equality. Co-hosting a meeting with the president of the European Commission. In between, private meetings with a dozen figures ranging from Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to to Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani girl who won the Nobel Peace Prize. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyypresented him with the Order of Freedom.
You couldn’t stop Prime Minister Justin Trudeau when he got to New York last week. He even bounded across Manhattan to the CBS studios for a late-night encounter with the TV host Stephen Colbert.
Trudeau was ubiquitous, with a burst of commitment to U.N. causes that, had he shown it a few years ago when Canada was running for a seat on the Security Council, might well have brought the country into a powerful political position. “Canada is back,” Trudeau boasted in 2015, during his first appearance at the U.N. as prime minister, but the performance never matched the rhetoric. Canada’s participation in peacekeeping and international development assistance, two of the U.N.’s mainstays, was dismal.
Perhaps recognizing that this might be his last chance to shine on the international stage, Trudeau rose to the occasion presented by the Summit of the Future. Four years in the making, the two-day massive gathering of world leaders, international organizations and civil society leaders laid the groundwork for overhauling the present U.N. system to deal with an inter-connected world that the founders of the U.N., nearly 80 years ago, never envisioned.
The summit had to contend with the hostility, not comity, that characterizes modern international relations. Trudeau’s speech was only five minutes long, but it was elegant and impassioned. He said the world is at a global inflection point with multiple crises causing havoc around the globe. He offered the leaders a choice: bury their heads in the sand or work together for the sake of future generations. “We can recognize that, collectively, we have a responsibility to set our differences aside, to confront the serious global challenges and to deliver on a pact for the future,” he said.
Then Trudeau was off to multiple meetings that revolved around revitalizing the global efforts to eradicate poverty and inequality. With the Sustainable Development Goals at only 18 percent of their target — largely because money that should go to development is being siphoned off by the wars now being fought — poverty-stricken countries are still mired in debt. Trudeau spoke with with Barbados Prime Minister Mia Motley on her Bridgetown Initiative to reform the international financial architecture that continues to discriminate against vulnerable countries. Their plight was eloquently summed up by Deputy Prime Minister of the Pacific Island state of Tuvalu, who told the summit, “The reality is that we will either drown in debt or be drowned by the sea.”
Trudeau also spent time dealing with restoring order in Haiti, plagued and virtually paralyzed by gang violence. Strengthening the Haitian police force is an urgent priority for Canada.
The summit’s outcome document, “The Pact for the Future,” addressed five crucial areas: sustainable development and financing, international peace and security, science and technology, youth and future generations, and transforming global governance. Its 56 action points are buried in turgid prose that I doubt many people will read. But buried in the Pact are the seeds of some ideas that could significantly improve U.N. work.
For example, the document says the Security Council will be enlarged to make it more representative and inclusive. Africa, which in a few years will contain a quarter of humanity, may be given two permanent seats. The use of the veto, which now cripples Security Council work, may be limited in the future.
The Pact was adopted with a nominal consensus, but not before Russia tried to derail it by submitting an amendment that would have severely curtailed the scope of U.N. work. The assembly rejected Russia’s obstruction by a vote of 141 supporting the Pact, 7 opposed and 15 abstaining. The president then gavelled the Pact through, but it was clear that moving the U.N. forward will not be easy.
The agonies of the world, depicted in daily headlines, persist. Trudeau, besieged at home, deserves credit for trying to strengthen U.N. efforts to make the world a better place.. The Prime Minister of Canada, of course, plays a minor role at the big tables. But the enthusiasm Trudeau brought to his foray at the U.N. showed what Canada can do — when the top political leader exerts himself.
He even appeared to be enjoying himself as a guest on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. “You have to be fundamentally hopeful,” he told the host. “If you don’t believe you can make a positive difference, you’re not in the right line of work.” The studio audience applauded loudly.
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Former Senator Douglas Roche’s latest book isKeep Hope Alive: Essays for a War-free World (Amazon).