Manmohan calls for U.N. reform to address global crisis

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called for changes in the structure of the United Nations to address a deepening global crisis which has generated “great uncertainty and profound change”.

“Till a few years ago”, Dr. Singh said in his speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Saturday, “the world had taken for granted the benefits of globalisation and global interdependence”. But now, he noted, “we are being called upon to cope with the negative dimensions”.

“Economic, social and political event in different parts of the world”, he said, “have coalesced together and their adverse impact is now being felt across countries and continents”.

There was, the Prime Minister said, a “deficit in global governance” which necessitated “a stronger and more effective United Nations”.

“For this”, he argued, “the United Nations and its principal organs, the General Assembly and the Security Council, must be revitalised and reformed”. The Prime Minister underlined the need for “early reform of the Security Council”.

Dr. Singh said “the development agenda must be brought firmly back to the centre-stage of the United Nation’s priorities”.

In his speech, the Prime Minister provided a broad-brush account of the key drivers of global instability.

He noted that “the traditional engines of the global economy, such as the United States, Europe and Japan, which are also the sources of global economic and financial stability, are faced with continued economic slowdown”.

In addition, he said, there was “unprecedented social and political upheaval” in West Asia and North Africa; food and energy prices “are once again spiralling and introducing fresh instability”; long-standing disputes like the Palestinian question remained unresolved; terrorism remained a major challenge; piracy threatening the Indian Ocean’s shipping lanes was escalating.

Finally, he said, “iniquitous growth, inadequate job and education opportunities and denial of basic human freedoms are leading to growing radicalisation of the youth, intolerance and extremism”.

Dr. Singh devoted a substantial part of his speech to addressing the growing reliance on the use of force by western powers to engage with political conflicts, often legitimised as humanitarian interventions.

He said that global responses to the crisis would only succeed “if our efforts have legitimacy and are pursued not just within the framework of law but also in the spirit of law”.

“The idea that prescriptions have to be imposed from outside is fraught with danger,” the Prime Minister said.