As part of its digital outreach and engagement, United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) hosts a series of dialogues with scholars, educators, researchers and students to discuss priorities for the future, obstacles to achieving them, and the role of global academic cooperation in addressing global challenges. On 24 June 2021 UNAI hosted the latest webinar in its Digital Dialogues Series entitled “Future of Diplomacy after COVID-19.”
Ahead of UN Charter Day on the 26 June, UNAI hosted a webinar entitled “Future of Diplomacy after COVID-19” to examine recent developments, ongoing challenges and new perspectives of multilateral diplomacy, within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and how this framework can and will change the work within international organizations such as the United Nations. The event aimed at highlighting the critical relevance of multilateral diplomacy to address global problems through global solutions.
Ms. Hana Alhashimi, Member of the United Nations Secretary-General’s Internet Governance Forum Multi-stakeholder Advisory Group and former Senior Advisor in the Office of the President of the United Nations General Assembly, emphasized that it was important to “come together as multilateral actors, authors and academics” to discuss topics such as economics, law, peace and security. She said that, pre-COVID, the world was “already facing a crisis of multilateralism” and COVID-19 just amplified it. The pandemic affected the ability to do the work of international diplomacy, and moving forward she recommended that diplomacy should place people in the center, ensure access to all, and examine the role of technology in multilateral governance.
Along these lines, Mr. Andrés Fiallo, First Secretary of the Permanent Mission of Ecuador to the United Nations, former Senior Political Advisor to the President of the United Nations General Assembly and former Director for International Relations of the Ministry of National Defense of Ecuador, argued that the pandemic has indeed impacted the normal conduct of business, and that representatives of Member States are unable to carry out traditional diplomatic practices. He thinks that “peace and security will continue to be at the center of diplomacy” and, despite ongoing challenges, human beings will need to be the focus of the decision-making process at the multilateral level. Furthermore, Mr. Fiallo believes that digital corporations are going to be fundamental in shaping a more positive diplomatic world.
In examining the position of the United Nations to address global crises, Ms. Mona Ali Khalil, Director of MAK LAW International Strategic Consulting Service, Affiliate of the Harvard Law School Program on International Law and Armed Conflict and former Senior Legal Officer in the United Nations Office of the Legal Counsel, stressed that this Organization has a role in harmonizing actions in order to protect people, and that the world is facing multiple crises including a climate one that actually requires this harmonious action. While arguing that the pandemic has also “exposed other pre-existing vulnerabilities,” she warned that there are too many people in the world today who “do not have access to technology, vaccines, and government assistance.”
Ms. Toni-Shae Freckleton, Team Leader for Sustainable Development in the Office of the President of the United Nations General Assembly and former Director of Population and Health at the Planning Institute of Jamaica, focused on the COVID-19’s impact on sustainable development and the Sustainable Development Goals. She argued that COVID-19 was a test of the 2030 Agenda, and triggered a level of urgent action needed to achieve the aspirations of the international community. Going forward, policy makers, civil society, academics, and the private sector must work together and adapt to the new realities in order to recover better.
The final speaker, Mr. Jonathan Viera, First Secretary of the Permanent Mission of Ecuador to the United Nations, and former Senior Advisor on Economics and Financing for Development in the Office of the President of the United Nations General Assembly, drew upon economic history to indicate that the global economic situation before the pandemic was not sustainable, and that there was no real progress in financing development. Mr. Viera thinks the future of multilateral diplomacy, particularly in terms of cooperation for development, demands a synergy between the private and public sectors, and there are significant opportunities for investment in green energies and economies that tackle development and climate issues.
During the Q&A session, participants raised questions about what responsibility the United Nations has in recovering from the pandemic, lessons learned from the current crisis, the role of universities and colleges in multilateral diplomacy, and the relevance of how do we understand sovereignty during times of crisis.