Coronavirus: Challenges and Opportunities on the Path Towards Global Cooperation at the UN – PART FIVE

THE UN AT 75: SIGNS OF CREATIVITY AND A NEW SPIRIT

This is the fifth in a series sharing articles and reports from the UN and from key networks associated with the UN highlighting a new vitality in thinking about the path forward for the UN and for a cooperative approach to human development in the post-COVID world. These are just a small selection of a much greater range of reports and conferences signifying the spirit of reneal that is currently flowing through the UN. 

• Together First launches new report: The case for a UN civil society champion. Together First is a coalition of over 150 NGO's campaigning for a 'global system that works for all'. This Report, in response to a request from the UN Secretary-General for recommendations for the advancement of the UN Agenda, calls for increased UN engagement with civil society, and specifically, for a senior UN official to be a 'champion' for civil society. From Together First
• Can the “Third UN” Reimagine Post-Covid Global Cooperation?  by Tatiana Carayannis and Thomas G. Weiss. If the UN and the UN system are to become fitter-for-purpose, or even survive, creative thinking to reimagine contemporary global cooperation will not come from polarized member states or politicized UN secretariats but rather from ...the “Third UN.” It is the networks of supportive nonstate actors — intellectuals, scholars, consultants, think tanks, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), philanthropies, the private sector and the media — that interact with the governmental representatives of the First UN and international civil servants of the Second UN to formulate and refine ideas and decision-making for intergovernmental public policy. From Passblue
• Restoring the Values and Spirit of the International Civil Service by Mona Ali Khalil. A true celebration of the 100th anniversary of the international civil service, since the establishment of the first such service by the League of Nations, starts with the realisation that the power of principles is ultimately a greater guide of UN action than the principles of power. A return to principled action is necessary not only for the sake of the UN’s political relevance and moral authority but more urgently for the sake of the peoples of the world the UN is meant to protect from the vagaries of unprincipled power. Restoring the relevance and credibility of the UN Secretariat therefore requires that UN leaders and staff have conviction in the efficacy of adhering to UN principles and values, as well as the courage to act on that conviction. A Report on 100 Years of international Civil Service from the Dag Hammarskjold Foundation. 

• COVID-19: The Path to Ending Our Global Chaos Is Through the UN by Mona Ali Kahlil. With 2020 foresight, the answer to our descent into cynicism, chaos and crisis can once again be found in the UN, its Charter and its Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The UN can rise again, using new information and communication technologies, to live up to its founders’ vision of being a center for harmonizing the actions of nations to coordinate an effective, humane response to the coronavirus and climate change and protect civilians from terrorism, nations from aggression and peoples from genocide. From Passblue.

• Let’s Make Compassion Go Viral by Melissa Fleming, UN Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications. My job at the United Nations is to inform the public about the state of our world. That involves stories of ever-growing numbers of people suffering, wars erupting, a deadly virus spreading, economies collapsing and the planet taking revenge for being repeatedly abused. ... But there is a saying, “statistics are human beings with the tears dried off.” So, we also tell human stories. Stories that move people to care and to drive them to act. ... We are encouraged by the scientists who tell us taking action to help others is deeply gratifying. James R. Doty, a neuroscientist at Stanford who studies compassion, said:“The thing that gives deep satisfaction and meaning in someone’s life is being of service to others.” According to his studies, the acquisition of things creates feelings of emptiness. But there is even a profound physiological effect when we give and care for others — a decrease in stress hormones, improvement in our cardiac function, lowering of inflammation, and release of cortisone which gives us a sense of pleasure and reward. From medium.com.