Mobilizing Goodwill at the UN - March 2023
Steve Nation
The work of mobilizing goodwill energies in humanity and organizing these energies in ways that contribute to the building of right relations has been a part of human history for centuries. Yet it is only in the 78 years since the founding of the United Nations that this work has really begun to emerge as a concentrated global dynamic; and only in the past four decades or so that it has become an organized force for good reaching from the independent activities of local communities right through to the global spaces where international policies and programs are beginning to shape legally binding norms at national and global levels.
Ageless Wisdom perspectives look to the evolution of humanity in terms of the growth of a wise, inclusive, and intelligent consciousness actively working to organize human affairs around the universal spiritual principles of freedom, sharing, cooperation, and right relations between the part and the whole. In all its agencies, campaigns, programs and activities, the UN is one of the primary spaces where this work interacts most intently with the deeply ingrained forces of humanity’s thoughtforms and social structures that constitute the existing order.
The transformation from an Age of Separation with its materialist spirit towards an Age of Right Relations is essentially a spiritual event in the life of humanity: a transformation of minds and hearts occurring amongst individuals, communities, nations, and every imaginable field of thought. Because of this it is, not surprisingly, accompanied at times by periods of intense crisis and trauma. Yet throughout these crises an almost endless cycle of conferencing, dialoguing and negotiation is taking place as ancient elemental structures of thought and relationship rub up against incoming ideas of unity, wholeness, and right relations. Through this conferencing, thought forms are refined and clarified, and a world in which unity is in right relation to diversity is being brought to birth.
A review of key events at the UN and UN-inspired activities in the month of March provides a good snapshot of the state of play of this process of conferencing and negotiation. Difficult issues involving relations between majority and minority cultures, ethnic groups, faith groups, small and large nations, and between women and men, feature in this month’s events. Among the most critical and volatile themes in the path towards right relations, these issues often carry memories of inherited collective (and individual) trauma, hurt and pain, and are the source of emotions of helplessness, fear, anger, resentment, guilt and repression. A key element in the passage towards just and right relations is the transformation of these emotions into positive actions demonstrating that diseased and outmoded patterns of discrimination, abuse and subjugation can be healed and that right and just relations are possible.
The UN’s International Women’s Day which is widely observed around the world on March 8, draws attention to one of the core points of tension in the evolution of a new spirit of relationship: inequalities and discrimination against women. The theme for 2023, DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality, led to countless events in local communities across the globe exploring “the impact of the digital gender gap on widening economic and social inequalities”, and spotlighting “the importance of protecting the rights of women and girls in digital spaces and addressing online and ICT-facilitated gender-based violence”. Women’s Day at the UN Headquarters in New York is part of the major annual two-week gathering (March 6 – 17) of the Commission on the Status of Women when representatives of UN member states, civil society organizations and UN agencies review progress in implementing the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action on gender equality and the empowerment of women. This year’s meeting of the Commission explores the theme ‘Innovation and Technological Change: Education in the Digital Age : Progress Towards Gender Equality’.
Friends of World Goodwill will be pleased to know that themes of meditation, spirituality, mindfulness, and meditation are, from time to time, part of the conversation at the UN during the Commission on the Status of Women. As Houry Geudelekian, the retiring chair of the NGO Committee on the Status of Women, wrote recently in PassBlue: “as I look forward to my final forum as chair of the NGO/CSW, the lessons I learned are that the women’s movement itself also needs much healing and reflection. If we don’t take care of ourselves individually, we bring the pain into our work, social life and families. I see a clear line between the individual and the world. A peaceful mind and body can bring peaceful solutions. In my own journey of healing with therapy, meditation and yoga, I discovered Ahimsa, the principle of respect for all living things and avoidance of violence toward others. We must all keep striving to protect ourselves, our planet and all living beings.”
At UN HQ in Geneva, the focus on Information Technologies (IT) was also held in the spotlight during the annual World Summit on the Information Society Forum, March 13 – 17, with a focus on the use of IT in “Building back better and accelerating the achievement of the SDGs”.
Highlighting a growing focus at the UN on the theme that no-one is to be left behind in the passage towards more just and inclusive global relations, the 5th United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC5) was held in Doha, Qatar from March 5 – 9. “The world’s Least Developed Countries are in a race against time to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. The remaining years need to usher in a new global partnership to ensure these 46 countries benefit from social, economic, and environmental development.”
The cycle of conferencing, dialogue and negotiation between nation states, people’s movements and organisations and professional bodies at the UN includes a biennial Development Cooperation Forum, this year taking place at UN HQ in New York from March 14-15. The Forum is a primary space where issues in cooperation and partnership between states in the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals are considered, fresh ideas circulate, and policies developed. “The 2023 Development Cooperation Forum (DCF) will emphasize the human dimension of development cooperation, focusing on the lives and livelihoods of people that development cooperation is meant to serve. It will spotlight the distinctive role that risk-informed development cooperation plays in building the resilience of the most vulnerable, including through strengthened support to social protection, climate adaptation and digital transformation.”
Three UN observances in March point to the importance of building trust and supporting human rights in the field of race relations: International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on March 21 (with the associated Week of Solidarity with the Peoples Struggling against Racism and Racial Discrimination, March 21 – 27); and the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade on March 25. The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights leads the UN’s efforts to end racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerances. “Since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) and the International Convention for the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination (1965), the United Nations has made the struggle against racism a matter of priority.”
Some of the other points of focus in UN-centered conferencing, dialogue and negotiation in March include important issues in the building of right relations between humanity and the Earth: World Wildlife Day on March 3; International Day of Forests, March 21; World Water Day, March 22; and the major UN Water Conference March 22 – 24.
And in the midst of all of this activity the organisation leads a global observation on March 20 of the International Day of Happiness, honoring Bhutan’s adoption of policies aimed at improving Gross National Happiness rather than Gross National Product. In establishing the Day, the General Assembly recognized the “the relevance of happiness and well-being as universal goals and aspirations in the lives of human beings around the world and the importance of their recognition in public policy objectives. It also recognized the need for a more inclusive, equitable and balanced approach to economic growth that promotes sustainable development, poverty eradication, happiness and the well-being of all peoples”. Every year data on how people in over 150 countries evaluate the quality of their lives is used to prepare a World Happiness Report, released on the International Day.
And as a final note to this brief review of UN sponsored events in March, attention needs to be given to an important gathering of citizens from around the world who share an interest in contributing to “a stronger United Nations system”. The Coalition for the UN we Need (C4UN) is led by a group of civil society organisations “bringing civil society into dialogue with governments, Secretariat officials, UN Regional Commissions and Resident Coordinators, and other stakeholders” to advocate for a revitalization of the UN. On March 20 and 21 C4UN hosts a Global Futures Forum, (online and in person in New York), to finalize a ‘People’s Pact for the Future’ that will contribute to the thinking and discussions to take place at the important UN Summit of the Future scheduled to take place September 2024.