UNder pressure

With United Nations bodies laying off staff following United States funding cuts, it’s fair to ask if the multilateral system – where countries work together towards common goals – is still functioning.

UN blues

The 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly comes at a time when trust in the rules-based international system, capitalism, and democracy has waned dangerously low. Middle powers like Canada and Australia, with proven legitimacy and exemplary records for multilateral cooperation on security and human rights challenges, must therefore do more to redouble support for multilateralism.

First they take Geneva, then they take New York

Liberal democracies have been complacent about the infallibility of institutional power, failing to recognise that institutions are only as strong as the determination of their most active members.

Zelensky’s call for UN reform must be answered

President Zelensky’s impassioned plea for reform at the United Nations to reduce the power of hostile states to block global peace, justice and security are popular around the world according to opinion surveys.

I came, I saw, I vetoed

The United Nations is supposed to offer a forum to uphold international law, but the vetos wielded by authoritarian states on the Security Council has rendered it impotent to tackle crises like Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Liberal Party’s struggles with multilateralism

Although the Liberal Party is a staunch supporter of Australia’s security alliances, its faith in the United Nations has ebbed and flowed over the years.

Australia and the U.N.

As the UN’s second secretary-general, Dag Hammarskjöld, famously said, the UN ‘was not created to take mankind to heaven, but to save humanity from hell’.

Australia fronts up at the U.N.

Although most eyes in Australia have been on Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s visit to Washington to meet with US President Donald Trump, it’s not the only game in town.