Time for the South to have greater say in the world

Time for the South to have greater say in the world

The passion for democracy inside nations of the South must be matched in international organizations, specifically in the United Nations and the Bretton Woods institutions, says former Commonwealth Secretary Sir Sridath Ramphal in this exclusive column for Inter Press Service.

LONDON: It is time for the great majority of the world's peoples -- those living in the South -- to give voice to the need for fundamental change in the way international affairs are conducted.

If they remain silent, there is a risk that this 50th anniversary year of the United Nations will pass without progress in introducing greater equity and democracy into international institutions.

While some countries, mainly in the North, would be content to see little done, the result would be continued stagnation and suffering for most of the South, which can no longer be satisfied with its effective marginalization from the councils of real power.

Change must be the South's strategic choice.

In its report on `Our Global Neighborhood', the Commission on Global Governance argues that the values of justice, equity and democracy, along with an understanding of the balance of rights and responsibilities of citizens, must underlie any new world order.

It follows then that the passion for democracy inside nations must be matched in international institutions. The United Nations Security Council has become a Western fiefdom and must be reformed.

We propose phasing out permanent membership and the veto, introducing three countries of the South as long-term, "Standing" members, increasing the number of rotating members in a way that further enlarges the South's membership, and increasing the number of votes needed for a decision in the Council.

Such reforms would result in a significant power shift and would not be readily accepted by some of the present permanent members of the Security Council -- though they will be unable to defend retaining the current structure on the grounds of either principle or global need.

Reform should cover practice as well as structure. While the Council acknowledges the growing global consensus for redressing humanitarian wrongs, two great dangers of old-style power politics must be avoided.

The first is the tendency to judge certain crises too distant, too difficult or too expensive and leave them alone. The second danger is allowing a major power with a particular interest to pressure the Security Council to intervene in domestic crises without clear Charter authority and in a highly selective, even arbitrary way.

To avoid this problem, the Commission proposes a charter amendment to provide for rule-based international intervention in domestic crises that pose a grave threat to human security.

This would accompany the establishment of a Council for Petitions in the United Nations to allow civil society to call for matters endangering the security of people to be put directly on the agenda of a reformed Security Council.

The other area that needs serious reform is economic governance. The UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) has clearly failed at its task of advancing the economic and social interests of the world, as economic decision-making has shifted to the World Bank and IMF, and to the Group of Seven, the self- appointed global economic directorate.

The Commission proposes an Economic Security Council as an apex body in which the major economies of the South together with other countries would participate in addressing issues which directly affect the future of us all.

For the South, whose need of economic and social advance remains urgent, such reform is crucial.

To mobilize global revenue for global purposes, the Commission supports the prompt adoption of international taxes like that advocated by the U.S. Nobel economist James Tobin on international foreign currency transactions.

The lack of new resources for development was a cause of great concern at the Social Summit in Copenhagen. The signals coming from the United States on food aid and from Europe on aid to the Lome Convention countries are clear warnings for the future.

The weakest, smallest and least developed economies cannot safely to rely on handouts, bilateral aid or replenishment of IDA funds.

There was wide support for this `Tobin Tax' in Copenhagen, including explicit recognition by President Mitterrand. To avoid fears of supranational power, such global taxes could be introduced through treaty, after endorsement by the Economic Security Council and the General Assembly.

Such measures would make resources for development and other global projects less subject to economic cycles, parsimonious parliaments and the fickle moods of electorates in the North.

This is not a time for complacency. The South has an overwhelming responsibility to its own future generations to take the lead in reform of the international system and so help satisfy its most important need -- that of empowerment.

While certain changes might be uncomfortable for the time being, that should not compromise the South's strategic interest in change. The ultimate insanity is for the South to become the champion of the status quo.

Shirdath Ramphal, a former foreign minister of Guyana, is Co- Chairman of the Commission on Global Governance and was Secretary General of the Commonwealth from 1975 to 1990.

-- IPS