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