The world on autopilot: UN Security Council must convene an emergency session on Covid-19

(Patria) - The International Institute for Middle Eastern and Balkan Studies (IFIMES) from Ljubljana, Slovenia, regularly analyzes events in the Middle East and the Balkans. Tan Sri Hasmy Agam, former ambassador of Malaysia to the UN, and Prof. Dr. Anis H. Bajrektarevic, Head of Department and Professor of International Law and Global Political Studies, have prepared an extensive analysis titled "The World on Autopilot: The UN Security Council Must Convene an Emergency Session on Covid-19". The authors analyze the role of the UN Security Council in the Covid-19 situation and how multilateralism - as the most effective global tool at our disposal - is the only way (socio-economic and political) for the survival of the human race.

The situation surrounding Covid-19 is truly worrying, not only as an issue of global health and biological security, but it can also be a global security challenge. While the pandemic is being addressed by the World Health Organization (WHO), along with other relevant specialized agencies of the United Nations (UN), the situation is rapidly deteriorating and could easily get out of control. This can happen if effective action is not taken. In such a (increasingly likely) scenario, the entire world could be engulfed - something akin to World War III, albeit with a different cause.

We are astonished (and one of the co-authors served on the UN Security Council for two terms) why the UN Security Council has not yet convened. It should have addressed Covid-19 in the way it clearly deserves to be addressed, given its devastating impact on the entire planet, on almost every dimension, including international peace and security, which undoubtedly falls within its mandate according to the UN Charter.

Given that the UN Security Council has often dealt with issues that were not always obviously related to international or regional security, we are confused, truly disturbed, as to why it has decided not to address the issue of the Covid-19 pandemic at all. If, for their own internal reasons, the members of the UN Security Council did not feel obliged to do so, would not the other members of the world body, individually or collectively, as international or regional associations, such as the European Union (EU), the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), G77, the African Union (AU) or ASEAN, should initiate the much-desired initiative to call on the UN Security Council to urgently address this global pandemic, even if the WHO and other involved UN agencies are dealing with the problem within their limited mandates, resources and perspectives. In this regard, the EU in particular would be in an unavoidable situation to exert the much-needed pressure on the UN Security Council, given the significant damage that Covid-19 has caused to numerous member states, especially Italy and Spain, among others.

Such an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council at this moment would be strongly welcomed by the entire international community, as it would give the world body the leading role that member states expect from it.
Gens una sumus. Concordia patria firmat In this difficult situation, the great powers should set aside their ideological and political differences, their power games, and instead focus on galvanizing coordinated international action to ensure peace and security for the benefit of all humankind.

With decisive and urgent action, the UN Secretary-General and the UN Security Council would send an unambiguous and clear, yet reassuring signal to all of humanity. More importantly, such a voice - as a welcome - would be understood and accepted as a reference (not to say as a norm of behavior in the new situation) by other key agencies, such as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the World Trade Organization (WTO), as well as the Red Cross (IFRC), the Bretton Woods institutions, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the Federation of World Trade Unions, including other specialized or non-UN organizations, most notably development entities such as the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the African Development Bank (AfDB), etc.

In the coming period - witnessing truly historic crossroads, we need global respect and protection of human rights and jobs, all for the benefit of the economy and overall security. Recovery - which from now on also requires enhanced biological security - will not be possible without broad social consensus. Clearly, this task will be impossible if it is carried out at the expense of labor or achieved through the erosion of fundamental human rights - which are enshrined in the UN Charter and accepted as crucial for the very success of the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals).

Indeed, countries are not just economies, but above all societies. One thing is clear: The planet has stopped, although capital has remained unharmed, untouched. There has been a global standstill because the workforce has been sent home. Therefore, recovery comes with the workforce. Historically, labor has never failed us, while capital has. Likewise, human rights have never failed the state and its social cohesion, but states - and the too often celebrated markets - have failed people too many times in history. Therefore, there is no true way out of the crisis without strengthening labor and human rights.

For a serious planetary problem, our rapid articulated global consensus is necessary. Therefore, multilateralism - as the most effective planetary tool at our disposal - is not just our political choice. It represents the only way in which the human race can (socio-economically and politically) survive. Covid-19 is a challenge that comes from the world of biology. However, biology and international relations share a common basic rule: Adapt or die. Let this remind us; it is not the large that eats the small, but the fast that eats the slow.