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GLOBALISATION: UN Asked to Take Charge

Sanjay Suri

LONDON, Feb 24 2004 (IPS) - The United Nations must be given charge of introducing fair globalisation, a major new report says.

“The UN multilateral system constitutes the core of global governance and is uniquely equipped to spearhead the process of reform,” says the report ‘A Fair Globalisation: Creating Opportunities for All’.

The report prepared by the World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalisation set up by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) makes wide- ranging and specific proposals to turn globalisation “from sterile debate to positive action.”

The commission that prepared the 168-page report released in London Tuesday, represented a wide cross-section of players in the globalisation process. It was co-chaired by Finnish President Tarja Halonen and Tanzanian President Benjamin William Mkapa.

The commission included members from rich and poor countries, trade unionists and corporate leaders, parliamentarians and presidents, leaders of indigenous people and corporate leaders, scholars and government advisors. That made the commission “a microcosm” of diverse views, Mkapa and Halonen say in the report.

The wide representation gives weight to the recommendations in the report, which promises to become a turning point in the worldwide debate on globalisation.

The report finds the idea of nations united a synonym for ideas of multilateralism and globalisation. And so it proposes that the United Nations become the body that could ‘police’ globalisation.

“The multilateral system of the United Nations and its related organisations provide the basis for the global policies which are needed in the areas of development, trade, finance and international peace and security,” the report says. The United Nations “provides a time-tested framework to guide the process of globalisation in accordance with the international rule of law.”

The report says there is “no durable alternative” to the UN, but that the world body would have to change radically if it must play a role in fair globalisation. “Globalisation is changing the underlying configurations of economic and political power, and the strains are being felt in the United Nations system.”

The report supports calls for a change to the composition of the UN Security Council, which it views as a hangover of the Second World War (1939-45). But it goes much further in recommending specific new roles the UN can play.

The report says international organisations that include the UN and also other institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund should together launch “policy coherence initiatives” in which they work together “to progressively develop integrated policy proposals that appropriately balance economic, social and developmental concerns on specific issues.”

Priority issues that should be “immediately considered” include employment creation, empowerment of women, “integration of the informal economy into the economic mainstream”, protection of core labour rights, education, health, food security and human settlements, the report says.

The world commission proposes also the creation of a Globalisation Policy Forum by international organisations. This would be “a platform for regular dialogue between different points of view on the social impact of developments and policies in the global economy.”

Participants would produce a regular “state of globalisation report.” It recommends that the ILO take the initiative in following up this recommendation.

The report also calls for “serious consideration of existing proposals to create an economic and social security council, and a global council on global governance” with similar status to the UN Security Council, though without the authority to make legally binding decisions.

A strengthened United Nations would make room also for stronger national governance, the commission says. “Policies, institutions and actions within nations are fundamental determinants of whether countries, and all people within them, benefit from globalisation.”

Efficient markets require effective states, the report says.

But nations need to be more watchful of the multilateral system. “We propose the creation of a parliamentary group concerned with the coherence and consistency between global economic, social and environmental policies, which should develop an integrated oversight of major international organisations..”

The report says developing countries must benefit from a “fairer system of voting rights” in multilateral institutions, where “radical reform” is needed.

“The present system of governance is based on rules and policies that generate unbalanced and often unfair outcomes,” the report says. It asks for unfair barriers to market access to be “substantially reduced, especially for goods in which developing countries have a strong comparative advantage.”

The difficulty is not with globalisation but “deficiencies in its governance.”

In agriculture, the report says that “new export credits and subsidies, and trade-distorting domestic measures should be prohibited and existing measures rapidly phased out.”

Immediate action is feasible on trade and financial issues that have been the subject of protracted multilateral negotiations, the report says. But it will take “continued advocacy and a stronger public opinion” to make that happen.

The commission says global governance must mean “fair rules for trade, finance and investment, measures to strengthen respect for core labour standards, and a coherent framework for the cross-border movement of people..”

Fair rules for intellectual property “must balance the interests of technology producers and technology users.” Moves to capital account liberalisation may need to be “cautious and gradual.”

The report calls for rich countries to be prepared to pay for many of the changes needed. “The 0.7 percent target for ODA (official development assistance) must be met and new sources for funding over and above this target should be actively explored and developed,” the report says.

But change cannot be “the realisation of a Utopian blueprint in one swoop,” the commission acknowledges.

“We recognise the realities of power and inequality. But we draw our inspiration from the determination of men and women today to exercise greater control over their own destinies, and from the potential of a fairer and more inclusive globalisation to deliver on their needs.”

Halonen and Mkapa recalled a comment by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan that the United Nations had “come to a fork in the road.” It is time now, they said, for the world “to take a correct turn.”