The “Third UN”

Speaking at the opening of the UN General Assembly in September 2018, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that “multilateralism is under fire precisely when we need it most.” ¹ A few weeks later, addressing the World Economic Forum in Davos, he continued:

In several parts of the world, we see the civil society space shrinking. We see media freedom being negatively impacted. And we see the expression of forms of authoritarianism or this new fantastic expression that was invented, “illiberal democracy”—This is clear. The human rights agenda is in trouble and we need to make sure that we mobilise the international community—and again the civil society has a key role to play in this—for human rights to be protected. ²

It is not difficult to conclude that the attacks on multilateralism and on civil society have a similar origin. The human rights agenda, which is currently “under fire,” is the raison d’être for civil society. It cannot exist without the freedom to associate and to speak, but human rights are also at the very core of the UN, and are mentioned seven times in the UN Charter, “making the promotion and protection of human rights a key purpose and guiding principle of the Organization.” ³