Netflix´s film about Sergio Viera de Mello, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights at the time of his death, educates on the challenges of building a global society, a current topic in times of pandemic.
It brought me back to the times I ran the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), when I was out running with bodyguards in emerging conflict areas, such as East Timor. I arranged for that country to join UNIDO with Xanana Gusmão, the leader who negotiates with Sergio in the film.
Beyond Sergio’s romantic relationship with Carolina Larriera (whom I had the opportunity to meet), the messages of the film are clear: international organizations are relevant if they produce concrete results for those most in need, and can only do so, reaffirming their independence and leadership.
I wrote frequently about the United Nations reform and “Sergio” encouraged me to do it again. It is an issue on which much progress has been made.
The global governance system, however, registers few developments with impact. Possibly the work of the G20, at the level of presidents during the 2008 financial crisis, is the most visible and effective innovation in recent times.
No wonder it is so. The emergence of the State and government institutions results from the need to face emergencies (natural or war). It should come as no surprise that the same is true for the global governance system.
The United Nations and the Bretton Woods Institutions, irreplaceable platforms to promote cooperation for the international community, were born to rebuild the West and avoid new conflicts after the Second World War.
Today we live exponential times. Artificial intelligence, robotics and biotechnology combine to face us in an epochal change. And although the mosaic of international institutions that bequeathed us last century tries to adapt to the new times, its limitations are not hidden.
Will the SARS-CoV-2 crisis be the trigger that catalyzes the need and clarifies the direction of the reform? The success of a reform lies in the clarity of the objective. Reforming is not just reducing, or changing, but designing new instruments to achieve goals that elude us.
The United Nations reform must focus on redress the undersupply of global public goods we suffer. Just as a country needs certain public goods (security, health, etc.), an integrating world must ensure its provision at the international level.
That is the purpose of the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and it was the focus of the Millennium Development Goals that I worked on.
Would we have saved resources, in the fight against COVID-19, with more efficient international cooperation? Saving suffering and resources, precisely, is the meaning of interventions in the field of international peace and security, which “Sergio” stars in NETFLIX.
Will we build stronger health systems and more resilient economies when we beat COVID-19? Will we change the regulations to transfer technology? Will we defend liberties and promote solidarity against governments that endanger them, justifying themselves with the pandemic?
Those are the issues that matter to improve people’s lives, avoiding more suffering and deprivation, beyond the necessary protocols for social distancing, passenger transport or return to work.
Increasing and improving international cooperation is not an ideological option. It is a survival rule for progress and culture. The human race rules the world because of its unique ability to flexibly cooperate among large numbers of strangers.
Ensuring that international cooperation takes that course is the best way to build the future.
