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Panelists Discuss Effects of Global Governance
Category: Development, Global Regulation, Human Security
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
On Monday, April 14th, Global Governance Watch hosted its inaugural event entitled, “Dictating Norms: Who Decides What Is Right for the World?.” The event featured a panel discussion regarding the effects of global governance within the context of three of the four pillar areas highlighted on the Global Governance Watch website. Participants in the panel discussion included Ambassador Grover Joseph Rees of the Department of State, Ronald A. Cass of the Center for the Rule of Law, and Claudia Rosett of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
Ambassador Rees addressed the issue of global governance as it pertains to human security. Specifically, he discussed what might be done to prevent the unaccountable expansion of UN activities in the area of economic and social human rights. According to Rees, it is “fundamentally good that there exist multilateral organizations that recognize that fundamental human rights don’t come from governments. What we need to do is get them to take the next step and get them to recognize that those rights also don’t come from international organizations.” The challenge within the UN system is to encourage the UN and its various organizations to “recognize and promote real human rights,” without establishing norms under the umbrella of human rights that do not belong there.
Mr. Cass considered the global governance movement within the framework of global regulation by discussing how to either prevent the delusion of the UN as purely a member state organization, or, if partnerships are inevitable, how to increase the transparency and accountability of the UN’s network partners. According to Mr. Cass, there are certain decisions that need to be made at an international level, but such instances are rare. Rather, nations:
“ought to have an ability…to say, here are the deals we’re not going to respect, here are the deals we’re going to abide by, and if we have organizations that are starting to break down the ability of sovereign nations to only be bound by things they agree to…we can cut back our funding of those organizations, we can vote for restructuring.”
Claudia Rosett closed the discussion by looking at global governance in the context of development, considering whether, in light of the egregious shortcomings in the administration of humanitarian and development aid, it is realistic to presume that the UN, World Bank and other supra-national development agencies can establish the degree of transparency and accountability necessary to fight corruption within the management of their aid programs, and within the government of their aid recipients. Ms. Rosett highlighted that the problem with the UN and other international organizations is that they are not accountable to anyone. “What goes on endlessly is you point to some specific piece of wrongdoing, and that part of the UN points to another part of the UN, and that points to another one, until it’s lost in the echo chamber because there is no single jurisdiction that holds the UN to account.” The current model needs to be reformed in order to achieve accountability and transparency.
To access a transcript of the complete panel discussion, please click here.
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