gapwblog

Editor’s note. While it wasn’t for as long a time as we had hoped, we were pleased to have Antonio Persi with us for at least part of the summer. He missed the High-Level Political Forum in July but was able to attend a number of General Assembly and Security Council meetings and other UN events. As he transitions to the University of Chicago to study Anthropology and Public Policy, I asked him to jot down some of his UN Impressions especially related to how the system engages and includes young people. Excerpts from what he shared with us appear below.

Upon my arrival, I quickly discovered that the UN was riddled with disputes. At surface level this is not alarming, as disagreements and the explication of varying beliefs serve as the basis of representative governments, but as time went on (in both the Security Council and General Assembly) I was alarmed by the longevity and quantity of these quarrels and how these examples of conflict and vocal dissent did not seem to be leading diplomats to any real resolutions. Bickering only seemed to further limit options on already gridlocked attempts at unified international responses to pressing issues. On the other hand, while the atmosphere at 42nd and First Avenue was not always “inviting,” I enjoyed the absence of sugar coatings and was captivated by the shocking reality of where the world stands today.

Achieving a stable Security Council that truly and equally represents the civilians its resolutions seek to affect is a difficult and perhaps unrealistic task for the current Council–a group that already struggles with too many divergent opinions. But this does not excuse the stagnant nature of the UNSC, a chamber which largely reflects the global status quo following World War II. In a particular meeting regarding African Representation on the council the GAPW team sat through remarks delivered by virtually every member state in the United Nations, diplomats who mostly stated and restated that a change must be made, and that Africa “deserves better” which is surely true. The President of Sierra Leone actually saw fit to fly to the United Nations to commence this eight-hour long session of the UNSC which highlighted the Councils–and perhaps the United Nation’s–stubbornness to adopt a more representative process. While never explicitly mentioned, the meeting also seemed to be a clear attempt to remove the right of permanent Council members’ ability to veto a resolution, but I am just as confused as anyone on how this is going to happen. P5 members of the UNSC have vetoed the inclusion of new permanent members time and time again, deadlocking the changes that most states say they desire. Besides getting nowhere, what these day long disputes do is waste precious time and resource needed by countries to resolve more critical issues: the UNSC meeting on African Representation was meant to conclude before 1 PM but went on until about 5 pm, which meant that UNSC discussions scheduled for that afternoon regarding conflict in the Middle East ended up being discussed in more private settings with no transparency or official dialogue observed.

The need for a younger perspective within the United Nations has never been greater. The truth is that the United Nations–and society at large–has fallen victim to the notion that power and influence can and should come with seniority. I won’t negate the importance of longer-term education and experience, but perhaps that very education is the issue at hand. It is–with some variance–the education that shaped our nation’s diplomats and political leaders of today, an education that so often leads to policy gridlock and teaches one how to achieve solutions in the context of international dynamics that are no longer relevant to today. The negative consequences of this can be seen beyond the UN’s lack of perceived authority. In some of our most “objective” areas of understanding, recent discoveries show how scientific technology, and the taught knowledge it relies upon, discriminates and works against minority groups, their communities and interests.

Through interpreting the selective wording in diplomatic speeches and watching the interactions between national representatives when off the clock, it is clear that the neutrality of these chambers is compromised. Diversifying councils, envoys and conferences will continue to be the most effective way to mitigate the effects of this complex network of international alliances. Unfortunately, the word diversity feels almost intrinsically tied to race and other key factors of identity: but as we share our definitions of diversity, we often forget the inclusion of age. Different generations are naturally going to think in different ways, each is facing their own respective world and future that looks so vastly different than the other. I would argue that the world my generation is facing looks more like a pressure cooker than ever before; because of this I feel that we have shown resilience, determination and integrity like never before. In my professional experience I have seen issues like representation handled better through councils of high school students than by diplomats at the United Nation.

This drive to see change and our “blank-slate” naivety is why we as a generation stand out. Advocacy efforts have skyrocketed in my generation proving that we want to be heard, and we are ready to face the complex challenges of today. We just need somebody to truly listen. This act of listening is not satisfied by holding “youth” events in UN chambers at 5 pm on a Friday during which tired interns are talked at for hours on end with no room to include their own opinion.

If our objectivity is stripped from us upon birth (or perhaps upon conception) and we accumulate bias through time and lived experience, then how could reaching objective conclusions on critical issues be as simple as hiring the most experienced candidate? We must look to younger individuals whose formative years are not yet in the past. For it is their lack of exposure to biased “qualifications” coupled with their determination to reach ethical and just outcomes that will ensure that their contributions to the system can be thoughtful and representative of people who see little appeal in the efforts of the officials tasked with governing them. As important as youth involvement will be in revitalizing the efficiency and effectiveness of institutions such as the United Nations I fear that few hopeful peacemakers will want to involve themselves in a system in which life-saving aid is leveraged in the name of hegemony and true representation feels like a utopian dream