WORK FOR FRATERNITY BETWEEN NATIONS

One year on and the and the prospects of a more unified world are even further from any kind of actualisation. In the face of a pandemic, when one would have thought nations would come together to resolve the problem, with a view to ensuring that every person around the globe would receive medical assistance and be vaccinated, that is unfortunately far from happening.

Underneath the grand talk of coming together on vaccinations and the 26^th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) the world is splintering and drifting towards ultra nationalist policies. The promotion of nation first around the globe is an unfortunate retrograde step in the progress towards the more civilised world, formerly proclaimed by every nation as being in its best interests; hence, the formation of the League of Nations (Founded 10^th January 1920), United Nations (26^th June 1945), European Economic Community (25^th March 1957) and various other attempts at international and global cooperation.

There have been many other so called Peace Events over the last 122 years. The first Nobel Peace Prize, awarded on the 10th December 1901, to those who have "done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses", was shared by two people, Jean Henri Dunant and Frederic Passy. Dunant was a Swiss philanthropist and co-founder pf the International Committee of the Red Cross, and Passy a French economist and founding member of several peace societies and the International Parliamentary Union.

 

 

On the 25^th November 1910, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace was established by Andrew Carnegie to “hasten the abolition of international war, the foulest blot upon our civilisation”. It continues to this day stating as its goal:

“In an increasingly crowded, chaotic, and contested world and marketplace of ideas, the Carnegie Endowment offers decisionmakers global, independent, and strategic insight and innovative ideas that advance international peace.”

I do not know how effective an organisation it is, as it certainly has a great number of people working for it, including a number of very wealthy and allegedly powerful people, but given the nature of current events in a variety of countries, there is little evidence of strategic insight or innovative ideas to advance international peace.

We have Putin amassing troops along the Ukrainian border, Somalia is virtually in a permanent state of civil unrest and absent of any rule of law, Yemen is apparently a hotbed of modern piracy reverting to Islamic dark ages, Honduras has a capital city now named the murder capital of the world, El Salvador hosts the notorious MS-13 an international criminal gang founded in Los Angeles, California, Myanmar is a Military State seemingly under constant marshal law, the European community is veering towards extremism and at risk of splintering again, the Chinese Government is reenforcing its subtle and overt oppressions, Afghanistan is a complete mess and practically lawless, Haiti is in turmoil and a number of other trouble spots around the world which give us pause.

These problems do create difficulty for any attempt at vaccinating every citizen on the planet against covid19, nevertheless it is the only way to deal with eliminating or at least properly controlling the virus.  In which case the above list of problems has to be tackled by world organisations.

The League of Nations primary goals, as stated in its Covenant, included preventing wars through collective security and disarmament and settling international disputes through negotiation and arbitration. Its other concerns included labour conditions, just treatment of native inhabitants, human and drug trafficking, the arms trade, global health, prisoners of war, and protection of minorities in Europe. Member states were expected to "respect and preserve as against external aggression" the territorial integrity of other members, and to disarm "to the lowest point consistent with domestic safety". All states were required to submit complaints for arbitration or judicial inquiry before going to war. The Executive Council would create a Permanent Court of International Justice to make judgements on the disputes. The league did not last.

The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organisation aiming to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations. Currently made up of 193 Member States, the UN and its work are guided by the purposes and principles contained in its founding Charter. The UN has evolved over the years to keep pace with a rapidly changing world. But one thing has stayed the same: it remains the one place on Earth where all the world’s nations can gather together, discuss common problems, and find shared solutions that benefit all of humanity. That is the stated intention. Whether it actually achieves its purpose is dependent on the will of each member state.

The EEC was established to “preserve peace and liberty and to lay the foundations of an ever closer union among the peoples of Europe".

There are other treaties and agreements between countries that are in force, in respect of trade and cooperation between nations; but, any agreement is only as good as the parties’ willingness to abide by the agreement. Agreements are only as good as the parties to it. It bears repetition. You cannot enforce agreement between persons who have no intention of committing to it, but rather see it as a means of gaining power for themselves.

In brief let us hope the new year will bring new resolution among the people’s representatives and leaders of nations to actually take heed of the covenant the 193 countries have signed up to.

Let us hope the new year will bring resolution to the United States and to the true meaning of its Constitution and Declaration of Independence, and that the voices of discord, sedition and secession are silenced with a view towards bringing real solutions and assistance to its people.

Let us hope that the United Kingdom will finally recoil from the disastrous course towards separatism it has adopted and return to common sense and the unification of nations.

Let us hope the European Community resolves its differences, with a view to creating a closer and stronger commitment to the democratic ideals it has so long been advocating. Let us hope that the populations of those countries leaning once again towards the extreme nationalists of the 1930’s and ‘40’s, reverse course and see sense in more liberal democracy and cooperation with other nations.

Let us hope.