The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) opened its 79th session on September 24 with a week of speeches by representatives of 134 nations (out of a total of 193 members states, with another 118 observer entities and organizations). The UN is officially a member state organization, so it was appropriate to provide a forum for national leaders to express their points of view. The problem is that the UN’s bureaucracy thinks of itself as more than a forum for international politics.
It is a large institution wanting to set a global agenda as a prototype world government.
Its word-salad theme for the new session is "Leaving no one behind: acting together for the advancement of peace, sustainable development and human dignity for present and future generations." This airy agenda is meant to transcend the international politics and competing interests set out by national leaders in their angry speeches to the UNGA. In a pre-UNGA meeting called The Summit for the Future, a Pact for the Future was drafted which, when adopted by the UNGA, “The result will be a world -- and an international system -- that is better prepared to manage the challenges we face now and in the future, for the sake of all humanity and for future generations.“ Like that’s going to happen!
The Pact for the Future sets out the usual aims of sustainable development and peace, but the real focus is on “transforming global governance” meaning a shift of power from sovereign nation-states to transnational entities.
The core document runs 38 pages. Points 6 and 7 in the introduction say “We recognize that the multilateral system and its institutions, with the United Nations and its Charter at the centre, must be strengthened… we pledge a new beginning in multilateralism.
The most direct assault on national sovereignty is aimed at the Great Powers. UNGA is based on “democracy” one member state one vote, so Zimbabwe has the same vote as the United States in what is called a “policy-making body.”
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