U.S. Institute of Peace experts discuss the latest foreign policy issues from around the world in On Peace, a brief weekly collaboration with SiriusXM's POTUS Channel 124.

Transcript

Julie Mason: Andrew Cheatham is senior expert at the United States Institute of Peace. Here to discuss the 77th session of the U.N. General Assembly. Andrew, good morning.

Andrew Cheatham: Good morning, Julie. Pleasure to be here.

Julie Mason: Great to have you. So, what are you looking for in this new session?

Andrew Cheatham: Well, I think first of all, having worked in the U.N. for over a decade, I never heard the term UNGA until I moved to Washington, so I just want to take a moment there.

Julie Mason: What do they call it in New York, the United Nations General Assembly? It's a mouthful, the GA?

Andrew Cheatham: Yeah, well, that's a good transition into what I expect, because it's a mouthful, you know, it's called, "A Watershed Moment: Transformative Solutions to Interlocking Challenges" is the official title of the GA.

Julie Mason: It’s horrible. It's a horrible title. It's like word salad gobbledygook. Nobody knows what that means. It's meaningless.

Andrew Cheatham: It's meaningless. But if you break it down, maybe. I mean, look, it comes at a time when the tone and tenor of a lot of people around the United Nations is something of these interlocking challenges and, you know, scary, scary statistics. We have the Human Development Report from the United Nations Development Programme, which brought bad news two years in a row of negative development by their definition, which is in the areas of health, education and employment. So, that was just out a few weeks ago. And the Sustainable Development Goals of the U.N. are also down. So, the Secretary General is going to be focusing a lot on these development issues and trying to see, you know, what kind of, well, last year he called it a wakeup call, so I don't know what he's gonna say this year. And so, there's other things: climate, COVID, war in the Sahel, and issues around nuclear abolition and minority rights. These are some of the big side events that will take place.

Julie Mason: Well, I mean, you just glance at the landscape as the General Assembly gathers, and we've got what, devastating floods in Pakistan, we have like famine and war, the backslide of democracy in Europe and elsewhere. I'm thinking of Hungary, for example. A terrible situation with the Taliban in Afghanistan, people are starving there. Even though it seems quieter without the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, it's tumultuous, in ways that the UN address addresses itself to.

Andrew Cheatham: Yeah, I mean, I think we really see a world in disarray, as you say. And I don't know what's going to happen with regard to this opening session for another year of the General Assembly, which has been at the forefront since the invasion by the Russians in Ukraine, and the problems within the Security Council, because, obviously, Russia, as a permanent member, has not endorsed any action on Ukraine. So, the General Assembly has taken up the reins to try to do what it can in that crisis, and many, many others. So, we find a dysfunctioning Security Council, and states looking for other ways in which they can intervene in some of these crises, as you've noted. Humanitarian interventions, lots of money in Afghanistan, big problems in Yemen and Syria still, and problems in Ethiopia where we see many, many issues, Somalia on the verge of another famine and big crisis. I think the first and foremost, they will be calling for humanitarian aid. In many of these places, they have humanitarian appeals to call for, you know, food and healthcare and vaccines and the basics of humanitarian support. And that can get around some of the politics. But more and more peacekeeping and peace enforcement and peace actions are a challenge.

Julie Mason: You also paid careful attention to youth engagement at the UN. I guess BTS isn't showing up this year, so the kids won't be either. It's how I feel.

Andrew Cheatham: Well, there's a special summit on education this year, and the Secretary General has put a lot of focus on youth. He's appointed a new youth envoy, but I think it would be really interesting beyond youth engagement and education, what can we do to have the new generation of leaders be empowered? How is the U.N. as an organization, I don't know about the heads of state and heads of government and how they speak, but the U.N. as an organization, there to promote leadership within international institutions, but also foreign governments, governments all over the world and in the private sector [and] civil society. I don't know what the proposals are these days. Some have said that they want to have a special committee for political engagement for youth to help ensure youth are politically involved, not only their voices heard, but involved in politics. This is going to be a challenge I think, as we see all over the world democratic backsliding, as you said. It will be really hard to have inclusion of many different groups, including youth.

Julie Mason: Yeah, I mean, there's something about the U.N. in the lead up and immediate days of the war in Ukraine, they just seemed so sidelined by all that. I mean, particularly when you consider like the level of engagement when the U.S. was pushing for war in Iraq. You know, and they just seemed to be much more engaged on that issue. And Ukraine, it just, I don't know, they sort of took themselves out of the game.

Andrew Cheatham: It's difficult without U.S. leadership, honestly, at the forefront. I mean, although the U.S. is a strong voice within the United Nations, I do think that there's been a bit of a pull back from the United Nations, although Joe Biden says he's back at the table. I think that's very much true in international relations. But within the United Nations itself, we've seeded a lot of territory within the bureaucracy to China, which is a big, big issue. And a lot of the countries around the world, including our adversaries and some of our competitors, work the UN system to their advantage. I mean, we've seen how China is trying to pull strings within the Human Rights Council just over the weekend and this latest report on Xinjiang and the Uyghurs. So, I think beyond the politics and the speeches at the General Assembly, the work of the Security Council, it's within the bureaucracy of the United Nations that a lot of countries can show leadership and ways to use the organization to their interest, and ultimately, I hope to the interest of the entire world.

But I hear what you're saying. I think that, again, on the humanitarian front, there's been some positive action in Ukraine, we saw the Secretary General is very much involved in the negotiations for the food shipments to start flowing again. And that has been a big relief, especially for countries in Africa and the Middle East. But there still is a food crisis. So, I think if we didn't have the U.N., I think we'd have to build it. So, it needs to be improved, needs to be updated, but we need to have some sort of form of cooperation for these big global challenges. And I think that's what at this opening of the 77th year of the General Assembly, they want to really showcase.

Julie Mason: Andrew Cheatham, senior expert at the United States Institute of Peace. Andrew, thank you so much for joining me this morning.

Andrew Cheatham: Thank you so much, Julie.

Julie Mason: Take care.