The just-concluded Special Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting intends to pursue redefining the purposes of the Bretton Woods institutions and the possibility of an international conference to improve global environmental governance.
It also plans to accelerate and implement United Nations reforms as a matter of urgency and to put the reform agenda to relevant international fora.
The objective is to achieve reform of international institutions and create new ones where necessary to meet current global challenges of financing, food security, fuel shortage and environmental degradation
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According to the final statement coming out of the Special Commonwealth Heads of Government Meet-ing (CHOGM) on Reform of International Institutions in London on Monday and yesterday, the Heads acknowledged the discussion and actions taken to reform the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
They met as a representative group of Commonwealth leaders to identify underlying principles and the actions that should be taken, as a global priority, to achieve reform of international institutions and create new institutions where necessary.
They also proposed redefining the policies and instruments of other international financial institutions, including the World Bank to serve the needs of all members.
To this end the CHOGM, which President Bharrat Jagdeo and the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago Patrick Manning from the Caribbean region attended, said that the heads intend to pursue the redefining of the purposes and governance of the Bretton Woods institutions (IMF and the World Bank), including working towards a Commonwealth consensus and wider international support for an international conference to achieve these goals.
(The Bretton Woods system is commonly understood to refer to the international monetary regime that prevailed from the end of World War Two until the early 1970s.
It takes its name from the site of the 1944 conference that created the IMF and World Bank.)
Noting that the effective management of the global environment was one of the most pressing international priorities and that the impacts of environmental degradation are most starkly felt in the smallest, poorest and most environmentally vulnerable countries, the CHOGM said that a new system of environmental governance must be fully integrated with development priorities and concerns and be responsive to the needs of these countries.
Environmental
governance
The Heads noted that a financing mechanism that underpins the linkages between development and the environment and which supports investment in long-term sources of energy and environmental efficiency, needs to be developed.
Stating that they intend to pursue the possibility of an international conference to achieve improved global environmental governance, including the possibility of a new international organization or reform of existing arrangements working on the basis of a Commonwealth consensus and wider international support, the CHOGM said that Commonwealth leaders have already acknowledged that the Commonwealth is uniquely placed to play a leading role in light of its diversity and unqualified support for work through the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Further stating that the Commonwealth was committed to advancing a programme of reform of international institutions in view of the existing crises in finance, food and fuel, the CHOGM said they acknowledged that high quality reform would not be achieved unless those with a stake in future global governance are heard and the conferences proposed would require careful preparation and wide consultation to achieve the essential universal acceptability.
To meet this objective the CHOGM plans an extra-ordinary meeting of the Commonwealth Heads of Government on September 24, 2008.
Calling on others to join in the Commonwealth reform agenda, the CHOGM statement said that the Commonwealth Secretary General has been given guidance to develop an action plan on reform of international institutions.
The statement of the Special CHOGM acknowledged the reforms that were occurring to strengthen the UN system but said it was imperative that the UN’s ‘Delivering as one’ initiative is implemented with urgency.
To this end the meeting said that they intended to accelerate UN reforms and their effective implementation as a matter of urgency through lobbying and advocacy in the UN itself as well as other international fora.
“It is also vital that the UN continues to develop a global framework of rules and collective action in an inclusive and democratic way,” they said.
The special CHOGM was held because of the challenges the world has faced since all the Commonwealth heads met collectively in Kampala, November 2007, with record levels of prices for food and fuel as well as continued financial turbulence.
The challenges, the statement said, further illustrated the fundamental weaknesses of a number of international organisations that are charged with promoting economic stability and sustainable development.
“Such institutions do not have adequate capacity, governance structures or built-in responsiveness either to anticipate or to address global needs in a timely fashion. In some cases, such as energy and the environment, there is an absence of institutions with the mandate to deal globally with these issues of global public policy,” the statement said.
Noting that institutions established in the mid-20th century enjoyed strong political agreement on the objectives to be achieved and the means to do so, underpinned by a commitment to multilateralism, the Special CHOGM said that the commitment to multilateralism was now at risk since the majority of independent sovereign states are politically insubordinate and inadequately represented in multilateral institutions.
“It is unacceptable, and indeed weakens these institutions, that the greater part of the world community of states participates and benefits less than fully in them,” the heads said, adding however that the commitment of the world’s major powers to multilateralism and its underlying values remains central to any successful settlement on a new architecture of international institutions in this century.
Consensus
Recognising the strength of multilateral cooperation founded on consensus among countries with diverse backgrounds, interests and cultures, the Heads said they believed that reform and construction of new international institutions should enjoy the legitimacy not only of their member states but also of the wider international community to command confidence and commitment.
They asserted too it is essential that all countries have an equal voice and fair representation; that a voice for all countries is only valuable if it is listened to and is reflected in decision-making.
It is essential, they asserted, that institutions are responsive to the interests of all the members, especially the smallest and the poorest; that their activities and governance be flexible, responding to new challenges, national priorities and the specific circumstances of member states, and changing global realities.
And institutions must have clear responsibilities and the conduct of their business must be transparent and accountable and they must be effective and capable of addressing the global challenges.
