Silence not an option

Come September, and New York readies for the chaos of hosting 100-plus heads of state/government congregating for the high-level segment of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been a reluctant attendee at a ritual less significant for leaders’ oratory than for the bilateral meetings on the sidelines and structured gatherings of the members of the Commonwealth, Nam, etc.
The United Nations Charter, drawn up in 1945, reflected the three concerns of the world at the end of the gruesome Second World War. The first was international peace and security as well as non-use of force.

Next came a reaffirmation of faith in fundamental human rights, and finally a recognition that the roots of the war just ended lay in the economic misery and decline preceding it, and thus a commitment to the “promotion of the economic and social advancement of all people”.
That the UN fell short and the focus, particularly post-Cold War, tilted in the direction of peace and security and the enforcement powers of the UN Security Council (UNSC) is the general complaint of the majority.
Some sessions of the UNGA can be defining ones, with focus on specific themes, as in 2000, when eight Millennium Development Goals were identified and a fresh commitment demanded from the developed countries to raise their development assistance to seven per cent of their gross national product. The goals are to be achieved by 2015. Till 2005, only 16 of the 22 donor countries had touched that limit.
However, Dr Singh will be attending a session during difficult times for the developed countries with the euro-zone crisis and tardy US growth causing global concern. US President Barack Obama would be in New York for a night, leaving soon after his speech on September 21, the opening day. Traditionally the Brazilian President speaks first, followed by the US. Dr Singh arrives on September 22, after Mr Obama’s departure, and speaks on the 24th. The delay is due to Presidents getting precedence over Prime Ministers, compelling either such Prime Ministers who may wish to meet the P-5 leaders to arrive earlier and cool their heels or just give them the miss. Dr Singh is doing the latter. This year’s session focuses on communicable diseases and the Indian health minister is arriving earlier to prepare the ground.
That the global powers are otherwise preoccupied is underscored by a meeting of the IMF on September 24, as Dr Singh speaks in New York, on whether the four Bric nations, i.e. Brazil, China, India and Russia, can provide “BricAid” to ailing Europe. Russia is explaining that it already holds $250 billion worth of euro-denominated securities and China is angling to seek greater market access in Europe as a precondition, besides voting leverage at multilateral financial institutions. Brazil seems willing to help, leaving a question mark over the position of India, distracted by inflation, rising interest rates, coalition-caused policy logjam
and now the Sikkim earthquake, whose lethality is slowly
unfolding.
Domestically, the message is mixed. The RBI’s interest hike announcement was followed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee’s incoherent paper reading-based justification, while his economic adviser, Kaushik Basu, criticised it, arguing that whether larger doses of the old medicine would be palliative is unknown. The world expects India to step up and, in cricketing terms, bat on the front foot.
Two important forthcoming summits also cast a shadow over the UNGA meeting. The sixth gathering of the East Asia Summit and the G-20 are to be held on October 21 in Bali, Indonesia, and November 3-4 at Cannes, France, respectively. Dr Singh undoubtedly feels more at home there than in the world of the UN headquarters which Paul Kennedy dubs “the parliament of man”. More than any Parliament, at the UN passions of the majority can lead to resolutions being passed that the Indian friends in the developed world may find unappetising. In New York, India cannot escape its past even if it is no longer the loudest voice of the developing world; it continues to be an influential bridge between developing nations and the global powers.
As a member of the UNSC today silence is not an option. The issue awaiting Dr Singh is the Palestinian move to seek recognition as a state. The Palestinian issue feeds into the Congress’ “reaching out to the Muslims” strategy in view of the impending elections in Uttar Pradesh. Implacably opposing each other are Israeli Prime Minister B. Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Were a request to be brought to the UNSC, the United States is likely to veto it, resulting in what the International Herald Tribune cautions as “risking American ties with a fast-changing Arab world”. Saudi Prince Turki bin Faisal has formally warned of this consequence. At the United Nations there is talk of a compromise whereby the Palestinians are given a Holy See like status by a resolution passed by the UNGA, which does not attract the UNSC veto.
Dr Singh’s visit, after three years, was perhaps unavoidable as India sits in the UNSC till end 2012. In the chair this month would be Lebanon. As Dr Singh steers India through the Palestinian quagmire, meets the leftover leaders, rues his inability to meet his ever-gregarious Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani, his heart will be in the forthcoming summits and his mind on the continuing Indian political imbroglio. However, India must remain interested in the UN’s success. Paul Kennedy invokes the lines of Tennyson on the relevance of “the parliament of man, the federation of the world… lapt in universal law”. In the impending global power shift the need to do so is even greater.

K.C. Singh is a former secretary in the external affairs ministry