SPECIAL REPORT: UNITED NATIONS AT 75 THE COMMONWEALTH AND THE UN
III: Going forward together
A display by the UNA-UK Association to mark the 75th anniversary of the signing of the United Nations Charter in front of the Methodist Central Hall in Westminster, London, UK. Following the signing of the UN Charter in San Francisco, USA on 26 June 1945, the first UN General Assembly was held at the Methodist Central Hall from 10th January to 14th February 1946 and since then many UN Secretaries-General have given speeches in the building.
Images copyright: David Wardrop, Chair of the Westminster Branch of the United Nations UK Association - http://unawestminster.org.uk/.
We tend to think that there are three broad ways in which the Commonwealth collectively, be it governmentally or non-governmentally, or both, can be of help to the United Nations. First, as an ‘inter-regional sub-set’: we are drawn from every quarter of the earth's surface; we are of every size and political and social configuration; we are of every degree of economic and technological sophistication; our world-wide discussions with one another, together with the innumerable affinities which enrich them, can thus be of particular representative
The author of this article, Sir Peter Marshall (right) is joined by the Revd Tony Miles (left), the newly appointed Superintendent at Methodist Central Hall viewing the ‘UN at 75’ display outside the building.
value to the UN membership as a whole, when handling issues of world wide concern. Climate change is clearly one such area. The next COP Summit is due to be held in Glasgow, Scotland in November 2021, a year later than originally scheduled. Secondly, we can act as pilot fish for the UN as a whole. During Sonny Ramphal's long and highly productive term as Commonwealth Secretary-General (1975-1990), there was a ‘bakers' dozen’ of Expert Reports mainly on international economic questions. They were of particular relevance because of persistent clashes between the developed countries of the North and the developing countries of the South. The last of these reports, ‘Climate Change and Sea-level Rise’ (1988-1989), is perhaps the most interesting of them all, in view of the subsequent worldwide developments, with which we are all too familiar. It originated from a discussion at the 1987 CHOGM in Vancouver, Canada, introduced by President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom of the Maldives (1978-2008), where the maximum height of the land does not exceed two metres above sea level. President Hussain Muhammad Ershad of Bangladesh (1983-1990) explained the vast problems of flooding which assailed his country. The rest is history. Thirdly, while the Commonwealth has never presumed to try and negotiate for the United Nations, circumstances may contrive that the Commonwealth is well placed to help the UN to negotiate. When the participants in a dispute are at loggerheads, the most useful thing a well-respected, well-disposed and well-informed outsider can do is assist in the definition, with as much precision as possible, of the key points of difference between the two. You
224 | The Parliamentarian | 2020: Issue Three | 100 years of publishing 1920-2020
