The rules of global governance were written in 1945 by a handful of states, at a time when most of today's UN members had not yet joined the table. As a candidate for Secretary-General, President Macky Sall places the reform of that multilateralism among his priorities.
An order born in 1945. The multilateral order still carries the map of the world at its founding. The balance of power it freezes dates from the end of a war in which much of today's humanity took no part. Most member states joined afterwards, with no weight on the rules that still command decisions.
The demographic and economic weight of the South. The Global South gathers most of the planet's countries and inhabitants. That weight is rising, while the South's place in the rooms where decisions are made has not followed. Asked to apply rules it did not write, it does so without conviction.
Fairer representation. Widening the table consolidates the Organization, because a decision taken with those who will apply it weighs more than one handed down from above. Better spread across the organs and the senior posts, representation would restore to resolutions the authority they lack.
The Secretary-General's part in reform. Though he cannot rewrite the Charter alone, the Secretary-General can refuse to let multilateralism remain the club of a few. He can also open the Organization's senior responsibilities to paths long kept aside, so that it looks more like the world it means to serve.
An African experience of multilateralism. These commitments to the voice of the Global South rest on twelve years as head of state and on the chairmanship of the African Union in 2022. That experience explains why the vision statement filed with the United Nations frames its proposals as obligations; the renewal of multilateralism is one of its three pillars.
Africa at its heart, the world in its sights.
The debates on United Nations reform are public. Read all public positions at www.mackysall.net