President Macky Sall's candidacy for the office of UN Secretary-General places the reform of multilateralism among its priorities. The rules of global governance were written by a handful of states, at a time when most of today's members had not yet joined the table.
An architecture 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 afterward, with no weight on the rules that still command decisions.
Numbers that do not make a voice. The Global South gathers most of the planet's countries and inhabitants. Its demographic and economic weight rises, while its place in the rooms where decisions are made does not follow. It is asked to apply rules it did not write, and then judged for applying them without conviction.
Reform to strengthen. Widening the table does not undo the Organization; it consolidates it. A decision carried by those who will live with it weighs more than one received from above. Making representation fairer, in the organs as in the senior posts, restores to resolutions the authority they lack.
What the Secretariat can carry. The Secretary-General does not rewrite the Charter alone. He can refuse to let multilateralism remain the club of a few, open senior responsibilities to paths long kept aside, and remind the world that an institution keeps its authority only by resembling the world it claims to serve.
Experience in multilateral negotiation. Twelve years as head of state and the chairmanship of the African Union in 2022 underpin these commitments. That experience explains why the vision statement filed with the United Nations frames its proposals as obligations: peace, security and development conceived together; a renewed multilateralism; stronger governance of the Organization.
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