MOVING ON: A UN WITHOUT U.S.

WHEN Donald Trump signed an executive order a few weeks ago withdrawing the US from 66 international organisations, including 31 entities linked to the United Nations, he did not merely thin out America’s diplomatic footprint around the world.

- ED MATHEW

He took a wrecking ball to the architecture of global cooperation and consensus-building that Washington itself had designed and financed since the end of the Second World War. It was indeed a declaration of war on multilateralism.

The order severed US ties with a sweeping array of bodies spanning international security, law, trade, energy, climate, development and human rights. Among the victims is the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Global Counterterrorism Forum, International Energy Forum, anda string of UN-linked mechanisms such as Peacebuilding Commission and UN Population Fund. Washington also left the International Solar Alliance, led by India and France, that was unveiled by Narendra Modi and Francois Hollande at Paris in November 2015. The sweeping exits signal not only Trump’s contempt for collective governance but also his refusal to endorse international cooperation.

This purge comes on top of earlier exits from Unesco and the UN Human Rights Council, alongside the effective dismantling of USAID. It is being accompanied by slashes of more than $2 billion to the UN system, including an $800-million cut in peacekeeping funds. These moves have forced the organisation to shrink its peace missions by a quarter and prepare for staff cuts approaching 20 percent.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres regretted the decisions, but reiterated the organisation’s responsibility “to continue to carry out our mandates with determination”.