The issue of multilateralism has jumped in recent months to the global focus, especially with the arrival of President Donald Trump to the United States.
The withdrawal of support to institutions such as the USAID or The upload of tariffs are issues that have monopolized worldwide attention.
Edmond Mulet, in his analysis for Free press, He says: We need to defend multilateralism, the only way to ensure the interests of medium and small countries, such as ours, in Latin America.
We are going through a crisis: the return to an imperial world, of spheres of influence, threats to impose the law of the jungle, the will of the strongest, They start calling “a new order.” But, instead of retreating, we need to rebuild an international architecture, which is the only alternative to avoid chaos, the next wars or to accelerate the way back to peace.
The challenge began three years ago, with the invasion of Russia to Ukraine. This encouraged powers such as China or Israel to expand its borders, even Rwanda in Congo.
Now we all breathe uncertainly after the threats of US president, Donald Trump, of annexing Greenland, by force the channel of Panama, expel two million Palestinians from Gaza, swing possible bomb attacks in Mexico or encourage attacks against former European allies that do not pay their quotas in the organization of the North Atlantic Treaty (Otán).
In international relations, there have always been two paths: impose the will of the greats by force or build international spaces and agreements that become laws that all countries undertake to follow. The first is known as uni-latealism-one imposes its strength-and the second, multi-latealism-multiple reach agreements.
In the world there are large, medium and small countries. With weapons or without weapons. With resources or without resources. Latin America and the Caribbean We are a small continent in the population, with 9 percent of people And almost 20 percent of the land, with many resources and relatively few weapons to defend them.
Formed by small and medium countries, having a vocation for dialogue and multilateralism has been part of our identity, by our values and to defend our interests.
In the midst of this shock therapy of the promoters of the “new order”, the world needs Latin America.
Our International Union of the American Republics of 1890, predecessor of the Organization of American States (OAS), It is the world’s regional regional association and inspired other regional unions. A third of the Founding countries of the UN in 1945 were Latin American.
We have to contribute our voice and our efforts for a return to global civility. A concrete example of multilateral success: force the end of chemical weapons.
Chemical weapons are brutal, indiscriminately kill non -combatant populations; Chlorine, mustard and gas gas pumps. The most terrible of all is Sarin gas, Because it is toilet and colorless. In 1925, after World War I, the world agreed, multilaterally, that chemical weapons would be prohibited.
In the Syrian Civil War, between 2013 and 2014, bombs exploded with all the characteristics that indicated that they were chemical. The United States took the case to the UN Security Council, because a red line was crossing.
The Syrian dictatorship and its ally Russia would never have allowed US inspectors to verify if chemical weapons had been used in Syria. But in a consensus between powers, the UN Security Council ordered an independent verification and created the mechanism to investigate the use of chemical weapons in Syria, In 2017. At the head of that mechanism they appointed a Latin American, a Guatemalan, who responds to the name of Edmond Mulet and is the one who writes these lines.
Despite the pressures and risks, we were able to collect the evidence and take them to three independent laboratories of the International Organization for the Prevention of Chemical Weapons (OPAQ), which is based in The Hague.
With scientific bases, we were able to verify that the Government of Syria was using chemical weapons against its own population. This forced Syria to subscribe the OPAQ treaty and prevent chemical weapons from using again.
This is a concrete sample of how multilateralism can work to end the use of some of the worst weapons that humanity has created, chemical weapons, or how it has stopped the use of nuclear weapons for 80 years, From Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The phrase of Dag Hammarskjold, second UN Secretary General (1953-1961), summarizes its function: “The UN was not created to bring humanity to heaven, it was to save her from hell.” Without diplomacy and multilateralism, we do not know if our planet or our species would continue to exist.
Multilateralism and the law of the jungle
The brutal experience of World War II, with the Holocaust and nuclear bombs, 80 years ago, was a shake for humanity. Maybe he spent so long that we are forgetting.
But from that watershed, small, medium and large countries build an international legality for differences, Common conflicts and problems are solved through dialogue, Mediation and international institutions.
It was agreed among all that the coexistence between countries respect the principle of non -intervention in the affairs of the other and the self -determination of the peoples. Small and medium countries gain legal parity with respect to the great powers. While it has deficiencies and needs renovations, multilateralism has allowed international peace, security and development.
Multilateralism has evolved in response to global challenges such as wars, migrations, poverty, climate change, terrorism or pandemics, reflecting the need for cooperation to address problems that transcend national borders.
Interpol is another sign of multilateral collaboration to fight crime. Even the ultra -land space is regulated thanks to a 1967 multilateral treaty. The United Nations Ultra -Site Space Affairs Office is responsible for promoting international cooperation in the use of ultra -rester space for peaceful purposes.
“Instead of retreating, we need to rebuild
An international architecture, which is the only alternative to avoid chaos. ”
The site of nuclear weapons or any types of weapons of mass destruction in the ultra -resters space is prohibited and the parking of these weapons in celestial bodies.
It is not that multilerate consciousness was born to humans in the twentieth century. One of the paradigmatic background occurred some time ago: the Hanseatic League, which worked since 1368, for several centuries. This was made up of up to 200 free cities, which worked together in the construction of bridges and roads, channels, headlights, shelters and other infrastructure; developed agriculture and industrial techniques.
The League established “embassies” or commercial offices in England, Germany, Scandinavia, Flanders – today Netherlands – and even some cities of what is today Portugal or Russia; and fought smuggling. From the learning we have had of that experience of Hanseatic administration of the seas, we arrive at the 1959 Antarctic Treaty. The continent of the South Pole does not belong to any country.
Among all multilateral experiences, which takes Las Palmas is the European Union. Not only did he maintain peace among former European enemies, he produced great development for his member countries and his citizens, but has impacts on the rest of the world.
It contributes to peace and safety and sustainable development of the planet; support solidarity and mutual respect between peoples, free and fair trade, the eradication of poverty and the protection of human rights. It does not negotiate with blackmail or spurious interests, but by values, and that is why it is firm in the strict respect of international law. The EU is the clearest and most successful example of multilateralism.
The alternatives
These attacks of the promoters of the Jungle Law are not the end of history. There is nothing written and we can refute them. This architecture has taken decades to be built and maintained.
We need, as Latin Americans, to take advantage of it in these moments of crisis, to think about bold forms and effective to defend multilateralism and diplomacy as an alternative, Perhaps to build a new multipolar order, but that defends the rights and interests of large, medium and small nations.
Given the current situation, with the weakening of multilateral international instances, it corresponds to regional organizations – European union – and in the case of Guatemala, the OAS and the Central American system, strengthen the consultation mechanisms, accelerate the integration processes, expand the spaces for dialogue and reaffirm the values and principles that have based, with shocks and exceptions, the common life in our continent.
The OAS can be that lighthouse that guides the route in the turbulent waters that we have to navigate and show the coordinates so that, not only our continent, but the entire world, I arrive at the port of common sense, civility and mutual respect.