Global call for boosting UN system amid 75th anniversary

UNITED NATIONS, Sept 19 (Xinhua): Ahead of the high-level meeting to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the United Nations, a group of prominent former government and UN leaders are calling for strengthening the UN system.
In an open letter - A Time for Renewal: Calling for a Strengthened Multilateral System - released Friday, 48 former UN and government officials from around the world expect the 75th anniversary of the 193-nation body to lead to "a stronger, more accountable, inclusive multilateral system."
According to the letter obtained by Xinhua, the leaders said "the institutional framework of global governance, with the United Nations at its core, must do more to provide the guidance, leadership and decisions required to ensure human safety, security and sustainable development in our interdependent world."
"From climate change to human rights, gender and racial equality, and from sustainable development to international peace and security - the international community should honor its commitments to the UN's founding Charter, Agenda 2030 and the Paris Agreement," they said.
"There is an urgent need for an explicit recognition by global leaders that we are at a turning point and must act decisively to defend and rejuvenate multilateralism," they added, stressing that recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic needs national leadership and effective global cooperation.
According to Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, "Multilateralism is not an option: it is the only path that can deliver a green, sustainable and equitable recovery."