The United Nations and the African Union (AU) have worked in tandem since the AU’s establishment in 2002. During this time, their partnership has evolved to focus increasingly on conflict prevention and crisis management, culminating in the 2017 Joint UN-AU Framework for Enhanced Partnership in Peace and Security. But while the organizations’ collaboration on peacekeeping […]
Read moreRevitalizing Multilateral Cooperation
International Cooperation on Multilateral Approaches to Pandemics, Security, and Sustainable Development (COMPASS Initiative)
The COMPASS Initiative aims to provide timely analysis and solutions for governments and other stakeholders on multilateral approaches to pandemics. The aim is to strengthen and expand prevention and response to pandemic disease and its consequences across all sectors. Through this initiative, IPI is conducting two separate but interrelated work streams.
Preparation for a New International Instrument on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness, and Response
On March 30, 2021, the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), the President of the European Council, and 23 heads of government came together in a joint call for a new international treaty on pandemic preparedness and response. And on December 1st, the World Health Assembly passed a resolution in special session to launch a process to develop a WHO convention, agreement, or other international instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response. IPI is engaging in a series of consultations to assist member states in navigating the hard questions this process will present.
In 2021, IPI produced an inventory of existing fact-finding, verification, and compliance-monitoring mechanisms in the UN system to explore possible verification mechanisms that could be included in a framework convention. In 2022, IPI consulted with several small island developing states, including the Maldives and Fiji, in order to participate in the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body process, which began in March in Geneva.
Whole-of-System Approaches to Pandemic Preparedness and Response
The second area of COMPASS activities takes a holistic perspective on multilateral capabilities for pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response through dedicated analysis, convening, and strategic outreach over a period of three years (2021–2023). This includes a dedicated focus on the long-term consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. IPI’s convening and research have addressed the equitable distribution of vaccines in conflict-affected areas, health emergencies and gender, and the role of humanitarian actors in sustaining peace during a pandemic.
The Index of Multilateralism
In the past several years, there has been a much-discussed rise in strain on multilateralism. However, there have been few efforts to quantifiably assess the state of the multilateral system. The Multilateral Index, co-developed by IPI and the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), is the first known attempt to do so. It seeks to answer questions including: What is the state of the multilateral system? What is working? What is not? And how has the multilateral system changed over time?
IPI and IEP published a pilot version of the Multilateralism Index in 2022. It examines five domains of multilateral coordination: Peace and Security, Human Rights, Environment, Public Health, and Trade. The domains are evaluated using a total of sixty-five indicators across three dimensions: Participation, Performance, and Inclusivity. Overall, the index provides a basis for tracking the transformation of the multilateral system and informing decision making on the future of multilateralism. Future iterations of the index will be published biannually with additional indicators.
Staff
News, Events, Publications
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Foreign ministers from some 50 countries were welcomed by French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas on September 26th to the launch of the Alliance for Multilateralism, moderated by IPI President Terje Rød-Larsen. With nationalism and protectionism on the rise, this informal group of nations came together during United Nations […]
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Women’s rights are increasingly facing pushback with global trends towards populism and shifting centers of power. This pushback is also occurring at a time when preparations are being made to mark the anniversaries of key international commitments to women’s rights in 2020, including the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and Security Council Resolution 1325 […]
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Two foreign ministers recently took issue with the currently fashionable notion that patriotism and multilateralism are incompatible. The exchange took place during an IPI high-level panel on multilateral engagement for peace and security by small and medium states.“I think you can be a patriot and a multilateralist at the same time, and small states actually […]
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“Multilateralism has been highly relevant to the evolution of the arms control nuclear non-proliferation disarmament agenda,” Kevin Rudd, former Prime Minister of Australia and the Chair of IPI’s Board of Directors, told a September 23rd Policy Forum cosponsored by IPI and the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO). He cited the example of a key […]
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High-risk challenges are undermining the international rule-based order on multiple fronts. This view has been growing in acceptance for several years, and recent developments have reinforced the sense that the UN-based system of multilateral cooperation is “under siege.”Yet, international cooperation has never been more necessary. What is at stake in the weakening of the international […]
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“Those of us seeking to be active supporters of the UN over many years and decades understand very well that the system itself is under challenge, multilateralism as a concept of governance is under deep challenge,” IPI Chair Kevin Rudd told a United Nations event organized by IPI and the Office of the President of […]
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During an event in Tunis on December 13, 2018, IPI-MENA Director Nejib Friji warned against perils to world heritage and called on the international community to provide all conditions of protection and preservation.In a statement delivered at the opening plenary session of the Arab League Educational, Cultural, and Scientific Organization’s (ALECSO) Fourth Meeting of the […]
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Opening a discussion at IPI on Broader Perspectives on the UN of Today and Tomorrow, outgoing President of the United Nations General Assembly Miroslav Lajčák said the “sad reality” facing the international organization was that “multilateralism is under threat.” He said that principles on which the UN were founded are “no longer universally accepted and […]
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The global health architecture is increasingly under strain. Pandemics and epidemics are occurring at an unprecedented rate in recent years, and the Ebola crisis in particular revealed serious flaws in the capability of the system to prevent and respond to these crises. As the links between health, development, and security challenges become ever clearer, the […]
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