Kevin Rudd, the former Labor prime minister the Turnbull government declined to nominate as a candidate for secretary-general of the United Nations, says the international body is in trouble, and in danger of drifting into irrelevance.
In a commentary written for Guardian Australia, Rudd says there are questions about whether the UN remains fit for purpose to meet the needs of the international community “for the century unfolding before us”.
“The uncomfortable truth is that while the UN today is not broken, it is in trouble,” Rudd writes.
“The danger is that it is starting to drift into irrelevance as states increasingly walk around the UN on the most important questions facing the international community, seeking substantive solutions elsewhere, increasingly seeing the UN as a pleasant diplomatic afterthought.”
Malcolm Turnbull declined to nominate Rudd as a candidate for the UN secretary-general’s position on the basis he was unsuited to the role.
Rudd responded to that decision by making public correspondence recording many instances where Turnbull had offered him private support and encouragement for his long-running campaign for secretary-general.
The issue of whether or not to nominate Rudd for the position divided the Turnbull cabinet and sparked an outbreak of internal jostling and recriminations.
Rudd’s new commentary, published on Monday, indicates the former prime minister’s manifesto for reform at the UN was well advanced at the time the Coalition declined to nominate him.
Rudd notes that global geopolitics is in the middle of its “third great transformation since the last global war” – and the forces in the global economy have undergone a radical transformation since the post war period when the UN was established.
He says the need for global collaboration is at an “all-time high as we strive to respond to the globalisation of everything, from global financial instability, to the rise of global terrorism, the explosion in global people movements and the planetary imperatives from climate change.”
Given that, he contends legitimate questions arise about whether the UN remains fit for purpose.
Rudd says the UN is being required to adapt to new geopolitical challenges while being hampered by a “20th century international structure and culture”.
“The UN, like many old institutions, is being overwhelmed by the major systemic changes and challenges now buffeting the international community at large,” Rudd says.
“But this is compounded by the fact that UN has a 20th century institutional structure and culture, struggling to adapt to new 21st century realities.
“And the common concern for those who care about the institution’s future is that if it fails to adapt, the UN is likely to slowly slide into the shadowlands.”
Rudd says that need not be the case. “The UN is capable of reinventing itself. All 21st century institutions must do this in order to survive the pace and complexity of change around them. There is no point dreaming utopian dreams that the UN could be rebuilt from the ground up.”
He nominates a 10-point manifesto for change which deals with management culture at the UN.
Rudd says generational change is required at the organisation. “Many fine reform programs have been launched in the past, including by the current secretary general. But it is the responsibility of each generation to think afresh on the challenges of our own time.”
“And this responsibility will fall principally on the shoulders of the next UN secretary general.”
