Reshaping the International Order through Human Rights and “Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration” Implementation in Multilateral Organizations

The impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine has been felt by all nations, with significant consequences in terms of inflationary pressures, rising energy and commodity prices, food shortages, and the expenditure of billions of dollars previously earmarked to alleviate poverty and climate change. While multilateral organizations have relentlessly advocated for an immediate end to the war, shared core values are at stake as missile destruction and its mounting devastation surge, calling into question the ability of leading democratic institutions to avert human suffering. These hardships test not only the longstanding solidarity of the United States, the European Union, and other nations, including Japan, and the strengthened resolve of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization but also the Group of Seven (G7). As the conflict positions the G7 at the epicenter of the world’s hopes, it must rethink and recommend alternative pathways for the United Nations (UN) to fulfill its charter as the world’s premier promoter of peace and as an arbiter of justice through international humanitarian law and international human rights law. Three recommendations are now proposed concerning the UN for G7 consideration: (i) steadily shift permanent membership in the UN Security Council, with its attendant veto power, away from the victors of World War II to nations whose recent history best reflects the UN Charter’s emphasis on human rights concerning peremptory norms (jus cogens), obligations toward all (ergo omnes), and international crimes; (ii) expand the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, or establish a permanent tribunal to prevent and punish atrocities and create legal mechanisms to strengthen human rights orthodoxy and orthopraxis in UN member and observer states; and (iii) challenge the negative perception that the UN is a vehicle for Western dominance and imperialism over nations in the East (and vice-versa) and throughout the Global South by adhering to tools of diplomacy and development, such as the UN Integrated Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration Standard. In the spirit of the UN, these recommendations collectively create an international communal society that functions by open rules rather than by force, values based on dialogical approaches rather than demonization of “the other”, and democratic liberalism that values peace, justice, and national sovereignty.