LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Slowly but surely, the UN is becoming a force for change

In response to the article, The world cannot afford not to have

a UN (September 3), I wholeheartedly agree on the critical importance of the world body as a forum for engagement, co-operation and co-ordination between member states, particularly in today’s fractured political landscape. At the same time, there is no doubt that the world body is in need of significant reform, and must be made more reflective of 21st-century realities.

However, while the editor’s concern that high-level meetings rarely lead to resolutions may well ring true in some cases, I disagree that the two high-level meetings held in September last year on refugees and migrants yielded no fundamental changes.

On the contrary, at the first meeting, all 193 member states agreed that new mechanisms must be put in place to deal with the crisis of displacement and pledged that responsibility or burden-sharing should be shared more equitably by countries across the globe. At the second meeting, member states, including the United Arab Emirates, lined up to provide practical support to this pledge. While multilateral diplomacy can be frustratingly slow and rarely produces quick results, a process has been started that could radically transform for the better the way the world responds to forced displacement.

I hope that in the future we will all have cause to look back on the two meetings as being very consequential for our international community and very positive indeed. Toby Howard, UNHCR, Abu Dhabi

Unfortunately, the UN is but a shadow of its former self. Mustapha Ahmad, Abu Dhabi