Mohamed Chebaro

The world was last week on the brink of something akin to a mini-catastrophe or a major war, which could have easily slipped into a nuclear confrontation. Amid the missiles and dust, everyone seemed stunned into inaction, despite the repeated mantras of the need for calm and restraint and to let diplomacy take its course. It was evident that all international powers lacked the desire, interest or even basic human empathy to work for peace in an optimistic way.

All this coincided with the 80th anniversary of the signing of the UN Charter — a collaborative dream that became reality from the ashes of the Second World War. However, we all agree that there was little to celebrate. In an increasingly contentious and fragmented world, people, nations and global actors need to dig deep to revive collaboration and multilateralism. Above all, they need to find the optimism and moral resolve to work together and build common ground as nation states, either within or outside the UN, as they have done for the past 80 years.

When the UN was born in San Francisco on June 26, 1945, the overriding goal of the 50 participants who signed the charter was stated in its preamble: “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.” US President Harry Truman explained that the “job will tax the moral strength and fiber of us all,” pointing out that the UN Charter would be useless........

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