Chef de Cabinet to the Director-General, United Nations Office at Geneva David A. Chikvaidze asserts that we are on the verge of blundering into something far more devastating than the world has experienced before for a variety of reasons, not least among them, rapidly deteriorated relations among the most heavily armed and powerful States through the deliberate dismantling of disarmament commitments, a climate crisis wreaking havoc around the world, intrastate and regional armed conflicts threatening millions, dire poverty in large parts of the world, refugee flows at record levels, rampant inequality both between and within countries, escalating disputes over trade, sky-high debt, threats to the rule of law, attacks on the media and civil society resulting in mistrust among peoples, countries, communities and societies. Add to these, Chikvaidze points out that the ‘game-changing’ COVID-19 pandemic and what the world has before it, is a stage set for planetary calamity. In this fast-changing environment, new diplomatic policies and practices based on the　principles of solidarity and inclusiveness are urgently needed, bringing together all relevant　actors, from civil society, think tanks, academia to regional development banks. The collective response has an uneven record, with tensions often undermining the effectiveness of multilateral decision-making processes. But the world needs to be optimistic and hopeful. He advises that we should pull back from the precipice in time. Modern multilateralism is the only way to do this. Please click here for the full text of his paper published by Cadmus, Volume 4, Issue 2-Paln 2 – June 2020.

The spread and unprecedented impact of the new coronavirus has revealed a wide range of vulnerabilities that human society should overcome as a human community. We are concerned that this pandemic poses a threat to the peace and security of humankind, and in order to overcome it, we need to aim at restoring multilateralism and building new global governance for conflict and disaster prevention.

Online Extraordinary Meeting of the GPAJ General Assembly elected Mr. Ken INOUE, former Senior Advisor on Democratic Governance, Ambassador Motoo NOGUCHI and Ambassador Yasuyoshi KOMIZO as new members of the Board of Directors which in turn appointed Mr. Ken INOUE and Professor KUMAGAI Vice Presidents.

As countries around the globe struggle to combat the new coronavirus pandemic, there is an urgent need for nation states to work together in handling this issue. Over 70 years ago, Albert Einstein and others developed the concept of a world federation as a remedy for dealing with such problems. In the midst of our fight against the evil of the new coronavirus, we have an opportunity to look to the future and deepen discussions toward forming a UN Parliamentary Assembly, then after that a world parliament and ultimately a world federation. Such a structure will transcend the Westphalian system of government to foster unity and cooperation between countries.