Open letter to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres

Antonio Guterres, Sir: 

It is now 17 years that you have held a high-ranking position within the United Nations system, first as high commissioner for refugees and, since 2017, as secretary general of the organization. During these 17 years you have scrupulously abided by the No 1 unwritten rule that applies to all international civil servants who wish to pursue a successful career: “Don’t tread on the members’ toes.”

Granted, over the years you have denounced the high interest rates paid by African countries on their debt, warned against provocations in the Middle East, protested against child mortality in poor countries, promoted the rights of women, lamented the number of refugees created by the crisis in Ukraine and highlighted the effects of climate change. In other words, you have made all the right noises, albeit with little effect.

You are currently serving your second and last term as UN secretary general, which means you have nothing to lose in terms of career prospects. So maybe the time has come for you, Sir, to step down from your lectern and stand up to the occasion.

There is a war going on in Ukraine. Not only is the humane cost insupportable but the consequences have reached a global dimension. Confronted with the largest conflict since the end of the Second World War, your organization, the political UN, is absent. Yes, you were part of a deal regarding the transport of some cereals. But that was inconsequential as regards the larger picture, and in the meantime the war goes on.

Currently, both warring parties and their allies claim that they will stand for nothing less than “victory,” whatever their definition of “victory” might be. That is at best a hollow contention. Ultimately, given the means available to all sides, the future holds little more than either compromise or a potential nuclear escalation.

So the time has come for you to stand up, find your voice, dispense with your cohort of habitual banalities and put a plan squarely on the table. Not only should this be your own, personal plan but it should be presented directly to the General Assembly, bypassing the Security Council, where it would inevitably founder.

The plan, or more specifically your plan, should include the following fundamentals:

First, an immediate and total ceasefire.

Second, the Donbas should be placed under United Nations administration for a period of 10 years. This administration should be buttressed by a strong component of UN peacekeeping troops from countries with effective and modern militaries such as South Korea, Japan, China, India, Turkey, Israel and the like.

Third, during that 10-year period a major reconstruction effort will be undertaken, and all previous inhabitants of the region will be freely allowed to return.

Fourth, at the closure of the 10-year period a series of referenda will be held to enable the population to decide which country they wish to belong to.

Fifth, Crimea should be recognized as part of Ukraine, which would lease it to Russia for a 99-year period, subject to renewal.

Sixth, the process should be paralleled by a progressive lifting of sanctions. 

Mr Secretary General, wars generally end either by the defeat of one of the parties or by a negotiation. Currently, all the parties to the war in Ukraine are in a “defeat” mode, if only for the fact that no alternative is on the table. It behooves you to present such an alternative.

However, should you be unwilling or feel  incapable of doing so, you might consider stepping aside in the hope that the UN member states will then choose to elect a secretary general whose sense of duty to the principles enunciated by the UN Charter will not be inhibited by the inclination to be all things to all people.