Africa is calling for the UN Security Council to be reformed in order to change it from an exclusive club of five permanent members to a more representative global council that serves the interests of the entire globe. As part of this appeal, Africa is demanding two permanent seats on the council.
In his speech to the third Pan-African Parliamentarians Summit on Climate Policy and Justice in Midrand, Johannesburg, President William Ruto, the chair of the Committee of African Heads of State and Governments on Climate Change (CAHOSCC), emphasized Africa’s strong position, noting that despite the UN’s importance as a forum for conducting international affairs in diplomacy, peace, security, and trade, among other areas, Africa still finds itself at a disadvantage due to the UN.
The President also disclosed that African leaders have decided to evaluate the partnership summits by outside parties in order to provide an effective framework for African Union partnerships. This is done in order to engage in meaningful discussions with international partners. “We will no longer accept an invitation from more than 50 Heads of State and Government to a summit where they are given less than two minutes to speak, paraded for a photo opportunity, and then returned empty-handed.”
The time has come, according to Ruto, for Africa to be brave, powerful, and determined enough to address its problems with more cohesion and dedication. “It is time to expand the Pan-African dream of our forefathers into a brave new world to leave a better, more secure, and prosperous Africa to the people of Africa and our future generations that plays its role and contributes fully to global affairs.”
In response to the discussion surrounding climate change, the Head of State stated that an opportunistic emphasis on climate action is the single most crucial priority commitment that will lead the continent to lasting security, sustainable stability, and shared prosperity. “Our continent’s abundant natural resources, enormous supply of untapped green renewable energy, and young demographic profile are precisely the fundamental components needed to mitigate and then reverse climate change while igniting a new green industrial revolution,” says the report.
According to President Ruto, the present generation of African leaders has a historic mandate to change the discourse about the continent, which has too frequently centered on the problems and challenges it faces and portrayed Africa as chronically weak, always fragile, and always unable. We have the chance to mobilize and empower our workforce in order to drive change, draw in funding, and spark international relationships and collaborations.
In order to speak for Africans on all matters impacting every domain and sector of individual and group endeavor, members of the Pan-African Parliament were asked to take the initiative.
The continent’s representative on the Committee of Heads of State and Government on Climate Change expresses worry about common viewpoints that frequently cast wealth in a cynical light as incompatible with environmental sustainability and push Africa to the periphery of the global agenda.
He charged that many of Africa’s allies avoided the subject, made it challenging and uncomfortable, and explicitly and subtly encouraged Africa to concentrate on dealing with the effects of climate change because it is presumed that only those in the global North are capable of resolving a problem of this size and scope on a global scale. This unfair dynamic is unneeded and wrong, and it simply keeps us from reaching our full potential.