Contributing Writers: Azad Ali, Tangerine Clarke,
George Alleyne, Nelson King,
Vinette K. Pryce, Bert Wilkinson
GENERAL INFORMATION (718) 260-2500
Caribbean L 10 ife, August 7, 2020
By Nicolas de Rivière
NEW YORK, July 31, 2020
(IPS) — “Reconciling the
requirements of the ideal with
the possibilities of the real”:
this is how Georges Bidault,
Minister for Foreign Affairs
and head of the French delegation
to the San Francisco
Conference, summed up
the objective pursued by the
drafters of the Charter of the
United Nations. On the still
living ashes of the Second
World War, the fathers of an
Organization charged with
developing friendly relations
between nations, promoting
human rights and economic
and social progress were less
utopian than visionary. They
understood that the community
of states should have
a common constitution. It
has been tested by conflict,
crisis and upheaval, but its
resilience and strength have
shaped the very structure of
contemporary international
relations.
The Charter brings us
together. It defines the United
Nations as “a centre for
harmonizing the actions of
nations,” where each member
is treated as an equal
across social, economic or
political differences. With the
quadrupling of the number
of contracting parties since
its inception, the Charter,
which has become universal,
truly expresses the values and
aspirations of humanity. That
is why France attaches so
much importance to ensuring
that diversity — cultural,
legal and linguistic — is duly
reflected within the Organization,
in its staff and in the
way it operates: the United
Nations has the heavy but
noble task of ensuring the
participation of all peoples in
international discussion. As
revealed by the major consultation
under way in the
context of the commemoration
of the seventy-fifth anniversary,
95 per cent of our
contemporaries believe that
only international cooperation
will make it possible to
respond to the challenges of
today and tomorrow. But it
must also reflect their voice.
The Charter is the summit
of an international order
based on law: Article 103 gives
it primacy over other international
legal instruments.
In the most difficult negotiations,
it remains the frame of
reference, and the precious
Blue Booklet is never far
away. It binds States as well
as the principal organs of the
United Nations. The Security
Council thus exercises its
responsibility as guarantor
of the maintenance of international
peace and security
within the strict framework
of the Charter, when deciding
on measures to combat
arms proliferation, establishing
peacekeeping operations,
authorizing the delivery of
cross-border humanitarian
aid to Syria or referring situations
to the International
Criminal Court. These decisions
must be respected by
all Member States in accordance
with Article 25 of the
Charter.
The Charter protects us.
The COVID-19 pandemic is a
wake-up call for multilateralism,
because the virus knows
no borders, and no one is
spared. The global and crosscutting
nature of the health
crisis logically points to the
United Nations as the only
truly universal and multisector
forum for responding to
it.
It is France’s profound
conviction that whenever we
accept that the resolution
of international crises takes
place outside the multilateral
framework, chaos threatens
to prevail. That is particularly
true today in the Middle
East, where the risk of
conflagration has never been
greater. At a time when civilian
populations have already
suffered too much from the
scourge of war and terrorism,
we need more than ever to
prevent a military spiral and
to put an end to the serious
human rights violations and
humanitarian disasters that
continue to take place, in this
region as in other parts of the
world.
As President Macron said
in his address to the General
Assembly on Sept. 24 2019,
in a world that has become
multipolar, we must reinvent
“strong multilateralism”, as
opposed to the temptation of
national withdrawal. It was
on the basis of that conviction
that last year France,
together with Germany,
launched an Alliance for Multilateralism,
a flexible framework
bringing together countries
of good will that wish to
promote both the multilateral
method and concrete initiatives
in various areas that
illustrate its importance.
By Rita Joseph
As predominantly Black
communities throughout
New York City are ravaged by
COVID-19, the city has been
reminded of something it is a
privilege to forget: the intense
racial disparities that exist in
healthcare access and quality,
here and across the United
States. Though any strain this
daunting reality puts on families
of color is appalling, in no
aspect of life is systemic racism
in healthcare more agonizing
than in regards to maternal
care.
Black women in New York
City are 12 times more likely
to die from pregnancy-related
causes than non-Hispanic
white women. That is, for
every family grieving the loss
of a white mother, there are 12
other Black families suffering
this same, unbearable trauma.
As a mother, it pains me that
for so many one of the greatest
blessings in life is clouded by
such devastation and crushing
despair.
In 2018, the de Blasio administration
said Black non-Hispanic
women were eight times
more likely to die of pregnancy
related complications than
white women– a rate much
higher than the national average
. What may be even more
shocking is that racially disparate
maternal mortality rates
have actually been increasing
in our city in recent years.
Over the past decade, New York
has experienced a 60 percent
increase in maternal mortality.
And though infant mortality
is at an all time low across the
city, according to the Citizens’
Committee for Children of New
York, Black infant mortality is
still three times higher than
that non-Hispanic white children.
Strikingly, the four communities
with the highest rates
of severe maternal morbidity
are all in Brooklyn, according
to a report published by the
New York City Department of
Health and Mental Hygiene.
Why, in a city which praises
its own technological prowess
and medical advancements,
are Black mothers and children
dying at rates comparable or
worse than those of developing
nations?
To answer that question we
as New Yorkers must realize
that the implicit and explicit
biases exhibited by those inside
hospitals are only a piece of
the puzzle. The systemic racism
that exists outside of the
healthcare system plays as
much of a role in racial maternal
and infant mortality disparities
as that inside it.
According to a recent study
done by the National Institute
for Children’s Health Quality,
though redlining in the city
was banned more than 50 years
ago, 3 out of 4 once redlined
communities still struggle
economically, meaning these
communities continue to have
unequal access to resources
that affect birth outcomes and
general well-being. Many of
those living in these communities
lack accessible grocery
stores, also known as living in
a “food desert,” which makes
it far more difficult for expectant
mothers to find food that is
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The Charter of the UN: Ideals
for shaping our reality
Racial disparities in
maternal mortality
Nicolas de Riviere, Permanent
Representative of
France to the United Nations.
UN Photo/Laura Jarriel
/schnepsmedia.com
