ABSTRACT
In flagrant violation of international law, Russia has invaded Ukraine. It invokes a right to intervene on humanitarian and security grounds despite the necessary pre-conditions, including UN Security Council endorsement, being absent. In Myanmar, the February Citation2021 military coup has ushered in a new era of serious repression of citizens, violent conflict and human rights violations. ASEAN's 2021 five-point consensus to end the violence and promote conciliation has been largely ignored. These are but two of a number of current global threats which defy unilateral resolution and demand multilateral responses. Others are the looming disasters provoked by climate change;the ongoing Covid pandemic;conflict and the threat of conflict from Syria and Yemen to the South China Sea;the return of repressive Taliban rule in Afghanistan;ferocious civil war in Ethiopia;historically high refugee displacement;and mass migratory movements.At a time when ‘the only certainty is more uncertainty', countries must unite to forge a new, more hopeful and equal path, UN Secretary-General António Guterres (SG) told the General Assembly on 21 January 2022. In laying out his priorities for 2022, he observed, "We face a five-alarm global fire that requires the full mobilisation of all countries”, – the raging COVID-19 pandemic, a morally bankrupt global financial system, the climate crisis, lawlessness in cyberspace, and diminished peace and security. He stressed that countries must go into emergency mode.