BARBADOS TOPS the newly-introduced United Nations (UN) Multilateralism Index which ranks countries based on their engagement with the UN system.
According to the 2024 Sustainable Development Report, Barbados is first with a score of 92, followed by Antigua and Barbuda with 91.1, Uruguay 90.7, Mauritius 89.7 and the Maldives 88.8. Jamaica is sixth with 88.7 and Trinidad and Tobago 15th with 85.5 points. Other CARICOM countries are scattered across the index.
Ironically, countries like Denmark and Sweden, who normally top these indices, are ranked 106th and 107th, respectively, on 68.6 and 68.5 points.
The United States brings up the rear at 193 with a mere 15.8. It finds itself in company that included Somalia at 192 with 23.6 points, South Sudan one place up on 24.1, Israel on 29 and the Democratic Republic of Korea, commonly known as North Korea, in 189th position with 31.7 points.
According to the report, countries are ranked based on six indicators: 1. Ratification of major UN treaties.
2. Percentage of votes aligned with the international majority at the UN General Assembly.
3. Participation in selected UN organisations and agencies.
4. Participation in conflicts
and militarisation.
5. The use of unilateral coercive measures.
6. Contribute to the UN budget and international solidarity.
“This indicator covers 59 conventions, international conventions and agreements adopted by the United Nations from 1946 to 2023, including those adopted before 1946 that were later added to the UN treaty system. It covers UN instruments ratified by more than 50 per cent of the international community,” the report stated.
“It excludes protocols, optional protocols and amendments, as well as conventions that were later terminated or only applied to a small number of countries. We recorded whether member states have signed or ratified them. Signature of a treaty is not legally binding, however, ratification (or acceptance, accession, definitive signature, and succession) is.”
About 80 per cent of the 193 UN member states have ratified at least seven of these, but “the United States is among only nine countries that have ratified fewer than four, and the only one of the G20 and large countries to have ratified fewer than five”. ( SAT)
