{"id":115578,"date":"2020-08-20T22:05:09","date_gmt":"2020-08-21T02:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/?p=115578"},"modified":"2020-08-20T22:05:09","modified_gmt":"2020-08-21T02:05:09","slug":"commentary-covid-19-and-its-consequences-for-caribbean-diplomacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/commentary-covid-19-and-its-consequences-for-caribbean-diplomacy\/","title":{"rendered":"COMMENTARY: Covid-19 and its consequences for Caribbean diplomacy"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Sir Ronald Sanders\u00a0<\/b><\/p>

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(The writer is Antigua and Barbuda\u2019s Ambassador to the U.S. and the OAS.\u00a0\u00a0He is also a senior fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies at the University of London and at Massey College in the University of Toronto.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The view expressed are entirely his own)\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

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The COVID-19 pandemic is severely limiting the work of diplomacy.\u00a0\u00a0It could have a lasting adverse effect on international relations if finding a vaccine continues to elude global researchers for much longer.<\/p>

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Critical to the work of diplomacy, at every level, is interpersonal contacts at which relationships are forged, attempts are made to iron-out differences, or, at least, some deal is struck \u2013 even if it is to defer divisive decisions.<\/p>

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But the protocols of managing the coronavirus has halted such contacts.\u00a0\u00a0Physical meetings and conferences have been replaced by constrained, strait-jacketed, virtual meetings.\u00a0\u00a0Restaurants, famous as venues for deal-making, are firmly shut.\u00a0\u00a0The result is that off the record discussions are simply not possible.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There would be few in the diplomatic world who do not assume that telephone calls, and discussions on virtual digital platforms are not recorded \u2013 therefore as little as possible is said, constraining the possibility of compromise.<\/p>\n

Since March, it has been impossible for diplomats in international organisations, such as the United Nations bodies and the Organization of American States (OAS), to conduct face to face meetings either in Councils or in one-on-one discussions.<\/p>

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In Washington, for instance, US government buildings, offices of members of the US Congress, and Embassies have been closed to the public with most officials and diplomats forced to work from home.\u00a0\u00a0Meetings, conferences, and bilateral discussions have had to be held on virtual digital platforms like Zoom and Kudo.\u00a0\u00a0But while these meetings are better than nothing, they are inadequate to the task of diplomacy much of which relies on interpersonal contacts.<\/p>\n

The OAS now holds all meetings of its Permanent Council and Committees through a virtual platform.\u00a0\u00a0Subsequently, representatives make speeches at each other.\u00a0\u00a0Lost is the opportunity for dialogue that could help to bridge the divide between governments.\u00a0\u00a0Meetings lack spontaneity and flexibility.\u00a0\u00a0Often, they are interrupted by failures in technology.<\/p>

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The most significant injury to multilateral diplomacy is that diplomats cannot negotiate effectively by disembodied virtual means.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0For example, negotiating resolutions and declarations is a painstaking process in which every word matters.\u00a0\u00a0One word could change both meaning and intent.\u00a0\u00a0Therefore, great care is placed on the consequences of the use of a word to a country.\u00a0\u00a0As an example, the words \u201cClimate Change\u201d and \u201cGlobal Warming\u201d, much as they represent existence and survival to small states, conjure a different importance for industrialized countries, particularly those that deny the existence of both phenomena.\u00a0\u00a0The intense negotiations, required to reach an understanding, if not an agreement, on the use of these terms, are undercut by the restricted nature of online meetings.<\/p>

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One of the big challenges that the OAS will face in October is how to persuade Foreign Ministers from 33 countries to sit in front of their computers at home over two days to participate in the Organization’s General Assembly, its highest decision-making body.\u00a0\u00a0The meeting will be held in name, but its quality will be gravely undermined.<\/p>\n

General Assemblies are more effective for the opportunity they provide for Ministers to talk with each other outside the formal Council.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It is in the corridors and in the lounges that problems are overcome, new relationships are forged, and old ones strengthened.\u00a0\u00a0There will be no such opportunity this year.\u00a0\u00a0Indeed, a raft of new Foreign Ministers, including three new ones from Guyana, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago, will not have the chance to meet their counterparts from the US, Canada, and Latin America.<\/p>\n

The problem is also acute at the United Nations both at the levels of the Security Council and the General Assembly. Up to July, the Security Council could not vote on important issues because its rules do not allow for such voting at informal meetings which is how virtual meetings are characterized.<\/p>\n

Recently, representatives have gathered physically once a week to vote on some important issues, but, even so, the work of the Security Council is greatly delayed and impaired.\u00a0\u00a0Significantly, this has suited the bigger powers that have taken advantage of Security Council paralysis to advance their national positions, and even their rivalry.<\/p>\n

Similarly, in the UN General Assembly, no formal electronic voting system has been established because some members still resist it. Consequently, resolutions can only pass by consensus of all member states.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Since such consensus cannot be negotiated, only minimal compromises are made. That, too, suits the few giant nations, long intolerant of the many dwarf countries.<\/p>\n

All of this makes the world a less safe place. It provides the opportunity for powerful countries, which have the capacity for non-commercial travel, to make arrangements with other countries, outside of the multilateral system.\u00a0\u00a0Invariably, these arrangements serve the interests of the more powerful government.<\/p>\n

There is no question that meetings held on virtual platforms have proven that they are beneficial for some purposes.\u00a0\u00a0If they continue, they will save governments and businesses a great deal of money that, hitherto, had been spent on travel and accommodation.\u00a0\u00a0They should be retained for routine meetings on non-controversial issues.<\/p>\n

But for hard-bargaining and on matters that require careful negotiation, virtual meetings are unhelpful to diplomacy whose effectiveness depends on interpersonal contacts, building relationships and the ability to explore possibilities that are not formally on the table.<\/p>\n

Small states, like those in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) are being left out \u2013 and left behind.\u00a0\u00a0Unlike powerful states, they need a functioning multilateral system in which to represent their interests \u2013 right now that system is fractured even more than it was prior\u00a0to COVID-19.<\/p>\n

The effects of the pandemic have limited the diplomacy of Caribbean state, including their capacity to negotiate with the nations whose policies most greatly affect them.<\/p>\n

This situation calls for more cohesive policies by CARICOM governments and collective action by all of them in every international organisation.<\/p>\n

Responses and previous commentaries:\u00a0www.sirronaldsanders.com<\/a>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

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By Sir Ronald Sanders\u00a0 (The writer is Antigua and Barbuda\u2019s Ambassador to the U.S. and the OAS.\u00a0\u00a0He is also a senior fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies at the University of London and at Massey College in the University of Toronto.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The view expressed are entirely his own)\u00a0 \u00a0 The COVID-19 pandemic is severely limiting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":61361,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-115578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nCOMMENTARY: Covid-19 and its consequences for Caribbean diplomacy - Antigua News Room<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/commentary-covid-19-and-its-consequences-for-caribbean-diplomacy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"COMMENTARY: Covid-19 and its consequences for Caribbean diplomacy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Sir Ronald Sanders\u00a0 (The writer is Antigua and Barbuda\u2019s Ambassador to the U.S. and the OAS.\u00a0\u00a0He is also a senior fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies at the University of London and at Massey College in the University of Toronto.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The view expressed are entirely his own)\u00a0 \u00a0 The COVID-19 pandemic is severely limiting […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/commentary-covid-19-and-its-consequences-for-caribbean-diplomacy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Antigua News Room\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/antiguanewsroom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-08-21T02:05:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Sir.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1933\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1289\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Editor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AntiguaNewsRoom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AntiguaNewsRoom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Editor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/commentary-covid-19-and-its-consequences-for-caribbean-diplomacy\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/commentary-covid-19-and-its-consequences-for-caribbean-diplomacy\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Editor\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/person\/36cac05ef6398fe56ae3e6317f8535c5\"},\"headline\":\"COMMENTARY: Covid-19 and its consequences for Caribbean diplomacy\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-08-21T02:05:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-08-21T02:05:09+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/commentary-covid-19-and-its-consequences-for-caribbean-diplomacy\/\"},\"wordCount\":1027,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/commentary-covid-19-and-its-consequences-for-caribbean-diplomacy\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1619\/h:1080\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Sir.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/commentary-covid-19-and-its-consequences-for-caribbean-diplomacy\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/commentary-covid-19-and-its-consequences-for-caribbean-diplomacy\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/commentary-covid-19-and-its-consequences-for-caribbean-diplomacy\/\",\"name\":\"COMMENTARY: Covid-19 and its consequences for Caribbean diplomacy - 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