‘Violence will only delay the problem’: UN Assembly President on trust, AI and lessons from the Rohingya crisis

Bangladesh’s top diplomat and incumbent foreign minister has staked his one-year term as president on one ambition: restoring trust.

This is a theme he frequently addresses, tracing back the optimism of the UN’s founding in 1945 and the gap between what member states hoped for at the time and what the organization has produced since.

As High Level Week is about to begin – the busiest week on the UN calendar, the largest gathering of world leaders in one place on earth – Mr. Rahman sat together UN News to discuss what a “much-needed transformation” actually looks like, why he believes artificial intelligence is a test the UN has never faced before, and what lessons he can glean from his work on the Rohingya crisis.

He also expressed criticism that the assembly was toothless when compared to traffic jams Security Counciland reflects on the moment, more than four decades after serving as his own foreign minister during Bangladesh’s previous leadership of the assembly, that brought him back to lead the assembly himself.

UN News: High Level Week is underway. What are your hopes, and what do you hope world leaders take away?

Khalilur Rahman: High Level Week is the most powerful manifestation of the power of UN meetings. This is an opportunity to hear directly from those who govern our society – how they view the world, their region, their own country and what they expect from the UN.

One of the things I look for most is what they say about reviving trust in the organization. It was the highlight of my presidency. I have made this agenda my own theme, and I want to use their views to guide my work on this agenda.

UN News: Restoring trust is at the heart of your presidency. What’s it like in practice, and how do you know if you’re successful?

Khalilur Rahman: Back to 1945 at the time of the formation of this Organization. At Yalta that year, Presidents Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill met for about eight days. Apart from making arrangements to end the war, they also designed a world organization whose main goal was to prevent the recurrence of conflicts such as those that occurred in the two world wars.

When the UN was officially formed in San Francisco, the delegates gave a standing ovation and remained standing for some time. This represents the aspiration for the UN to be able to provide peace.

And I’m happy to say that in the eight decades since, we’ve avoided large-scale global fires. Countries that did not participate in the negotiations later emerged from colonial rule and established strong development pillars at the UN.

But at the same time, we have not prevented many conflicts, and development progress is often slow. We must work hard to ensure that the Security Council works more coherently and delivers the desired results.

Both pillars had high expectations that were not met, and this led to frustration – the feeling that the UN was not doing what the public expected. This has triggered a decline in trust.

I should also mention human rights, our third pillar: we spend only four percent of our total expenditure on it. We have made great progress, but there is still much to do.

We must work hard with these three pillars to restore the trust that the organization had when it was founded. This is a major challenge and requires all member states and stakeholders to work together.

UN News: You said it’s not 1945, and the world has moved forward. What real change do you want to convey?

Khalilur Rahman: Artificial intelligence [AI]. This may be a huge acceleration in human endeavor, but if you believe the doomsday predictions of some great figures, it could also pose serious dangers to humanity.

We must not do anything to slow down innovation – it must continue. However, it is important for us to apply limits so that this innovation is more beneficial to humanity and not detrimental to humanity.

This is not only the responsibility of the government but also of everyone involved in the development and use of technology. We need all of these communities to be part of future discussions and decision-making, so that we can find a safe path to AI that truly serves humanity.

UN News: Critics say that the assembly’s resolutions have moral weight but no force, and that real power still rests with the deadlocked Security Council. What do you say about that?

Khalilur Rahman: If the session was pointless, there would be no high-level week, and the Heads of State would not come. There’s definitely a use for it. What I saw was the extraordinary gathering power of a body representing the entire world — no other place could match it..

Diplomacy is not always carried out openly. The Assembly provides a safe environment for Heads of Government and Heads of State to discuss serious problems together and find ways to resolve them. It’s also an authoritative way to hear directly from those who govern our society.

I am confident that this assembly will continue to play an important role in setting norms and providing overall direction to the work of the international community.

UN News: You worked directly on the Rohingya crisis. What lessons do you take with you as president?

Khalilur Rahman: This is a serious humanitarian crisis – many residents have been attacked, their homes bombed, their villages burned, and driven out by their own people. The pregnant woman’s stomach was cut open and the fetus thrown into the fire.

But I also saw their resilience, their ability to survive and their longing to go home. When the Secretary-General visited Cox’s Bazar last year, more than 100,000 refugees gathered on the eve of Ramadan to share breakfast with him, each holding a placard that read: we want to go home.

The lesson I learned is: violence will not solve any problem. That will only delay it and make things worse. Only through negotiation and negotiation can we resolve this problem.

That’s why I see great value in this gathering – a place where people come together at the highest level, in a safe environment, to explore the best way forward.

UN News: As we look forward to the final days of your presidency, what would you like to look back on with pride?

Khalilur Rahman: Here’s what I said to my team today – I’m not going to get into that today. I’m looking at the day when I hand over the gavel to my successor. If I can help Member States agree on the necessary reforms in the organization, agree to keep the organization solvent and agree to speed up implementation at the local level – if I have any movement on these matters, I will be happy to hand over my gavel to my successor..