Review of the High-Level Advisory Board on Effective Multilateralim’s Recommendations for Disarmament and Demilitarisation

In April 2023, the High-Level Advisory Board on Effective Multilateralism (HLAB) released a report providing recommendations for the upcoming Summit of the Future. This paper provides a review of the HLAB's recommendations on disarmament and demilitarisation.

The HLAB, co-chaired by Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, former President of Liberia, and Stefan Löfven, former Prime Minister of Sweden, hopes that its report will “demonstrate the political and moral courage to reimagine global governance and set us on a new path.” However, the report says little in relation to disarmament and demilitarisation. While the HLAB presents its recommendations as part of a “paradigm shift” for global governance and international relations, it offers only a minimalist critique of militarism and violence. The Board recognises the negative impact that weapons production, proliferation, and use has on the world and notes that the resources spent on nuclear weapons in particular could be better spent on collective well-being. Yet its suggested remedies do not match the urgency of the situation and its recommendations related to weapons and war do not reflect the “political and moral courage” it demands of member states.

Written by Ray Acheson • Published in June 2023 by Reaching Critical Will, the disarmament programme of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom

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