At the World Economic Forum in Davos, the new global entity called the Board of Peace had been formed under the supervision of Donald Trump. This global entity had developed from a narrow issue of Gaza to a global organisational entity with far-reaching ambitions on its own.
The Board of Peace was also intended to form part of Trump’s Gaza peace plan with 20 points and work as a temporary form of government and reconstruction. Gaza is set to be ruled temporarily under this plan through a technocratic Palestinian committee with oversight by the Board of Peace. Once this is done and concluded, Gaza is to be handed back to the Palestinian Authority under UN oversight.
But the final charter, produced and circulated to world leaders this month, tells a very different story.
From Gaza oversight to global mandate
More interestingly, there is no reference whatever to either Gaza or Palestine. Instead, the Charter outlines the Board of Peace as an “international organization to seek/stability, lawful governments, and peace” in areas where conflict is to be found worldwide.
Not only that, he is named as inaugural chairman, in his own right, as opposed to his role as U.S. President, and he enjoys a range of sweeping powers; he will also serve as long as he wishes, unless removed because of illness or through his own decision, in which a unanimous decision of the executive board determines his successor.
Members have to be invited. Members would be countries serving a term not exceeding three years. Their states may have a permanent position provided the funding exceeds 1 billion dollars in the primary year.
Who’s in, who’s out – and why it matters
Trump has extended invitations to about 60 countries to be founding members. More than 20 have agreed, including Argentina, Hungary, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, etc.
Nevertheless, there is alarm too because of the inclusion of Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko. While Russia is not yet on board, Belarus is, and this is regarded as helping to alleviate President Lukashenko’s international isolation.
However, several states have voiced their refusal or delay in joining the convention. France, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Slovenia, and the UK have raised issues over the wide powers held by Trump himself, the increased powers of the board under the new convention, and the interference in the functioning of the United Nations itself. Italy has even raised the possibility that the new international convention might go against its own constitution. Ukraine has voiced strong opposition because of the inclusion of both Russia and Belarus.
However, none of the other permanent members of the UN Security Council has agreed to participate as of now.
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Executive Board poses conflict concerns
The fact that the makeup of its original executive board includes US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, and other financiers and property tycoons only adds to its controversy.
Such an action also brings concerns from analysts that placing billions of dollars within an organization run by Trump and those close to him creates great potential for a lack of transparency and possible corruption – especially given the parallel focus on reconstruction efforts in the Gaza area and development in land/properties.
A competitor to the UN?
Still, Trump insists it will be “in conjunction with the United Nations,” praising the “unrealized potential of Peace.” I question there is a whole lot of this. For a start, the logo of the board bears a shocking similarity to that of the UN but seems to have a singularly bizarre interest in the US. There is little lack of suspicions about his real purpose: is he looking to create a new world order beyond that of the Peace?
The end result is this: however the form of the Board of Peace continues to change and shift, the mandates given to it are sending a very clear message: it is not just about the business of peacebuilding. It is about global governance with Donald Trump as its leader.
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