Dictatorships have 'overtaken democracies by GDP'
The world is witnessing a shift in the balance of power from liberal democracies to autocratic regimes, the head of a global humanitarian charity has warned.
David Miliband, a former UK foreign secretary and CEO of the International Rescue Committee, also argued a new âage of impunityâ threatened businesses as well as human rights.
He urged major firms to âstep upâ in defence of the rule of law and in tackling global problems in a speech at the summit of global leaders in Davos, Switzerland, on Friday.
Miliband also claimed more of the worldâs economic output was now in undemocratic countries than democratic ones.
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âLast year was the first year in 120 years when the GDP of countries that are democracies was less than the GDP of autocracies,â he said, but did not provide further detail or the source of the figures.
A widely read annual report by the US think tank Freedom House last year warned of a 13th consecutive year of âdecline in global freedom.â
It said many countries that democratised after the end of the Cold War had âregressed,â with corruption rampant, illiberal populists on the rise, and breakdowns in the rule of law.
Miliband said: âThe age of impunity is here, and itâs dangerous. Everything goes, and the law is for suckers. When war crimes go unpunished, and the laws of war become optional.
âA time when militaries, mercenaries and militias in conflicts around the world believe they can get away with anything. Weâre seeing less outrage about it and less accountability for it.
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âThe cheques that were written in 1945 to the most vulnerable in the world â cheques marked humanitarian law, cheques marked rights of civilians â those cheques are bouncing. The most basic rights are under threat.â
He presented a graph suggesting attacks on health facilities last year were around triple the level only a few years earlier.
Ethnic cleansing was âon the riseâ with 11 cases worldwide last year, while attacks on aid workers in the past five years were twice the level 15 years earlier, he said.
He blamed part of the growing problems on shifts in power from a unipolar to multipolar world, from west to east and from liberal to illiberal governance.
Miliband also appealed to businesses to acknowledge such issues were not only a concern for policymakers and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
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âDonât believe that the rule of law will be sacrosanct in economics if itâs weak in politics. The business of business has to include the defence of the rule of law, not just for moral reasons but for reasons of interest.
âWhen power is not accountable in matters of life and death, itâs all too easy for it to become optional in more mundane matters of dollars and cents. Countries which sneer at human rights are usually also a threat to property rights.â
He highlighted many firmsâ decision to boycott the Future Investment Initiative or âDavos in the desertâ summit in Saudi Arabia over the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.
But he added: âItâs not good they did attend that conference a year later without any progress on accountability for that crime. Itâs almost better not to make a stand than only do so temporarily and then retreat before thereâs proper accountability.â