Uttam Maharjan

The eighteenth summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) took place in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, from October 25 to 26. Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli participated in the summit as head of government of Nepal. The theme of the summit was "Upholding the Bandung Principles to ensure concerted and adequate response to the challenges of contemporary world".
The Bandung Principles are the holy grail of the NAM. The NAM was established in Belgrade, the then Yugoslavia, in 1961 on the basis of the Bandung Principles propounded during the Bandung conference participated in by Asian and African countries in 1955. At the Bandung conference, some countries, including Nepal, vehemently supported the concept of non-alignment. After the Second World War came to an end, many countries, including India, gained independence. Apparently, the newly independent countries opted for the NAM to safeguard their independence.
As the name suggests, the NAM aims at keeping aloof from any bloc, alliance or grouping of nations. The principles of the NAM include ensuring national independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and security for its member nations. It also aims, among others, at preventing imperialism; colonialism and neo-colonialism; racism and apartheid; foreign aggression, occupation and domination; foreign interference in the internal affairs of member countries; foreign hegemony; and great power and bloc politics.
At present, there are 120 member countries associated with the NAM: 53 from Africa, 36 from Asia, 26 from the Americas, two from Europe and three from Oceania. Besides, there are seventeen observer countries, including our neighbour China, and 10 international organisations, including the United Nations, the African Union and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. The NAM comprises 55 per cent of the world population. Two-thirds of the NAM member countries are also associated with the UN. The NAM membership is composed of mainly developing and least developed countries but some developed countries have also joined it.
The NAM has adopted the Panchsheel as its directive principles. The Panchseel includes five principles, viz. mutual respect to member states' sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual non-aggression, non-interference in each other's internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit and peaceful coexistence. Peace, security and harmony are the foundation on which the edifice of the NAM has stood. As such, the NAM believes in the peaceful resolution of disputes and stands against military alliances and pacts, opposing the stationing of military bases in foreign countries.
The NAM came into existence when the Cold War between the two superpowers, the USA and the erstwhile USSR, was raging. The members of the NAM made it a point to side with neither bloc. The Cold War came to an end in the early 1990s with the Balkanisation of the then USSR under the influence of the policy of perestroika and glasnost adopted by the then Soviet President, Mikhail Gorbachev. After the Cold War ground to an end, the goals of the NAM have also undergone a sea change. Now, the NAM has taken measures to fight poverty, deprivation, hunger, social injustice, inequality and other anomalies for the economic development of its member countries. At the same time, it has focused on enhancing peace, security, solidarity and harmony among its member states.
Nepal is one of the founding members of the NAM. The country fully abides by the principles of the NAM as well as the Charter of the UN. It believes in peace, security, non-aggression, non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries, national independence, territorial integrity, sovereignty and so on. Its foreign policy is based on the Panchsheel. The Constitution of Nepal enshrines, among others, the principles of the NAM. Nepal seeks cooperation, support and solidarity from all countries, including from the NAM, as it always wants to enhance international relations on the basis of reciprocity and mutual benefit.
However, there is turmoil here, there and everywhere in the world. Several countries are in the grip of conflict and terrorism. This has spread panic among the people of these countries. There is also growing interference in the internal affairs of several countries. What is more, one or more countries are fighting the insurgents of another country, that too at the request of the government of that country. The incidence of growing conflict and civil wars has made the life of many people hell on earth. A large number of people have been killed, maimed or wounded and tens of thousands of others have been rendered homeless, making them refugees.
The NAM has noble goals but seems to be helpless before the vertiginous situation prevailing in several countries of the world. The principles of the NAM have been violated in some cases. Even some members of the NAM have been associated with the blocs of powerful countries. Venezuela is currently leading the NAM but is in the communist bloc. Some countries are attracted to the strategic blocs of the USA and China. This goes against the grain of non-alignment, which is the most important principle of the NAM.
In the present-day context, it seems the NAM is losing strength. In the world marked by conflict and turmoil, its importance has grown more than ever. So it is high time the members of the NAM worked together in a more syncretic and coordinated manner in compliance with the principles of the NAM so as to revitalise the movement so that its presence in the world affairs can be positively perceived.

(Former banker, Maharjan has been regularly writing on contemporary issues for this daily since 2000. He can be reached at uttam.maharjan1964@gmail.com)