Ask Nepal, Bangladesh, India: Balen Shah talks of a broken system in UN speech

Nepal's rapper-turned-PM Balen Shah used his first UN General Assembly address to make a broader argument about the global order. Nepal, Bangladesh, India and other South Asian nations, he said, were being "hit by the climate we did not warm, and hit again by the wars we did not start", while a world capable of delivering weapons swiftly had "broken logistics for food".

In Short

• Nepal's PM, Balen Shah called for a more equitable global order at the UNGA
• He said that while weapons cross borders efficiently, food and fuel face delays
• Nepal, India, Bangladesh among nations hit by war and climate shocks, says Balen

"We have built a world with flawless logistics for war and broken logistics for food." This was what the Prime Minister of Nepal, Balenendra Shah (better known as Balen Shah) had to say to the world during his maiden address at the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York City.

In his address on Thursday (September 24), the 36-year-old rapper-turned-politician called for the establishment of a Himalayan climate resilience system, led collectively by India, China and Nepal. Balen made the call after Nepal was hit by the devastating Bhotekoshi floods on August 26, which killed more than 1,400 people and left over 6,000 still missing.

Speaking to delegates around the world, the prime minister of Nepal, who is the youngest governing head to speak at the UNGA this year, used the platform to warn the world about the dangers of climate change. He also spoke about the Herculean effort Nepal faces as it struggles to rebuild after the floods that devastated the country's towns and villages in northern and central Nepal on August 26.

Balen's address focused mostly on the need for the nations of the world to work together to mitigate the dangers of climate change and support countries most at risk. But he also had another message to the envoys and the heads of state from across the world who had congregated in New York City.

As the Nepal PM put it, the world had fostered a "broken" order of global cooperation, where "rifles and ammunition cross borders", but fertiliser and fuel "cannot [be] procured at time[s] of need".

He argued that this was not merely Nepal’s "private misfortune", but a wider regional problem affecting countries including Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

"...This is not Nepal's private misfortune. Ask Bangladesh. Ask Bhutan. Ask India. Ask the Maldives. Ask Pakistan. Ask Sri Lanka. Ask any other country in our region and you will hear the same account," he said.

WHAT IS THE BROKEN GLOBAL ORDER THAT BALEN SHAH SPOKE ABOUT AT THE UNGA?

At the heart of PM Balen's argument at the UNGA was a criticism of what he called a "broken" global system where weapons and other military supplies can be moved across the world in a smooth and efficient manner, whereas essential supplies remain difficult to procure, especially for under-developed and developing countries.

Citing Nepal's experiences, the 36-year-old prime minister described how global supply disruptions were impacting ordinary people.

"When a poor farmer in Nepal went to sow her seeds this monsoon, fertilisers didn’t reach her on time," he said, adding, "When we wanted to pave a new highway, there was no bitumen. When the family sat down for an evening meal, there was a shortage of cooking fuel."

PM Balen linked these shortages to a wider combination of climate change and disruptions to global supply chains that Kathmandu could do little to influence.

"On the one hand, there are melting glaciers and failing harvests to floods arriving without warning. On the other hand, a global supply chain punishes poor people for causes beyond reason," he stated.

Balen then contrasted the glacial pace of the movement of essential commodities to the rapid speed at which military equipment can cross borders.

"Inter-continental missiles arrive on time. Rifles and ammunition cross borders, clear every bottleneck, meet every deadline," he said, adding, "But a peasant in Nepal cannot procure his fertiliser or fuel at market price at a time of need."

The rapper-turned-politician described the existing global system as one where people had "built a world with flawless logistics for war and broken logistics for food".

In addition, the Nepalese PM said that this is not a situation being faced by Nepal alone. "And this is not Nepal’s private misfortune," Balen stated. He then named Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka as countries being "hit by the climate we did not warm, and hit again by the wars we did not start."

This, according to Balen, shows that "there is a lot more broken than meets the eye in the present order of global cooperation".

He concluded by saying that countries, rich or poor, strong and weak, should be able to obtain its necessities as and when needed.

"A country that is willing to pay should be able to buy," Shah stated, adding that a world capable of delivering a weapon anywhere "in seventy-two hours" should have no justification for leaving a farmer without the means to earn "a decent livelihood".

The sight of Balen Shah, who is not known for speaking in public as PM, being able to articulate his points in such a manner in front from envoys from around the world, came as a pleasant suprise to many.

As the environmentalist and climate activist, Ananda Nepali put it in a post on X, "Could someone who rarely gives speeches really present their views so clearly on such a grand international platform? That question was probably in the minds of many Nepalis like me. I was quite excited to hear his address. And when I finally got to hear it, my heart truly swelled with pride."

He added, "The Honourable Prime Minister Balendra Shah today presented Nepal's voice to the world at the United Nations General Assembly in an extremely simple, clear, and confident manner . . . I am proud from the bottom of my heart."

In any case, Balen Shah's address, about a broken world order, makes a very important point, especially when one has a look at the series of events happening around the world.

Take for instance, the ongoing US-Iran war. On one hand, the Americans are able to take air defence missiles manufactured in Arkansas and transport them to a desert in Saudi Arabia in a matter of days.

Yet, at the same time, because of the disruptions created by the war, farmers in Nepal have to queue up for long hours to obtain one sack of fertiliser, while people in Bangladesh go for hours without electricity because a power plant ran out of natural gas, that is unable to leave a port in Qatar.

Hence, as Balen pointed out, the global order needs some serious course correction.

- Ends