UNITED NATIONS
The war in Ukraine has put a spotlight on the U.N. Security Council’s failure to stop Russia’s aggression and carry out its mandate to ensure international peace and security. On Tuesday, that paralysis produced a demand from Ukraine’s president: Radically reform global security.
At the heart of the Security
Council’s inaction is its structure, established at the end of World War II,
which gave veto rights on its actions to five powers — the United States, the
Soviet Union (and its successor, Russia), China, Britain and France.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine
on Feb. 24, the threat of a Russian veto has thwarted the adoption of any
legally binding council resolution or statement mentioning its aggression. By
contrast, the 193-nation General Assembly — which doesn’t have vetoes — has
adopted two resolutions that are not legally binding but reflect world opinion.
They demand an immediate cease-fire in Ukraine, withdrawal of all Russian
forces and protection for civilians.
While the Security Council has
been hamstrung in making demands, it has played an important role along with
the General Assembly and the Geneva-based Human Rights Council in being the
only global forums where Russia, Ukraine, the United States and European
nations sit in the same rooms and spar over the war.
That happened at the United
Nations on Tuesday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr
Zelenskyy, addressing the council for the first time via video, drew applause
from many supporters on the 15-member council.
Zelenskyy was sharply critical
of the failure of the Security Council to take any action to end Russia’s
aggression.
He said the council can do two
things: “Either remove Russia as an aggressor and a source of war so it cannot
block decisions about its own aggression, its own war, and then do everything
that we can do to establish peace. Or the other option is, please show how we
can reform or change, dissolve yourself and work for peace.”
“Ukraine needs peace, Europe
needs peace, and the world needs peace,” Zelenskyy said.
He said Ukraine is ready to
host a global conference in a peaceful Kyiv “to determine how we are going to
reform the world security system” because the goals set in 1945 that created
the United Nations “have not been achieved, and it is impossible to achieve
them without reforms.”
He said Ukraine is ready to
host a main office for a “newly updated security system” that can specialize in
preventive measures to maintain peace.Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, speaks during a meeting of the UN Security Council, Tuesday, April 5, 2022, at United Nations headquarters.
The 40-year effort to reform
the 15-member Security Council to reflect the world today rather than the
global power structure after World War II has been plagued by national and
regional rivalries that show no sign of abating. Deep divisions forced the
General Assembly to shelve three rival resolutions to expand the council in
2005, and since then, there have been many discussions but no serious attempts.
Britain’s U.N. ambassador,
Barbara Woodward, who is this month’s council president, was asked after the
meeting about Zelenskyy’s call to remove Russia from the council or reform it —
and, if not, dissolve the United Nations.
“We do need to make sure that
now, and in the future, the Security Council and the U.N. as a whole is able to
respond to these sorts of challenges,” Woodward said.
Russian Ambassador Vassily
Nebenzia said he wanted to use the council meeting to address Zelenskyy
directly. He again denied that Russian troops committed any atrocities against
civilians and blamed the bodies found on Ukrainian radicals and neo-Nazis who
“act with unrivaled cruelty when dealing with civilians.”
Nebenzia claimed Western
countries supporting Ukraine “don’t care in the slightest” about the country,
which he said they see as “just a pawn in their geopolitical ploy against
Russia, which they will easily sacrifice.”
He said Russia didn’t come for
Ukrainian land, but to bring lasting peace to the eastern Donbas region of the
country.
“To do so, it is necessary to
root out the cruelty ... and remove the Nazi malignant tumor that is devouring
Ukraine and would have eventually begun to devour Russia,” Nebenzia said. “We
will achieve this goal, hopefully sooner rather than later.”
U.S. Ambassador Linda
Thomas-Greenfield reiterated that in light of Russia’s human rights violations,
the United States — in concert with Ukraine and many other U.N. members — is
seeking to suspend Russia from the U.N.’s premier rights body, the Geneva-based
Human Rights Council. She has called for a vote this week.
Thomas-Greenfield accused
Russia of using the Geneva council “as a platform for propaganda to suggest
Russia has a legitimate concern for human rights.”
She said she shares the Ukrainian
president’s view “that this moment requires responsible world powers and global
leaders to show some backbone and stand up to Russia’s dangerous and unprovoked
threat against Ukraine and the world.”
“Russia’s participation on the
Human Rights Council hurts the council’s credibility,” Thomas-Greenfield said.
“It undermines the entire U.N., and it is just plain wrong.”
Nebenzia responded: “I hope
that our colleagues from the United Nations will not allow themselves to be
manipulated and play up to Washington.” - AP
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