The President of the United Nations General Assembly said on 29 January that the 15-nation Security Council (UNSC) was “paralyzed” and unable to perform its basic function of keeping peace amid Russia’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine. Said he couldn’t.
Csaba Korosi commented to the Indian news agency PTI after landing in India on Sunday ahead of the three-day visit. Invitation from Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.
It will be his first visit to any country since he assumed the presidency of the 77th session of the UNSC last September.
Kolosi, a Hungarian diplomat, told PTI that many UN member states are pushing for UNSC reform. The UNSC is the main policy-making body of the United Nations, with 10 non-permanent members and 5 permanent members (Russia and China). , France, England, America.
Established in 1946, the UNSC’s primary mandate is to maintain international peace and security and prevent war.
“The Security Council is unable to perform its essential functions.”
But Kolosi told PTI that responsibility was now “paralyzed” by Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.
“The Security Council is unable to perform its basic functions for a very simple reason: one of the permanent members of the Security Council has attacked a neighboring country,” Kolosi said. “The Security Council should be the body that takes action against aggression.
Only permanent members of the UNSC have the power to veto substantive resolutions.
One of its members, Russia, launched what President Vladimir Putin called a “special military operation” in Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
Since then, the Kremlin has vetoed UNSC resolutions on Ukraine, and last September called Russia’s attempt to annex four regions of Ukraine (Lukhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhia) an “international peace treaty.” vetoed a vote on a resolution described as a “threat to and security,” and called for the decision to be reversed immediately.
China, a close ally of Russia, chose to abstain from voting, as did India, a non-permanent member of a council with close ties to the Kremlin.
Security Council composition ‘does not reflect today’s reality’
Kolosi added that Russia’s actions have helped provide “very serious lessons” regarding the future and how the global organization can be improved, as reflected by the composition of the Security Council. He pointed out that reform of the UNSC was an important issue. Result of World War II. ”
Kolosi said the world has changed dramatically since the UN Security Council was established, and geopolitical relations have changed “with some countries, including India, and some countries, including other very powerful developing countries. “Global economic responsibility in the world” has changed. actually changed. ”
“Therefore, the composition of the Security Council does not reflect today’s reality,” he said, adding that “the entire continent, including more than 50 countries, Africa” does not form part of the permanent membership of the Security Council. .
He noted that reform of the Security Council is an urgent task and that concrete steps need to be taken to achieve it.
In September, more than 70 world leaders, including US President Joe Biden, appealed To the United Nations, reform the Security Council and add permanent members, including Africa and Latin America.
But calls for Security Council reform have so far gone unanswered.
“More than a third of UN Member States have directly addressed this issue. So there is a very clear push [from] membership. I have hope,” Kolosi said on Sunday.